Finally had a chance to sail Sta 29 here in Charleston yesterday. Temps were around 60 with wind 5.0 in the morning to 5.7 in the afternoon. As advertised, flat water on the inside. And, a good intro to wavesailing.

Unfortunately for me, the wind drops a good meter in the breakers and going out (wind was sideshore) was my geeky side ie the side that I jump horribly. So, I'd hit whitewater, spinout the landing and be stuck trying to pump back on a plane while the next pile of white water came rushing. (Usually with dismal results). A couple of times, I thought I'd made it out as it looked clear only to find I'd mistimed the sets and the outer break would go off munching me. Did make it outside a couple of times and found the swells huge for a lake boy.

Again, didn't help that it was my bad side going out cause the first time, I hit a big (I hate to speculate how big, cause being a newbie in that frothy stuff, it looked like I was sailing through a MARTA parking lot, while the locals probably thought they looked like scooters) swell that had a peaked lip and went halfway into an accidental backloop. Boy, is it fun waterstarting in the windless troughs.

After a while, I found my comfort level and figured out how to waterstart in the foam (quickly) and had a blast sailing back in.

Big props to the locals who, to a one, were very nice, helpful and even came by while I was swallowing the break just to check out that I wasn't headed to Venezuela.