the Atlanta Boardsailing Club
windsurfing, kiteboarding and wingsurfing in the Southeast

Who better to gloat than a goat?

I'm here and you're not. As such, it's my duty to tell you how good it is and to re-enforce those feelings of inadequacy and helplessness you feel living in the craphole of wind that is Atlanta: Where Wind Goes to Die™. I've been in your shoes. I've felt that envy as others tell me how great it is. I've read the reports from foreign lands where the breezes blow steady; and the water and wind is warm.

But, not today. Today, I get to be an a-wipe. I get to tell you how even my callouses have blisters because it's been blowing so hard everyday from breakfast until dinner. I get to tell you how the water is so flat and wind so steady that I'm making jibes that I have no business making. I'm not bending my knees, I'm not over-sheeting. Heck, I'm not even sure I'm unhooking and pressing on the leeward rail but somehow I'm still planing on the other side. Yeah, it's that good. I'm a pretty crappy windsurfer but for a week, I'm frigging awesome.

We are overdue for one of our periodic installments of our Monthly Caption of the Week "contest". Things have been busy at home and participation in the last installment was, ahem, underwhelming. But, nonetheless, we'll toss out this pic from the Foto Gallery and hope for the best.

In this pic, we're not sure if Marcel is getting his board to fetch something from the water or has filled it with helium (or, worse, hydrogen). We're sure that your interpretation will be better than ours.

The usual rules apply
- The captions need not be directly related to what actually was happening in the picture. No, the purpose is to think of re-interpretations, much like a child or spouse inventing an excuse.
- Of course, no disrespect is meant to those in the picture. Think of yourselves as actors in a performance; you are only playing the part. However, there are no royalties, residuals or awards for your participation.

Here's this month's picture. Put your entry for the Monthly Caption of the Week in the comments below.

I'm having a great time by myself while all my friends are in Hatteras. Yep, great time.

It's been relatively quiet around the scene here in the last few weeks. It's not that no one is windsurfing. They are just windsurfing elsewhere with a large local contingent up at Hatteras. From their reports [1],[2],[3], it's been a windy spring and they've been able to break out gear - small stuff - not often used in Atlanta.

Seppe Van Pugh, Pepe Le Pew's Dutch cousin.
A windsurfer who was concerned about the parking situation. Shred Dog, is that you?

There has been much anxiety recently over windsurfing access at Van Pugh Park on Lake Lanier- more specifically, windsurfing trailer access. To recap for those who haven't been paying attention or cared (which is the larger number of you, we're sure): Recently, several club members found themselves under the scrutiny of park officials for parking trailers along the curb by the windsurfing beach as we have since before World Champion Philip Köster was born. While we thought we'd put the issue to bed after consulting Chief Ranger Chris Arthur, a subsequent episode indicated that things weren't quite settled.

For the windsurfing community, the issue was both symbolic and real. Lake Lanier is the largest open body of water in North Georgia. Van Pugh Park is the most popular windsurfing location on Lake Lanier, mostly due to its exposure to prevailing westerlies. Most of the best high wind sailing occurs here as countless photos in our Foto Gallery document. If there is a picture of a windsurfer in N. Georgia five feet over the water, it likely was taken at Van Pugh. (Clarks Hill is every bit as good and big but it's two and half hours away in Augusta).