Interesting day today here on the Island. My folks left for Africa. Yes that is interesting in and of itself. But personaly it works out great as the Family and I have moved "Up Island" to look after the house and Georges the Dog. It also means that for the next two weeks I am teaching the MV High School Maritime Studies class that my Father wrote the curriculum for and teaches. It's a great group of kids and it is always interesting to me to see what gets kids exciting during the learning process. I am think I had moments today that got them excited and thinking about the Ocean. We shall see how Wednesday goes...
When I went to bed last night you could hear the wind in the trees the Low pressure system that had stalled directly overhead all weekend had finally departed and the cool dry air of the High had started to rush in and fill the void. By the time I woke up at 0700 it was showing close to 30 Knots at Buzzards Bay Tower. Despite my yearning to get right out there and rig up I had to teach from 1050-1230. This worked out well since I had spoken to journalist David Filipov and Photojournalist Yoon Byun. David had seen the article in Outside Magazine on the 2011 North American Speed Sailing Invitational and was interested in writing about the 2012 NASSI. So he and Yoon decided to come down and find out more. Scheduling wise it worked out perfectly as they arrived into Oak Bluffs at 1245 and went straight to the Chappy Ferry. I met them there, we consolidated into my vehicle and headed out to Cape Poge where all the local boys were enjoying the solid WSW Breeze.
WestSouthWest is sort of an interesting direction for us here on the Island as it only takes a few degree difference in either direction to change venues from Katama to Cape Poge and then from Starboard to Port. It's interesting to see how much the geography of the Island really makes a difference. For instance Katama had a TWD of 260 degrees while Cape Poge had a TWD of 240 degrees. Needless to say those 20 degrees make a huge difference in picking which course to use. Today Cape Poge was definitely the favored location but unforetunately for the favored tack was Port. Currently my Port tack board is under construction as Stan Pleskunas just did the CNC milling today and was going to hand shape tonight before delivering both new boards to HydroFlex Surboards http://www.hydroflex-surfboards.com/index.php to glass and finish. So needless to say I was left with a short and tight Starboard Tack run. It actually was quite useful as I feel I am not as good on the tighter courses and tend to oversheet a little. It was good to work on balancing holding a tight line and still knowing when to let the board run. My 2013 BEST 10M TS seemed really good and much more stable than the 2012 so I was really happy with it's performance. I was a little dissapointed that I didnt get to try out the 8M Nemesis but hopefully I will have the opportunity soon.
In the end it was a really fun day. I greatly enjoyed doing the interview with David and Yoon. They were super nice guys and it was really great of them to come and cover the 2012 North American Speed Sailing Invitational. I will be interested to see how the story turns out. I think they got some good photos and video including some great blooper board off airs on my part.
Tomorrow Rob Douglas and I will be headed down to Newport to the Gorilla Rigging shop. I want Rob to meet Jim Stone and to see what the "Mad Scientist" can do with Rope. It should be quite interesting to have all three of us geeking it up in the shop.
Hope everyone had as great of a day as I did...till next time.
B
When I went to bed last night you could hear the wind in the trees the Low pressure system that had stalled directly overhead all weekend had finally departed and the cool dry air of the High had started to rush in and fill the void. By the time I woke up at 0700 it was showing close to 30 Knots at Buzzards Bay Tower. Despite my yearning to get right out there and rig up I had to teach from 1050-1230. This worked out well since I had spoken to journalist David Filipov and Photojournalist Yoon Byun. David had seen the article in Outside Magazine on the 2011 North American Speed Sailing Invitational and was interested in writing about the 2012 NASSI. So he and Yoon decided to come down and find out more. Scheduling wise it worked out perfectly as they arrived into Oak Bluffs at 1245 and went straight to the Chappy Ferry. I met them there, we consolidated into my vehicle and headed out to Cape Poge where all the local boys were enjoying the solid WSW Breeze.
WestSouthWest is sort of an interesting direction for us here on the Island as it only takes a few degree difference in either direction to change venues from Katama to Cape Poge and then from Starboard to Port. It's interesting to see how much the geography of the Island really makes a difference. For instance Katama had a TWD of 260 degrees while Cape Poge had a TWD of 240 degrees. Needless to say those 20 degrees make a huge difference in picking which course to use. Today Cape Poge was definitely the favored location but unforetunately for the favored tack was Port. Currently my Port tack board is under construction as Stan Pleskunas just did the CNC milling today and was going to hand shape tonight before delivering both new boards to HydroFlex Surboards http://www.hydroflex-surfboards.com/index.php to glass and finish. So needless to say I was left with a short and tight Starboard Tack run. It actually was quite useful as I feel I am not as good on the tighter courses and tend to oversheet a little. It was good to work on balancing holding a tight line and still knowing when to let the board run. My 2013 BEST 10M TS seemed really good and much more stable than the 2012 so I was really happy with it's performance. I was a little dissapointed that I didnt get to try out the 8M Nemesis but hopefully I will have the opportunity soon.
In the end it was a really fun day. I greatly enjoyed doing the interview with David and Yoon. They were super nice guys and it was really great of them to come and cover the 2012 North American Speed Sailing Invitational. I will be interested to see how the story turns out. I think they got some good photos and video including some great blooper board off airs on my part.
Tomorrow Rob Douglas and I will be headed down to Newport to the Gorilla Rigging shop. I want Rob to meet Jim Stone and to see what the "Mad Scientist" can do with Rope. It should be quite interesting to have all three of us geeking it up in the shop.
Hope everyone had as great of a day as I did...till next time.
B
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