Sunday, January 28, 2007

The Pros & Indoor Windsurfing

I was perusing Youtube for some windsurfing videos and found two fairly recent videos of the latest crop of windsurfing pros making the rounds on the Professional Windsurfing Association (PWA) circuit. The first is some insane footage from Maui, Canary Islands, and South Africa:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXZo1bl4k4k
The second video is of one of the PWA tour stops in London. That's right...London...indoor windsurfing. This used to be a popular event back in the late 80s, early 90s and it made a new resurgence just in the last few years:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UefKs2FSJBk&mode=related&search=

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Snowshoe, WV



We ventured to Snowshoe, WV last weekend for a ski trip with our neighbors and their kids and had a blast. It snowed a few inches the day before we arrived, then snowed 6+ inches again on our 2nd day there (Our first day was high of 15 degrees and very windy). Winter has finally set in and considering it's been a mild winter so far, we got lucky with the snow. We had a lot of adults' and kids' beginners in our group taking ski or snowboard lessons. I'd say all in all it was a success with most everyone wanting to return. Everyone was a great sport considering their first day out was with a wind chill below 5 degrees. Off the slopes, the adults had a great time with movies, poker, NFL playoffs, hot tub, and great conversation. The kids got to go tubing (as did some adults) and spend a lot of time with each other watching movies, playing games, and generally playing in the snow outside even when they weren't skiing.


I was nursing a sore back after having been recovering from a bulging disc I suffered a few weeks before. After doctor's treatment and some physical therapy, I was able to ski, but just not go all out like I wanted. The steeper the terrain, the more I felt my back. Stretching before and after, plus the hot tub helped a great deal while at Snowshoe. Having a bad back stinks big time. I need to get it back in shape for windsurfing, biking, and the next stop in February - Vermont skiing.


Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Boy, 14, solos the Atlantic

I've always been fascinated with stories of survival and great feats in the outdoors. This is inspiring. Congratulations to Michael Perham, who is getting ready to be the youngest person to sail single handedly across the Atlantic Ocean. Check it out at:
http://ballyblog.wordpress.com/2006/12/31/14-year-old-set-to-be-youngest-to-sail-atlantic-solo/

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2528781,00.html

Monday, January 1, 2007

New Years weekend

We had a great holiday weekend with family and friends that included getting the kids out snow skiing, New Years Eve party with friends and neighbors, and wrapping it up with a nice windsurfing session on the lake on New Years Day. What a way to kick off 2007.















On Friday, my wife and I took the kids skiing at Appalachian Ski Mountain resort outside of Blowing Rock, NC. We got our daughter into a private lesson and one of our sons into a group lesson (his first). It was fairly warm...mid 50s and sunny. My wife, our youngest son, and I watched them in their lessons instead of skiing ourselves. There were no tears and everyone had a great time. I can't wait for the day when our kids will ski with my wife and I. It was very crowded however. Note to self...next time, rent the kids' ski gear off-site and pack a lunch. It was mass chaos getting the rental gear at the resort and eating lunch before their lesson. We ended the day with a great dinner at Bistro Roca in Blowing Rock. The "Antler Bar" there is very cool because it has black and white pictures of local patrons posing with their dogs adorning the walls.

We watched the ball drop with our friends at a neighbor's house and had a great time. Some of our neighbors are now road & mountain biking with me, we had our own fantasy football league, attended a NASCAR race together, and now we're getting pretty competitive with each other in games of darts. I like this neighborhood!


Finally, I had a nice surprise on New Years Day with rain that turned into sun, temps in low 60s, and southwest wind 10-15mph. I got in some great windsurfing on the lake mid-afternoon. I shared the water with only a few sailboats.

Happy New Year!



Happy New Year everyone ! Welcome to my new blog. This picture is me windsurfing into the sunset in the Outer Banks, one of my favorite places, and represents hopefully more of what is yet to come in 2007.