surfing and wave sailing

Thanks Kirra and trundlebum that wave is Woody's named after the legendary Woody Brown who surfed it often. It has a very narrow and rocky launch. It keeps the crowds down!

rocky launch at Woody's

You're killing me with all those warm weather and inviting wave photos. Bone chilling cold and nearly 5 feet of snow besieged the Jerz last month. My streak of getting into the Atlantic Ocean for 18 consecutive months almost came to an end in February, but I managed to get a 3 hour session in on the 28th. 38-degree water never felt so good. Keep the photos coming!

Fat Paul, We'll make room cousin! at Kuau ! It's soo north shore "in the winter" around here right now! Everyone that I surf and wave sail every day with is beatup and bone tired !

The Aloha Classic wave sailing compition with the wind shut off as a rain squal passes. A normal occurance in sailing the north shore in winter. This can result in some long swimms in big waves with very few safe places to land!

Olaf,
I miss the Ocean!! I haven't seen any ocean for about 10 years and the last year I've been unemployed. Maybe some day within the next 5 years I'll be able to see Hawaii for the first time. When that time comes, I'll need to know about which hotels to stay at. Are there any with full accommodations? Enjoy the ocean for me in the mean time!!

The 2010 Pistol River Wave Bash is coming to the Pistol River State Park June 17th to the 20th, 2010.

Yeah, it's on for third long extra long weekend in June with the launch party the evening of the 16th. This really is the most excellent possible timing. The Summer high pressures usually start setting in with solid wind cycles by the first week of June and the Spring swell season usually runs until the beginning of July. The tides are auspicious with big swings from low to high those afternoons. It even falls the week before Windfest in the Gorge. So if you have something else scheduled, you might want to start trying to get out of it now.

The windsurfing contest will be a double elimination, run on the best two days of the four day window. The stand up paddle board events are designed to run when the wind is light. You might even want to bring your sand-sailing board because the minus tides early on those days may well deliver epic conditions for that. Should there be call for yet another light air diversion, I imagine there will also be some skateboard-sailing clinics and expression sessions on the side as Gold Beach has a few prime spots for that too.

The permits and insurance are in place. The Gold Beach Fairgrounds has been tapped to provide all the room we could possibly need for the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the ensuing riot. What little local resistance there was to having a contest at the Rock has been beaten down. And just about everybody else in Pistol River and Gold Beach is madd stoked. The industry is jumping in huge with all kinds of support, stoke and plans to be there. Yeah, looks like a major gathering of the coastal tribe and we certainly are due.

Sam Bittner has been totally slaying the organization of this event from Maui. Feel welcome to contact her with your support, questions, comments or your entry. For what it's worth, many details of the contest will be shaped by input from the early entrants, there is a cutoff at 100 sailors and the early sign up discount expires on the 15th of May. There's a web site up if you want to check it out at wavebash.weebly.com/ If you can't make it, look for some heavy coverage by the media as well as a live webcast by David at Epic Sessions. epicsessions.tv/livecast/

Current sponsor list: Big Winds, Dakine, Doc Martin, Ezzy, Inn of the Beachcomber, Maui Sails, Maui Ultra Fins, Naish, Nolimitz, Promotion, Real Wind, RRD, Rvs 2 Go, Severn, Starboard, Shadowbox, Starboard, and Windance. And if you need some local advice, an introduction or a hook up, let me know on that one. With respect and gratitude. Dana Boardhead International

This place is hard on gear and harder on sailors!

Lane's on a respectable day!

The end of the rainbow! The launch at Secret's

Just another day at the office

Latest project
Wind screen project

cuttin the pannels

putting the pieces together

pannels

individual pannels ready for assembly
pannels installed for the blessing
pannels installed

This is one of my favorite ways to get to the beach from my house. It goes through the cane fields past the old high school and drops in right at Lanes

Had a super fun session @ Rincon this morning! Caught several rides to the beach.
Yesterday I surfed Silver strand....it was big and choppy. i came out of the water with a black eye from my board.

It's good to get wet again!

josh

Josh,Great report Dude! Keep us posted,K m8e?
I've been in the water a lot myself. I have had a mixed bag of conditions some epic some not so. Take every sesh as a gift even if you get it handed to you in a neatly wrapped can of whoop ass!

Catch a wave and you're sittin' on top of the worldDon't be afraid to try the greatest sport aroundEverybody tries it onceThose who don't just have to put it downYou paddle out turn around and raiseAnd baby that's all there is to the coastline crazeYou gotta catch a wave and you're sittin' on top of the worldNot just a fad cause it's been going on so longAll the surfers going strongThey said it wouldn't last too longThey'll eat their words with a fork and spoonAnd watch 'em they'll hit the road and all be surfin' soonAnd when they catch a wave they'll be sittin' on top of the worldSo take a lesson from a top-notch surfer boyEvery Saturday boyBut don't treat it like a toyJust get away from the shady turfAnd baby go catch some rays on the sunny surfAnd when you catch a wave you'll be sittin' on top of the worldCatch a wave and you'll be sittin' on top of the world

The company truck

In a compitition between the best windsurf jumpers in the world held at Hookipa last week Levi Siver through the highest backloop at 52.7 feet! The highest recorded jump was by Boujmaa Guilloul at an amazing 60.2 feet! Camille Juban had the second highes back look and Kauli Seadi had the third highest back loop.Now that is what I call BIG AIR!

Hookipa

"The end of the rainbow! The launch at Secret's"

amazing pic -It's so hard to get those rainbows to pose like that -ha

On the topic of BIG AIR ~ ~ How do they measure a jump from a board way out there in the waves..?

Hay there kirra,
Great to here from you!
The rainbows have been here a lot lately!
All you have to do is have a camera with you!
There is a new GPS devise that they are using. It measures height, distance,duration and frequency of the jumps.
It is great because decreases the logistics involved in holding an event these days. The competition can actually be held with out inhibiting the other sailors that are not competing. They would otherwise not be allowed to sail at the event site during competition. Also with the Go Pro digital water proof cameras that each participant wears and the footage from the beach and in the air from helicopter. The event can be covered very well.
It really isn't the same as the good old days but it keeps the sport alive!

youtube.com/watch?v=oVtRJDG…
Here's the video that my friend Jake Miller put together for the event I mentioned in the last post.

More and more competitors are signing up for the Pistol River Wave Bash. It's looking like it will definitely be the event of the year.
I have some stiff competition in the Grand Masters division (50 and over). Check out the web site at wavebash.weebly.com/index.html