Real Salty and a Juggernaut Van

I got this salt coating for free!!! Four hours up to Jersey and four hours back down to Northern Virginia after the roads have been salted to melt the last snowfall - I got plastered with salt. It was on pretty thick - I'm going to need to wash the Taco head to toe and inside out. Lastly - this van belong to the organization stickered on the side (Teen Fly Fishing Trips) - but ISN'T IT COOL????!!!!????? I bet it has an eternal smell of french fries....

Somerset NJ Flyfishing Show

I made the drive up to Northern Jersey to catch the Flyfishing Show. I got to check out Mystic Rods, Hatch Reels, the Orvis H2, all kinds of tying material and some more or less famous dudes. Lefty was demonstrating casting. Enrico was tying flies. And most of the East Coast fly tiers were showing off what makes their craft unique. I also got to check out the new Shimano Tenkara rod that Chris Stewart at www.tenkarabum.com recently wrote about on his blog - OMG that thing is SWEET!!! Zooms from 340 to 380 cm (I think) and the balance was perfection. I needed to buy Marlon's birthday present, so I couldn't bring the Shimano home - maybe for our anniversary... So the opportunity to check out and compare the rods and reels, finding some hard to find materials and getting ideas for just about everything in fly fishing (where to go, what flies to tie, gear to be cooler - or at least make me think I'm cooler), made the drive worth it.

Other Virginia Beach Activites

These were taken last Monday - I got busy at work so I didn't have a chance to post these timely. Just some more views of what we did - went to the North End to check out what was up; then went to WRV on 19th and Cypress to get the bearings changed out of Marlon's Bamboozle (shorter cruising skateboard), and to pick up two new ones - a drop nose/drop tail and a shaggy top for Noe. Now that we have new skateboards, it snows - how typical.

Tiny Surf in Frigid Water... I'll take it!

So after many months of NOT surfing, I finally got a session in!!! And although it was small and cold, it was clean, offshore and long enough to make me smile and forget about the worries of life for 50 minutes (after which my hands were too cold to bend around the paddle). The ULI FAQ was tons of fun on this beach break (South Gate in Virginia Beach). I had 10 waves during this short session - and it made me realize "it sucks to live inland!!!" For those of you who live close to water where you can surf - do not take that for granted. Thanks to La for taking the pictures!

Potomac on the Fly

http://vimeo.com/57194663 - cut and paste into your browser. A short film about urban flyfishing - specifically on the Potomac in DC. Like I wasn't already hard up to get on the water - spring can't get here soon enough.

Visit to 4 Mile Run

Saturday's weather was nice for mid-January. Highs in the 50's and the sun out, but lightly diffused by the wispy clouds.

We paid a visit to 4 Mile Run Park to check out the fishing action. A bunch of flyfishers wading both banks. A couple of spincasters were chumming the water and brought in a decent sized carp. I was not inspired to pull the waders and boots on - maybe if the fish were biting a little more aggressively... Not to mention the flu is finally catching up to me (I'm deep into the nasal congestion and body aches phase).

There were a bunch of other people out enjoying the good weather - riding bikes, jogging and just walking. In between the foot traffic, Marlon and Noe transitioned from the kneeling skateboarders they were, into full fledged stand up boarders!

Nice day! One last thing - if you were out there fishing on Saturday, try false casting a lot less than you did - fish hit flies in the water, not in the air. And you are probably not going to get as many wind knot in your line either. Two false casts should be good - if you still think you need to get the line out further, try to double haul (youtube has tons of how to videos - once you get it, it will always be with you). Just some advice from someone who has been there.

Number Two Done

I got in the mood to continue carving out the kickboard.

The rails turned out sweet!!! 50-50 fading into a hard downturn edge.

I put a pretty significant (relative to the proportion of the board) concave in and it balanced out well with the rest of the volume distribution.

This thing turned out better than I had conceived. Now I have to go back to the handplane and fix it (a lot rougher compared to how I finished this kickboard - a sharp mini block plane, another couple of hours of elbow grease and it'll clean up nicely). Next will be strap placement and polyurethane coats. I've got time - the water temps are about as cold as they'll be this season... it would be nicer to test these when I'm not having to wear a 4/3 suit with all the additives (booties, hood, gloves) - but well see if I wait for Spring or not. Productive shaping day!

Number Two Underway

I did some bulk removal today trying to get the foil in place. Probably got 50% done today. In case you were wondering - just a block plane, a microplane and elbow grease are being used to shape this (and a jig saw). I already bought the hardware (1/4" x 20 bolts, 1/4" lock and plain washers and T nuts all in stainless steel or zinc) from Home Depot. I've got several old windsurfing straps that will get to see action pulling duty as hand holds on this. Carving the kickboard out, I could imagine taking a drop with this... should be AWESOME!!!!

Happy New Year!

Despite the overcast skies, we got out of the house and made the drive to Kent Narrows in Maryland. I brought my 10' surf rod, some poppers, my 8wt flyrod with an intermediate sink line and a box full of streamer/saltwater flies. This turned out to be more of a reconnaissance trip - the water wasn't moving much and there were little signs that fish were in the area. We did find the public boat ramp as evidenced by the fee posting. After rereading some forum posts about flyfishing Kent Narrows, I think I know where I need to go to make some casts. I also see coming back with the kayak to try when the water warms up. On the shaping/surfing front, I haven't touched the kickboard yet... I am a little intimidated by the amount of wood I have to thin out to get the right foil on it. And without a surf trip scheduled, my motivation is a little on the dormant side. I'll get off my lazy ass when the Sun starts shining again. A nice, low key New Year's Day for us!

Number One Done

The Hand Plane is essentially done. I won't seal it until the kickboard is finished.

Back to Work

Not "work" as in "bringing home the bacon", but work as in labor of love -

Here are the kickboard and the handplane templated out.

A bit on the unconventional side and not as aesthetically pleasing as they could be, but ultimately paying tribute to the ubiquitous lunch tray and the simmons plan shape.

Lindsay Lord Two-Handed Plane

As I am writing, the snow is coming down and we are enjoying a slow Saturday at home. I looked at the weather forecasts last night and started to recalibrate any plans for going flyfishing at Kent Narrows, bike riding or other temperature/weather dependent activities. Before settling in, I brought in the back half of the paulownia alaia from the garage. If you recall, I took the front half and made it into a blunt-nosed paipo earlier in the summer - now it's time to work the back half. The first 14-16" is going to be a contemporary hand plane - lots of surface area for guaranteed stoke in crappy East Coast surf. Right now I'm thinking 8" wide, but that will work itself out with the plan shape. The remaining 30" is going to be a 0.4 length to width ratio belly board (smaller than a paipo) equipped with handles. There has been a lot of buzz lately about Lindsay Lord's naval architecture book and the EPS foam boards that have come of it and this chunk of paulownia is going to pretty close to the final shape - blunt nose, fairly straight parallel rails and with a 12" width, plenty of surface area to get on a plane fairly quickly. I'm going with three handles (at least right now), one up front that would work for the right or left hand, and one on each side of the back half of the board for the trailing hand (determined by the direction of travel - turn right and the left hand is the trailer - we'll see when it's time to op test it).

NHM - Looks like an ancient tarpon to me

With winter officially here, and our fixed position still not having moved any closer to the Atlantic (darn the slow plate tectonics), I haven't been doing much of anything related to the water. If you are out there paying attention, please accept my apologies. I've got a foam handplane and another paulownia paipo in the works so I'll be more blog 'chatty' soon.

Anyhow... sharks have been around for a while. Looks like tarpon have been too. Marlon and I watched a documentary on fossilized sea animals and they focused in on a Xiphactinus - another 'tarpon' like fish. This isn't one of those, but adds more to the argument "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

Merry Christmas - Happy Hanukah - Great Kwanza from the Mosasaur at the NHM!!!

Vehicular and Wave Riding Isomorphism

What a title huh? So isomorphism is a capability developing independently in different organisms not linked. The classic example is flight developing in birds, pterosaurs and bats - all can fly, but none are directly related and they are each different. Well, this isn't exactly like that, but it is close. The first pictures are of an old friend and classmate of mine - Greg Wong. We studied at UH Manoa together taking graduate Ocean Engineering classes. We also surfed and played ukuleles. Anyways - after 12 years, he drives a Surf Taco and boogie boards with his daughter and I have a Surf Taco and boogie board with my kids - different oceans and continents, but similar developments. Ok - this is a horrible analogy/comparison/whatever - I'm just glad to see one of us still enjoying the 'aina!!! Surf one for me Greg!!!

Kayak Rigging on an Overcast Day

We took the weekend off and just cleaned up the house and moved some projects forward. The day over here in the Northern Virginia area started out gray and dreary, but it got sunny and warm enough to lure me out to do some work on the kayak - then it got dreary and cold again for the majority of the time I was outside. Anyways - I installed three of the nine Yak Attack plates/attachment points I bought in the recent few weeks. The rear point is a Mighty Mount and will eventually be the light/flag mounting point. The other two I placed today are just aft of the chair on the gunnels - 4 inch GT 175 plates - for rear trolling points in single seat configuration. I tested the mounting plates with 1.5 inch mounting balls and a "rocket launcher" rod holder. I might stick another two Mighty Mounts just forward of the factory installed flush mounts so I can use those points to troll if I have the kayak set up for tandem. When I get another day to work the drill, I'll mount the 8 inch GT 175 plates midway up the gunnel and a pair of GT90 4 inch plates up forward so the kids have spots for their rods (and I'll have a spot to mount a rearward looking camera).