Wind Report for Today

Solid breeze today!

Windsurfing Day

Inspired by the last windsurfing regatta and the possibility of sailing in the Hatteras Wave Jam (maybe), I decided against kiting today and to try and get better with the sail.

I was on the water by 1000 and my arms gave out by 1500.

I had a few runs where I was planing with a 5m2 sail, and a bunch of time just underpowered. I waterstarted like time has not passed (since I last windsurfed in Kailua Bay with my old setup in the days before kiting exploded).

I also did not nail my jibes just like no time passed. I can regularly get the board pointed downwind, but then I botch the sail transfer. Some things don't change....!!!!!!//#$%#@@#@#$%^%&!@$

After 5 hours of trying to get setup to BOTCH jibes, my arms were Jello and I called it quits.

I have found my golf -

The group picture is of the local crowd - they don't blow their jibes and actually they come in hot and lay down some smoke on their turns. I still have a goal to be able to do just that - fast, up on the rail transitions and to finish off by riding away on the new tack. I've got a long way to go (but at least I didn't go backwards)

Iridescent Smiling Coral-Clams

I saw this boring clam today for the first time - I have a ton of reference books but this is the first time I have seen a clam like this. It did not have a 'reaching' mantle so I don't think it is photosynthetic.

Wouldn't it be funny if this is a new species to science and I got to name it?

Well - with my sense of humor, the placement of the clams make it look like the coral has sprouted mouths and is singing a disco song.

So here it is - the Singing (or Iridescent) Coral Boring Clam!

Mile Marker 9 Dive

Weird day - lots of wind and squalls pushing through - made the water turbid and surgy.

The mood underwater was pretty "closed" - the fish were a little more twitchy than normal.

Did manage to get a few decent pictures of a turtle, the fusiler school (than would leave us) and the reef in all it's glory.

What My Wife Says -

La and I are talking today and she says

"I was watching a documentary about a family that was living on a boat and traveling through the canals of Europe. They had their kids and were home schooling them while they were seeing the world. I think we need to do that"

First - La never ceases to amaze me! (That's why I married her)

Second - WE'RE GOING TO GET ONE OF THESE BAD ASS BOATS!!!!!!!

Originally I was most interested in Outremers.

Now, I'm a huge Gunboat fan -

Anybody want to hire me and pay me enough so I can get one of these - now????

We will have intermediate steps along the way (F-22, HIHO trips, bluewater certifications), but La now doesn't want to wait until the kids are out of the house.

You got to make the wife happy...

It's not about the size of the fish...

Sometimes it's not how big a fish you get -

This pompano would take my bait - until I used a much smaller hook... Then I was catching him and his brothers like there was no tomorrow!

I say "him" because when I was unhooking HIM, I caught a bunch of white gooey stuff on my arms and face while the fish shook in anger of being caught.

These guys put up a good fight for their size!

Best of all, this is right out my door!

Braking

Since I'm in the blogging mood, here's another analytical post:

This is picture was taken as I'm initiating a twintip turn. You don't have to jibe a twintip in order to change direction - you just throw your back foot out and use the rail to slowdown your forward speed, while simultaneously swinging the kite towards to opposite direction of travel.

When the wind is not fully powering your kite, you have to dive the kite through the wind window to get up to speed again. With a twintip, when the rail is disengaged, you can slide across the surface of the water.

Whatever is happening, I liked the way the water is breaking up while I was going through the turn.

Hanging Around (Upside Down)

Two-blocked with meetings all day - I didn't feel like staying after 1700 like I normally do to answer emails - the wind was up and blowing past 15 mph!!!

I had the kite up and ready to go by 1730. Got some great jumps but this one in particular (and the one just after it) was awesome! I used to be able to do the 'tabletop' maneuver when I was new to kiting - primarily because I would jump unhooked (chicken loop out of the harness hook). I could rotate the lower half of my body (and the board) while I was approaching a horizontal profile with my entire body just as I hit the pinnacle of the jump. At the top of the jump, the board's bottom deck is pointing skyward, and the rider is horizontal facing the surface of the water.

Poetry in motion ....

Doing it is hard enough, but then being able to get a picture of it is a different level of effort all together. The GoPro takes a shot every 2 seconds - I have tons of pictures of everything but pinnacle shots, but every now and then you get lucky. This one isn't perfect (water stuck on the fisheye), but you have to take what you can get.

I have been using the chicken finger on the kite rig (so the chicken loop cannot come undone accidentally) a lot recently and as a side effect, I have not been able to do a complete rotation.

I pushed a little harder today and got close - next session I'll use the leash instead of the chicken finger to see if I can get the full rotation. GOING OLD SCHOOL!!!

Lumpia and a Windsurfing Win

Here's the lumpia that I put together a few days ago. I had a rolling party last night and tonight is a fish fry (to feed all the hungry people with the fish we've caught over the past couple of weekends).

It turned out pretty good (I think it is the chili powder).

Also today (after the morning dive and some time at work) I sailed in a Windsurfing Regatta - the 6th Annual Windsurfing Race. I got First in the Intermediate Division.

Time to eat!!!!

Sunday Morning Dive

Mile Marker 8.5

Tons of Anemones

In the first picture, can you find the clownfish (tiny guy)

More gratuitous fishing shots

A couple more just because this was such an awesome day!

I personally think my impression of a caught fish is spot on - I should have been an actor!

Poke for Dinner

This was a tuna head/belly (one of the bigger ones we hooked that didn't make it into the boat - the majority of the fish is inside a shark.

Now it is poke. And my dinner. And delicious.

Check out the middle picture in the previous post - you can see the head this came off of towards the bottom of the picture.

Oishi!!!!

The Best Day of Fishing EVER (for me at least)!!!

These pictures say it all...

One of my life goals was accomplished today -

I CAUGHT A FISH THAT WAS BIGGER THAN ME!!!!

Having tons of yellowfin tuna, wahoo and some bonita was a close second -

And the last one for today

Look what's going to be for dinner soon...

How's this an amphibious entry you ask???

The filling is bonefish - that's how!

More Helmet Cam Pictures

More to show the new perspective

Friday Afternoon Kiting

Busy week -

I left work at 4pm to try and harness some wind. The forecast for the weekend is calling for lower winds - adding to the urgency.

This is the first time I am using the helmet cam perspective - most of the shots were not good - I'll have to play with the positioning to get it right.

The helmet cam made it easier to take video - I'll work on loading a few clips up to the blog.

Almost two hours out in gusting, bending winds. The 16 was barely enough on the inside, but too much out in the middle of the lagoon.

Still - anyday out on the water is better than one in the office

Brother from another Mother

I have only bestowed this title to a few -

Fellow Naval Service Members of mine I worked with while in Iraq (for the Army, which is why I wrote the comment the way I did);

People I studies long and hard with to get through my formal schooling (you know who you are);

And most notably, the very few that I have surfed waves, dove or kited with not just in one place, but in several spots around this small planet of ours.

This guy is one of the later -

Ladies and gentlemen, Nick Yamodis.

Here's the quote he sent me with the pictures:
Got a fun session on Sunday in the bay on the
crossbow 12. The waves wrapped into a perfect set up where it was
actually side off on the rights - which gets no better for me. I got
a few completely satisfying snaps that produced a beautiful fan of
water in the sky. I love kiting in the waves.

Spoken like a true Homo amphibian!

More Diving Pictures

More from today

Sunday Diving

Mile Marker 9.

Launch and landing was a hair challenging (would have been terrific performance longboarding).

The other divers said they saw a huge manta, eagle rays and several white tipped sharks.

I saw some stuff (including a sea anemone garden) as evident from the pictures.

Nice day!

Here's the Manta Picture

I thought this was the picture that was in place of the "bonefish in the cooler" one in the last post. Swam up the the boat at full speed and veered off at the last second. You could feel it looking to see what we were doing there. This guy was 7 feet wingtip to wingtip - impressive.

If people think these are just mindless animals, they have not seen one of these mantas come right up to you and study you as much as you are studying it.

Boat Fishing This Morning

And this morning we (Mike, Jeff and I) took a boat out to go bottom fishing in the lagoon.

We caught a bunch of snapper, a couple of goatfish (yummy) and four honking big bonefish.

One of my office mates taught me how to take the meat from these magnificent fish - tomorrow I'll be rolling a bunch of fish lumpia.

Also of note, we saw five big mantas - this guy came right at the boat!

Friday Afternoon Fishing

I left work early (1700 is early???) to go fishing.

I caught three keepers - two aholehole (hawaiian name for Flagtail) and another fish I actually don't know the name of (yes - there are fish I don't know the names of).

I went fishing with Mike Julaton at Cannon Point - walked out to knee depth water and pitched hooks past the breaking waves. Mike caught the nice grouper in the picture.

You could actually see the aholehole (ahh-ho-lay-ho-lay) school as the unbroken waves passed through. The waves were backlit and you could see the school as clear as day.

I also saw a school of larger fish that were hanging in the shallows to the point that their dorsal fins were poking way out of the water, and a large parrotfish that I spooked while wading.

I practiced making some prints from these fish and then had them for dinner.

Nice way to end the work week.

First Gyotaku Attempt

This is Bong.

He is one of the guys that I work with.

This is Bong showing off his first shot at gyotaku.

My first attempt didn't look anywhere near this good.

So now I'm on the hunt for a fish to print...