The only day I missed was Friday 1 19. I had to deal with a car problem and I'm so glad that I did miss that day... so that I don't feel the pressure of going out just to keep the QUOLI at 100%...
Here's the forecast for the next days:
Outlook through Tuesday Apr 10. Several northwest swells are expected over the next couple of days. Surf will near advisory levels along north and west facing shores late Thursday and Friday. The surf will decrease on Saturday, but a significant northwest swell arriving Sunday will produce surf near warning levels. Surf will trend down on Monday.
...thank god!
Here's a couple of shots of a chick surfing Hookipa. Just to give you an idea of the conditions these days...
Hey, thanks to Ely and his NY friends for yesterday's lovely dinner. Now that I think about it, I left without leaving the contribution I promised... Didn't want to offend you guys... ;-)
Sharon just posted some funny pictures... well, maybe funny is not enough...
And U&M back from Tahiti just posted some photos of amazing waves... well, maybe amazing is not enough...
6 comments:
Hey Giampaolo,
It was great having you guys over! You'll have to put the money in the kitty for the next night of festivities!
the first picture, if you click for the large shot, looks like a maniquin surfing ... bizarre!
surf has been great ... how does it get better to return from a vacation and be greeted with great surf! thanks for the blog props.. see you on da woda
Hi to my new imaginary friends- "the Italian" and Sharon! I discovered your blog just a couple weeks ago and stayed up 'till the wee hours a couple nights reading every entry! I am so hooked... you are both so funny, write so well and take fantastic photos! I really like your idea of being paid to play and tell us about it! That's pretty funny - but hey- why not? - people pay for all sorts of entertainment... I think it's a win/win...it would be pretty hilarious if you could be the first person to pull of getting rich (or even getting by) by playing all day on Maui and then sharing the day on your blog! I for one can't wait to find out what's going on with the waves and wind and who's doin' what today on the water!!! Thanks for bringing it to me... well, it's sort of a love/hate relationship because I get anxious about missing a beautiful swell or wind...but I wanna know about it anyway... I've been going to Maui from Bay Area in increasing frequency for 2 years...it gets harder and harder to be away each trip. I was up to 3 weeks here/ 10 days there over the winter and even that is torture! But thank god for my new imaginary friends to help me through the off times!!! So hurry up and go play and tell us about it!!! Eileen
Ely, make sure you remind me...
Meesh, you're right... it's really bizzare!
Eileen, THANK YOU!
Sharon, did you just read what my new blogosphere best friend Eileen just said? There IS somebody who would pay for a daily update... too bad they're not enough, but it makes me feel good...
BTW Eillen, yours is quite a common pattern...
I had three windsurfing vacations in Maui.
The first was 8 days long. The second 9. The third 18. And that's when I really fell in love with the place. When the plane took off from Kahului at the end of the third vacation, I looked thru the window at the waves breaking at Hookipa... and cried. I just couldn't stop crying. And while crying, I took the most important decision of my life (so far...):
"what the fuck! I love this place and I want to live here!"
So I went back home, worked hard for one more year, put some money in the bank and decided to take a year off. 6 years later, I'm still here... and not going anywhere.
Just tonight watching the same waves at Hookipa with Michelle and Matt, I kept saying how much I love Maui...
You know what? I should write down a list of the things I like about Maui (and maybe the ones I don't) and post them.
Allright, is this a comment or a post? Got some photos to post...
See ya later and welcome to the community.
There are better ways to make some money from your current blog. Perhaps even a fair amount of it.
You can keep the current one running and offer some paid content. After all, you have over 20K people that have looked at your blog. You need to run Google Analytics for awhile to see how often people come and what they look at, but that's easy to do. I can show you how if you like.
Unfortunately I'm headed back to Portland on the 15th to start the vintage racing season and my long tour.
this might be a little helpful--there's an article I wrote for my company (I own an advertising agency) that talks about using social networks and web 2.0 technology for business. You might take a look at that, though it's dull as dishwater for anyone who isn't into marketing. It shows how I use my blogs to experiment with new technologies. www.bnj.com look for the "Bill Babcock Unleashed" articles--see GP, you knew all along I was a dog.
I'm rambling a bit. Point is, it's relatively easy to include paid content along with the free content that gets everyone to come to your blog. I know exactly how to do it with WordPress, but I'm sure you can also do it with Blogger. You just have private, passworded content and you tell people about it on the free side. When they pay, they get a password. You could make it a yearly subscription so people only have to do it once, or they could pay as they go, like a newstand.
Don't forget things like Adwords and affiliate programs. There might even be some water sports companies that do affiliate commissions, where you can send customers to them and get a percentage of the sale.
Within six months I'll have a commercial website going called www.my-hawaii-vacation-guide.com. There's a mockup of the look and feel posted there now. This site will be a social network-based hotel/condo/vacation rental/activities/ and guide service all based on web 2.0 social network approaches where local experts provide advice. When we launch that there will be affiliate opportunities there, but I'd be really surprised if they didn't already exist.
Bill,
what impresses me about you is the mount of things you do/know/own... and you're always in the water!
Do you sleep at all?
Thanks for the tips.
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