What a difference a day makes

The wind shifted from the NW to the W-WSW-SW and dropped from the highs of yesterday to 7-12 today.

Got to do a 6 mile downwinder from Pass Christian to Gulfport (across from the Waffle House on Broad and 90).

Got up to 7 mph riding calf high wind swell. Yeah I know it's not that big a deal, but hey - you got to take what you can get.

Sharky

This guy washed up on the beach where we launch the boat from.

Needless to say, the kids were fascinated by the shark.

Save the Jellys!!!

That was the mission Marlon and Noe accepted this afternoon -

Poor Noe discovered that some jellyfish do in fact sting (she stepped on one). These two kiddoroos still had no fear and had filled a bucket - with the goal to repatriate them to the ocean.

It's the simple things in life that count - I know what I'm thankful for!

Sailing Thanksgiving Day

We had some friends (Ave, Ray and Layali) over from Houston for the weekend - the wind was up (but from the NW) so we took HOOYAH out for a spin.

The wind was stiff - ranging from 10-17, to 20-27. More than a couple of times the leeward ama was buried deep and pushing the boat towards a capsize. Didn't go over - just close (rounding up slowed the boat down enough to get the ama to pop back up). Ray thought it was great, La got a little spooked - rightly so - she was out on the runs when the gusts were pushing 27 mph!!! What a salty trooper!!!

Ray and I got the boat up to 16 mph!!! I think the extra body weight in less winds allowed us to make the best of the situation. A new personal best on the boat!

All in all another beautiful day -

HOO-YAH!

New Garage

The Gulfport Garage!

This is the biggest garage I've had the privilege of using - room for La's van, some boxes from the household items and tons of room for my wind generated stoke extracting devices.

Mind you I'm not showing off, just sharing! If you are ever in the Gport neighborhood, give me a hollar, and we'll get us some good ol'e surfing in!!!

YEEE HAAWWW!

Maintenance

No usable wind down here...

How do you make constructive use of all the time you don't spend kiting/surfing/sailing?

Maintenance.

I haven't used these kites in a while - filled the struts to see if there were any leaks. Of course there were - wouldn't be maintenance if there weren't any leaks.

The kite is a prototype X4 12m. I have a nose line rigged for it (the only way to fly...)

Now I just need some wind!!!!

Cleared up

Here's the tank ready to go!!!

Sailing Sunday

Roger (the owner of the F28 I talked about last weekend) called and asked if I would like to crew today. I said yes and at 1000 this morning, I got to see he, Kenny, and Camielle step the mast. I learned alot.

Kenny couldn't make the sail afterwards, but the rest of us took the boat out - in horribly light wind (3-5kts).

I got to helm most of the way out and back from Cat Island. We beached the boat at the Northeastern tip of the island. These trimarans are awesome for this type of sailing!!! Shoaled in less than 1'!!!

On the leg back, we put up the kite and I learned alot about sailing downwind (more like broad-reaching) using an asymmetric.

Roger is the guy in the hold. Thanks amigo!!!

Great day!!!

Waiting for the dust to settle

Getting closer...

We actually went to the fish store (near Biloxi) and they had just sold their last porcupine puffer. That made the decision to wait a little easier.

I'll post more later today - the tank has actually cleared up alot.

2000 miles, a few less rocks, a new SCWD and we're back in business!

Oh well -

It would have been ultra nice to have been able to drive from our old place in Oxnard, down for the weekend to eat carne asada burritos from A'Dalbertos on Rosecrans, then watch the megatri BOR 90 as the sun sets over the horizon.

Why couldn't the America's Cup be held last year??!!>>$%#^&^%&%

Stupid litigation! Now I am stuck admiring all the development from afar -

It's no secret who I'm cheering on, and it would have been amazing to see them in person. Here's the boat at moor in San Diego Harbor (not far from the burrito capital of the universe). The night watch has rigged up some mooring sails to keep her bow to the wind. The blog I copied this from said the schooner in the back is a replica of 'America' for whom the Cup is named after. You couldn't have scripted a better picture!

Oh Well!

Photo credits to the guy whose name is in small print on the picture.

Kiting on Sunday

Fun day out at the beach. Winds were a bit puffy (10-20) but I put up the Shockwave to compensate.

This was La's inaugural foray back into kiting. Did some land based work today because of the gusty conditions.

If this place got winds like this all the time, I'd buy a house and stay here. Unfortunately, this apparently takes a Hurricane sitting a few degrees latitude below you to make blow....

It was fun while it lasted - BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES, REEF THE SAILS - A STORMS A BREWIN'!!!!!

Roger's Farrier

On the way to go kiting today, we passed by the Long Beach Yacht Club and the trimaran I've seen was being hitched to a truck. Turns out Hurricane Ida is headed North and will hit somewhere between here and Panama City, FL. The LBYC asked everyone to move their boats out of the area and that's how I met Roger.

We stopped by and talked to the owner (Roger) for awhile about his boat. It's a Farrier 28, built in 1998 and it's in great shape.

I told him we have a Weta and that we often launch from the eastern part of the LBYC. Turns out he has been sailing multihulls extensively and with age, he's turned from his Nacra 5.8 to this F28 to keep the thrills up without the drenching/pitchpoling/hull hauling factors that the cats give.

He invited me to crew for him one day - I left him my card and hopefully we'll go sailing soon!!!

This is one of the boats I've been eyeing to get once we plant roots. Having a chance to crew one will be awesome!

White Clouds

Everyone except me thinks a tank full of caridina shrimp is boring. I got ganged up on at the fish store about the need for fish in the small tank.

After a great deal of debate, seven White Clouds were bagged up and taken home with us.

I watched them closely after the acclimatization period to make sure they wee not going to eat the juvenile shrimp - so far so good.

They are pretty active and add a nice touch.

Big Shrimp, Little Shrimp

A couple of the clutches have hatched and transformed into the sub-adult phase. The tough older shrimp that made the journey across country, that have been passing slowly, but surely are now being replaced. I lost about 10 of the 30 that made the drive out.

If you look closely at the pictures, you'll see one of the new kids on the block - perfect replica of the larger (but in reality, still small) shrimp - everything is relative...

There are still a few more shrimp holding clutches of eggs - life goes on

Big Tank Getting Closer

I'll finish the plumbing soon.

The kids have been asking repeatedly for a small porcupine puffer. We went to the second aquarium shop that we've found here in the area yesterday. Decent setup (certainly superior to the one closest to our house) and they get their shipments every Thursday.

With the live rock curing in the backyard for several weeks now, we may have fish swimming by next weekend!

Marlon also asked for the walk space that is in the picture - that'll be the side the kids are responsible for cleaning.

Stay tuned!

New Bike

The kiddoroos have been having a blast zooming around the neighborhood on their bikes. La and I gave our bikes to her brother and his wife before we left California.

I wasn't really looking for a new bike until I realized Marlon can go a lot faster on his bike now - I can't keep up on the skateboard anymore. I also have started to get the idea that I can ride my bike to work (only 1.5 miles).

And we as a family have plans that when we go to check out new towns in the area, that we'll pack the bikes and tour via 2 wheels. We've noticed parking can be pretty tight in some areas, especially the artsy districts holding festivals. To park in a less crowded area and to be able to pedal up and be mobile (and have fun too) would be a great thing.

Well, La is still contemplating what her ride will be (leaning towards a more road oriented bike that can support some triathlon campaigns), but I pulled the trigger today. Here's a 2009 Specialized Centrum. Internal 3 speed hub on the rear, two disk brakes and a lightweight aluminum frame - this bike had me at first sight.

I was really targeting a cruiser - a Globe Carmel 1, but the shop only had Carmel 2's (front shock, 3 speed internal hub). But the Centrum was hanging out to the side... Oh well, there went the cruiser idea... This is a slick, stripped down mountain bike that's built for short commutes. It's got a similar ride to my old avalanche, but a lighter, crisper feel that makes you want to ride it. I tested both and the Carmel was a blast to ride - real floaty and so cushy, but the Centrum was just too good a deal to pass up. $500 (down from $750) with the appointments it had was better than the $425 (down from $475) Carmel.

Marlon and I went for a spin this evening and I know I got the right bike.

Why is this an amphibious post? Well, I'll probably start riding down to the beach in the early mornings to get a run in. I am also planning to do longer downwinders - drop the bike off at the ending point, drive back to the start, paddle down to the end again, grab the bike, ride back to the start, load up the bike and drive back to the end to pick up the board. We'll see how that plan goes.

Can you guess what they are?

Yesterday a rectangular slice of foam.

Today:
-90 minutes with a Japanese Pull Saw, my Random Orbital Sander, my Shaping Smock, a mechanical pencil and a ruler.

Can you guess what they are going to be???