Hiatus


We'd like to say we've been busy lately but that wouldn't be entirely true.

It's been a while since we've had the opportunity to post anything. Not that we haven't been brimming with things to share but some things at home required our attention. Hopefully, we can resume a more steady schedule. We should mention that we favor the British pronunciation 'shejiule' as opposed to the way it's said in the colonies, 'skedyule'. As well, our booms are made of aluminium instead of aluminum. And, it's colour and favour, our engine is under the bonnet; and we pee in the 'loo. Of course, all this is because of our excitement of Kate Middleton having produced a male heir to the throne of the United Kingdom.

It's a boy!

"It's a boy. A king is born" (Their words, not ours).

Part of the reason that things have settled down at home is that we've shipped our children off to Africa. It's not for long and we think, no, we're pretty sure that they have a return ticket. Eastern Airlines still is flying isn't it? The guy on craigslist from whom we bought the ticket swore up and down that they were and he seemed like a trustworthy fellow. He also gave us a great deal on an iPad, too, although its yet to be opened box is heavy as a brick. Are iPads that heavy? Oh well, we seem to have gone adrift of our subject matter.

Eastern flights at Hartsfield

Eastern Airlines jets at Hartsfield in Atlanta, the old Hartsfield, probably in the mid-1970s. Eastern once rivalled Delta in terms of Atlanta traffic. Their bankruptcy in 1989 taught us never to blindly trust Wall Street analysts even when they work at the same firm as us.

The weather has been out of the ordinary here, apparently the rainiest since the Wall Street Crash of 1929. We have plenty of moist air but not much wind. The only reason to open our trailer is to wash out all our sail bags that are now covered in mildew. Yuck.

Upcoming events

Speaking of trailers, our trailer will be the subject of an upcoming article as we explore the aerodynamics of those boxes many of us choose to drag to the beach or lake. We'll also discuss the ebb and flow of footstrap fashion - not the straps themselves but how many are on a board.

We've already chosen some months ago the next photo for the Monthly Caption of the Week Contest but if you have one that you think is worthy, please email it to us.

Something interesting in the windsurfing world so we can all pretend we windsurf.

Dennis Klaaijsen Breaks 24h Distance Sailing Record

Dennis Klaaijsen
- photo neilpryde.com

"At 04.50 it was light enough to start. Every 75-100km I made a pit stop at the stand by the boat to stock up on energy and water. Around 15.00 I had 350km on the GPS display. The wind picked up to a steady 30 knots and I changed to the 6.4 EVOV. I used this sail for the next 4 hours and during the course of the evening I switched back to 7.0 and later 7.8.
The cruising speed was 30-35 knots with peaks of up to 39 knots. The sails feel so stable that it's nearly impossible to get an overpowered EVOV. The chop might become a limiting factor, but the sails just keep on going."

Umm... did he say "cruising speed was 30-35 knots"? Holy fouled diapers, Batman! Doing a quick 'back of the napkin' calculation, we figured that we could average maybe 25 knots wound up on flat water. Over 23 hours, that would put us maybe 160 or so km behind - or about 100 miles. We've been behind in a race before - well, almost always we're behind - but that's really a horizon job.

"At around 23.00 I had 600km on the clock and switched to my warmer winter gear for the night time session. Winds had dropped after sunset (22.30) so with my 8.6 EVOV and 135 litre board I went on the water again. In gusty, light conditions sailing became increasingly difficult and extremely tiring, within an hour of the difficult conditions both my hands had open blisters. At 02.00, with a total of 630km I called it a day."

Winter gear? Reason 74 why we love Hatteras in June. Anyways, all you GPSers. You have your new goal.

Obligatory Music: Smallpools - Dreaming
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windlord's picture
windlord
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Joined: 02/07/2002 - 10:05
Posts: 835
Is that a Greyhound Puppy?

Looks like one. Reminds me of our Greyhound "Thunder".

They now have beer for dogs. Real beer apparently is not good for them. http://bowserbeer.com/

Bill Herderich

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webguy
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Joined: 12/31/2000 - 22:01
Posts: 13784
Maybe if they drank a little

Maybe if they drank a little more responsibly...

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FoilDodo
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Joined: 03/19/2008 - 23:50
Posts: 2738
WebGuy, You a mess.

A big mess.

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Randy
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Joined: 05/05/2002 - 10:38
Posts: 4656
So he went about 390 miles by

So he went about 390 miles by my math. Pretty impressive. Makes my 50 miles in one day pale in comparison. BTW - what I've found using GPS is that I'm usually lucky to have an average speed half of my top speed. So if I'm hitting 20 consistently I'd average 10. (Turning, etc lower your avg. speed a lot.) Also, Gene told me that based on his GPS, even if you can hit a top speed of 30, you are usually only going around 20 or so unless you are really pushing for speed. So I guess my point is - kids don't try this at home. You will never beat 390 miles in 24 hours.

What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.

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