Monday, February 28, 2011

The Role

If you don't have enough speed to get the tail around for a re-entry or the wave's just not co-operating there's always the chance to turn the manoeuvre into a role. It's pretty much just doing an eskimo role on the face of the wave to regain the inside rail.

Check it out here. Pics by Ming

Foam Flick

When the wave has shut down in front of you and you still have speed there is a chance you can pull off a re-entry over the whitewater. Aim your kayak or waveski where the whitewater meets the lip throwing everything into it. Its important you pivot around the paddle and also use it to hold onto the wave. An extra paddle stroke might be needed to complete the manoeuvre.

Check it out here. Pics by Ming

Sunday, February 27, 2011

4 days on the Sunny Coast

Checked coastalwatch.com.au on thursday morning and the waves were coming. Caught up with the Random boys at the factory in the afternoon but they were way too busy making boats for a wave, Alex was pushing 3 feet so went in for a late one. The next morning Maroochydore was pushing 4 to 5 feet and Darren and I had some classic rides, we followed this up with another 2 hours at Moffat beach Caloundra, all surfed out by 12. Saturday it was back at Alex with the Random crew which meet every week for a kayak session, 3 to 4 feet and glassy, that afternoon the North Easter picked up so I headed over to Kawana which was still around 4 feet. Sunday and the swell had dropped to 2 to 3 feet but still managed a 2 hour session at Maroochydore. Over 10 hours in the water, Ming matched that behind the camera, check it all out here

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Time to start planning for Portugal

With less than 6 months to go to the world waveski titles in Santa Cruz Portugal its time to get things sorted. Air France seem to have the cheapest flights from Australia anyway although they just went up $200 from a month ago to $2500, these are only going to go up particularly with whats happening in the middle east and oil prices. Santa Cruz gets busy around Ocean Spirit time and accommodation becomes scarce, the Hotel Praia Azul is not a bad spot to stay about 5km south of the action right on the beach about 90 euro's per night. Santa Cruz is about 1 hr drive from Lisbon airport, your going to need a vehicle, you can pick one up through economycarrentals.com starting at $30 per day. Finally you need to register, go to worldwaveski.com print out the forms, fill them in, scan them and email them back. It will cost you $275 to enter 2 divisions including the association fee, I used the paypal option which was pretty painless, remember you will also need to be affiliated with your countries national body. I almost forgot bring some money to party with as Ocean Spirit is party central.

Santa Cruz (USA) PaddleFest less than 4 weeks away

Here's the latest from the Contest director Dennis Judson.

Paddle Powered Surf People,
The contest is about to turn on the key-here is the trailer of the event to get you excited.
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d1B-f8Hq5U&hd=1 It was produced by our videographer, Mikko, with a head cam GoPro of Galen at Davenport with snippets of last year’s excitement. You know the start of the event begins on the Wednesday the 16th, March 2011 @ Jim & Betty Crandall’s. Here they play host to all the paddle surfers from around the globe. They will feed you with every comfort food known to US folks. Here’s their invitation:
Dennis,
You can put us down for dinner for the world at 450 Cox Rd., Aptos at 6.pm on Wednesday of contest week. Don't know menu yet. Bring your own drinks.
Later,
Jim, Bettie, and Debbie Crandall
Join them and help them keep the left-overs at a minimum and listen to every big wave story of 2010 from around the planet.

Dennis Judson

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Sunday Session

After 2 weeks on the snowboard in Canada it was great to get back into the water again. Going from -10 to +30 was a bit of a shock to the system as well as my arms going a bit soft but there were a few nice ramps at my local break to cut loose on.

Pics by Ming. Check out the action here

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Ming scores 2nd & 3rd in Kayaksurf's photo of the year

Throughout the year if Ming gets a good shot we'll send it over to Luis at kayaksurf.net. Two of her best made the grade, check them out here