Today I went for my first stand up paddle downwinder. I am still uncertain about it. Everytime I thought about it I was like man I wish I had my sail on to glide myself downwind. But it was a good workout. Uses your core muscles quite a bit and is good for yoru balancing.. Something different is always good to put in the training!
Today went out on the wave board again and had some fun. Went to Hookipa and sailed on 5.3 Legend and there was some small waves still rolling in. I wasn't on fire out on the water but I did managed to make a taka today. A taka is a down the line off the lip sideways 360. It is really cool when you get them and such a nice feeling.
Today I also tested out my new MFC wave fins. They are called the K ONE. They are coming to a shop near you soon. I cant wait for you to get your hands on some of these. They are really sweet wave fins that is for sure. I will get some picts of them soon.
A couple people were asking me about training. How long do you train for and what sort of things do I do on the water. Well, for me I sail nearly everyday. Windsurfing is my life. I try to take days off but it is still kinda hard for me to do it. I feel if there is wind then I need to be out there. MY brother is more easy going. He can sail 3 days and take threee days off. For me, I like to sail because that means I dont have to do something else that I probably dont like doing. So it is a good excuse to be out on the water. I think if you are training for something, the key is to train like you are going to do it in the competition. Back in the day of "The Team" we would get ou there and set bouys, we would have 4 of us going full on for starts, gybes, at the marks, we were all fire hungry to get out there and win. We would simulate the races. In, out, in out, full on. Same for waves, We would practice the wave heats. Set our watches for 10 minutes and get your mindset into being in a competition all the time.
The shot of the day was me driving past Hookipa looking out the window of my van.. Looks like fun eh?
Thanks for all your guys support and cool comments! It is great to read what you guys think and how I can improve on making things interesting for all the reader. I will try and mix it up a bit, put in some tech, stuff but more and more just keep it real. I will keep trying to keep it unbiased and unsensored as possible.
So anyhow, about my day.. I went down to Kanaha with my friend Rueben and took some shots of him out sailing. Some of them turned out pretty good. It was fun because he had to catch a plane at 1:30 so we were trying to get down there early for an early session... turns out the stuff he had to do in the morning took longer than we thought but we were still determined to get the session in and make the plane. So that is what we did.. I didn't manage to get him to the airport until 12:45 but turns out that was pleanty of time. Good times.
After that I went back to Kanaha for a nice sail at Camp One with some small waves. It was the biggest waves since I have been here and for August they were pretty good size. After a 1 hour training session I went in and had to do a lesson. The lessons have been going pretty good and I think my client has learned alot over the past week.
So I need some new inspiration on what to talk about here. What are you guys most interested in hearing about? More tech stuff? People seemed to like the harness line thing? Do want to hear about gear? Or just my same old boring stories about my day?? Thanks for reading the blog and hope you are enjoying following my adventures!
So I am working on my composition and trying to find something to take picts of. It is really hard to find something somewhat interesting.. So i went around looking for something to shoot.. Here is the only thing I could come up with. What do you think??
Well yesterday i had a wedding shoot. I didnt do very good. I tried hard but I just didnt feel like it went too good. Here are some of the better ones.
Conditions here on Maui are pretty good right now. Not too many waves but nice for slalom and freeriding away! Sailed today on the new 6.0 Switch and was really a nice sail.
Let me know what you think about the wedding shots!
Harness Lines are always personal preference.. I am the one for long harness lines and from the look of the rest of the best in the world they feel the same. I asked around at the last contest what size lines people were using. The general answer was 28". I got a range from 26" to 32" and I personally like the 30" lines myself. What I found the most strange was Bjorns harness lines. Look at how far apart they are. Pretty crazy! Anhow.. thought you might enjoy some shots of the Lines!
Today just took another day off. It was Sunday and all so just enjoyed it all. I did some photos, none turned out too good but I tried. Tomorrow I have a wedding shoot so that will be fun. Hopefully it goes well. I will share some of the results when I prossess them.
Still working on the jet lag. I had a 4 am get up today, which is kinda fun because you get all your work done and out of the way. But by the time 8pm comes around you are more than ready to hit the bed. Speaking of bed.. I am off to it!
Not my best video ever but thought I would post it up for you guys to check out. I should have got more into takeing some better clips but was tired from the traveling.
If anyone ever wants to learn how to slalom race, this is the series for you. It is fun, fast, lots of racing and some of the best slalom conditions you will ever get.
Ahh.. it sure is nice to be back. Today got all my stuff organized and yep.. you guessed it.. down to the beach.. Only thing is just went to watch. Today was the Hawaii State Championships and my brother and Phil went down to battle it out for the title. It was fun to watch them match race it out but in the end it was Matt that took the win. Phil gave a good fight but Matt took the victory. Tomorrrow is Matt's Bday so you kinda figure that Phil let him have it.. I dont really think so.. but anyhow. Well I am struggling with my jet lag so might be up early.. We will see!
Had a nice awards ceremony, nothing too special but was nice to have a bit of a party and relax a little bit after a hard months work. I was pretty satisfied with my performace! Now it is on the road to home. Traveling and traveling. Today went from Fuerteventura to Madrid to Frankfurt, overnighting there until we go to London, then Los Angeles and then Maui.. I cant wait!
End of the summer events for me. I am off to Maui for 2 weeks!! I cant wait. Finished second today. Was pretty stoked. Came down to the last race of the last day and pulled it out. Was super stoked to get both Micah and Bjorn on the pressure cooker day!! Stoked.
Today I went out in the first round. No crashes, no nothing, just a bad start with bad wind and went out the back door. Really frustrating. The next two were much better for me as I came in third and fourth. So that was a good recovery. It got windy in the afternoon which maes it much easier for me. Antoine is pulling away with this one and we have two more days left. I need to keep it together!
Today was a hard one. Started out pretty light wind and then started to blast. I had a pretty bad day but then finished it up with a first. So I guess that made it feel a little better. We had one race in the final were everyone was over except three people. That really made me mad to get sucked over the line early.. Especially when Bjorn and Antoine had not made it to the final. That was my time to capitalize but I blew it. The next round I didnt make it to the final and the last one I won.. The results are all over the show. Bjorn had two first round get out's and a first. Antoine had a crash and last in one final and a looser's final win. So it is still anyone's game!
Long day with 4 rounds.. Off the the feeding trough!
Today was a good day for me. I started off with a First place. What a way to start it off. I was stoked but I had a good start and it was pretty easy. In the second one, that was a bit more work!! I started ok, then the entire pack speeded over the top of me and I came to the gybe in nearly last place. I had to get on the gas.. the wind picked up and I was on my 6.3 and my small board and it was as choppy as it gets. People were going down left right and center and I was just picking them off one by one.. By the last mark I was in 4th and I knew that I needed to make a killer gybe.. And that I did right inside of Peter Volwater and Bjorn Dunkerbeck!! I flipped the sail and bang I went right into second!! I couldnt believe it!! From last to 2nd!! Whoohoo.. I am sure they wont all be like that. I need to bet more on it!!
Today was registration day.. This means signing up, checking in your 4 sails and 2 boards, getting all your stuff ready to go.. I signed up my 7.6 6.6 6.3 and 5.8... Hope it is windy. Everything else is good..
Well after a tough day last day on the water, we had the prize giving and I couldn't really even go out and celebrate had to take Matt to the airport at 2 in the night and get the boat this morning at 6 to go to Fuerteventura. So not really too much sleep for me. Had a nice nap this afternoon and then halled the bags into the "carpa" which is the tent.
My feet have been hurting since Lanzarote so I figured I would take some shots of what the others feet looked like and what the Pozo Shoe of choice was.Went through some photos today and thought you might enjoy some of these. See if you can guess whose feet they belong to!
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