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Messages - headmount

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5626
SUP General / 12/2 .. memorable day
« on: December 02, 2010, 07:48:03 PM »
La Perouse, how was your  uppers experience? I launched with Buzz, Keith, Conner.  Inside Maliko bay there were three foot breaking waves which Conner promptly shredded while we waited for everyone to launch.  At the mouth of the bay it was sucking out top to bottom 8 footers on both sides... cannons to the left, cannons to the right.   I saw you posting up while you got your OC1 pals together.  Turtle Bay had us humping hard for the outside and we were pretty good after that.  Keith fell back and Conner sat and waited for him.  Not that Buzz and I were keeping up with the kid either.  He was just doing long zigs and zags to stay back with us.... on a 12'6".  When he sat to wait for Keith, Buzz and I carried on and decided to go all the way around upper Kanaha because the surf had stacked up on that reef pretty big.  Just barely made it.  About 50 feet outside real meat grinders at the peak of the point but it was macking wind at that point (at least 40) and we were able to drop in on the swells and convert that speed into outer glides.  Cut back in after the point and caught a wave all the way from outside kitebeach and rode it across the reef just like we knew what we were doing.  Longest wave I've ever ridden.  Came in at the oil tanks.  Nice having Buzz with me after going solo yesterday.  We stuck close which was comforting.  Those sets were freaky.  You can never tell when they'll start to pitch.  We saw a pal on the truck retrieve at Maliko.  He got tagged outside Sugar Cove and did the swim.  The wind had totally clocked offshore and light when we drove back up.  Tomorrow??  Yeah

5627
SUP General / Re: Kelp surfing
« on: December 02, 2010, 12:43:45 PM »
That pic freaks me out...

5628
Downwind and Racing / Re: OC-1s are amazing
« on: November 30, 2010, 11:12:36 PM »
NICE pics.  I'm sure the full res version is even better.  Feel myself slipping towards trying OC1.... but I remember canoe practice and the beginning of my back problems.  So far the SUP has been kind to me.

5629
Gear Talk / Re: water in V2 F-16?
« on: November 30, 2010, 11:07:19 PM »
I'll call you tomorrow (wed) about the box.  We might get wind as well. You ready to roll?  Or are you already an OC 1 convert?  Looks like thursday for sure.

5630
Gear Talk / Re: Nice rack
« on: November 30, 2010, 09:31:24 AM »
I want to laugh but then I remember seeing windsurfers lifting off and Jamie Mitchell's paddleboard lifting off and the cost of downwind boards...   Isn't it all about the spread length of the rack?  Bill your rack looks like a boob job on a skinny girl... especially with that OC 1 cantilevered  off both ends.  And you have more faith than me  having everything so wide open.  But I don't know about Easy Rider's option either.  A drive in front of Ukemehamae Valley on a smoking north wind day might take the whole van over on it's side.  I have a silver grey truck with a dented tail gate like many others on the island.  Camo bro camo.

5631
Gear Talk / Re: water in V2 F-16?
« on: November 30, 2010, 09:12:49 AM »
JC -I can't speak for the rest of the guys here on Maui but I'm always surveying the distance and know that I can swim in to shore if the need arises.  Been tagged at the very outside of uppers by a wave that separated my sail and board on a windsurfer and did the swim.. in large surf.  My training swim is two miles  (anytime there's no wind for a downwinder) so I try to always keep that reservoir of confidence. But of course it's warm here, not like Melbourne so I think it's easier to relax.  How  DJ survived even with a wetsuit... man, that guy is tough.    Plus we have West Maui sitting like a safety net at the far end... to catch everything that goes downwind. We used to collect our demasted windsurfers there when we started sailing 30 years ago. Still it's good procedure to watch out for each other like you say... even here in the warm water.  I haven't met one guy I haven't liked in this sport and don't want to leave anyone out there.  Hope you guys from DU make it out here again so I can met you.  Met Iron Phil last year and he was a kick.
Guess I've strayed off the thread... again.

5632
Gear Talk / Re: water in V2 F-16?
« on: November 29, 2010, 10:37:35 PM »
Well thanks guys.  JC... I guess you were here when you did that test.. sounds like a likely source now that you mention it.  Were you with DJ on the famous run?

5633
Gear Talk / water in V2 F-16?
« on: November 29, 2010, 08:43:27 PM »
I'm getting about  +or - a cup on each run ( about an hour or so) with no obvious holes anywhere and no bubbles I can see except the vent hose and the steering cable which also drains out a bit of water when I tip it tail down in order to drain it each time.  Is anyone else getting this?  I got mine in the July shipment.

5634
SUP General / Re: Proud of my brother
« on: November 29, 2010, 06:37:11 PM »
Wow such incredible pics... especially the night and dawn shots.  AND that's so cool you got to send your brother off in a great way with so many friends.   My older brother Mike passed away 21 years ago on a small island off Mindanao on the 43rd day of a fast on his 43rd birthday.  The Mayor of the island told me he had conducted this fast at a spot above a cave haunted by the souls of the Japanese garrison that had occupied that island and had hidden in the cave to escape the American air group that was attacking Leyte Gulf, directly in front of this same island.  Our father had participated in that battle as a fighter pilot.  While the Mayor spoke I sat on a gazebo with dirt poor local men dressed in the cast of tee shirts collected by relief organizations from all over the world.  I drank tuba (fermented coconut sap) with them and soaked in the magnificence of the stars above.  Bill those pics on your site brought back that memory.  Staring out over Leyte Gulf and inside my head I’m seeing and hearing the Navy Hymn play while flag covered bodies slide into the ocean.  The battle is over.
“Eternal Father, strong to save, whose arm hath bound the restless wave.”  
That hymn always brought tears of pride to my eyes when I was a young boy watching Navy Log on TV.   When I think about it now it still does.  I didn’t need a casket.  For me the body and a burial place is not the person.  The limitless drops of the ocean and infinite stars in the sky absorb that person for me.  
During that trip to visit his grave, I was emotionally unable to digest the whole experience even at the age of 40 and it has taken me these 21 years and writing a book to come to terms with it.  My brother was troubled but he always looked out for me and gave me a helping hand.  I'm sure anyone who has lost a brother can relate.

5635
Downwind and Racing / Re: Down wind drama's.
« on: November 28, 2010, 09:54:16 PM »
Ditto what everyone else has said but I got one question.  Are you gonna continue to eat bacon and cheese?  Maccas?  THAT blew my mind.  Anyway I hope I get to meet you if you ever make it to Maui.  I've been in 55 this last March and it's a different world.

5636
SUP General / Re: Lots o' Maliko
« on: November 28, 2010, 03:45:48 PM »
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Bill. I wanted to do a maliko thanksgiving day, but the turkey held me back. I did get a run in yesterday though. I was suprised that I never saw anyone along the way.
Even when you start out of the gate with someone, it's hard to stay together and see anyone unless you really make it a priority.  We had a fireman from Molokai with Keith and me yesterday.  He was young, strong and not too far back on my old 14'.  He paddles on Molokai but this was his very first Maliko run.  It's winter and there were navigation decisions to be made so we did bursts and waits.  I like to keep a vague idea of where everyone is that I've seen leave the gulch and when that fails, I try to check in by phone afterwards for SOP. 

5637
SUP General / Re: Lots o' Maliko
« on: November 28, 2010, 10:31:49 AM »
Bill... When I got in your six, your board seemed to be pulling to the right.  How's the rudder?  We might have another flurry towards the end of this next week.  Epic yesterday, especially seeing the A team on those OC1s was incredible.  Is there a Sit Down Zone?  Those guys must have stories... and we've heard a few on this site.  Maybe just drop the Stand Up part and call this this the Zone?
For those of you younger guys, the Twilight Zone on TV many years ago was where people were transported into a separate reality ... like we all enter every time we hold a blade in our hands.

5638
SUP General / good timing
« on: November 27, 2010, 07:36:27 PM »
You know there are always so many logistical efforts to drop cars or catch shuttles and get everyone in the water, properly equipped, and briefed on the plan.  Then there is the concern on whether the wind will be cranking once you're out there.  Will you be too early or too late?  In the summer the time frame window is wider on a Maliko run but in the winter the window is much smaller.  The last two days the lift off has been perfect timing.  When that happens... it really puts a smile on my face.... tho I felt bad for the gal that broke her rudder walking into the water.  My wife SHirley gave her a ride back down the coast to her car.  I followed Pono Bill's lead and kept my rudder out of the water till I was waist deep.  Low tide at Maliko is treacherous with rocks...

5639
SUP General / Re: leash revisited
« on: November 25, 2010, 10:24:52 AM »
Our run was so so with some good sections but mostly just almost.  We had Don Shear with us on a thin 14  so we kept tabs on him.  He's the best heli pilot on this island and an avid paddler.  I think he's fairly convinced to get a real downwind board after yesterday.  I'll be good to go for friday....  let's check out that new rack.
 You're right about the full extension of the leash plus the fact that the 16 sits so high in the water it snaps back in a very streamlined fashion.  I was lucky, no teeth, no eyeball.  Yeah I'll take a shiner any day.

5640
SUP General / leash revisited
« on: November 25, 2010, 07:33:39 AM »
Caught a wave across the camp one reef yesterday in head high size surf on my 16 footer.  Rudder is humming at high speed but board felt locked in.   Then I kooked out and let the blade tip drop in the water.  It ripped me off the board.   I've been using cords since they were invented in the early 70's, when we used really dangerous bungee cords and you really had to be careful when you surfaced or you'd get creamed.  So I have decades of experience with that and surfacing with an arm in front but recently, during these last six years of paddleboarding.... I've lost my share of hats and sunglasses.  SO yesterday I go down and underwater I hang on to my hat and sunglasses and am thinking to myself how together I am.  Then I surface and POW, about an inch below my eye, the pointed tail of my board springs back and hits me right at the top of my cheek bone.  Struggle with conciousness for a few seconds... don't know how long then  pretty heavy pain brought me back.  Thought I had knocked out the roots of my upper molars Laid there for a few more minutes and got up and finished to the canoe hale at Kanaha.  Came home.. iced, arnica, iced again, a glass of wine and I was gone.  Don't feel to bad this morning.... considering.  Didn't lose any teeth but have a dime size hole in my cheek for thanksgiving.  Up to Olinda to throw our bird in an imu...  FYI I had a four foot coil leash on the back of my 16... lays up real nice on the deck but I might adjust in the future to a center connect.

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