Windsurfing Magazine

kristin
2002-12-23 14:00:00 | 191 views | 0 Comments

The guys in Long Beach, New York weren’t going to let me be a screw-up.

We were rapping about the Madeleine Island PWA event andtalk turned to my chances of winning. The hardened shell I hadformed to protect my ego from the PWA didn’t sit well in theirstomachs. The idea that I could go to a $65,000 event and notbelieve I had a right to some of the money was like saying “I don’tlike baseball” while sitting in box seats of a Yankee’s WorldSeries game.

Well, what can I say, I had never advanced a heat in the PWA-andno amount of confidence or attitude was going to make me able to doa clew first Swazy. It wasn’t like going to a smaller professionalevent where I expected to win heats and probably make the podium, Ihad resigned myself to being a guest of the event and writing thisstory. As far as the competition was concerned I just wanted tosail a good heat.

To close the subject I brought out my trump card and bragged”Oh, Canada where the women are warm and the beer half price!”thinking that these guys would appreciate a good party story. Theydidn’t-”Na bro, you gotta take this *$#* serious!”

The roads below the Air Canada twin prop Dash-8 look like glifs.It’s all space, and there is definitely space for all. The MicmacIndians named the Madeleine island archipelago “Menagoesenog” whichmeans “Islands brushed by the waves,” and it seems fitting. Thelast stop on the milk run is mine, and I walk onto the tarmac inthe fading light. Things are familiar from last year, and thingsare familiar to my home of Southampton, New York. The air isslightly salty, cool, and crisp-signature East Coast. I driveslowly, looking at the brightly colored homes hidden in the night,pass the convent that has been renovated into a restaurant/bar andinto Cap-aux-Meules.

I open the door to Las Pas Perdu and slip into the crowd. I havea wild grin on my face, seeing all my friends mixing with thelocals, listening to the harmony of languages: French, Dutch,English, Spanish and Papiomento all being spoken together with alive flamenco guitarist. Web Pedrick and Brad Drummond almost droptheir drinks to greet me and everything feels right.

At the end of the night, I meet Serge Arseneau, acarpenter and renowned local historian. I talk to him about localisland legends. He is quick to point out that all stories were atone time based on truth and what we hear are just permutations ofthat original truth. I ask to hear his version of the constructionof “La Verniere” one of the largest wooden churches still standingin North America. The story I heard last year told of islandersluring a ship onto the beach with signal fires so that they couldsalvage the precious wood for buildings.

Serge’s version is lessdevious. He described how a ship loaded with wood came ashore in astorm and how the locals took the salvage to build a church, andhow years later the owners of the ship decided to take the woodback and dismantled the church. The ship that tried to take thewood away from the island was also floundered by a storm whichformed a legend that says: if the “church came twice, God decidedit should be there.”

In the morning we meet with the rest of the circus at theskippers meeting. We are told to make our way South to Havre-Aubertand the event site for the day, Sandy Hook. I drive solo, listeningto French radio and looking at how the island has changed in ayear-which is very little. I cross the dune and stare at the Golfedu Saint-Laurent which could easily pass for the Atlantic inSouthampton or the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The sand is fine,white and flat; the water is green, white and clear.

The competition starts in marginal conditions but still the bestfreestyle moves are being made in every heat. Not surprisinglyRicardo Campello is sailing strong inhe lighter winds, alsoadvancing is Matt Prichard, Josh Stone and Nik Baker. As the windslighten, all the moves have less pop, and loops seem more likepeople falling out of the sky. The competition is put on hold andthe P.W.A acronym is in full effect-Please. Wait. Awhile.

For the next two mornings we settle in at ???The first day’swarm-ups are insane with the next generation ripping without theshackles of competition; guys like Ricardo Campello, DioniGuadignino, John Skye, Conor ??, Keali Seadi, and the Bonaire crewcould all make the hardest moves, usually one handed, before theflags go up. When the $65,000 was on the line though it wasdefinitely the veterans who made a run. I’ll never count MattPritchard out again; after battling back from his ankle injuries, Matt has finally got the whole bag of new freestyle tricks.

In thesecond round of the first elimination he basically embarrassed NikBaker, who on paper would be my pick. In the end there just isn’tanyone who puts together a better routine under pressure than MattPritchard. But Ricardo was waiting for him at the end of the firstround ladder and was not to be denied in his favored conditions.Campello was already way ahead on the judge’s scorecards but putthe exclamation point on the win by pulling the first ever Clock incompetition.

At night the kids are put to bed and it’s only the tour veteranswho make it to the body painting at gasbar. I’ve been painted intothe court jester and Brian Talma is being very thorough with apretty naked Canadian. Everyone is laughing, dancing and beingturned into someone else-a true Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hydeevening.

In my conversations with locals I am often asked if I like theislands. “Enough to come back this year” is my usual response,thinking that there is no better endorsement than returning. As anAnglophone it is sometimes difficult to convey subtle things and Ienjoy a few long, late night conversations. I like the MadeleineIslands because they are real.

The people who live on the islandsare there year in and year out. They stay when the tourists aregone, we are temporary, their friendships and lives are permanent.I am lucky to be taken into their circles, admitted into theirroutines and see their lives. There are other places on tour thatseem only to exist because of windsurfing.

I can imagine the Madeleine Islands becoming a windsurfingmecca; a destination for families, first time windsurfers andprofessionals alike. It has all the ingredients like wind and surf,but more than that it has a variety that we didn’t even begin tomeasure. On the same day you could sail port tack, or starboard,wave sailing or flat water. There are small dirt roads reachingoff, dunes to climb over, and even other islands to explore.

We were so focused on the competition that in two years I stillhaven’t been to Point Passe on Grande Entrée Island wherethe people speak a version of French without the letter “R”. Theclosest I’ve been to the English speaking island lled’Entrée was last year’s Big Hill race that due to giantseas was changed to finish on the end of Sandy Hook. The Isle DeMadeline are small enough to have a general delivery postal systembut big enough to take years to fully appreciate.

So in the end I didn’t make any money and the guys in Long Beachwon’t be happy, but I’ve done what I came to do-I sailed a goodheat. In the first elimination I drew my friend, Canadian PatrickBegeron. I’ve never been as nervous entering a heat as I was thatday, mostly because I felt I had a real opportunity to advance. Ifelt kinda bad beating Patrick, because up until that point I don’tthink he’s advanced a PWA heat either. He must have looked at thebracket the same way I did, saying, “cool I can win this one.”

I didn’t wake up on time for my flight back to New York, and asa result got to watch the first moments of the second eliminationround. A strong NorthWest wind had blown through the night andbegun pilling waves onto the event site for the day, Corfu. Thearea, which was named for one of the Onasis fleet ships that in1964, was washed onto the shore with a similar wind. It was cool tosee Patrick sail, do a giant planing pushloop and beat TatiFranz!

Jace Panebianco is sponsored by Roberto Ricci Design Boards, www.hotsailsmaui.com, Da Kine, Fiberspar, CurtisFins, Croakies and Daggers.

Special thanks to the Coup De Isles, www.coupedesiles.com

Jace Panebianco

t andbegun pilling waves onto the event site for the day, Corfu. Thearea, which was named for one of the Onasis fleet ships that in1964, was washed onto the shore with a similar wind. It was cool tosee Patrick sail, do a giant planing pushloop and beat TatiFranz!

Jace Panebianco is sponsored by Roberto Ricci Design Boards, www.hotsailsmaui.com, Da Kine, Fiberspar, CurtisFins, Croakies and Daggers.

Special thanks to the Coup De Isles, www.coupedesiles.com

Jace Panebianco