Great way to start the day

Mirror smooth this morning, not a breath of wind. Got on the water at 7:15am and got off just before 9am just in time for fresh cut peaches and cinnamon rolls hot out of the oven.

Heck of a way to start the day!

What's next? We're suiting up the kids and going for some pulls - gotta take advantage of the smooth water while we can!

(thanks to Herb for snagging the shot!)

UPDATE - spent the entire day on the water. Just put the boat on the lift at 4pm. Epic!

Quick sunset shot

The wind calmed by the time I got home, but considering my *ahem* commitment to healing my knee, that was a good thing.

My consolation prize was a great sunset. Ok, I'm cool with that.

Ginsu fin action

I think someone got a little over zealous in the finishing department over at True Ames. (check out the video below)

Great fin and it has multiple uses! (and I thought those flip flops with the bottle opener in the sole were cool!)

Boards boards boards!

I found some old shots of boards in a box this morning. That got me thinking about all the boards I've had over the years.... So, here's the list to the best of my ability to remember all of 'em! (in kinda chronological order, but not really)

It all started in 1982 with the original stock Windsurfer...

1. Windsurfer One Design
2. Windsurfer Rocket 99 (above pic)
3. Windsurfer Olympic One Design
4. Wings of Flight 9'6" custom tri fin waveboard (went through 3 finboxes)
5. Cobra 9'0 slalom board
6. Jimmy Lewis 8'10 custom wave slalom
7-8. Seatrend 9'0 custom carbon slalom board (2 - broke the first one)
9. Seatrend 9'8" square tail slalom
10. Seatrend 9'4 world cub slalom
11. Seatrend 8'11 ATV
12-13. Seatrend 88 ATV (two of 'em - broke the first one)
14. Seatrend 87 ATV
15. Seatrend 80 ATV (broke it in the gorge)
16. Seatrend 113 liter ATV
17. "Buzz" 9'0 custom slalom
18. Shuler 8'6" gorge wave (snapped in half at Swell City)
19. Shuler 8'3" gorge wave (in my office)
20-21-22. Mistral Challenge flex (3 of 'em - broke them all)
23. Logoz 9'4" wave board
24. 88 Fanatic Wave board (don't recall the model name)
25. Mistral One Design
26. Starboard 111 Carve Wood (buckled it)
27. Starboard 111 Carve DRAM
28. Starboard Acid 88 DRAM (broke it)
29-30. Starboard EVO 92 DRAM (2 - broke the first one at Sheboygan)
31. Starboard Freesex 110 Wood
32. Starboard Kombat 105 DRAM
33. Starboard x-186 Formula
34. RRD FSW 110 Carbon
35. RRD FSW 86
36. RRD Twin Tip 110
37-38. Mistral Pacifico (two of em)
39. RRD 98 X-Fire
40. RRD 75 X-Fire speed board

I didn't count any of my demo boards from sponsors, else the count would be 48+. Holy cow!

Sidelined

Since I'm gonna be on the sidelines for a while, I'll be taking a pile of video of the local crew when they're tearing it up.

The last time this happened, I was benched as a result of a nasty foot injury from a cleat on a ski boat. (makes my skin crawl just to think about it)

in 1999, I had a trip out to SF and since I couldn't sail, I camped out on the bluff and shot video of Troy all day. I think he blew through two sails that day - with his body! Seriously, he put his body through his 4.2 on a slam and I forget how he mangled the other one.

Enjoy! (Oh - this was all shot at Josh's "secret" location shown on his blog) ;)

Waaaaay back

Check out this shot from Baileys Harbor back in ... shoot, must be '91.


Compare it to the shot below from Two Rivers 2001. Dude, that's too weird.

Tabletops?

Of all the jumps that tweak the back, spine and brain, the tabletop is a hellish fun jump.

This shot is from a Cali '05coast trip with my good friend Troy and Josh Stone with the amazing photocapabilities of Erik Aeder. Seriously, he can make even slackers like me look good!

Check out some more shots here...

I'm stuupid

Ok, since I screwed my knee today longboarding on the Pacifico in the weak surf at Two Rivers - here's a little video of 7.0 wavesailing from last fall at Two Rivers.

Dude, my knee hurts!! Gotta get it back to 100% for Maui in October!!!

Maui tabletop

One of the guys needed an SD card in the office and I thought I'd double check to make sure it was clean and ready to go. Alas, it had a single solitary video on it from the Maui Board tests last October.

Concrete surfing

Here's an interesting revision of the skateboard's timeless design to make it more "surfy".

I think it not only looks good, its a simply and elegant design compared to those that have come before. I might have to check one of these out!

Of course, this requires an obligatory video of Josh on the hill near our house. ;-)

Kiter video

Sorry, I know this is really making the rounds, but still.

The need for speed

Fall is my favorite time of year for sailing. The winds of winter begin fighting with summer for control over our climate and through the end of October, the water is usually still warm no matter how vicious the cold fronts get.

While my focus in sailing has always been waves - this fall I'm gonna tackle the Midwest Speed Quest. The event is held in the SW corner of Minnesota on a little lake that gets amazingly huge amount of wind. Past year's speed postings have been very respectable and I'm really looking forward to going for it there. I've got some gear that I've been tuning and taken to 40+ on the GPS and I know it will go faster with flatter water conditions and more wind... provided I can keep the hammer down. ;-)

Pray for wind!

New blog

Hey folks - I'm moving all of my water based lifestyle postings to this blog to keep the focus on Cheeseheadtech on all things tech/business.

Just an FYI. ;-)