Let me start with a photo of myself doing a little backwind ride on a small windswell one at Hoo.
I can't believe that, kook as I am, I'm starting to do that on a 7.10. I can only thank the practice I did on the longboard. If you want to learn something, try it first in the easiest possible conditions (and equipment). You'll learn it a lot faster.
Once in a while, I kind of like to do my bottom turns very deep. This one is way too deep though, and I'll be late for the hit...
... unlike Francisco Goya instead.
This was one of those windswell days at the beginning of the week (kind of gone now...).
Here's an email that Chico sent me yesterday:
GP-
I got some decent shots of you and others on Monday. Some are a big out of focus -- damn manual focus lens.
Check em out here
I love n.11 (Pascal in an aerial almost as high as the wave), n.17 & 34 (don't know the name, but that french guy rips) and n.27 showing Griffin sailing with his Superfreak at Lanes in a really beautiful light.
I just finished watching the DVD's of the BBC series Planet Earth (they are available on Amazon and plenty more places online).
Absolutely fantastic. The photography is unbelievable! And I love the strong environmental message too. I wish everybody would watch it (just like Hawaii a message in the waves).
It's going to be my Christmas present for my parents and my brother and sister families, for sure!
And last, BUT NOT LEAST, here's a link to a post on an interesting blog.
The post is about the greatest swell forecaster of all times. The one and only. The myth. The most respected and charismatic person in the Hawaii surfing world. A living legend, more than Laird Hamilton...
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Pat Caldwell.
6 comments:
Thanks for the plug! Think you summed up Pat's status pretty accurately! :) Nice site, gonna link. See ya Maui sometime, xo, c-grl
hey gp,
thanks for the flowers!
that french guy btw is jb caste, nice guy and great ripper!
see you at ho'o - flossie might bring some more waves!
aloha,
pascal
GP, your new SF looks really nice! '08? Is that Kevlar threads going from the outhaul grommet diagonally towards the top?
Hey c-grl,
nice blog you got!
Hi Pascal,
thanks for always helping out with the names of the sailors that I don't know.
Yeah, looks like we're gonna have some flossing action Tuesday and Wednesday...
Niclas,
that is a 04 SF!! I'm waiting for my new quiver to arrive and my old 4.7 was just too beat up (yes, it can happen also to SFs...). So I switched to this one that I scored at a garage sale for 25 bucks (don't be jelous... w/surf gear is the ONLY thing you can buy cheap in Maui). It had probably been in the water 10-15 times...
GP,
Thanks for the advice:
"If you want to learn something, try it first in the easiest possible conditions (and equipment). You'll learn it a lot faster."
Based on this advice I went back out on Saturday and Sunday in 5 to 8mph winds on my 7.0 Gaastra/205L Bic, VERY BORING, however I've worked through several problems that have been holding me back:
1. Not enough downhaul/outhaul
2. Battens not tightened enough.
3. Learned to pump my way back to shore without swimming, when the wind completely died.
4. I have finally balanced the fin and mast placement, which stabilized the board and sail. The sail no longer feels like my adversary....it is working for me. Tack and jibe are easy. That all said I'm ready for a decent wind, which won't be here (Alabama) until later next month. Your lessons last March have stuck with me. Thanks for the blog!
Rusty
Hi Rusty,
thanks for the comment.
Many people thinks:"Hey, if I manage to learn in tough conditions, I'll be very good!"
True. Too bad that learning in tough conditions will take 10 times longer than learning in easy conditions.
The best application of this is surfing.
Give me perfect peeling, clean, uncrowded three feet waves for a month, and after that I'll be ripping Hookipa like Kelly Slater...
Too bad there's no such a place on Earth... or at least I don't know where!
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