what a season we have in store!!!!!

Hi everybody... sorry it's been a while since I posted.  Things are going 1000 miles an hour here as the season rapidly approaches.  First and foremost, let's talk about what's been happening in the water.  I got my first windsurf session in last Saturday at Wolf Lake.  It was HOWLING, gusting into the 40's.  I started the day on 5.5m and ended overpowered on 4.6m!  What a great start to the season, shaking off the cobwebs and enjoying some blistering speed runs and powerful jibes.  Sorry, but I didn't get any action shots... maybe next time.

Other than that one windsurf session, it's been all about waves here.  We're having a slow start to spring with colder-than-normal temps, which arrive accompanied by strong North winds that mean... you guessed it... WAVES for us south-enders.  These next two shots I grabbed off of Facebook... that's Chicago surfer Tommy Shimenetto getting some action at Ogden Dunes.  I missed this session due to work, but I've had a few good surf sessions lately and a lot of other Great Lakes surfers have been posting some pretty amazing pics around FaceBook.  It's been a great surf season.

BUT, it's almost time to swap bottom turns for buoy turns... that's right, race season is just around the corner and if you've been lagging on training as I have, you might want to turn up the intensity a notch or two.  I was kind of nervous about being a bit behind in my training, but recent developments have put me into a full-on panic!  Here's the scoop...

A few weeks ago I was approached by the organizers of Leon's Triathlon, which runs on June 2nd at Wolf Lake in Hammond, Indiana.  Leon's is the Midwest Qualifier for USA Triathlon, so it's a well attended event hosting over 650 participants.  After a few phone calls with the event's incredibly enthusiastic founder, Leon Wolek, it was decided that we had an opportunity to make history... and we seized it.  We're a few days away from the official announcement, but I can take the liberty of letting the cat peek out of the bag here on the blog.  Leon's Triathlon will be the first-ever USAT Qualifying Triathlon to feature a brand new format, SUP TRI.  In SUP TRI we're going to replace the swim portion of the triathlon with a standup paddleboard race.  This is going to be intense!  It's an Olympic distance event, so we'll be looking at a 4.5km SUP leg on a technical course with a bunch of buoy turns.  After the SUP leg athletes will jump on their bikes for a 40km road ride, then put on the running shoes and do a 10km run.  There will be details up on the Leon's Triathlon website sometime next week, so if you're interested in entering the race check out their site and join us to make history!

In addition to Leon's Tri, there's also a new Spring race series being pulled together called The Amped Up Midwest SUP Cup.  This series kicks off in Fontana, Wisconsin on May 4-5 and features a race each weekend through June 22.  Click the photo above for a closer look at the schedule.  I'll be at the May 4-5 event in Fontana, so if you can make it come on up and get on the water with me.

And finally, if you aren't already dialed in to the Midwest Standup Paddleboard Championship series, here's the link to the BIG ENCHILADA of Midwest SUP racing.  Midwest SUP is our own WPA-sanctioned race series.  If you want to accumulate points toward the regional championship and possibly even win yourself a spot at the nationals, this is the series you must compete in.  Of course, if you couldn't care less about points, championships or even casually paddling around a racecourse, these events are still a blast.  There's always food, music, clinics, boards to demo and the generally raucous scene that goes with any SUP event.  Do yourself a favor and get out to at least one of these events to see all that the SUP community has to offer.

OK... that's it for today.  Hope you're getting out on the water a bit and looking forward to an incredible season of Midwest SUP!  See you all out on the water soon!

long island windsurfing

    

Today Long Island is reeling from the effects of Tropical Storm Sandy so I guess it's a good day to post this video to remind everyone that it won't be long before the skies clear, the cleanup is done and we're back to having fun on the water.  I hope all my friends out East are safe.  Thanks again to Jimi for sharing his gear for this epic session!

long island

Windy City Waterman is on the road.  Last week we pointed the Element toward the rising sun then put the pedal to the floor and kept it there until our toes were in the ocean.  Here are some pics from the first stage of our epic trip...

Once we landed on Long Island, I rang up Hampton Watersports to inquire as to where we might do a bit of windsurfing.  "Mattituck Yacht Club" was the answer and the right one at that.  It was blowing 25 knots when we arrived and over 40 by the end of the session.

Unfortunately I had only brought sails down to 5.5, but on the beach I met Jimi, who was missing a few vital rig components.  Between the two of us we pulled together a 4.2/75 ltr kit and hit the water, taking turns enjoying the epic conditions.  I mounted the GoPro to the boom, so look forward to a nice video in the near future.

I was watching this lanky fellow throw forward loops on the water and when he came in he just seemed familiar... turned out to be Jace Panebianco, former PWA pro turned film maker (and not just late night skin-emax films either... Sorry Jace but some things can never be forgotten).  Jace is the man behind The Windsurfing Movie and The Windsurfing Movie II.  If you haven't seen them, stop reading this and go find a copy.  They are must have's for any windsurfer.

Later, we headed out to Montauk, stopping in at the local Starboard dealer for some info on the conditions at the best surf breaks.

They sent us to The Ditch, a point-break famous for great waves and tasty snacks from the Ditch Witch food cart.  Bummer for us she had closed down by the time we got there...

The day's conditions are posted under Old Glory.  Now that's what I call 'America the Beautiful'!

The beach scene...

The surf scene...

And then it was on to Oak Island.  Kim's cousin George keeps the family cottage there.  No electricity. No phone.  No TV.  Working toilet.  That's right... PARADISE.

The paddleboards had their own mooring...

Tizzy lost her first tooth...

Kim took about 12,427,385,354,966,435 photos...

There was only one way to get to the island... by boat...

Well, only two ways...

Tizzy caught her first fish...

We did some clammin'...

We did some chillin'...

We did some singin'...

And some goofin' around...

We're having a blast and hope you are too!  See you on the water... SOON, I hope!

an old-school hero and some AWT action

Do you remember this guy???

No?  Well, that's Ian Boyd.  He was a pretty awesome windsurfer back when I got into the sport (uh, we're talking 'going-to-see-the-new-film-back-to-the-future' days).  He was a solid performer on the PWA tour and an inspiration to weekend warriors like myself.  These days, Ian runs a digital media studio in California called Cosmic Planet.

Being an amateur videographer myself, I've enjoyed watching Ian's videos.  He's pretty creative and manages to pull off a lot of interesting points-of-view working mostly with a GoPro camera, as I do.  The following video is a highlights film he shot of the recent AWT event at Waddell Creek.  By the way, if you don't know about it, the American Windsurfing Tour was resurrected in 2010 after like a 15- or 20-year hiatus, and is the only professional windsurfing comp held on the American mainland.  Pretty awesome.

As Ian mentions on his Vimeo page, the crew at this event "ripped the top off Waddell with a level of wave sailing performance never seen before at that beach."  When I watch this video I'm struck and humbled by the speed, commitment and power that these sailors bring to some pretty sloppy conditions.   It's amazing how far the sport has progressed... Enjoy.

BTW... This vid was not shot on a GoPro... check out Ian's other videos to see some of his GP work.

"a seemingly impossible water craft challenge"

Kai just after his Lake Michigan crossing last week.

This quote from MarketWatch about the Kai Lenny's Lake Michigan crossing got me all riled up...


"CHICAGO, May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- In a test of mental fitness and physical stamina against the whims of open water, 19-year-old Red Bull Athlete Kai Lenny made Lake Michigan his next conquest by crossing the lake by wind surfing, starting at Sturgeon Bay, WI and landing in Frankfort, MI, this past Friday, May 18, 2012. Lake Michigan has seen its array of boats, jet skis, swimmers and sailors through the years, but this was the first time anyone has windsurfed from the west to east coast of Lake Michigan, in a seemingly impossible water craft challenge."


Now, I'm a huge fan of Kai's so I'll state right from the start that this post is not about dis-ing the Hawaiian Waterman, but I've got to protest this mis-information... Kai is NOT the first guy to windsurf across Lake Michigan.  Many Chicago windsurfers have done it (including my buddy Dieter, who is over 70 years old!), and probably a bunch of windsurfers from the Lake's Wisconsin and Michigan shores as well.  


Of course, just because people have done it before doesn't mean it's not cool.  I wasn't the first guy to SUP 50+ miles on Lake Michigan in one day either, but it still felt really good to accomplish that goal.  Kai crossing our Lake is awesome, but it also begs the question, 'Why here?'  As a professional water athlete, Kai gets to travel to the most exotic locales in the world, windsurfing, SUPing, surfing & kiting in the best conditions on the planet.  Still, he considered crossing Lake Michigan a challenge and having done it, a great accomplishment.  Or, as the reporters called it, "a test of mental fitness and physical stamina against the whims of open water."  


So good for you Kai.  You are THE MAN... but so are a lot of non-redbull-sponsored Lake Michigan sailors who've been braving everything She has to throw at them for decades.  For my part, I just want to give credit where credit is due... get ready, now... here it comes:  If you windsurf Lake Michigan, you are a real bad ass.  Congratulations.  See you on the water.

7 X 7 Spring Windsurfing

My artsy-video-making friends use the 7 x 7 format (7 clips of 7 seconds each) as an exercise in quick editing. You'd be surprised at how well they can tell a story with 49 seconds of smartly edited footage. I'm not sure if that's what I'm doing here, but this is 7 X 7 from yesterday's windsurfing session. The soundtrack is titled, 'Como te Extrano." It means 'how I miss you', which is how we feel after the long winter off the water. Those first few sessions of the season are pure magic.

pawel smosna KILLING IT

As promised, here is the footage from Thursday's big day at Greenwood.  Paul, was killing it.  So glad I put the camera on his rig!  Great sailing, Paul!