Beach Party

A couple of years later I was travelling through Clare, and having a day free, I decided to have a surf lesson. I can’t say - prior to that - that I had any great interest in surfing - I’d been interested in windsurfing since I was 15, but well, occasionally, like whitewater rafting and climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge, you give things a shot for the hell of it. I loved surfing. Unfortunately, from a practical point of view, I lived in Dublin. My surfing skills remain negligible, it must be said, and it’s rare enough I get a chance to give it a shot.

I really enjoyed this section of the drive. I spent a big part of my childhood kicking around Hood River, Oregon. I have family there, and we spent a lot of time windsurfing on the Columbia during the summers of my Highschool years. I forgot the beauty of the Columbia River basin! Quite the spectacular place. We stopped at a few locations that I knew from my childhood, Multnomah Falls being a great one. Mollie was rather suprised to find such a gem so close to the freeway.

The lake is ripe and ready. It’s wide open and free of ice. The water is warmer now than it was in January during my last windsurfing session. Get your gear ready!

Once you have drawn yourself away from the views, you can explore the craft markets, which seem to be the most authentic I have seen in any town in this country. You may also indulge in some fantastically creamy Italian ice-cream before embarking on a walk across the vast windswept beach, which reaches out from the medina like a giant tick, flanked by hotels, bars and windsurfing shacks. If you are not too afraid of food poisoning (my lacklustre companions are), you can sample some fresh sardines fried over beds of dried wood which burst with oil and flavour.

Speed windsurfers have taken the next step forward in the development of their class. The Speed Class becomes the 7th member class of the International Windsurfing Association (IWA), a move that founder member Jan-Cas Smit, from the Netherlands, described as .. "significant and challenging".

Right on the windy tip of the Bodrum Peninsula on the Aegean Coast of Turkey. If you are a windsurfer or a kitesurfer, or you would like to learn windsurfing or kitesurfing and you are looking for a nice, warm and windy place; 12 years ago we found one in Turkey. We decided to build our centre here and make it the best possible.

This weekend, I signed up with the Cal Sailing club, and started windsurfing again.

The loose group of us that go windsurfing at Bude got together recently at Steve’s house to play poker. Karl was there too and it was an excellent night. I got a tad messy and that’s my excuse for bombing out early in all of the games.

Following some good advice, I spent a good portion of last Saturday at Garrettstown beach. The start of the day seemed rather uneventful. It was bitterly cold, hugely windy and the waves were very scrappy/patchy. Not conditions similar to other more eventful trips to Garrettstown. Nevertheless, I stuck around for a few hours; until my grumbling stomach finally got the better of me and I thought I’d retreat for some munchies. How and ever, as it sometimes does, things improved infinitely. On driving past the other end of the beach, I spotted a few lads unrolling and setting up various sails. Aha. Windsurfing! Not only that, kite surfing also! Jackpot…

Week two and and half onwards has been spent in Jeffrey’s Bay at the Bross’ huge pad. Life in J’Bay is extremely slow paced in this surf town - which I’ve yet to do here because I’m a wuss that doesn’t want to be in the cold water without a wetsuit..ditto with the windsurfing.

Dahab is apparently well known for its windsurfing and scuba diving. Israelis also frequent the locale, and as a resort town, and one should expect the usual suspects to come forward claiming credit for the attacks considering that these attacks are similar to attacks in Sinai in 2004 or in Sharm el Sheikh in 2005 as well as at other tourist related sites around the world. Here's a hint. It won't be the Quakers.

It's Monday morning and I can't help but share the most amazing day's Windsurfing I've ever enjoyed.

Samstag war ich surfen (also so richtig, ohne Segel). Ist doch ziemlich anders wie Windsurfing und garnicht so leicht. Irgendwann habe ich es dann doch geschafft ein paar mal auf dem Brett zu stehen und auch drauf zu bleiben. Bei Gelegenheit muss ich da mal weiter an meinen Skills feilen.

Windsurfing? What’s that? I haven’t windsurfed for the last 4 months. Since before Xmas if I remember correctly. Anyway I went out yesterday and I had an awesome time. Alex was taking shot, which was one of my main reasons for going out. Damn I’m lazy. At least Alex’s skill pushing camera buttons outweighed my inability to windsurf anymore. Funny stuff. Check out Alex’s website for somemore cool shots.

Thursday morning, and we decided to take advantage of some of the many sports provided, and hit the beach for a little windsurfing. We were warned that it was a little bit too windy for beginners, but that didn’t stop us making fools of ourselves trying to stand up for half an hour! We had booked a trip called Barcelona By Night for that afternoon, and at 2pm we boarded the coach. Our guide spoke fluently in at least 85 different languages, and left no landmark unmentioned on the hour and a half trip to Barcelona. Our itinerary was more than was mentioned in the brochure, and our first stop was the Barcelona Football Stadium. We joined the throngs of hardened football supporters, and spent the next 45 minutes wondering why people would pay to sit and look at a lawn. It was about as exciting as watching grass grow, and the coolness of the ice-rink proved too great a temptation.

The best tool for finding compromising Web information on associates and business partners. While I was on the phone with a VP we’re trying to recruit, I did a quick Google search. The first link led to a quote from him on a windsurfing-enthusiast site. It gave me an opportunity to subtly pitch the walking distance from our office to the Bay—a great spot for wind surfing.

I know it sounds weird to be taking a break right after a long lay-off, but that’s exactly what I am doing. My aunt flew up to visit the family a little before Christmas and decided that I needed some fun in the sun. Thus, for the first time ever, I am leaving the Canadian winter behind for the sunny beaches of Florida! A week is just enough time for me to unwind and spend as long as possible swimming and windsurfing and rollerblading and generally enjoying the aforementioned ‘fun in the sun’.

I also think about the wonderful things that I have seen and experienced. D is the most wonderful person in the world to me and I've been so lucky. I have three children and I am humbled by the wonder of seeing them grow up to be seven, five and two. It's been hard at times of course, but so rewarding. I've snorkled over coral reefs. I've been rock climbing, canoeing, windsurfing, white-water rafting. I've read some great books and seen some wonderful films. I've got some fantastic friends. I've visited Hagia-Sofia in Istanbul and seen the ruins of Ephesus. This is beginning to sound like Rutger Hauer's swan-song in Bladerunner! I've been skiing. I've overflown Angel Falls in Venzuela and trecked up a river gorge into the foothills of the Ayantepui. I've seen the street markets in Thailand and the Philippines and smelled the tangy, earthy aroma of the food stalls there. I've been bungy-jumping and I learned to ride a unicycle.

Right now I am in Hood River, Oregon, also known as the windsurfing capital of the world. This is a very hip (and windy!) town, with a youthful downtown and great views of the Columbia Gorge River. More impressions coming soon. In the meantime, you can check out these pics.

There were whitehorses on the waves! That means strong wind... and some pretty darn fun windsurfing...

A few miles from Portland is the Columbia River Gorge one of the most marvelous and scenic attractions in the world with breathtaking views, windsurfing, hiking, and the place of Multnomah Falls the most famous waterfall attraction in Oregon. Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument is only 50 miles north of Portland. The monument offers an opportunity to marvel at destruction and at Nature’s recovery

Windsurfing is a popular past time on the island and all the best surfers tend to congregate at Orient Bay Beach – which is located on the French north-side of the island.

Stealing someone's Olympic medals is pretty damned low, don't you think? In essence, it's just plain mean and hateful. You're stealing something that you can't sell (probably not even to a pawn shop) and which will mean absolutely nothing to anyone else -- but which meant quite a lot to the people you stole them from.

While Hood River is really just a small town. That works very hard at being cute. It has good food, it has Full Sail beer, it has an atmosphere that encourages windsurfing, biking, running, skiing, you name it. And yes, it even has a Wal-Mart, but the zoning and land-use laws here even made that more approachable.

The final 50 miles is actually the most deceiving part. You go over the longview bridges into oregon and think you are dne. In actually this is usually the hardest part. These last miles are down the columbia river (hey guys it is windsurfing capital of the US there) and it is typicaly late afternoon when winds are the strongest. So hopefully we have been saving energy till then.

Wrtote this in October last year. Have learnt a lot since then. Windsurfing in Pattaya Jomtien Beacn is even more fun now.

My 2005 windsurfing finally started today. Met up with Chad at Medicine lake for some strong SE wind. Rigged up the 8.5 and the 280 and was overpowered for the first few reaches. The wind let up slightly and was awesome sailing for 2 hours. The water is still cold so I wore my drysuit, to my disappointment the left wrist seal is ripped. Luckily I didn’t bite it too many times so I stayed plenty warm. The weather was great except for the clouds. Excellent first time out for the season.

For memorial day weekend I’m flying into Los Angeles and then driving up to Cambria to windsurf. I’ve been there once before, last summer, and it was sweet- the two windsurfing pictures on page 3 of the gallery were taken there.

"What's so ludicrous about windsurfing?" asks Real [a Slug Man expert]. "It's effete -- which is another way of saying it's feminine." Yet guys are forced to contend with such inane stereotypes. (Have you ever tried windsurfing? It's about as easy as riding a shark.)

I don't know what the first guy is doing, but it was crazy looking. First, it was so windy that I had to brace against a rock to stay standing. It wasn't so much cold as it was windy. These guys are hardcore. I want to try it! Windsurfing always scared me, but I guess it may be easier than surfing. I don't know, I'm sure there is some lame debate about it. Either way, it was rad to see so many people. More photos came out of this, but these were two favorites.

We're considering Kiteboarding for our summer outdoor sport research project. If you're not familiar with it, kiteboarding (also called kitesurfing, or just kiting) is a "fusion" sport combining elements of surfing (done that), wakeboarding (check), and windsurfing (well, once). Local organization Seattle Kiteboarding Center has classes, rental gear, and bucketloads of enthusiasm to share with beginners. And lucky for you,...

The general wisdom is to start small at nearby beginner-friendly locations like Golden Gardens or Richmond Beach before one makes the pilgrimage down to the Mecca of kiteboarding/windsurfing known as Hood River. Seattlest has a friend-of-a-friend (and who doesn't?) who is an avid kiteboarder, so we'll see how much trouble we can...