The El Tigre...

 

Today I found and picked up a great used 8' 8" El Tigre Carbon SUP made by Riviera. This will be nice to play around with in the mushy Lake Erie waves. Specs are 8'8" x 32" x 4.3" which should be ideal foe me. Thanks Andrew Skeoch, and it was great meeting you. Well worth the drive to Port Credit.

Costa Rica...

 I've travelled to Costa Rica 4 times. It's a great place and only a 5 hour flight from Toronto. Usually travel with friends for surfing vacations. Tamarindo is a fun place with lots of great surf breaks. I know people who live there so it's always great catching up. Further South, Jaco is also a great area for surfing and is quite the party town. Playa Hermosa nearby has large waves, definitely not for beginners. Boca Barranca, a little further north has the longest left break in all of Costa Rica. Inland in the cloud forest at Monteverde there is all kinds of wildlife including Toucans. it's well worth the trip but beware of the mountain roads, they can be daunting.

Genealogy...

Over the past couple of years I been dabbling in reseaching my roots. Fregona is not a common surname but apparently we all originate from the province of Treviso in Northern Italy where there is an actual town named Fregona.

I discovered that I have a cousin Peter, also originally from South Africa who lives about an hour away from me in Burlington whom I contacted and we have become good friends. I took an Ancestry DNA test after I saw one of my cousins results online and was surprised to find out that I have a half-sister Elaine, originally from South Africa who lives in Galway, Ireland. We have chatted on WhatsApp and next year I am planning a trip to Ireland to meet her.

Weather Station Update...

I have managed to get WeatherCloud on Weewx working. Only took 2 days of frustration. It should be accessible by clicking on the logo.

The PWHL...

 Took in an exciting PWHL game in Ottawa at TD Place on Saturday night. It was a great game and the fact that Ottawa beat Minnesota 4-0 made it even better.

Brianne Jenner scored a hat-trick and Emerance Maschmeyer, the Ottawa goalie had a shut-out.

The Weather Station...

I have installed an Acurite 5-in - Weather Station on the roof to monitor the conditions on Lake Erie. It is hooked up to a Raspberry Pi4 computer by USB on which I am currently running a free WeeWx 5.0 software package. 

This is mostly to monitor the wind speed and wind direction as these conditions contribute to waves on the Lake. 

The resulting web page can be viewed here.

 

Left Shoulder Issues...

 While surfing last September my left shoulder started bothering me. It was extremely painful to raise my arm above my head so paddling was completely out of the question.After having an Ultrasound it was discovered that I had a sizeable full thickness tear involving the supraspinatus tendon measing 2.1 x 1.6cm and infraspinatus/subscapularis tendinopathy. Unfortunatly I'm still awaiting a surgery date.