3/29/08

Sailed 5.8 today at tower road. It was a gusty wind that shifted between N, NE, and NW. Sailed from about 9am till lunch time. Nothing special about the sesh, other than for the fact that I tried my first body drag, with predictable results. Was still fun, and I didn't eat it like i feared i might. Then again, I wasn't fully powered when I stepped off the board. Stuggled w/the heli-tacks today, but I attribute the difficulty though to the shifty wind. Helitacks, or any tack for that matter, are most successful when you carve way thru the eye of the wind. I found it tough to do that today because the wind was constantly shifting to greater degree more than than usual.

Wore the helmet cam today. Here is a short video.

Robby Naish

Ken Kellar and Sir Robby


Came accross this video today. Robby Naish at Kanaha 7/1/06. Significant because I was at Kanaha this day, and remember watching him him blast out. Check out the angle of attack he takes heading back in. Unreal. I believe the photo above taken, if not the same day, then a few days after this video was taken

Hey, this aint Hatteras!!?!

No, i didn't make the road trip to hatteras, choosing instead to stay on the Delmarva. I sailed Holtz Landing today with Bob Ramsey and Andy Pierce. Did more slogging that planing on my 5.8 but still had some fun working on transitions. Hopefully Ken caught it down in Avon, I think it blew a steady 20 there all day.

Assateague 3/10/08

Here is my video footage of Ken Kellar after he was taken down by a pretty big one.

OBX trip tonight

All systems ready for take off. weekend forecast looks good for a one-two punch saturday and sunday in Hatteras. SW wind tomorrow, and North on sunday. Ken and I will shoot for a session at Ego beach tomorrow. We'll most certainly be getting some great video, especially now that I have finally dialed my helmet mount. I'm so stoked to sail hatteras.

Here is a shot of me gybing at the hole, Thanksgiving 2005

Paying your dues at Assateague

Here is the first video short, basically showing me trying to bust thru the shore break. Access was denied on this try...

btw-I had to mute the audio there for about 20 seconds because of a profanity laced diatribe where i was basically screaming obscenaties at my futile attempts to get get going. I'm finding that Vsocial has some pretty tight filters. I'll definately have to censor myself more closely during the editing process.

3/19/08 Assateague, Md.

Ahhhhhh, the last day of winter 2008 brought balmy 60 degree weather and the promise of strong southerlies. Ken Kellar and I choose Assateague as the venue. The waves where the best I’ve ever seen there…. Over-head to logo high, with an occasional bigger set.
Unfortunately, those warm winds conspired w/the colder ocean temps to produce that hated no wind layer just above the surface. De-coupling. We started with 5.0 sails, and had a pretty fun session. But it was also a short session because as the late morning gave way to an increasingly sunny and warm afternoon, the wind began to get fluky. Oh, and the waves began to get bigger, and they were more often than not closing out. Pretty intense stuff. I myself yesterday rode maybe the biggest cleanest wave of my life. I wanna say it was about 10-12 foot, but you know how that goes. And much to my chagrin, no one saw it to back my story up!

So unusual to not have to deal with an 8 knot side shore current. Its like, I carry my stuff down into thigh high water, and just naturally brace myself for the pulling/sucking of the current. It was so refreshing to have ZERO current. That being said, the heavy shore break more than made up for the lack of current. If it isn’t one thing, its another right? So different than Maui (except for Hookipa) where you can just step on your board and sail away. I tell you, Hawaii has nothing on the east coast, at least in terms of trying to GET OUT CLEAN.

After lunch we re-rigged 5.8. Don’t think I even made it out past the break with the 5.8, but I still had a blast. No dues to speak of really, and I learned a lot.

It was great to have James Roe and Dave Coyle there. Ken and I have sailed Assateague maybe a dozen times, and its always been just the two of us, so it was great to have new faces there to experience the ocean with us.

From left to right: Dave Coyle, Ken Kellar, George Markopoulos



Ken and I are both continuing to go thru and edit our go-pro on the water video footage. I hope to have that posted here later tonight so check back. For now, I have a couple of still shots from the go-pro that show me going over some pretty big white water, and also show Ken about to get worked by a big one.






I’m eyeing a trip to Hatteras this weekend. I live2sail, and cant wait to get back out there.

Sunday 3/16/08

Forecasted conditions didn't materialize today. I checked the readings first thing in the mornning, and there was nothing happening in either Assateague, or further North for the matter. I choose to knockout a few projects around the house in the am. Hatteras blew all day, and around noon, the Chesapeake began to blow, so after lunch, i drove down to Tower road and rigged my 5.8 for wind that hadn't arrrived yet. Worked on my heli-tacks. Got those improved to maybe a 30% success rate. More importantly though, I've gotten them to a point where i can end up in a pretty decent water start position, meaning I can begin to use it as a tactical move. I'm super stoked about that. I made signicficant progress with a new move, so i consider this a great weekend. Around 3ish, the front came thru and i was pretty well powered w/the 5.8 so that fun too. By the time i unrigged, the sun had come out, and the wind filled in nicely, I'd say to about 5.0 conditions. No complaints. Life is good.

I sailed till about 4.30pm today, and I shot some video which came out very dark on account of the overcast cast conditions.

short board heli-tacks

Today was my best day by far. Sailed away dry on maybe 15-20 helicopter tacks. 5.8 on my 109 ltr RRD. The wind was generally holey, NW mid to upper teens. I had my fair share of planing. Sailed from 10.30 till about 1.30. Good practice, and good workout for the calluses.







The "pool" is a great place to work on transitions.



Tomorrow is looking like we'll get some fairly strong northeast winds. Low tide is around 10am so things seem to be lining up for some wave sailing. I'm going to shoot for a keybox session tomorrow morning. I'll be using the go-pro, so check back for the video.

Sprecks wave ride

Man..... I miss Maui

Tower road 3/9/08

The forecasted conditions held true, including the "low water warning". Thought the windows where gonna blow out last night. The beach house was rockin. Felt like i was in Hatteras. Laid in bed reading and watched the fan swaying. I needn't have been concerned w/an overnight blowout, the winds held all day. Ken and i sailed the 4.5 conditions at Tower road.

I wore the helmet cam today. The go pro can be maddeningly frustrating. Our first session, Ken and I were completely dialed, and i sailed behind him for about an hour, filming (so i thought) as Ken hit jump after jump, only to find after we stopped to take a break, that the frkg camera had turned off. Very frustrating. I think the batteries had issues with the cold temps. Quite a contrast from yesterday when we were sailing w/o gloves. This morning there was ice in the drive way, and when we first launched, the temps may not have been over 40 degrees. That being said, the sun made it entirely do-oable, and we had a fun day in the "baby pool". Floaty port jumps for me. I'm still working out the kinks with my starboard jumps in onshore conditions. Sailed from about 10am to about 2.30. Great weekend of sailing on the Delmarva and end of a 9 day stretch in which I sailed 5 days on 5.0 or smaller , one of which was an ocean session.

Heres the video:

Assateague 3/8/08

Today, Ken Kellar and I sailed Assateague (federal park). The wind was rockin, blowing in the high 20's, with gusts in the upper 30. We arrived late-about 3.15pm. I rigged 4.5 and Ken a 4.4. I chose my smallest board, a JP 77 ltr fsw, and Ken his 83 ltr wave board. The waves had some size, but the current was off the charts. When you went down on the inside, you where instantly looking at a minimum 100 yard walk. Ken went down once on the outside, and in less than a minute, was a 1/4 mile downwind. Yeah, we both had a few "walks". Not easy to do carrying kit into a 30 knot headwind. Never the less, we had a blast, and where stoked to make it out a few times. The swell on the outside was pretty big, but I found it difficult to set up for down the line rides. I never did get entirely comfortable out there...that pesky current again. Water temps where pretty warm. No gloves. I wore my dry again, Ken his 5/4 wetsuit. I never got cold, and spring is officially here.

All of that being said, Assateague to me still seems to be the best spot in Maryland for pure wavesailing. The beach slopes gently enough so that you get an outside break. Up north , in deleware, its all risk and no reward....no sand bar (thank you beach replenishment program) and only shorebreak. We're working on exploring Indian River Inlet, which has a long getty that may help with the current.

Tomorrow looks to conintue w/Gale force winds. I'm loving it. Live2sail.

The video isn't much, but a few shots do give a pretty interesting perspective of going over white water. I did a mast mount above the boom.






Ken Kellar

Friday 3/7/08

There is a strong low pressure tracking up the coast this weekend, with gale force winds forecasted tomorrow afternoon, possibly extending into Sunday. Ken Kellar and I are targeting an Assateague session tomorrow afternoon. Depending on the wind direction Sunday, possible venues will be the Secret Spot or Tower Road. Stay tuned, should be epic.

Video from warm and windy tuesday 3/4/08

Tower road


Here is the edited video from tuesday. I know its rather lenghty, but i wanted to include a few songs from my new favorite CD that i brought back from Maui, Henry Kapuno "The Wild Hawaiian". Hope you enjoy the tunes, and the video.

James, as you'll see from the video, you need to sail a little closer to get good footage.

3/4/08 Warm south Windy day!

Yesterday, James Roe and I had a great day at Tower road. I was lit on my 5.0. Nice floaty port jumps all day long. No gloves or hat where needed as temps I believe broke 70 degrees. Could of worn my wetsuit, but regrettably choose to wear the dry. May be time to shelve that suit! Assateague may have been epic, but decoupling concerns over the colder ocean temps were a risk i wasn't willing to take. All in all, its been a great couple of days of sailing in just this past week, and Saturday is looking promising too. Secret Spot anyone? Spring is definately here.

I have 56 minutes of video to edit, and I hope to have the posted w/in the next day or so.

New road short 3/1/08

Here is another short segment from saturday. Sorry Bob, no other video w/you. I think next time we'll do better. btw-in going thru my laptop yesterday, I realized that i have about 20-30 minutes of unedited footage from Maui. Sooner or later I'll edit that and post another video so check back for that.

This is a picture of the launch site from back on Thanksgiving 2007:


Here is the video short:

3/1/08 "The Baby Pool"

Bob Ramsey and I scored a pretty good day of sailing at New Road. I started out w/a 91 ltr and 5.0. Sailed that for about an hour, then the front came thru and I rigged down to 4.5 and my 77 ltr. Was really fun to get back on the water for the first time since Maui, though the venue was less that I'd hoped for. Still, any day of sailing is a great day of sailing.
Bob, as I suspected, the video is a little dissapointing. We did seem to get into a groove there. (I do have two other segments of video to go thru and edit, and I might find some more there worthy of posting, check back Monday). At any rate, here is what I have so far.