Tuesday, July 29, 2008

So, you like big air?

So does this young lad: Philip Koester - 14yr old stand out at the recent Pozo event. Tight for time? Advance to 1:05 in this video of the expression session.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Coverage


A huge thanks to Scott MacDonald for taking a great sunset shot of me sailing in Avon, North Carolina, just off Big Island. Windsport picked up the photo and put it in their Forecast section of the lastest edition - a sweet two page spread. Hopefully Scott and I will be able to do a bit more collaboration in the future.


Photo credit: Scott MacDonald. Photo of the photo credit: Scott MacDonald....

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Da boys...

This blog ain't only about windsurfing... but also the transition to dad-hood. Well, obviously that transition was more of an instantaneous occurence, but now comes the transition of getting Bradley and Jalen into surfing, windsurfing, or heck... even kiting...

They are closing in on 1.5yrs old now, so I reckon the time to talk in months is over. We spent the Canada Day long weekend with some good friends in Quebec, at their cottage on Blue Sea Lake near Maniwaki. Great times, less than ideal weather, lots of beer... FUN!

On Canada Day, the sun finally came out and we spent the day on the back dock with the kiddies. Stoked at the opportunity, out came the ol' Bic Dufour Wing and a paddle. Here's a couple fun shots!

The boys definitely like the water! So that is a step in the right direction. I have to be extra sensitive not to promote these sports too much, otherwise next thing you know, they'll want to play baseball or some other dumb-as kookery like that. Must be very careful...

Love it...

Now I certainly ain't anti-kite or anything like that... but I do find it entertaining how kite-converts find the need to spew about it religiously like Jehovah's Witnesses at your front door, trying to buy over the remaining hold-outs. Saying that, I will probably even try it some day and like it.

In my view, kiting is to windsurfing as snowboarding is to skiing. I like skiing and I like snowboarding, but snowboarding is no doubt far easier to learn and to improve rapidly. Skiing takes a while.

I reckon kiting is similar in that regard. Certainly in this area, it has drawn several individuals from windsurfing who had plateau-ed so to speak... and those who prefer the ability to learn moves quicker than working at them for a (long) while. I hypothosize and generalize for sure... and its not meant as an insult in anyway. In a place like Kingston where sessions are far and few, it takes bloody ages... At least kiters get more time on the water than us windsurfers and that is definitely going to help their learning curve too!

Well, it took a while, but finally, probably due to a pretty heated rivalry between some prominent Hatteras locals, a rebuttal to those lame 'Windsurfing has been cancelled' stickers:

Source: The Peconic Puffin