It’s good to see most of us survived ...
It’s good to see most of us survived ...
So I’m rather embarrassed to confess that my numbers are so far down this year. But in spite of the comparatively dismal statistics I posted, my stoke is certainly up with large progress on many fronts. Especially with wave riding, fin strategies, rig handling, the skatesailing attack and my preparations to bring video productions forward. Yeah, I’ve only been thinking about making videos for about thirty years. So it’ll feel especially good to finally be getting around to kicking a few out there. But now, the dreaded numbers.
The board I used most: Not too surprisingly, the 92 liter pyramid has already seen 59 days on the water since I got her in April. The 85 quad LS was my next most gone to board with 51 days. I counted another 18 days on the Monster even though several of those were rather marginal on the satisfaction spectrum. But the the single fin eighty-something and 6 more on the sixty-something thruster.
Most used sail: Perhaps more surprisingly, I logged fifty days on my 4.0 Banzai. But I should further confess that all but four of those were skatesailing. If I don't count the skatesailing, most used sail was the 5.3 G4 with 44 days on the water. My 5.7 and 5.0 Banzais saw 28 and 26 days respectively. Sure I took another forty days on that 4.2 G4, but only fourteen of those were actually on the ocean.
Most sailed spots: So I sailed the Cape Sebastian on 47 days, but that wasn't the place I sailed most. No, the Port of Gold Beach must have thought I was camping out with 58 days skatesailing there by the airport.
There were another twenty-one days at the South jetty of the Rogue. But for someone who claims they never sail at the Rock, I was a little alarmed to see that I rigged and went out at the Rock eighteen days last year. And not all just right before the contest to train for that either. What's that about? The wave famine in the Cape? Wanting to sail with the crew once in ahwile? Certainly wasn't because the Rock was breaking so unreal, though I do recall some really fun days there.
So I logged another six days at the North jetty on south winds. Also on south winds, four more at the N.Bandon jetty and three down at the Pistol River mouth. Caught two days each at Crescent City, South Beach and Cheap Beach. And one each at Crushers, Bastendorff and Face Rock.
While the skatepark sailing was elusive this last year, I'm certainly committed to dialing that program up a little in the coming seasons. And I was completely grateful to catch a couple ultra smooth sessions in a park up in Eugene. While I didn't catch any wind in Reedsport this year, a visit to Klamath Falls blew my mind as that park shows huge promise and will hopefully star in an upcoming video if I can get some wind there next time. It looks to be one of the more perfect sailparks I've seen out here. A solid blend of old and new school, wide open to the wind, underutilized and it features a huge snake run into a well over mast high bowl.
My 2014 numbers:
1/15/15
... another trip around the sun. And what a trip it’s been. Sure there were a few injuries along the way and some casualties as well. But all in all, it seems we didn’t fare too badly considering what a mess we’ve made of the place. For it really is such an amazing time we get to be alive. And I’m even more committed than always to make the very most of it by bringing far more of my undivided stoke to bear on the moment.
• Total sailing days: 192
• Days sailing on the water: 115
• Days skateboardsailing: 74
• Days sandsailing: 8
• Days on the water missed working, whimping out, making bad calls or being unwilling to drive for: 26
• Days sailing Nelscott Reef: 0
• Masts broken: 0
• Bones broken: 0
• Best and worst contest result: 1st place Grand Masters at the Pistol River Wave Bash
Just in case you’ve been wondering why we aren’t getting any observations from the buoy that is supposed to be posted off Point Saint George, check Cory’s rather etherial aerial video of where it ended up not long after the storm abated.
And I’ll bet you don’t know many windsurfers that have sailed around the Point Saint George buoy. As it’s usually moored far enough offshore (8 nautical miles) that it makes a rather challenging outside jibe mark. That last major storm changed that though as she broke free in the height of it and washed up on a local beach just north of Cape Sebastian. Then for awhile, she was resting in a parking lot near the Port of Gold Beach, which happens to be a spot I’ve been known to frequent on my skatesailing rig.
Here’s the obs link to the buoy for a few more details: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=46027
As a self-proclaimed demo center for Goya, Quatro, Chinook, DaKine and NoLimitz here on the southern Oregon Coast, I'm even further embarrassed to confess that while I had some international press (that MareTV thing in Germany), the front page of the local paper, a two page photo spread in Windsport along with a small feature on the van and a lot of people saw me on the water, I didn't have very many people take me up on trying out any of the fresh gear. Sure it's a production trying out new stuff and taking time out of those fleeting moments when wind, wave, daylight and schedule conspire to allow us to actually windsurf in the ocean. So I know it’s always a tough call whether to take time out to risk something new. And that we all tend to be all too set in our old ways. And that there are so many more barriers to trying any new sort of thing.
But I’m all about doing far more this year to spread the experience -- mostly by pushing my coaching program, encouraging more people to demo my gear and getting some video out there. Sure changing anything can come hard to most of us, so changing everything -- as much of the new school gear seems to do -- is a tall order for sure. Worthy though. As the gear is so much better than we are, there is no better path to not only challenging ourselves but taking our sailing right to the next level and beyond.
With so much gratitude, respect and stoke. Dana Miller. US2BHI. ____________\_
I hope you’ll forgive the fuzzy nature of these, as they are just frame grabs from a low res video experiment. They are noteworthy only in that it is my 4.0 Banzai out in about five knots of wind -- and that I shot them myself with a robotic tracker that followed the radio chip strapped to my knee. And yes, it’s waterproof. With a range of about a third of a mile. So look for more from the latest addition to Boardhead International’s photography staff.