Well, the "Big Day" finally arrived. I climbed out of bed at 3:30am and met up with seven other paddlers at the Burlington Skyway at 5:30am. Entered the water at 6:00am and started paddling towards Toronto, 65kms and 14 hours away. We paddled through heavy mist, rain and fog for the first few hours and had to hug the shoreline, basically so that we could see where we were going. Tough paddling just past Oakville, where first we had to find shelter during a thunderstorm and then had to battle a headwind just before the 35km point which was at Jack Darling Park. There I reassured Lynn that I felt "Just Fine", drank a litre of Gatorade and said that I would meet her at the finish line at Ashbridge's Bay. A couple of hours later the sky cleared just enough so that we could see the Toronto Skyline. This was shortly before we ran into a NE headwind, bad chop and a really spectacular thunderstorm. Once again we headed for shore and took shelter on one of the Toronto Islands. After the storm passed, we paddled to Cherry beach and met up with a group of paddlers who joined us for the last 10kms. We arrived at Ashbridge's Bay at 8:00pm where we were welcomed by a large crowd on the beach. So far we have raised a total of $10,756.00 for the MS Society of Canada. and it's still not too late to donate. A big thanks to Mike and Grant of Surf Ontario for organizing the event, Derek Schrotter of Paddle Sport Performance for the encouragement he gave me, and to Ryan White, who not only drove up from NJ for the event, but also paddled the whole distance prone, and took this video. Also thanks to Dave and Adrian for the land support and these pictures, A huge "Thank You" to all who were kind enough to sponsor me, and to Lynn who put up with me and took even more pics. I think I did OK, I surprised myself, and I think I surprised a lot of other people as well. It's time to start planning for the 2012 event, you have a whole year to get into shape...
Last Sunday I attended the 2011 Eastern Canada SUP Championships, a WPA sanctioned SUP Race, organized by Derek Schrotter of Paddle Sport Performance. I was on the Escort Boat and managed to get some pictures and video of the event, which can be viewed here. The SUP race was won by Larry Cain of Toronto, with Derek coming in second. Click on the image to see some pretty incredible paddling. For the complete list of results go to SUP in Toronto. There were around 80 paddlers in the event, some who travelled from as far afield as Puerto Rico in order to attend. There will be a lot more participants next year, due to the excellent way in which the event was organized, planned and coordinated. If you SUP or paddle, get involved, it was a really fun day to be out there on the water!
The SUP for MS is only a month away and I need your support. On 5 August, accompanied by 7 other paddlers, I will be Stand Up Paddle Boarding 65kms (40 miles) across Lake Ontario to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. Depending on the weather, the crossing from Hamilton to Ashbridge's Bay should take around 14 hours to complete. The SUP for MS was organized in 2010 by two friends, Mike Sandusky and Grant Kennedy of Surf Ontario after Mike's sister Angela was diagnosed with MS. Last year, the two of them raised over $7000 for MS Research. I began training in March for this event, and to date have lost 30lbs, usually paddling for at least two hours a day. Please click here to support my effort and to see how much I have raised so far. Any amount you donate will really be appreciated...
Gary and I headed out to Frenchman's Bay yesterday afternoon just as the wind started to pick up from the NW. I packed the GoPro and FlyMount, figuring that it was about time to either attach the GoPro to the top of the mast, or lose it forever. Being overly cautious, I attached a float to the GoPro, just in case. While sailing, I kept looking up to make sure it was still attached. I'm happy to say that the FlyMount worked flawlessly. Next time out I will try mounting the camera to the boom and to a helmet to see what video from those angles will look like. I think I got some decent video, and still have the GoPro. All in all a pretty good afternoon...
I eventually got around to mounting the GoPro to my Surfboard. We had a sunny day last Wednesday with smallish waves so I decided to try it out and see if it would remain attached to the board or disappear into the murky depths of Lake Ontario. Having witnessed Josh losing his GoPro at Bond Head during the winter, I was more than a little concerned. Luckily all went well, which was a huge relief. Click on the image to check out the video. The FlyMount and GoPro Adapter I ordered a while ago arrived in the mail this week. This will allow me to mount the camera on the boom and on the tip of the mast on my Windsurfer. Should get some interesting video from those positions. Now we just need a nice sunny, windy day, instead of all this rain...
Weather Underground has now unveiled a new and improved format that displays Wind and Weather conditions for any location in the world. It has "Full Screen Weather", which allows you to zoom in on the Google Maps interface and view Weather Information from over 16,000 personal weather stations. The settings available in the drop down menus also include the ability to view Weather Alerts, Web Cams, Windspeed, Wind Direction and allow you to move the info boxes around on your screen. A welcome addition to our Forecasting Tools...
Not Bad! Dropped 30lbs in 3 months with Lose-It. Had a little encouragement from my friends, which made it a lot easier. The Pros: Feel great. I have lots of energy. The board now floats. Can use a smaller size sail when windsurfing. Might even complete the 65km SUP for MS Paddle. Probably live longer. The Cons: My wetsuit is too large., but summer is coming. My clothes are too big, but I can always buy smaller sizes. People I haven't seen for a while think I've been sick, but are too afraid to ask in case it's bad news. All in all, well worth the effort. Now my goal is to maintain my current weight...
Yesterday was the first really nice "Spring Day" that we have had this year in Ontario. The temperature reached 14˚C. Looks like this could be the start of some decent summer weather. At last! I SUP'ed from Port Union Road to "The Cove" at Bluffer's Park, a distance of 12 kms. The trip took around 1 1/2 hours in all and was a pretty relaxing paddle. See the route here. Seemed a lot easier than the trip to Frenchman's Bay and back. I stopped and took this shot of a house, perched on top of the Scarborough Bluffs that is about to slide into the Lake. I wonder if it will still be there on my next trip? As for my next SUP, I think it will be down near the Toronto Islands, where I should be able to get some nice photos of the Toronto skyline...
Yesterday seemed a good day for a paddle, the Lake was pretty calm and the temperature was around 6˚C. A welcome break from the cold weather we experienced last week. I installed the GoPro HD on to the nose of the Coreban with a suction mount and off I went. SUP'ed from the foot of Port Union Road to Frenchman's Bay and back, 12.5 kms in 2 1/2 hrs, not too bad, considering that I paddled into a light NE wind for the first half of the trip. Still a long way off from the 65 kms I plan to paddle in the SUP for MS 2011 in August, but a good start. Found that my feet and wrists were a little tender after the paddle. And also, a big thanks to Surf Ontario for loaning me the equipment. Check out the route I took here, and click on the image to see the video.
After some relatively decent weather, I woke up on Wednesday morning to a Spring Snowstorm. Overnight, the NE winds had kicked up quite a swell and generated some messy, but decent size waves. In the late afternoon, the wind switched to a more Northerly direction and the waves cleaned up nicely. Kristoffer and I headed down to our local break and surfed until dark. The break on the West side of the Gazebo was working for a change, and we scored some nice lefts there. I heard that a couple of guys who surfed "The Cove" got stuck down there, and couldn't make it out until the hill got ploughed...
And so it began. A beautiful morning, sunny and a balmy 2˚C. The Lake was like glass, ideal conditions to start training for the Paddle for MS. I spent an hour paddling around at the foot of Port Union Road and probably paddled about 2 kilometers in all, getting used to the Coreban SUP. It's a great core body workout, burns around an incredible 800 calories an hour, and it's also a lot of fun. Didn't fall off once and discovered that a 5/4/3 wetsuit is way too warm as I was sweating after about 15 minutes. Gloves and a hood are not necessary either. You had better get a move on and contact Surf Ontario to take advantage of their 10% off any SUP Sale if you order before 1 April 2011. They now have 7 brands to choose from. You don't want to miss that...
At the beginning of the year I decided that it was about time that I lost some weight and got into shape. After all, the 2011 Paddle for MS will be here before we know it. A surfing buddy, Geoff, introduced me to "Lose It!", a free program that he had been using. I signed up, filled in all the necessary information on January 9th, and set a goal of losing 25 lbs. by the end of March. Basically all you do is follow the programs suggestion as to how many calories you should consume each day. Track that, and the amount of exercise you do and that's basically it. Even I had no trouble with that! Anyway, I am pleased to announce that as of today I have lost 23.2 lbs. and should reach my goal of losing 25 lbs. on March 20th. Wonder what my next goal should be? Any suggestions? Thanks Geoff, for making this so easy...
We had a small swell on Saturday, so I oiled her up, attached a leash, and took her for a swim in the Lake. First off, on the bright side, the Alaia remained in one piece. That is to say, the five pieces of wood that comprise her all stayed together and didn't drift off in different directions. Also, although I had just oiled the deck with Linseed Oil, it was not slippery and I didn't need to use any wax. Paddling was another story. Zero floatation means that you are basically swimming out to the line-up on top of a piece of wood that is 1" thick . Once in position, sitting on the board is also a bit of an adventure as the only part of my body out of the water were my head and shoulders. Paddling, or "Swimming" onto a wave is almost impossible, although I did manage to get two rides almost all the way into the shore by lying prone on the Alaia and pushing off from the bottom of the Lake with my feet. I will have to persevere with this, as the waves were far too small and did not have enough power to properly test things out. Also, being almost completely submerged in ice cold water did not help. I think this will be a lot more fun in the summer...
The Linksys BEFSX41 Wired Router that I had been using on my network for the last 8 years finally died, so I replaced it with a Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless G Router that I was using mainly for Apple TV and my iPod Touch. After configuring it for Port Forwarding and all the other stuff related to the WebCams, Weather Station and Website, I was surprised to find an added bonus. After testing the connection speed, I found that my download speed is now twice what it was previously. This may not affect my Website Visitors much, but it has made a huge difference to my downloading capabilities. Please let me know if you notice an improvement...
In a moment of weakness, I agreed to participate in the 2011 Paddle for MS Fundraiser, organized by Mike and Grant of Surf Ontario. The 2010 Inaugural Paddle for MS raised over $7000, and was such a big success, that it was decided to make this an annual event. So, the plan is to set off from Hamilton, around the first weekend in August, just before sunrise, and paddle 65 kilometres to Toronto. Apparently, depending on the wind direction and paddling at 5 kilometres per hour, this should take around 14 hours to complete. Sounds like a breeze? Sounds like I am a little delusional? Well, I don't know about that, but I have decided that I had better start getting into shape soon, as August suddenly does not seem so far off. And, of course, seeing that I don't like doing things in "Half Measures", I will have to try to paddle the entire 65 kilometers, and not one of the shorter distances...
We headed up to Casino Rama near Orillia on Friday evening to catch a live performance of "The Ventures". This band was formed in 1959, the surviving members have played together for 50 years, and they are the biggest selling instrumental band of all time. Their biggest, and most popular hit is probably the theme from "Hawaii Five-O". On March 10, 2008, The Ventures were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This was something I had been looking forward to since Christmas. Met up with Gary and Kelly, spent some time getting rid of our excess cash in the Casino, then really enjoyed an incredible show. Nokie Edwards is truly amazing. He is in his mid-seventies, and played guitar non-stop for two hours. Click here to see a YouTube video him playing "Surf Rider", a song he wrote that was featured in the movie "Pulp Fiction". We all thoroughly enjoyed the show and would recommend it to everyone. For more Ventures videos, visit this page...
It's coming along nicely, although a little slowly. Still a little cold to be working outside, sanding the deck and shaping the rails. Don't want to rush, cause once something has been removed, you can't put it back. I tried working on it in the basement, but it's rather messy, so I have given up on that idea. The next step, after I finish shaping and sanding will be to apply several coats of either linseed or tung oil to the wood to ensure that it wont absorb water and become waterlogged. After that, I will be able to try it out on a couple of waves in the Lake. I figure oiling the wood will be better than using Varathane to seal it, as it will allow me to tweak the shape to my liking after I have ridden the board a couple of times. And, if that's no good, there is still the option of mounting the Alaia to a wall in the house...
Although we did not get nearly the amount of snow predicted, we got waves. Gary and I surfed our usual break for 1 1/2 hours and scored some pretty decent waves. It was cold, -10˚C with a windchill that made it feel more like -20˚C, but worth it. Regan and Josh showed up just as we were leaving and although by then the swell had diminished considerably, they also got a couple of waves. All in all it was a pretty good day, especially getting into the hot tub after our session. Gary got to try out his new board, I got over my withdrawal symptoms and there was not even enough snow accumulation to bother shovelling the driveway. Now that that's out of the way, it's time for it to warm up so I can get some more shaping done to the Alaia...
Well, it's been 2 days since I've been in the Lake and already I'm having withdrawal symptoms, but tomorrow's forecast is looking good. The wind is supposed to blow at around 20 knots from the NE and Environment Canada has issued a severe weather bulletin for Southern Ontario. The waves on the Lake are expected to be around 2 metres in height. Toronto is expected to get at least 10 centimetres of snow, beginning Sunday evening and continuing overnight. There is also a winter storm watch in place for Burlington, Oakville and Mississauga. Blowing snow is also expected. This all sounds very promising, and maybe Gary will eventually get a chance to try out his new 7' 9" Oxbow Surfboard. Here's hoping...
Yesterday, a Friday in the middle of February, really surprised me. A SW wind generated some small but clean waves on the Lake, and the temperature rose to 10˚C. Almost unheard of for a winter day in Canada. I surfed for a good 1 1/2 hours before the wind turned offshore and flattened out the swell. The wind then switched to the North and blew all last night and today, reaching speeds of 52 knots. The temperature dropped to -6˚C overnight and then it snowed all day today. Back to reality, it really is winter...
We spent last weekend at our friend's cottage on Lake Erie near Peacock Point. It was bitterly cold and he wind blew at around 20 knots from the SW on both Saturday and Sunday, so we sat in front of the fire drinking rum and had a great time. The bag of pine and red cedar shavings from the Alaia made for great kindling. The lake is iced up all the way out to the horizon, first time I have seen it like that. Lots of fun, taking the dogs for a walk, about 1/2 a mile out from the shoreline. As you can see, the swing is still hanging in the tree, but the scenery is a lot different, compared to this picture of us sailing in the summer. The good news is that it's going to be warm and windy this week, so maybe I will be able to get some surfing in and continue working on the Alaia...
After the glue had dried, I took the Alaia out to the garage, and with a jigsaw carefully cut along the outline that I had drawn on the blank. I then drew pencil lines on both the top and bottom of the board 5/8" in from the outside edge. Next, I drew lines on the 1" edge, 3/8" from the top and bottom. When I remove the wood between the lines, that will leave a bevelled rail of 30˚ with a 1/4" flat section in between the lines. After sanding, I should end up with nice rounded rolled rails. After the rails are completed, I will work on sanding the deck smooth, and then sand a concave in the back 1/3 of the board. The Alaia is looking quite nice, the only problem being that it's really too cold to spend much time working outside. My hands were freezing after about 10 minutes of sanding. Looks like I will have to put everything on hold until next week when it's supposed to warm up to a balmy +4˚...
The LCD BacPac I ordered for my GoPro HD camera was finally delivered today by Fedex. After unpacking it and quickly installing a firmware upgrade to the camera I tried it out by taking a couple of pics of the Alaia that I am building. It is now so much easier to take pictures and video, as instead of guessing what will be in the frame, I can now see exactly what I'm shooting. I really like the LCD BacPac and have no hesitation in recommending it to all GoPro HD owners.
Moving right along, I borrowed a couple of large clamps and an electric planer from Gary and glued the remaining Cedar planks to the rest of the board. After waiting 4 hours for the glue to set, I removed the clamps. I then traced the outline of the Alaia from a template I had printed out from a BoardCAD program, onto the Cedar blank. I figure the board should end up being around 7'2" x 16 1/2" x 1" when completed. Hopefully it will float in fresh water. Tomorrow I will take the board out to the garage, cut out the shape with a jigsaw, sand the deck, and start shaping the rails. That is if it's not -12˚C outside again...
After reading a little about the history of surfing, I decided to attempt to build an Alaia. These were the original wooden surfboards used in Hawaii and were made out of Paulownia wood. Of course, this wood is not readily available locally, so a trip to Home Depot resulted in the following: three 8' planks of 5/4 x 6" Red Cedar, two 8' x 1" x 2" strips of Pine and one bottle of Elmer's Ultimate High Performance Glue. This Alaia is going to end up being quite a bit heavier than planned, as Cedar is about twice the weight of Paulownia. I had to rip 1/8" off each side of the Cedar planks on a table saw, as the edges of the planks were slightly rounded. I then glued one pine strip to each side of a Cedar plank and left it to dry overnight. Next I planed the pine strips so that they were flush with the Cedar plank. The remaining Cedar Planks will be glued to the outside edges, resulting in a board which will be 16 1/2" wide. I will have to get hold of a couple of large clamps before proceeding with this step. Anyway, I will document the progress in upcoming entries. Even if I screw this project up completely, I figure the surfboard will still look good hanging on a wall...
Well, the much hyped "Blizzard of Oz" was in fact a bit of a let-down. I woke up this morning expecting to find around 30cm of snow on the driveway but barely had to shovel. Took a walk down to the Lake to check out the surf, but the shoreline is completely iced up and if you did manage to get into the water and paddle out past the floating snowballs, you would never be able to get back to the shore again. Check out the GoPro Video to see what I mean. Pity I had one of my gloved fingers in the foreground of the video, but in future I will try to avoid doing that. Also took a couple of pics which can be viewed here. A little more snow fell this afternoon, but nothing significant...
Last weekend, about an hour into the Canadian MotorSports Show at the International Centre, I happened to walk past a huge display of GoPro Cameras. As I have an affiliate link to GoPro on this site, I stopped to chat to the guy in the booth about the cameras, and noticed that they had one "Surf Hero" camera amongst all the MotorSport cameras in the display. We discussed the merits of the cameras, the various mounting accessories available and the U.S. vs the Canadian pricing. Really, I had absolutely no intention of purchasing one of these cameras, as they are pretty expensive, until he told me about "The Show Special". Anyway, to make a long story short, I am now the proud owner of a HD GoPro Surf Hero camera, and I paid $120 less than the suggested retail price in Canada. Really, how could I walk away from a deal like that?
I met up with Jeff and Regan at Bond Head around noon. The surf was still building, so we decided to head a little further East to check out Cobourg Pier. The surf looked pretty good, but unfortunately the Pier was closed and there was a 6' ice shelf on the shoreline, so if you did manage to get into the water there was no way to get back out! We returned to Bond Head and met up with Josh. The waves there had picked up considerably, as had the wind. The temperature had dropped to -8˚C with a wind chill of -18˚C, so it seemed a good time to put my Xcel wetsuit to the test! I spent a little time taking some photos before surfing some nice lefts for about 1 1/2 hours and then called it a day. Josh had mounted his GoPro camera to the deck of his board, but somehow it became detached and is now submerged somewhere in Lake Ontario. Other than that, we had fun. Once again, the zipper on my suit iced up, so I had to drive back to Toronto in it and then thawed it out by standing under the shower for a while. All in all, a pretty good session...
Well, that's what the neighbours were mumbling about on Saturday when they noticed me walking down our street on my way to the Lake carrying a surfboard. They were all out shovelling the snow off their driveways. Admittedly it was a little chilly, -3˚C with a windchill of around -8˚C, but wetsuit technology really has come a long way. I met Kristoffer and Geoff at the Lake, and we spent the better part of 2 hours surfing some pretty decent little waves before calling it quits. They both complained of cold fingers, mine were pretty toasty. Seems that they each were wearing 5mm neoprene gloves, while I had on 7mm neoprene mitts. Goes to show, the more rubber you have on, the better. Lynn came down and took a couple pics of us, which are available here. That was very nice of her, considering the temperature...
One of the gifts I received for Christmas was two tickets to see "The Ventures" perform live in February at Casino Rama. The band, formed in 1958 by Don Wilson and Bob Bogie, two masonry workers, has sold over 100 million records, and are to date, the best-selling instrumental band of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 and their biggest hits were "Walk Don't Run" and "Hawaii Five-O". Their career was given a shot in the arm by Quentin Tarantino's use of "Surf Rider" and several other classic surf songs in the soundtrack of the movie Pulp Fiction. The track, "The Ninth Wave" was a huge hit in South Africa when I was growing up. We are really looking forward to hearing and seeing them live...
