Sunday, October 31, 2010

SUP Fishing



Paddled out to the deppwater poles (markers for the boats) and drift fished (south winds kept blowing me back towards shore).

Caught a Croaker and two White Trout (actually another species of Croaker).

I would paddle all the way back in with the fish still hooked, drop the board off in the shallows and let Marlon finish off pulling in the fish. The second White Trout was a decent sized one.

With the oil spill effects still a mystery (the oil itself, but worse the Core Exit dispersant), we let these guys go after studying them for a while in the tide pools. We did eat sushi later on yesterday and we thought about these guys.

Fun day!

Tide pools




The tide was WAY out yesterday - lots of pools that we don't usually see.

As always - the kiddoroosters had fun. The tide pools were intertwined with a bunch of sand islands and it quickly became an expedition to paddle around them.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

2010 Crossbow 11 meter


Finally had the chance to breakout the new kite for an op check.

The lines were balanced and the bladders all held air. The trim system on this bar is really nice.

Now all I need is a good strong low pressure system to hang out in the Tennessee area to draw a good, strong SW wind in the 15-20 mph range...

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Steps 1 -3




I bribed Noe to go for a spin on the longboard (SUP). I had to pay $2 to get her to come out and ride.

She did show a degree of flexibility in riding - three different ways of tandem windsurfing

Noserider - Piggyback -Uppie (our name for shoulder ride)

10 years from now I wonder if Marlon and Noe will be playing on their own with the boards (La and I aren't pushing them to do/not do these water activities or land based team sports). For now, I got my $2 worth!!!

Marlon's Awesome Board


At the beach again -

This is a close up of Marlon's SUP board (and as he outgrows it, his surfboard).

He came up with the sea creatures (and I painted them).

I finished this awhile back - but this is the first time we took a good closeup of him and the board together.

I'll be glassing my lightwind kiteboard soon. I'll try the external paint method this time. Not as much detail as what's on Marlon's board, just looking to expand the palette.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Great White Attack


I pulled this off one of the other blogs - credit to the LA Times. Be careful out there all you SOCAL surfers - especially the folks in the Ventura - Santa Barbara corridor.

"The victim of the shark attack off Surf Beach on Friday morning has been identified as Lucas Ransom, a 19-year-old college student from Romoland, Calif., authorities said.

Ransom was boogie boarding about 150 yards offshore at about 8:50 a.m. when the attack occurred, Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Sgt. Jason Grossini said Friday afternoon at a news conference on the beach. A friend who was surfing near him witnessed what happened, as did two people on the beach, Grossini said.

"He saw his friend go under for a brief moment and knew something was wrong,'' Grossini said of Ransom's surfer friend. The friend and the witnesses helped Ransom get to shore, he said. Ransom suffered a massive wound to his left leg, the sheriff's department said in a statement. He was pronounced dead at the scene by personnel from Vandenberg AFB fire department.

Ransom lost a portion of his leg in the attack, Grossini said. Authorities are patrolling the coastline trying to find the missing body part, he said. They recovered the boogie board, which had a segment bitten off.

Witnesses said they saw the shark and estimated it to be 14 to 18 feet long.

[Updated at 2:22 p.m.: Authorities previously provided the incorrect last name for Ransom as Ranson. He was a junior in chemical engineering at UC Santa Barbara, authorities said.]

-- Steve Chawkins at Surf Beach"

Monday, October 18, 2010

Cast Away



Big M has been asking to learn how to catch the smaller fish we see at the beach every time we go. He asks if I can chase them down with the hand nets that we have and I've said 'no - they are too fast - I need a cast net to do that'.

So what would a 7 year old do after that?

He asks for a cast net.

Well we finally got one for him - a 3.5' radius net. He'll need to grow a little bit taller before he can throw this one proficiently.

I did catch quite a few and as luck would have it, the tide was way out. And there just happened to be an isolated tide pool. We threw the finger mullet that we caught into the pool and Marlon got to practice there. "Shooting fish in a barrel".

He did get the net to open several times.

Another fun day at the beach!

Monday, October 11, 2010

JAX Surf Trip - Day Three



My arms were spent and I had a 9 hour drive ahead of me (us) so I passed on the surf this morning. And the swell was dying so I didn't want to spend what time we did have on just me (which I was mostly guilty of the previous two days).

I helped Marlon learn some more about channels and where to position yourself on the wave to better catch them - he soaked it up like a sponge (no pun intended).

It would have been nice to stay a few more days - then he would really have swallowed the bait (hook - line - sinker) for surfing, but alas the real world was waiting just around the corner.

We did buy Marlon a new wetsuit (Xcel front zip - bamboo liner and everything). He's got to pay back the cost of the suit by crewing on the trimaran this Fall ($180!!!! - as long as it keeps him warm it will be worth it). Maybe this weekend he can pay the first installment (crew).

What a great weekend!

JAX Surf Trip - Day Two




The swell (much welcomed, wherever you came from) held for a second day.

More folks out on Sunday, but still plenty of waves for everyone.

Marlon and Noe got more confident in the water (warm and clear).

I could have stayed out all day....

JAX Surf Trip - Day One, Part 3



More fun on Day One.

Thanks to La for taking pictures!!!

;)

JAX Surf Trip - Day One, Part 2




The best thing I was referring to is watching your kids learn and appreciate something you value and love so much, and knowing that they will hold it close for their lifetimes -

Marlon was catching these waves on his own - after catching a couple piggyback rides, he just grabbed the board, waded out to his chest, watched for inbound bombs and took his waves!!!

I am proud and stoked that Marlon is a surfer!!!

Oh and here are a few more of me on Day One (I rip)!

JAX Surf Trip - Day One, Part 1




Great Weekend!!!

The surf was fantastic and we couldn't have asked for better weather!

Lots of pictures to post so here we go!

La on the boogie board!

I tried out the Blend early on, but the waves were too good so I grabbed the board I built for La and proceeded to surgically rip the waves up - I can't tell you how good it feels to:

1. Be in the waves after over a year of being away
2. Rip after being out of the waves for a year (I still got it)
3. Ripping said waves, after being away for a year on a board designed, built and glassed by your own hands -

There is only one thing better (and I'll show you in the next post)...

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Surf Expedition


Surfing trips are great experiences.

The anticipation of the journey and the waves to come make me feel like a kid going on a long awaited field trip.

This one is especially pivotal for me as it has been over a year since I have surfed legitimate waves - yes I did say ONE YEAR.

Sure there has been sailing, kiting, windsurfing and paddling - but that all was on flat water or open water swell - not the flowing energy of gravity waves rising up to defy the shoaling and having all the elements come together in that singular moment - yes I miss it.

We'll be back on Monday night - stay tuned for what waves we catch!

I'm bringing everything (except kites) - the Blend, paddles, the 5.8 rig, a surfing mat, a boogie board and fins. I will not be skunked!!!

There are no storms scheduled to push large surf in, but the blend can catch anything.

The place I learned to surf over 22 years ago is where we'll be for the weekend - hopefully after this sabbatical I won't look like I did 22 years ago.

Stay tuned...

New Era



It has been a long time since I've bought a new kite (the latest ones I've gotten have been used ones).

Yet what is most significant about this is - this kite is not a Naish...

I have been looking for a while at what the new kites have evolved into since the golden era of the C kites (my Naish V4 16 is still my favorite kite ever) and I have been most impressed by how the Cabrihna line has come along (same conglomerate as Neilpryde and JP Australia). And this kite is supposed to have everything that I have been looking for - lofty jumps, massive depower and upwind pinching ability. And it was on big time sale -

I got the 11 m^2 first knowing winter is coming along (strong, stiff North winds - but have to go to Dauphin Island), and La can use this kite when I would be using a bigger kite (16 m^2).

I have to admit, I have been diverging from the Naish junkie I was. Don't get me wrong, their stuff always was and always will be incredible. It's just that there are so many other brands out there and I just feel it's time to experience other things (doesn't it sound like I'm breaking up with a girlfriend???). The evidence is there - Starboard SUPs, this Cabrihna Crossbow, Kialoa paddles - the opportunity certainly was there and I have gone in different directions.

Well, time will tell - I do have tremendously high expectations of this kite and I hope it delivers. And worst case, I could always stick a Naish sticker on the canopy and feel like I'm not cheating on them...

More to follow...

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Monohulling



One of La's friend's husband needed crew for the "Round Cat Island" race yesterday.

It has been decades (well - almost two decades) since I've sailed on a monohull (excluding all of the kiteboards and sailboards of course - for
the sake of this discussion, lets look at a monhull as a vessel with a fixed mast).

This is Blues Tonic - a Colgate 26.

The wind was way flukey. Nice pace on the way out (5-7 kts with speed matching vmg), but once we rounded the first corner of Cat, the lee shut down the wind.

Friday, October 1, 2010

D@mn!!! These are nice!



Awesome board! Fastest thing out there in the DW world.

Awesome In n Out food (man do I miss those!!!)!!!

Drool away!!!