Thursday, August 12, 2010

YES!

Quick post update with a few links:

New issue of the Windsurfer International.

New website from positive-h2o.

This Saturday there's the Ole longboard contest at Launiupoko. I was able to trade some work for the entry fee, so I'll be in it. My only ambition is to have some fun (which is pretty much guaranteed) and learn something.

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Three days ago, a month and a half after my foot injury I went :
- windsurfing (strapped)
- to yoga.



Both activities were extremely successful (even though yoga without my favorite instructor is not quite the same...).
There were some small waves and I could even do a bit of wave riding. In the bottom turn, the strong pressure of the footstrap against the top of the foot was still reminding me of the injury, but not too bad at all.

The main issue was cerebral. I was sooo scared to hit the lip (even if only two feet high). It will be another while before I can overcome that. I need to train my brain.

That's why I went out again yesterday.
There were no waves to ride, but with the presence of the two photographers that took over my job of documenting the Hookipa action, it was kinda crowded and everyone was pushing it on the jumps.

The first three are Francky's shots. Click on them and you'll see some pure happiness.

Even jumping wasn't an issue at all. I started small first and increased little by little. By the end of the session I did a fairly high donkey kick and landed it pretty flat. My foot didn't hurt a tiny bit. Solid.
It was hard to wait that long (not really, considering that I didn't miss much) before going back windsurfing, but I think the strategy paid back.


Nice sail twist, photo angle, background, framing, colors, everything.
Here's Francky's photo gallery .


Jeff did it again and the Maui Edition Superfreak is just the best sail I've ever sailed. Shorter mast, fuller head, smaller foot, I don't know what else he did, but that sail is such a pleasure to sail, so easy to throw around, so comfortable and so incredibly light (at least my custom version!!!).
Big thanks also to Jimmie, who took this shot. This is his gallery of the day, which sees a lot of action of Francky as a windsurfer too. I like shot #3...


BTW, windsurfing will have to wait again now.
One of the many positive things I learned out of not being able to go windsurfing is to appreciate surfing (or SUP surfing) on small waves on the south shore. The Lanai buoy shows 1.5 feet at 14 seconds this am and it will get considerably bigger Monday.
This is the weather map of last Monday that shows a beautiful fetch of wind aiming at us. Unfortunately, it moved pretty quickly, hence limiting the swell size and duration, but we'll take what we'll get.

3 comments:

cammar said...

Allright, before you guys go off about the boom height, let me explain.
If you look at the mast, you'll see that the boom is right in the middle of the reinforced section of the boom attachment. So, it seems super low, but it's not.
That is a custom sail (because of a couple of panels of Ultra Light material and lack of protective webbing on the mast sleeve) and it was cut right after another custom sail for a Kanaha sailor called Michael. Michael is a freestyler and likes his boom extreeeemely high. What happened is that the factory didn't change the specs for the boom opening and they cut my sail with Michael's boom opening...
No big deal and no complaints (considering I didn't have to pay for it!!!).
I love that sail!

Sharon said...

Downward dog and donkey kick all in the same day....two thumbs up dude.

Anonymous said...

Damn G, Your boom is even lower than Robby Naish's.