Wandering in the Wind

Board Test Photoshoot

2009-04-08T05:52:00.000-07:00

Board Test Shoot Out-take shots

2009-02-19T15:58:00.000-08:00

Kieran Devanney

Kieran Devanney, James Douglass, Dominique Vallee

Your righteous blogger 'n mag editor.

Dominique Vallee

James Douglass.

And one for an old friend ... Cate, - you deserve this ;-)

2009-02-07T06:42:00.000-08:00

Look closer.

SUPping Wekiva River, Sunday Sailing Sesh

2008-12-02T15:49:00.000-08:00

So where CAN you take your SUP boards?

Lotsa places, that's where.

After a big ol' turkey dinner at gramma's house, I dropped by my buddy Zach's place, where I ran into my buddy Brent, who surfs, kayaks, and is learning to windsurf... anyhoo, we were kicking around some ideas for what to do with our Friday off of work, and we decided we were going to go explore the Wekiva River.

We put in right below Wekiva Springs, and paddled until about a quarter mile past the intersection of the Rock Springs Run. Not a very physically invigorating paddle, but it was definitely a cool way to check out the river. No, I didn't see any gators. What I did find out is that the fin I was using didn't like running into logs very much (then again, it never has) - I need to find (or make) a fin that's better suited for shallow river exploration. I'm thinking something long and shallow, like a keel... anybody have any ideas, or seen anything?

Me, turning around to face the camera...

Andrew, a JAG from Destin, FL, enjoying his first time on a SUP ....

Brent, paddling around....

Then, two days later, we scored some wind and waves out at Cocoa Beach in front of the Banana River resort. Lacking a big, wave-y shortboard, I opted to start out with my Kona 11'5 - but once the wind really picked up, I rustled up a smaller shortboard, which proved to be *very* fun. Unfortunately, not long after this little frontside hit, the wind crapped out, and that was it for shortboarding for the day.

I have to say, that was a FUN day... jeepers. I wish everyday was like that.

First Florida Sesh

2008-11-15T14:27:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning amped - we had a killer adventure the night before (which you'll find out more about later), and I was stoked for my first florida paddleboard sesh.

That lasted about five minutes after I got wet. Florida, you see, is not Maui. The wave faces are choppy. The wave period is short. All the paddleboarding I'd done in Maui (and in the lake near my office last week) was for naught - I felt like I was a beginner again. The sunken tail, one-stroke board 180 I had thought I had mastered? Pssshh. I could barely stand on the board.

My frustration lasted for about ten minutes before I said "Screw it, I'm getting a sail." \

That changed EVERYTHING. The wind was VERY light and very offshore, and the waves were breaking pretty close to the beach, so I didn't get many rides as I really wanted to only take the set waves that would give me a chance to ride then pop out before getting caught in the dead zone of the shorebreak. The few rides I did get, though, were top notch, according to my buddy Brent who was surfing.

Post-sesh, we grabbed some IHOP, then headed back to the resort to get Brent windsurfing - he'd taken a lesson a few years ago, but hadn't sailed since. It's a tribute to his athleticism that he was basically sailing on his own after just a few minutes of instruction. I bounced between boards and sails (Aerotech Phantom 6.8, Severne Element 7.5, Sailworks NC4 8.5, Kona 11'5, Kona One, Starboard Serenity, Exocet S-Cross 145...) the wind picked up enough to send us all running for shortboards, but the wind died just as a I got the 8.5 rigged and on the water.

Oh well.

Non-windsurfing stuff...

2008-11-05T06:36:00.000-08:00

Last night I flew into NYC to visit some family and friends. I started chatting with a gal on the subway on the way from Grand Central to Port Authority, and she was heading down to Times Square to be among the throngs watching the election on the big screen... really incredible. I figured I had a few minutes to spare before I caught the bus to Scranton/Wilkesbarre to see my Gramma, but the gal from the subway dragged me down to Times Square, and I'm really glad I went ... It's been a long time since I've seen that many people so happy about one thing that wasn't a sporting event, and man, was it cool. Political platforms aside, I have to say that Obama has a rare talent for inspiration, and merely hearing him speak has been a refreshing change from the Bush years.

Turns out the Peconic Puffin was there too...

Now, here's a few pictures from my drive that I've been meaning to put up....

Some odd stuff around Arizona, including the largest Teepee in the Southwest... and a town by the odd name of "Truth or Consequences" .... I wonder if they support capital punishment.

Then, I stopped in Marfa, Texas, about 70 miles south of I-10, to see some an old family friend, who was just recently named FAA Instructor of the Year - he teaches gliding lessons at his flight school, Marfa Gliders.

Anyways, now I'm on "vacation" - maybe a NY post or something ;-)

The office ....

2008-11-03T08:11:00.000-08:00

...is still standing.

Home!

2008-11-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

.... tired.

Left Berkeley Tuesday AM.

Flagstaff, Marfa, Ft. Walton Beach, Orlando. 3,130 miles.

The many faces of Dave...

2008-10-23T23:25:00.001-07:00

Just got some of the shots back from Erik...

That Dave guy sure likes to show off!

One happy sailor... and the longest swim..

2008-10-15T00:09:00.000-07:00

The solid NW swell is still hitting Maui's North Shore, and this morning we awoke to more waves, but very light winds. Passing on the SUP sesh to get some cleaning done around the house, before heading over to Kanaha for Chris' last sesh of the trip - with winds hover around 5 knots at shore and 10 outside the reef, we headed out on longboards with 5-meter sails.

The waves were still huge - as big as the whopper I caught SUPping yesterday. I grabbed a couple then headed in to check on Chris. We headed out Upper Kanaha's 2nd (or 3rd?) reef, where two more shortboard sailors had slogged out. One guy was on an older starboard, and what looked like a 5.8 or 6.0 meter sail. This guy was STOKED. I caught a good look at him coming down the line as I was going out, and he was hootin' and hollerin. We even ended up once on the same wave, and he gave me plenty of room, and was smilin' all the time.

After catching a few more rides, we ended up on the same wave again - we had both gone for what looked to be the set wave. Not wanting to ruin his ride, I jibed over the shoulder - and found myself staring into a wall of blue. I threw the mast down, tried to the sink tip down as far as I could - but there was no chance. The gear ripped out of my hands, I felt my back hit reef - not to hard - just enough to know it was there - and it felt like an eternity before I made it back up for air.

When I did come up, my gear was - amazingly - about five feet away - but I could already tell the mast was broken, about halfway down. Now, if the sail had been torn, I would have just tried to sail it in. But the sail had miraculously survived with no damage, and sailing it in would have almost guaranteed tearing the sleeve, so I de-rigged, figuring my buddy on the longboard would soon be out to lend a hand.

This turned out to be a decision I would (slightly) regret. With the swell, Chris was searching for me with his binoculars, but didn't see me broken down. The wind had picked up, blowing me downwind, through Lowers, all the way to Kite Beach. A big shout-out to Juan from Hot Sails who was the only sailor or kiter to offer me a tow in. His 69-liter board wasn't too hot for it though, so after we accidentally separated I told him to go back in and play with the waves. I was pretty beat by the time I made it back to shore - just in time to get Chris, Heather, and their 7-month-old daughter Myla off to the airport to catch their flight to LA layover, before they carry on to London, then Newcastle.

I wanted to find that other sailor that was sailing Uppers with us... he sure got me stoked.

Scared Sh!tless

2008-10-14T01:33:00.000-07:00

I caught the biggest wave of my life today SUPing. It was, wholly and completely, unintentional.

We headed to Kanaha hoping to sail in the fairly decent sized NW swell - it was easily mast-high on Sunday afternoon when Chris caught his first *real* windsurfing wave - we shared a mast-high macker, me just downwind of him, getting a few turns...

Anyhoo, paddled out - there were a few surfers at lowers, nobody at uppers. Being fairly novice SUP'ers, we headed for the edge of the channel where there some really nasty waves breaking - steep and pitchy. Most of the other SUP'ers knew enough to stay out of there - but we knew enough to know that we weren't good enough to get everyone else's way ;-).

So after getting working and worked and missing waves and falling off, we were pretty beat, and were thinking of going in. Chris caught a wave, and happened to lose his paddle - I could see it, so I started paddling towards it to grab it and bring it to him.... as i paddled toward it, I saw a wave coming.

I kept paddling for the paddle.

I got closer.

The wave was getting bigger.

I was twenty feet away from the paddle.

The wave was head-high.

I was ten feet away from the paddle.

"F*$K THE PADDLE" I screamed to Chris.

The wave was probably now head and a half, and not breaking. I paddled like my life depended on it. Somehow, I managed to switch my feet from parallel to perpendicular. I dug one more time. The wave welled up under the board, and took me all the way up the peak - I could feel it getting ready to break - then I pushed the nose straight down the face - kind of like dipping my toes in the water. Chris was right in the way (I have corroboration!) - and confirmed the look I felt on my face - I was scared shitless. He swears to god that 12 foot board was nearly completely vertical when I went screaming down the face, well out into the flats, as the wave caught up behind me and I rode the white water gasping for air and screaming my head off. It wasn't a ride, just a drop, but, holy crap, it was easily the scariest drop-in of my life.

Windsurfing, surfing, paddling, kiting...

waves make it all the better.

Oh and go check Dave's Blog!

2008-10-10T00:31:00.001-07:00

While I was running around the boat setting up shots for the magazine, Troup was getting more shots for his blog - go and look at them!

Epic Sessions

The Boat Photoshoot Day and back to testing

2008-10-10T00:14:00.000-07:00

This morning, we woke up to head to the Red Rhino for a lil' photoshoot - sorry, you don't get to see pictures yet - but Dave will probably post some video outtakes soon. Let's just say we're stoked with the outcome, and you'll see it in the mag ;-)

After that, it was back to Kanaha for - MORE board testing! The last few boards of the fleet arrived today, and, fortunately, they were big'uns... it was a little on the lighter side. However - it was still Maui - which means, even at my 'heavyweight' size (OK, I'm probably even bigger than the average heavyweight) I was planing on ~90 liters boards and a 5.5 with wind averaging about 20 mph. At home in Florida, I'd probably be on 5.7 or probably 6.2, and a 115 liter board. Even so, the wind lightened up, and I hung on the beach while the flyweights planed away. Most impressive was Brit guester Chris "Spider-monkey" Peacock - who blasted by 5 slogging sailors, planed through a nice inside duck jibe, and kept blasting back out to the reef.

Sorry for the lack of posts!

2008-10-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

Fortunately, David has been posting double-time.

The board test is going well - we had a few good days of wind, now it's dropped off for a couple days, giving us some time to rest up, measure boards, do some photo shoots, and maybe today get a hike in - we're thinking bamboo forest, or maybe swinging bridges. Anybody have any suggestions?

Keep an eye on Dave's blog for some epic footage from our new GoPro Hero Wide-Angle.

Now, I'm going to help catapulting Aaron measure some boards... I'll try and get the spreadsheet up soon.

Maui, Two Days In!

2008-10-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

After two days of running around the island getting nearly twenty boards, a dozen sails of varying brands and sizes, and chatting with all the locals, the WindSurfing test team had its first full day of testing yesterday at Kanaha. Winds were a steady 20-25. I was comfortably overpowered on a 5.7 - the rest of the test team used sails from 4.5 to 5.5. Big sail award of the day goes Carl Spiess from Canada, who held down a 6.2 until it got really windy.

Joining us for a longish weekend is Florida Technical Editor Alex Stankie - (his pop's an airline pilot, so he was able to hitch a ride out for free - although not in the board bag he's pictured in here - he actually came First Class!)

Now we're sitting at the test house, having some breakfast, and getting ready for another day of testing - sweet! Aaron, Alex and Jenny H. from Hood River.

Mecca

2008-10-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

If you've been windsurfing for any length of time, you know that Maui is, well, pretty much the center of the windsurfing universe. While it wasn't here that the sport was invented, it was here that the sport grew, flourished, and progressed into the short board era that enthralled people across the world. It's where Robby Naish, Josh Stone, Mark Angulo, Mike Waltze, and many other world-famous sailors cut their teeth on sharp coral reefs and jagged shoreline rocks.

Flying over the North Shore yesterday was invigorating - really getting me excited for sailing here.

Today, I'm running around to different shops and distributors, rounding up the gear for the High Wind board test -and hopefully, getting on the water this afternoon. Fingers crossed!!

Jet Plane Jitters....

2008-09-28T18:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday night - Orlando, FL.

Tomorrow, I'll hop on a plane to San Francisco, where I'll be crashing with a friend before hopping on another plane to the mecca of windsurfing - Maui, Hawaii - specifically, Maui's North Shore. The most legendary coast in windsurfing - the birthplace of wavesailing, home to many of the sport's legends, land of endless trades and massive waves - and WindSurfing's High Wind Board Tests.

And, the best news: There's swell on the horizon.

Sleeping is going to be tough for the next couple days!

Roberto Ricci on his Limited Edition Boards

2008-09-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

Roberto Ricci offers us an inside look on his Limited Edition boards.

Awesome Windsurfing Advertising.

2008-09-24T08:51:00.000-07:00

Most of you probably haven't seen the slick video ads North Sails are making. I have to say, it's some of the best advertising I see happening in windsurfing. The videos are quick, well-produced, and - most importantly - funny and clever. Here's one for the new 3-piece mast, which you'll be reading about in an issue of WindSurfing next year.

More videos here.

A sign of windsurfing maturity.

2008-09-24T06:55:00.000-07:00

Well, it's HONKING here at the Florida coast, and I kind of would like to go sailing.

The problem? My truck - and hence, my gear - is approximately 2,800 miles away.

I've got some parts and pieces lying around - but I'm a couple things short of a full rig - and even if it was a full rig, it would be a 6.5 - and gusts are well into the thirties. Yeah, I'm big, but that doesn't sound like much fun.

Wow. This must be a sign of windsurfing maturity. It's windy, and there's waves, but too windy for my gear, so I'm electing to (probably) not go windsurfing.

Or, it could be that I'm about to go to Maui for two weeks.

Wisconsin

2008-09-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

A non-work windsurfing trip to hang out with my buddies up in the great (green) north.

Took off on a whim for a good forecast - it wasn't epic, but Lake Michigan did deliver - powered up on 5.7 (Dave wants you to know he was on a 5.3) yesterday, and 6.4 today (Again, Dave wants you to know he was on a 5.8.) Some random pics...

Now we are going to have a Wisconsin experience known as a "Supper Club". I've been warned.

Windsurf like a rock-star

2008-09-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

I'm going to Wisconsin. Flight leaves in three hours. See ya!

FRIDAY...SOUTH WINDS TO 30 KNOTS INCREASING TO GALES TO
35 KNOTS. WAVES 5 TO 8 FEET BUILDING TO 6 TO 10 FEET IN THE
AFTERNOON.

Have you seen this page?

2008-09-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the blatant self-pimping, (Wait. No I don't.) but this page is awesome.

Mexican Decompression

2008-09-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

After three months on the road, I'm finally back in Orlando - and it feels....

hot.

Seriously, as we were walking out of the airport at 1 AM, I could already feel the moisture condensing on my skin. And, this being Florida in the summer, there ain't much of a breeze.

However, it was pleasant to be home after our extended Mexican adventure. What? You want to know how I got stuck in Mexico for three days AFTER we camped at San Carlos for a week?

Well.

We left San Carlos in a leisurely fashion on Saturday afternoon. Wyatt rode his dirtbike out, I drove the truck. At some point, he pulled off to pee or check out a view or get mystic with the local plantlife (just kidding) and I passed him - without realizing it. Thinking he was ahead of me - far enough that he was way out of sight - I gunned it, averaging probably 40+. This may have had something do with what happened later, but probably not. To be honest, folks, the road in ain't that bad. There's been tales of a compact four-door making it all the way to San Carlos.

Anyhoo, we got outta the dirt, gassed up and grubbed in El Rosario, loaded the dirtbike in the truck (there was about two inches of clearances between the tire and the wheel well) and headed for El Norte.

As we passed through downtown Ensenada, Wyatt turned to me and said, 'Hey man, this town is kind of hoppin, maybe we should go out and party tonight and finish the drive tomorrow."

"Nah," I said, "let's just keep going."

Five minutes later.

"Well," I said, "maybe we should stop. It's already eight o'clock."

This time Wyatt demurred.

Finally we decided to scope out the motel situation and make our decision then.

So I went to push in the clutch and put the car in gear - and pushed the clutch straight to the floor. Clearly, our decision had been made for us.

The luckiest part was breaking down directly in front of two motels. One was booked, one wasn't. I was able to start the car in gear and drive it to the motel, and we got a room.

This being Saturday night, we knew our chances of finding a mechanic the next day were pretty slim. So we went out pretty big that night. Let me tell you - beer is cheap in Mexico!

We did get the trucked dragged to the Dodge dealership on Sunday, then on Monday they took 'er apart, and on Tuesday, put 'er back together. (Brand new clutch, master and slave cylinder. Cost $1200, comparable to the cost in the states.)

Having nowhere else to go, we spent a lot of time at the dealership, buddying up with the mechanics and drinking beer on the dealership steps. giving 'em mags and DVD's and stuff. Finally, at 6 PM on Tuesday, she was done - we paid the bill and got the hell outta town. We made it from Ensenada to Bezerkeley in a record 10 hours - including the border crossing. Now the truck's stashed up at Wyatt's family orchard near the Cache River, and I'm in Florida - we basically flew in, slept, and hit three days of Surf Expo - pictures and posts to come.

Somebody asked me to explain this picture. I won't, because I can't. This is all the explanation I got, so that's all the explanation you get.

Late update - Glad we didn't see this sign in Mexico:

BACK IN THE USA! .... and... SURF EXPO!

2008-09-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

Never been so glad to see customs in my life ... even if they did send us to secondary! (Guess we looked a little suspicious.)

Heading back to Orlando for Surf Expo. Stay tuned to this blog and www.windsurfingmag.com for pictures and updates of all the new toys.