A Note On Safety

My recent post about the Bellingham Bay downwinder didn't make any mention of the safety precautions myself & my partner took to help diminish the dangers of big, cold water. I felt the need to let the 3.5 of you who read my blog know that safety & getting home alive is my number one goal, everyday.

Here are some of the precautions we took that day...

1) both dressed for submersion, full wetsuits, booties.

2)PFD's

3)leashes... hugely important!

4)my partner had a VHF marine radio... I should have had one too... I do now.

5)people knew our plan and our intended route.

6)we had hand signals for each other "I am ok" & "I need help."

7)we had a back up plan if the wind took us somewhere we didn't expect.

8)we went out with plenty of daylight (11am)

9)we kept an eye on each other

Some will say that a dry suit would be better & I won't argue that point. There are pros and cons to both wetsuits and dry suits in the water.

I hope those of you that read this blog will take into consideration these safety measures next time you go out. Be safe and have fun and stay alive!

Bellingham Bay Downwinder Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAhsDrjpInU

Big Wind Sunday

It was crazy-windy up here yesterday... sustained winds over 35 mph and gusts over 40 mph. My buddy Tom and I decided to do a downwinder from Marine Park to Locust since the wind was SSE. Perfect. We were both paddling the prototype race boards that Tom and his engineering team are developing. Mine was 12'3" and his was 14'. Very fast vessels on smaller seas & probably faster with someone more skilled than me in yesterdays water! I lost count of how many times I fell-in. The waves were shoulder to head high and not very organized... it was more like a rodeo than a paddle. It would have been crazy to be out there without a leash and a PFD. Tom even had a helmet and VHF radio... both smart choices. Why a helmet? Well on several occasions I would fall on the down wind side of the board and the wind gusts would pick-up the board and tumble it over my head like it was a potato chip. If I'd gotten clocked in the head it would have been ugly...

I also wish I had my GPS, as I would love to have seen my top-speed a few times out there.

Had the video camera going, but it got shut-off after 17 minutes, probably when I fell on it. I will post a short video eventually.

Awesome display of Mother Nature, and I was glad to be out there with someone.

Side Note: Later in the day I found out that the Coast Guard had been out looking for two "distressed" looking stand up paddlers. Someone saw us falling in & thought we were in trouble when he couldn't see us anymore... I talked to the Coasties & let them know all was well and went as "planned." Sort of....

Yesterdays wind chart...

Another great demo day!

You know northwestern folks are tough when you get almost 3 dozen to show up in 45 degree/windy weather to try SUP'n! Another great, good-vibe day was had by all who showed up to try the Starboard line-up. Also on hand were lots of Kialoa paddles and Ocean Rodeo drysuits.

And of course the whole deal brought to you by Bellingham Kiteboarding. If you are thinking of buying a paddle or SUP, please think about "buying local" and giving Andy a call. Cheers!

Photos by Heather Nelson...

Big Saturday

Big by my standards anyway... 16' at Neah Bay transformed into 6-8' a little closer to home.

Biggest I've seen here by any means... Hit the water at 6:45am and the shore break was thunderous... had to really time my entrance into the water between sets. Lot's of 300lb logs floating around, which is always a sign things are dicey. Today was one of those days that reminds me I'm still pretty new at surfing, even though I've been doing it for 20 years, if that makes sense? Awesome, awesome day...

Getting chased by a wall of white-water

Late take-off, time to exit...

Deception Pass Dash SUP Test Run

Yesterday, 6 SUP'rs, 2 prone paddleboarders and 8 safety kayakers pre-ran the Deception Pass Dash race course, to make sure a SUP could complete the first half of the course, before the tide change, and the infamous Deception Pass currents flush us back out to sea.

Mission accomplished! The conditions were stellar and most likely won't be this good on race day; December 12th. The course is 6 miles... but it feels like 7 or 8 to me. It took myself and the two prone paddleboarders just under 1 hour 15 minutes to complete the course. I was on my 18' Bark, had I been on a shorter board... it would have been longer. Throw in a 20-30 knot wind, 2-3 foot seas, the tide swing and much colder temps; December 12th will be VERY interesting. These were the conditions last year and there were MANY DNF's on the results list.

Check out Brandon & Heathers blog site for more pics:

http://ultramarathonpaddling.blogspot.com/2009/11/stand-up-paddle-boarding-deception-pass.html

Starboard K15 Review

My good friends Brandon and Heather took the new K15 out for a paddle and wrote about their findings on their blog...

http://ultramarathonpaddling.blogspot.com/2009/10/starboard-k15-sup-review.html

Stay tuned for my review of the 12'6" Starboard Pin...