August 2024
Commodore's Comments
by Kristin Korinko, Commdore 2024!
Greetings all esteemed club members!
Aahh.. August... a hint of Fall in the air... football season is upon us... and a wish for calm seas but optimal winds! As the 2024 Olympics draw to a climactic close, we would like to extend a warm and sincere appreciation to all of the athletes and a special HUZZAH to Noah Lyons, USA Men's iQFOIL Windsurfing class, for finishing 9th overall in his FIRST Olympics. Bill and I were watching, and he reminded me that we witnessed his talent in 2017 at the North American Championships at the Clearwater Community Sailing Center!
So, to all of you developing windsurfers, take note. Suffice to say, look around, watch the developing talent among our incredible sailors... multiple champions in the making!
Summer continues to bring various extreme weather that can be both a blessing and a curse. A huge shout out to Lake Jackson Towing company and to all of the ROADies (and ROADies in training) who stepped up to relocate our training trailer in the early hours of Hurricane Debby.
Lessons and the Summer Series have been progressing well! For additional information, please take a look at the events section of our website.
As this newsletter is being published on the day of the Rum and Rootbeer, a HUGE Huzzah to all of those who helped plan and make it happen! A special thank you to Nancy and Rose for landing all-things STAR WARS AKA SAIL WARS on our favorite beach.
We have also started to look forward to upcoming events including the Endless Summer Classic. I have completed the T-shirt design and cannot wait to disclose it next month. Please feel free to give me a shout out if you are willing and able to volunteer on any small but needed tasks. We will be holding an Endless Summer volunteer meeting at the end of August to plan and prep!
Shout out to all our August birthdays ! Enjoy the next trip around the sun, calm seas, and peak winds folks!
Just a reminder, our next club meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 13th at District 850. We hope that you will be there to both share and pick up more windsurfing tidbits! We are also going to reveal the Endless Summer logo and slate of officers for this upcoming election in September.
We hope to see you there!
Kristin Korinko (Olson)
Commodore, 2024
The Six Trees by Ted Avellone
No one knows where they first rose wispy and green to meet the day, nor when as full grown they made home to squirrel and jay.
Nor is it known the hour they were cut and rolled down US 98
laying amongst kin in rumbling log truck, resigned to their fate.
And only crabs and sea bass now long gone recalled the time
they were pounded deep into muck and brine.
But nameless logs ground to pulpwood be they not today!
chance instead having picked them to mark familiar way.
United by destiny, the six stand in two sets of threes,
facing with stoic vigilance the expanse of southward seas.
Those lucky six trees as though spared by the gods,
on silver horizon stand our humble tripods.
Keep it Fun Folks! By Ted Avellone
What’s fun about windsurfing? Most of us got hooked on the sport as soon as we learned the basics of how to get around on a sailboard. Once we got the hang of it, man was it fun! Standing on a board holding a movable sail with nothing but a breeze to propel you around was a fantastic experience. What made it so fun in the beginning? It was simple. The gear was generally uncomplicated and there was nothing particularly difficult or painful about going out for a sail. For decades many thousands of people had great fun windsurfing using gear that many would now consider obsolete. Well, if that simple easy gear was fully capable of delivering great fun and kept the sport popular for so long, maybe there’s something to it. After all, the wind and the water have not changed.
Human nature being what it is, we all want to improve on everything. But watch out! That road can lead straight to Unfunville. A place no one plans to go or worse, find themselves in.
What are some things that can tend to sap the joy out of windsurfing? Glad you asked! Here are a few examples:
Having to pack up a ton of gear before you leave the house. Multiple sails, masts, fins, boards, special mast extensions, tools for assembling things, harnesses, helmets, vests, wetsuits, booties, and so on. Keep in mind that you must unpack everything when you get there, and then when you’re done you have to repack everything to your vehicle. And when you get home you have to unpack everything again and put it all away. So whenever possible, keep it simple and try to keep your gear to a minimum!
Thinking that you need the latest gear in order to have fun. Avoid falling into the psychological trap that you can only have fun if you have the very latest gear. It’s a lie! Sometimes having an older board or an older sail with no cambers and a non-100%-carbon mast and boom that you don’t have to worry about breaking can be the secret recipe for having the most fun overall windsurfing experience. If you’re having fun with whatever you’re using, that’s all that matters. New stuff is great, but not always necessary.
Having gear that’s difficult or tiring to set up. It’s no fun to struggle with setting up your gear before you even get out on the water. If you ever find yourself feeling hot, tired and exasperated simply setting everything up on the beach, it might be worthwhile to rethink what you are using. Simple, fast and easy setups ought to be the goal.
Having gear that’s not easy to use. Once everything’s set up and you get on the water, if you find you can barely balance on your board or find it difficult to hold onto the sail and you’re frequently falling in, that can seriously detract from overall windsurfing fun. Maybe consider using a wider board and a smaller sail. If you find it exhausting or painful to get back up and get going again, and you find yourself mentally chanting, “don’t fall in again … don’t fall in again …” you are well within the city limits of Unfunville. Mentally slap yourself in the face and reassess your gear.
Windsurfing is fun! Avoid the fun-sapping things as much as possible, get out there, and enjoy yourself!
Harnesses are for Sissies by Ted Avellone
The harness. Aptly named indeed. An insidious instrument invented by Big Windsurfing to make a quick buck. Their medieval straps, buckles and bands constrain the body, create weak T-rex-like arms, and instill a dependence on the latest accessory telling you everyone needs one in order to enjoy windsurfing. Next they’ll be trying to sell us fancy black nylon straightjackets and ball gags, telling us they’re necessary to ease the strain on our backs and necks caused by windsurfing.
What’s the goal with such devices? To make the supposedly awful chore of windsurfing a little more tolerable? Well why not just ditch the sail and put a motor on the back of the board? And install a leather recliner on the deck while we’re at it?
Is our Big Windsurfing overlords’ idea of the ultimate effort-saving windsurfing gear a mechanized powered exoskeleton suit as seen in futuristic science-fiction movies like Alien and Edge of Tomorrow? Are harnesses the gateway accessory for the eventual realization of a Tesla-esque “sailorless sailboard?”
Or worse--will we one day be blindly convinced to submerge ourselves into liquid-filled pods hooked up to tubes and electrodes like in The Matrix and have computer programs make us think we’re experiencing windsurfing using our actual bodies?
Take the red pill before it’s too late! Cut the umbilical cord! Grit your teeth and embrace the glory of unfettered naked human endurance and sail in glory without a harness. ‘Tis better to have one’s arms ripped off with dignity than to live life as a timid shameful amoeba relying on straps and ropes to sail over the bounding main.
Next article: “Bathing Suits: An Existential Threat to Freedom? The Argument for Nude Windsurfing”
Windsurfing Safety
There’s not a lot of room to store safety gear on a windsurfer. Even if you modded your board or booms by attaching hooks and carabiners to hold bags for flares, radios, food & water and so on, you’d quickly end up with an unbalanced bulky and heavy rig that was terrible to sail and the purpose of even going windsurfing would be defeated.
Good news! You already have an extremely effective safety device that you carry around with you all the time that can get you out of almost every dangerous situation you might possibly encounter while windsurfing, and it’s even great for preventing you from getting into dangerous situations to begin with. What is this fantastic miraculous safety device?
Your brain.
Ah, yes, the oft-overlooked ol’ noodle. That counter-weight inside your skull that helps with effective head-butting. The thing that stops your eyes from rolling back into your head and down your throat. Scientists have discovered that with only minimal input, the brain can effectively guide the rest of the body and keep it from doing dangerous things.
Here are five basic windsurfing safety inputs you can easily place into your brain:
ALWAYS STAY WITH THE BOARD. No matter what. Not only does it float, it’s big and white and much easier to see by people in planes looking for you. Takeaway: If you have some sort of issue out on the water and you don’t stay with the board, you could die.
TELL SOMEONE WHERE YOU’RE GOING. Never head out from the beach without first having told someone on land where you’re going and when you expect to be back. Takeaway: If you don’t tell anyone where you’re going and you have some kind of issue out on the water, you could die.
IF POSSIBLE DON’T SAIL ALONE. Try to go windsurfing with at least one other person. Not only is it more fun, scientists have proven that multiple brains can figure out issues better than one brain. Takeaway: If you sail alone and you have some kind of issue out on the water, you could die.
DON’T WINDSURF WITH QUESTIONABLE GEAR. Questionable gear includes boards with cracked or broken mast tracks, mast bases with deeply cracked rubber tendons or mechanical joints that are loose or have missing parts, deeply faded 1980’s sails with loose threads sticking out everywhere, old epoxy masts that are “furry” with glass fibers, and any lines that are deeply frayed. Takeaway: If you head out with questionable gear, you could die.
DON’T WINDSURF IN DANGEROUS CONDITIONS. If you’re not sure what “dangerous conditions” are, here are a few examples: 1) Night. This should need no further explanation. If you are confused by this, your brain may be defective. 2) When you are hearing thunder. This too should need no further explanation. If you are confused by this, your name might be “Abbie Normal.” 3) When strong wind is blowing away from shore towards the open sea. If you ignore this one, and by some miracle you do not die before making landfall, learn to say this to greet your new friends: “Soy un idiota y me han soplado aqui desde Shell Point, Florida.” Takeaway: If you windsurf in dangerous conditions, you could die.
Simply place the above five safety inputs into your brain, and presto! You are now the proud owner of the greatest windsurfing safety device ever invented!
- Ted Avellone
The Riders
Year after year, like damselflies o’er pond in spring
those riders of boards white with multicolored wing
make easy idyllic way through beat and reach,
gliding about the waters off Shell Point beach.
“It has always been thus,” each year it is said
by those with shared passion to the club they’d been led
(including those who first met there, and wed!).
Long courses uncharted doth Father Time steer,
changing some riders through year upon year,
some once sprightly trim youth, now stiff stout and gray,
others now on distant shores; a few, passed away.
They carry on, those riders, on bay and on sand,
to gather and feast, share joy and lend hand,
o’er the pond of life do they go, sails tall full and bright,
deep in their hearts, Shell Point always in sight.
- Ted Avellone
Stormy Weather by Bob Graves
The weekend of August 2nd and 3rd started out way different than the way it ended up. We started our lesson on Saturday windless. Thankfully, the wind started filling in from the south around 1pm and the students got to experience better conditions resulting in a great lesson day. The calm before the storm.
Perry, the only long-term Shell Point resident in the club, had been following various apps tracking the storm and, over Saturday night martinis and discussion with Joe, Stan, Perry, Ryne, Laura, and Sandy, and a phone call from Wright (who was out of town) that evening, we decided the trailer had to get moved Sunday morning.
I couldn’t believe the number of people that reached out to help without being asked. Bob Andrews offered his trailer for us to offload the training gear into like we did after Michael, but we now leave everything in the trailer and even loaded the two sets of stairs on the back. Vaughan, Joe, Tina, and John Gilbert let us know that they would be down Sunday to lend a hand and thankfully they were all there. Early Sunday morning, Ryne, Perry, Stan, John and I prepped the trailer for removal.
We called Hobby towing in Shadeville, the folks who moved the trailer when the tongue broke, and they were not available because they were prepping for the storm. I then called Parkway towing, who said they couldn’t do it because of some contract with the city but he recommended Lake Jackson Towing. Lake Jackson Towing was there within 45 minutes. He hooked the trailer right up and pulled it out, slowly made it down the street, and backed it into our resting spot in Snug Harbor. John Mascaro was headed to the beach to sail when he saw our procession and turned around and joined in to help.
After parking the trailer, a contingent of folks went down to the beach to secure the Past Commodore’s lounge, the drying platform, and the shower platform.
In addition to all this, Perry and I had our own houses to prep. Perry’s neighbor Tony and his son Tyson, along with Joe and me helped Perry get his plywood window coverings up to his home. Sandy, Laura, and Ryne got our other neighbor Paul’s stuff up off the ground level and Joe moved my golf cart to Tallahassee using his trailer.
All of this work was accomplished by people taking the initiative and stepping forward to help at the beach: Perry Morris, Ryne Least, John Gilbert, Stan Derzypolski, Joe Sisson, Tina Mazanek, John Mascaro, Vaughan Williams, and Marguerite McClure. A big thank you as well to the Shell Point residents who had to navigate around the tow truck or wait as we got it connected and moved out.
SPSC Club Minutes, Tuesday, 7/9/2024
Place: District 850
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm by Vice Commodore Avellone and 17 members present.
Commodore: 7:02 called to order Commodore thanked everyone for their support and to the board and Ted for backup
Vice Commodore Ted: Ain’t Got Nothin’ (AGN)
Scribe Bob: Mentioned a new feature called “Why I wasn’t at the beach and Ted is going to write an article about why real men don’t wear harnesses.
Purser Wright: a little income from memberships Paid 93.94 for a mechanical base for training. There will in ins and outs for the Rum ‘n Root Beer and the Endless Summer. Membership stands at 98. Brochures expense about the club for 1,000 for $389 approved. Rose was presented with the Smith Trophy.
Past Commodore: Apologized for forgetting he was to host the last meeting but agree with Rick to do the next one in August.
Board member Vaughan: Summer series race is fun but there was concern about the proximity of some motorized boats. Not much can be done about folks that don’t know how to navigate a motor boat but stay wary and don’t assume they know what they are doing.
Discussion items
Memberships: SPSC has been invited to speak at the firehouse during their potluck dinner on August 12. Perry and Kristin agreed to do it.
Rum ‘n’ Root Beer: Rose spoke about the Star Wars theme and costumes are encouraged though costume contest will not happen.
Endless Summer: October planning meeting coming up. Need sponsors and swag for door prizes. Need someone to do the lunch.
The presentation was on sailing rights of way rules and rules pertaining to sailboat racing. Three separate videos were shown. The projector worked flawlessly.
Adjourned when all was said and done at 8:02.
Upcoming Events
- Summer Series, June 2nd - August 18 , 2pm
- Rum ‘n’ Root beer, August 11 (Sunday), Chair: Nancy
- Endless Summer Sailboard Classic, October 12-14, Chair: Kristin Korinko
- Atlanta Fall Classic, October 18-20, Chair: Chris Voith*
- Presnell’s Bayside Marina, November 17-24, Chair: None*
- Christmas Party, December 14, Chair: Ted Avellone
- Festivus, December 15 or 22, Chair: Vaughan Williams