Some quick pics I took of the new Skate 100 TE. The new foot pads which are textured with a diamond pattern are much grippier and a nice improvement. The new paint job is very slick with airbrushed rails and full wrap-around graphics. Carbon-Kevlar deck and Carbon bottom with a super light finish... very sick (despite the typo on the board graphics)!
Also of note, since 2010 Fanatic footstrap anti-twist washers have been redesigned and the post spacing now fits DaKine Core Contour straps without any modification. You still may want to grind down the tops of the posts a bit w/ a Dremel, as the CC straps are a few mm thinner than the stock straps, but no more need to melt the holes wider on your straps to get them to interface with the anti-twist washers. The Fanatic anti-twist system is awesome!
Wow, it's not been a normal winter over here in Northern California. What started out as severe winter with record December rain and snowfall, turned into an almost completely dry January. The lack of storm sailing and the end of summer thermals meant that I hadn't windsurfed since Thanksgiving, so yesterday's unexpected wind was a real treat for all those who were lucky enough to catch it.
A few of us ended up going to Haskins, one of our favorite freestyle spots. I was a little apprehensive about rigging my brand new Maui Sails Loco 5.2 on black pavement for the first time. The parking lot there is new, and the asphalt still rubs off on all your gear and probably not the greatest rigging surface for a sail with white trim, but I felt I needed to make haste or risk "missing it", so parking lot rigging it was.
We ended getting about two hours of nice 5.0/5.2 weather. It was a little up and down, and we all ended up OP'd at the end, but everybody was just grateful for the chance to windsurf again. It had been way too long.
They say home is where the heart is. I'm a native SoCal transplant living in Northern California. I moved up here in 1993 for school and have spent about half my life up here in NorCal. People have suggested that I call San Francisco home and I adopt their sports teams and jump on the Giants bandwagon, but I'm from SoCal dammit... no way that's gonna happen.
Similarly, I think of Berkeley as my windsurfing home. I live in SF now, and even though I am good 45 minutes away, and there are half a dozen closer and typically windier spots, Berkeley is where it all started for me, and I like to think of it as home. It's typically not that windy, there's a big wind shadow at the launch, you have launch and land off of wooden docks, the wind often dies prematurely... one often wonders why I would pass up sailing at so many good spots in and around SF. Against my better judgement, I often have the urge to make the drive anyway for some home cooking.
Here's a little video from a nice mellow fall day at the Berkeley Marina.
Blog
2010 Simmer Mission: Ho'okipa Wave
2010 Simmer Icon: World Wide Wave, full X-Ply
2010 Simmer Blacktip: Freestyle/Wave Crossover
2009 Simmer Icon: World Wide Wave Sail, Full X-Ply
2009 Simmer Mission: Ho'okipa Wave Sail
2009 Simmer Iron: Hybrid/Power Wave and Bump & Jump Sail
