I brought the wrong board!!!!!!! ARGH!!!!

That's the text I sent the wife when I pulled out her board after sitting in traffic for almost 2 hours after work. After a short mental readjustment, I had some fun on 5.6 and Julies 95L freewave.

Time to pack the truck. Decent forecast for Corpus. Lets cross fingers for some Packery backie sessions. If not, grubby quest is calling.

Can He Fix it!

Yes He Can!

Like new

I am continuously amazed with Bobs sail repair skills. If you have to repair a board, they are never quite the same after. But with a Bob T sail repair, it comes back as good as new. And I should know... my entire quiver has had some level of therapy!

• 6.0 Echo - Dove through 2 panels during a hooked in vulcan. Don't you just hate those?
• 5.6 Riot - Landed on the sail from high during a bizarre backwinded loop attempt
• 5.3 - Ripped off batten pocket, busted panel and luff tear during Hurricane Irene ordeal
• 4.7 - Tore the leech whilst trying to water start in the waves at PSC
• 4.2 - Bust a panel and put a hole near the foot of the sail during a disastrous ninja kick loop attempt

I asked Julie to read this post coz I thought it was boring. She said it needed a wrap up sentence but I've got nothing. Maybe UKGirl or KiteBoy have some ideas? 

SlognRide

Slog and ride sesh at South Packery yesterday. Suprisingly fun. Occassional chest high bowls were setting up for some nice snaps and aerials.

Jason sailed too. I got on the water first and saw him pull out his gear. Then he drove away for 15 minutes. Turns out he didn't have the right size mast. He then started rigging again but stopped. "I guess I'm not making it look that good" I thought. I came in and turned out he'd forgot his boom shim. I lent him mine, headed back out, gybed and he was gone! "What the..." 15 minutes later he came back again. The shim was too short. Finally after 2 hours he was rigged up, stepped on his board, and the wind died.

Whilst driving home I marvelled at Jasons history of mishaps. Last Saturday while 'sailing along' at Packery his mast broke and he ended up destroying his mast, boom and sail. Sunday the wind died and he came in a mile downwind of the launch. After walking back, picking up his truck and driving to his gear, he found a bunch of youths loading his kit into their truck.

What else? Getting tangled in fishing line at Bob Hall that had a shark on it (my favourite). Going through the pier at Port A with his windsurfing kit. Getting lost in the desert near Punta San Carlos for days... the list goes on.

It's great to see him back on the water!!

Its Just Like Sailing Hookipa!

That's what I said to Olivier just after he busted a top turn right over my head, except there were only 4 of us out. :) Easily my windiest "Packery in a South-wind" day ever. Solid power on 4.2 and big waves.

Made a mini-movie from Saturday mornings sesh.

Mark is telling me he can't watch it. So I put it on vimeo too:

Packery April 2012 on Vimeo.

Going Off

Packery was going awwf this morning (thats my phonetic spelling of off with an american accent). For all y'all non-americans out there, try it with me.

Awwwwwf!

Nice.

Oleander New Move

I did a couple of sweet Nonchalants yesterday at Oleander. How do you do a Nonchalant you might ask? 

Sail in to the beach fully powered, bust a speed loop off the back of a steep piece of chop, land clean, and with a quick pump of the sail hop back on the plane then nonchalantly throw a fast tack whilst looking nonchalant.

Sounds easy right? The inherent difficulty of a Nonchalant is resisting the temptation to punch the air, point at yourself and shout "Did ya see that?!! Did ya, did ya, did ya. I'm the man!!!!! ENGLAND!!! EN…GURRRRRR….LANDDDDDDDD!!!!!!"

Here is a nice clip from April 2005 of Bruno Loviat and Marc Bitoun throwing combo Nonchalants at Oleander.

Of course, replace "ENGLAND!!!" with "ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!!" or quelque chose comme ca.

Avanti Sails

I have been a follower of Dan Kaseler sails for years. In his Naish days the sails seemed to constantly win tests, then he went to Gaastra and Vandal until about a year ago. I'm now on my second quiver of Manics which were my all time favourite sails until I got the Riot 5.6. If I had to choose one sail for Texas, the Riot 5.6 would be it.

So, after destroying my baby (my 5.6) recently at Quintana, I was dreaming about my next sail quiver. Should it be another set of gaastras? The Severne S1s look interesting. I also rode the Naish Boxer on maui and couldn't fault it, both brands have similar mast curves to gaastra which makes them all the more attractive. Then I saw this:

Avanti Sails on Vimeo.

They got the Top Gear voice over woman! Crikey, that must a cost a few bob. More importantly, Dan Kaseler is building sails again! Maybe I will hold out... see if he produces a Riot/Boxer-esque range...

Grubby Quest

Yesterday was one of these days but I did manage to sneak in five grubby attempts. I was sailing around thinking I should try some. But Brian wasn't there, the sun was too bright, the clouds too cloudy, the water too brown, flat, choppy, salty... you know how it is.

Finally I decided to pull out my finger and gave one a shot. Guess what? It didn't hurt (too much), so I tried a few more. Fingers crossed for a bit more today. You just never know.  

The Powerglide

Our first ever board, bought 9 years ago. Once in a while when it's a bit light, like yesterday at Bird, I pull it out and take it for a spin. It still planes in nothing and rips the gybes. I love it.

Time for Change

Texas wave sailing season is drawing to a close and it's time to pull out the freestyle board again. It's also time to start taking it to the next level. When I learned to vulcan, I would try 50 times a day, same with spocks. I want to willy skipper, grubby and flaka but how many times have I tried any of these moves? Like 5, ever.

So I had an epiphany yesterday, the secret to learning to grubby? Try grubbys!!!

This is grubby weekend. Spocks are banned, right Brian!? At least 10 grubby attempts per session.

Now, how do you grubby again..?

Lesson1

Lesson2

Lesson3