Great perspective on Vineyard Conservation Society and the work they do. 
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Love this Trailer from Makewild Films. Was alerted to it by my buddy Marco Bava who shot most of it and is always looking for new angles and perspectives to his shots. 
I remember sitting Marina Hemingway in early 2006 watching this crazy Aussie world cruiser surfing the jagged reef break right in front of the marina entrance. At the time I didn't have the balls or the stick to paddle out but it was obvious there were some incredible spots.  You can buy the book here: www.makewild.co/the-cuba-unknown-book
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I would be remiss if I didn't also share MakeWils's sizzle reel because I do think it is pretty awesome.

Ok I need a little insanity when it comes to videos and this one from Mullaghmore Ireland definitely delivers.

It was a true pleasure to be invited onboard Schmidt Ocean Institutes R/V Falkor. Take a look back at our adventures, science and discoveries.

While the Bahamas isn't far enough south to be in the tradewinds it does offer some of the best kiteboarding in the Caribbean. In early november as the fronts roll off the Eastern seaboard and the low pressures deepen in the North Atlantic the Bahahamas is inundated with solid swell and breeze. For this adventure I teamed up with Sunsail Holidays for the first Kiteboarding Flotilla. We had four boats booked with twenty two characters and a whole bunch of fun scheduled in the outer Abacos. 
We kicked off in Marsh Harbor with everyone arriving from as far away as Vancouver, Seattle, Finland, and Argentina. The group immediately got into the fun with a kick off party and chart briefing sponsored by Nauti Seltzer. It was a great opportunity to look over the chart together and show everyone the possible locations for the week complete with waves, flat water cruising and pigs. With the sun setting and jet lag kicking in the group headed over to Snappas Restaurant for some dinner and dancing. The girls of the group were immediately taking over the dance floor while the guys seemed to congregate at the bar but after a few more libations the guys came out from the shadows and showed off their moves.

​Fowl Cay
Needless to say the 0900 departure for Fowl Cay came quickly and with a solid 25 knots from the East Northeast the boats set sails for Fowl Cay. Fowl Cay is a National Preserve and is one of the most exquisite spots to kite and dive. On this day with 6 to 8 foot waves on the outside of the reef the diving would have to wait. This was just fine as most of the group was itching to pump up kites and explore the inside and outside of the reef. It was absolutely fantastic to ride the slicks on the inside with little kickers wrapping around and then go out around to the outside where there were some seriously good reef breaks. Some of us even decided to run a downwinder through the reef to Nippers Bar where the rest of the group met us for another night of dinner and drinks. This downwinder was definitely one of the highlights for me as it was challenging with large coral heads and some very large waves which had built all day.
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Great Guana Cay
Day two kicked off on the beach off Nippers. At 0800 the wind was still ENE and around 22 knots. At lowtide Nippers offers a large beach with a fun shore break as well as some larger waves on the outside. The wind was a little weird for a bit with some lulls coming in around 17 knots but with most people running 11m Kites or larger the cruise down to Bakers Bay Resort was very fun and easy. The North side of Bakers Bay offers one of the most beautiful long beaches with side shore winds. You do need to be careful inside the channel as the current can be strong and the reef rather sharp. That afternoon everyone congregated onboard the boats for a late lunch of Fish Stew and Pina Coladas. 

Helpful Weather Links:
Ventusky Wind Maps
Barmometer Bobs Forecast

By now most of you know that the first Sunsail Kiteboarding Flotilla will be this November 5-12 in the Bahamas. I have to say I am pretty freaking fired up for this event as the Abacos are a beautiful part of the Bahamas and the Sunsail 444 Catamarans are absolutely a perfect way to the see them. I am also pretty pumped about the fact that we have some great partners joining us including Nauti Seltzer. 
So if you haven't signed up yet you better hurry as I think we only have one boat left out of the six we are taking. If you would like you can follow the link here. www.sunsail.com/flotilla-sailing/kiteboard

Les Voiles de Saint-Barth is far and away one of the best events ever created. The setting is beyond words, the racing is great and usually the company is pretty good too. It doesn't hurt to win for the third year in a row. 
This year was exceptionally light air except for day one and thus provided us with two lay days which provided us with more time to explore the waters surrounding the island. I have included a number of pics from Lorient Beach and the reef underneath it was well as our cliff jumping from the cliffs around the corner from Shell Beach. 

one of the things Les Voiles de Saint Barth always does well is the media. I love this wrap up video from NautiChannel.

Beautiful first day of racing here in Saint Barths with tight racing between Vesper and Spookie Racing. Spookie won the pin at the start and was able to extend their lead up the first beat. We trailed down the first run but were able to close the gap at the leeward mark they continued to extend up the second beat hitting more pressure and a solid right shift and maintained their lead until the run to Ile de Forchue. Downwind we seemed to do very well with a slightly building pressure and a few good shifts. By the time we dropped our kites at the Groupers we were neck and neck and luckily were able to draw closer line around the rocks to take position on their hip. We held there for a series of tacks when we were able to get in front of them and then lead them back to the finish. Overall it was a fantastic day of sailing here in Saint Barths.
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One of the questions I get asked about a lot is how do we move the boats from one sailing venue to another. It is often assumed that we sail them from venue to venue but more often than not we ship the boats on a large freight carrier. Here is a short video of how we launched the boat using the single point lift and a crane from Caribbean Racing Logistics in St. Thomas who we have worked with for years. 

Caribbean Racing Logistics offers full service logistics coordination in the Caribbean for Racing Programs with a 90 Ton Crane in St. Thomas. 

Having done a number of events in the 52 Super Series over the last few years its great to see the efforts 

This has to be one of the coolest videos circling the internet right now. Jean Baptiste Chandelier redefines what is possible as a pilot of a paraglider. I can't say that my Paragliding experience was quite as extreme as this and I think I would have tossed my cookies if it had been.