Elemental

Work has been brutal and so has the weather. Finally got to take a break today.

Had a bunch of stuff to do this morning - work, laundry, cleaning up, groceries - oh, and Noe went horsing around and fell backwards from the couch. After a stint at the local hospital (just to make sure everything was fine), we went back to the house and all breathed a sigh of relief.

Then I got a call from Roger - he was fixing the weight bearing bunkers on his trailer for the F28. The wind was howling and he needed a third pair of hands on the boat to get the boat back on the trailer and put away again.

Well, since we were heading to the beach AND the wind happened to be howling, we might as well PUT A SAIL UP!

We broke out the Element for the first time - La got the board in the water first and paddled it around (despite the wind) - SHE-RA!!!

Then I took it out for a sail - NICE!!! Having multipurpose boards is a wonderful thing!!!

I nailed about half my jibes (way better than I ever did before) and got several tacks in as well. Having been kiting all these years and only dabbling back in windsurfing, it actually feels fun to get the basics back (kinda like riding a bike, kinda - jibes ain't that easy...)

Did I say I love these multipurpose boards?

Oh, and Noe is fine - bouncing around again like nothing even happened.

Paddle Covers

La made this one for my Methane last night.

$4 towel from Target, an hour for measuring and getting in the mood, and Viola!!!

Custom Paddle Cover to keep the sharp nailed gremlins away from the epoxied paddle (bad gremlins!!!).

I put the Shaka Pu'u next to it for a comparison (so you wouldn't be asking "what is that?").

Versatility

I am on a mission to make this board do everything.

Sailing - done.

Paddling flats - done.

Surfing - to do.

Surf Sailing - to do.

Fishing platform - to do (check pictures).

Trolling - to do, soon (check pictures).

Tandem with the kids - to do.

Tandem sailing with the kids - done.

Racing - to do (maybe soon).

Kite - to do.

Roundhouse Cutback (that doesn't take out my back) - to do (it's going to take a while).

I don't regret selling my 11'6" Naish - as a single fin and as thick as it was, it would not do what I wanted it to do. This 11'2" just feels better. Stay tuned for the anti-skunking efforts of this board.

First mod - install tie down points for VERSATILITY!!!

Swing Weight

Here's an older Naish Boxer rigged and working. I used this yesterday. It's a 5.8 and it is well balanced. By today's standards, a lot more monofilm.

Short luff, fathead for power - nice sail for SUP Sailing.

Today, I rigged up a older Gaastra Poison - dedicated wave sail. This is a 5.4 and granted, today's wind sucked, but the sail seemed to want a bunch more wind to deliver the goods. I'll have to try it again in stringer winds (5-12 mph - ha! I never thought I'd be windsurfing in that low a breeze. Technically its SUP Sailing...)

The forums and blogs also state the Hot Sails Maui Super Freak is a great sail - dacron so it has a steadier, less abrupt onset of power (maybe better for my elbows and shoulders, oh and my knees).

The sails don't look that different. The wind sure did laid out a 'bait and switch' - oh well, Fall is coming and so are the winds...

Today was not the same as yesterday...

Less clouds.

Wind shift (from the WNW).

Much hotter (our SUV thermometer read 112 at one point!!!).

Jellyfish everywhere (damn b@st@rds even got me).

We completely got this one wrong.

But even though there were negatives, it was still fun!

Standing Room Only

These are from the same (paddling) session that I posted on earlier.

There's a lot of standing up going on...

;)

We'll try and get another round in tomorrow - especially the sup sailing part

SUP Saturday

Loaded (and I am using the term literally) the Pathfinder and hit the beach today!

SUP and Sail were the targets.

I got on the board (11'2" Blend) the sail rigged (older 5.8 Boxer) and it was like no time has passed since the last perfectly tuned days of windsurfing back in Kailua - back in the days before kites were brought on the market. It was fun to board sail again!

Another great thing about SUP sailing is the fact that no one cares if you're sporting the latest equipment from 2004. Throw the gear on and have fun!

We spent 4 hours out today and I got La windsurfing on the SUP - she was good (but impatient; on a side note, I've been getting the "don't under estimate me" comment for a while now; the awesome thing is she does listen and when she isn't absorbing anymore, it's as plain as day = makes me laugh hard inside when she starts drifting as I explain the actions she needs to take). I figure with practice, she'll be self sufficient on the longboard in a month or so. The shallow (albeit brown, really brown) water is excellent for teaching windsurfing or kiting. Now I just have to get the family taught up before we have to move again.

Nice day!

Twins Separated at Birth???

I'm not one to spread rumors, but.....

No - Harold Iggy didn't copy my board!!! Why would you even think that??? That's crazy talk!!!!

Seriously, it is awesome to see a shape that you conceptualized (yes I did that independently) evolve simultaneously. The term functional morphology describes how a function can evolve differently in different groups - the classic case is flight in birds and bats (and pterosaurs).

If I can get my board glassed before the 'Venturi" goes into production, these race/light wind kiteboards will be classified (at least by me) as functional morphs.

Well - in reality all the race boards are converging into a similar shapes - really a no brainer (if you daydream about surfing or the hydrodynamics of board performance).

First Outing!

The boards came out great!!!

The volume balance was perfect in all three!

I predict La's "In the Van" SUP will get a ton of use - nice glide and tremendous stability. When we get to our next duty station, I'll make one of these for myself (a little thinner for better response). From every SUP board I've touched, seen, read about, I think template is the optimum one!

Marlon used his kneeling, sitting, prone and was standing towards the end! No better endorsement than that!!!

Noe was able mimic her big brother in all except the standing part (she didn't want to).

I will make some small tweaks on the kids' boards and then we'll be a paddling family (who paddles their own boards)!!!

In this regard, it is ironic that the place that we as a family have been to and live that had the least amount of waves, ends up being the place that inspires the kids to have the confidence to be water people. For that, I am truly grateful!

Another year of this and we're good and will need to move some place with waves!!!

"Kids under 8" sized paddle

With the kids' paddleboards nearly completed (and the threat of rain/lightning/thunder preventing a trip to the beach), I finally undertook the modification of the paddles I bought for the kids to use.

I made a quick template, marked up the paddlehead and fired up the jigsaw and ROS (random orbital sander). After about 30 minutes, this is what I had.

La's first reaction was "why'd did you make it so small?" and the kids giggled.

The weather did clear up and after running an errand, we were in the water (nice and glassy).

I let Marlon use the small head paddle first - he was buzzing around like a pissed off hornet!!!

Noe used it and I could tell she was more efficient in paddling.

I'll cutdown the second one this week and fiberglass both.

What fun SUPing is eh???

Finished Sanding

Sanding.

Ughhhh.

Southern Mississippi summer.

Uggghhhhhh.

Temps in the high 90s.

Uuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhh.

Next week paddling with the kids on their own boards -

Well worth every ounce of effort!!!

More next weekend on this one ;)

BSP Destin

We took a trip out to Destin a few weeks back (I can't believe I didn't post these???).

The BSP out there has tons of character, but size wise, it's the smallest one that we've been to. Definitely way more emphasis on saltwater fishing (which is why I like it!).

If you go, look for the shark in the front.

The Windsurfing Movie II

I can't wait until this ships!!!!!

The Most Nautical Food...

In my opinion, "curry" has got to be "it".

Think about this for a minute.

The trade routes from Europe to Asia and China were forged because of the drive for spices, among those curry.

The British Empire was in place to ensure sea trade routes flowed unimpeded. And they ate curry.

In Japan outside of one of the museum ships at Yokosuka, I've seen stores that only sell bags of premade curry labelled as "The Sailor's Food".

Think about landlocked countries and what don't they have? Curry.

So by deduction curry is the most nautical food out there.

As a side note, fried chicken nuggets are one of the best two-legged foods out there, but it is made a thousand times better if you eat it on top of a bed of rice, blanketed in a warm bath of curry (with tons of onions).

I'm a marine mammal and I eat curry - that makes it the most nautical food out there.