Foiling in Ice...Not possible. But there was large amount of ice in Katama today and a little bit of foiling.
I was rather surprised today when we drove down to Edgartown Great Pond to find the entire southern shoreline frozen solid. I was even able to walk out  fifteen feet or so before I heard or felt any signs of breaking. So we decided to go to Katama Bay but unfortunately the Trustees of Reservation has closed the access road to Norton Point which made things difficult. But with temperatures hovering close to 60 degrees and a south wind at 25-32 Knots I was not going to be stopped. Even if it meant I had to break through some ice. So we rig up with me opting for a BEST Kiteboarding 12 Meter TS and head for a little spot up in Katama that had open water. IT was only about 200 Meters long and it didn't take long for one of us to venture through the ice. It was not me however as I was struggling trying to stay upright on my virgin homebuilt foiling speedboard. So after getting back up on top of the water I decided to head toward what I thought was a soft spot in the ice. It was not and I crashed hard. The ice was only about 2 inches thick and was breaking apart decently easy as the salt content is pretty high in the bay but it still kinda hurt against the legs and I thought a few times I was going to rip my wetsuit. So after struggling through the ice for 100 meters or so I was finally able to reach some open water. 
With myself free of the ice I was now determined to see if I could ride this board. The first thing that I noticed was that the board was very difficult to ride when I leaned back into the harness. By increasing the boards heel angle I expected the lift to increase however the force was to windward instead of upwards. When I tested a curved forward Fin on my course board I found a similar problem in that as the fin loaded up and increased lift it became difficult to hold it in a straight line. In the case of the SpeedBoard this would indicate an improper pitch angle or a difference in pitch angles between the two foils. I found that by riding the board flatter it was easier to maintain course and when I pressed the nose of the board further downwind and shifter my weight back then the board would begin to lift up out of the water. The forward foil has an increased chord length and significantly more surface area so it tended to lift fast but as the lift increased the forward foil would often withdraw from the water and then the board would lose that opposing force and pitching forward begin. I got better at controlling the pitch but it seems that having sharper curve towards the bottom of the foil or even a very small horizontal wing might increase the stability. 
For now I will focus on the pitch angles and perhaps trying it out when I am not fully overpowered on my 12 meter. Oh and maybe I will wait until there isn't any ice in the ponds. Although I did kind of enjoy the adventure of the ice present. It was beautiful to kite around although I did come close to making a fatal mistake. I switched to my buddy's twin tip to launch a few airs and after getting the feel of his board I boosted one a little harder than I meant to and enjoyed a long flight. So long in fact that I almost ended up landing on the ice. Luckily I was able to sheet out early enough to land about ten feet shy of the ice line.
All and all it was a fantastic day and it was an interesting experience to try my first attempt a foiling on my home built skunk labs special. I think that J Foils or perhaps L FOils can work on Kiteboards and I think they could have a benefit as they could decrease a reliance on perfect water texture. I will make some modifications and try it again. Maybe some of my Mothie friends who have a bit more experience in the foiling arena will weigh in and help me out.
Intersting just as I was clicking submit I saw an article in Scuttlebutt about the curved foils on the new Olympic Multihull the Nacra 17. Here is the link to the article if you are interested. http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/ 
Below is a few short clips showing what it looked like today.
All the best.
Brock 

I couldn't resist posting this trailer on yesterday's events in Nazare Portugal. Check out the size of these monsters! One use to think that the only big wave surfing was only happening in the Pacific. Not anymore....

One of the chief arguments against Kiteboarding in the Olympics was the lack of a Junior Development pipeline and I think we need to change this. Luckily I have two great nephews who are 10 and 14 year old and since I am always searching for a good Christmas/Birthday present for them I decided that a Trainer Kite from BEST Kiteboarding was the perfect solution to all problems.
BEST makes a 1.5 Meter and a 2.5 Meter Trainer Kite. I opted for the 2.5 Meter Kite as it has a safety 3rd line. This allows the user to easily collapse and fully de-power the kite by simply releasing the bar. It also makes relaunching very simple. 
So after 3 weeks of planning between travel schedule and their rigorous activity schedule we met up in Concord Mass for our first lesson, the conditions were not optimal with the temperature hovering right around 15 Degrees at 10 AM and the wind blowing from the North West between 4 MPH and 16 MPH. But it didn't matter as the kite was quick to rig and launch and the boys were excited and well dressed. 
After a quick safety briefing and rigging lesson we launched the kite and I quickly handed it over to 10 year old Miles. He was quick to change his arm movements from the incorrect "steering wheel" motions to the more correct push and pull of the bar. Within 10 minutes he relaxed more in his movements and you could see the kite begin to fly in a more controlled manner. Then as the wind increased you could see his shoulders get pulled forward over his hips and on just before he was about to get tossed he released the bar, the safety line deployed and the kite collapsed. It was great to see everything work as planned and you could see his confidence grow. He now knew he was safe and from there his skills skyrocketed! Below are two videos of Miles after only 20 minutes of flying a kite. That's right it took he and his brother only 20 minutes to figure out what takes most adults an entire morning. Both boys quickly began to understand the power stroke of kite and when to lean back into it. Z my older nephew even began to down loop the kite which gave him great joy as it produced more power and gave him a little more thrill. He was also quick to learn the relaunch technique.

So what are the keys to teaching kids about Kites and Kiteboarding?
1. Kites are powerful! Respect the power.
2. Learn the Safety System and use it. 
3. Proper equipment. Give kids new equipment with new technologies.
4. Proper Location. Put them in a place with steady winds and plenty of room to make mistakes. 
5. Let them fly the kite, don't "show them how to do it"

Huge Thank You to my Nephews Miles and Zander for coming out and braving the cold. It was an amazing experience for me. Who knows maybe by the time ISAF and the Olympic Committee get their act together these guys or someone like them will be ready. 

I enjoyed this 26 Minute piece on Photographer John Bilderback. If you read any Kiting or Surfing publications his work is always featured and it's interesting to learn more about the man behind the lens.

Damien Leroy is one of the nicest guys on the planet and a great Kiteboarder. I have had the opportunity to work with him on the 2011 NASSCI and then compete against him for the 2012 NASSCI. He is someone who truly enjoys life and makes the most of each day, check out his latest Video.

This morning I had great visions. Over the night we had received a good blast of Winter and were left with 5" of fluffy Powder and a solid 25-30 Knots of WNW Winds and having been doing some time downstairs in my shop I was really keen to get out and test a proto speed board. I wasn't discouraged by the 29 degree temp and I wasn't discouraged by the 5" of snow however I was discouraged by the fact that Dykes Bridge(Kennedy's Bridge) was chained off by the Trustees of Reservation. I knew the 4X4 roads out on Cape Poge were still in rough shape from Hurricane Sandy but I was really surprised to find the only vehicle access to be fully shut down. 
I looked at a few other places but to no avail everything was chopped up and had tough wind angles. The one bonus to it all was that it was really nice to take my wife out for a beautiful drive around Chappaquidick with a hot cup of coffee in hand. With all that said it looks like the arctic air has fully set in and MVY will be enjoying some very chilly weather....Now how am I going to test this board?

All this cold weather is quite a change from last week when I was in Ft. Lauderdale setting up Vesper. The boat had been trucked from San Francisco last week and it was nice to get down to Florida and set it up. Prior to the trip I had been speaking with Brian Scall at the Dancing Turtle and he was asking me some questions about how the boat goes together so I thought I would include this quick little shot of the boat going on the keel. 

Just saw this video from Ryan Breymaier who is currently attempting the New York-San Francisco Record aboard the modified Volvo 70 Maserati with skipper Giovani Soldini. 
Ryan has a very impressive resume in the IMOCA Class and is obviously gearing up for a Vendee Globe attempt next time. He should be somebody interesting to watch.

So Winter has definitely set in here on the Vineyard and even though the Blues and Stripers have headed south for warmer waters we still have some great treats in the water. Lately I have been doing some clamming and scalloping with my buddies when the wind is down. Think it's cold? Check out this video.

2012 was without a doubt the best year of my life. I am not sure if I have ever recognized that achievement at the end of a year. To be able to look back on the year, the adventures, the achievements and undoubtedly say that this was the best year in my 33 years on earth is pretty special. 
So, here's to 2013...Lots of things starting to come together on the sailing, kiting and family side. I am starting to make annual travels to and from Florida and the Caribbean.
I did edit a short video of our quick testing session session out in San Francisco. It was great to get back out sailing on Vesper and have a look at some new sails and gear as we prepare for the 2013 World Championships. It was also fun to try out some new Zeal Optics sunglasses. I had used their goggles for the NASSCI and was really impressed and Zeal was kind enough to send me a few pairs of shades to try out. Having worn a number of other brands it was really interesting to try on the Zeals. They were significantly lighter than any other shades and they stuck to my nose like they were glued on. 
Check out their website for more info http://www.zealoptics.com/