I started learning to foil surf sometime in the fall of 2018–seems like it’s been longer, but think that’s about right. These are some shots from the early days, using a fairly huge board Dave Kalama made for me that I named Mr. Fugly. I don’t really think it was fucking ugly, but it was …
Got a text last night saying Big Winds was going to do a repeat of the infamous Hellfire run of a few years ago. The wind prediction for today was off the charts in the east end of the gorge. This presents a conundrum. Unlike other years I kind of quit downwinding early. I haven’t …
More progress on Fritz. I think people will be puzzled when they see the interior. Minimal. Actually, the far edge of minimal. The living area will be two chairs, a bar cabinet, facing cabinet, and some shelves. The chairs detach and can move outside. Nice little side tables. An aluminum plank that converts the side …
Last year foils on SUP showed up in the Gorge. I was getting my downwind board off the shuttle at Viento Park for another run a few days before the Gorge Paddle Challenge when I faintly heard someone yell “Uncle Bill”. I don’t have any nieces or nephews in a reasonable range, so I didn’t think …
I’ve been playing with tail handles for quite a few years, ever since a surly guy named Sam Pae and I started insulting each other on the Standup Zone. Sam had started a thread talking about tail handles, wondering if anyone else was using them. I chimed in that I had added a strap to …
I’m biased against production boards. Ever since I got my first custom board–which was a Bill Foote 10’10 X 29″–I’ve been a custom board snob. But I’ve been looking at the board Bill himself rides most of the time, and it has really nice exposed carbon on the rails of the last foot of tail. …
Most times when someone get a shacked, tubed, covered, ducks into the green room–AKA gets a tube ride–it’s for a few seconds. Then the wave closes and they either get out, or don’t. This video, from the talented loons at LastNameFirst.TV, is the ultimate tube. A magnificent sandbar break on the cost of africa, where …
A few years ago, after a downwinder on the south side of Maui, Dave Kalama showed me his rope system for tying down boards. He had small boat-mooring cleats attached to his rack to tie the rope off to. I didn’t see the point of his system–why not just use straps? But when my new …