Oops, not a rest day after all.

It picked up this afternoon. 4.7 for 2 hours. However, this dumb ass figured he could get away with shorts and a rash guard. Frozen solid by the end. Thank goodness for the hot tub!

Having a hard time keeping upwind with the new 20cm fin. I don't know how real free-stylers do it.

And another fun little run in the a.m. with B-Rad...

Wind on the way...

Rest day today and yesterday, but good forecast for coming 5 days straight! YEAH! Blister's take more than two days to heal dammit.

Best Session Ever....

One dock start, one tack, one frozen and wet kid, smiling and wanting more...

... and dinner with friends.

Hatteras Day4

Could be a rest day today. I was hoping for another morning session at the slick, but alas, Ma Nature did not produce her magic.

Hands are wrecked, arms are sore... a rest day or two is what the doctor ordered.

The weekend is looking good with potential for evening session on Thursday and Friday.

Hatteras Day3

Got a nice early morning warning from Andy McKinney. Windy, still. Met up at the Buxton slick, and had the good fortune to meet and sail a fun but short freestyle session with Stuart and Andy. What a blast, trading tricks, good times... wish it would have lasted more than an hour!

Thanks to Keith M for snapping one photo of me yesterday at ramp 34, on Bill Bells blog. I think that was the only wave I found, and thankfully he did not snap that shot 1 second later when I miss-timed that top turn.

Hatteras Day2 pt 2&3

Windy, still. I tried to chase down Bill Bell up at Oregon Inlet, but only managed to get north about 1 mile to Ramp 34, where I found a couple of guys (Keith and Jim), and decided to give it a shot there. Tire pressure down to 25psi, I took the Subey out on the beach and rigged up there with the big 4WD trucks in the peltering sand. I couldn't get it right out there. Rigged the 4.4 and 76 and just couldn't keep on a plane (potato chips? extra 15lbs?)... and I couldn't find the waves either. I didn't give it much chance either - it was sapping all my strength. Packed it in, came back to the house and Pt 3:

Sailed another 1hr in the sound, fully lit on the 3.7/105. I am much more a freestlyer than a wave sailor I realize, even though quite the hack at both. I did manage a few nice shove-its, some forwards, a few wymaroo attempts, spocks, flaka trys etc... Fun stuff, and by the end, no one else out whatsoever.

Still kooking it up though... doing lots of dumb things and just not quite comfy with it all. But still loving it!!

Hatteras Day2 pt 1

Windy. Very. Again. Sailed 3.7 with the 105 in the sound. Kookery is prevailing. I can't even seem to tack anymore. Gotta iron out the cobwebs here.

Pt2 on the ocean side to follow. Lets hope there are some tales of nice rides rather than bashing in the shorebreak.

Hatteras Day1

Windy. Very. We pulled into Avon at about 2pm and our house was all ready for us. Ran the bags and family up, and rigged like a madman. It looked to be blowing 25-30kts out on the sound. I rigged a 4.2 and 105L and got blown off the water pretty quick. The 4.2 Guru was nice and forgiving, but not that forgiving. I guess it was 30+. Switched to the 3.7 Guru and Q 76 waveboard. Problematic for my fat ass. I struggled. Very rusty. Best move of the day was a fat flat-water forward right in front of my kids who came down to the water for a peak.

Nice to be sailing again. Lots of wind in the forecast.

Sailed a bit later on a bizarro 3.7/105 combo. That 105 is smooth as. Love it already. And it carves much better than the older version.

Didn't see anyone out there I know yet. I think I caught a glimpse of Amine or Christine a few hundred metres downwind, hope to catch up with them soon!

I'm sore, and the hand blisters have a solid head start. Damn pansy desk-job hands...

Hatteras bound!!

It's been a long winter! I haven't sailed since late November. This is unusual - usually I get away for a trip or two to get my fix, but this year I was flat out of holiday time and dollars. Needless to say I am desperate to get out on the water.

Scott MacDonald photo, 2008.

I'll be staying with my family at 30 Miles Out, behind the Dairy Queen in Avon, on North Albacore. If you are down there and keen to get out for a session together, feel free to drop by. While for some the big island in front of our place can be a pain in the arse, for a freestyler, it is an added bonus because of the nice flat-water it always creates downwind of it.

And joy! I'll be testing out a bunch of new gear. The 2010 Goya X1, 2010 Goya sails and a couple new Aeron V-grip booms!!

Fingers crossed for lots of wind!

Shadowbox Action

The footage from Maui often blows me away and gets me scheming on ways to get the hell out of this office and head there for some waves! The latest video footage is some sweet as action from a recent nuking session at Ho'okipa. Check out this video by Jake Miller, taken about a week ago during an impromptu jump-off. What is extra neat about it is that each rider had a "Shadowbox" GPS unit attached, which not only measures XY geographic positioning, but also elevation. So, the actual heights of the jumps were derived from the record flight path data.

Check out the great jump-off video here, by SnakeBite Films.

Click here for more info on the Shadowbox.

2010 Resolutions....

While I really don't believe in these, especially around New Years, I do have some goals for 2010. These kinda stem from a recent forum thread on WindsurfCanada.com.

Definitely a few goals.

In the trick department, I have really stagnated the last couple of years. Perhaps this is since I'm spreading myself and time on the water a bit too thin for bagging some of these relatively difficult and unusual moves. I'm also extremely out of shape.

In the big scheme of things, these tricks aren't actually considered that hard anymore. That doesn't mean they are easy in any sense, but I'm getting old dammit... and these into the wind rotation moves are a whole new bag of worms.

Not yet decided, but 2010 is the year for at least one of these flat-water freestyle moves:
- Flakas (here's a link to a pretty in-depth article on the commitment and learning curve on this one, care of Boardseeker.com)(Oh, and here is the original Swayze by the inventor Web pedrick)
- Shakas (While I wish I could say I've made progress on these since this absolute fluke claim in New Zealand, I cannot.)
- hell, I'll even take Goiters... (or Ponches, I suppose is what they are called in the freestyle world)

Apparently, analysis by a sailing buddy Amine Fadous from Montreal while in Hatteras a couple of years ago, suggests that my flaka attempts look a lot more like goiter/ponch attempts... so hey, maybe I should just go with the flow...

And aerials:
- one handed forwards (Here is a nice one by Albeau)
- port-side forwards
- pushloops (Here's a nice basic one by Gollito, care of Continent Seven)

Alright then, on a different perspective, here are a few other things:
- Start gradually widening my footstraps, both for better ability to get over the centreline (apparently important for flakas), and also to reduce the chance of screwing up my ankles.
- Go a notch longer with harness lines and accordingly raise the boom a notch as well. I tend to ride with a fairly low boom... which probably makes it a bit harder to get weight on the mast and middle of the board for, again, those damn flakas.
- Keep experimenting with smaller FS fins. I wrote a wee stubby-fin analysis way back when about my take on stubby cut-down fins, but I think it is time to re-evaluate - especially since my new ride came with a gem - a nice 20cm MFC FS Pro UL.

And finally, I hope to write a couple articles for magazine submission, topics to remain nameless until they actually get published. Or more accurately stated: IF they get published...

So, that's it folks... Those are my goals. Let's see what the year brings. What about you?

Pansy-ism.

OK, I made up this word. But I think it adequately describes what is happening to me. I'm turning into a pansy.

Monday was absolutely ripping. Probably 25-30kts from the south in the afternoon, and 8°C. Not too shabby. Once upon a time I would have jumped all over that, suited up and made the most of it.

Well, unfortunately I am reporting that the on-set of pansy-ism has firmly taken a stronghold on my psyche for cold-weather sailing. I didn't even consider it.

I guess I have to admit that a few other minor factors were weighing in:
- All my gear is in storage in Watertown, NY.
- I currently don't own a single boom.
- The bays are covered in ice.
- It was pissing rain with snow-melt and the sewers were bypassing something fierce.

So, I guess I couldn't really have gone if I wanted to.... but c'mon! - I should have at least been thinking about it!! ;)

2010 Kit

I managed to convince my financial advisor that I absolutely NEED some new gear since the old stuff, quite frankly, didn't work anymore...

Success!

Fedex is due to arrive any day now, with some brand spanky new stuff. It's going to be a long four months til Hatteras.

Update: It's here!
I love the green beast. Can't wait to try it.

Coverage.

Basically being a hack, I'm pretty stoked if and when I get any kind of media coverage whatsoever. This time, a little article showed up in PlancheMag... That's me in the tiny photo in the bottom left corner. Kudo's to Pierre Morneau from Montreal who also got the two photos next to mine... and Nic Chapleau for taking the shots!

Big Swell

Holy Crap! Not being located anywhere near a coastline, I don't pay much attention to this stuff, but couldn't resist posting this link:

StormSurf North Pacific Wave Model

Especially pertinent today and for the next few days, as it would appear that the Hawaiian Islands are about to get a right hammering.
Can't wait to check out some of the footage!! Bring it on! [says the arm-chair athlete]

(thanks for the heads up Beach Telegraph!).

... and for those kooks who are out of the loop, or just don't procrastinate enough, check out the most recent addition of the Windsurfer International.

Last kick at the can...

It's getting cold out there, real cold.

Actually, believe it or not, its not that bad yet, but I think the weather is finally supposed to go 'seasonal' by the end of the week, with the first smathering of snowfall on Thursday.

But, we did score one more decent one at Sandbanks last Friday. I took half the day off and drove myself out to Picton to meet up with Ilan, Pierre and JF Lemay. I extracted them from the allure of the beach and dragged them off to Mac's, despite what appeared to be pretty tiny little waves. Sure enough though, the wind ramped up to a reasonable 30-35kts for the afternoon and we feasted on 3-5ft waves. Not epic in the sense of true epicity (is that a word?), but a blast none the less, and well worth the trip. Mostly head-high rides, but once again, the wave wrapping that happens there just gives it enough twist to get to reasonable side-shore conditions. I think the best wave I saw was Pierre getting about 6-8 nice turns all the way into the wind doldrums near shore. Ilan's wave riding is improving all the time. Ilan is on a solid no-skunk-yet record for Sandbanks, so if he is going to make the trip all the way from Montreal, chalk it down for a guaranteed quality session.

A few photos, care of Ilan...





But alas, it is time to dry out the equipment, pull out the parka's and snow shovels, cuz here comes winter!

Clear Out!

Equipment for sale / a vendre (Kingston, ON)

Sails/Voiles:
• 2008 Goya W3D 5.3 - Good Condition (red, rigs on a 430). $350

• 2008 Goya W3D 4.1 – Excellent Condition (black, rigs on a 370/400). $350

Masts / mât:
• 2008 Goya RDM 430 – Good Condition, with bag. $300

Booms:
• 2009 211 Components (Goya proto) 140-190 Alloy boom – Very Good Condition. $100


Photos available on request. Packages or complete rigs are a possibility. Make an offer and I'll consider.
Contact Mike/Fish at fishinator@hotmail.com

Blue

Wow! I have never seen blue on the windguru maps before, probably a testament to where I live.

Check this out: http://lostinhatteras.blogspot.com/

Andy McKinney from SailWorld Hatteras is reporting a very nutty week coming right up in Cape Hatteras!

Definitely a great blog from the Cape that we Canadians all like to invade every spring. Take a look.

Here's a direct link to the insane windguru forecast

That's gonna shake them vacation homes real good.

SessionLogs - Check it out...

Ever want to show off your best epic sessions?
Check out this application, developed by one of my old kiwi mates back in New Zealand. It has recently gone global! Well done Chris!
Consider signing up and logging your sessions! It's not only for windsurfing either - pick a sport and show off your photos and videos.
SessionLogs

3 nukes this year.

We've had 3 occasions this year to own a 3.0! Impressive. I usually consider myself lucky if I can use my 3.7 once or twice a year. I love the high wind stuff, so this has been a treat for sure!

Halloween was another very windy day. Unfortunately, I could not get my motivation up, sufficient to overcome the dismal morning rains to drive out to Sandbanks... which is where I should have been sailing. Alas, I had Bob the Builder and Wendy waiting for me to go trick-or-treating, so no way I was going to miss that for anything.

Sailed here in town with the locals:
1 hour on 4.1 in strong southerlies at Everitt, and rain...
1 hour on 4.1 in strong, but dropping southwesterlies at Patterson Park...
1 hour on 3.7 maxed, in very strong westerlies at Emily St.

I'd say it's been a reasonable fall - but definitely hoping for more!!

Sorry, no photos...