Yesterday was and "Office Day." I spent the morning sending out Sponsor letters, analyzing board design and trying to catch up on a few bills. But the afternoon was very interesting. I met with Dave Weagle who is a good friend and genius engineer with several patents to his name. It's funny how sometimes you go to someone with one question and you end up answering others. 
Today was a little more exciting as the Easterly breeze built throughout the morning. Some kiting friends from Boston have rented a house down here and were looking to see the Island's more remote locations. I was more than happy to oblige. 
SNAP! The feeling of cracking, snapping and all out destroying the lip of a wave is one of the best feelings in KiteSurfing. When the movement of the wave, the movement of the kite and the speed of your board all come together into a perfect turn on the face of a wave the sensation is unlike anything else. The power you feel as the wave rears up pressing against your board. Then the building energy in your knees. You send the kite back from where you came and then just before the kite pulls you, your legs use all the accumulated energy to snap the board off the top of the wave as the kite kicks into gear and you go rocketing back down the wave in the other direction. I love this sensation. Especially on one of my numerous waves when just as I snap the board around a little 10" Albie jumps out of the water not more than a foot in front of my board.

I like Coffee! What can I say? I grew up in a house where no one drank coffee and now I love it...The stronger the better. Triple shot of Espresso? YES PLEASE! 
With this love of Coffee in mind it is with great excitement that I announce my partnership with The Dancing Turtle Coffee Shop in Hatteras, NC. http://thedancingturtle.com/
Over the weekend I met with owners Evan O'Connell and Brian Scall and I was completely taken aback and humbled when they asked me to represent their brand. If you have never been to The Dancing Turtle it is well worth the drive down to the Outer Banks. Really any excuse to drive to the Outer Banks should be met with immediate departure. But the warm sanctuary of the Dancing Turtle should be the keys in the ignition. It's been a few years since my last trip down but upon discussion my wife's eyes immediately were lost in hot coffee and comfortable setting. It really is that kind of place. Go there once and you will always remember it with a smile on your face.

When I was a kid and I played Hockey and Soccer and all those sports that you play when you were a kid my father always stressed the importance of working harder than anyone else on the field, rink, etc. This may have been due to the fact that I was slightly smaller and scrawnier than most kids my age but either way it was always a trait I tried to carry forth with me. I am not sure in school I necessarily exhibited the same qualities but on the field I always tried to "out hustle" the next guy.
Today was one of those days where it was really easy to be the first one on the water and the last one off. Sunny, 65 degrees and blowing 20 knots from the SouthWest. 
I tried to spend the majority of the day on the SpeedBoard. It's sort of funny to ride it after measuring it and then seeing it in a CAD file and then seeing the first glimpses of what the new boards will look like. I almost feel like it is the bastard son. I now see all it's weaknesses I feel it's drawbacks. Yet on the other hand its comfortable. I know how it will feel during certain parts of the run, I know how it will handle the chop and again I know when it will go fast and when it won't. Today it did allright. The angle on the practice runs in Katama was relatively deep and the water texture was really smooth. Unfortunately the wind never quite jumped up the way I hoped it would. I was riding my 15M and although I felt powered up I never felt like I was fully lit. I was never reaching for the depower line with fear in my eyes. But a man can always hope for more tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow all my 2013 BEST Kites arrive tomorrow at some point. You think UPS will be nice to me and deliver them early? That would be a nice early birthday present.
The day ended with that fire ball lighting a bright orange sky with a waxing moon in the SouthEast. My rooster tail behind me and glassy water in front of me..Today was indeed a good day.

It's been two weeks since I got home from San Francisco and I can finally feel my body start to get back into it rhythm. Good food, Good time with my family and lots of time on the water. 
Yesterday was the first day that I really stepped back on my course board in earnest. It's amazing what you forget but also amazing what you remember. For instance I forgot how much of an Anaerobic activity it is to ride that board in the chop but I also quickly remembered how much fun and how rewarding it is. The board is relatively large compared with other Kiteboards. Roughly 170 cm long and 70 cm wide it has an enormous amount of float and with my 36cm long fins it has an absurd amount of power capability in it. With 14-17 knots of wind at Cow Bay I was ripping on my 15M while most everyone else was on 17M and looking only decently powered up. I was able to do some long reaches out to R2 and beyond. It felt good to just get in the rhythm of moving over the waves. Wind was from the NW and so as you got out towards R2 there were some decent hip high waves which really make you move the legs. The difficult part in to try and keep your body straight and not hunched over the board. This is where the Gorilla Bar really comes in handy because you can have one hand on the trim system and one hand on the bar. Always adjusting to the wind. When I go upwind I find I am looking ahead to the next puff AND the next wave trying to process how I am going to navigate both and be proactive in my movements not reactive. This can be more difficult as you get more tired. On the other hand when I am going downwind in the chop I find myself really just looking at the waves and not so much at the wind. The board is so difficult to maneuver downwind and takes so much weight and trim adjustment when the waves are up that so far I have not been as good at looking at the wind. Then again we are always going faster than the wind so that helps.
After a lunch break I went to meet up with Rob and take a look at his SPOTZ by JC Foil Board. Very interesting to look at it up close. 
The forward foil is concave on the bottom while the aft foil is convex on the bottom. The foils also appeared to have a large amount of resin saturation in the carbon and looked rather brittle.
I think there is huge room for development here and I cant wait to get started. 
More to come shortly.
B

My eyes are bloodshot, my hair feels like straw, my face is wind burnt and my muscles are sore. Goddamn' I am lucky! The last three days I have spent more of the daylight wet then dry. 
Tuesday was easily the best day on the water in months. I feel like I did it all.
Started with a little bit of speed board training. I was on my 12M and the wind was still building so I didn't get any great speeds but it was interesting to see the video of my tail. I did this at the request of Stan Pleskunas who is designing my new speed boards. It was interesting to watch the way the water came of the tail, we both agreed it was a lot more turbulent than either of us would have suspected. Is this a result of too much rocker? Incorrect cutaway to the tail? Tail Fade? All sorts of questions to consider. 
Anyways with the work done and the breeze still building I switched to a smaller kite(7M TS), bigger board(5'6" Shortstick Surfboard) and  flopped over from the glassy flats of Tisbury Great Pond to the Ocean. Waves had built considerably throughout the afternoon and as I charged out through the shore break and headed West I had to pause for a minute and realize how lucky I am. Head high waves, winds were in the mid 20's and I was departing one set of friends to meet up with others about 6 miles down the beach. The smell of the sea foam was intoxicating, the waves were a light shade of green streaked with the white of the foam. Everything was in constant motion including me. It had been quite some time since a good strong weather system with wind and waves and it felt so good to be in the middle of it. At first the body works too hard, tries too hard, then after a few minutes you remember to work with the kite and the board not against it. Everything smoothes out, well except for the seas. The body relaxes, you start to enjoy the intoxication. Then it starts to come. A kite loop here, a heel side slash there, a smack of the lip, a deep bottom turn it all clicks. Then you misjudge get eaten by a wave, dropped into hole, lose your board, find your board get up and keep riding and laughing. It's all part of the experience, the learning.
Six miles of fetching with a little upwind work got me to the verySW tip of the Island. A friend of mine who is a stellar surfer had encouraged me to go check out the outside break known as Second Point. It was easy to tell that there was an enormous amount of water moving underneath my board. The currents that surround our Island often move at close to 4 knots and it was easy to see I was getting every bit of that. The building swell rushing headlong into the strong current and sizable boulders that lay just underneath the surface seemed to jack the waves up into these perfect glassy bowls. Wave after wave was placed before me with endless opportunities to explore my own comfort level and ability to control kite, board and body. Again sometimes achieving and sometimes failing but definitely laughing and learning constantly. What was so interesting was that nobody had followed me. I had rounded the corner and was all by myself. No boats, no kiters, no surfers and certainly no beachgoers or onlookers just myself and the Sea. I literally had this perfect point break all to myself. 
Since tuesday afternoon I have improved upon my SUP skills, bodysurfed some gorgeous waves that I couldn't ride on a surfboard and even hopped on my course board for the first time since July. 
There have been a few exciting developments on the sponsorship and partner front which I will be unveiling shortly. I have been working hard with Stan to finalize design on the speed board and overall I have just been trying to work hard, push my body and get ready for the NASSI which starts way too soon.
After I shot the video of my speed board tail for Stan I played around did a quick run through this gorgeous little canal. I love this spot, especially with the Golden Rod blooming this time of year. Funny to think that it was this glassy here and just over the dunes and only 100 meters to the South the waves were booming. I guess that is the beauty of barrier beaches and coastal ponds. 
Trying to sort out a little expedition for Sunday. We shall see if the forecast delivers.
All the best.
B

Today was an amazing day and deserves a full write up which it is not going to get right now because I am back up and on the water at O'Dark 30.
Here is a quick video I shot of the tail on my speed board. I was a little underpowered and tight at the beginning of the run and you can see the tail pressing in a little too deep. End of the run it starts to look better.

Folks might have seen this piece posted around Sailing sites. Very cool look into the AC World and the foiling that is now becoming the norm. Some great up close shots of what they are using too.

STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY  MORNING    
TUE  S WINDS 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 KT... INCREASING  TO 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 40 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. SEAS 3 TO  5 FT. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.  
TUE NIGHT  S WINDS 20 TO 25 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 45 KT. SEAS  7 TO 10 FT. SHOWERS. VSBY 1 TO 3 NM.  
WED  S WINDS 20 TO 25 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 45 KT...BECOMING W  15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 35 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. SEAS 7 TO  10 FT. SHOWERS. VSBY 1 TO 3 NM.  
WED NIGHT  NE WINDS 15 TO 20 KT...INCREASING TO 20 TO 25 KT  AFTER MIDNIGHT. GUSTS UP TO 30 KT. SEAS 4 TO 7 FT. A CHANCE OF  SHOWERS.  THU  NE WINDS 20 TO 25 KT...DIMINISHING TO 15 TO 20 KT IN THE  AFTERNOON. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS. 

What is it about a good forecast that still gets me going? I spend all night before hand tweaking my gear, checking forecasts, retweaking, packing the car.....on and on I go until about 3AM.
I have been Kiting for something like 6 years and still I get all giddy when its going to blow. I love it.
So tonight is tweaking, chargin batteries, checking weather sites, buoy reports, texting riding buddies, telling my wife that I definitely wont be picking up or dropping off our son at school for the next few days.
Its ridiculous and yet I still cant get enough of it. 
Hopefully everything will come together and I will have some good reports in the next few days.

Damn, what a weekend!
Friday evening went out for a short kite session with my son around sunset. There wasn't much wind, which is always good when you have a four year old riding on your board. We could barely plane but it was really just an excuse to get out of the house and on the water. In the end the best part was sitting on the tailgate discussing the different colors the sky could turn. Absolute riot listening to my son discuss this. The kid literally had me in stitches.
Saturday was devoted to some much needed family time after the hectic travel of the summer. We went for a walk at Lobsterville Beach and looked for sea glass just as the cold front was pushing through with a line of showers. It was a little frustrating as the wind came up to 19-21 knots and of course I had taken my harness out of the truck to do some adjustments. The wind was short lived luckily and by the time we ate lunch the sun had come out and I made it down to Spring Point for a nice little skin diving session. Often times on the North shore you can dive amongst the boulders and catch site of some good size stripers but with the NW-North Wind the water was a little murky and the only thing I saw were a couple of Tautog's. Regardless it was great to get wet, play in the water and just enjoy swimming and seeing the watery part of the world. I took a quick little video. Check out the color of the eel grass, it was the most vibrant green I have ever seen and needed no video enhancement.
Sunday was spent with a little time at home in the morning and then I headed up island to catch some waves. If I had been really on my game I would have gotten up early when the waves were up but since my skills on the SUP are still categorized in the novice category it was probably a good call that I waited. I headed for Long Point but unfortunately The Trustees of Reservation has switched the entrance from the Summer to the Winter. The winter one is great and beautiful but the walk is a little longer and given the fact that the family was going to meet me I opted to go hit Lucy Vincent Beach. All summer long LVB is a permit only beach which means it is open to Chilmark residents who obtain/pay for a pass. While this is not really an issue as my folks are Chilmark residents it is nice to be able to roll up without switching vehicles and going through hula hoops.
LVB was low tide and gorgeous. Beautifully shaped little 4-5 foot waves with a nice side off wind was the perfect situation for a SUP novice such as myself. I caught a few good rides, had my fair share of nose dives and falls and managed to get some good exercise. It was good to get a nice piece of humble pie from the ocean although after eating my full I hit the beach to grab my fins and just do some bodysurfing. The family showed up a little while later and I switched modes and ended up finding ancient Shark's teeth in the cliff with my son. It's pretty amazing to be able to sort through some gravel and dust and find Shark's teeth that are thousands of years old. 
All and all a fantastic weekend. Forecast for the Tuesday and Wednesday looks really good SSE-25kts which will be great to do some testing...If my kites get here in time. Keep your fingers crossed.
B

If you were looking for a little bit more detailed photo of the Gorilla Racing Bar. Here it is.