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Topics - headmount

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16
For wing foiling.  Heelside or 'switch' is tough for me so far but I want to 'get' it because it'll be the key to my next phase where I can trans on foil.  From 20 years of wndsrfng I learned to be comfy with either foot forward but always switched to 'toeside' stance during the trans.  But moving my feet during a turn on foil doesn't seem to work for me.  So I want to learn to ride switch.

When I ride toeside my weight is slightly on heels to counter force of the wing.  Is the trick for the opposite to have more weight on your toes when riding switched?  How about foot placement when riding switched up?

17
Foil SUP / Yesterday's pic
« on: May 19, 2020, 12:30:48 PM »
Inside Kahului harbor yesterday with wing.  Alan Cadiz pulled up on my six (on yellow sail) and gave me a few pointers, one being to loosen up my grip which I did.  It all flowed better and I made it all the way in up lifted.  Conditions were steady (rare) and I used a 5 and a 920 Axis wing.  Winging at the very least gives you 'lift time' which if you don't have access to a boat or jetski tow, is a very good thing.  But I get pretty tired after several runs.  This pic is a splice of two pics.  Right toward the end I experimented with pulling hard upwind which was cool.

18
Foil SUP / Front foot strap angle for foil board
« on: May 19, 2020, 11:53:16 AM »
I'd like to know what angles people are using for front foot strap.  Please give me angle measurement away from side to side width line.  So straight across width being zero to straight up and down the tail to nose line being 90 degrees.  I've been thinking about 35 degrees off that width line.  When I windsurfed, my strap was less 'sideways' than others and I liked it.  Especially the going out through the surf footstrap which was almost straight across (like 20 degrees off the width line).  But I'm only going to have one strap on my surf side for new foil board.  None in the back.

19
SUP General / Speed, HR and cadence
« on: October 12, 2018, 06:51:47 PM »
I tore my bicep tendon at the shoulder on 9/11 lowering (dipping, something I almost never do) myself into a construction hole.  So I rested and got three prolo therapy sessions over the next three weeks.  Pain went away remarkably fast.  ROM lagged slightly but just in this 4th week I've begun to swim.  Then in the last three days I’ve ventured back into my surfski to see if the stroke movement can be done without falling back into the ‘white light’ pain experienced when I first injured myself.   

That pain fresh in my mind, made me know that I needed to ease into it slowly.  Slowly meant flat water.  Downwind paddling of anything is like getting ‘the look’ from a Victoria’s Secret model and thinking you can control your HR.   If you’ve hard wired your brain to catch glides for a few decades, you do anything you need to do to get in.  Flat water training was the obvious answer but I had never been one to go out and grind.  If it wasn’t fun, I didn’t have time for it.  But after this injury I realized flat water was my ticket back into the game.

Before the injury I had been using a forearm HR band (Schoshe 24) and a Garmin Fenix 3 since June on all my downwinders to gather data on HR, cadence and speed.  Speed being the most variable data point because of contingency on conditions.   I knew this and HR and cadence were what was really interesting to me. Yet downwinders are a haphazard affair where the adrenaline rush is a major affect on HR.  Sudden and sporadic strong effort for one or two strokes, made cadence data I collected difficult to attribute into any useful conclusions.  So with my initial flat water work outs, I was very interested in what came up.   

I’ve done cool temp, early morning sessions off south Maui where you get a few hours of billiard tabletop.  Data so far has been remarkably consistent which gives me confidence to use the results as a springboard to compare against future work outs.  My MAF (max aerobic function) HR target is 112-120 (at 68) so that’s what I shoot for during an hour work out.  Downwind averages in the past hovered around 145-155 for the same time, which is obviously anaerobic for me (over 80% of my max which is around 165)  My goal is to strengthen my shoulder, improve aerobic function and catch glides without getting as jacked up about it.

20
Foil SUP / Geezers on foil pics
« on: January 30, 2018, 11:34:35 PM »
Pono has been kind enough to share his board with me although at the end of the day when i get home feeling like I was in the ring with Frazier, I wonder if 'kind' is the right word.  We take a regular board out and switch off in the water so we can take a break when we get gassed.  He has a 200 foil and it lifts very quick, sometimes faster than I can rearrange my feet into center stance.  Then there's 55 yrs of engrained surfing reactions to rewire in order to control pitch.  At any rate I'm gonna wear an impact vest from now on.  Pono (blue shirt) did really good and eventually I think we have hope.

21
SUP General / Ski in foil land
« on: November 05, 2017, 09:53:02 PM »
We have a spot that lifts up a nice bump, around waist to head high that barely breaks but rolls about 1km to the beach.  It's perfect for the foilers and they put up with me until I get a board together.  We had a recent storm and as you can see in first pic there were logs to avoid.  I was lucky.  The logs will even stop a foil.  But great fun. 

Now it's back to the wind regime and today there didn't seem to be so much debris in the water.

22
Hawaii / First winter swell
« on: October 24, 2017, 11:56:14 PM »
Well the foilers will argue that they've been out already a few times but they don't need much.  Even harbor bumps are remarkable for them.  But my first day back on my SUS board was yesterday.     

North swell waves really light me up and sunday the foilers were reporting a rising swell at one of their favorite spots but also had sighted a hefty tiger cruising the arena.  The buoys confirmed their reports of the swell but the wind was light N in the afternoon, bringing in some man o war stingers.   The news reported there would be an overnight shift to S winds so I followed the wind reports after the sun went down and sure enough they switched to light S around 8PM.  So i threw the board on and got everything together for a dark thirty depart.   Swell and light S wind spelled good surf conditions.  I woke even earlier than norm, around 4, (had that feeling) ate my pre-made meal, started tanking water and hit the road.   Traffic was heavy going to their 6 am shifts in Wailea.  A car accident looked gristly in the early light but little going in my direction.  Went to the shark spot.  It was good but nobody was out, I was green so I paddled out with three other pals at the much more well known spot. 

How green?  Aside from only five stand up downwinders I hadn't touched a stand up paddle in several months as the surfski had taken over my focus.  My SUS board, which hadn't been used since last March,  had geeko shit and a thick patina of dirt on it.  But somehow I felt fine paddling out.  Hitting my first wall of whitewater I wondered how I would get over still standing but again it just seemed to work.  So I abandoned the nervousness of my long hiatus and proceeded to have an all time session.  A little rusty but one big plus was that the foilers, who were among the better cadre of SUSers, had migrated to another of their favorite spots that featured very long waves, leaving where I was with a pack much easier to contend with.  I did three hours and was shaking by the time I finally paddled in.

Went home, ate, and crashed.  Woke up the sky had gone from blue to grey and a storm moved in.  Overnight we had thunder, lightening, heavy rain and  loss of power throughout Maui.  Today run off made coastal areas largely brown and funky.  Didn't matter to me, I was ruined from my session and read my book all day.  Power just came back.  And that's the way it is.  Get it when you can.


23
Downwind and Racing / Curbing da enthusiasm
« on: October 21, 2017, 12:50:39 PM »
As many of you know, when it's windy here on Maui there are two different options for downwind surfing depending on wind direction.  Some days both sides of Maui are excellent!  But there are also some days when it's nuking and both sides are marginal.

Like this last week.  There has been mega winds but on the N side, early season swells from multiple angles have made Maliko runs like dodge ball with very little rewarding aspects.  On the S side the wind has been shearing offshore from about mid-way on our shortest run and smokin' out to god knows where, certainly no landed areas.  Some windsurfers reported gusts to 60.  This kind of velocity and WD is nothing to mess around with.

We venture out in a certain degree of uncontrolled environment and I guess in one way we're like Trump in avoiding solo press conferences.  There's a limit to how much exposure we want to have where our focus is held accountable.

24
SUP General / I'm coming clean to an online affair
« on: October 20, 2017, 09:29:10 AM »
Don't know how it started but it seemed like love at first sight or rather site since it was on FB.  And it occurred with a fellow zoner's significant other.  Every time Ranger posted a picture, I was smitten and the first to click 'like'.  And now it turns out Ranger 'likes me back'.  I feel like a teenager again.

Sorry PDX I just don't know what to say.  Thank you for being so understanding. 

Do you think Ranger would like to go downwinding?

"Bill, this is PDX. Just saw that Ranger's been messing with my computer again. Happy Birthday from me, too.

PS If you get a really expensive present from "Ranger" charged to my Amazon account, please tell me."


25
Downwind and Racing / DW video of Dave passing us all on his foil
« on: October 16, 2017, 12:24:06 PM »
Another great open ocean video by Jeremy Riggs. It's incredibly challenging for him to hold steady while shooting and going fast at the same time. Some cool shots here, especially of Dave Kalama weaving amongst us. He had to paddle out for a distance before he lifted up on the foil. At this particular point he was just catching up to us and in short order, passing us like we were standing still. Yet in the SUP world, we were doing OK. It's just that the foil is just so freaking fast. I'm reminded of the dinosaurs. Thanks for the cover shot JR!  Love this particular Stones tune.  Not Fade Away.  How appropriate!



26
Downwind and Racing / And then suddenly summer is gone.
« on: October 15, 2017, 09:45:33 PM »
A walk with my granddaughters on the beach felt mellow.  Then news of yet another swimming PB by my grandson.  With the coffee and that news I was a little jacked up and then Jimmy called asking about a run.  Sounded good until I checked the cams.  N shore had surf along the whole coast.  Paddling seemed ambitious, especially since our recent housing move has had me out of the water for four weeks.  Closer to the water now, I've been hitting early morning swims but that's been just a bare minimum for exercise.  At our age you lose it all so quick especially paddling and balance but Jimmy put off my concerns, "This is much smaller than that other time we went and you and Victor thought it was too big. Remember that time?  We were fine." 

So we went.  And of course it was much bigger than we thought.  It always is.  I knew we were in for it when we encountered two foot waves breaking on the boat ramp as we launched.  At the mouth of the gulch, it was huge.    Yeah we had done bigger days before but we were in decent shape and had been going regular.  Going out green was a real heart in throat experience.

Run was crossed up considerably.  Focus was constant.  Going into the upper Kanaha reef point was disconcerting.  Dark patches in the water indicated shallows.  I turned outside further.  White water patches were everywhere.  Plotting a clean path through it all was daunting.  Jimmy went right up the middle.  I went way out and around with no mood for being trashed or swimming.  The middle route can be viable but today JL got hit twice.  He's tough so he got through but the whole area, even out where I was, was very torn up surface.  We had decided on an oil tank run in our infinite wisdom which necessitated crossing the reef.  The wind, which usually bends onshore towards the finish, didn't, so after I cleared the point on the outer point, at least a mile offshore, I had to angle hard to get to our finish point. 

But the wind strength accelerated and even going 60-70 degrees to the wind turned out to be profitable.  Finally I dropped in on a big glide that hit the shallows and morphed into a breaking wave.  I was able to ride it all the way over the reef and within a few yards of the beach, at least a half mile.  Heart was pounding at the beach.  Yep it's October.

27
SUP General / Looking for a friend that was in Puerto Rico before Maria
« on: September 27, 2017, 10:34:10 PM »
This is my long time pal Robert Martin, 'Butch' 71 yrs.  You'll know if you run into him.  He posted on FB right before Maria then nothing but currently there's only sat phone service.  Message me if you do... please.


28
Training, Diet, and Fitness / My new drink, at least for me
« on: September 25, 2017, 08:52:17 PM »
Chop a large washed Meyer Lemon rind and all into small chunks so as to be easy on your vitamix. 

Same with pineapple, and banana. 

Freeze all the above.

Blend.  Start out easy with the vita mix and increase speed gradually.  It is possible to break them blending frozen fruit. 

It's already outasight in my book but I also added whey protein and coconut oil which I felt put it in the stratosphere of great taste.

It might be nutritious, I don't know, but it hits the spot for me.


29
Downwind and Racing / Pic from today
« on: September 22, 2017, 10:30:44 PM »
Dave showed up at launch with a long cam stand on his foil board and at first he was prone.  There's not enough umf in the roll until you're about a mile in.  So we left him way back there because we knew.  And sure enough, when the roll got just a little rise, he was blitzing by us at warp speed and suddenly a mile away and then gone.

The wind got spotty the last two miles and I figured he'd go in early but when we arrived at the finish his car was pulling out.  Incredible. 

It was my first SUP run in three months because of my surfski mania and I felt a little rusty after 10 miles but it was a great run for the most part.

30
SUP General / Jeremy Riggs video of Dave Kalama and some geezer on a ski
« on: September 19, 2017, 10:17:53 AM »
Yesterday we all drove up in the shuttle and were a bit underwhelmed at the look of the conditions off Hookipa.  Large glassy splotches were mixed in with smaller patches of whitecaps.  I had my ski and knew the bottom end might pick up but Dave was on his foil and was facing a much bleaker prospect without sufficient wind.   But as soon as we paddled out of the gulch the wind switch turned on to the nuke setting.  It was disconcerting for me in the ski as I had never paddled side to the wind in that kind of strength.  But I also knew it was definitely a 'no fall' day.  A little tense yes.  So I turned downwind and the action was non stop until the notorious area off Uppers. 

As usual everything piled up out there and yours truely was hanging on by my toenails, mostly taping and totally insecure about dropping into bombs I had no confidence in negotiating.  Wind jacked up even further and my wallowing continued, tapping constantly to maintain.  I did know that it usually improved past this point and it did.  But I was still shell shocked by that when Jeremy Riggs came by and restarted my enthusiasm.  He had been filming Dave Kalama on his foil and that's what really spectacular in this vid.  Dave was having a field day but the heaviest thing was how steady and fast JR was ripping along on his stand up board.  He looked like he was filming from a jetski.


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