Oregon+Firelight

After hurting myself and not finishing last in the contest I had almost given up on sailing for the trip. The forecast was calling for wind but now swell. On our drive up the coast to the Gorge we stopped by the Jetty and scored a little session. The conditions weren't epic, head high, light gusty side side-off wind and rippable. Diego, Russ, and Sam were there already watching it and they weren't very motivated. I got super excited and started frantically unpacking my bags and rigging up. I rigged the new 5.0 Firelight and it was the perfect sail for the conditions. It's one of the lightest if not the lightest sail on the market. The sail is light like the Superfreaks but still has the crisp feel of the Fires. It's extremely easy to sail, and after two hours I still hadn't fallen in. The wind was a little light for everyone else, but for me it was the best session of the trip. Maybe it was because I hadn't hit a lip since February, regardless, I came in with a smile from ear to ear. This same sort of thing happened to me in Morocco. I had given up on sailing for the trip, the forecast was flat, and out of no where a logo high swell came in. If you keep a positive attitude everything seems to fall into place.

Oregon Pics+Duck Surfing

The contest didn't go as well as planned but the trip was one of the best ever. The sailing was really fun the day before the event, 3.7 and logo high onshore waves. Sick. The first day of the contest started with light winds and small waves. The wind slowly built all day and by my heat it was solid 4.2. Then it really started nuking. I started my heat with a tweaked jump(notice the hoodie)

and then got destroyed on a forward. .













Here is the sequence;








The take off was good

Here I am just starting to sheet in

Now I start to get into trouble if you click on the photo you can see that my frozen hand has slipped off the boom.

At this point I have hit the ejection bottom and I am trying to get as far away from my gear as possible. I know it's going to hurt but I should land far away from my gear and be fine or so I thought...

My foot got stuck in the strap and my sail sheeted in again, launching me even faster at the water, at this point I'm out of control and saying my prayers. I think the booties had something to do with getting stuck. This is my favorite shot of the sequence and my new facebook profile shot.

I'm blessed to not have landed on my gear. The wind got knocked out of me, I was seeing stars, and coughing up blood. Not the best start. I managed to finish my heat but kind of just sailed back and forth for most of it. I coughed up blood for about an hour, but besides a sore neck and back I was fine. Super thankful because it could have been much much worse.
More stories to come, but I got to get in the water now. Warm water whoohoo!
This is just funny.

Duck surfing

To the Gorge

We're heading up to the Gorge now and looking for a place to stay. Adventure after adventure; river floating, camping, redwoods, and long drives.

We had some really fun sailing yesterday, I'll have more pictures up as soon as I find a fast internet connection.

It's a wrap!

Contest is over. Nate Mershon won and he deserved it. He was ripping the whole contest. Zane got robbed in the stand-up contest, he killed it! I didn't do so well, I haven't sailed much since February and my back was bothering me. I'm uploading some picks and should have them up by tomorrow morning. We've had some great adventures, and some really good luck, Sonya won a new stand-up paddle board at the drawing!! Pics to come tomorrow.
Aloha,
Nick

Forecasts

The forecasts are looking good. Pistol river looks like it's going to be very windy and maybe even a swell! Check it at Americanwindsurfingtour.com. Long range swell forecast for Maui is looking great too. It could be the best south swell in years if it pans out. It should set up very close to the islands and from a good direction.