New Jersey Windsurfing and Watersports Association Newsletter

New Jersey Windsurfing and Watersports Association

Newsletter Vol. 6, Issue 1. Spring 2014

Winter Escape: Jeff and Barb, Lac Bay, Bonaire, January 2014

Editing and Layout: Alasdair Gilfillan 6. High School Volunteer opportunities Contributors: Thandi Bradix, Eric Duch, Alasdair 6. On the Water and Corinne Gilfillan, Jim Karabasz, Iceboarding Winter 2014 Tom Latham, Eileen Pfaffman, by Tom Latham Brian Rauch 8. 2nd Wind MotionX-GPS

from Eric Duch Photographs and Graphics: 9. Reason For Freezin, March 29 Antoni Dabrowski, Alasdair Gilfillan, 2014 Jim Karabasz, Tom Latham, Eileen by Jim Karabasz Pfaffman, Jimmy Rivera 10. Trip Reports Contents: NJWWA members escape the NE winter: Bonaire 2014 by Alasdair and Corinne Page Article Gilfillan 12. Bonaire Trip: Feb 16-23, 2014 2. From the Editor by Thandi Bradix 2. From the President 14. Information source for NJWWA 3. 2014 NJWWA Schedule of Events members #3 5. ABK Clinic coming to NJ Helmets (Could’a been my head) By Eileen Pfaffman 5. Club News and Updates 15. Disclaimer, Past and Future Issues 5. Update on Seaside access 16. Sponsors By Brian Rauch

6. 2014 NJWWA Calendar 2

From the Editor From the President

by Tom Latham

One would have thought that, with the awful winter we have just gone through, the activities of our club members would I guess I’m one of those that believe when life gives you have been severely curtailed. Not so. The thick ice that lemons, you make lemonade. When presented with record formed on the inland lakes, ponds, and rivers, and also on cold temperatures, I go iceboarding. Opportunities to get out the coastal bays and inlets, provided terrific conditions for on clear, hard ice can be few and far apart. I’ve found the freeskating (windsurfing on a skated sled), ice kiting and ice most success connecting with fellow iceboarding enthusiasts boating. This is in direct contrast to last year when the by using Facebook. relatively mild weather prevented the ice from reaching sufficient thickness to allow these activities. Those who are my Facebook “friends” or who “like” New While others were cooped up in their houses complaining Jersey Windsurfing are well aware of all of the iceboarding about the seemingly never ending winter, Tom, our intrepid opportunities we have had this winter. An assortment of club president, together with other club members took homemade GoPro videos have also been shared using this advantage of the conditions to get out on the water (albeit of venue. the solid variety). By all accounts, a fun time was had by all. Check out the article by Tom on page 6 where he describes If you aren’t on Facebook yet, the 90’s called and have some his exploits on the ice. VCR tapes for you to watch. But really, social networking is the wave of the future. By developing a Facebook account, For those of us who really do not care for the cold, an you can proceed to “friend” or “like” as much as you want, alternative way to get our adrenaline fix is to travel to warmer while also securing access and “following” or “unfollowing” climes for a windsurfing vacation. At various times over the informative feeds. past few months, a number of our club members were fortunate enough to escape to the flat water windsurfing paradise of Bonaire (see pages 9 and 12). As discussed in Previously, The NJWWA has attempted to round up groups the articles, winds this year were really ideal for practicing for windsurfing sessions via NJWWA Forums and perfecting a variety of planing (and even non-planing) http://www.windsurfnj.org/forum/forum.htm and the Flip Flop maneuvers. This is definitely a great way for preventing the & Fly notification system. rust setting in (not to mention muscle atrophy) during the off season back in the States. http://www.windsurfnj.org/racing/racing.htm With the ice now melted on the Barnegat bay, the more hardy members of our club (i.e. Mik, Vadim, and Brian) are Maybe Facebook is the way to go? www.facebook.com. now out on the water enjoying some terrific frontal spring winds. Hopefully within the next 6-8 weeks, the water and air If we all post in advance of our next windsurfing session, will have warmed up sufficiently to tempt us less hardy maybe we’ll all meet at the water at the same time? (Safety sailors out. in numbers)

These activities show there really is no off season for our sport. So next winter, when you are grumbling about the See you on the water soon weather, why don’t you think about making the most of the conditions to try wind-driven winter sports or even treat yourself to a Caribbean vacation to get some windsurfing in.

Our opening day windsurfing in the shallow 2014 NJWWA Schedule of water of The Flats of Barnegat Bay, near Events the old Wheelhouse Marina/ 24th Ave launch. After sailing join us for dinner (location to be determined). Graphics by: Antoni Dabrowski Tuesday May 13th: Andy Brant Evening April-May (TBD): Annual Green Up Clinic and Q&A (free). 6.00 p.m.-9.00 Clean Up day, Various shore points. p.m., Ocean Township, Oakhurst meeting room. Saturday May 3rd: ESA Stand Up Paddleboard Surf contest Margate pier, 7.00 a.m.

Sunday May 4th: Extreme Windsurfing SPRING SWAP MEET at Lakes Bay. Starts at 10.00 a.m. at the shop behind the Comfort Inn.

Sunday May 10th: NJWWA Spring into Windsurfing @ The Flats, S. Seaside Park.

Saturday May 17th: Island Surf and Sail presents the "Stoked for Life SUP Series" to benefit Cancer Stinks. Bayview Park, LBI. Registration starts at 10.00 a.m., racing at noon.

Details at: http://distressedmullet.com/events/stoke d-life-stand-paddle-series-race- 1#sthash.x3oq6i53.dpuf

Sunday June 8th: NJWWA Fun Fest @ Seaside Park, 10.00 a.m.-4.00 p.m. 14th Friday July 25th: (Rain date: July 26th): th

Ave Pier. 5 Annual Island Surf & Sail Ladies

Paddle Challenge @ Bayview Park, Brant Beach, LBI.

Details at: http://www.islandsurf-sail.com/event- registrations/annual-ladies-paddle- challenge.aspx

Sunday August 3rd: NJWWA Fun Fest @ Lakes Bay/Atlantic City, Extreme Windsurfing/Comfort Inn & Suites, 10.00 a.m.–4.00 p.m.

Sunday September 14th (tentative): NJWWA Fun Fest @ Sandy Hook, Lot C, 10.00 a.m.-4.00 p.m.

th Friday September 26-28 : ABK Camp Sunday July 13th: NJWWA Fun Fest @ @ Lakes Bay, Extreme Windsurfing Bayview Park, Brant Beach, LBI, 10.00 /Comfort Inn & Suites. a.m.-4.00 p.m.

Saturday November 8th: Year End NJWWA GALA, Brant Beach Yacht Club, Bayview Avenue, Brant Beach, LBI.

For those interested in canoe and paddle races please see: http://www.philacanoe.org/racing

Our club schedule can also be viewed online at: www.Tinyurl.com/NJWWACalendar

Club News and Updates

Update on Seaside access ABK Clinic coming to New by Brian Rauch

Jersey: I went to the flats at Seaside on Saturday March 22nd. It really has changed. There are no buildings remaining, just one big parking area. The access to the water remains the same but there is only one entrance to the parking area. Some park police were there and I asked them about the status. They were just fine letting people come in, park and sail/kite. The one officer mentioned that, as long as there were no signs indicating ‘no parking,’ he was fine. He also mentioned that any changes to the status would first After a number of years bypassing the New Jersey coast, come down from the “superintendent” and as long as we windsurf instructor extraordinaire Andy Brant and the rest of didn’t “trash the place” we’d be fine. When I was, there the ABK team will be running an ABK windsurfing camp at were about 6 windsurfers and two kiters. Lakes Bay during the weekend of September 26th-28th. For those of you who need to improve your basic technique, The only caveat with Seaside is construction on Rt 35 learn new tricks or even just take a refresher course, this will heading off the causeway. They are completely tearing up be a great opportunity. Hopefully we can get a good representation of our membership enrolling. Who knows, a huge sections (sewers and gas lines it looks like) – diverting good turnout may persuade Andy to offer additional clinics in traffic to side roads and on the way home I got caught up in NJ next year. an extra 10 minutes of congestion on side streets with traffic lights on every corner, and I was there on a light traffic As a precursor to the clinic in September, Andy and NJWWA day. From the looks of the mess on 35 I don’t see this are currently finalizing the details for a free evening Q/A changing anytime soon but once you get down there the clinic May 13th (see previous page). Last year, despite being flats are in perfect shape! held during a week day, we had a very good turnout. Those who managed to attend the event last year will remember I recorded a video of a park walk-about – I just posted here: how fun and informative the evening was. Further details will http://youtu.be/9fxGTLXZvgY - if you review this you will be sent to our membership once the date and venue have see a newly constructed bulkhead, this might add quite an been finalized. additional load to the launch as many boaters start to utilize that launch.

I would suggest reviewing the “rules” to follow. It is Critical that everyone who uses the site adhere to these. I was speaking with Keith (Megow) who is a local there – he does kiting and windsurfing and he had attended the Superintendent’s meeting way-back-when; generally:

i. Park only in designated areas

ii. Give wide berth to kayaks (a kayak would have the right-of-way in any situation on the water)

iii. Don’t block the access to the water (entering in from the parking lot)

Andy demonstrating the intricacies of waterstarting, iv. Keep everything CLEAN – parking lot, beach, ABK clinic, March 2014 water area, etc.

v. Don’t pull up onto the dry marsh (above water For information regarding upcoming ABK events line) areas, try to keep all equipment on beach please visit: vi. Windsurfers keep the spit of point (land mass area) clear of windsurfing equipment as this is where http://abkboardsports.com/camps/schedule kiters spread out their lines to launch

vii. Generally – be nice, friendly and cooperative to Park staff and other patrons of the area 6

2014 and 2015 NJWWA Calendar On the Water .

The 2014 NJWWA featuring local windsurfers and SUPers Iceboarding Winter 2014 photographed (by club members) in NJ and other spots in the US and Caribbean is still available. by Tom Latham The price is a very reasonable $15.00 (including packing and shipping). They may be ordered by visiting: http://windsurfnj.org/membership/calendar_1.cfm

Freeskate board and rig at Budd Lake

It used to be the jet stream that dipped down to bring the nd cold weather. Now it’s the polar vortex. By the time the 2 polar vortex brought frigid temperatures, we were presented with 6” of black ice on Budd Lake to sail on in early January. For all those amateur (or even pro!) photographers out there, As fast as it became available; a warm & rainy 50-degree it is never too early to start to think about taking some shots day melted 2” of it. Storms like Dion, Electra & Gemini soon for inclusion in our 2015 calendar. If you have any action provided a cover of snow on the northern lakes. With the photographs that you would like to be considered, please polar climate setting in, places like Shrewsbury, Navesink, & forward them to [email protected] under the subject Toms Rivers, Barnegat & Manahawkin Bays, Little Egg “2015 NJWWA calendar” Harbor, and portions of the Hudson River solidified.

High School Volunteer Opportunities

The New Jersey Windsurfing & Watersports Association is a 501(c)7 non-profit recreational club. We offer the following volunteer opportunities to help fulfill your community volunteer requirements:

 Event registration table assistants  Event flier development  Media Correspondent  Photography & Videography  Watersports Instructor Trainer

Interested parties should contact us now for the 2014 season. [email protected] Tom with Freeskate at Lavallette

This really is nothing new for the Red Bank and Long Branch ice boat clubs established in 1880 & 1901. These jersey shore locations soon were sailing on 5 – 6” of ice. Freeskaters and kiteboarders were also poaching sessions at Long Beach Island and Lavallette.

Ice Boats near Marine Park in Red Bank on the Navesink River

The Hudson River Ice Yacht Club offered several online links to current sailing conditions and sailing activities. www.hriyc.org These included detailed ice reports, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H- Brian Brenner from Green Hat Kiteboarding, at Lavallette, 5y02OQjo&feature=youtu.be and promotional videos. NJ

By late January, yet another polar vortex reared its head, and brought us frigid temperatures, plenty of snow, it allowed some rain to coat the ice, and returned with some more deep cold. It was with this mix that the ice hotline announced a stern steerer fest on the Hudson River north of the Kingston/ Rhinecliff Bridge.

The frozen Hudson River at Rhinecliff Bridge, NY

The forecast Sunday March 2 was for light north winds 6 – 9 mph. Certainly no great wind, but I still packed up my 6.2 and Freeskate and headed north. Upon arriving in Barrytown, NY, it was a sight to see a couple dozen classic ice boats gracing the ice sheet. The disturbing part was the open shipping lane down the western shore of the Hudson. Freeskater in the background, on the Shrewsbury River The community came out in full force, with hundreds of spectators making their way onto the ice throughout the day. I rigged up in a steady 10 mph breeze, and was able to Opportunities were still plenty in the northern NJ lakes. But navigate back & forth among the much larger ice boats in this was a historical get together of several 100+ year old 2 2 attendance. Think 6.2m vs 74.3m of sail area. wooden ice boats. Most significantly, it brought together both the Jack Frost and The Rocket. The North Shrewsbury Ice The launch of The Rocket was certainly the highlight of the Boat & Yacht Club had recently restored this 126 year old weekend http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzf-jeKhk4Q boat, which hadn’t been sailed in over 90 years. www.nsibyc.com.

2nd Wind MotionX-GPS

from Eric Duch

2nd Wind uses MotionX-GPS on the iPhone and produced the following data from a recent Ice Sailing session at Budd Lake:

Name: Budd Lake - Ice Sailing Date: Mar 3, 2014 2:08 pm Map: View on Map (valid until Aug 30, 2014) Distance: 18.7 miles Elapsed Time: 1:22:50 Avg Speed: 13.5 mph Kite Skiers on the Hudson Max Speed: 30.9 mph Avg Pace: 4' 26" per mile Conditions consisted of mostly smooth ice, with crunchy Min Altitude: 882 ft patches, and small snow drifts about, with ice heaves in the shallows, and along the eastern shoreline. I was absolutely Max Altitude: 963 ft honored to be sharing the ice with these 100 year old stern Start Time: 2014-03-03T19:08:01Z steerers. By days end, we were graced with music from the Hudson Valley Brass Band quintet- a real class act! Start Location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRU1o54A_Uo&feature=y Latitude: 40º 52' 19" N outu.be (You can see me freeskating in the background at the :48 second mark.) Longitude: 74º 44' 16" W End Location: Latitude: 40º 52' 19" N Longitude: 74º 44' 19" W

MotionX-GPS Commonly Asked Questions

 What is MotionX-GPS?

MotionX-GPS is the essential GPS application for outdoor enthusiasts. It puts an easy-to-use, state-of-the-art handheld GPS on your iPhone.

 Can I use MotionX-GPS?

De-rigging car-side on the ice- Hudson River, NY Sure! MotionX-GPS can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store.

Iceboarding continued throughout mid-March in both North nd Jersey and New York State. Eric Duch used his 2 Wind  How can I display tracks in Google Earth? MotionX-GPS from his iPhone (see below) to confirm his 30.9mph speed on Budd Lake on an Island Surf & Sail Freeskate. Follow the directions on the Google Earth web site to download and install the Google Iggy Mon was all over Facebook with both Freeskate & Earth program. Save the attached "Budd kiteboard ice videos from Rockland County, New York. Lake Ice Sailing.kmz" file to your computer.

Launch Google Earth, select File, Open, and open the saved "Budd Lake Ice Sailing.kmz" file.

Reason For Freezin, March 29 2014

SUP Event to Kick off the Season

by Jim Karabasz

This was a super fun SUP event on March 29th starting at 11:30 a.m. from Ski Beach (Dorset Ave) in Ventnor NJ. The BIG story of this event in its second year was:

THE WEATHER!

Racers on the Home stretch @ 1mile from the finish

Another VERY interesting point was that, even though the event was slightly smaller this year, mainly due to weather, the women’s participation in this event grew tremendously. This shows “Jersey Girls” aren’t just beach bunnies. They get out and DO IT…and in this case in tougher conditions than some guys…You Go Girls! The after party at Tomatoes Restaurant in Margate NJ was exceptional (as usual). Thanks are due to the organizer Sean Duffey and his whole family (particularly dad who brought a warm bus). This event is something everyone should really participate in (weather not withstanding) the local communities benefit, paddlers and our waterman communities benefit. I can’t wait for next year…

If you want to donate check out their Facebook page. Paddling under the Black Horse Pike Bridge on the “Back Stretch” The next big New Jersey Race is Stand Up For Seals (benefitting the Wounded Warriors Project) In Ocean City NJ th Although not freezing, it was a tough paddle for the 100 May 24 a surf slalom team relay or individual race off Park intrepid rain pelted paddlers. The real purpose was to benefit Place beach. This is a fun race in front of the biggest crowd Sandy victims through the Waves for Water foundation. The I’ve ever seen at an SUP EVENT. goal of this group is to get all Sandy victims back in their homes before the second anniversary of the storm (11/1/14). This is the event that kicks off the paddling season. Everyone who is anyone in the paddling (Stand up, Prone, kayaks, Surfski & OC1’s) was there. They came from Florida to northern New England.

But before you write off this event (and this article) this was a paddling event NOT JUST A BIG RACE. Paddlers used everything from the latest racing boards to 9FT Surf SUP’s. Believe me…

NO MATTER WHAT YOU PADDLED, A GREAT SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT WAS ACHIEVED BY ALL! Paddling out last year was tough

If you bring your own gear to Bonaire, there are hooks to Trip Reports store sails (fully rigged) and slots to store boards available. Each hook can hold two sails and each slot can hold up to two boards (you may have to remove the fins though to fit NJWWA members escape the N.E. the second board in the slot). Depending on the duration of your stay, the total cost of transportation and storage can be U.S. winter: Bonaire 2014 a bit less than the cost of renting the gear at either Jibe city or Windsurfing place, but there are some distinct by Alasdair and Corinne Gilfillan advantages: the major one being that you are on your own gear which is set up perfectly every time you want to go out. Another advantage is that, when it is busy, you do not have to wait or get to the bay early to make sure that you have your favorite sail or board.

Jibe City, Lac Bay, Bonaire

While the more hardy NJWWA club members were braving the cold NE US winter weather to have fun on the ice and Jeff cruising the shallows snow, a number of our members and friends, craving more confortable conditons, escaped to the windsurfing paradise of Bonaire for some on-water fun. Jeff and Barb were the The wind in Bonaire this year has been especially consistent first to arrive in mid January, then at one time or another from day to day (although sometimes a bit up and down over the next few weeks we, Claudia, Jimmy R, Thandi (see during each day). From all accounts, the wind switched on in the following article), Zev and their friends Janine, Evelyn December and it is still blowing as we go to press. Most and Eric also turned up. days were in the 17-20 mph range. We did have an occasional day early on, and then an entire week in March, where the winds were quite light. There were also a few days when the winds were really cranking and just keeping the board on the water was a real challenge.

Most of the time we were using boards in the 90-110L range and 4.9 (Corinne) and 6.2 m2 (Alasdair) sails. On the windier days, we went down to 4.2 (Corinne) and 4.2 - 4.9 (Alasdair) m2 sails. On the one or two days when it was really nuking, we did not have small enough equipment for comfortable sailing. Light wind days, were spent playing around with light wind freestyle.

As is normal for late February and early March, there were one or two days when the water was dangerously shallow. During these days, at low tide, unless you know where all the shallow areas are (there are a lot of them), it is best not Corinne – enjoying a high wind day to go out. Note that the locals use tiny fins (11 cm or less), so don’t be lulled into a false sense of security when others may be going back and forward on the water. A safer option This year, we decided to take some of our own gear – when the water is so low, would be to go out in the deeper among them one board (second hand from Jack) and water of the lagoon. various sails, boom, mast etc, which we bought from Terry at ISS. Following advice from Terry and Mike Burns (NY), we A really positive trend we did notice during this trip was the dcided to put eveything in an 8 ft board bag which was number of people taking lessons, especially the young kids. relatively simple to check in at Newark airport (although Several ABK clinics were held during our time there and getting the bag to the airport with the rest of our luggage was these were all well attended from beginners to experts, a bit of an adventure). For those planning to go this route, it young and not-so young. Bonaire is certainly an ideal place is best to keep the total weight of the bag and contents to for those who wish to learn new techniques/tricks or improve under 100 lb and there is a $200 dollar excess baggage on existing skills. cost.

World Freestyle Champ from Bonaire, NB-61 - Kiri Thode Barb – easy sailing in Lac Bay

Over the years we have noticed that the number of people saling in Lac bay has steadily increased especially during February. Indeed, there were a couple of weeks in mid Feb that were really busy (mainly Europeans). Part of the reason may be that other windsurfing resorts frequented by Europeans (e.g. Egypt and Margarita) are losing their appeal due to political instability and the conditons in neighboring Aruba have declined due to the wind-blocking effect of new hotel construction. This has resulted in Jibe City limiting the number of rentals at any time. So, if you decide to go, remember to pre-book your rental gear. This does not require a down payment or commitment but does ensure that gear will be available for you when you arrive. NB-7 - Tonky Frans

Jeff exiting a flashy duck jibe F-85 – Anthony Ruenes

While we were in Bonaire, many of the world's top freestyle windsurfers (and the Olympic champion) were on Bonaire during the time we were there for winter training and (and for generally having fun). In fact, the world champion (Kiri Thode) is currently from Bonaire. We saw them on the water nearly every day, but we had a special treat one Thursday late afternoon as they were all out on the water (in the lagoon) at the same time for an impromptu contest that was being filmed for a video clip. It was just amazing and awe inspiring to watch (see photographs opposite and page 12).

There seemed to be more wildlife in the bay this year and we regularly saw turtles, rays, barracudas and lots of different types of fish while sailing. This added an additonal thrill to the windsurfing sessions in Lac Bay. All in all, another great trip. CUR-45 – Rafael de Windt

Bonaire Trip Report: Feb 16-23, 2014

by Thandi S. Bradix

Photos by Jimmy RIvera

Have you ever had that "feels like the first time" feeling with something you've been doing for years? This was my first 3 days in Bonaire. Granted, prior to this trip it had been September 2013 since I had stepped on a windsurfer. It New Jersey’s own Jake Agoos didn't quite matter, I know why I came, yet I was not making the physical connections to make it happen. I WAS NOT

PLANING! I think I saw a pregnant sea turtle swim pass me in reverse. Thank goodness this was only temporary. Then it happened!

F-85 – Anthony Ruenes

Thandi Light wind sailing early in the trip

We had solid high teens all week, no rain. I had one of the coveted "secret stash" boards from Jibe City, and I rigged big all week (6.5+)! Initially, I started the week on the Exocet Twixx (twin fin) 115L, which was handy for what seemed like Back-winded wizardry: Andy Brant the lowest of all low tides in Lac Bay. Twixx's are stable and "floaty", but it seemed like the thick sandwich construction was keeping me from slicing through the mini chop. I had "graduated" during this trip to the JP Magic Ride Pro (118L) and the JP Super Sport Pro (112L and 124L). These two babies were solid sweet rides and certainly upgrades from anything I've ever been on! They could easily get planing and chop was rarely an issue. My choice of sail was the Gator Severne 6.5 and 7.0 every day...ALL DAY! I must say it felt great to be powered up with little effort. There was only one time I recall being "overpowered" on the 7.0, and I reluctantly rigged down to a 6.0 for the purpose of practicing carve jibing.

Bonaire light wind freestyle phenom: Caesar Finies

The sideways planing issue was encountered when planing upwind. I questioned a few "Pros" about how to address this problem, and the solution categorically was a change in my sailing technique. Solutions included: a) Putting more weight on the fin; b) bare off the wind until stability is regained; c) bring the mast toward the nose and stay sheeted in and put weight on the heels. All these techniques proved effective with a little tweaking.

By the end of the week, we had sailed eight (8) out of 8 days! What could possibly be better than that? I will tell you: Sailing for 2 weeks straight! So, maybe by 2015, my personal charters shall be: Carve Jibing, light wind planing, upwind planing without sliding sideways, stay for 2 weeks and BRING MORE FRIENDS to live the Bonaire experience!

Thandi sailing out to the Mangroves

Carve Jibing was not a top priority, but it was on my "To Do" list. I am told to get the feeling of the carve first. It feels great entering the turn at high speeds, but then I come to a screeching halt. I have to get the next part down...the sail flip. Maybe if I give it some priority, I can master it this summer. Either way, nothing beats the Bonaire experience when learning windsurfing either for the first time, or practicing advanced high-speed trickery. Next year, I will be planning a longer trip to the Island. One week no longer cuts Group shot left to right: Eric and Evelyn, Janine, it. Every day feels like the picture of perfection: Climate, Zev and Thandi and Jimmy sailing, enjoying friends, night life, delicious food and letting loose. This is what I came for. There was one reoccurring situation for which I got more than what I bargained for: sliding sideways while planing! This was a bit worrisome at high speeds, but with every windsurfing problem, there's a Pro with a solution.

Eric executing another masterful Carve Jibe!

Thandi motioning a "very quick" hello!

Information source for NJWWA members #3

Helmets or Could’a been my head

by Eileen Pfaffman

Helmets were develped for head protection during battles. A helmet's color and decoration identified friend from foe on a battle field. The root helm is of medieval origin.

Janine ripping back to the beach from the Mangroves

This cracked white helmet protected me completly, preventing concussion during a Spring session with 42Knot average gust. I heard the impact but did not feel it on my head.

A Helmet's primary job is to absorb mechanical energy and prevent penetration. There are several other positive reasons to wear a helmet for windsurfing:

Eric and Evelyn cruising Lac Bay Face is protected from drying wind and sun doesn't beat down on your head all day. One doesn't need sun block on the scalp.

Ears are protected.

Cooler summer winds are blocked by the helmet.

Helmet will let you windsurf further into cold season without donning a neoprene hood.

Practical Helmet selection considerations:

Choose a light weight helmet that floats.

The Resident Speed Demon and videographer, Zev. Smile! Brightest possible color will make you visible on a gray day or down in gray water. 15

Confirm the arms of your windsurfing eyewear fits comfortably inside the helmet.

Be sure your neoprene hood or cap fits comfortably under the helmet with your preferred eyewear. I chose the Gath for the full retractable visor which I think offers more face protection and 98% UV blocking by the shatterproof retractable visor. I often sail with visor pulled only half way down. This look keeps my grandchildren wondering..... Humor aside -- Concussions are a prominent sports topic lately and we are much more informed about Disclaimer of liability their dangers. A bad concussion could you keep you off the water permanantely. NJWWA, it's contributors and it's advertisers make no representations or warranties as to the completeness, accuracy, or suitabability of any information supplied in this Newsletter or hyperlinked web site. Use of the information is at your own risk. In no event will NJWWA, it's contributors or it's advertisers be liable to any party for any direct or indirect damages.

Future Issues

If anyone is interested in submitting an article for future issues, please contact:

[email protected].

Past Issues

Previous issues of the NJWWA newsletter can be found at: http://www.windsurfnj.org/news/news.htm.

Visor down and ear holes visible inside padding 16