Well today was a much better day for me. It wasn't easy that is for sure but I made it to all three finals and that is a feat in itself. I can tell you that here, the second round is tough to get through. I got really lucky a couple of times and I was stoked to make it through. Everyone is so fast it is rediculous.
In my first heat I went on the 8.4 with the 133, using the SL 6 48. By the time it got to my heat it was pretty darn windy and I was lucky to get through that one. Alberto Megenati is just flying sometimes. He takes his Isonic 133 so fast it is amazing. The next heat I went with 7.6 and my Sl4 42cm fin with the 111. It seemed to be working great. I backed off my downhaul from yesterday about 1cm and that really seemed to help. Gave the sail more power and more low end as well as seemed to help out my top end as well. So I made it to the final and had the best start ever.. I wish I could get more of those!! I was coming in hot wth Finian from the top and had a good gybe and came out in first. Then Micah was right on my heals for the second inside mark and just layed his sail down on me and we were both lucky to not go in the water, but it allowed Antoine to get a perfect gybe and come out in first. That guy is really amazing. He is so fast, I dont know how to get faster than him.
In the next round, I was still on the same combo, the 7.6, 42, and 111 . For the final I went down to my 6.7 cause it was starting to pick up but just wasn't enough.
For the last round I went with my 6.7 and my 111 with the 38 SL4 and just as we went out for the final the wind dropped and I was on too small of stuff. I got killed off the start and that was it. I made the wrong choice and came out 7th in the final.
All in all it was a much better day for me. I was really happy to get in the game again and make it into the finals. It is tough that is for sure to get in there but I know I can do it. I want to do better.. I am doing my best!! More racing to come tomorrow.
Well again this is not the way you want to start off your competition. I did the best I could do but I just wasn't fast enough coming in. I would go fast on the way out and then slow on the way in and then good in the gibes but just didn't have the speed today. I was with my 7.6 and 111 with the 38 SL 4. Then i went to my 6.7 and was back on speed. The water is so flat here that you can hold a really big sail. I think that might have been my problem. It wasn't that I couldn't hold the sail, it was just that it was going slow and I could go much faster with the smaller sail. I guess lesson learned for tomorrow. I did the best I could do it just wasn't good enough. I will try again tomorrow.
It is cranking here.. super windy! Hopefully it continues for the next week. We are just getting ready to start racing tomorrow. Should be fun. This place is pretty fun for flatwater sailing. Super flat and feels like you are really flying!! More to come tomorrow.
Well I got the opportunity to got to Istanbul and what a great expirience! Going through the old town, checking it out, a great tourist guide, my camera and some fun times. We had a busy day. Walking, eating, drinking, having fun, taking photos, taking it all in. Anyhow, have a look and enjoy! I wasn't super happy with the photos because the place is beatiful and not sure if I could replicate the beauty.
I got all of bags Whohoo... but then today there was no wind.. ufff.. oh well.. I guess I am happy that at least I had my bags. I got everything de-sanded from the Fuerte sand, wetsanded the bottum of my 111 and my 133, got all the fins ready to go test them and in general ready to go. Now it looks like there is going to be no wind for the next couple days. So tomorrow I am going to go to Istanbul to check it out there and hopefully see something really nice. I will take my camera with me in case I can get some good shots for you guys!
Hope everyone out there is enjoying their summer.. or winter depending on where you live..
Well when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.. no gear yet.. figure time to go get some photos.. I think i got some postcard material here on some of them.. what you guys think.. Can I quit my day job yet?? ha ha I dont think i am John Carter material yet.. but watch out I am coming for you!
Well I am in Turkey but still no bags. This is frustrating because I want to get out on the water and get tuned up and ready for the event. We have been calling Turkish Air and finally they came up with the fact that they said I didn't pay. OF COURSE I paid, the only think i didnt do is pay again at Turkish airlines which i did give them all the bag tags and told them about my bags.. So now they are trying to figure it out. I hope they do soon. They want me to go to the airport which is an hour each way just to speak them about if I paid or not. did i say I LOVE TRAVELING with all this stuff. I just want to get out there and windsurf.. This is what I am good at!
Traveling.. traveling with 14 bags, 12 of them windsurfing bags, one person traveling.. hauling, carrying, stressing.. So I started out 6am in Fuerteventura.. It was kinda fun to go to load all the gear and see thousands of people still partying in the Carpa, which is the party tent that is in Fuerte, and it was a Friday night so it was packed. I was like wow.. that looks crazy! I went the entire Canaries tour without going out once.. I don't think I was out past 12:30 the entire time. So after seeing everyone party it up and me being too lazy to even go out one night even after I didn't have to compete I was like man I must be getting old or something. Or smarter.. well i doubt the last one but you never know. SO loaded all the bags, took the truck to the airport, went to check in and of course no room for all your bags on this plane. I was stressing out a bit but I lucky for me the manager at Air Berlin was very nice and checked in all my bags in on standby and said that they could go if the pilot said it was ok.. So I wasn't totally out in the clear but it could have been much much worse. So as I am getting on the plane I see them loading all the bags and I was like yes!! that is great.. SO i take a plane up to Dusseldorf 4 hours in the complete wrong direction, and then to Istanbul.. I managed to get upgraded to Business Class which made me smile.. I guess that smile at the check in really paid off!! Good to know you still have it!
Got to Istanbul and that is a pretty major airport, if you dont know where you are going and what you are doing you could get pretty lost. So I had a hour and a half layover, which is kinda short for Istanbul cause you have to go through customs, passport control, then hike across to the domestic terminal, go through security and find your plane. Just when I thought I was safe and ready to get on the plane to Izmir, there were two planes and I must have been tired because I was waiting for the wrong plain and almost missed mine. Anyhow made it to Izmir, only to find out ... guess what.. NO BAGS... So I am waiting for my bags for two hours, almost missed my driver that we had organized.. I ended up meeting up with him, and called Banu, the very nice lady who is helping me out here, organizing everything for me.. she is awesome.. She told the truck driver to get me a taxi to Alacati and call her when I got there and she would help me out with a place to stay for the evening. Well it was 4 a.m by the time i arrived and the driver took me to a nice hotel and I was like, it is late, I talked to front desk in Turkish, and I said Banu, he said yes, and showed me to a room. I was like WOW that was easy. Turns out it was the wrong hotel and I wasn't supposed to stay there at all. The people were so nice though and said all you have to pay is for the breakfast. Sorry about the misunderstanding.. I was like WOW.. now that is lucky! So I hope my luck continues with finding my bags so I can get out on the water and start testing my gear for the upcoming event! Maybe I will win the thing with all this good luck coming my way!
Well these are the best photos I could take. I guess when you are tired of the sand, you are tired of the sand... not my best shots but at least got out there. Now I am on my way to Turkey. Should be fun.
I have just figured out how to put up some YouTube videos on the site. Now I can do some serious linking. Cool. Just what I was after. I couldn't figure it out before but now.. I got it. Check out this Travis Pastrana vid with the X Games just starting... Pretty dang sick!
Well today is my last day in Fuerteventura and I still have a couple sails left that I would like to sell if you know of anyone down here that might be interested. I have some 09 Manic's 3.7, 4.2, 4.5 and 4.7. Other than that not too much to report. The wind has been bad here for the freestyle, I havent had any wind for training yet, but leaving for Turkey soon to go over there and start getting on the big stuff. I have a Starboard 133 that I will be selling in Turkey if you know anyone who wants it. I also have it here too just to let you know.
You've got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It's called perseverance. - Lee Iacocca
Well I keep saying to myself that Antoine only started winning when he was one year older than I am now.. SO i guess I have some time to stiill come back and win a couple of these. Nothing is out of the question. Train, focus, Presevere!
Well that was a stressful last day let me tell you. When you can go from being on the podium or if all goes wrong, end up in 7th with one race, the pressure is on. We were pushing to get a round off, and they managed to call of 13 races before finally cancelling it for the event. Imagine after doing ten rounds and then to do the last round which really made a big difference in shifty gusty challenging conditions.. That was stress.. But in the end it didn't happen and I ended up coming third. Not too bad. When I look back there were two mistakes I made that cost me second or even the win but that is racing. Hope you guys enjoyed hearing about the ups and downs and insight into the racing. I am now staying in Fuerte for a couple days to check out the freestyle and get ready for Turkey.
I am so disappointed in myself today. I had the start and was down the road in second and I didn't concentrate or something for one second and I was in the water then got hit and my sail went sinking to the bottom. We only had one round today and it was my conditions. It was super overpowered 5.5 offshore gusty hard conditions and I blew it. The person in front of me for the event, Finian, choked as well and then I didn't capitalize on it. It all happens so fast and I am not sure if you can understand when you want something so bad and you blowit like that. Makes you want to cry. More to come tomorrow with the final day. It is very close at the top that is for sure.
Well I can't say that I had a bad day beacause it is tough out there. There are so many good fast guys that make it so tough it is incredible. In the first round of the day, I was still trying to be on my 5.5 Gaastra Vapor with the 32 SL 4 and the 86 Isonic from winning the last round on it yesterday and it was just a bit too light. I had a crumby start and that made matters worse with not to much wind. The wind was just too light for the sail and I couldn't make up any ground. I finished in 10th I think.
The next round I went for the 6.0 and the same board fin combination. It worked pretty good and I finished 3rd. The starting line I didnt really like too much. It was really Pin biased which I do like but then too many people come down and start fighting for it and if you dont win at the pin your race is in the bin.. So it was a real battle for the pin and trying to get a good start. In this second round you would not believe the gusts and wind shifts. They were saying the wind was 16 to 35 knots on the committee boat with some gusts up to 40. Try to pick the right sail size for that. Anyhow, I came out with a third in that round so I was happy with that.
In the last round of the day, it got windy, really windy, and went out on the 5.5, in the first heat, it was really windy, and that was fun. I love it when people start crashing.. That is when it gets fun. It had to be gusting up to 40 knots and we were on 5.5's. Fun fun fun, I made it to the final and had an ok start, made it to the first mark in third and then had a sweet 2nd run out and got into second. From there on out it was all she wrote. I was happy with 2nd only bummer was Finian won so that didnt help me out in the rankings too much. Well more racing tomorrow. Need to rest up and get ready to rip.
Well I had a good day today. In the first one of the day I came second which I was stoked with and then on the next one I had a good start and was looking like a win but I spun out and went sliding sideways and went to dead last. I was at the pin and once you let off a tiny bit a pack of 12 rolls over the top of you . So I was pretty bummed with that and then had to regroup. I wnt back to the drawing board, put down the focus and rolled out the best start of my life and came up with a win!! I was stoked with that . I was on my 5.5 with the 32 SL4 and the Isonic 86. Felt pretty nice.
Well that is not how I invisioned starting off the event... in the first round I had a huge blunder by not making the final when I was caught out there with too big of sail. I just coudn't gybe out there and was going too slow trying to make sure i made my gybes. So that was out first round. THe next round, made it to the final, I was on 6.0 and 86 Isonic with my 32 SL 4, and was going good when out of the blue Patrick Dietem smashed into me. The guy was out of control and is a lunatic sometimes out on the water. Anyhow took us both out and I ended up doing terrible in that final.
In the last one of the day, stayed on the 6.0 and the 86 and it was really windy. Maybe should have tried the 5.5 but it is so gusty and shifty here that it gets scary. I ended up 3rd in the last round which was a good recovery.
Tomorrow is a new day and I am ready to come back!
Well we are back to Fuerte for another year. Fuerteventura is always different than Gran Canaria. It's water is more blue, it is warmer, it is flatter water, gustier wind, and SANDIER.. You always think that you cant wait to get to Fuerte cause it is going to be nice and sandy and perfect.. but by the end of the week you have sand everywere.. anyhow I will wait unitl that happens until I worry about that.
I am ready to go. Tommorow we get started on the comp, and that is what I came here to do!! Time to go out and dominate. Take no prisioners and go for being my best!!
Well I am still in Gran Canaria and we have been relaxing of all relaxing. And it has been nice, that is for sure. My feet are almost starting to heal from the Pozo Rocks.
I did managed to go down to Playa Ingles where the Bike Shop Free Motion is at and man the people there are so nice. They helped Ross and I out with all the Powerbar suppliments that we needed for Fuerte to be fueled and ready to go. We figured that the bikers would know what we need to keep hydrated in the sun and when we are out there working so hard what we need to recover. So hopeing to be with more energy and well hydrated for Fuerte. If you ever come to Gran Canaria and want to go for a bike ride this is the place to go. Any of there staff will help you out and will make sure that you get the right stuff for the job. They have good road bikes, some nice mountain bikes and all the gear to go with it. If I wasn't so dang tired I would go for a ride with them.. maybe that would help me get un tired. I sure dont know how Lance can get on a bike for that long and enjoy it..
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