Finally! Assateague Delivers!

Epic day of wave riding and jumping today at Assateague, one of the best ever. Sailed a 5.0 downhauled to the max, and rode the 91 ltr. Waves started out kinda small, but the steady strong wind pushed in a decent wind swell, maybe 4-5 foot. Hit the water about 10, and the sailed till about 3.30. The wind was SSW, and steady all day. Basically mostly to partly sunny all day. Storms didn't move in until i was unrigged and on my way up rt 113. It just all lined up for me today, a day I'll be thinking about for a long time.

Fully powered all day. Thanks to my awesome wife for sitting on the beach taking these great shots. She got sand blasted all day, and I love her to death for enduring the punishment, all in the name of a good shot!. Ken, wish you could of been here to share this day. It was THE day we've been waiting for.

Hit jumps like this ALL day!







Big 'ol mean ass lip. As the tide came in, the waves got much bigger.

Same shot, wide view:






Windy!


Glad you came down today James. Was an amazing day. Like all epic days you share with friends, this is one we'll be talking about for a long time!


Cool shot. Identical 5.0 sails. James behind, me in front.







Happy sailors:



I tried to be aggressive today. I hit this wave late, but muscled it through:







We met this guy named Niko. We're amazed we've never met before, especially since he lives about 5 minutes from us. Niko rips! Dude, I'll email you the photos and I really enjoyed sailing with you today.

Beautiful hit:





I wonder if he knew his boom was on upside down?

I dont think it affected his sailing.







In between sessions:



Tacking on the inside to maintain my position. Current was pretty strong but the strong wind mitigated it's effect.


I like this one of James:


James again:



and again:









Charging:











ah.... yeah!



I'm so ready to go forward.



Here is some of the video action:


And some shots in this slide show:

Pulled from my go pro helmet cam:



Without a doubt my best session ever at Assateague
























Tacking again. I find my self tacking more than gybing on the inside. The exception being when i want to hit ramps at full speed on the way back out:


Dropping in on a small one:


Josh, it was great to meet you too. Send your contact info, and stay in touch. We'll hit it hard again next time!

I just love this sport and I can't wait to get back out there! I'm more fired up, more passionate, and more addicted to this sport than I've ever been. And thats saying alot.

Two weeks from today Ken and I will be in Hatteras to participate in the Hatteras Loopfest. Its time to rotate (and not bail out) !


Tomorrow's Chesapeake Bay forecast is calling for continued SW, so I'll shoot for a Kent Island afternoon session. Probable venue will be Kent Moore Harbor.
Live2sail.

A few more from Memorial Day '08

Bob (The Zamboni) Ramsey



Coexistence is essential at this venue:






Another video short:

Happy Memorial Day

Windy Memorial day in Deleware in the greatest country God put on the Earth.
Leave the wetsuit at home boys. I sailed in board shorts today at Tower Road.
Sailed both my Gem with the 6.5 V8, and my 5.8 with the RRD.
Also worked on my pre rotation training. Hit some jumps and looked back while in flight. Its a very liberating sensation, I think because you have to be totaly dialed to look back, so its a cool feeling.


Took a spin on my race gear:

James Roe:

Helmet cam action:

Heli tacks:



Not sure about this one:


Here is some of the video action:

Gem of a forecast for Memorial Day!

Lewes Weather Forecast and Conditions Delaware




But there is no wind today. Enough maybe for skate sesh up at Milford High School later today. So this morning I tended to the Gear. My ride on Bob Ramsey's Hypersonic yesterday has re-energized my need for speed, so rigged the 6.5 V8 out in the front yard. I wasn't happy with the way it felt a few weeks ago so i rigged, washed, and played with the settings a little.
Boy that thing needs a lot of downhaul.

Also moved the front straps one notch in. I know you need to be on the rail as much as possible when riding slalom, but i prefer them not quite so far out.

Strong Southerlies in forecast....

Today the wind was N-NW in the mid teens, with gusts to upper teens. Mostly putted around in the baby pool today. Good practice on the transitions, did more schlogging than planing, but was still awesome to be on the water with the sun out. Rigged my 5.8 and RRD. I was patheic with the heli-tacks today. Didn't come close on a single one.



Then Bob Ramsey let me take his Starboard HyperSonic out for a spin. Scaaaaaarryyy. You don't sail that board, it sails you. If the straps where any further out on the rail, you be in the water. Once that board hops on a plane, its like a freight train locked in to the rail tracks, and just hold on. Goes up wind like nothing I've ever experienced before.





Forecast is for strong SSW wind on monday afternoon. Unfortunately, its Memorial day so the beach traffic will no doubt be very heavy. We may stay thru monday night, and drive into work tuesday morning, from Deleware.
iWindsurf.com - Wind Forecasts
Here is a short video from today:

Kauli Seadi

These picture of Kauli Seadi were taken at Hookipa on 2/10/08. Its was sunday morning around 11.30am, and at the begininning of his session he was the only one out. Shortly thereafter, all the pros showed up and put on a show like I'd never seen before. Other pros present where Kevin Pritchard, Jason Polakow, Robby Naish, Levi Siver.

Maui Video

Rice Park, where a very special promise was made:

Here is some more footage from my trip to maui last winter. I believe most of it is
video I haven't edited yet. When possible, I tried to use unusual angles to give a different perspectives.


Attaching the video camera for a mast mount:

Heli tour of West Maui and Molokai and Kanaha short

Here is a slide show that includes a few of the shots taken during our Helicopter tour of the island of Molokai and the West Maui Mountains last year. Of interesting note are the overhead shots of Kanaha. You can actually see the sailboards on the water.

Next-here is some video filmed by Ken Kellar w/his helmet cam: Maui-North Shore, Kanaha. I like this video because towards the end he hits a very high jump. I know this because I quite familiar with the camera now as I film every session I’m on the water. I can tell by his hang time, that he was pretty darn high, and I love to watch it over and over cause it reminds me of some many epic rides.

Missed it!

Social committments dicated I sacrifice good wind today. Looks like Assateague rocked today. Knew it would. No worries, we'll hit it hard next week!


Check that, its been rockin everywhere. Especially Hatteras, seems like every weekend. Its been a great season for the Mid-Atlantic! Lovin it!

Magical!

Just an awesome day at Dewey Beach. Sailed 4 hours straight, not just powered up, I’m talking lit up on my 5.8 and 91 ltr. Arrived around 2.30ish, and the wind was just starting to build. By the time I was rigged, it was about 20 WSW with gusts to the mid 20s.



Bob Ramsey and Andy Pierce had sailed from 8am on formula gear, so they where pretty much spent by the time the wind filled in to forecasted levels.



I hit the water around 3, and basically sailed straight thru to 7.30 as the sun was going down. Had the place all to myself at that point.


It was one of the magical days where I was completely dialed, could’ve worn boardshorts and a rash guard-the water was that warm. Began the day on my 109 ltr and wore the helmet cam for that session.

It seemed like everything came together right as i hit the water, and i was dialed. Dont know what the tide situation was, but the port ramps were pretty sweet, and I was hitting some pretty nice and floaty jumps. Oh yeah.



Wind continued to build and I switched to the 91 ltr. That board is so sweet, I was ripping into high-wind tacks, even completed a few helitacks, one of which I caught on video.

Speaking of the warm water, I went barefoot today, and then I became reacquainted with the one bitch I have for the JPs, the decks get very slick, at least mine did. I believe my 91ltr is a 2004 FSW. If anyone has a suggestion on remedies, I’m all ears. A friend once suggested taking sand paper to the deck pads and roughing up the surface. Let me tell you how annoying it can be going into a gybe, and your back foots slips off the deck at high speed. In fact, its so bad, I’m gonna have to wear booties from now on when I ride that board. My 77ltr FSW is fine, its just the 91 that is slick.

Speaking of gybes, I’ve been working so much on my short board tacks/helis so much, that I must admit my gybes have suffered. Today I worked on them, with very good results. Man its so awesome to power into a full laydown gybe at high speed. Gotta remember to lean way forward and over-sheet.

Forecast tomorrow is very strong. Assateague will be rockin, but it doesn’t look I’ll be able to hit it because of social commitment that will require me to leave for home earlier than I’d hoped. No worries, today was fanatastic, and is supposed continue blowing tomorrow, so I’ll get on the water, it just probably wont be in the ocean.

Any day of sailing……………….

Heres the video:

Skate sesh at Fulton High

Had a fun skate sesh tonight. Wife and I are headed out to the coast tonight for the reasonably good looking forecast this weekend. Tomorrow looks to be NW 15-20, so I'll shoot for Delaware Bay. Sunday the wind is supposed to clock back to the SW at 15-20 so I'm crossing my fingers for Assateague. Wave sailing is addicting man. I just can't wait to get back on it.Unfortunatly, Ken is tied up so I'll most likely be going solo to Assateague unless I can convince a few others give it a shot.

Breeze came up before we hit the road so I could resist a quick sesh, even shot some video.


Here is another short segment we filmed in lewes some time back:

Gotta run, headin out to Delaware.

Missed it!

Killed me to miss the big wind yesterday. My plan was to hit Sandy Point, but the electricity was knocked out, and the park was closed. Closing the park is extraordinary. The only time I can remember that happpening was during Hurricane Issabele, so that gives you a sense of how powerful this storm was. I'm not aware of another spot on the Chesapeake (around Annapolis) that works on a NE, and seeing as to how the wind on the coast was 50+, I just opted to go into work. Its too bad really, Sandy Point absolutely rocks on NE and the port ramps are epic!

Here's a picture I took during tropical storm Enersto back in '06. If you look closely, you can see Dave Coyle on the outside.

Nice area to rig at the park:



Lewes, De. 5/12/08: sustained winds of 50mph for an 8 hour period! I can't remember ever seeing that happen. unprecedented?


My smallest sail is 3.7, so I don't have any misconceptions that it would have been anything but survival sailing out there. Still, I would have loved to have tried it!

From Milford, De. to Sandy Point, Md.

Scored a very short session at Sandy Point sunday. The wind was ESE and I rigged 5.8.
mostly slogged around, but I did get about 30 minutes of fun before it started raining. Wind was very gusty, but I was amazed at how nicely this spot sets up when the wind goes onshore. It is surprisingly do-able, and the port ramps were excellent. If only the wind had filled in as forecasted, it could've been awesome. Alas, Ken-you didn't miss much. No video as I didn't wear the helmet for the one session that I was powered up. There is a gale warning tonight and tomorrow.
This is a picture of Laslo (last name?)

Sandy Point light:

Boykin Wagner has crossed over.

Here a few shots of a maginificent wheat fields at sunset:

It may be a stretch, but these vast wheat fields remind me of the sugercane fields on Maui.


In a month or so this crop will be replaced w/corn.

Dawn Patrol-Assategue

The other day, Ken and I scored a great day of wave sailing. Assateague was the venue. We sailed 5.8s from 7.30am to about 3pm. Waves were very small, but it was still way too much fun to make turns on a wave face, despite the size. The current was a bit of a struggle, but after adjusting, we were able to maintain our position, even work upwind enough for 2-3 down-the-line turns w/o going downind of our launch point.



Moments of the day for me where,
1. Ken and I shared a wave. I dropped in 50 yards upwind of him, and began my ride. He came into view as i went down the line.

2. I bottom turned around Ken as he dropped in on that same wave I was turning on.
3. Went down the line and the white water grabed the clew of my sail and tried to yank it out of my hands.

Shot some go-pro video today, and that turned out pretty successfully. I think its the cold weather that jacks up the camera. when its warm out, I have better luck.
Heres the video:

Random shots

Ken Kellar and yours truely at Broadkill Beach, early fall 2007

Comin in after a session. Love those fall sessions when the water is still warm, and the air is brisk:

Bob Ramsey-Broadkill Beach, early fall 2007

Here is a video short from that fun day at Broadkill. From a mast mount on Ken's rig.


Packing my gear to come home, not a good time


Me, at Hookipa July 2007

Ken comin in at Hookipa:

Here is some video we shot on 7/7/07 at Sprecks. This was actually the first time i wore the helmet cam, and i sailed behing Ken and filmed him as he hit a couple of jumps. I beleive we were on 4.5s.

Sunday May 4th

fun day of blasting on my race board, a Richard Greene custom Gem. I haven't sailed that board in quite a while. I put up the Neil Pryde V8 6.5, and just ripped. I love bump n jump/wave conditions, but sometimes, you just gotta get the lead out!

Venue was the secret spot, and the wind was light, mid teens or so, with a few gusts strong enough to fill the sail. Once I get the V8 up on a plane, I seem to be able to blast thru the lulls.

No pictures to speak of. that da$n go pro is a piece of cr$p. thought i had some great footage, but had nothing. Ugh, can't tell you how frustrating that camera can be. feast or famine with the go pro.

Here is a picture of my board quiver. love that Gem!

5/3/08 Land wind

It was marginaly windy enough to sail today at Broadkill, but the coast was socked in with a heavy marine fog layer, so I didn't sail. Parked at broadkill and tried to wait out the fog but it never happened. Amazing, as soon as I cruised back past Prime Hook, the fog lifted and it was bright sunshine. the trees were blowing and it sure seemed windy enough to sail. The meters just weren't showing me enough.

Flat days in Assateague

First day of sailing in the books for May2008. Asssateague, light wind, and no waves to speak of really. Mostly 7.0 conditions on the 109 ltr, with one session however with a 5.8 on my 91 ltr. That is such a sweet feeling when after hours on the 109 and 7.0, you get to hop on the smaller stuff.


Still, we were on the water from noon till about 6pm, with a few breaks thru out. nothing epic but fun to be on the ocean for the day. Loving it.



Here is some video from my camera and Ken's. I'm using the blue Ezzy, and Ken the red Sailworks: