Sunday Morning in Annapolis

For the semi-annual East of Maui Windsurfing Swap Meet. Not as many people coming out this time - and it didn't seem like much equipment was moving around. The Bisgards came up to check out the equipment. Dan Stoddard also came over to check out the deals on SUPs. Trevor Mathis came to round out the Dive Side (minimum four to splash). And after a bunch of socializing, we left early to check out the waterfront. Lots of cool stickers and nautical fare... but the best part was eating lunch at the "Boatyard"! I really wanted to eat the half rack of baby back ribs and crab macaroni and cheese... but instead I opted for a salad. I had a pseudo physical on Friday and the doctor basically said I'm fat, I eat like crap and I don't exercise enough. Maybe the Navy should hire more people to balance out the workload so I can exercise more, get rid of my stress and not be fat. And while they are at it, the government should learn to set better goals for itself (like not letting sequestration happen, and working together to put a budget out) so the workforce doesn't get stressed... I'm just saying... Anyways back on topic - Sunday was a nice day getting together with friends, even if we didn't sell anything this time!

Oracle (US Team) Wins the America's Cup!!!

These guys definitely earned the title - down 8-1 they won 8 races straight to keep the Cup!!! Good on Emirates New Zealand for their drive as well - especially since they could have taken the Cup a couple of races ago but the wind built up to the point where the race was called off (when they were in the lead). Great way to end the series - cliffhanger all the way to the very end!!!

Last Race in the America's Cup is Today at 4:15 pm EDT

This could be the biggest comeback ever... Make sure you check the weather out in San Francisco and if everything dials in, watch this race -

More Fishing for Comparative Study

Not really - but I did catch some small mouth and low and behold they were colored a little lighter than their slightly more southerly cousins (or their brothers/sisters that went with the flow over the Mathers Gorge...). I went out with some friends to Algonkian Park and paddled the Hooked SUP armed with two 5wt rods (150 grain intermediate sinking line; 5wt floating line) and the St Croix Ultra light spinning rod. I used the blue pencil popper and it KICKING BUTT!!! I caught this 15 inch small mouth and it was an epic fight!!! The blue popper also tricked a large-ish green sunfish and a smaller medium sized large mouth (yes I wrote that on purpose ;) . The ultralight gear brought in a couple more small mouth (smaller than the 15"er) and several more sunfish. I saw several catfish in the 18-24" category and a few big carp, but I didn't have anything in my tackle boxes that was interesting to them. The picture with my tongue hanging out is proof of the pure awesomeness happening on the river. Awesome fishing trip (and only 20 minutes from the house)!

Gravelly Point Small Mouth

Out going tide. Friday afternoon stall tactic to avoid dense DC traffic. Lots of water draining from the Roaches Run culvert under US-1. I was checking the place out to see if there were any schoolie stripers, but no takers other than this guy. It took the 1" Nymph soft bait pretty close to the shoreline - not in the main current. One fish (no matter how small) is still better than a skunk. The small mouth down in this part of the Potomac (tide section) seem to have much darker coloration. Seems I need to go fishing for more small mouth to do a comparative study...

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy and AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH

It's the Annual International "Speak Like A Pirate" Day again - time flies huh?!? You still have a few hours by my clock to bellow out a hearty "AAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH"!!!! And while we're on the topic of this entire blog - nautical/amphibious affairs, the blue pencil popper was tied up this very evening to entice the mermaids and other denizens of the deep to play tug-o-war. Or at least a decent sized bronze back aquatic football... Heck - I'll even take a bluegill at this point - I'm ready for the weekend - AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

Fun Sequence

Thanks to La for taking the vast majority of the pictures this weekend! What a great weekend!

Seahorse

Not what you were expecting huh?

Noe Surfing

Noe has really taken to my 4th Gear Flyer surf mat. It is her wave riding vehicle of choice. The kids were actually catching white wash while lying on their backs and facing the wave - and laughing the whole time as they shot out backwards towards the beach. They had me laughing the whole time as well! Later, La bribed Noe with a trip to Target if Noe would ride a wave on the ULI. This board is so ridiculously stable - Noe was horsing around and....

Marlon Surfing

Sunday was perfect for the kids to get more surfing experience under their belts - Marlon was catching EVERYTHING today!!!

WHACK!!!

I took the head off this wave!!! It's been a while since I've had this kite up (Diego???) let alone kited in waves... Fortunately, this move for me is just like riding a bike - somethings are just meant to be ;)

12m - Too Small

If you go back a few weeks, you'll see the last time we came down to Virginia Beach, I BELIEVED the weather forecast and only brought the 16m kite. Needless to say the wind was cranking and I didn't get to go kitesurfing. This trip I brought both. The wind was holding above 15 mph, so I went ahead and pumped up the 12m. My luck - the wind quickly started to die back as soon as I was ready to launch. I went out anyways and...

Busy Weekend

Packed and ready to go!!! SUP surfing and fishing, kiting and boogie boarding - oh my...

Photobomb

Marlon or the Bluegill??? Marlon.

New Fishing Kite

I ordered one of these a few weeks back from amazon. There was a lot of wind today after the front pushed through - perfect time to test out the kite! This thing is really stable and only had moderate pull - never felt like it was going to go out of control. What I should have done was break out the AFTCO kite I have as well to test them in the same wind (which was swirly due to the trees around the park). I am looking forward to the time when I can use these on the water to push bait way out past the vessel (SUP fishing board..., skiff, huge catamaran) to entice spooky fish to a game of tug-o-war...