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Kev's Blog
Racing in GC day 1 E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Saturday, 05 July 2008

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Photos by JC/PWA

Went out racing today.. Was nice and windy. Sailed on 5.5 and 6.0 on the Gaastra Vapor and they were working great. Used my Isonic 86 with the Sl 4 32 and 34.. Was good fun. Windy, some swell, some control fun.. I need to get that good start to be up in the running with the big boys. Finian and Antoine are going really fast, Micah, i guess everyone is going fast, just need to get a good start and keep the hammer down.


 
Not the best performance by me E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Friday, 04 July 2008
Today kicked off with some pretty good wave conditions. The wind was very light for Pozo... I competed on a 5.0 Manic that I borrowed off Ross Williams which was nice of him to lend me. In all my 13 years of coming here I have never competed on a 5.0 so I figure why bring the excess baggage? Well for the first time I needed one.. Lucky Ross brought it otherwise I could have been underpowered. I went out and did my best. I had two good jumps for me and a terrible wave ride. I was disgraced with my wave ride but they only counted one wave and two jumps. In the end I lost by a tie break which doesn't help much but it was close. I won on one sheet, tied on another sheet and lost by a half a point on the other sheet. Man it really pisses me off to loose... what doesnt kill us makes us stronger i guess. sometimes it takes a setback to see what really counts.. often we wonder why why why.. but I guess in some strange way it directs our lives where it all is suppose to go..

 
Gorgeous Gorge E-mail
Written by Matt Pritchard   
Friday, 04 July 2008

 Gorge is gorgeous!

 Happy 4th of JULY!

While Kev is over on the moon (Gran Canaria) I’m in the Gorge getting some great sailing conditions! So far, I’m 3 for 3 on the water….. I have forgotten how much fun it is sailing over here. Conditions are different than anything I’m used to but after a couple hours on the water, I am getting back in the groove. It is great to see some new blood over here. A lot of the local boys are really ripping it up! The Poor brothers, Tyson and Witt have some impressive moves up their sleeves as do riders like Bryan Metcalf-Perez, Wyatt Miller, Sven Esslinger- and there are some ripper chicks out there throwing down some moves as well.

We had an insane lightning and thunder storm last night- it was radical. I love that kind of thing- mother nature at her finest! The wind doesn’t look so good this morning but I bet it will be here later this afternoon.

If any of you bloggers are in the Hood River area, I’m going to be in the Gorge Surf Shop on Sunday, the 6th of July running the store…….. so there are going to be some smokin deals going on!!!!!!!!!!!! Come in and say hi-

Good luck to KP- send him some words of encouragement, we want to see him take that Slalom title this year……. Go boy GO!

 

MP


 
Wind is back... ready for action E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Wednesday, 02 July 2008

Well the wind is back in Pozo.. It took all day for it to come back but it is here now and looks like it is locked in for the competition. Looks like there might be some waves tomorrow. We will have to wait and see. Today i got on it early and headed up to Vargas. Went there and saw Bjorn out training away on his slalom gear. He looked like he was going pretty fast out there. I talked to him a bit and he told me that he is not entered in the waves.. I guess he has nothing to prove about how good of a wave sailor he is so he is just focused on the racing. That will make for some good racing I bet. I think he is a bit pissed off with his Costa Brava performance and is ready to throw down in his home town...

There were no waves at Vargas so I headed up to Ojos de Garza and was the first guy out. Sailed around on my 4.5 Manic and was pretty powered up. Was ok but not that great so I sailed there until 4 and then headed back down to Pozo to get some gear sorted out for the race. It was glassy so good time to get things organized. The wind ended up coming in and I went out salom sailing on 6.0 and my Isonic 86. Both felt really good and I am ready to get this comp started. Should be fun.. Stay tuned for some more race report action!! 


 
Wind is on it's way back E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Tuesday, 01 July 2008
Had a good day today..  got to go for a stand up paddle today, and that was pretty fun. I had some fun little waves around the point of Pozo. It was perfectly glassy and two other people out  so that made it really fun. I caught a bunch of waves and it was a nice workout. After that went sailing at a place up past the airport. I dont know if I got there too early but it wasn't that great. I was underpowered and just didnt have that great of a session. I think I should have taken a bigger sail or just gone slalom sailing.. Forcast looks good for tomorrow so we will have to wait and see what the day brings. Only a couple more days left before the GC comp starts..

 
Spain wins!! But no wind in Pozo E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Sunday, 29 June 2008
Well the spanish are celebrating tonight!!! No wind here in Pozo and it is cutting down on my training time here. Need to be out on that water and training it up for the comp starting up soon. Anyhow, I am sure the wind will come back soon..

 
Tons of new stuff up E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Saturday, 28 June 2008
So I have been working hard.. or is it hardly working.. ha ha.. anyhow.. Just put up some new stuff on here. A new Deal of the Day, a new  Move of the Month and a new poll, all for your viewing enjoyment.. Hope you guys are enjoying the summertime winds!

 
Check out the Lesson Page E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Well I have been asking Matt to update the lesson page on the site for quite some time. I was telling him that we should get some testimonials on there. Some time went by and then I was like, "hey, did you get any of those testimonials..." so when he finally did send them and I was changing the page up I was like wow.. these are some pretty strong impressions.. Anyhow.. you saw Matt's new schedule so you should send him an email if you want a lesson or some tips at your home spot. Maybe a day in the Gorge you guys could hook up and take your sailing to a new level.. It has worked for alot of people so it should work for you.. Hey Matt, maybe you could give me a lesson on Starting?????

 
Love the Comments! E-mail
Written by Matt Pritchard   
Friday, 20 June 2008

I like hearing back from you guys- it motivates me to write a bit more when I have the time!

This past week on Maui, the wind has been pretty light so you haven’t missed too much! The waves snuck in with some head high sets and that was pretty fun! Nothing like a mid June wave session at Hookipa with 10 guys out….

Yesterday, I decided to go on a KP mission. The guy is always off riding his bike and coming up with these crazy ideas. My wife was going into town and since the wind was kinda light, I figured I would drive down with her and ride my bike back home- a 25 minute drive. After doing my errands on the bike, I noticed the wind was really picking up. Oh boy…. Before long, it was almost noon. It was getting hot, and windy. I started my trek eastward straight into the wind. I was getting blown all over the place- keep in mind, I’m not a professional biker like KP- and, for the record, I’m on my Mountain bike. With 25 knots in my face after 10 minutes I knew this was going to be a long way home.

Then it hit me- this is what all the hype is about on the bikes. You sit, pedal and think. At first all I was thinking about was hitchhiking and then I decided to man up and push onward. Pedal by pedal I broke down my trip. Once I get past Sprecks, it will be easy to get to Paia. From Paia to Hookipa that should be no problem. Once I’m at Hookipa, I’m home free. The wind just kept picking up and I was wishing for my van. I got to Hookipa and had to stretch out the legs. The wind was blasting and as I watched the sailors searching for waves. It looked like fun- a lot more fun than I was having.

The final half hour was the worst. My legs were not happy with me because I was pushing them hard. My cardio was pretty impressive- I didn’t really get too winded, I was just hot and my butt was hurting from sitting on that seat…… I made it home successfully with a sense of accomplishment.

With 2 hours of think time, I really connected with myself and what I’m doing these days….  Here is a brief rundown:

Life is short and these are the days, RIGHT NOW. Do what you love to do. So many people are caught up in their jobs they get lost and before long, 25 years go bye and they wonder where it all went. I want to look back and say YEAH, those were some fun times.

Here is my trip: I have decided to take some time off the contest scene. After 17 years of traveling the world, I’m tired of going to the same far away places waiting around for wind.  I want to spend more time going to places that I WANT to go to. I want to reconnect with my sailing roots and keep the stoke alive. I don’t ever want to hit burnout!

My summer plan is to be in the Gorge for the first week of July, see my friends up there and have some fun. Hopefully there will be some wind and I can get back out at the Hatchery for some big air! I’ll do some promo’s at the Gorge Surf Shop , relax and enjoy the scene. I look forward to Mtn biking in the trees, whitewater rafting, snowboarding, motocrossing and whatever else we decide to do. From there it’s out to visit Erin’s mom and then to Colorado to see some friends in Aspen! We will then fly back to LA to see my grandparents and hang in Santa Barbara for a week. The first week of August will be in the San Fran area- I’ll be doing a promo event at the Boardsports School at Coyote Point on the 2nd or 3rd. I hope to get some great sailing in the bay! After that, we are just gonna take a vacation from our vacation and see where the wind blows us! That has been my dream summer for quite some time now and finally I’m taking the time to “just do it!”

As for the poll on the Home Page, Gran Canaria will always be there. After last year, I had a blast out running around with the big slalom dudes. It was nice to come in for one shot with no pressure and show everyone it is just like riding a bike…. Ha ha.  The sad reality was the fact that my 3rd place podium finish wasn’t enough in prize money to cover my trip expenses……. That really hurt.

 

Anyway, it’s amazing what a long bike ride can do for you! I think I’m going to have to do more of them…….  After reading all this, go back to that Poll and let me know if you still want me to go to Gran Canaria….. hurry up because ticket prices are already in excess of $3,000 dollars- yes, that is in COACH. It will probably cost another $1,000 in excess baggage- if I’m lucky. Then when I get there, my weak US dollar will have me sleeping at the beach on rocks….. ha ha

 


 
Going to Gran Canaria??? E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Thursday, 19 June 2008

If you guys ever want to come to Gran Canaria and need a place to stay.. check out the Aparthotel Playa Ingles with some really nice amenities..  Another guy who is really helping me out is Jon at Tener Coche with a really great car for the Canaries. Jon is working on getting his site out to the public and hooked me up with a car to use for Gran Canaria. If you need to buy or rent a car in the Canaries check him out.

Hope everyone out there is enjoying some summertime wind and is ripping it up!! 


 
Hey Bloggers E-mail
Written by Matt Pritchard   
Monday, 16 June 2008
It seems like KP is MIA- so i'm going to try to figure out how this blog thing works!  

I watched with great anticipation the event in Costa Brava. I have been there many times and have a nickname for that location… Costa NADA. I have had bad luck there with the wind although my friends that live there say great things about it. It is probably one of my favorite venues however. There is a great campsite right on the beach where everybody lives- you are close to the action and can relax when there is Nada for wind….It was lucky they had one day of breeze for a result at least!

 My take on the event was not exactly how I expected it to turn out.  I knew Antoine would be hard to beat. I thought Kev would have been able to give him a better run for the money- seems he forgot how to start or something….. as we heard, SPEED WAS NOT THE PROBLEM. I was hoping to see some of these newer names further up the ranking- Ross Williams the light air master is usually a front runner- he just managed to make the top 16 prize money cut off. Josh Angulo was another guy that I thought would be in the mix but he ended up in 15th! Bjorn Dunkerbeck in 8th- that must be frustrating for him. A big congrats go out to Finian, Micah and Gonzalo- good job boys! I know how hard it is out there and have lots of respect for the guys putting in the effort.

 As for me, I have been at home having a great time sailing on Maui. I have been doing lots of Private Lessons and that is a lot of fun for me. I recently taught 2 guys how to forward loop. One of the guys was a 24 year old college student named Tyler who is going to Medical School- he had some wakeboarding experience and he set a new record doing his first loop just under 3 hours of instruction! The other guy is a 39 year old professor who is very methodical about his actions. He is on the flip side of Tyler’s learning curve. It has been 3 years since we have been working together and a couple days ago, he made his first rotations which were a huge success. For him the toughest barrier to break was overcoming the initial RUSH as I call it. The adrenaline that gets pumping through your veins that tells you NO NO, I CAN”T DO THAT. Your brain has to overcome that and allow you to LET IT GO! You have to WANT to do it…. Desire is the key and when you have that desire, let me know and I’ll get you doing your first forward loop.

 We have had a pretty windy May/June up until a few days ago when the wind decided to take a break…. It was still great sailing at Hookipa, light winds and some head high waves coming in. Something we have not seen in quite a while!!!   

I’ll try to take some pics with my small little pocket cam….. they won’t be up to KP style but hopefully my spelling with be a little better??? I’m looking forward to comments and questions……..  MP

 
Still waiting for wind... E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Saturday, 14 June 2008
We got a sea breeze trying to pick up here but other than that just waiting around for some wind. We have had a good day of rain yesterday to make all of our bags heavy for tomorrow's check in at the airport. Hopefully we will get enough to do some more good races here. We will see. Today and tomorrow left.. time will tell.

 
Speed is not the problem E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Well we did our first race of the season and speed was definately not
my problem. I had three bad starts, two in the finals and one in the
semi final. I felt like i had some good speed especially on my 7.6.
Today used 7.6 and 6.7 with my 101 and 38cm 36cm fins. Hopefully we
will get some good conditions tomorrow..

 
Sorry the connection is so Bad here E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Well for some reason the internet here really sucks. You would think we would have a connection better than my brother had in Baja, but nope, this connection here is horrendous. Most of the time I cant even send out some emails. It really sucks but oh well. Looks like we are going to have some wind today so that will make things all better. Lots of waiting around and now it is time to go out there and give it my all.

 
Forcasts and sunrise E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Sunday, 08 June 2008

This is all I got for you. Made it to Costa Brava Camping and now waiting for wind..  Looks like it should be down for a couple of days but then kick in. You never know..

Anyhow here is a shot of our beach for a week!!

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Costa Brava here we come E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Saturday, 07 June 2008
Well, made it to Barcelona, all the bags made it including the fins.. stoked. Long flight, a bit tired, but nice to be on the ground and getting ready for the upcoming race. I think the racing starts on the 10th so we have a day to get all the things together and figured out.

 
On the way to Costa Brava E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Saturday, 07 June 2008

Well, made it on the plane and on the way. Maui LAX JFK BCN. Not too bad of flights.. All packed up for Gran Canaria, Fuerte , Turkey and Costa Brava. So it should be a good summer. Forecast looks good for Costa Brava so hopefully we can get some good racing in.

More time in the air. Lets hope the bags come in. 


 
Have you checked out our shop?? E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Wednesday, 04 June 2008

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We are just getting things up and rolling but check out our store. We have some fins on there and some of the my used boards on there as well. We have tons of other stuff  not up on the site yet but between myself and Matt we have tons of gear ready for you. Send us an email and we will make it happen or for fins and stuff check out the shop here .


 
Great Day E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Monday, 02 June 2008

Had a great day today. Fun filled just how I like it. Went for a 3 and a half hour bike ride from my house up to the Winery out past Kula. Was 44 miles and was pretty hard nacker all the way up hill. The ride back was nice, mostly all down hill so that was pretty fun. Then went out sailing and did some bouys with Micah for about 3 and a half hours.. Then to Costco, did a photoshoot which the shots turned out pretty good, then home, edited all the pictures for my client, just enough time to write on here and then off to bed.

Here are some shots from my ride. By the way, I just got the new Olympus 1030 waterproof camera and it is pretty dang cool. I can put in in my bike pocket and snap away as I go. Makes for a bit longer ride but is pretty fun. I used to like to ride loops only but now with the out and back rides, you can see your shots you want to take on the way there and take them on the way back. It gets a bit annoying to stop and start but it is really putting my two hobbies nicely together. 

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Oh yeah, check out these two birds I got pictures of.. i know not the best picts but the birds were so cool and such nice color..

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Check out the new Move of the Month E-mail
Written by Kevin Pritchard   
Sunday, 01 June 2008
Check out the latest Move of the Month! Some great action and some really good tips from Matt in Baja. Matt's buddy Taylor did the filming and editing so if you were wondering why my video skills have improved so much it is because I didn't edit the video! But anyhow, it is a great clip, check it out, hope you enjoy and let us know what you think.

 
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