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Scott: I did not respond a few weeks ago but saw, enjoyed, and thought a lot about your post. I do recognize a few but very vaguely. Was the striped suit Cami married Jeromy Bishop? I visited them once at the gorge. My next thought was how much better looking and fit people were in the 70’s and early 80’s. But I’m just prejudice for the time period. My last thought is I love nostalgia windsurfing pictures. So sad that so many many people we knew that past through the sport we had such good times with and are remembered in bits and pieces. It would be fun for posting scanned old pictures with descriptions as remembered ( much needed here ) on a regular basis.
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I had a nice Email banter with Tom Thursday. Nice guy, Started when he was 14 circa 1984 with a family Bic Dufour Wing. I wonder how many windsurfers still existed that started young. Most of us started after we had the money to shell out for equipment. My thought when writing was there was actually a small paper pamphlet in the early 80’s associated with windsurfing spots in central NY. What a piece of nostalgia it would be to have that. Don’t remember the details but guess it was part of the windsurfer one design race promotions at the tine.
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Friday late morning 10:30to 2:00 may just be one of those elusive Southwick days where a SSW drops into the middle part of the lake. WindyTY never has it going full SW so Henderson Harbor is out. Seneca is peaking at 12 to 14. Air should be in the 50’s and water 58 with full on sun for us old folks. Sure would like to sail Southwick with a sand beach. last time was 3 years ago with Mike Moran about this time of year and it was a rig every sail festival. -
Hi Tom: Got your Email. Here are the places that I sail on the East and South side of Ontario the past 38 years. Going from The south shore up the east shore counterclockwise.
West Barrier Bar Park Fairhaven – On the west side of the Little Sodas Bay. Very end of west bay Rd behind Fair Point Marina. Go all the way to the end of the dirt road. NW is dead on shore. Good in N fantastic in NE with swell. I have sailed in W when I was too cheap to pay to get in the State park. If you sail in a W launce soon as the road hits the water so you are away from the sea wall. Easy sand launch Sea wall keeps the shore break mild in NE. Free. Use to be a favorite of Kiters .
Fairhaven State Park – Off 104A east side of Fairhaven. My all time favorite place in a W, NW. Lost favor from the Syracuse Clan because it is typically 4 knots less in a W than points west but I still go there because it is a safe easy launch especially when the water is cold. The east part of the beach has got more round stone in the past few years but still easy. Fairhaven can be sailed in a slight SW say 260 deg. Nice waves. $7 park fee unless your a Sr. like me and get in the Golden Park program for free!
Rudy’s Clam bar – On the West side of Oswego State college. Take Fred Hayes Blvd off 104. in Oswego. Park West side of the Clam bar. Steep round rock launch that the water gets deep fast and bad shore break. Good in W, WNW, N,NE. We windsurfed there a lot when we were young because there is always a crowd to show off to plus clams and beer!. Worse in high water. I have not sailed there in years.
Mexico Boat launch – End of RT 40 off 104B in Mexico. This was the go to place for 30 years because there always is a little more wind there. Good in W, WNW. Fee during season. Step over the rocks and launch from a 10 ft sand beach next to the rock entrance of the little salmon river. The channel entrance protects from bad shore break but there is little room for error and no place to exit down wind. High water covers the little beach and makes it dangerous.
Selkirk Shores state park – Is just around the corner a few miles on Rt 3 on the east shore. Go to the Southern most part of the park and launce near the parking lot where grindstone creek enters the lake. Good in a NW or NNW when Mexico gets closed out. Starboard launch. Launch is a gentle rock beach.
Sandy Island Beach State park – end of Rt 15 off Rt 3 up the lake 15 min. South of North Sandy Pond. This is a nice sand beach and was a favorite place to take girl friends before it became a state park because it is the first nice sand beach up the lake. Good in NW NNW but the wind seldom blows there.
Southwick Beach State Park- Up the lake 20 min off rt 3 where 193 intersects. Good in a S,SW, NNW . SSW is dead on shore but can be manageable because the water is shallow and it is an easy launch. Southwick is the nicest sand beach with the best launch on the east side but good sailing days are rare because the wind never blows there. I bet I have stopped at Southwick beach a hundred times it was blowing SW 12 and it was 20 farther up the lake at rays or Henderson. We use to sail there on crazy SW or S forecasts or very cold because its safe. Enjoy it if you get it.
Black Pond management Area – Never sailed because it is too long a walk to carry. Understand it is a favorite of kiters because of easier carry. Always plan to make a wheeled cart to roll the half mile needed.
Rays Bay Beach – Is on Rays bay near Boomer Cove. Rt3 left on 178 at the Cherry Tree Inn Take a left on Lighthouse Hill. Take a left on unmarked road after power lines cross. Rays bay Beach is marked on Google maps but it is just state owned land with no facilities at the end of a long dirt road. The rock shoals at the corners of Rays and Sawyers bay are the best waves on Ontario but hard to get at. launch is a 20 yard walk down a steep hill with and shallow slippery shale launch. Good in SSE, S, SW. Worth the effort. Google earth Satellite will show the shoals I’m talking about. Secret spots and special parking permission for a few to get to the shoals caused a lot of bad feelings in the Syracuse clan 25 years ago
Henderson Harbor – Wescott beach State park. Good in SW WSW. launch on the nice beach south of the boat ramps. Most of us sail from Joe Cushman’s camp on Rock Ledge Dr. Only log cabin. SW forecast use to be a guarantee up there 25 years ago but just has not been firing like it use to
Northern Bays – From Pillar point to Point Peninsula seem to get a lot more wind. Mike Moran has a camp up there and gets way more windsurfing but I am not knowledgeable. You can see that there is more wind there on WindyTTY -
Doug: My story ( Short as to cause you less pain ) I started windsurfing in 1981 and taught windsurfing at Cross Lake Marina my friend Steve Kenan owned after being cert at the Mistral School on the Chesapeake Bay in 1983. Steve got me started. The only one I remember from Rochester from the early 80’s that went to the windsurfer races was Scott and I knew Peter from Quantum Leap.
The Avatar has a lot of meaning to me. It was taken in 1984 on my first trip to Hatteras. I was 29 years old and had just bought my first wave board at Fox a Proteck Greg Lower Custom. My face is painted up with colored Zinc Oxide because when the waves were big we became “Wave Warriors” The ball cap is backward and is dated 1983 from the 83 Windsurfer World championships in Kingston where I spent the week. ( party not competing )
Between 1981 and 2001 I windsurfed 40 to 60 times a year and traveled a lot to the Gorge and Hatteras. Always with a huge group of people. I really miss that. I stopped windsurfing in 2002 because I had a new job that occupied all my time, Family and moved to the middle of the woods. All occupied my time and it was apparent global warming was changing the number of windsurfing days in Central NY. By that time the number of windsurfers was a fraction what it was in the 80’s and 90’s and the social atmosphere was gone. I miss that the most. I started back windsurfing in 2015 after I retired. That explains why I was nonexistent for your 8 years and the vintage of my equipment. I assumed I would not have the strength I had when I was younger but it really upsets me how few days you can sail now and that my skills are not coming back. I’m spending Nov on Edisto Island south of Charleston SC. where I use to windsurf a lot and hopefully get my Jesus back. I call the Syracuse group of windsurfers a clan because that’s what we were. I miss that too.
Last, The Bob in FrankieBob is because when your not planing your Bobbing. Thanks for your friendship!
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Doug thanks for the mention! I’m the last of the Syracuse Clan that sails Seneca in a SSE to SSW wind. They all go to Mike M.’s camp on Point Peninsula or Joe C’s. camp on Henderson. Or Kevin B. camp on Mexico Pt . Just too far for me to drive when I can be at Seneca in 40 min. Here is a picture of the last 7 Syracuse Clan minus Mike who took the picture on an early Oneida East this Spring . Tom Lott still windsurfing at 70. Worth the drive just to see so many sails on the water again. Hard to imagine 25 years ago Oneida looked like that on an east wind. Jim K. The Syracuse Clan says hello and all hope you’re doing well. We still call you Red Rider. Left to right Dave H. Tom L. Kevin B. Joe C. Frank G. Mike M. ( Photographer)
Frank G.
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Hi Geoff! Thanks for the advice and offer. I would absolutely take that route if I had a camp on the water. Not sure I want to try to haul a full size board on the factory racks on my cars now. Saw a brand new Mistral Equipe still in the bubble wrap and parts boxed went for $1050 on Ebay monday. I was tempted. Before I had several different full size vans for surf mobiles which were great. I had this caravan I took the back seat out and a two tier rack I made. It was actually pretty awesome! On top is a Rogue Wave SL, A Gregg Lower Wave and a mistral SST comp. We sure tore the poly boards up fast!
FrankieBob
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Geoff I agree with everything you have said. Kevin has already had a couple of the high leverage ankle twisting falls like you have said. He got annoyed at me when I commented that he had more money into the Horue 120 than I have in my last 5 boards all new but one. In the late 80’s I had an Mistral SST Comp race board that with a 6.8 I could be in the straps planning in 12. Of course I was 25 lbs lighter then but I wish I still had that board. A significant decrease in wind locally starting in about 2000 killed local windsurfing but we are just as guilty for its death. In the 80’s we always took long boards, girlfriends, wives, dogs, kids, windsurfing. We went even if there was low prospect of real wind just to spend the day at the beach with other windsurfers because it was cheap entertainment. When we stopped teaching people on no wind days we killed the future of the sport. I met my wife windsurfing. Saturday was about the most horrible day I ever saw up in Henderson. Wind was 16 -30+ shifting SSW to SW all on the same reach. SSW is off shore. I did see an old friend Rob Sachs who stopped to see the 3 of us. I had not seen him in 15 years. Still windsurfing in a pair of Ellen Tracy sunglasses he sold me 20 years ago. He laughed when I remembered the sales pitch he used ” Richard Gere wears these!”
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I thought the same thing. The biggest attraction is the publicized lower wind speeds that are acceptable. Kevin has been a couple times and so far been successful getting up on foil for a couple hundred yards at a time. His first response is that it requires a very gentle trim touch for both sail and board. No yanking and cranking like you can on a windsurfer. I guessed that by watching video. He indicates beach launching is much harder than you would guess too. Right now for him @ 220 lbs. it is an 14 to 18 knot sport. He also has got some nice marks on his legs from falling on the mast and foil. He lives at the end of derby hill rd next to the bird sanctuary at Mexico point. He also says the rollers that occur in 14 on Ontario are making it harder because you have to adjust for that also where with a windsurfer you really don’t. Three of us are going up to Henderson Harbor to catch the SW tomorrow. Joe Cushman Owns Dick Gaffney’s old camp on Rockledge rd now. Man! I have lots of good memories from there when Dick owned it and 10 of us would sail. Maybe I will get a chance to see in person but I’m hoping for more wind. My next purchase will be a board that will float me since I have not owned a floater in 20+ years and can’t do the gymnastics to get to the wind line like I use to.
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If there is low pressure in the Ohio valley or Mich. and a high in the Canadian Maritimes with a 10 mph east forecast due to the topology of the Mohawk valley there is sometimes a 20 – 40 wind on the western end of Oneida lake. The airport can be reporting 9 and 10 miles away it is blowing 30. 20 years ago this elusive condition would happen about once a month. When Dave Eicorn a local meteorologist first arrived in Syracuse he was talking to a bunch of fisherman and one named Tom Lott said the windsurfers kept diaries of every east wind day for the past 10 years. This was important to Dave and he wanted to understand the phenomenon because there were cases of fisherman drown on east wind days. One was a friend of mine. So Dave borrowed our wind diaries to check what the conditions where at the time of east wind in order to forecast and save fisherman lives. Back in the day the Syracuse gang would contact the Rochester gang and on a good forecast a group would often make the drive. It was not unusual back then for 40 windsurfers to be at Oneida shores park with 3 or 4 of the Rochester guys on a east day. Since Oneida is shallow an east wind creates a very steep chop that can be fun. Does not seem that the east wind blows much anymore and if it does it is 5.8 or 6.5. last week was an epic east blow of 4 days straight. Never ever remember 4 days in a row. Wed was 5.2 Thurs was 4.1 Fri was 4.7 and Sat was 5.2 but most of us were too beat up to sail and it was opening Bow season in S. Zone. The few of us left in the Syr area that sailed last week were Frank G, Kevin B, Mike M, and Tom L. The same Tom L mentioned above who is 71 now! Mike and I are the only ones left that occasionally go to Seneca and sail with our Rochester brothers. Mike has a camp north of Henderson on Ontario now which is incredible in a south wind so I doubt he will show much any more. If there are any Rochester old timers left that use to come and sail the Oneida east please give a shout if you remember. I know we sailed some epic east days with you.
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Mihelbergel: Back in the late 80’s very early 90’s 3 to 5 of us in the Clan would often take the road trip and sail Hamburg town park even went to Crystal once when the wind stayed south. Great group of windsurfers both ability and friendliness. Don’t remember any names and there were no kiters yet. Had trouble getting in the park a few times during season because we were not residence. Once the guy only let us in because we made up a story about being writers for Winsurf Mag. Which by the way there was an article in the late 80’s comparing the wind at Hamburg and Hatteras. Bet he thought it was us. Ha ha. Wish I still had a copy for you. You need to be my age to understand just how much freedom and liberty we have lost in 25 years. Windsurfers tend to be people who cherish freedom. Running from Hamburg to Crystal was a 30 second stop on the freedom bridge. I use to smuggle Rogue Wave boards over the border all the time after visiting Lee Britten in Oakville. The best example was our trips to the gorge. Everyone in the group of 6 or 8 could stay different amounts of time from 2 to 6 weeks. So what we would do is buy 3 or 4 round trip tickets from Syracuse to Portland. We would stuff a van full of 2 boards each and camping equipment. Half would drive the van out and half would fly. Each person would be picked up at the Airport and hand the return half of his ticket to someone. In this way you only had to drive one way, had all your stuff, only paid for half a round trip air fair, could stay as long as you wanted. We rotated 4 hour driving shifts. This allowed us to be together and stay different amounts of time. Air lines only cared that you had a ticket and could identify who you were. Imagine that level of freedom today? It wasn’t perfect though I got held up in customs once going to Aruba because they thought a California Cut Away wave fin was a religious sacrificial dagger. Finally a custom agent in Puerto Rico confided in us that the reason we were always stopped and searched was because my wife’s favorite compact looked like the outline of a hand grenade on the X-Ray. He even showed us. Yeiks! I don’t fly any more because I refuse to be treated like a criminal. Yea I miss the adventure! FrankieBob
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Doug you must be my good luck charm! Ha ha! After a year and a dozen times of trying to get a profile picture post it looks like it finally worked! Kind of like a real estate agents card that shows them 30 years younger this is my first time in Hatteras in 1984. The board is a Greg Lower custom.( poly of course) I just bought at fox. The hat from the 1983 Windsurfer worlds in Kingston. Best 2 weeks of my life! We put colored Zinc oxide for face paint to be wave warriors. I was 29 years old!! What a baby! ( 61 now). Life was never as good as it was at that moment! I did not have $200 to my name and was so happy! Please keep my secret and allow me to remember windsurfing the way it was.
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East wind is fickle if it has too much north or south it does not happen. Often dies by 11 and does better when it rainy bad weather. Oneida has no wind meters that are even close to correct so someone has to check in person. Tom and Mike are just a few minutes away and often make the report. Oneida is actually a longer drive than Seneca for me. I found this old picture of an east wind in 1995. State Police boat broke down and a group of windsurfers walked the boat up the shore line until we got it to the boat ramp. Hard not to smile at this and the good karma made the wind blow for a few years longer. Seems like the wind stopped around Y2K. Maybe the wind would start blowing again if we worked on karma more. The older I get the more I believe in karma. Hope the picture shows. Its my first attempt and Im not great with computers.
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