Woke up this morning with some wind in the trees.. Went for a bike ride and anxious to get out on the water but once I went down there the rain had messed it all up. Dont know what happened just wasnt that good out there. Came home and had a wonderful massage for 2 hours.. yeah it is tough.. ate some dinner and just took it easy.. Lovin it!!
Looks like my new sail sponsor is right around the corner. I have tested all the sails out and know which one seems to be working the best for me. Now it is just up to the details!! Check back in for some new info later on in the week!
Anybody ever feel like the weekend is over before it starts.. I cant believe it is sunday already.. And now it is on to Monday. Not that I really anything too much different from happening but I like the weekends.. Anyhow, Maui has been a bit windy. Went out sailing yesterday, today felt a bit under the weather so took a day off and sat around and relaxed. Watched the San Diego Chargers loose in football today. Other than that just relaxed. Not too bad!
I am wondering if there is any web site builders out there looking for a project to work on with me. I am looking for someone who is possibly looking for a project to work on that can be used in their portfolio or a school intern that is interested in building a web database type site. Send me an email by clicking on the boards for sale and let me know if any of you are interested in helping out!
I have been doing a little bit of internet surfing on training.. Found some really cool stuff from the Moto X guys. I guess maybe I just think it is cool cause I like moto x but check out www.racerxvt.com/
Here is one thing I thought everone could use..
Life Events Shape Your Attitude? If you tend to be a negative person, you must first identify your poor habits and remove them from your life. Pay close attention to how you interpret events that surround you. Your attitude is formed by how you interpret different situations in life. By paying close attention to how you process the information around you, you will be able to identify whether you are a positive person or a negative one. When a difficult situation presents itself, do you look at the situation as a pessimist or an optimist? Do you see the opportunity as a chance to fail or to succeed? Your attitude is shaped by the way you perceive reality and ultimately your attitude is made up of your thoughts and feelings. Since your thoughts ultimately control your actions, the thoughts that you fill your head with are very important. Usually in life the quick easy way will give you instant gratification that fades quickly, while hard work and dedication have no immediate gratification but will lead to lasting success in the future. If you think negatively towards training and give into instant gratification, you are letting your negative thoughts control your actions. Instant gratification is a sign of a week attitude. If you condition your mind to remain positive, your actions will lead you down the path towards success.
A positive attitude is not simply developed by waking up one day and saying, "today I am going to be positive." Although your brain is not a muscle it acts like one in the sense that it must be conditioned over time to accept positive thoughts over negative ones. Developing positive thoughts requires a great deal of energy and time and will require you to live the lifestyle an athlete. Training, diet, riding and all of the other ingredients necessary to become a successful rider (or person for that matter) must be part of your daily life. You have to live the life of a champion to become a champion. I believe this applies to the guy fighting for a factory ride, right down to the weekend warrior. If you condition your mind on a daily basis like you do the rest of your body, eventually the positive thought process will become natural. A strong, positive attitude will replace the weak, negative one. But in order for this to happen, you have to be willing to make the commitment and work every day on your attitude.
Check out some retro footage from Matt and I in Sylt, Germany back in 2002. Not the best footage and not the best conditions but thought you guys would like to have a look at some good ole footage! Looks pretty cold to me.. Good to check it out and see how far we have come. Hope you enjoy!
Ahh.. I love three sport days. Woke up to a nice good morning wake up call from Jason Prior saying the waves are up lets go surfing.. so got the jetski together and out we went tow in surfing. Was kinda fun, nothing too amazing but some fun ones here and there. Jason was really ripping it up as he was hungry to get out on the water after spending New Years in Canada.
After a couple hour tow session, went back home and loaded up the slalom boards and went down to Kanaha to test out the Pryde sails as well as some of the new 08 Starboards. I went out on the 8.4 RS Racing with my 133 Starboard with the Sl2 Debiochet 44cm fin. The new 133 has really improved alot this year. After that I had the same fin in the 122 Isonic and was surprised that there was not too much difference in speed between the two. Last year I found a bigger difference but this year it seems like I could use either one. So we will have to test it out a bit more but it seems like if you are a bigger guy then you will be fine with the 133 without any compromise to the smaller narrower 122.
After sailing Swift and I went for a nice bike ride from Sprecks to Maalea and back and that was a nice easy flat ride on the bikes. All this was finished off with a nice meal from my Italian friends who came all the way from Italy to make us an excellent meal. What a great day!
Got out today on the new Gaastra Vapors and they are really nice. Had a nice soft feel to them and the speed was really good as well. My brother was cool enough to go out to Kehie with me and sail around on some new Starboards and test them out. I think we had a pretty good time out there and being on the water together. It has been a while since me and him were out testing slalom stuff together.. After that went for a hamburger at Carls junior and back home. Not too bad of a day considering there was no wind on the north shore. Tomorrow I should be out on the Pryde Racing sails so that will be cool to try them out and get a feel for them. I will let you know what I find out on the racing sail side of things.
It is pretty funny to be testing out all these sails. I think the guys at Windsurfing Mag should hire me to do some of there testing.... While being a free agent I guess I could make some money somehow..
I got up, checked the swell and bang straight over the the west side where Steve and Dave were nice enough to clue me in to the good conditions. Got there and was the only one out for a while just having a great ole time out there by myself. Was on the Gaastra Manic today and boy is that a nice sail. To me it seemed to be a balance of the NP Zone and the Maui Sails Legend. For me the Maui Sails is a powerhouse. It has all the grunt you need to get through the bottom turn but more difficult off the top. The Zone is light in the hands on the bottom turn and really amazing off the top with very easy control off the top. The Gaastra Manic seems to have a little more power through the bottom turn than the Zone but still manages to smack the lip really hard off the top without so much power due to it's nice and soft luff curve.
After a nice 2 hour sail went for a nice bike ride from Maalea to La Perus, so nothing like making the full day out of what could have been a lazy day.
Here are some shots of me on the Zone NP the other day.. Looks pretty different to see me on a NP after all these years.
Photos are from Darrell Wong. Please do not use without written permission from Darrell. Actually Darrell just launched a new version of his web site and you can check it out at www.darrellwong.com
Wow.. what a day on Maui.. Just love it.. the wind was gone all day long.. so amazing.. the views were incredible.. the surf was firing.. ahhh this is Maui.. I love it..
I love Maui in January.. So amazing.. so much fun. what more can you ask for. Today I sailed with 4 people out mast high side offshore winds.. I think the best session I have had all year.. So much fun. It was me JP, and Robby Naish the only guys out there for a little bit.. Super fun. Super glassy and clean waves.. Gotta love it..
Anyhow, today I went down to Hitech and bought a Maui Sails boom.. Yep you heard it here.. I paid cash money to buy a boom that I developed myself, pretty much paid for myself and had to go down and buy a boom from HiTech.. Felt kinda wierd to be buying windsurfing gear but I only bought it because it is pretty much the best boom out there that I have sailed on and so I thought it was worth it. Kevin Ozze at NP Maui hooked me up with a Zone 5.2 and a mast which was super cool of him to do and I was on my new Starboard custom twin fin which was amazing and just had a super sick session. It is funny how one company will give me free stuff to use and one company takes the gear away..
Well it is time to start working again... No rest for the strong.. Check out my new wave fin line up. Best of all you can buy them right here on my blog!
Here is whats up with this
MFC and Kevin Pritchard, wave world champion, developed this new fin concept also in G-10 construction. The straight outline allows for very early planning and radical upwind ability, but the fin is incredibly manoeuvrable due to its narrow outline and cord. The profile is the fastest, generated by our SL model and adapted to this wave model. Ideal for all around wave conditions can be use also for freewave conditions.
So that is a bunch of jargon for this fin rips!! Gotta go out and get one. We put this together using some slalom foils on a wave shape. Our mission was to get more speed out of the fin than any other wave fin with out sacrificing the turning and looseness!
Well, I guess it is officially and end of an era. After 15 years of working together with Barry and Phil it is time to take on new challenges and take the other side of the road. Disappointing to say the least but it is time to move on and go into the brave unknown. As for now, I dont have a new sail sponsor and I am currently looking at all other brands. I have some offers from other brands but at the moment I have not committed to any. I am going to go out and test all the brands that will loan me some sails and we will see what happens. I think it will be fun to get out on the Prydes, Gaastras, Norths, maybe some Goya's, Severn also look to have a good range this year so it is all kinda up in the air. I just hope to get some gear soon as it looks like the wind is going to come back and the boys at Maui Sails came and grabbed all the gear that I have been riding, so I have nothing to sail on at the moment. I guess I better go down to HiTech and get out the credit card..
Here is what they had to say about it...
MauiSails and Kevin Pritchard End Alliance 8th January 2008 (Maui, Hawaii, USA - January, 2008) MauiSails announced today the departure of Kevin Pritchard, who left the brand to pursue new opportunities.
Phil McGain, President of the company, commented on the new direction for his sailing partner of the past fifteen years; We wish Kevin the best of luck. We have all enjoyed working with him over the years. Its always challenging to end long partnerships, but sometimes change is invaluable and must be accepted with gratitude and appreciation.
Designer, Barry Spanier commented, Working with Kevin and helping him to become a World Champion has been very satisfying and personally rewarding. His participation will be missed. But sometimes its like Yogi Berra once said, If theres a fork in the road, you have to take it. I certainly wish him the best in his new circumstances.
Boy Maui has been Beautiful!!! After two weeks of storm and rain, now it is amazing and all the green is just jumping out of it's skin! Went for a stand up paddle and a bike ride and had a nice and busy day. Just how I like them.
Today was a tough day for me. Went down to Hookipa and there was no one out. Kinda strange really as the wind was blowing the waves were up and still not too many surfers out. I had a day off from sailing today but it looked pretty good out there. I actually got out on the water on a Stand Up Paddle board and did a down winder from Maliko Gulch to Sprecks. I am not a huge fan of the stand up thing but maybe with a little practice it might go a bit better. I think it is really good for the core muscles and that is what I am trying to some strength in.
Supercross was on tonight which was fun to watch.. no not windsurfing supercross but the indoor motocross racing. It was really fun to watch those guys and to know what goes into wining a championship and all that it takes for those guys. It really shows some dedication to go out there and succeed with so many other guys out there and pushing the limits. Chad Reed from Australia ended up wining against James Stewart who came from dead last to come second. Looks like it is going to be an interesting season.
Anyhow it is all good when you wake up and look out from your living room window and see this....
I just threw this together.. I know I shouldn't really post something this bad but what the heck.. I am sure you guys will get a kick out of seeing something new up on the web. Also check out Keith Tebule on his new Goya Sails! Haven't seen a press release on this yet so maybe I am the first to get it out of the bag..
Well I got out the ole video camera today and took some clips for you guys. I put them all in one very poorly edited video but I hope you guys will enjoy watching some hookipa footage. The wind today was not that great, but it was sunny which was really nice for a change. I had some fun waves and was out on the Twin fin and the 5.3 so it was great to be out there. I will post the video hopefully tomorrow, so check back in!
Well I figure that I should get back to it and start the focus of being the champ again in 2008. That is the goal is to win that dang slalom title and take it away from the mighty frenchman. It will not be an easy task as Antoine has had some very good speed over the last few years but I think with a little bit more tuning and practice this season I can give him a better run for his money.
We will have to wait and see.. Today went out on the water and did some sailing with my bro which we were the only two guys out there which made it fun. Other than that all is good!
What do you do when you get to this point in the road?? Well the time is now to take one of them!! Happy New Year!
Since Maui is the last to celebrate the new year i guess it is time to wish all my European Friends Happy New Year. Here's to a super successful and happy 2008!
Well we made it another year. One more day left and it is over. Was a great year, had tons of fun, good results and now it is time for something new. Cant wait to bring it on.. The wind finally calmed down over here. We had some super windy days but the sailing still wasnt very good even though all of Maui was feeling the wind. It was too east for the island here and made it super gusty and offshore and not that great for sailing. I had a couple days at Sprecks that was fun but other than that was a waist of all the wind!
Anyhow Happy New Years everyone! Be safe and Have fun! Just remember you only live once!!
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