Windsurfing » Epic Sessions

Epic Sessions (173 unread)

Video test

Posted: November 8th, 2009, 2:37am CET

I've been working on some configuration changes to the video encoder and playback, so I could use some feedback on the viewing of this video in terms of smoothness, speed of download, etc.

This is just some random video from the board test that I pulled off of a larger video that I'll be uploading once I get these encoder issues worked out.

Enjoy and gimme some feedback!

Quick Sheboygan video

Posted: November 7th, 2009, 6:12pm CET

Great day yesterday at Sheboygan. Super powered, lots of sunshine. The Elbow was firing and the surfers were putting in at the outside ladder since the waves were breaking way outside.

I must have had old batteries in the GoPro's, since after 3 hours of sailing, I only had a few minutes of video. No matter - that day is seared into my brain. ;-)

Real quick

Posted: November 5th, 2009, 3:16pm CET

Nice GoPro HD review here.

Mine are en-route. Hope to have them before tomorrow when the lake goes 8-12 feet, but I doubt it.

Next post will be FULL of GoPro video goodness. (Carl - this ones for you!)

Flying... (home)

Posted: October 20th, 2009, 7:28am CEST

Ah, another annual high wind board test finished, my final thoughts on the boards committed to paper, the final de-rig and packing of wet rash guards, harness and proto booms.

Today was a casual day, blasting on an overpowered 4.7 at uppers going big and sometimes paying the price. Jake was spot on nailing everything and anything he went for. Russ must have been feeling better with a few forwards on the bad ankle. Francisco hung out for a while - always good to see his smile! Keith brought by a freestyle wave proto for 2010 that looked great, but he is making a few more tweaks before it goes to Cobra. Testers were making their final runs on the boards, and some were plotting how to smuggle their fave home.

Ray crashed big - video to come soon - and messed his knee up for the rest of his trip. Kinda like last year on the Red Rhino, eh?

Anyway, I'm committing this post to the blog, and then its off to the airport for my flight to the mainland.

Aloha!

Ps - and yes, I can fly. Not for very long, but I can really soar! ;-)

Killer!

Posted: October 19th, 2009, 9:53pm CEST

Sunday was awesome. Spectacular. Epic. Pick your word for it, it killed. Everyone was on fire and the winds were jacked.

Hats off to Carl for getting around his first four forward loops! He's totally stoked to be 44 and learning to go over the bars - he can claim it as Ray saw one and the GoPro's caught them all (video forthcoming).

Sorry for the lack of video - there's just too much to go through as I've been running 3-4 GoPro's on the gear generating a lot of video and too little time to go through it.

Today's my last day on the island. I'm stoked to sail, and very ready to head home back to the family. Its been another good test trip, one for the books.

Great day!

Posted: October 18th, 2009, 8:32pm CEST

Wow, what a day. The wind was looking great, and the light was perfect for photos. The crew was a bit slow from the night before, having enjoyed sake and sushi at Jacques followed by marathon sessions on the dance floor until the lights came on (gasp!). Some piled on the Advil, one jumped in the ocean and the remedies seemed to work and we hit the water to warm up before Erik and the helicopter arrived.

I gotta say, having a helicopter 15 horizontal feet off of your mast tip while you're blasting across the water is way cool. I sure hope the photo turns out. The pilot had the chopper right on top of me to the point that I could read the make and model of Erik's camera gear. Yeah, it was that close. If I would have bore off, I'm sure my mast tip would have hit the skids. (I hope there wasn't a huge booger hanging off my nose! LOL)

An hour later Erik was back to take some more photos of the team from the water with his fisheye lens. This is always a blast as you have to literally sail on top of him to get the shot. As last year, I stuck a GoPro on his helmet and got some good video that I'm still going through. Everyone was tearing it up and I know there's a pile of great shots in there.

I spent the bulk of my day on the 2010 5.3 Goya Guru, and I was super pleased with it. The new model has way more low end power (which I need) and handles like a dream on a wave and in the air. My only complaint is that I noticed that the 2010 Goya's don't have the pocket in the mast pad for your downhaul line like last year. That's it. That's my only gripe. ;-)

I'd bet that I end up on the 4.7 Eclipse today. It was already crankin at 7am - always a good sign. I've got a super busy schedule planned that includes running the entire fleet to uppers for some head to head wave testing. If I get that done before the wind quits, I'm gonna grab my favorite board and have a little personal fun time in the waves. Carl is planning to learn to loop today - which has Josh a little apprehensive. Not sure why, since Carl will be wearing his helmet. ;-)

Aloha!

Wind? Really?

Posted: October 16th, 2009, 11:01pm CEST

Today there's a stirring in the trees as the trade winds return to the north shore. Everyone's pretty stoked to get back on the boards and get our testing mojo on.

We've been spending our last few windless days surfing, SUP'ing and recovering from the flu that's been having its way with a few members of the test team. Josh is back to 100% and Aaron is almost there as well. I think I've successfully fought off the yuck with the medicine bombing of my system and fingers are crossed that the rest of the crew doesn't succumb this weekend. ;-)

The coming weekend looks great for some solid back-to-back sailing days with some really decent winds that should get everyone onto small sails and give these high wind boards a real run through.

See you next post with some meat!

Get a grip!

Posted: October 14th, 2009, 9:24am CEST

In addition to new boards being tested, I've been sailing some prototype booms this trip. Now I'm kinda particular about my booms. Specifically in diameter, stiffness and overall user friendliness with the front end, rear pulley and cleat, and easy to use size markings.

And most of all, they need to be strong. I'm a big guy and I sail hard on my gear. One summer I taco'd so many aluminum booms the manufacturer stopped replacing them and strongly recommended to rider their carbon model. (I liked the aluminum one for its reduced diameter). I have to admit that I was a bit sceptic about the survivability of these booms when I was asked to test them. But hey, thats part of the deal, right?

That said, I like these booms. So much that I forget I'm sailing aluminum. But alas, they're stiff and crisp when sailing. What's so special about them? The grip. There's a pronounced "V" on the inside of the boom that makes it super easy to grip the boom, especially when wave sailing. Take a close look at the photos, but keep in mind that we used a wide angle lens to accentuate the view of the "V".

In normal sailing, the grip was less taxing on my forearms. When doing tricks, it was easier to snag the boom with a few fingers and on some near misses, I pulled it out because of the "V". I really noticed the "V when wavesailing - it was super comfy when working hard on the rig going down the line.

Items to note - the diameter was large for some of the women or people with smaller hands, but the production version of them will be about 15% smaller and with a less pronounced "V".

The locking pins for the adjustments were user friendly and beefy, but I wish they'd mark the extension with overall length cm and not just cm of adjustment. The head was nice, though I think there's a more refined version in the works.

The best thing about these booms - the price. I'm not going to disclose MSRP, but in today's economy, these booms are priced right, perhaps even below what I think the value is for them.

And if you've never heard of the brand, rest assured, while they may not be a household name in the North American windsurfing market, these guys have been around the block and then some in Europe. No worries there at all.

Check 'em out, give them a trip and get a better grip on your sailing.

Intermission

Posted: October 13th, 2009, 11:50pm CEST

The trades have backed down today and while the team is scattered around the island, here's a little video for the home audience to enjoy.

This is from last February 15 at Hookipa. Low clouds, rain squalls and a dirty lens make this video less than stellar but Robby, Roberto and the rest of the Hoo crew make it worth watching.

Sit back, go widescreen and pass the popcorn.

UPDATE - Kihei is windy (15-27) - rounding up the crew to head over and get wet!

Kihei crash

Posted: October 12th, 2009, 10:40pm CEST

Of special note - after the gear settles, you can see me swimming back to my gear. ;-)

Fins!

Posted: October 12th, 2009, 5:45pm CEST

One thing that has everyone's attention in this year's test fleet are the number of fins on the boards.

We have a tri fin board, a quad fin board, twinzers, twinzers with thrusters, and of course, a few single fin boards thrown in for good measure. One board can be set up as a quad, thruster or single fin depending on your conditions or emotional state of sailing zen. Imagine the fin quivers you will have owning one of these sticks!

A common confusion by passers by is that one of these two boards isn't a quad. But they are - just two radically different takes on the quad concept.

The Quatro in the foreground is more of a twin with thrusters and the Starboard in the background is almost the exact reverse with the main power fins up front and outboard of the rear directional fins. The boards actually have a similar tail and volume distribution shape, but the drive delivered by the fin position makes the boards handle very differently. Of course I can't go into detail about how they sail, you'll have to wait for the board test issue of Windsurfing Magazine for that, but its safe to say that this year's fleet offers sailors a diverse set of boards unlike any in past years. Check out the latest issue of WindSurfing for a great interview with Keith on the Quatro Quad!

Oh, and BTW - Pascal is the shizzle!!

Day two

Posted: October 12th, 2009, 10:35am CEST

Yeah, we've got a bit of gear to test. (and this is only one of two vans)

Damn. Maui, even when it sucks, its good.

The morning dawned with the promise (or lies - take your pick) of wind with a nice NW swell. We had laundry lists of crap to do before 11a, and I gotta tell ya... we were motivated. Big time.

As the clock ticked over from 10:59 to 11a, I launched to lowers to score some of the sweet waves we were drooling over for the previous hour. While I can't tell you what board I was on, my 5.7 2010 Goya Eclipse was treating me fine as I dug into my first wave of the sesh.

A board switch and 2 hours later, I was back on the beach after two amazing sessions in chest to head high waves at lowers. After the rain squall passed, the wind puked and I lucked out and got a puff to waterstart my ass back to the beach as everyone else swam for life with the thoughts of the 10ft tiger shark that was hanging out in the break yesterday.

Back on shore the consensus was to bail and head to Kihei and get some sailing, albeit without waves. But hey - sailing is better than sitting on the beach TALKING about sailing, right? ;-)

A quick refuel and a drive across the island and we're in Kihei where I've not sailed since my first trip to Maui back in 1987. Yeah, I'm an old fart. ;-)

Now I got to experience the 2010 4.7 Eclipse. I had a front row seat to Jake on his Eclipse prototypes this summer in the Gorge, and now I had one of the final items all to myself and I was tickled pink with it. Yeah, I know, regardless of what sail it is .. being on a 4.7 rules. Period. (more about those sails later)

Back in the day, I hated Kihei. Today, a bit past 41 years on this planet, I was loving it. Overpowered, rocking it with some friends, letting the boards run as hard as we'd push 'em and going for broke on some of the worst voodoo chop known to man. Yeah, it was a gas.

Full of Advil and knee brace tightened almost to the point of pain, I was no longer 41 years old, father of three, now CEO. I was a young sailor, stupid in all respects, going for broke with no regard to the outcome of my behavior.

I think I'll call the move the "TNT" .. after all, it was a bit of an explosion. Ask Ray, it was kinda spectacular since my gear almost hit him.

All in all, a great day. In the grand scheme of things I've had better days on Maui, but this day stands out for the unique events that made the day epic.

A quick survey of the crew proved smiles across the board, and what more can you ask for?

We have a bit of video to go through, look for most detailed posts soon. ;-)

Josh is on the mend - He's got the H1N1 at bay. Can't you tell??

Oh yeah, Sam had fresh brownies. Yum yum!

Day one

Posted: October 11th, 2009, 5:15am CEST

We had a super nice day surfing and SUP on the southside. Waves galore and smiles all around. Many thanks to Dave and the Naish crew for hooking us up. (and to the Odwalla guys for the drinks and energy bars)

There's a big NW swell coming in overnight and wind the next two days to get some testing in before the doldrums set in mid week.

We've got quads, twins with thrusters and tri fins. These boards are just begging to be ridden. The vans are full of '010 sails, prototype booms and all sort of fun water toys.

Hopefully we'll have video, etc. for tomorrow. The HD's and GoPros' are chrged and the crew is very ready.

Stay tuned!

UPATE - Its 7a sunday morning and there's wind in the trees, and all spots are showing normalized trade wind direction and speeds. The stoke is high for some testing today. ;-)

Should I stay or should I go?

Posted: October 8th, 2009, 4:28am CEST

Ug. The Maui forecast looks terrible. Don't get me wrong, the SWELL forecast looks great, but the wind forecast... bleh.

So, I'm debating about holding off leaving for the island until things firm up. Then again, the Gorge forecast looked even worse this summer and I ended up sailing 3.7 three days in a row in truly epic conditions.

I'm not worried about sitting around doing nothing. That's impossible on Maui. There's world class surfing, stand up paddle surfing, longboard windsurfing, snorkeling, SCUBA, deep ocean fishing, hiking, and on and on and on.

Still, I'm there to sail. Specifically sail the collection of 2010 high wind boards 80-90 liters. Catapult is thinking he'll work on his schlogging - I think he weighs like 160lbs wet, and I can't imagine what I'll be doing. Perhaps a U-Boat captain impersonation?

So, should I stay or should I go?

Maui on my mind

Posted: October 1st, 2009, 8:24pm CEST

I'm a week away from returning to Maui for a week of high wind board tests with Windsurfing Magazine and I'm already starting to get the Maui twitch. They've been enjoying a lot of great swell the past month, and I just hope that this is a sign of what we might get for this year's test.

I'll be blogging daily about the goings on, antics, injuries, etc., so check back often. There will be plenty of video and photos, and perhaps...just perhaps, some live streaming action if conditions warrant it. ;-)

If you missed last year, you can find most of the posts here, just scroll down to the bottom to catch all the entries.

Ok - time to get back to work and stop thinking about Maui. Really.

GoPro HD footage

Posted: September 29th, 2009, 2:13pm CEST

GoPro is finalizing its much anticipated HD version of its popular wide angle action sports cameras and has released a video and some info about the HD Wide camera system.

A few notes :

- 30fps at the full 1080p
- 60fps mode at 720p
- 720p footage is recorded at 170 degrees wide
- 1080p footage is recorded at 127 degrees wide
- much (!) improved audio

Check out the HD action here.

Sure would be nice to have one for the upcoming Maui board tests in two weeks... ;-)

Lake cam

Posted: September 28th, 2009, 8:17pm CEST

We're socked in with rain here, but here's a quick grab from a cam on Lake Michigan. Note the spray over the pier from the previous wave.

UPDATE - I did get out for about an hour on a 4.7 OP in my backyard around 3p. Now you'd need a 2.7. Its insane out there!

Nice day on the lake

Posted: September 28th, 2009, 5:01am CEST

Today was an amazing day for the end of September. In advance of the ballistic winds tomorrow, we had nice southerly winds 20-25 and killer warm temps. I wasn't prepared for the warmth and only had my 3/2 convertible - when I could have easily sailed in a shorty. The sun was out, the winds were nice - what more could you ask for?? Ok, I would have liked some bigger waves. Though by the end they were head high, I still can't complain. (tomorrow they'll be 15 foot - so I'll get what I ask for)

I was taking it easy on account of my knee (see photo below), and I'd like to go to Maui in two weeks ready to sail, albeit with that knee brace. Still, the sesh was awesome ... ok, it was epic. Its been a dry summer for good lake action, and everyone scored big time.

Make a bet with your life

Posted: September 27th, 2009, 3:48pm CEST

We've had a rather windless fall season thus far, but thats about to come to an abrupt end.

Today (Sunday) South winds ahead of the front will bring us mild temps and winds 20-25 knots in the afternoon. Monday winds will switch to the Northwest and blow at storm force strength of 55 knots with higher gusts. Lake Michigan will be pumping waves 14-18 feet.

Winds subside on Tuesday and clock northerly at 30 knots.

Fall sailing on Lake Michigan is some of the most technical and challenging of places I've ever sailed. While the waves are big, they're close together and when you go down, its not like the ocean where you have time to recover. I've gotten mauled by 24+ foot waves on Maui, and while it was a challenging 45 minutes of swimming with trashed gear, it doesn't compare do getting pinned down on the Lake in the fall with its cold water. I've gown down on the outside break with my gear ripped out of my hands and being forced to swim 200 yards to the beach where my gear was waiting for me at the high water mark. There's no lifeguards with jetski's to pull you to safety. There's just you, the Lake and perhaps lady luck.

Its true survival sailing. Heading out and picking your way through the Greyhound bus sized waves I can't help but hearing The Gambler by Kenny Rogers in my head. "You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em. Know when to walk away, know when to run."

Skate + BMX + urban jumper

Posted: September 10th, 2009, 5:14am CEST

I've seen some impressive riders, but this guy kills it.

I'd like to post about my Epic Sessions...

Posted: September 9th, 2009, 3:01pm CEST

But its been flat. Dead flat. No wind whatsoever in the past 10 days. I'd like to be optimistic about the upcoming 10 day forecast, but there's nothing in it to give the slightest inclination of a worthy breeze. Its actually been negatively windy. Its been so dead that the spiders have built spider webs on my wind meter. (sigh)

On the plus side, I'm gonna lock in my October Maui board test plane ticket today. ;-)

UPATE - Maui is booked. Stoked.

New issue

Posted: September 4th, 2009, 9:10pm CEST

The new issue of the Mag is out. Emmy's favorite article was Aaron's. Actually, she liked the pictures the best. Go figure.

Meaty!

Posted: August 30th, 2009, 4:05pm CEST

As they say, good things come to those who wait. We drove an hour through the rain up north to Ephraim in Door County and after a big of checking, we headed to Eagle Bluff point in the state park. A place I've not sailed since I was 16 or so.

The point was taking some amazing waves, but early in the sesh, you didn't wanna get caught inside as the wind was picking off the water to get over the bluff onshore. 30 minutes into the sesh, the wind jacked, and so did the waves. Mike and I sailed over to the island to add some downhaul since there was no way to make it back to the rocky beach where we had launched from. We had other options for when we had to make it back, but for now, we were gonna stay out and tear it up.

We'd been sailing for 2 hours now, and the waves were head to logo high with the occasional mast high set. Our 5.3's were WAAAY too big, but since returning to rig down wasn't an option, we stayed out. Its about this time that some friends of ours finally made it out to us on their small kites having launched from another protected cove.

The waves were super meaty - lots of pitching and pounding with very little room for error as if you went down, you'd be on the rocks in no time at all. I got hammered by a medium sized one and barely, BARELY made it out of there. Way sketchy, but worth it.

We packed it out just before sunset and I enjoyed a little post sailing carnivore delight. 24oz of local prime rib (photo above) to feed my body for a job well done. ;-)

Anyone for a road trip?

Posted: August 26th, 2009, 8:14pm CEST

Anyone up for a little road trip? Looks like newly formed Danny is gonna make a visit to the outer banks.

To the victor go the spoils!

Posted: August 18th, 2009, 4:40pm CEST

Last spring when Catapult and I were visiting our good friends Chris and Heather in the UK, a little wager was put between Chris and Catapult as to who would do a forward loop first. They each put 20 quid on the bet, and I tossed in an additional 20 to bring the pot to a healthy 60 quid.

Now Chris had been trying a few on the previous Maui trip in October '08, and tried a few more on that UK trip when we had a nice day of sailing on the NE coast of England. (gotta tell ya - sailing with castles in the background is pretty damn cool!) I was thinking that Chris had the upper hand, but Catapult just posted this video.

Well, that settles it. Catapult gets the 60 quid. Congrats Aaron!!

Quit yer bitchin!

Posted: August 17th, 2009, 2:55pm CEST

Earlier this summer I was sailing on the west side of Green Bay with a few friends of mine who were kiting. It was super flat and the wave angle really sucked for jumping, but it was warm and windy and I was happy to be sailing. As much as I was frustrated with the wave angles, I was still smiling, but kinda grumpy. I just couldn't shake my frustration with the lack of waves...

While I was in for a break, an old sailing friend Paul shows up at the beach. Mind you, this is a guy I've not sailed with in 25+ years. Really. He lives nearby (I'd not known that) and was stoked to see someone sailing as he usually sails alone.

"Should I get my gear and come sail with ya?" he asked.

"Hell yeah! That would be awesome!" I replied with enthusiasm.

He got a worried look on his face, "Uh ... my gear is kinda old."

"Who cares? It worked then, it will work now, right?"

"Ok!" he smiled. "I'll be right back!"

In 15 minutes, he showed up. I could NOT believe my eyes. He rolls in with his Windsurfer Rocket 103, circa 1985!!

Duuuude! I was in amazement. Minutes later, we were on the water, all smiles just as we were 25+ years ago. And just like back then, he was blazing on his '103 having a blast.

Next time you're bitchin' about your gear or the conditions, think about this story. Suck it up and get out there and smile!

Classic Hatchery Action

Posted: August 10th, 2009, 1:02am CEST

I love the Gorge. I love sailing big swell at the Wall and rocket ramps at Arlington. But gimme a killer day at the Hatchery, and I'm in Heaven. On this day (July 11), I had some downtime with my elbow so I parked on the rocks for a bit and caught some of the action. I was getting killed on a 4.0 that I borrowed from Casey - and most guys my size were on 3.7's.

Ride with Jake!

Posted: July 30th, 2009, 6:18pm CEST

Take a ride with Jake Miller on a wicked 3.7 day at Arlington. Yup - the same day as the video from two posts ago.

HD on board?

Posted: July 23rd, 2009, 3:45pm CEST

This is something I've been waiting for - GoPro is FINALLY going to sell an HD capable GoPro WIDE camera. Not only does this baby do 1080p at 30fps, but also will do 720p at 60fps. Anyone who's used the GoPro's will tell you that they eat batteries like candy - and in this new HD version they'll finally ship it with a rechargeable battery for 2-3 hours of recording time.

Me. Want. Now.

The Gorge delivers!

Posted: July 14th, 2009, 9:04pm CEST

I have to admit - when I arrived on Friday, the forecast didn't look all that good. They were calling for Easterlies on Saturday, and light westerlies Sunday, etc. But early Saturday morning, Temira called and exclaimed "Its 25 at Hatch!". I didn't believe her. Not one bit. A quick check of the HatchCam and I was shaken back to reality as it was a solid 25-27 and building. That was four days ago - the past 3 days I've been overpowered on a 3.7 every day.

Shot a lot of video, but we've been sailing too much to get through it all. This is from Monday (yesterday) at Arlington. Enjoy!

In Da Hood!

Posted: July 11th, 2009, 1:47am CEST

Just arrived in the Gorge and all sorts of interesting thing going on. First off - hard to not notice the barge stuck on the sand bar right out front of town! Seems an errant barge driver managed to get 1/2 mile out of the channel last night a 3:30am and plowed his barge full of GASOLINE onto the sand bar. They've raised the water level (via the damn) up 3+ feet, but alas, she's still stuck like glue to the sand bar.

Ran into Francisco Goya over at Windance where they're doing some GOYA product demos this weekend when the wind returns. And of course, we don't need wind for the BBQ Saturday night!

That's all for now - I'm off to do a quick SUP sesh on the river. Catch ya'll tomorrow with more reports, photos, videos, and possibly.... possibly.... live action! ;-)

Really warming up!

Posted: June 27th, 2009, 2:05pm CEST

Nothing like a week of 90 degree temps and sunshine to crank up the water temperature here in the bay. Overall, the Great Lakes are really warm for this time of year. (except for Superior - which never really gets warm ... those surfers and sailors up there use their drysuits year-round!)

Its supposed to crank for the next few days, and I hope my freestyle board survives enough so I get my fill.

Yes, I'm ALIVE!

Posted: June 20th, 2009, 3:32pm CEST

Yes, despite the rumors to the contrary, I am alive. And yes, I'll be blogging again.

;-)

New shape in town

Posted: June 20th, 2009, 3:26pm CEST

Check out the hourglass design on this longboard. Way cool.

Fins fins fins!

Posted: April 15th, 2009, 6:15pm CEST

At the photo shoots last week on Maui, there were lots of fins in the water - and I'm not talking Tiger sharks! RRD was fielding a really nice looking tri fin - from what I could see, the fins were all the same size, but don't take that to the bank.

Here we have Kauli's quad finned JP. Sure it might not be for most riders out there, but it sure works for him.

You could tell by the cutbacks which riders were on twin or quad finned boards by the way the board rotated on the lip - single finned boards just don't snap around like these mutants do. It requires a different stance not only how you handle the board, but also in rig control as the board comes around quickly to point back to windward. Personally I really like the handling, but when it gets big, I prefer a single fin board with more rail drive and control.

What say you?

Hookipa Tuesday highlights

Posted: April 10th, 2009, 5:12am CEST

Big and beautiful. Lots of swimming - lots of carnage on the rocks. Enjoy! ;-)

Monday webcast highlights

Posted: April 7th, 2009, 10:11pm CEST

Here are the highlights from Monday's webcast. This is directly off of the webcast camera and I've kept it in chronological order. We had some visitors who stopped by to say hello, many of whom you'll be seeing in future webcasts and in other EpicSesh videos. Also of note - Jake spent a lot of time swimming .... not sure if thats part of training, but still, he swims like a fish! ;-)

Enjoy!

ps - I've still got a TON of HD video from Monday that I'll post shortly. Of sad note - I crushed one of my GoPro's mounted to my booms yesterday. ;-(

Sunday, bloody sunday

Posted: April 6th, 2009, 6:50am CEST

The good news - the WNW swell arrived. The bad news? Rain showers squelched the wind at Hookipa, but that didn't keep the crew off the water.

Enjoy some dark Hookipa sessions!

Friday's Hookipa video

Posted: April 5th, 2009, 7:16am CEST

I shot this prior to the webcast on Friday. Of note - Josh Stone on the red Goya sail. Seriously, Josh rips. I've had a few sesh's with Josh on the Cali coast and one things for certain - no matter where Josh is - he rips. Period. And even if the day totally sucks, he's smiling. After all, even when you think things suck, its still an amazing life we lead.

Today (Saturday) was kinda funny. I was late to the webcast due to the fact that I didn't wanna come in as I was having way too much fun sailing with Jake and Pascal.... Anyway, I did go in, and get the webcast set up - and the wind backed off (as you all saw on the webcast) but while I was dealing with technical issues with the webcast, I noticed GP on the webcast chat. "Damn," I thought ... "Why the hell isn't he here?" 10 minutes later GP shows up and says, "I wasn't sure about going to Hookipa, then I saw the webcast and so-and-so was ripping and I bailed and drove here ASAP" ... or something like that. Anyway - it was cool that the webcast got GP to come out and rip it up. ;-)

Enjoy Friday's video. The next few days are gonna be amazing.

Friday's webcast archive is here.

Friday recap

Posted: April 4th, 2009, 7:17pm CEST

Yup. Friday rocked. The weather was perfect, and the crew was on fire. The forecast is looking interesting, very interesting. GP had some nice shots - check 'em out!

The pros were out 'en force as their all on the island for their respective team photo shoots, and the action on the webcast was awesome. We'll be webcasting again today and I'll also put some GoPro's on some riders to get some extra action for everyone.

I'll be posting HD video and also the archived webcast video from Friday later today.... I'm off to Hookipa now to get some sailing in before the webcast. Catch ya'll online around 2pm HST!

Click here to watch the webcast at 2pm HST.

Perfect score

Posted: April 3rd, 2009, 6:56am CEST

Since my first Maui trip in 1987, I've been scoring amazing conditions on the island without fail. At the risk of jinxing my current trip, here's the current forecast.

FRIDAY
East winds 20 kt. Wind waves 8 ft. Mixed swell northwest 3 ft and east 4 ft. Scattered showers.

SATURDAY
East winds 20 kt. Wind waves 8 ft. Swell east 4 ft. Scattered showers.

SUNDAY
East winds to 25 kt. Wind waves 8 ft. Mixed swell north 3 ft and east 4 ft. Scattered showers.

MONDAY
East winds 20 kt. Wind waves 7 to 8 ft. Northwest swell 5 to 6 ft and north 5 ft. Scattered showers.

TUESDAY
East winds 20 kt. Wind waves 6 to 7 ft. Northwest swell 7 ft and north 5 ft. Scattered showers.

I'm supposed to head home Sunday, but I have to admit that the swell for Monday/Tuesday is really making those plans difficult.

Really...

Anyway, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. We have our webcast tomorrow (Friday) and I know the crew is stoked to tear it up at Hookipa. Hopefully I'll get someone to run the cam while I take in a sesh or two in front of the lens.

I'm back, and gone!

Posted: April 1st, 2009, 6:21pm CEST

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been busting ass at work, and traveling (for work) is ramping back up again. I did manage to get a quick afternoon sesh at Chrissy Field with Catapult and Kevin (who has a new blog - check it out!) one day while I was in San Francisco last week. It wasn't anything spectacular, but I'd never sailed Chrissy and it was cool.

Nothing going on around here - though the ice is FINALLY breaking up and I awoke this morning to open water past the 100m or so of ice still locked into our shoreline. Spring is winning! ;-) I hope to be sailing in a week or two, but first...

...I'm off to Maui tomorrow! Late notice, and its a quick trip. I'll be webcasting again this trip, so stay tuned for more details. Webcast days will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The wind forecast looks good, waves - eh, so-so, and I just hope we get more sun than the forecast predicts.

So, the next post will be from Maui.

Aloha!

Wasted resource

Posted: March 10th, 2009, 1:18pm CET

You know its funny how sailors look at the weather, even though its impossible to sail. You'd think we would know better and just ignore it, but there's something in my mind that can't leave well enough alone.

I awoke to the little voice in the back of my head saying, "Hey, its gonna be windy today. REALLY windy..." Checking the weather and whoa! We do have wind today ... 25-35 with gusts to 50.

Now I just need to find some water thats not frozen over!

Asymetrical fins

Posted: March 3rd, 2009, 8:00pm CET

I had a good conversation with Keith Teboul and Jake Miller about twin fins, and both Keith and Jake pointed out that they're not only fond of twins (Fins! We're talking about fins!), but they're running different sized fins on each side to maximize turning or grip performance for wavesailing. For more turns (at Hookipa), they are running a smaller fin on the starboard side.

This stemmed out of a conversation about Keith's latest board that he was sailing at Hookipa, and if you watch the Hookipa video down the page on this blog, you'll notice its short length and how super snappy it is when Keith gets in (and out) of tight wave situations. The board for its length has a fair amount of rocker, but Keith feels that because its short he can ease the rocker a bit without sacrificing turning ability and still amplify planing,top end speed and control during bottom turns. Of course, the board still needs a capable driver, and Keith rips. Being a shaper with sailing skills such as his, its no wonder his boards rock. ;-)

At any rate, I'm looking forward to trying out some asym fin configurations on my boards this sailing season. My boards are plenty loose, but I'm interested to see just how further they can be pushed.

Economic Stimulus Sale!

Posted: February 27th, 2009, 4:43pm CET

I'm selling my entire quiver of KA Kult sails. Its a great quiver of powerful sails that's been used very little - some of the sails used hardly at all!

7.0, 6.4, 5.8, 5.3, 4.7

All are orange and black, all with original bags, etc. $200 each, or you can take the whole quiver - yes, all five sails for $900 and I'll pay for ground shipping anywhere in the U.S.!

Want to sweeten the deal? How about a matching RRD FreestyleWave 86 with straps and fin for $650??!

OMG - can it get better? Heck yeah! How about a Nolimitz 430 mast for $100 and V10 carbon boom for $150 in on the package?

Lets review -

Full quiver - $900. 86liter RRD - $650. Toss in the mast for an additional $100 and add a carbon boom for $150 (heck, it even has harness lines on it!) ... That's $1800 for a complete setup.

Buy the whole thing and I'll throw in a chinook mast base and universal for FREE and drop the package price to $1650. DUUUDDEEEE!

Hurry up before I change my mind!! ;-)

Kanaha lost footage

Posted: February 24th, 2009, 5:55pm CET

Its amazing what goodies you can find on missing SD cards in the bottom of my bag.

Note - look for the background action and the surprise I had way out on the outside at Kanaha. ;-)

Just the guys skiing

Posted: February 23rd, 2009, 4:51pm CET

Red hands

Posted: February 17th, 2009, 6:54am CET

Odd. I guess I didn't put sunblock on my hands this trip. LOL

Headed back to the mainland. It was a quick trip, but a very productive one at that.

-- Post From My iPhone

Hookipa Sunday, Feb 15

Posted: February 16th, 2009, 5:48pm CET

Color commentary

Posted: February 15th, 2009, 8:07pm CET

Today we're gonna up the webcast experience with color commentary from Giampaolo. This should be interesting to say the least. We're gonna get things started around 2:30pm HST - after all, GP and I need to get some sailing in before we camp out on the bluff. ;-)

So, if you have time, pop on over to EpicSessions.tv and check out the action at Hookipa.

Damn good day

Posted: February 15th, 2009, 6:39am CET

Nothing like it. First, sailed uppers/lowers lit on a 5.0 and an 82 liter JP Real World Wave from the great crew at Neil Pryde Maui. (Kevin, you ROCK!)

Then I packed up, and headed to Hookipa to do what GP thinks is the first ever webcast from Hookipa (yesterday's test doesn't count). Seriously, it was a Goyafest with Lalo, Pascale, etc. out on their Guru and Wave3D sails tearing it up. I camped out in GP's Maui Cruiser because of the rain squalls, but in the end, did over 2 hours of webcasting from the bluff with a pretty satisfied audience - sans Josh, who must have upset the streaming video gods somewhere along his path and was unable to participate.

My only regret is spending too much time behind the camera and not enough time in the surf. Yeah, rough life, eh? ;-)

Anyho - here's a quick video from my booms from my morning sesh.

Mahalo!

Hookipa/Maui Webcasting!

Posted: February 14th, 2009, 5:43am CET

Ok - streaming tests from Hookipa were ironed out today. Tomorrow we're gonna do a morning surfing webcast, and then an afternoon windsurfing livecast. Each video webcast will be for about two hours. We'll probably sneak in a kite stream on Sunday, but we'll see.

Everyone can join in on the live chat during the webcast, and anyone can message the camera operator (me!) and ask me to follow a particular rider, or inquire as to who's out there, etc. (hell, ask me to zoom in on some bikini hottie on the beach - I'm game!)

You can watch the streams at www.EpicSessions.TV

This is all still very beta - and we're working on the stream quality on the fly, so have some patience.

SATURDAY WEBCAST : 2:30PM HST from Hookipa. Forecast is for 25-30 knot NE winds, 11 foot windswell and 3 foot NW swell.

Gone in a flash

Posted: February 12th, 2009, 1:07am CET

I arrived home to low clouds, impending rain, and no hope for a sunset. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some pink in the clouds. Grabbing the camera, I dashed out onto the ice and snagged this shot. By the time I walked back inside, it was gone.

Roll the dice

Posted: February 11th, 2009, 10:04pm CET

After 20+ years of travel for sports that are almost 100% environmentally dependent on the outcome, the past 10 or so years I've adopted a new approach to taking these trips.

I decide "go/no go" at the last minute.

Really, I do. Sure it (can) cost more, but the reward is worth the added expense. Here's the rationale and how it works.

First, fix on a destination. Preferably multiple destinations. In this case, we'll go with Maui. Then, pick a "window" for travel. Typically this will be 2-3 weeks. Now, I'm not going for the entire time, but its a window of travel that I keep open and available. If you have accumulated any frequent flier miles, but are short on needed miles to get a full fare, check for "cash+miles" promotions - you'll be amazed at what you find. You can also set alerts for fare reductions on most travel websites - very handy.

Then start working ticket prices to find the "sweet spots" in the travel times. On the airline websites, select the "flexible date" options - typically +/- 3 days around a departure/arrival date. Map out the 2-3 week window and get a feel for when flights are cheap(est), from there, its all about watching the weather to catch epic conditions.

A few things you need to be flexible on. 1) crappy flight times. Cheap flights have bad departure/arrival times, sometime long layovers and weird routing. 2) sketchy lodging. 3) limited gear rental/availability depending on season and 4) crap airline seats next to an overweight, annoying tourist. Sure I usually get upgrades, but I've spent a ton of time on flights is crappy seats - who cares! I'm just happy to be there headed towards funville. ;-)

Oh, but the reward! Winter trips with days of powder, sailing trips with killer swell and more wind than you need. Sweet opportunities to get somewhere off the beaten path with a crew that makes the whole journey worthwhile.

The last time you were on a trip and got skunked - what if I said you could score epic conditions for an additional $200 for the entire trip?

Cheaper than a lift ticket and oh, so much better.

Go ahead, roll the dice and take your chances next time you schedule your trip months in advance. You might score, you might not. Use my method and score every time. ;-)

Here's the forecast for my trip tomorrow. It works for me!

...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM HST SUNDAY...

HIGH PRESSURE WILL STRENGTHEN AS IT MOVES NORTHEAST OF THE MAIN
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. THIS WILL CAUSE TRADE WINDS TO INCREASE ABOVE
ADVISORY THRESHOLD.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY MEANS THAT WIND SPEEDS OF 25 TO 33 KNOTS
AND/OR SEAS 10 FEET OR GREATER ARE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE CONDITIONS
HAZARDOUS TO SMALL CRAFT. INEXPERIENCED MARINERS...ESPECIALLY
THOSE OPERATING SMALLER VESSELS...SHOULD AVOID NAVIGATING IN
THESE CONDITIONS.

FRIDAY
East winds to 25 kt. Wind waves 14 ft. Northwest swell 4 ft. Scattered showers.

SATURDAY
East winds to 25 kt. Wind waves 15 ft. Northwest swell 3 ft. Isolated showers.

SUNDAY
East winds to 25 kt. Wind waves 13 to 14 ft. Northwest swell 4 to 5 ft. Isolated showers.

MONDAY
East winds to 25 kt. Wind waves 12 to 13 ft. Northwest swell 4 to 5 ft. Scattered showers.

Seasonal milestone and Maui bound

Posted: February 11th, 2009, 4:12am CET

At sunset tonight, I observed a seasonal milestone as the sun has finally broken free of land and is now setting beyond the point. The cherry on top of tonight's sunset sundae was the high temp of 54 degrees that has all but eliminated our snow cover. Anything left should melt away tomorrow with continued mild temps and rain forecasted.

The rain tomorrow won't damper my day as I'll finish packing for my trip to Maui on Thursday morning. An evening arrival will see me jumping into one of GP's car's that is graciously being dropped off at the Kahului airport by a departing sailor as he heads to points elsewhere. As usual, I'll be staying at Spreckshouse (thanks Cindy and Troy!), but that won't be my first stop once I'm on the island. Nope, I'm gonna head straight to see Henry at Jacques and get some Ahi Poke. A nice little treat after 17 hours of flying and airports. ;-)

The forecast is for epic 30+ knot winds, awesome 13-15 foot east windswell and a light 3-5 foot NW swell on top of that.

Keep a very CLOSE eye on this blog for some special events and announcements that will be sure to keep you tuned in this weekend. (wink)

Aloha!

Anticipation

Posted: February 9th, 2009, 3:09am CET

This weekend brought near record temps (on the warm side for once!) and tons of sunshine. In addition to the spring fever that's on everyone's mind, the bay has all but lost its snow cover exposing darker ice that will absorb sunshine radiation and really get a move on in terms of melting.

To cap off the weekend, we were treated to a really nice looking sunset, which in a few days will escape the confines of land and begin to set over open water on the point to the south of our house.

Wide angle looping

Posted: February 6th, 2009, 4:07am CET

Per Bill's comment on the previous post, I though I'd resurrect this video of Jake rocking at uppers with one of the GoPro Wide's that we had for the board tests that was pre-production. We were all kinda taking it easy with the cam since 1) we didn't own it and 2) it was the only one we had and we didn't want to trash it and end the fun.

Turn up the volume and enjoy! (and make sure to wish Jake best recovery from his injury this week that has him sidelined for 3-5 weeks! Total bummer)

Boom mount

Posted: February 4th, 2009, 3:09am CET

With all the GoPro wide videos, I thought I'd post this quick video of me at uppers last October to illustrate the view from the back of the boom at 170 degrees. I had the cam angled downward to give more rider perspective, and you'll note that after the gybe, I reach back and angle the cam more upright. If you've got one of these, make sure you use a philips head driver to tighten the adjustments to keep it from "slouching" in chop and after jumps.

Mast tip mount

Posted: February 3rd, 2009, 7:43pm CET

GP has been showcasing some of his mounts for the new GoPro WIDE cameras, and someone asked about mounting on the mast head tip. Here's some unedited video from the Windsurfing Magazine board test last October on Maui. The field of view is 170 degrees, which enables you to get the horizon in on the shots ... very cool.

Frenzy HIRES

Posted: February 3rd, 2009, 7:33pm CET

As promised, here's the hires version of the Frenzy video.

Grom stoke

Posted: February 3rd, 2009, 7:19pm CET

John had his two boys out on this ice this past weekend, and it was their first time ice kiting. Jack, the younger of the two was on skis, and his older brother ripped it on a snowboard.

Gotta love it!

Riverboarding

Posted: January 30th, 2009, 5:03pm CET

No wind. Super hot and bored sailors. There's some excellent crashes in here from the lightweights that really got yanked once they got up.

Misc Gorge

Posted: January 30th, 2009, 4:51am CET

Grab some popcorn and enjoy!

Not in the manual

Posted: January 30th, 2009, 3:55am CET

You know how it is ... sometimes those fins need a little .... um .... encouragement.

Watch Josh lose $5

Posted: January 29th, 2009, 11:30pm CET

Listen closely - sorry for the wind noise.

Frenzy!

Posted: January 29th, 2009, 11:14pm CET

Found some lost footage from the 2008 Gorge Freestyle Frenzy. Enjoy!

(oh, just noticed this is the low res version, sorry. I'll post the hi res in a bit)

Fire and ice

Posted: January 26th, 2009, 12:10am CET

Weather station

Posted: January 25th, 2009, 4:25pm CET

After months of downtime, I finally got my weather station back up to 100% functionality last night. I still need to pull a Mac mini or iMac into the house to serve up the weather data to the web along with the 3 cams I've got around the yard ; and since I'm home all this week I think I'll have time to get that installed.

My weather station is an Oregon Scientific station model WMR968. It has inside/outside temp, barometric pressure, a rain gauge, and of course, wind speed/direction. All the sensors are wireless and have little solar chargers built into them. It was one of the first things I added to the house 2 years ago when we moved in, and the flagpole on the boathouse where the anemometer is installed on is actually the aluminum mast from my old Mistral IMCO One Design rig.

I had designed the flagpole installation such that during the summer I can move it to the dock where the wind is unobstructed and get more accurate readings of actual wind conditions on the water and avoid the issues of the tree wind shadows in its normal location.

If you've thought about a weather station, there are a lot of really cool ones out there and most of them are wireless making installation a breeze. (pun intended)

Happy feet

Posted: January 24th, 2009, 10:45pm CET

It was -6 this morning. Its forecasted to go -10 tonight with -30 wind chills. When it comes to being comfortable, my adage is, "If your feet aren't happy, you aren't happy."

And these down slippers make my feet VERY happy. Dork factor is kinda high, but screw it. They're mega warm. ;-)

Great shot

Posted: January 22nd, 2009, 10:00pm CET

Here's a nice view from the local NWS office of the bay of Green Bay with some detail notes included on the image. (click it for the large version)

As you can see clearly on this image as I pointed out in an earlier post, the entire bay is locked in with ice. And looks like there are some big ice flows out in Lake Michigan as well. (look to the east of the "ice covered green bay" text ... that looks like a 10 mile long ice flow!)

Finally! Waterproof HD cams

Posted: January 22nd, 2009, 3:28am CET

Sanyo just announced that their popular waterproof Xacti video cameras are getting upgraded to 720p HD. The new cams will retail for around $375 and should hit stored sometime in March. Sweeeeeet!

Now all we need is an HD GoPro. ;-)

Self preservation

Posted: January 19th, 2009, 7:58pm CET

I lifted these two images from Sharon's blog - not because its a kiter getting creamed, but 'cause I've taken a trip on those rocks, and in those conditions, I'd be all, "fuck these lines, I'm outa here!"

Sharon said he wasn't injured badly. Cool. And I agree with her, I'd love to see the footage from his GoPro. ;-)

Frozen solid

Posted: January 13th, 2009, 6:39pm CET

From the satellite images, the entire bay of Green Bay looks to be frozen solid all the way north of the tip of Door County to Michigan. I'm not sure about areas north of my house, but the bay is amazingly flat and in some sections, suitable for ice boating. While the ice maps aren't showing the ice cover for some weird reason, you can see it clearly on the visible satellite image here.

We've got winds this week, and despite the cold temps putting the wind chills south of -20 and possibly to -40 on Thursday, a few of us are ice kiting and making the most of all this ice.

That said, if I was part of the crew headed to the Baja this weekend, I'd be cool with sitting inside and staying warm.

But I'm not, so outside I go! ;-)

Massive swell

Posted: January 10th, 2009, 2:55pm CET

Wow. The storm off of Japan looks like its gonna deliver the largest swell of the winter season sometime late this coming week. A quick check online shows I can score a flight to Maui for cheap.

How big of a swell? 25 foot +. Its been 3 years since I've had that and the last time was easily my best two days ever with 24-28 foot on the reef at lowers. (though the outside break at uppers is where I nailed my biggest wave ever on that trip that still makes me sweat when I think about it...)

Ok - who wants to go?

Epic FAIL

Posted: January 1st, 2009, 4:22pm CET

It happens every year. Some idiot ice fisherman ends up drifting off on an ice flow and has to be rescued. Right now, as I write this, two ice shanty's are adrift on a massive ice flow that fractured off within 15-25 minutes of the Arthur Anderson transiting the channel mid-bay. The fissure opened up and the entire ice flow which I estimate to be several square miles big, is drifting in the southerly winds to the north. (south winds are 20-25 knots currently)

I'd estimate that the water gap is a good 50 hards wide at this point, and while I cannot tell if the two shanty's are occupied, a call to 911 was placed regardless to be on the safe side. I'm interested to see if they dispatch Eagle III or the hovercraft to investigate.

9:31 AM CST Update - Drift is now 200 yards north of the initial location.

9:35 AM CST Update - Drift is has increased rapidly and they are now an est. 350 yards north of their initial position.

9:38 AM CST Update - Using on-shore site line references, I'm estimating their drift at 8 feet every 15 seconds assuming the shanty is 8 feet wide.

9:53 AM CST Update - Drift is now 8 feet every 10 seconds.

10:28 AM CST Update - Still drifting north. Wind is really kicking up snow around the gap which is nor between 50 and 70 yards wide.

11:25 AM CST Update - They are still headed north. Gap is perhaps 100 yards wide now. I'd estimate that they've drifted almost a mile at this point.

UPDATE - To the north of us, 12 people needed to be rescued from this ice flow and they left a bunch of vehicles on the ice (which the Wisconsin DNR will fine them for if they happen to end up in the water)

3..2..1.. BASE!

Posted: January 1st, 2009, 3:05pm CET

3..2..1.. BASE!

New take on the "old" drysuit

Posted: December 22nd, 2008, 5:36pm CET

New take on the "old" drysuit

Post sunset sunset

Posted: December 7th, 2008, 3:14am CET

40 knots of wind, -3 degrees wind chill and thankfully I didn't fall through the ice this time.

Shipping traffic

Posted: December 6th, 2008, 10:01pm CET

Two days ago I saw the Arthur Anderson, sister ship to the Edmond Fitzgerald way upriver on the Fox River being loaded up for another run. They always run as many loads late into the season as they can before the ice gets too thick to transit the Bay of Green Bay and the customer is forced to use rail to get their goods. This afternoon, I caught her headed up the channel (note : the Coast Guard pulled the channel markers out last week) and a few minutes behind her was another vessel that I don't know the name of, but looks like she might be older than the Anderson. I'd bet that the second ship had been waiting in port for the Anderson to head out to clear her a channel north. Its not an easy living aboard ships like these, especially this time of year.

I got these shots before each ship literally vanished into the snow squalls blowing in.

As they headed out, the winds were gusting into the 40's from the North West and as you can see, we have plenty of ice on the lower half of the bay.

The shots were difficult to get since all my long lenses are at the office in town. I shot these using the little Canon SD750 at 3X zoom through my 10x50 binoculars through the deck doors in the backyard. Less than desirable, but it worked.

Sorta.

UPDATE : Monday morning, 8:15 and the Anderson is headed back in with a load.

Epic Sunset

Posted: December 3rd, 2008, 11:41pm CET

No words needed other than a footnote that I fell through the ice to get this shot. ;-)

Click it to see it full screen.

Review : Maui Ultra Fins

Posted: December 2nd, 2008, 2:18pm CET

I'm a huge proponent of fins. I see so many people who are struggling with a board, or a their sailing in general and they're all focused on the rig or something else when the problem stems from their fin.

People spend thousands on a sail quiver and almost nothing on fins, which are equally important in terms of board control and handling.

I recently got to test out some fins from Maui Ultra Fins and while I'm still puzzled about their claim of "Advanced airfoil design" since we're using them in water and not in air, I'm pleased with their performance. (Hey guys, drop the "air" from the tagline)

One thing about these guys, they "get it" in terms of what matters. The number one most important part of the fin is its foil. If you get this wrong, it wont matter what the outline shape is, the fin is gonna suck. The foils these guys use are really good - almost supercritical in design terms for how the foil keeps the flow attached even at crazy angles of attack (the angle of attack is the angle of the fin against the direction of travel - too high of an angle and you get a stall and stalls are bad). When I'm buying fins, I'm always looking at their foil first, square area second, length third and lastly outline. Anyway, back to the foil...

The feature about the foil that you'll appreciate is this : No spinout.

Its true, really it is. No gimmicks, no hype. The foils keep the flow attached and also shed separated flow caused by a bad board/fin/air interface in wicked chop.

I tested their all around bump and jump fin at Kanaha, overpowered on a 5.3 on the Starboard Kode and I really put it through its paces with balls to the walls downwind runs, hard upwind drives, and broad reach sloppy sailing that would make any fin spinout.

While I could get the fin into a flow separation position, it immediately reconnected and continued sailing as if nothing happened. Mind you, this happens in less than a second and I really had to work hard to actually get it to happen in the first place.

Once I had a good idea as to how the fins reacted to spinout conditions, I took them through a few tests that I knew would also be interesting - stall testing. To do this, I would sail as high into the wind as I could, forcing the board's angle of attack higher and higher to get the fin to stall and stop "flying" as it were. Could I get the fin to stall? Yes. All fins will stall above the critical angle of attack, but what was really nice is how the fin handles under a stall and how easily it reconnects and resumes "flying" with good water flow. This testing shows how good a fin's outline works in terms of dealing with tip stall (stall that begins at the tip of the fin) and stalls caused by the interaction between the board/water and fin. The net result, the fins handles great even when you beat on it.

There are a lot of fins out there, and most people buy them based on outline (or planform) and length. What they need to know is foil and square area, then worry about length and outline for performance optimization.

Remember, a good fin can make a bad board good and a bad fin can make a good board suck. So, before you give a board low marks, play with the fin. Feel free to ask me about problems with your board, etc. I'd bet I can make you love your board again!

If I had to make a proper analogy, its like having traction control and anti-lock brakes for your board. They keep you out of trouble and make you a better driver.

Can't wait to test out Ultra's twins on my RRD WaveTwin. ;-)

...and flights are only $600...

Posted: December 1st, 2008, 8:40pm CET

Total epic swell and flights are cheap.... DAMN!

OAHU-
900 AM HST MON DEC 1 2008

Surf along north facing shores will lower to heights of 6 to 10 feet today then increase rapidly late tonight to heights of 25 to 30 feet by sunrise Tuesday.

Surf along west facing shores will diminish to heights of 3 to 6 feet today then increase rapidly tonight to heights of 18 to 25 feet by sunrise Tuesday.

Surf along east facing shores will be 1 to 3 feet today and 2 to 4 feet Tuesday.

Surf along south facing shores will be less than 3 feet through Tuesday.

Outlook through Sunday Dec 7: a pair of storm systems passing northwest of the islands is generating a series of well above normal open ocean swells aimed at the main Hawaiian islands.

As one northwest swell departs the island scene, two additional swells are on their way here. One will be reaching the north and west facing shores of Oahu tonight with surf reaching warning levels. A reinforcing northwest swell of equal size and with a more west component is slated to arrive Wednesday night. It will finally peak Friday before a gradual decline through the weekend.

Surf heights are forecast heights of the face or front of waves. The surf forecast is based on the significant wave height in the zone of maximum refraction. Some waves may be more than twice as high as the significant wave height. Expect to encounter rip currents in or near any surf zone.

Flip flops in NYC

Posted: November 28th, 2008, 3:54pm CET

Gotta love Laird.

Hey! That's my board!

Posted: November 24th, 2008, 9:56pm CET

Imagine my surprise as I'm checking out some of the competitor shots from the Florida Wave Challenge and I see the above shot.

"Hey!" I thought, "That's my board! Well, its my old board! Sweet!"

Good to see Mark tearing it up on the 109. Miss that board. Sure was nice to meet him this summer in the Gorge and I'm glad to see him rockin' it on the 109 RRD.

Suggested...

Posted: November 24th, 2008, 5:54pm CET

Josh suggests that perhaps I try crap like this with my C4S.

No problem. You can ride shotgun. ;-)

KONA ALERT

Posted: November 24th, 2008, 5:17am CET

What are you thankful for? On Maui, looks like a killer week, capped off with Kona on Friday with west winds at 20 knots and a 11-12 foot NW swell.

Sweet!

Ice sunset

Posted: November 22nd, 2008, 11:35pm CET

This actually looks a lot like the springtime melt sunsets, except that the sun is setting way further to the south than it would in the spring.

I have to admit I was entertaining the thought of going SUP'ing today with the mirror smooth water and still winds. Launching was going to be an obstacle until I walked down and saw that the ice actually helped matters since the water depth there was over a foot deep - plenty to get a SUP going.

Perhaps tomorrow if I can find the time. I know I could use the workout. ;-)

Shore ice

Posted: November 22nd, 2008, 5:13pm CET

Woke up and the temperature was 14 degrees and this is how our backyard looked. (sigh)

Epic jump

Posted: November 22nd, 2008, 2:13pm CET

Epic jump

Capture your Epic Session!

Posted: November 20th, 2008, 7:50pm CET

I love my Sanyo Xacti waterproof video camera. I just noticed that Amazon.com is blowing them out for an amazing $249!!

Click here to get yours today while they last!!

Ghost rider

Posted: November 19th, 2008, 2:04pm CET

Of all the shots Aeder took on Maui, I think this is my favorite. ;-)

Ok, here's how the sequence started... (since we saw how it ended above)

International stoke!

Posted: November 17th, 2008, 1:08am CET

So, I'm sitting in an English pub minding my own business when a bunch with Swiss sit down around me and we strike up a good conversation.... Next thing you know, I'm chin to chin with a swiss guy who rips in the North Sea!

No matter where you go, you run into people who are not only like minded, but seemed to have been crafted from the same mold.

I've always wanted to sail Klitmoler, and now I'm gonna. After all, I've got a good friend who'll show me his home turf.

Pray for wind, my friend! ;-)

Get a frozen sesh

Posted: November 15th, 2008, 4:52am CET

As the north winds usher in winter, I might be conspiring to jet away somewhere warm and windy but I'm also keeping an eye on where winter delivers some freshies. Now you can track snow reports in realtime with this handy little app if you have an iPhone.

If you don't have one ... what are you waiting for??

Its been too long.

Posted: November 11th, 2008, 9:22pm CET

Dude, its been too long. Waaay too long. I can only go for so long without before I start getting all pent up, antsy and quite intolerable by those around me. Its been almost a month with no action. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Nyet. Sure there was that quickie on the west side, but that didn't cut it. Didn't even come close to satisfying the need.

Its not that I want it. I NEED IT.

If it was a drug, then call me an addict.

Desire doesn't describe it either. There's nothing sensual about the raw power I'm ready to unleash.

Honestly, I think I can go without sex longer than I can go without wavesailing. Shocking, I know, but really its true. Oh, wait... are we talking about the same thing here? I'm talking sailing ... you were thinking... WHAT?

Get your mind out of the gutter! ;-)

Seriously, nothing clears my mind better than sailing in waves. I can't explain it and the more insane the conditions, the more relaxed I am on the water. Weird, but true. Its a mental state that I slide into thats more comfortable than my favorite pair of flip flops. I'd say its a "zen" thing, but I have no idea what "zen" is like, but it sounds about right.

On the plus side, there's some wind in the forecast here for Thursday with south winds 25-30 knots, but rain and temps in the mid 40's. That said, I've sailed in colder weather, and in my state of mind, I think I'll end up in Sheboygan chasing swell while clad in my "super suit" with my hands in mitts and head in rubber so thick the only sound I can hear is the blood surging through my arteries.

Obstacles really don't deter me at this point. Like an addict looking to score anything he can get his hands on, I'm jonesin' for a sesh. Even a crappy one. I'll make the best of it. Trust me.

Get REAL surf on your iPhone

Posted: November 11th, 2008, 4:42am CET

Oakley and Surfline have partnered to bring you an iPhone app that gives you access to surf reports that are typically part of the subscription based SurfLine website.

Overall, its a good looking app, tons of locations worldwide. Check it out!

The Gales of November Came Early

Posted: November 10th, 2008, 4:07am CET

33 years ago today, on November 10th, 1975, the 729 foot freighter, Edmund Fitzgerald went down with all hands on Lake Superior and today sits in two pieces 530 feet down.

Godspeed to the captain and his 28 member crew.

Guaranteed wind!!

Posted: November 3rd, 2008, 9:52pm CET

Nothing is better than guaranteed wind, and every sailor, kiter and windswell surfer in the midwest can thank me for guaranteeing wind this week.

Why? Cause I'm headed out of town tomorrow for the whole week with NO chance of coming home early and catching any action (on the water or otherwise).

And since I'm gone, the wind gods are gonna make it a heck of a week with winds and very mild (dare I say WARM?) temps.

.TUESDAY...SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS. WAVES 3 TO 5 FEET.

.WEDNESDAY...SOUTH WINDS INCREASING TO 30 KNOTS.
WAVES BUILDING TO 5 TO 7 FEET.

.THURSDAY...SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS BECOMING
SOUTHEAST 10 TO 20 KNOTS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS. WAVES SUBSIDING
TO 3 TO 5 FEET.

.FRIDAY...SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
WAVES 5 TO 7 FEET.

You are welcome! Enjoy!

Must read

Posted: November 2nd, 2008, 4:58am CET

GP made me laugh (again) tonight. Head over and take a read.

All I can say is, "Yikes!"

Herb's shots

Posted: November 1st, 2008, 4:54am CET

I got an email with these three shots that Herb took while I was rigging last Sunday. Hats off to Herb for hanging with me for hours while the winds didn't produce what we were looking for. What more can you ask for in a good friend!?!

I owe you buddy!

In the shot below, you can see the channel behind me on the left. I wanna try some runs in there sometime and see how well it would work. ;-)

Welcome back my friend

Posted: October 31st, 2008, 4:08am CET

Typically fall brings us a decent cycle of winds that start in the last week of September and continue through mid November. This fall has been somewhat inconsistent in terms of patterns, except for now.

Today saw south winds gusting to 40 knots. Overnight the winds will clock west and eventually north as the system passes. Then they're swing back to the south and blow again for a few days - only to turn west then north and repeat.

You'd think that the strongest south winds would be in the spring when summer is beating back old man winter, but that's not the case. Our strongest and best southerly winds are in the fall when summer is trying in vain to defend her turf from the onset of winter.

Starting Sunday, south winds will build into the 20-25 knot range and blow for a few days turning the wind driven wave fetch on the lake into an amazing spectacle of surf that only the most determined watermen will enjoy.

While I'll only get a few sessions out of the next system before I fly back to the west coast, I look forward to them like I would seeing an old friend again. When the southerly gales blow on Lake Michigan, there's really nothing like it anywhere in the world. One minute its sunny and inviting with the suns warming rays almost, but not quite, enticing me to pull my hoodie off of my head. But the lights turn out as the low scud snuffs out the warmth, and on cue, the lake turns into a dark, dangerous beast that you can't turn your back on.

Of all the places I've sailed in my 30 plus years on the water, Lake Michigan in the fall is some of the most technical yet rewarding sailing I've ever done.

I look forward to it for its recognized character, but I relish in the chaos that it dishes up.

Less than epic

Posted: October 27th, 2008, 3:09am CET

Herb and I loaded up and headed to Oconto this morning with the prospect of blasting winds and blazing speeds. However, Mother Nature had something else in mind for us. Area showers put a damper on the winds and only gave us bursts of winds, and even then, nowhere near the forecasted 45 knots.

I was thankful I put the 6.6 and the 98 RRD in the truck, as those ended up being the tools of choice. While I didn't crack my personal best - and came nowhere near the 45 I was after, once I got tuned up after the first run I was hovering at 38mph ... cruising comfortably in the flats looking for any sort of gust that would propel me towards and over 40mph. But that didn't happen.

On the plus side, I am totally psyched about the possibilities of the Oconto waters for some high speed runs. South of the jetty is amazingly flat water with nothing ashore for 300-500 yards, so the wind is super clean. It continues this way for at least 2 miles .... plenty of time to put the hammer down when that gust arrives.

I'm also intrigued about the idea of blazing some runs INSIDE the jetty on a north or south wind. Essentially the track would be in the boat channel and aside from the possible no wake rule, this could also give way to serious speeds. But, not a lot of room for error if things go bad.

After 4.5 hours of time, about 40 minutes of it was spent actually sailing and no outstanding speeds, I'm still smiling.

Next time.... next time. ;-)

Did you know...

Posted: October 26th, 2008, 3:43pm CET

Did you know that Lake Michigan's surface is roughly 577 feet above sea level, but it is 923 feet deep such that in its deepest parts it extends below sea level?

The largest recorded wave on Lake Michigan was 50 feet in 1947. (it was recorded as a 100 foot wave face)

(picture is from the Superior Surf Club website gallery "Lake Michigan, Sept 7")

Thoughts on trimming

Posted: October 25th, 2008, 6:09pm CEST

Chris and I had a quick call after his Thursday sesh at his home break in Tynemouth England in which he really didn't have a good time. He was overpowered, but regardless, he was having balance issues with the board in terms of trim to the water and was spinning out all the time. For his weight, the footstraps were too far forward, the fin was too far back. It was an easy problem to diagnose and solve from 4,000 miles away and today I just got word that he tore it up on a 5.3 in epic conditions while bigger guys were on smaller sails and the board handled perfectly for him. Sweet!

I was outside rigging and trimming my KA Koncept 5.8 - a sail which I have yet to sail. Being fresh out of the bag, it needed a lot of work, and it was WAY easier to do it in the yard today with no wind than doing it next to the water tomorrow in 45+ knots of wind.

I also spent a good deal of time working the fins I plan to use in the 75 liter RRD X-Fire - again a board which I have yet to sail. The Tectonics fin(s) were SUPER tight in the box, and in addition to the sanding needed to get them to fit properly, the screws I have are too long and the short ones I have are metric threads. Doh! Again, time well spent today so I can run around and get all the necessary parts now instead of tomorrow.

Board trim is mega important. Footstrap position, fin position and mast track position can turn a good board bad, or make a dull board spring to life. Same for sails - I can't tell you how many people I saw on Maui with improperly rigged sails. Many of them didn't have enough (or any!) batten tension. You also need to be mindful that the manufacturer numbers don't always work best for the sail, and rarely do mast extensions give you the indicated amount of length.

When in doubt - ask someone to take a look at your sail. Play with the settings and go sail and see how the changes effect handling, power and balance. Make notes. Make notations on your booms/bases. (or on your sail bags)

There's nothing more annoying than an unbalanced and funky handling rig to ruin your sesh.

(pictured here is my "light air" speed gear - 6.6 Koncept and 98 liter RRD X-Fire. This setup is good up to about 41mph on the GPS and then it hits the wall.)

Isn't it cold water?

Posted: October 25th, 2008, 3:45pm CEST

I got an email asking about lake temps. Here's the latest satellite data for the great lakes. (above) And below is another, higher resolution image for the north half of Lake Michigan.

The black areas indicate cloud cover and no surface temp data.

Surface water temps are lower on the western side of Lake Michigan due to the prevailing west winds that push the wamer surface water to the east and cause the deeper, colder water to upwell just offshore. (in the top color image, you can see the green line of cold water along the shorline of Wisconsin on the west side of Lake Michigan)

This can happen even in the middle of summer and many a sailor has been surprised to launch in a shorty with air temps in the 80's and shoreline water temps in the upper 60's/low 70's only to find that a few hundred yards offshore, they are in 34 degree water and could get into a serious hypothermia situation.

This time of year demands a drysuit, booties, hood and mitts. When the conditions are really nasty, I prefer my GoreTex "super suit" with integrated footies where only my head and hands are exposed.

Its soooo comfy - almost like being in the womb again. ;-)

Careful what you wish for

Posted: October 25th, 2008, 2:06pm CEST

A few days ago, as the weekend closed in, I've been silently wishing for more wind.

I asked for it. I got it. (crap?!)

.SUNDAY...WEST STORM FORCE WINDS TO 50 KNOTS.

My most reliable computer models show 34 knots gusting to 48 knots at a slight WNW, which is good in terms of direction for nailing a proper angle for maximum speed.

The storm force winds should lower the water level in the bay by as much as 1 foot, possibly as much as two feet, and that will really diminish any wind chop that I'll be dealing with. On the downside, there is a sand bar that now could now pose a real problem as its located right in my desired track.

Anyway, both GPS's are charged up, and I'm pretty charged up as well. ;-)

The face of stoke?

Posted: October 24th, 2008, 3:19pm CEST

Josh put up some shots from the Maui trip that Erik took of me. Ok, its true - I'm slightly animated when I'm sailing.

At least Josh doesn't have any video/audio of me singing when I sail. And no, I don't do karaoke. ;-)

The need for SPEEEEED!

Posted: October 23rd, 2008, 7:25pm CEST

This coming weekend the forecast is for West Gale force winds to 40 knots. While I'd love to hammer around on a 4.7 and my little RRD, I've got an itch to scratch, and that itch is speed. Since I didn't get to do runs on Lake Okabena and crack out some of the new go fast toys, I'm inclined to head up to Oconto and spend some time burning lanes offshore.

Here's the google map link.

Oconto has a great setup for this weekends west gales. The breakwater has parking at the end of it, so when you launch from the end, you are right into the wind. No shlogging - and since I'll be on a 75 liter board, this is a good thing.

Secondly, runs to the north of the breakwall are in fairly flat water just offshore. Shallow enough that no real chop will develop and offshore enough for the wind to be unobstructed and steady. Port tack looks to be favored off of the launch with the 110-120 degree optimal heading.

Also - with the low air temps, being able to stage off of the nice, warm truck is also very inviting. ;-)

So, I'll be headed out to Oconto on Sunday provided the forecast holds and I think it will. iWindsurf has an average 32 knots and NWA has 28-37 knots for the location.

If you are interested in hooking up for this, drop me an email!

UPDATE : The forecast has been upgraded to gales to 45 knots. Sweet!

.SUNDAY...WEST GALES TO 45 KNOTS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
WAVES 6 TO 10 FEET BUILDING TO 12 TO 16 FEET.

Go directly to Jail

Posted: October 22nd, 2008, 5:50pm CEST

Sure I've been on the road for most of the fall sailing season, but what real sailing opportunities were there? Seems that we went straight from summer to winter and skipped fall altogether.

Oh, we're getting wind this weekend, but now it comes at a price. Perhaps I'll make some snowballs while I'm rigging...

Sailor's delight

Posted: October 19th, 2008, 1:19am CEST

Heck of a red sunset tonight.

Climate shock

Posted: October 17th, 2008, 5:29pm CEST

After 12 days on Maui sailing in shorts in 85 degree sunshine and warm Pacific waters, you'd think I wouldn't be stoked about sailing back here in Lake Michigan where the morning temperature today was 35 degrees.

WRONG!

The weekend forecast looks pretty good with 15-25 Saturday afternoon and 30 knots on Sunday. Sure I'll be in a drysuit - most likely my "supersuit", but I'm certain to have the island spirit in my sailing.

epic SK8R

Posted: October 17th, 2008, 2:48am CEST

Seriously, this guy kicks ass.

Pants!

Posted: October 15th, 2008, 7:09pm CEST

No, this isn't a post about my jeans, its the use of a British expression used by Heather which is roughly equal to American english, "crap!", or "shoot!".

So, given that, I say, "Pants! My freakin' feet hurt!"

First day back home and my bruised and cut feet are NOT happy about their enclosure in shoes/boots after 12 days of flip flops.

Truth be told, its a painful reminder every time I take a step about just how bloody amazing this year's Maui trip was. (pardon the pun)

And so every time I take a step, I both wince and smile at the same time. ;-)

Maui Board test : Day 11

Posted: October 15th, 2008, 12:21am CEST

Good swell plus no wind equals afternoon SUP session. The first killer ride was Heather - I was further out and didn't see it, but I HEARD it. I think she was screaming in delight all the way. I got worked a few times - once with Chris and once with Josh with an overhead set that really threw us around.

Then I caught a nice wave - not the biggest, but a really nice high high wave that turned east as it edged the channel and really gave a nice ride.

The ride of the day goes to Josh. Check out his post on his blog. I think he's gonna smile about that drop for days.

I headed out Monday night on the 7pm flight back to the mainland with a quick stop in Kona where I think we picked up about 40 of the competitors for the Ironman competition.

Another amazing Maui trip in the can.

Aloha!

Shopaholic

Posted: October 14th, 2008, 12:01am CEST

Windsurfers are like moths to a flame when it comes to checking out the shops on the island. This trip there were two standouts. The first was the expanded Neil Pryde Maui shop. Kevin and the crew blew out a wall and the shop, which was already a large one, is now at least 40% larger. Hella selection of gear - and lots of bikinis for the women. So, its all good. ;-)

On the top of my list, the Goya/Quatro shop is a little bit off the beaten path, but well worth the trip. Easily one of the coolest shops I've even been in, only made better by the guys working the biz. Keith has a new shaping room with a glass wall into the shop so you can watch him in action.

Head into the loft and you'll catch Jason working on some new engines.

Or play some foosball.

As a bonus, the Dakine factory store is next door, so bring your plastic 'cause there's a ton of stuff you'll suddenly decide you NEED to have.

And if they're throwing a party - its a must attend event. No excuses.

Sardines

Posted: October 13th, 2008, 11:20pm CEST

Remember the post a few days back about how do you get 11 boards to a dive boat offshore? Well, there's the other issue of getting the team out to the boat as well. Even little Myla made the trip with us.

Maui Board Test : Day 10

Posted: October 13th, 2008, 6:27am CEST

Day 10 dawned with high expectations and a little sadness as the team is starting to head back to home territories. Aaron pulled out late morning for the quick flight back to SFO and Dave and Jenny caught the mid afternoon flight back to PDX.

That left Ray, Chris, Josh and myself to sail with the afternoon expectation of the incoming swell. The NW buoy was 9 foot at 15 seconds this morning, and around 3:30pm, Uppers was starting to get some consistent action. It was Chris's and Josh's first Maui swell, and they had a killer sesh and are still all smiles from the day. I scored a few logo high sets, and caught one massive set that actually broke on the outside reef and it made my entire trip. Seriously, that one wave was all I needed.

I spent the day on the Wavetwin and while the larger sets were a little big for the board in terms of down the line turns, again this board delivered with killer slashes and float through the notorious dead wind in the impact zone. The Goya 5.3 3D wave sail I was using today not only looks amazing, it IS amazing. amazing range, amazing power... sorry, I'm gushing. Really, I'd like to find something bad about these sails, but I can't. They really suit my style.

We're finishing up some little things with the test, and other than that, we're going to celebrate the swell with some Ahi Poke at Jaques. (and perhaps a little ... er, a lot of sake)

But before we can enjoy Henry's sushi, Chris, Ray and I are soaking our wounds with Epsom salt, and if you could hear the language, I think we'd make sailors blush.

I'm headed back tomorrow evening and I plan to pull it all out tomorrow and board the plane completely used up.

As it should be.

Aloha!

Maui Board Test : Day 9

Posted: October 12th, 2008, 5:42am CEST

Erik came down today and we did another photo shoot at Kanaha. We stuck the wide angle GoPro on his helmet, and here's a quick self serving video. ;-)

Day 8 photos

Posted: October 11th, 2008, 7:23pm CEST

Sierra comes off the water on the Thommen. It was howling and she was tearing it up on a 4.8 when a lot of the guys were on 4.7's. (I was on a 5.0) Go girl!

Aaron (Catapult) and Ray. They've become really close on this trip. Almost too close for comfort. You can't take a picture, shoot a video, etc. without these two doing something either funny, shocking or illegal.

Jenny ready for a sesh on the Naish. Yup, she started to head into the water without a harness, much to everyone's humor. This girl is STOKED about sailing and she rips!

Chris "Spider monkey" Peacock working diligently on his test form while Myla hangs out.

Smiles in the family - Jake and his dad.

Windsurfing Magazine publisher and the hardest working guy on Maui when he's here, Dave Combe about to go out on a 5.0 - except he doesn't realize its a 5.0 and later was even more impressed with the wind once he realized what he was on. Dave's a cool guy even though he sails with a kite harness. ;-)

Ray working on another test result.

Maui board test : Day 8

Posted: October 11th, 2008, 12:49pm CEST

Amazing. After the previous post about our various wounds, I slip on an endo-forward and in my quick attempt to get my foot back in the strap, I land and cut my foot on the fin.

Then again, if I came off the water without bleeding, it would be a miracle!

Great day today. I was wound up on a Goya 3D wave 5.0 via Jake Miller and had a great time on it. Big forwards were the call of the day for me and everyone was on fire. (more about the Goya wave sails soon...)

Fair evening at Jaques tonight, ran into Cort Larnered and Ken Winner. Boy, how times have changed, and this coming from a 40 year old! LOL

More winds tomorrow and swell coming Sunday/Monday/Tuesday.

We're wrapping up the board tests and from here on out, its all about having fun (like we've not been doing enough of that....eh?)

Beat, sore but ready for more

Posted: October 10th, 2008, 5:02pm CEST

After a tremendous dinner last night, the conversation turned to our injuries. I don't think anyone on the team DOESN'T have an injury, and some are actually quite severe. The general consensus was that if you don't come home from a vacation feeling more tired and beat than when you left, you didn't take the right vacation. Heck, my office mates used to take bets on which body part I'd injure while off on a trip.

Breaking gear is one thing - you can always get more gear and keep hammering away, but when you're body takes a blow, that's a whole 'nuther story. The close calls on the trip have been Dave Combe's knee (done while chicken fighting on the beach - yeah, that was a silly idea) and Ray's knee that was impacted on the steel decking of the Red Rhino while he was doing his worst Tarzan impersonation. And while its bad, it could have been a lot worse and Ray is very thankful for that. There's Heather's massive bruise on her thigh, her husband Chris has a tremendous abrasion on his left hip, right where his board shorts and harness come together and I bet that totally sucks when sailing. Everyone's feet are cut, scraped and sore and the reef rash on my right foot is perfectly located such that my flip flops and footstraps cause maximum irritation and pain at all times.

There's been a lot of duct and medical tape on the team, mountains of Advil consumed, hydrogen peroxide scrubbed onto wounds, and Chris has been producing all sorts of weird European solutions to our ills. (some which cause more pain than the actual injury) And if nothing else works, alcohol is applied to deaden the senses.

All in all, we're beat, sore but ready for more. The trades are coming back today en force and the first big winter swell is coming with wave faces in excess of 15 feet on the north shore.

Bring it!

Pile on Josh

Posted: October 10th, 2008, 10:04am CEST

So, when the editor of Windsurfing Magazine says, "Hey team, go easy on the vodka tonight, we have to be up at 6:30am tomorrow for a photo shoot." What do you think happens .... Yup. dogpile on Josh!

Seriously, what the hell was he thinking?

Quick question....

Posted: October 10th, 2008, 10:00am CEST

So, how do you get 11 boards from shore to a dive boat a mile offshore?

You pile all the crap on the little ABS launch and head'er out. Really, its that simple.

Boards boards boards!!!

Posted: October 10th, 2008, 9:44am CEST

Got three new boards on the water today. Not the best winds, but still, we got them out and ran them around.

Need to haul a crapload of boards around Maui on your next trip? Call Al West's rental vans. Cooler and beach chairs included. Can't beat it.

Maui board test : Day 6

Posted: October 10th, 2008, 9:24am CEST

Ok, Day 6 started with the Haleakala fiasco, but ended with some killer snorkeling with turtles and SUP sesh which amazingly ended up at a nude beach. Considering the amount of bare ass caught on video on this trip, ending up there wasn't so much a surprise as karma.

No, I'm not posting bare ass shots. So save it. ;-)

Maui board test : day 7

Posted: October 10th, 2008, 8:59am CEST

Today was photoshoot day. While I can't show you anything about the actual shoot (sorry, you'll have to wait until the March 2009 issue to see the shot ... but trust me, its killer) I can show you some misc. shots and screen grabs from the videos from today. We loaded it all up and headed out to the Red Rhino for the shoot, and nailed it early, so then the fun began. Thanks a TON to Captain Dave - this guy rocks. If you find yourself on Maui looking for an awesome place to dive from, The Rhino is THE place to be. And there's no better host than Dave.

Trust me - we had a TON of fun today. More fun that human beings should be allowed to have.

What happened to day 6? Gimme a break. Its coming soon. Trust me. ;-)

GoPro WIDE

Posted: October 9th, 2008, 7:43am CEST

Here's the video of Jake's GoPro wide angle sesh from a few days ago.

Enjoy!

Haleakala downhill

Posted: October 9th, 2008, 5:10am CEST

Yup, we did Haleakala this morning. Pretty killer views though we were slightly late for sunrise due to a navigational error.

Its a popular thing for tourists to bike down Haleakala's 10,023 feet all the way to Paia and end up at Baldwin beach. This morning we also did a coasting downhill run, although not on a bike. See, in our(my) desperate quest to try to get up to the summit in time for sunrise, I really didn't pay much attention to the fuel tank status.

Sooooo, when we went to depart, the truck immediately put up an alert that we're about out of gas. Funny, the German couple next to us was in the same boat. At least misery likes company!

As soon as we got on the downhill grade at the end of the parking lot, I slipped the transmission into neutral and away we went. Down and down we coasted .... all the way to Makawao's closest gas station at 1,600 feet elevation. Yup, we coasted down roughly 8,500 vertical feet and 24 miles of road without stepping on the gas. The truck computer claimed we were getting 80+ miles per gallon. Not bad for a 6 cylinder Ford Explorer.

Now thats what I call hypermiling!

Yeah yeah, running out of gas WOULD have sucked. But at least we didn't loose the keys to the truck while on the south side of the island like someone else did. ;-)

Either tack

Posted: October 9th, 2008, 1:54am CEST

Since we're not sailing today, here's a little video of Jake while we're snorkeling.

Maui board test : Day 5 part II

Posted: October 8th, 2008, 5:19am CEST

Ok, so the wind did come up today after blowing offshore and Kona, but we were all headed in different compass headings and there was no way we were going to be back into the "Groundhog Day" of rigging, testing, de-rigging today.

As we headed east up to Haiku, Hookipa looked good and after a quick stop at Quatro where the boys were unloading 300 new Goya sails, Callista and I headed back to Hoo to check it out. Carl was there checking out the action and within no time I was rigged on a 5.3 and headed out.

In the world of windsurfing, sailing Hookipa is a rite of passage. A coming of age, one more notch on your mast base. And while I've done it plenty of times before, this quick sesh wasn't anything to write home (ie blog) about, until I went down and while getting turned around to waterstart I kicked a coral head.

Now, forever engrained in my head will be this late afternoon sesh where I experienced a little bit of hot searing pain. Just enough to make sure I never forget how, even on small days, Hoo can bite ya when you aren't paying attention.

Still, the water color offshore from Hookipa is some of the prettiest water in the world. Even with a little bit of my blood mixed in.

Aloha!

Maui board test : Day 5

Posted: October 7th, 2008, 9:11pm CEST

Hey - I'm actually doing a post on the actual day for once. Obviously there has to be a reason for this, and there is.

No wind.

Seriously, it took me about 20 minutes this morning to finally figure out what was wrong while I was laying in bed. No wind in the trees. I have to admit that my body is totally cool with this. Really, it is.

So, what are we doing on our "day off"?

Aside from doing laundry and rinsing out all the wet gear, etc. Ray and Heather are out SUP'ing from our location in Sprecks to Kanaha. The boys from the magazine are working on their laptops, Chris is having quality father time with Myla and Aaron is trying to figure out how he can catapult himself without wind. And us? We're gonna do some shopping this morning since we slept in and didn't head up to Haleakala. Nobody is in any hurry since we're all finally on island time. (oh yeah, and someone is still crashed on the couch in the main house - no idea who that is.)

Everyone else? MIA.

This afternoon I think we'll hit the bamboo forest. Its not as wet as last year, so it should be a good time.

Aloha!

Maui board test : Day 4

Posted: October 7th, 2008, 7:36pm CEST

Monday (yesterday as a write this) brought us yet another day of solid wind with small windswell at Uppers. I spent the first half of the day testing various board speeds with the GPS with interesting results. Ray and Josh both took the GPS afterwards and I think Ray is hooked on using one. Especially for next year's HIHO.

Winds were blasting and everyone was on fire. Jake had a killer GoPro sesh (pict above with him in mid push loop) and everyone was oogling over the footage last night and if this new wide angle GoPro was on the market, I think they could have sold 10 of them right there. I know Giampaolo is super stoked on getting his hands on a few. UPDATE! I just noticed that they have them for sale on the website! SWEEEEET!

We've really given the test boards a thorough run through and I think everyone is looking forward to less testing and more fun sailing together. On the gear destruction side, things have been quite mild except for Carl, our heavyweight tester who decided to swan dive through his sail. I didn't see it, but scuttlebutt is that his form was impeccable.

Injuries are again, typical with duct tape finding its way onto most of the sailors in the test. Many of the freshmen testers have plenty of reef wounds on their feet, but nobody is complaining. Just smiles all around.

Aloha!

Breakfast of Champions

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 7:30pm CEST

A few have been curious how we survive the rigors of board testing on Maui day in and day out. It all comes down to nutrition! You gotta start out the day right, and breakfast is a feast on the major food groups as seen here from this morning's binge.

Extra credit points go to the person who can correctly identify who ate what.

Misc shots

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 6:47pm CEST

Can you catch a Kanaha chicken??

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 6:40pm CEST

Actually, yes. Yes you CAN catch a Kanaha chicken.

And what do you do with a Kanaha chicken? Why you let it read Windsurfing Magazine of course. After all, chicks and chickens go together! (look closely and you'll see what I mean)

Maui board test : Day 3

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 6:04pm CEST

Super busy day today, even after a late start due to some late night antics. (Sunday - yeah, I know I'm a day behind) I rigged a 5.8 and was gonna go out on the 99 for a bit since it was light and BAM! Someone flicked the switch and it was solid 5.0. So, I rigged the 5.3 and spent the day way lit and testing boards in their ability to handle the voodoo chop inside Kanaha is known for.

The windswell is crap, and any swell that was in the forecast has gone into stealth mode. Bummer.

We shot a lot of video and we're playing with the wide angle GoPro a little more as you can see here. The mounting system is pretty good and the field of view is way better than the standard GoPro's.

Erik came down and we did the on the water photo shoot. It was pretty crowded around Erik but I think he got some excellent shots. The on the beach shot was pretty good except I'm really feeling the idiocy of having Ray on my shoulders. (read : NEED MORE ADVIL FOR BEING STUPID)

More wind today (Monday) and the wind should back down for a few days and we're gonna switch into SUP mode on the south side, which I think that everyone is looking forward to.

Gotta run - the Sun is about to come up and I want to get some shots.

Aloha!

Maui board test : Day 2

Posted: October 5th, 2008, 7:08pm CEST

Ah! This is just what I needed! Ripped on a 5.3 all day and back in the groove. Everyone was on fire and there were plenty of smiles all around. Dave Combe gets the "waterman" award for his surfing, kiteboarding, kitemaring and capping the day of with sailing in the afternoon. Dave also gets the award for the most breakdowns in one day in multiple sports. Lets hope he sucked all the bad karma out of the team and nothing bad happens on day 3. (and I need to get a shot of his new harness. Who would have thought a harness would have bling? Then again, it IS a kite harness. Go figure.)

Chris and I did a sesh together just blasting back and forth on the inside in the afternoon. Even though everyone is on their own gear, its amazing how social sailing is and when you're out with a good friend tearing it up, there's nothing better. Chris and I were having an absolute blast weaving in and out and charging hard.

Back on the beach, Barry Spanier stopped by for a while. He's like a walking history of windsurfing and is always fun to talk to. Aaron was under a lot of pressure rigging a new Maui Sails wavesail right in front of Barry who was looking on with interest. Matt Pritchard passed through on his way out to get some Uppers action. I've never seen him not smiling. He's truely stoked on life and sailing. Speaking of smiles, I think there wasn't one sailor who I saw on the water that wasn't smiling. (cue the Fantasy Island music - "Smiles everyone, smiles!")

Uppers was really washed out and confused, but still you could get some decent waves. The backside hits were really sweet and I spent some time on the wavetwin 99 in Uppers in the early afternoon. Dude, every time I'm in waves on that board I like it more and more. Even though I was overpowered on a 5.3, you'd think that 99 liters would be a handful, but no. This board is some sort of sweet! It devours short steep waves and while most boards wouldn't be able to turn quick enough to nail the super fast changes of the cornering windswell at Uppers, the 99 just kills it. While this board isn't in the test, its spending a lot of time on the water with the testers and even the smaller/lighter testers like Jenny are all smiles and amazed with it. Of course Josh loves it for its float, and who can blame him. It sucks to have to sail with a snorkel on all the time. (wink)

Oh yeah - and my knee. My freakin knee. Gonna have to work on it this morning to stem off the impending infection. After what happened to a Josh last year, its on the top of everyone's mind and my recently arrived nurse can't wait to take care of it (read : cause me pain).

Aloha!

Quick day one video

Posted: October 5th, 2008, 7:05pm CEST

Quick day one video

Maui board test : Day 1

Posted: October 4th, 2008, 8:06pm CEST

What a day! We started with a morning SUP session at Secrets. The Naish guys came down with more boards and paddles and were super helpful for the folks who hadn't SUP'd before. Aside from the beautiful bruise on Heather's thigh, the only bad thing that happened was I re-opened the fin cut on my knee. I guess the scar tissue just wasn't quite ready yet. Still, there's no better way to get the day moving than with a morning sesh on the ocean.

Hit uppers around 11 and it was windy. Way windy. Way too windy for the 5.8 that I went out on. I immediately returned to the beach to throw on my 5.3. Headed back out - and promptly headed right back in to put the 4.7 up.

Yup, windy.

I'd whine about wavesailing on a overpowered 4.7, but you'd pimp slap me. I got to see how some of the larger boards in the test fleet handle under ripping conditions and I think everyone got a lot of good rides on the majority of the boards. A heck of a first day of testing for sure!

I've got plenty of video to go through - SUP'ing, beach action, Jake freestyling (his bail pictured above), Alex chasing chickens for cash and other general antics that I'll post shortly. Stay tuned!

Being "catapulted"

Posted: October 1st, 2008, 10:12pm CEST

Apparently Aaron felt left out after Josh's amazing 'round the country flight to Maui, so he decided to take a little coastal trip before his jaunt halfway across the Pacific.

While Aaron racked up a cool 1,120 miles in his roundtrip to Portland from SFO prior to his HNL flight, he's still shy of the record-holding 2,000+ miles done by Josh.

Anyone else wanna have a go at the record? I know I don't. ;-)

Then again, the test team might have a team record for "excess miles flown to get to Maui" that could be downright frightening. (!)

2,000 miles

Posted: September 30th, 2008, 6:16pm CEST

At first I thought I was missing something as I've been chatting with Josh on his way to Maui. He seemed to be doing more of a world tour of airports rather than traveling to Maui.

Now on his second day of travel from Orlando to Maui, I finally put it all together.

I know he saved some dough booking the flight this way, but really ... how much could it really have saved or is he just trying to slam some miles in to get elite status? (which I can appreciate!)

So, Orlando to Maui is about 4,680 miles. Josh's route took him 6,686 miles - roughly 2,000 miles more than the more direct route. Hmmm, 2,000 miles - roughly the distance from Green Bay to San Francisco.

Wow. Then again, I'm sure he's got some good stories from his travels... he always does. ;-)

Dude, this blows

Posted: September 30th, 2008, 5:00am CEST

Yeah, it blows.... For FOUR FREAKIN DAYS!!

Check out the forecast....

.TUESDAY...NORTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 20 KNOTS BECOMING NORTH TO
30 KNOTS. SHOWERS LIKELY. WAVES 5 TO 8 FEET.
.TUESDAY NIGHT...NORTH WINDS TO 30 KNOTS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
WAVES 6 TO 10 FEET.
.WEDNESDAY...NORTH WINDS TO 30 KNOTS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS. WAVES
8 TO 12 FEET.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT...NORTHWEST WINDS TO 30 KNOTS. CHANCE OF
SHOWERS. WAVES 8 TO 12 FEET SUBSIDING TO 5 TO 8 FEET OVERNIGHT.
.THURSDAY...NORTHWEST WINDS TO 30 KNOTS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS. WAVES
3 TO 6 FEET.
.THURSDAY NIGHT...NORTHWEST WINDS TO 30 KNOTS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
WAVES 2 TO 4 FEET.
.FRIDAY...NORTHWEST WINDS TO 30 KNOTS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS. WAVES
2 TO 4 FEET.

Yup - the fall winds are blowing. But here's the kicker - this isn't that windy for this time of year. Amazingly, the southerly winds that usually precede a frontal passage like this are usually way windier. Typically gale to storm force SW to S winds that can rock the lake at 14 foot + and send even the large freighters running to port to ride out the blow.

Hmmm, Wednesday - 30 knots and 8-12 foot waves. Nice!

It almost makes me want to leave late for Maui .... almost.

Why am I leaving town??

Posted: September 29th, 2008, 9:58pm CEST

.TUESDAY...NORTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 25 KNOTS BECOMING NORTH TO
30 KNOTS. SHOWERS LIKELY. WAVES BUILDING TO 5 TO 8 FEET.

.WEDNESDAY...NORTH WINDS TO 30 KNOTS BECOMING NORTHWEST AT 20 TO
25 KNOTS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS. WAVES 6 TO 9 FEET.

.THURSDAY...NORTHWEST WINDS TO 30 KNOTS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
WAVES 5 TO 7 FEET.

.THURSDAY NIGHT...NORTHWEST WINDS TO 30 KNOTS. A CHANCE OF
SHOWERS. WAVES 5 TO 7 FEET.

Oh yea, Maui has air temps ABOVE 55 degrees. Plus water temps
above 60. Doh! ;-)

Welcome to my nightmare...

Posted: September 29th, 2008, 9:24pm CEST

Yes, I have nightmares.

Imagine being in the middle of the ocean in amazing wind and swells, but you're stuck on a monstrosity like this....

Then again, do you think they'd notice if I brought on some gear bags only to rig and then jump overboard with later in the trip??

Seriously, I could never step foot on something like this.

Bon voyage

Posted: September 29th, 2008, 12:22am CEST

There's nothing like a good sendoff. Sometimes its a party, perhaps some streamers (ala "Love Boat") and sometimes its the wind gods giving a little love before an epic trip.

In this case, its the latter.

Remember, I'm leaving Thursday morning for the long haul to Maui (though not nearly as long as Chris and Heather who are coming from Newcastle, UK with little Myla!) ... and as you can see in the post prior to this one, I'm all packed and ready to go.

That's all gonna change.

As I said, I'm NOT going to leave early, but I'm gonna get epic conditions. Remember the other option that might present itself? Well, it has.

Tuesday we're supposed to get some good afternoon winds, and Wednesday the winds are supposed to crank. And not just any wind, but north winds. Due north. And for a wave hound like me, that means Lake Michigan is gonna crank up some 35 knot gales with 6-9 foot swell and a little place called Sheboygan is gonna fire. Sure, Maui will be warmer, sunnier and all around more hospitable than Wisconsin, but for those of you who've rocked the lake on a north wind AND been to Maui, we all have a hard time deciding which is better.

The fun part - its port tack. 100% reverse of the winds/conditions on Maui. Clean, down the line sailing on the lew side of the breakwater with 10+ turns per wave. I'm sure the local surfing crew will be out en force as well, and those guys are the most hardcore surfers you'll find on the planet on terms of the cold water/air that they'll go out in.

Sure I'll most likely be in my "super suit" (goretex dry suit) and have to stop every hour or so to warm up, but inside, I'll be burning a stoke that rivals how I feel on Maui.

So, I'll be headed to Maui on Thursday with wet gear in the bags. I love that feeling. ;-)

The header shot is from a few years ago on a small 5.7 day with chest high surf at Sheboygan.

Packing

Posted: September 28th, 2008, 11:07pm CEST

Packed the tools for Maui this afternoon...

Sails : KA Kult's. 4.7, 5.3 and 5.8

Masts : Nolimitz (2) 430's and a custom 410. Bombproof in the surf.

Booms : Isthmus V12 carbons. Super small grip and tough as nails.

Bases/extensions : Chinook. Bombproof.

Harness : Dakine Nexus. I'm a sliding bar kinda guy. ;-)

SUP Paddle : Kialoa carbon. Light, strong and excellent power.

Board : RRD 99 liter Wavetwin. Josh is drooling to get this in the washout surf at Uppers to see what it can do. Me? I'm thinking Hoo will be a blast on this board - and I'll love the extra liters when I screw up and end up in the wind shadow just off the rocks. (grin)

Packed up for easy transport. Ready to go! The quiver bag it just at the airline max weight, provided they don't lower it again this coming week.

The best part is my clothing bag. Sure I'm gonna be there for 10+ days or so, but with Maui, all you need are a few board shorts, t-shirts and flip flops. That is running with me as a carry on. If I wasn't taking gear, I'd not be checking anything, and its kinda enticing to head to the island without any checked bags.

Using restraint

Posted: September 28th, 2008, 3:10pm CEST

In my lifetime, I've been known to do (ahem) silly things in order to sail. Usually I hold back on these actions until conditions are epic (or close enough to count) and then I bring out the big guns and pull the trigger on whatever needs to happen to get on the water and get it. Its obsessive as I'm focussed on the prize and will do whatever it takes to claim it. (read : possible personality flaw)

Over the years, hmmmm, how many flights changed .... too many to count. Then there was that "lift ticket" purchase of a 3.7 one day to get out in epic Gorge conditions. Expedited shipping on all sorts of gear, late meeting changes to open up time windows to sail, there was that quick trip to Maui to score two days of 24-28 foot swell, and the list goes on and on...

This week is one of those situations. I'm not leaving for Maui until Thursday, but there's a decent swell starting Tuesday, which will be 6-7 foot on Wednesday. Thursday, (while I'm airborn) the swell will start to recede and Friday (my first chance to sail) the swell will be residual.

Did I mention I'm a swell hound?? ;-)

So, you see the obvious problem. I need to get to Maui earlier. Doh!

Using miles + cash, its easily done, but I'm not gonna do it.

Why?

For one of the first times EVER, I'm going to use restraint and not change up my plans in order to score a sesh.

And the weird thing? I'm not sure why.

What, am I getting old? Heck, I'm 40 now. Nope - that's not it. I still mentally act like a 20-something. Pressures of work? Perhaps. Family? Possibly.

Or is it that in the back of my mind, I have the feeling there's a better option that will present itself...??

Swell.

Posted: September 26th, 2008, 2:43pm CEST

Ok, so its nothing major, but we have some decent 4-5 foot NW swell arriving on the islands by Tuesday and there's enough activity in the northern Pacific to keep things rolling for at least a week from the initial models.

Sweet!

I have to admit - there's nothing worse than being on Maui with only windswell. Yeah, yeah, I know. Waaaahh waaahhh. Poor folks suffering on Maui without swell. Sure we go to Maui for the trades, but the reason I go to Maui is for the winter swell.

Heck, I can go lots of places for wind, but there's nothing sweeter than a big swell on the northshore. The whole place comes alive and the sound of the waves rumbling you awake in the early AM ... sorry, its a little slice of heaven.

Then there's the joy of picking up a ground swell on the outside, positioning yourself just right as it jacks up on the reef and dropping in, all wound up wishing I picked the next smaller sail in my quiver than the one I'm on right now. (this is where my lifetime of picking to be powered up always comes back to haunt me) But I didn't and now I'm WAY committed. Bottom turn and I glance up to see where the wave will go critical and crap! Its way bigger than I thought and its gonna close out on me.... BIG TIME. Before I even contemplate the downside of my decision, I'm charging the lip headed for that sliver of light before the door slams shut in my face...

Ah, I can't wait. Just thinking about it makes my spine tingle. ;-)

Its a SUP thing...

Posted: September 25th, 2008, 11:25pm CEST

I've really had a gas SUP'ing since last year's Maui board tests. And this year, we're gonna be testing SUP's as well as the usual ~85 liter boards.

Check out this vid of Laird and Dave from last winter.

Laird Hamilton Dave Kalama Stand Up Paddle Surfing from standupzone dotcom on Vimeo.

Nothing like steady trades...

Posted: September 24th, 2008, 5:13pm CEST

Check out the forecast image (click for full size) for Maui. Pretty boring, eh? Every day, sunshine, warm temps and that darn pesky wind. ;-)

Now all we need is some decent swell. Heck, any swell will do. Looking at the long term swell forecasts, we might get into a swell pattern early next week. Hope it holds!

T minus 7 days and counting!

Epic speed

Posted: September 22nd, 2008, 6:17pm CEST

Dude, thats fast. 49.84 knots. And looking at the board, smooth with room for more speed. Dang!

Not what we expected

Posted: September 21st, 2008, 2:50pm CEST

Seriously, we drove for hours. First it was a drive to Two Rivers, where Josh has been skunked a few times before. I'm not sayin' he's jinxed, but alas, we didn't care for the fact that the kiters were on 12m's, although the swell was head high. We just weren't jonesin on the lack of wind. I didn't like the setup and figured the wind wasn't going to happen there, so we bailed north to Baileys' Harbor on a call from a friend who was sailing a 4.5 up there. (and the wind never did come up, so we left swell for wind...)

So, we drove.... and drove. Stopped at a few hopeful spots along the way up to see if we could score earlier and save drive time. Nada. Nothing. Nyet. See, the wind angle was just enough to turn side off and have no wind on the inside and also push any lake swell to well offshore.

So we continued north...

Finally, we ended up at Baileys - and yes, I was cranked on a 5.2 - Josh on a 5.7 and we sailed all the four boards we brought. But what was super odd was that for the wind we were sailing in, the swell was epic. Epic as in epic small. Mind blowing small.

I mean, it was silly. I'm getting rocked on a 5.2 (was thinking about 4.7 but it was late in the day) and I was hunting for sets that were chest high. Chest high!?!? I'm still shaking my head on this one. Offshore the buoys were 8 foot, but I felt like we were playing in the kiddie pool.

Not cool. Well, ok, it was cool. It was windy. We were sailing. I was smiling. Swell or no swell, it was still good to sail after all those miles. ;-)

The next day I was on a 5.7 in my backyard with decent waves and a lot of fun. Kinda sucked for my friends who hit the water with their kites only to have the wind shut off.

Sure Josh got to sail the lake - but nothing like what it can really produce.... perhaps next time. Still, a good time was had by all.

Plus - in 10 days we'll be in Maui. So, we're cool with that.

(And yes - we didn't take ONE sailing picture. Doh!)

And I just noticed South 15-25 for Tuesday... I might get a sesh in before my evening flight to L.A. .... Hmmm.....

Booked!

Posted: September 18th, 2008, 6:24pm CEST

So, I'm in New York City at a trade show and the forecast for Friday (tomorrow) goes from 15-25 to possibly 30 knots, and now they have it at southerly gales to 35 knots. With air temps 75-80 and the lake 8-10 foot, its all the makings for a classic Lake Michigan fall day.

I'm hauling ass home tonight and a quick call to Josh and he's flying up tonight to experience the Lake in all its glory tomorrow.

Yeah baby!

Good day

Posted: September 15th, 2008, 9:30am CEST

Nothing like a wetsuit and harness on the deck chairs after a day-long sesh in the backyard.

Fall winds are in full swing here ... though today was kinda weird for wind/wave angles.

Note the fresh tomatoes from the garden on the table.... Yum!!

Spent the day between my 5.8 and 5.3 Kult. Love these sails!

And the board lineup - from right to left. 86 liter FSW, 110 liter TwinTip and 99 liter Wavetwin. Note the short length of the wave twin against the other two boards.

Need a ski for tow in? Nope.

Posted: September 14th, 2008, 6:53pm CEST

Need a ski for tow in? Nope.

Sick stick

Posted: September 13th, 2008, 8:02pm CEST

As promised, here are some shots of the 2009 RRD WaveTwin 99. Its very compact at 225x62 for its 99 liters.

In the wavetwin board line, its the largest in volume, but the shortest by far. While its technically the big board in the line, I think its a standalone shape purpose built for maximizing "real world waves" found by most sailors outside of Maui/Baja.

The 99 offers surprising upwind performance. I initially was worried about its upwind ability for side-on wavesailing on Lake Michigan where upwind capabilities are needed for survival. Not an issue. ;-)

Volume distribution lends lends to suffering on curve jibes - this might hamper true down the line wavesailing, but makes up for it with amazing tight capabilities that enable the sailor to make the most of ugly, unorganized waves.

The Wavetwin jumps really well - The outline of the board give amazing pop - giving higher aerials and more loft on high jumps.

In summary : This board isn't for everyone. It requires a different stance in getting the board to perform, and you have to your A game on at all times else the board can bite ya in the ass. Sailors who make the commitment will be rewarded with stellar performance in a compact package that will turn any light air wave day into a perma-grin sesh.

WHOA!

Posted: September 12th, 2008, 5:49am CEST

So, I haul ass back from SF after a late night dinner with the Catapult and what do I find? Solid 5.7 weather with 6-8 foot swell at a home break which was a perfect first session test of the 09's RRD waveTwin 99 that I found waiting for me when I got off the plane today.

I'll post more about the board in the next day or two with photos and more detail.

New weather tool

Posted: September 5th, 2008, 6:08pm CEST

I'm a weather nut. Go figure! Check out this new storm tracker website. Sweet graphics and nice tools - way easier than using the NWS website.

Incognito

Posted: September 4th, 2008, 8:28pm CEST

I'm in the latest issue of Windsurfing Magazine ... or am I?

Can you find it? Josh has me incognito...

Actually, I've got a photo credit and a harness review as well - but can you find my alter ego? ;-)

Permalink for 'Epic_Sessions/2008/09/04/wow'

wow

Posted: September 4th, 2008, 3:02am CEST

Got home late from work and was treated to a sunset I didn't deserve.

Wow....

Back in action and ready to rock!

Posted: September 3rd, 2008, 4:04am CEST

Exactly one month until the board tests on Maui and I'm thrilled to be back to 100% with the knee. Now all that's left is to loose those last 5-7 lbs...

Looks like we might get some wind tomorrow/next day and I'm ready to get back in the water and tear it up.

The best part - looks like we might get some swell action on the lake.

Dude, I can't wait. ;-)

(this is an Aeder shot from last years test)

Great way to start the day

Posted: August 31st, 2008, 4:13pm CEST

Mirror smooth this morning, not a breath of wind. Got on the water at 7:15am and got off just before 9am just in time for fresh cut peaches and cinnamon rolls hot out of the oven.

Heck of a way to start the day!

What's next? We're suiting up the kids and going for some pulls - gotta take advantage of the smooth water while we can!

(thanks to Herb for snagging the shot!)

UPDATE - spent the entire day on the water. Just put the boat on the lift at 4pm. Epic!

Quick sunset shot

Posted: August 29th, 2008, 3:37am CEST

The wind calmed by the time I got home, but considering my *ahem* commitment to healing my knee, that was a good thing.

My consolation prize was a great sunset. Ok, I'm cool with that.

Ginsu fin action

Posted: August 24th, 2008, 1:45am CEST

I think someone got a little over zealous in the finishing department over at True Ames. (check out the video below)

Great fin and it has multiple uses! (and I thought those flip flops with the bottle opener in the sole were cool!)

Boards boards boards!

Posted: August 23rd, 2008, 4:51pm CEST

I found some old shots of boards in a box this morning. That got me thinking about all the boards I've had over the years.... So, here's the list to the best of my ability to remember all of 'em! (in kinda chronological order, but not really)

It all started in 1982 with the original stock Windsurfer...

1. Windsurfer One Design
2. Windsurfer Rocket 99 (above pic)
3. Windsurfer Olympic One Design
4. Wings of Flight 9'6" custom tri fin waveboard (went through 3 finboxes)
5. Cobra 9'0 slalom board
6. Jimmy Lewis 8'10 custom wave slalom
7-8. Seatrend 9'0 custom carbon slalom board (2 - broke the first one)
9. Seatrend 9'8" square tail slalom
10. Seatrend 9'4 world cub slalom
11. Seatrend 8'11 ATV
12-13. Seatrend 88 ATV (two of 'em - broke the first one)
14. Seatrend 87 ATV
15. Seatrend 80 ATV (broke it in the gorge)
16. Seatrend 113 liter ATV
17. "Buzz" 9'0 custom slalom
18. Shuler 8'6" gorge wave (snapped in half at Swell City)
19. Shuler 8'3" gorge wave (in my office)
20-21-22. Mistral Challenge flex (3 of 'em - broke them all)
23. Logoz 9'4" wave board
24. 88 Fanatic Wave board (don't recall the model name)
25. Mistral One Design
26. Starboard 111 Carve Wood (buckled it)
27. Starboard 111 Carve DRAM
28. Starboard Acid 88 DRAM (broke it)
29-30. Starboard EVO 92 DRAM (2 - broke the first one at Sheboygan)
31. Starboard Freesex 110 Wood
32. Starboard Kombat 105 DRAM
33. Starboard x-186 Formula
34. RRD FSW 110 Carbon
35. RRD FSW 86
36. RRD Twin Tip 110
37-38. Mistral Pacifico (two of em)
39. RRD 98 X-Fire
40. RRD 75 X-Fire speed board

I didn't count any of my demo boards from sponsors, else the count would be 48+. Holy cow!

Sidelined

Posted: August 23rd, 2008, 4:34pm CEST

Since I'm gonna be on the sidelines for a while, I'll be taking a pile of video of the local crew when they're tearing it up.

The last time this happened, I was benched as a result of a nasty foot injury from a cleat on a ski boat. (makes my skin crawl just to think about it)

in 1999, I had a trip out to SF and since I couldn't sail, I camped out on the bluff and shot video of Troy all day. I think he blew through two sails that day - with his body! Seriously, he put his body through his 4.2 on a slam and I forget how he mangled the other one.

Enjoy! (Oh - this was all shot at Josh's "secret" location shown on his blog) ;)

Waaaaay back

Posted: August 23rd, 2008, 3:57am CEST

Check out this shot from Baileys Harbor back in ... shoot, must be '91.

Compare it to the shot below from Two Rivers 2001. Dude, that's too weird.

Tabletops?

Posted: August 23rd, 2008, 1:15am CEST

Of all the jumps that tweak the back, spine and brain, the tabletop is a hellish fun jump.

This shot is from a Cali '05coast trip with my good friend Troy and Josh Stone with the amazing photocapabilities of Erik Aeder. Seriously, he can make even slackers like me look good!

Check out some more shots here...

I'm stuupid

Posted: August 23rd, 2008, 12:46am CEST

Ok, since I screwed my knee today longboarding on the Pacifico in the weak surf at Two Rivers - here's a little video of 7.0 wavesailing from last fall at Two Rivers.

Dude, my knee hurts!! Gotta get it back to 100% for Maui in October!!!

Maui tabletop

Posted: August 22nd, 2008, 5:41pm CEST

One of the guys needed an SD card in the office and I thought I'd double check to make sure it was clean and ready to go. Alas, it had a single solitary video on it from the Maui Board tests last October.

Concrete surfing

Posted: August 22nd, 2008, 1:53pm CEST

Here's an interesting revision of the skateboard's timeless design to make it more "surfy".

I think it not only looks good, its a simply and elegant design compared to those that have come before. I might have to check one of these out!

Of course, this requires an obligatory video of Josh on the hill near our house. ;-)

Kiter video

Posted: August 20th, 2008, 7:06pm CEST

Sorry, I know this is really making the rounds, but still.

The need for speed

Posted: August 20th, 2008, 6:50pm CEST

Fall is my favorite time of year for sailing. The winds of winter begin fighting with summer for control over our climate and through the end of October, the water is usually still warm no matter how vicious the cold fronts get.

While my focus in sailing has always been waves - this fall I'm gonna tackle the Midwest Speed Quest. The event is held in the SW corner of Minnesota on a little lake that gets amazingly huge amount of wind. Past year's speed postings have been very respectable and I'm really looking forward to going for it there. I've got some gear that I've been tuning and taken to 40+ on the GPS and I know it will go faster with flatter water conditions and more wind... provided I can keep the hammer down. ;-)

Pray for wind!

New blog

Posted: August 20th, 2008, 6:43pm CEST

Hey folks - I'm moving all of my water based lifestyle postings to this blog to keep the focus on Cheeseheadtech on all things tech/business.

Just an FYI. ;-)