... 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.