Thursday, August 18, 2011

Getting back into the groove

Welcome me back! After a little hiatus I think I'm back to my old self- and ready to resume my usual posting routine. A couple bits and pieces to get you caught back up: 

New raceboard: I picked up my custom shaped, stock class 12'6 carbon fiber/S-glass hybrid race board a couple of weeks ago from Tim Stamps' board factory. The thing is insane. I call it the Poison Arrow because its color reminds me of those little poison arrow frogs that you can find up along the waterfalls in Costa Rica. How do I like it? I love it! I've been working out with it on my usual course (remember Homework?) in a variety of conditions. Today was the toughest- side to head on winds for the first two and a quarter miles, not a light breeze either- it was blowing hard enough to put little whitecaps on the water. And the return trip was no piece of cake either. It was blowing even harder out of the West putting the wind directly abeam of the board. Talk about fiddler crab syndrome- my right arm and shoulder were totally taxed, doing most of the work for most of the return trip. The board is fast though and very stable- I'm hoping that my comeback race, The Chainsaw Massacre, will feature nasty, choppy, windy conditions- in those conditions, the Poison Arrow excels. The thing's a streak of lightning coming down wind too- so a sweet downwind run back to the beach would be killer. Here's a couple of photos of the board: 

The Poison Arrow
Check out the LiftSUP handle that Stamps installed... carrying this thing is easy because of that handle, and also because the board is as light as a feather.
Baja: Northern Baja... check. Southern Baja... coming at you. You may recall that Kiwi and I chased a southern hemisphere south swell all the out to a remote northern Baja point break. Well, the urge to get rolling south again has grabbed me. It's looking like we'll be doing a two week southern Baja paddle surf trip here in late September. Stay Tuned!

There will be a lot more of this going on as we make our way south.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

yahoo, welcome back!