Overpowered

It's windy here in Corpus Christi! And I mean really windy. I have no idea where the wind comes from, the forecast never shows any wind until a day or two in advance. And even then the prediction is usually really low. The wind meter is the same. Today it read averages of 20-25mph and I was lit on my 4.2. I have yet to figure out how to rig the right sail to not end up lit like sh*t. Well, I had one underpowered day on my 5.0.

Here's a short recap:
Sailing day 1: Just arrived, rigged the 5.0, should have been on the 4.2.
Sailing day 2: 5.0 again. This way my only underpowered day. Still nice in warm temps and water.
Sailing day 3: Light wind freestyle in almost planing conditions and Lycra - yes it was that warm!
(Sailing) day 4: Tried to do speed, on the 4.7 TR7 and the 89l Falcon. Injured my triceps and ended up walking back a little more than 1 mile. Crazy windy - I had problems carrying my gear into the water and ended up dragging it in. Guess I should have rigged the 3.4...
Sailing day 5: My triceps still hurts, so I think I am taking it slow rigging the 4.2 when everybody else is on way larger stuff. I end up rigging down to the 3.7 and could have sailed the 3.4 easy.
Sailing day 6: The readings show 18mph, I rig my 5.0 and have a couple of normal-powered runs until the wind picks up again. It was supposed to go down. I stay on the 5.0 but should have rigged down to the 4.5.
Sailing day 7: Well, it was supposed to be windy. But not that much. It kind of looks like 4.5, I rig the 4.2, but end up contemplating to rig down to the 3.7 or 3.4 the whole day while sailing. Just the last hour the wind drops a little and I can finally really try some stuff instead of just pretending to try and getting slammed.

If you've never been to North Padre Island for windsurfing and you windsurf you need to go. Last year I was sore for the first 4 weeks because it was so windy. We planed pretty much every second day. From how it is shaping up, this year seems to be no different or even windier. Peter has already set 3 new personal bests speed-sailing in the last 7 sessions.

Here are a few pictures of the sailing spot and conditions:

The view of the bay on a windy day at Bird Island Basin (the bay is shallow, you can stand almost e

View of our sailing spot from the water

It windy  - again

I on my 4.2

Worldwinds - awesome place with great rental equipment

Howdy Texas!

We made it!
After a 2 day driving marathon we arrived on North Padre Island to do what? Windsurf, of course! Having driven for more than 24 hours straight we quickly unloaded some stuff and went to the beach. Wind readings showed 21 mph with temperatures around 23 degrees Celsius (~75F), the water being almost as warm.
Not trusting my instincts after driving so long I asked for advice on what to rig and ended up rigging my 5.0 after seeing people out on what seemed to be mostly between 5.5 and 6.5. I believe the wind picked up just when I rigged, but I should have probably listened to Peter who rigged his 5.6 which would have meant 4.2 or 4.5 for me. I ended up pretty overpowered but was as usual too lazy to re-rig and simply sailed what I was on. Of course this meant lots of sore muscles the next day, but that was curable by going sailing again. The session on the second day was also on the 5.0, but mostly underpowered and involved lots of pumping. And since it it a cold day today here in Texas (16 degrees Celsius = 60 F), this means I get to soak my tired muscles in our private hot tub in a few minutes ;)

Here are a few pictures from what we left behind on Cape Cod, I in the car during a short ferry ride, and of course our hot tub:

German Cheesecake

It was Peter's birthday recently, so I made his favorite cake: German cheesecake:

German cheesecake is made with greek yogurt, not with cream cheese like the American version. Since there are also several eggs in the cake and I usually make the bottom crust with half whole wheat flour, Peter calls this cake healthy. While I am not sure this is true, it is probably one of the "better for you" cake recipes.

Crust:

• 100g white flour
• 100g whole wheat flour
• 100g butter
• 50g sugar
• 1 egg
• salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Filling:

• 750g greek yogurt
• 200 ml cream 
• 100 ml milk
• 3 eggs
• 120g sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
• 3-4 tbsp instant vanilla pudding

Combine the ingredients for the crust to a smooth dough, and put in the fridge for 1 hour. I usually soften / melt the butter before mixing the ingredients (I believe you are not supposed to do this and use cold chunks of butter, but I never noticed much of a difference in the end product and it is way easier to combine with melted butter).

Bake crust in preheated 390 degree oven for 10 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Combine greek yogurt, milk, and cream. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar until frothy, then beat in the pudding powder. Using a spoon stir egg mixture into greek yogurt until combined. Put on crust and bake at 390 degrees for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 340 degrees and continue to bake for 55 minutes. Let cool in baking form.