The Gales of November

No, I didn't forget. I just am a little late.

34 years ago today, November 10, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank with all hands.

My backyard is still. Only the call of the gulls and the lines of migrating geese interrupted the somber silence that had settled over the water this evening. In a replay of last week, the winds will clock back to the south and increase Thursday into Friday where they'll peak with gusts to 40mph.

While the voice in your head tells you that this is just a lake, the voices of the dead remind you that caution is an attribute of the living. I've learned to never turn your back or rest your eyes when dealing with her. She'll strike fast, hard and without remorse.

Video test

I've been working on some configuration changes to the video encoder and playback, so I could use some feedback on the viewing of this video in terms of smoothness, speed of download, etc.

This is just some random video from the board test that I pulled off of a larger video that I'll be uploading once I get these encoder issues worked out.

Enjoy and gimme some feedback!

Quick Sheboygan video

Great day yesterday at Sheboygan. Super powered, lots of sunshine. The Elbow was firing and the surfers were putting in at the outside ladder since the waves were breaking way outside.

I must have had old batteries in the GoPro's, since after 3 hours of sailing, I only had a few minutes of video. No matter - that day is seared into my brain. ;-)

Real quick

Nice GoPro HD review here.

Mine are en-route. Hope to have them before tomorrow when the lake goes 8-12 feet, but I doubt it.

Next post will be FULL of GoPro video goodness. (Carl - this ones for you!)

Flying... (home)

Ah, another annual high wind board test finished, my final thoughts on the boards committed to paper, the final de-rig and packing of wet rash guards, harness and proto booms.

Today was a casual day, blasting on an overpowered 4.7 at uppers going big and sometimes paying the price. Jake was spot on nailing everything and anything he went for. Russ must have been feeling better with a few forwards on the bad ankle. Francisco hung out for a while - always good to see his smile! Keith brought by a freestyle wave proto for 2010 that looked great, but he is making a few more tweaks before it goes to Cobra. Testers were making their final runs on the boards, and some were plotting how to smuggle their fave home.

Ray crashed big - video to come soon - and messed his knee up for the rest of his trip. Kinda like last year on the Red Rhino, eh?

Anyway, I'm committing this post to the blog, and then its off to the airport for my flight to the mainland.

Aloha!

Ps - and yes, I can fly. Not for very long, but I can really soar! ;-)

Killer!

Sunday was awesome. Spectacular. Epic. Pick your word for it, it killed. Everyone was on fire and the winds were jacked.

Hats off to Carl for getting around his first four forward loops! He's totally stoked to be 44 and learning to go over the bars - he can claim it as Ray saw one and the GoPro's caught them all (video forthcoming).

Sorry for the lack of video - there's just too much to go through as I've been running 3-4 GoPro's on the gear generating a lot of video and too little time to go through it.

Today's my last day on the island. I'm stoked to sail, and very ready to head home back to the family. Its been another good test trip, one for the books.

Great day!

Wow, what a day. The wind was looking great, and the light was perfect for photos. The crew was a bit slow from the night before, having enjoyed sake and sushi at Jacques followed by marathon sessions on the dance floor until the lights came on (gasp!). Some piled on the Advil, one jumped in the ocean and the remedies seemed to work and we hit the water to warm up before Erik and the helicopter arrived.

I gotta say, having a helicopter 15 horizontal feet off of your mast tip while you're blasting across the water is way cool. I sure hope the photo turns out. The pilot had the chopper right on top of me to the point that I could read the make and model of Erik's camera gear. Yeah, it was that close. If I would have bore off, I'm sure my mast tip would have hit the skids. (I hope there wasn't a huge booger hanging off my nose! LOL)

An hour later Erik was back to take some more photos of the team from the water with his fisheye lens. This is always a blast as you have to literally sail on top of him to get the shot. As last year, I stuck a GoPro on his helmet and got some good video that I'm still going through. Everyone was tearing it up and I know there's a pile of great shots in there.

I spent the bulk of my day on the 2010 5.3 Goya Guru, and I was super pleased with it. The new model has way more low end power (which I need) and handles like a dream on a wave and in the air. My only complaint is that I noticed that the 2010 Goya's don't have the pocket in the mast pad for your downhaul line like last year. That's it. That's my only gripe. ;-)

I'd bet that I end up on the 4.7 Eclipse today. It was already crankin at 7am - always a good sign. I've got a super busy schedule planned that includes running the entire fleet to uppers for some head to head wave testing. If I get that done before the wind quits, I'm gonna grab my favorite board and have a little personal fun time in the waves. Carl is planning to learn to loop today - which has Josh a little apprehensive. Not sure why, since Carl will be wearing his helmet. ;-)

Aloha!

Wind? Really?

Today there's a stirring in the trees as the trade winds return to the north shore. Everyone's pretty stoked to get back on the boards and get our testing mojo on.

We've been spending our last few windless days surfing, SUP'ing and recovering from the flu that's been having its way with a few members of the test team. Josh is back to 100% and Aaron is almost there as well. I think I've successfully fought off the yuck with the medicine bombing of my system and fingers are crossed that the rest of the crew doesn't succumb this weekend. ;-)

The coming weekend looks great for some solid back-to-back sailing days with some really decent winds that should get everyone onto small sails and give these high wind boards a real run through.

See you next post with some meat!

Get a grip!

In addition to new boards being tested, I've been sailing some prototype booms this trip. Now I'm kinda particular about my booms. Specifically in diameter, stiffness and overall user friendliness with the front end, rear pulley and cleat, and easy to use size markings.

And most of all, they need to be strong. I'm a big guy and I sail hard on my gear. One summer I taco'd so many aluminum booms the manufacturer stopped replacing them and strongly recommended to rider their carbon model. (I liked the aluminum one for its reduced diameter). I have to admit that I was a bit sceptic about the survivability of these booms when I was asked to test them. But hey, thats part of the deal, right?


That said, I like these booms. So much that I forget I'm sailing aluminum. But alas, they're stiff and crisp when sailing. What's so special about them? The grip. There's a pronounced "V" on the inside of the boom that makes it super easy to grip the boom, especially when wave sailing. Take a close look at the photos, but keep in mind that we used a wide angle lens to accentuate the view of the "V".

In normal sailing, the grip was less taxing on my forearms. When doing tricks, it was easier to snag the boom with a few fingers and on some near misses, I pulled it out because of the "V". I really noticed the "V when wavesailing - it was super comfy when working hard on the rig going down the line.

Items to note - the diameter was large for some of the women or people with smaller hands, but the production version of them will be about 15% smaller and with a less pronounced "V".

The locking pins for the adjustments were user friendly and beefy, but I wish they'd mark the extension with overall length cm and not just cm of adjustment. The head was nice, though I think there's a more refined version in the works.


The best thing about these booms - the price. I'm not going to disclose MSRP, but in today's economy, these booms are priced right, perhaps even below what I think the value is for them.

And if you've never heard of the brand, rest assured, while they may not be a household name in the North American windsurfing market, these guys have been around the block and then some in Europe. No worries there at all.

Check 'em out, give them a try and get a better grip on your sailing.

Intermission

The trades have backed down today and while the team is scattered around the island, here's a little video for the home audience to enjoy.

This is from last February 15 at Hookipa. Low clouds, rain squalls and a dirty lens make this video less than stellar but Robby, Roberto and the rest of the Hoo crew make it worth watching.

Sit back, go widescreen and pass the popcorn.

UPDATE - Kihei is windy (15-27) - rounding up the crew to head over and get wet!

Kihei crash

Of special note - after the gear settles, you can see me swimming back to my gear. ;-)