Veteran's Day 2024

On this Veteran's Day, I just wanted to take it easy with La and Marlon.

First up was a dawn patrol with Marlon and longboards!  Although if I knew what the surf was going to be like, I think I would have brought the Sweet Potato.

Marlon brought his recently made longboard and I brought the Viking.

The surf was fun - and all the regular foilers were looking at me funny (like what are you doing on a surfboard???).  I caught several fun ones and didn't want to get too tired (long, fun day ahead).

W:139/PW:2/FD:80/F:5/S:20

Next up was errands.

I fixed our gutters on the side of the house I couldn't previously reach (you'll have to ask me about this in person if you are interested).  Then I got the last coat of epoxy onto the board Greg asked me to fix.  Then I cleaned up the garage a bit - and then we headed out.

We hit some stops and had to fight through some traffic, but ended up at the North Shore.  We got some new threads at Xcel (mahalo for the discount!!!), and then ended up at the new Patagonia shop!

Pretty cool shop!  They had some pretty cool imagery up on the walls - one was Moona Whyte kitesurfing a sizeable barrel at what looked like Teahupo'o

Which reminded me I used to do stuff like that - and that subsequently made me dig out some equipment (and get mentally prepared to do it again).  I really haven't had the desire to kitesurf because you can't do it near where I live (have to drive to Kailua or Mokuleia).

Maybe it'll be fine to take a little drive....

And lastly, Greg came over to pick up the board I repaired for his daughters.

Fun, relaxing day!!!  If you are a veteran - I hope you had a good one!

All Fixed

These things work brilliantly for fixing bladder valve releases!!!

There are two in place along the port and middle struts (at the leading edge).

I'm going to go ahead and install one on the last sprint valve so I don't have to worry about it.  I also ordered some new one pump tubes.  When those are delivered, I'll install those as well and this kite should be good to go!

Fixing the 9m Drifter

I was testing the 9 and 11 meter Drifters last week to make sure the bladders were still holding air.

The 11m held its air, but the 9m wasn't.  It was apparent that the leading edge around the valve seams was letting go.

I stopped off at Hawaiian Watersports and got a few valve traps.  This is way faster than using adhesive.

I tested this one and it held.  But the one next to the inflation valve let go.  That's a task for tomorrow.

Master Blaster from the Past

This guy and I learned to kite together over 20 years ago - and here we are still playing in the water together!

The equipment has changed (for the better), the crowd on the beach is different than when we first started, and we are both grayer, but that's about all that has changed!

Pretty epic session - but an odd thing happened - we both ended our sessions with equipment failures.  I lost the screws on my left foot strap and Nick split his foilboard in two.

Time to break out the sander!!!!

Kitesurfing Spot

We took an afternoon drive down to Jacksonville Beach to check out the pier that a few people had been suggesting to us (as another spot to go fishing). We passed 16th Ave S and pulled in - this was one of my old surfing spots when I was in high school and now that the kids are surfing, I thought it would be neat to show it to them. When we got to the beach, we saw this: Obviously popular with the local kiting crew. 10th Ave S was where they were all parked. Too bad I didn't bring my kiting gear (not really - we don't have the room for what we did bring...).

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...

And with Kiting - the Trifecta!

This morning the wind was from the NNW and stable around 16 mph. I figured it would be a good day to stay in and finally put up a kite - 16m Crossbow and the Raptor Pro. It has been literally since last May since I last kited - but as expected - it's just like riding a bike. Except that here on the Outer Banks the water and air temperatures are still in the 40s. With the cold and the compression offered by the wetsuit, my left hip felt much better, but I didn't do anything radical just in case. La took these pictures from inside the jacuzzi at the place we are renting this week. For once I didn't feel guilty for having a good time while La and the kids froze/sweltered/got pelted with sand/attacked by bugs - I did come in after an hour because I couldn't feel my fingers anymore. Another great day on the Banks! I thought I might have diversified too much bringing SUPs (with paddles and windsurfing rig), fishing rods, kiting equipment - but for once I got to use everything I brought down. And we've got a few more days to go! Now I just have to fix my hip....

Kite Speed Sailing Article

No picture for this post - The latest Outside magazine (with Bear on the front) has a pretty interesting article on the pointy tip of the spear collective exploits to push the world's fastest wind powered speed record up. Definitely made me want to put up a kite again (too bad I'm 4 hours from the spot where I know I can do said activity...) Realistically, on our next trip down to the beach, I'll probably get SUP surf and SUP Wavesailing sessions in - you can hardly get skunked with that combo. Throw in the paipo and an 8 wt flyrod and you can't beat those odds. Did I mention I miss the beach???

More Kailua

This is my buddy Nick who was in for the day (on the way to Maui).

He's on his Cabrinha 12m Crossbow and a travel 6'9" board (handmade!)

I didn't bring my kite stuff because I could do all that back where I came from. But I did wish I did (especially 30 minutes into my run).