Topics

946

Downwind and Racing / Photos from Sorrentos race

« on: January 10, 2010, 03:50:38 PM »

Here's a flickr stream of the photos Diane shot yesterday. She shot a lot more but Fickr only allows 200 at a time unless you do a pro membership.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34084084@N07/

947

Downwind and Racing / Rough race today

« on: January 09, 2010, 09:52:51 PM »

The Maui Canoe and Kayak Club season opener (Sorrento's Race) was today. Short race--six miles, but it was against the wind, and the last mile was tougher than the previous five. Larry won going away, though he almost lost it at the end when another paddler came up behind him while he was loafing. I did poorly, fifth overall and second in my class (Men's Unlimited), but also last in my class.

Not a big turnout of SUP paddlers, I think the flatwater bit turned a lot of people off, though the canoe and kayak folks were there in force. I thoroughly enjoyed the race, though it was a grind. It feels good just finishing those hard paddles going as fast as you can.

948

Gear Talk / Long, long trailer redux

« on: January 08, 2010, 06:03:33 PM »

I didn't like the sway induced by the strap "hitch" so I did this. A quick disconnect trailer hitch made from a windsurf universal that doubles as a high mount (or any level mount) for my Gopro.





I'm firing Ke Nalu back up next week and I'll do a general article on carrying surf boards on bikes.

949

Sessions / Awesom evening sesh

« on: January 06, 2010, 10:17:50 PM »

Kanaha was pure magic tonight. Blowing hard Kona this afternoon when I went out, but the sets looked good from the beach, tho I didn't see any SUPers out, just longboarders. Typical for Kona winds--no one wants to get blown to Oahu. I went anyway, and it wasn't that bad. My Winguru app on my iPhone said the wind was going to swing westerly and die down at 4:30.  Like clockwork it settled off to the west and the water got downright glassy. Best of all the big sets were coming in like clockwork in sets of three. Chest to overhead, with the first wave almost always big, second biggest, and third about the size of the first. Most of the longboarders took off on the first wave, the rest of the outside folks took off on number two and the inside folks got swept in or were busy diving. I had the third wave to myself--every time.

Every time I paddled out a new set was coming. Just enough time to get to my spot, look hard at the third wave to find the peak, and paddle for it. Alone, every time. I think between 4:00 and 5:00 I must have had 20-30 excellent waves, and I didn't take a ride away from anyone. My shoulders were screaming, I was exhausted because I spent the morning and early afternoon riding my bicycle hard on the south side.

I decided "one last wave". Paddled into a very hefty face that was feathering as I dropped but the little bit of remaining southerly wind held it long enough for me to trim in. I looked at the west Maui mountains and the sun was setting in Io Valley, with rays of sunlight splaying out in the haze. Overkill if you ask me, all I needed was a flight of white storks and perhaps a whale jumping to have a complete Wyland moment. Squeezed everything I could out of the wave, paddled past a stunning french girl who was laying on her board struggling to get the two square millimeters of her bikini bottom to cover some part of her nether regions, headed to the beach and that was that.

Perfect.

950

Sessions / Nice looking swell

« on: January 04, 2010, 08:03:54 PM »

Nice swell coming in, lot of west in it.

951

Random / Power To Weight Challenge

« on: January 04, 2010, 09:20:27 AM »

There are several of us that have resolved to lose weight. I've always found public humiliation to be an effective goad to maintain discipline, so I suggest an open record for each participant, aiming at a goal weight. I hope a few of the fitness experts on the Zone will weigh in (pun alert) on a proper amount of weight to aim at losing each week. Some tips would be welcome as well.

To start, weigh yourself on a scale you can use regularly, post your weight and your goal, and the amount you aim to lose each week. Then we want to hear from you each week. I'd usually make this some kind of bet, but I can't see a way to do that here. Perhaps someone has an idea.

I'll start. This morning my scale says I weigh 259.6 pounds. Holy buckets, that's an all time high. I aim to lose 2 pounds per week and my goal is 220. See you next week. Good luck to everyone, and happy new year.

952

Downwind and Racing / now for something really stupid

« on: January 02, 2010, 05:51:34 PM »

Inspired by Tim (Strand Leper) I modified a mule to fit my F18. Dropped bicycle and trailer (in a little bag about the size of two books) off at Wailea Beach (Four Seasons) and drove back to the Kehei Pier for a light wind downwinder. Paddled hard the whole way, partly because I was trying to catch micro-swells, and partly for training for the upcoming MCKC races. Hit the beach semi-pooped and sweating, rigged the trailer and discovered the tires were flat.



Ah well, not that much weight on them, off I went. Wasn't bad, and I got air at the Kihei Bike shop about halfway through the ride.  A four foot bike and an 18 foot trailer is a bit tricky to maneuver, but I got the hang of it. I did expect the ride to be just a cruise, but it ain't, at least not with the trailer. It was a pretty tough climb at the beginning, somehow I thought it would be flatter.

I think the downwinder was about 8 miles since I went way outside, using the Chantelle/Jack Dyson line: go to the horizon and turn left. The bike ride was probably 10 miles since I had to circle back to get my camelback--left it at the bike store. Pretty glad to see the jeep at the end.

So, this thing is doable. As usual I tested it by jumping straight off the edge of the fjord--running though downtown Kihei in holiday high season traffic. Not bright, but I know it's good in worst case conditions. Gotta say, as simple as the Mule is, it's a brilliant design. It has that pared-down character that's so nice to use.

This is a great addition to the funmobile. Now if nobody can go do a downwinder I can just do it myself. I also made a bike rack out of bits from an old weight bench (I somehow wound up with two). I went to buy a hitch rack and discovered they ran close to $300. So I rolled out the MIG welder and whipped one up in about half an hour. It's not the prettiest thing I ever built, but it works fine.

953

Sessions / New years resolution

« on: January 01, 2010, 01:51:05 PM »

I resolve to surf and paddle as much as possible. Oh wait, I'm already doing that.

Nice mellow morning at Kanaha with all the other folks that hit the sack at 8:30. I was awake at midnight--a loud party across the gulch woke me up, so Diane and I went outside to stand in the bright moonlight. Pretty nice.

My real resolution is to get down to 225 this year. May require amputation. So far just being super active isn't helping, in fact my weight has risen steadily since I got here to 255.

954

Sessions / Where's those seven footers

« on: December 31, 2009, 08:16:10 AM »

Yesterday was quite a letdown--All the forecasts said 5-7 feet and great conditions. Must have been Menehune feet. At best it was shoulder high and mostly double overknee to flat. On top of that the wind was blowing Kona, not hard enough to windsurf but too hard for a decent downwinder.

I whined myself to sleep last night.

Supposed to be 10 feet this morning. Gotta go. Ciao

955

Sessions / Lovely Kanaha

« on: December 28, 2009, 05:36:07 PM »

What a great last ten or so days we've had. I've been surfing every day except Christmas, which naturally everyone says was the BEST day, but they've all been good. Did a slightly delayed dawn patrol this morning. Nice clean knee to shoulder waves with the occasional rogue set. The first monster came through when I was chatting with a friend looking the wrong way. Everyone started paddling for the horizon. I was a little too late to get over and had to bail into the face. It kind of swept the inside lineup clean. The second big guy came about ten minutes later. I happened to be way outside looking the right way when it suddenly reared up out of nowhere and started feathering fifty yards outside of me. Paddling hard I managed to get out far enough to turn and drop in, but it closed out, the lip fell right on top of me and I got my ass kicked. Surfed till about noon, went and got lunch, called Larry to consider at south side downwinder, but there's no wind. Back out for another pretty fun session. Randy (admin) was out, he got a few nice waves and left, and the place immediately went to hell.

Wind picked up, waves went down, and people even kookier than me came out of the woodwork. It turned into quite a zoo. People wobbling into waves and going straight, people missing waves and getting in the way, people standing in front of the pocket like deer in the headlights.  People running over prone surfers. Quite a zoo. I stuck it out quite a while hoping for the wind to die and waves to glass, but they didn't and I split.

Kenaha has been SO mellow lately. No stinkeye, few irritated words, just a lot of friendly folks. It helps a lot to have more waves than you can take. Supposed to pop up bigger tomorrow. can't wait.

If this keeps up I may actually learn to surf instead of weakly wig-wagging my board around a little. Got one nice top turn today--didn't even break my paddle doing it. Frank showed me the problem I was having. I was sticking the paddle down below my butt instead of in the middle of my back. I probably broke all those poor paddles by sitting on them.

956

Technique / Cool move

« on: December 26, 2009, 07:02:21 PM »

I blundered into a slick move today, You've probably all been doing it for years, but I just invented it as far as I'm concerned. I was in a punky little wave and it was closing in front of me, so I ran the board up onto the foam, kind of collapsed my knees and scissored my feet to spin the board 180 in the foam underneath me and then drive out of the foam onto the shoulder.

I tried it about 27 subsequent times and nailed it three. Feels cool as hell, but it probably looks like storks mating from the beach. Does this have a name?

957

SUP General / Santa Brought Waves

« on: December 25, 2009, 08:53:13 AM »

Huge swells marching in from the North. Uaoa Bay is full of froth. Pretty messy looking waves with super rough faces, but Jaws will be firing.

Between the whales slapping their tails, the pounding surf and a bit of red wine insomnia I didn't get much sleep last night.

958

Sessions / Early Christmas

« on: December 24, 2009, 02:51:42 PM »

Fun at Kanaha this morning. I don't know if everyone showed up because of the swell or just 'cause they were off work, but what a crowd. Fun waves down at the lower end though, and the Boneyard was jacking. I've never paddled out there from the shore before, but after I left Kanaha intending to quit for the day I drove by the little beach entrance and had to stop. 

Paddled out to the outer break and did lefties--plenty of fun. Cut the crap out of my feet though coming out in some weird whitewater. Mucho coral everywhere and a few good sized Vana (Sea Urchin), one huge one I saw from the board and had to dive in to look at. I wonder if they are OK to eat in that water so close to the sewage treatment plant. Guess I won't try to find out.

959

Sessions / Fun Sunday runs

« on: December 20, 2009, 08:59:40 PM »

Kehei pier to Haycraft park and back in the flatwater,

Couple (okay, three) Pasteles for lunch from the nice ladies with the Pastele and spanish rice truck--two hot, one mild

Kehei pier to the cove in building wind with a little swell with Larry. Larry WAS indeed goofy enough to try the Penetrator with the homebrew steering. It's not working. Every so often he'd have to stop and fiddle with it, then he'd go BLAZING past me like I was dragging a sea anchor. I was on the F18, getting lots of runners, but they were too small to railroad--I was stalling in between the swells. Larry was catching one and running through five: bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.  Leaving a rooster tail. Damn that board is fast. Just need to get some usable steering on it and it should be a winner. It's silly fast with Larry on it.

Kehei Pier to Sorrentos with Larry, Randy, Chan and Jack. Larry switched to his Foote 14. Still fast. Jack was off on the skyline, apparently doing a downwinder on Kaho'olawe. I thought I'd catch him when he turned in, but he looked like he had a motor on his board when he made the turn. What's with that? Randy is very fast in his canoe. I stayed in front of Chan until the very end, then she somehow snuck up and passed me. Pretty sneaky. Last again, but at least no one had to wait for me.

Home. A nice steak, broccoli and a bottle of Rombauer Chardonnay with Diane.

What's next?

960

Sessions / Yuck

« on: December 19, 2009, 09:55:27 AM »

Crapola surf this morning, pretty much everywhere on the north shore. Even I didn't paddle out, and I'm stupid about going out in crap. Makes me all grumpy. At least I received my F18 undamaged by it's ocean voyage last night. Guess I'll take that and the Penetrator over to the south side and put some miles on them.