Wow, I've Been Discovered

Jeff Henderson wrote about me on his blog. Jeff is the owner and designer of Hot Sails Maui. I'm a fan of Hot Sails going back to my prior life as a windsurfer. I owned one of Jeff's original sail designs from Hood Sails when he lived on the east coast. He took the knowledge he gained in sail design as a young man and followed his dream. He moved to Maui and created Hot Sails Maui. That was like 20-25 years ago? I like sticking with a sail designer with experience! I avoid sail brands that change designers like they change underwear.

That old original Hood sail was redesigned by me into a camber induced sail, right when the camber inducer was invented. I wrote an article about how to make your own camber inducer and modify the sail. The article was published in a magazine and they gave me a lifetime free subscription for it. The mag folded a few years later.

Here is Jeff's blog http://www.hotsailsmaui.com/blog/2009/11/new-fades-on-super-freaks.html

Wide Tails

Photo from last weekends Miami Pro-Am windsurf race. Believe it or not, these are the latest designs for light wind racing.

Jacky and I did a SUP ocean downwind run today. The new boards are so much fun.

The Hatteras Ferry Terminal Today

Jacky trying to sail a 4.7 with wind gusts to 42 showing at the terminal. That doesn't work! We heard about the wind readings after we finished windsurfing.

Me taking Jacky's 4.7 for a spin

The view looking up and down the beach

This One is a Freak

My latest race board finally gets wet. Tested in this afternoons SW wind of 8-10 mph.

At 26 1/2 wide, it's as stable as my original (personal) 28" wide yellow board. That board and this board have wide tails, with this one having an "extra" wide tail.  Wide tails rule for down wind runs in my opinion. All my wide tail boards excel at staying on a plane while walking the deck to trim the nose. Pin tails don't have that luxury. Wide tails just run and run, like the Energizer Bunny.

I'm claiming this one as my personal board. My next and final board, will be Jacky's. It will likely be 25 1/2 to 25 3/4 wide. Then I'll retire from board building until next Winter.

Thanksgiving, Like Summer at the Beach

Wonderful Memories

Ah, the joys of windsurfing I had forgotten about.

1) Don't kick the fin when water starting
2) Be prepared to loose skin during light wind water starts

It's good to be back.....

Enhanced Oldies

Brad

Autry

Sexy Beast

My sexy new 5.8 Hot Sail Superfreak getting tested by CB1 this morning. Wohooo......
It's fun to be back into windsurfing after a 10 year absence.
The North End was rockin

Awesome Kite Jump

Almost Windsurfing

Hot Sails Super Freaks are here

A Real Race Fin

This is my new race fin. Custom made by Maui CNC. Maui CNC is the company making fins for the world tour pros (windsurfer) under various brand names, including Tectonics, MFC, Maui Ultra. These are the best built fins you can get. They specialize in fast turnaround of custom CNC G-10 fins made in Maui. I heard Ken Winner once ordered 2 or 3 grand in custom fins for race board development a year or so back.

These are so much better than the junk surf fins made from 3/8 fiberglass slabs that some guy with a grinder rounds the leading edge and tapers the back. Leaving the middle un-foiled and dead flat with no regard to anything resembling a proper foil.

Will it make me faster?  Probably not, but at least I'll know my fin isn't slowing me down.

New Race Board Done

Race boards number 4 and 5 completed. On the left we have 14'6 x 26.5 with extra wide tail. On the right we have 14'6 x 27 with wide tail.

Wide tail model




































Extra wide tail model

Sunday Morning

Surfmachine was on fire this morning

Surfmachine pays for it

Jacky

This doesn't look good like a good ending is coming up

Ouch! Hunter gets taken out....

Hunter

Big and Clean

The second wave hold down coming up!

Oops!

I see a PR Winter Vacation in our Future

Could this be us soon?

I've been burned out and bored by kiting this past year. I haven't touched a windsurfer in 10 years, after doing it for 20 years. Now that I've pulled my head out of the sand, I'm blown away by how much the sport has progressed in the last 10 years and now I'm hot to try it again. I'm going to take CB1s rig for a test session and see if the fire has returned.

North End Sunday Morning

Jacky's laughing at my falls.....

Pulled the Bag Today

Sealed the Blank Today

Afternoon Session Bigger than Morning Session

Unfortunately, I missed it because I was buried in EPS snow. Z and Jacky surfed at the house. Z said some sets were double over Jacky's head. They were both wired on adrenaline when they finished. Oh, and it was pure glass too. Painful to hear about.