Want waves! Follow Wardog!

Man, I'm tired....

Just flew in this morning from San Francisco after camping out along the California coast with Sargent Wardog.

You want waves and wind you say? Follow that guy. Follow him off the water while he checks, and rechecks the best spot, and follow him on the water. Leave it to an oceanographer-geologist to know how to pick 'em.

Brian McK., Dave Cav, and anyone else not visiting the sarge, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Thanks for the memories, Warren! See you in Baja. (You gonna help Cav and Mark find those swells?)

<rimshot>



Cheers

Alan Sounds like you scored it pretty good down there. Congratulations on not being the wind killer. Today was the first non sailable day here since July 24th, that made it elevan days in a row. Very little of that Sswell made it up here though. I sailed Bandon mostly. I'm actually glad the wind stopped for today it's kind of refreshing. Boot Camp will start up again at Pistol Tuesday but I don't think any Sargent will be there. However I'm sure 'The Boss' will be in 'Bossland'.

Jeff, Yeah, it was pretty sweet in mini-Baja land. The first day I pulled up to Castles where the faces were around mast high at times. Side-off and smooth as a baby's butt. Got out and mixed it up with the kiters. Caserio recognized my bald head and hooted at me. Of course he was kiting... I still don't get the kiting thing in waves; race down the face, stall out and wait for the wash to pour over you as you get yanked out the back. That's what I want to do, get dunked.

Anyway, Wardog and Debdog are the perfect hosts. They've got it so good....only an hour from Jalama, about two from San Simeon, and of course plenty of nice breaks in their own back yard. It's no wonder he says he lives in 'paradise'. They do.

I'll have a pic or two up today of the kiters trying to avoid my butt...

As you were,

My sentiments exactly. I've been telling my kite friends that the next level is to get a boat and one of those tower things like that guy Cory up in the Gorge invented to mount the line up high on. So Wardog what do you think all those Casario level former windsurf pros from Cali see in it if it's not the surfing aspect? Think it's just the fun of flying, more consistent planing, no mast weighting the board down, loose short board feeling, the ability to twist lower body separate from the upper body, touching the wave face with their back hand on their drop? What? Jeff

You got me Jeff, on the surfing aspect... I know that the still photos look more rad than the real thing or video. I have a team rider who is a competitive surfer that has learned the fastest I've seen anyone...he learned wavesailing, quickly as well... We are trying to look outside the box at it and think that it's all bassackwards in the waves. Seems like a surfboard is the call with a small kite. Once you are on the wave, why not surf it and minimize the kite influence? Open ocean and deep water swells are a little more inline with the power aspect, though...it doesn't seem to work that good with nearshore waves. If you want air, jump out of an airplane! If you want to do tricks, join a circus! I'm a purist when it comes to waveriding... IMO, wakeboards belong on a lake. If wakeboards were superior on the wave face ,then why aren't the pro surfers using them or something that looks like them, or even hybids? If wearing baggy pants in the H20 was kewl, then all of the surfers would be wearing them! I think that there is a born again, herd mentality and no one wants to tell the emperor that he has no clothes on...no one wants to risk 'being left behind'. Another thing I notice is that it's hard to differentiate styles... The kite still overpowers everything. At the top end of the sport, there are exceptions...maybe someone will initiate a breakthrough.

WARDOG

You make it almost sound like being a teabag

Alan post:

<<Got the first of several photos up... going to put some up of you shortly....
http://www.ibscc.org/cali.htm>>

Damn, Alan, I hope that's not Wardog's double secret xxxxxxx spot you just posted. I thought Wardog's double secret xxxxxxx spot had xxxxxxxx tracks behind it?

W Round here it seems the crappy on shore surf is what they like. It is because the wind is good at those places. The good wavesailing spots here don't always have real steady wind and you have to slog sometimes which is not fun on kite (kite falling out of the sky then powering up etc). I saw Johnna Lepach (sorry about the spelling) a few weeks ago at the rock make it look fun. Zoom down the line pop an Ariel continue riding (water-skiing on) the wave to inside then of coarse launch himself 30 feet above our heads in transition to go back out. He took up a lot of room and he is one of those subhumans you mentioned. I don't think I really want to get so high and be so powered up. Maybe it's my age but sloggin out and catching some wave seems to suit me just fine. You are the only other person I know of who has kited enough besides myself and still is not totally convinced. Everyone else is reborn.

Jonah may as well be Jesus...the great savior of kite'surfing'... Jonah, Jonah, Jonah is all you hear...ever see Jonah surf or wavesail? He's PFG...the average kiter is NEVER going to be able to ride waves like he does while being towed by a kite. Peter Trow is another one...Chuck Patterson and the Scheibels, as well. They are ripping, but you would say that on a sailboard or surfboard, also. I think for most people it comes down to 'kewl guy' pressure and/or time and/or money in choosing one over the other. There is a sobering article called 'Anatomy of a Kitesuit' in one of the latest kiting mags by an attorney named Brett Gibson that folks here might want to check out... I know that some of the resident 'sharks' that troll around these waters will find it interesting... http://www.ikitesurf.com/threadForum.iws?thID=13749& threadSubSectionI... No matter how fun it is, it will remain problematic and a potential threat to other people and property...especially in the surf zone. That would be a bigger buzzkill than having to ride waves on a surfboard or sailboard.

WARDOG

I read Brett Gibson's article with a certain twinkle. He's right on about the potential liability, except that where especially hazardous activities are concerned the law looks at the 'actor' with a good deal more scrutiny. Brett points out several examples of potentially unreasonable behavior (in the eyes of the jury). One important point to remember is that the standard applied will never be less that the reasonably prudent person. Distinguish that from a reasonably prudent kiteboarder who might reasonably expect other kiteboards to keep a keen watch upwind. For windsurfers we might think of how our expectations of caution must change when launching among other windsurfers versus near swimmers. All participants will be held at least to the standard of reasonableness under the circumstances as they knew them to be or should have known them to be. That last part is crucial, since juries often see damage blood and gore and quickly jump to the conclusion that Sammy Shredder should have known the likely consequences of an otherwise harmless or reasonable choice. Kiteboarding hopefully will avoid being tagged a hazardous or especially activity. Such a categorization would have the effect of lowering the standard from 'objectively reasonable' to one requiring less fault in order to prove culpability. That would be the end of commercial kiting, at least in the direction we see it going today. Let's hope not.