Big SUPs

The straighter one is for a friend in Houston - 11'6" "Jack-of-all-trades" so he blop the dogs on board, paddle a ton of flatwater or chew on some waves.

The curvier one is for my wife so she doesn't have to load the board on top of the van. It's a 9'2" that'll surf (so she can gain confidence in the surf and maybe get back to standard surfing on her other boards), and still paddle flatwater here in Southern Mississippi for daily exercise.

By the way - Aku Shaper is the program, get your copy because it's free, and help make the world a better place by shaping boards for people to ride and free their pent up stress!!!

Noe's miniSUB

Yesterday afternoon, I got a chance to work on Noe's board.

With the rough shaping done on all three of the first wave of boards, I shifted to working on the templates for the big SUPs - more on that soon.

I can't find my tiny planer so I'm of to Lowes to see if they have them there. The fine sanding/tip tuning on all three boards should be done soon (then it's glassing time...)

Farrier/Corsair Trimaran Nationals

Took an afternoon off and went to Ft Walton Beach, Florida where the subject event was being held. What a unique opportunity to check out so many different types of Farrier and Corsair boats in one stop!

Ian Farrier (the boat designer) was present as this was the 25th Anniversary of the F27. He was very patient as most of the owners asked him every question under the sun concerning the lineage, ideas and inspiration behind the common man's trimaran.

Got home real late and it definitely messed up my internal clock at work (imagine sitting in a not too exciting, but still important meeting, and the room temperature starts to get rather warm - your head starts bobbing like a hyperactive fishing lure - and then you wake up realizing you've been under for several minutes - not that that happened to me today.... but the feeling was something like that)

Lots of knowledge gathered in a very short period of time - efficiency. Me likey!

In case you didn't know, Ian Farrier is the gentleman in the blue shirt (check out the socks).

Shaping Bay Operational

The Lightwind Kiteboard is pretty much done, but I still have to calculate the footstrap positions and the finboxes.

I've already foiled out the kid's mini-SUBs and I'll be cutting out the railbands in the next day or so.

Shaping is for the weekdays - after work, after having seen flags wave all day - teasing me with what kiting, sailing, SUPing or just 'beaching' possibilities are out there while I'm pounding the keyboard and reading every piece of administrative correspondence my unit pumps out - yes shaping helps dissolve all those woes and pent up stresses away. There is no way I'd shape on the weekends and ruin my pressure relief valve.

The Marines have landed

The Marines have a Reserve Unit here in Gulfport that work with Amphibious Troop Transports. The locals get to see them practice on the weekends occasionally.

The family got lucky yesterday and saw them splash on their way out, and make their landing after a day of training.

This place is full of surprises!

The Gulf is warming up

It's only mid-April and I'm kiting in the Gulf of Mexico (felt just like Kailua Bay in June temp wise) without a wetsuit or any other form of rubber on me! Makes you wonder what Hurricane season has in store...

Obviously went kiting yesterday. I was actually so tired when I got back that I couldn't stay awake to blog or sort through the GoPro pictures.

Kiting in trunks alone is AWESOME!!! No more rubber suits for several months!!! I can see the need for longsleeve, lightweight nylon shirts very soon to prevent torching, but those are easy and more digestible than wetsuits.

Good wind! Solid 13-17 with puffs into the 20s! Nice!

Mathematically speaking, it was only a matter of time before I got a jump recorded. This one wasn't a record breaker in hang time or a nose bleeder in height, but still is a moment frozen in time of kite assisted gravity cheating flight.

Gulfport ain't a bad place after all (they just need to have a good surf shop and a shuttle out to the barrier islands that caters to surfers).

Side Project - Sewing

After watching my wife La make beautiful things for nearly a decade, I have now gotten the bug to be able to sew things. Not "pretty" or "cute" things, but MANLY things for doing MANLY things - like:

- Board bags
- Combination GPS, Anemometer, Pliers and knife holders
- Equipment covers
- Padded paddle covers
- other manly things

Also hoping to become proficient at doing repairs on kites and sails.

This is the project to get the foundations under my belt - the Sailmaker's Apprentice has an intro project - the DITY bag that has all the different types of stitches and materials pushed into one small project.

I know what you're thinking - doesn't he have enough going on with all the foam and epoxy sitting in the garage? Well - in order to keep the creative juices going, you sometimes have to leave the project you currently are vested in behind so you can come back to it with a fresh perspective - that's what La always tells me anyways when I see her juggling 20 sewing projects. This will be good backup for when I just don't feel like hanging out in the garage.

The picture is the bag parts all laid out and ready for cutting.

The troubles we go through...

Here are the big SUP blanks.

Carted these things home through traffic going 45 mph, with a nice stiff wind coming from the SE. The load shifted just a bit, but made it home safe and sound.

I felt the eyes of the locals saying "What in tarnation is that? Them things don't look like no bed I ever seen... Maybe it one u dem der yogi thing a ma bobs???"

La's "inside the van" loadable SUP, and Ray's newbie "do it all" boards. Mow, mow, mow your boards, back in my garage - merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily shaping boards is a scream!

Man - am I stretching with this blog-vomit or what???!!!! I better quit while I'm still ahead -

New Orleans Insectarium

Spend a good deal of yesterday at New Orleans with my parents.

The kids had an awesome time at the Audubon Insectarium.

Intermediate Shaping Done on 2010 Board #1

I still have to thin out the tail a little bit - not much, that is where the highest loads will be experienced. The final completed version will be decked with bamboo veneer, given 4 Futures boxes and have two foot straps in the front (one on each side obviously) and options for 2 or 1 on the back (max-flex) - may still settle for just one.

Time to switch over to shaping the mini-SUBs.

Old Editor, New Editor

A couple more rack shots.

I had switched to the new blogspot editor (but I don't like it). I was experiencing technical difficulties with the new editor, but have now switched back - this is a test (and the other pictures I had intended to post earlier).

Tomorrow - work to date on the kiteboard and the the beginnings of foiling the mini-SUBs!!!

And here they are!

Done!

Now I can shape the rails (already did)!

Moving right along!

Roughed in

Today I built the shaping racks I need to get the rails dialed in.

Pictures to follow.

Errands and cooking followed, but I did spend time afterwards in the garage to foil out the board more.  This one should be done in a day or so, then I'll knock out the kids' mini-SUBs.

Good Kiting Session

Kited yesterday.  No pictures (dead battery on the DSLR, lost bolt on the GoPro) but sometimes kiting without pictures is a good thing (am I that narcissistic that I have to have pictures taken of me using solar energy to atomize water...???).

12-17 mph wind from the SE.  Used the Naish "Flash" board and V4 16 - RIPPING!!!

The wind was generating swell - knee high, but genuine swell!!!  Some folks with more developed swell might be laughing, but I have learned to appreciate any waves.

Also chewed up a lot of foam off of the light wind piggy.  Pictures of that to follow today - I have to finish building my new (streamlined) racks so I can shape the rails (I've been working off the sawhorses - man am I lazy).

MTFL

Someday (sooner than later)

After looking across the web far and wide, I have finally found our 'intermediate' boat.  Not the boat that will train the family how to sail on and have beach picnics on, and not the boat that La and I will ply the seven seas on, but the one in between (while Marlon and Noe are still in school).  

This thing is a rocket ship with a 35' mast, way more than enough sail area and light as a feather.  This can be stored on a trailer (at the house for safe keeping and oogglling) yet towed with a medium sized truck (so I don't have to break the bank on a full sized, gas chugging monster).  The boat I crew on now is 6 foot longer, but the Skipper needs crew on a consistent basis - this ride needs just two.  This one has a super shallow draft so beaching is not a problem.  Envision strapping boards to the trampolines and heading out to isolated surf spots - anchor offshore and have a ripping session; afterwards, nap until the winds come up and sail home.

The best of all worlds!  Will try to get it in the next five years.

The Farrier F-22(R) Cuddy Cabin!!!