Cape Cod, the Sandwich Shark (Part II), and Paying it Forward

A screeenshot of a screenshot of the offending critter, as seen
in The Cape Cod Times and Cape Cod Bay

FISH THOUGHTS
I'd paddled that morning to the ocean, and had kept a weather eye for fins. But at Kalmus, all thought of sharks, were put out of mind by the business and missing paraphernalia of windsurfing. After all, this was the harbor, and this week's (June 30->)  great white sighting happened near Sandwich.

Sandwich?? Wait a minute!

What the heck is a great white doing lurking in the southwest corner of Cape Cod Bay?

Chatham, yes, with all the seals, we expect ... but Sandwich?

Well, as long as he or she doesn't reverse course, swing by Provincetown and back down the cape, and along the coast toward Woods Hole, we're OK for the duration.

From ocearch.org.

SUPing across the bay to the ocean will resume at 7 am, before the sea breeze really kicks in.

Viva vacation on Cape Cod.




Every now and zen I try to remember to bring an extra this or that, just in case someone forgets this or that. ... or to have a complete rig just in case Lenny shows up. And over the course of a windsurfing life, there's gratefully a lot of lend and loan. Harnesses, lines, screwdrivers, sails, boards, UJ's, masts, fins, screws ... you name any of the myriad paraphernalia ... and we all know there are way too many parts, including many incompatible. Tut tut Tuttle ( I mean really ... metric screws?).

So recently, according to my crew on the beach I was "a dum-dum from New York" who forgot his boom.

Yup, in the last minute frenzy of loading the car, dog, teenage mutant ninja turtle and various sundries, and trying real hard to bring the absolute minimum ... I erred, and I mean erred to absolute minimum -1.

"Tell George Marr that George Pav was doing some nice tricks,"
said Mike Burns. Windy back in New York it is. 

I was all rigged up and suited up and the last part to go on was ... well that "minus-1" was the boom. However, ask and ye shall receive, and a fine gentleman named Jeff from Kalmus lent me one big enough for the biggest sail I brought ... a 5.8. A friendly bunch they are.

But I've been there so much, poured a lot of $,$$$ into the local economy, that I feel quite at home. All the same I was glad I'd "paid it forward" another time, another place.

It looked frothy out there. Kalmus is shallow and produces more whitecaps per knot/foot than Heck. I was convinced it would be like days of yore when Kal was 5.3 by 1 pm and 4.0 by 5pm. I figured I'd be blown off the water with my 109 L board. But not so. It never ramped up, and instead I paid my early season dues, with schlogging, pumping, switching to the big 14" weed fin and occasional planing. No matter. The extra workout of the schlogfest would come in handy in a week's time in New York.

"So how is New York?" Jeff asked.

"Well, it's been windy, but this here spot in Cape Cod has always been a reliable wind destination, maybe except maybe for the last few trips ... ." Does Kalmus still blow like it did? That was the question.