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Topics - pdxmike

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31
Random / The Bill Buckner thread
« on: October 28, 2012, 11:51:12 AM »
Subject inspired by headmount on another thread.

First watch this clip from Curb Your Enthusiasm:

Curb Your Enthusiasm - Mister Softee Bill Buckner

Then this one:

Bill Buckner's Redemption

33
Gear Talk / Training on a tippy board (Javelin)?
« on: September 14, 2012, 02:51:42 PM »
Does anyone else use a tippier, faster board for training than they do for racing?

I recently got a used 14' Naish Javelin.  I'd always thought it (the white model) was the best-looking board ever.   So the combination of finally being able to try one (at the Naish Hood River race) being able to at least briefly stand on it there in rough conditions (wouldn't have been able to until this year) and having one available for a great price at gorgebob's means I now have one. 

It's a great board--funnest ever for me--pleasure to paddle--but challenging.  If I could have only one board, this would be it.  And the tippiness is part of the appeal.  Using it is accelerating my balance improvement and gives my legs a better workout.   Plus if it were wider, it'd be slower and glide less. 

At Round the Rock, the best decision I made was to NOT use it.  Never would have managed to finish on it, although I would have had a great time on the downwind half of the course.  The second best decision for Round the Rock was to train on it beforehand--made my Bark feel much more stable. 

It seems dumb in a way to leave my "fast" board at home for races, but on the other hand the Javelin would still be slower for me when racing when accounting for trouble I'd have with it in less-than-ideal conditions.  But otherwise it's a blast and it is really accelerating my skill improvement.  Does anyone else do this--use a tippy board for training, or just because it's fun and/or challenging?

34
I'd been thinking this topic should have a thread of its own after about 10 times of restraining myself (and a couple times of not) from posting snide comments on other threads.  Then I just read Beasho's post about winning a race on his 30-year-old windsurfer board, and figured I couldn't wait any longer. 

For people who are unfamiliar with the concept, "one-board" or "one-design" racing refers (as I interpret it) to holding races where people (either everyone in the race, or at least everyone in the "one-board" or "one-design" class) would be on identical boards.  Not just a length class, like 12'-6" or 14', but boards that are identical, either all made by one manufacturer, or made to the same specs by multiple manufacturers.

The idea (but not my view) is it "makes racing fairer", "eliminates the arms race of needing to buy expensive boards to compete", "lets the best paddler win", etc. 

I'm not talking about the occasional event organized by a board maker for the purpose of allowing people to try out its boards in a race situation, unless the board maker is also stating that they're accomplishing one of those other goals above through the one-design race.

35
SUP General / inflatable board/pfd irony
« on: September 03, 2012, 11:51:57 AM »
The other thread about combo hydration packs/pfds made me think--with the inflatable pfd, for it to work, you have to pull a cord to set off the inflation cartridge, or blow it up, and even before that make sure it's in a pocket that won't interfere with it being deployed, then you have to put it on and secure it with the straps.  And if all that works--which isn't guaranteed--then you end up with something with a few liters of flotation.

But if you're on an inflatable board, you have the same thing, except that it's got 200-300 liters of flotation, and it's already inflated/deployed.  Nothing can go wrong, and you don't have to worry about there being a hole or cartridge problem or anything else that would interfere with it floating, because you'd already notice that before you even went out on the water (unlike a belt pfd where you don't know for sure that it works until you blow it up).

So isn't the inflatable board a much better version of an inflatable pfd, with all the advantages plus some, and none of the disadvantages?

I know this is the same argument for allowing a standard board with a leash to substitute for carrying a pfd.  But somehow comparing an inflatable pfd to an inflatable board makes it seem even clearer that the board is just as good a flotation device as a pfd.

36
Environment / Petition to help save Japan's dolphins
« on: August 30, 2012, 11:19:38 AM »
If you saw the documentary, The Cove, this will be familiar. 

To sign petition:
http://www.takepart.com/actions/cove-help-save-japans-dolphins

More info:
http://www.takepart.com/cove

37
Downwind and Racing / What do you call someone who does downwinders?
« on: July 23, 2012, 10:15:32 PM »
A downwinder?  A downwinderer?

38
Training, Diet, and Fitness / Temptation--Pocket Fuel
« on: June 03, 2012, 06:59:49 PM »
I got my daughter two tubes of Pocket Fuel for a present after trying it at the Gorge Performance Ross Island race yesterday.  Already knew it'd be good after hearing all the comments here. 

So, she unscrewed the caps, had some (thought it was great, too--whole room smelled like almonds when she opened them) and now they're just sitting here on the counter, and she's away for now.  Dang! 

Chances are she didn't weigh them before she left, either.

39
Random / Try watching this without getting all teary-eyed
« on: April 10, 2012, 01:27:15 PM »
More emotional than any chick flick...

Note to Canadians---it's a hockey video.   ;D

Flash Fans: 2012 Budweiser Official Big Game Commercial

40
Random / Quote of the day
« on: April 04, 2012, 11:37:39 AM »
Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.

Joe Theismann

41
Thought of this question from comments in some other training threads.  balance_fit mentioned using a heavier, slower board to train on.  Greatdane once mentioned he trains on a 12-6 Bark and usually races on a 14'.  I jump-started my balance when I got my 14' Glide, which at the time was tippy for me.  If I get another board, I'm thinking it might be something like an old Javelin that challenges my balance--one that I wouldn't even want to race on at first because I'd be faster on a more stable board--to challenge my balance and legs.

So, is anyone training by using different gear than what they race with---a slower board, tippier board, heavier paddle, smaller or larger blade, etc.?
Or do people find that they prefer training with and getting used to the same paddles and boards that they race on?

42
Random / Serious problem--need advice
« on: March 01, 2012, 01:59:13 PM »
A friend of mine came to me with this.  It's not a problem I've seen discussed here before.  Maybe I can get some advice here for him. 

Here's what he told me:

I think my wife is having an affair.  She's been distant for the last couple of months.   Sometimes the phone rings at home, and when I answer it, whoever called hangs up.  She's spending a lot of time away in the evenings, with reasons that don't really make sense.  She'll say she's going to the store, but she's all dressed up, or the store isn't even open then.  I even checked her phone and there's a bunch of calls to the same number, which I don't recognize--all made when I wasn't around.

Last night, she was still out at bedtime so I hid behind my board rack in  the garage so I could see her coming home.  When she got out of the car, her hair and makeup were all messed up and her shirt wasn't even buttoned.. She was looking around like she didn't want anyone to see her come in.  It was then that I noticed a deep crack in my weed fin.  Is this something that can be repaired?

43
Random / Can opera music shatter car windows?
« on: February 11, 2012, 04:03:17 PM »
Yesterday I was driving up to a meeting in Seattle, listening to some music.  Had the volume up pretty high because of road noise from high speed and pouring rain.  All of a sudden, I heard an explosion.  My first thought was that something fell out of the sky and hit my roof.  It sounded like someone had smashed an aquarium with a sledgehammer.  I stopped on the shoulder and went around to the back of my car, and saw that the whole rear side window (large on my Honda Element) was completely shattered, with half the glass gone. 

My first thought was that the window got hit with a rock shooting out from a truck tire.  But I've had that happen dozens of times on the windshield and never had more than a chip at worst.  Plus, this would have had to shoot sideways from a tire, instead of straight back--not even sure if that's possible.  And the glass blew out, not in.  Granted, the side windows are vertical, so a rock would be less able to glance off as it would on a slanted windshield. 

My next thought was it got shot from a pellet gun, but there was nothing inside the car, and no reason why that would happen.  Plus, I've seen that before, and it makes a hole rather than shattering the whole window.  Also, that would be more likely to happen on the passenger-side window.  And again, the glass fell outside the car instead of into it. 

But the weird thing was that the shattering coincided with the end of an opera song--Habanera from Bizet's Carmen.  And it was at the end, right about at the highest, loudest note.   Weird, but no weirder than last month when I was walking the dog and a squirrel fell out of a tree and landed in the dog's mouth, and on National Squirrel Appreciation Day at that.   

So, my most likely explanation seems to be that opera music shattered my window.  Could that be true?  From what I've read so far, it seems unlikely but possible.

Here's the song--shattering happened at high note, third from end, at about 3:40 to 3:43:

Elina Garanca "Habanera" Carmen

 I figured if anyone would know, it would be someone on standupzone.  My apologies if this topic has been discussed before.

44
Random / raining squirrels here
« on: January 21, 2012, 02:20:38 PM »
I assume this fits on the "random" forum--I was walking my girlfriend's dog today, and a squirrel fell out of the sky (actually from a bird feeder on a branch about 20' above the path we were on) and landed in his mouth.

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