ben on the bay

I can't believe October has come and gone. Not much bike riding, but some windsurfing, stand up paddling, and sailing. These were some shots from a sunset sail last Sunday.




Not many days left to play in the un-frozen snow. Before we know it winter will be here. Bring it on!

more from the mountain

good in the hood

The Columbia River

I spent last week in Hood River, Oregon at the Starboard dealer meeting and the AWSI demo.


I thought about naming this post " The Agony of Da Feet", but the bumper sticker proclaims that it is "Good in the Hood", so I will roll with that.

I woke up early on Tuesday and met the guys from Starboard for a SUP dawn patrol from the Event Site. After spending the day Monday traveling, the morning Sup session was a great way to start the day. In keeping with my "play then eat" program, I returned to my hotel and had "Coastal Eggs Benedict". Instead of the usual Canadian bacon, the poached egg was served on top on a piece of local smoked salmon. YUM!

Morning SUP

Hood River Hotel

After breakfast and a shower, it was back down to the river for the Starboard product presentation and an afternoon of product testing. Not much wind but we spent the afternoon hanging out at the Event Site and playing with the big boards and big sails. The Event Site in Hood River is a beautiful grassy area, and one of the most user friendly launches on the river. However, to get from the grassy area to the water you still need to cross a very rocky beach and then wade out on an equally rocky bottom before getting on the board. Tough on the tootsies.

Starboards Everywhere!
Most Excellent

On the way back to the Hood River Hotel, I got a wild hair up my butt and decided it would be cool to catch sunset up on Mount Hood. Bypass hotel, proceed directly to mountain, do not pick up shoes. Upon arriving at Timberline Lodge, I took off on a two hour hike on the Pacific Crest Trail in my flip flops. I got incredible views and some cool pictures for my effort, but between the rocky beach, and a rocky hike, I put a serious hurting on my feet. It probably didn't help playing in the snow barefooted either!

Mount Hood Magic!

Wednesday started with another early SUP session. We paddled up the Hood River a bit before being denied by shallow water and rapids. More product presentations followed by some wind and a good afternoon of sailing.

Up The Creek (the Hood River)

Thursday morning, myself and several other dealers were treated to breakfast and a tour of the Chinook factory. It was cool to watch them mold and assemble carbon booms, and some of the other windsurfing products they make. It makes the made in America sticker really mean something when you actually see it being done.

We returned to the Event Site for the AWSI demo where I was greeted with hugs and kisses from my friends Rebecca and Jane from San Francisco. Windsurfing and pretty girls always makes for a good day! Not necessarily in that order. I spent the afternoon sailing several of the new 2010 Naish boards and sails. Awesome! More foot abuse carrying gear back and forth on the beach.

Jane & Rebecca

Friday was a beautiful day in the Hood, unfortunately there was absolutely no wind. Great day to demo SUP boards. I paddled from the Event site to the Hood River bridge a couple of times on different boards. A whole bunch of short spins (more foot abuse) , and then a long late afternoon paddle across the Columbia River to the White Salmon River. All in all, I paddled for more than 4 hours and I was a pooped paddler! I tried a lot of really good boards, but when all said and done, I really liked the Naish 12' Glide, but I still like my own 11'6 Naish better than anything. Cool! There was a big industry party Saturday night, but after a hot tub and a big bowl of pasta I was toast and crashed.

THE NAISH CREW

Sweetheart MJ w/Ashlee

Nick Stuart lays one out

Saturday the wind was back, and I spent the final day of the demo re-riding the Naish and Starboard boards with a bunch of different sails. I met Rebecca and Jane, two of their instructors, Nick (from Naish) and his girlfriend Emma downtown for pizza Saturday night. Good pie, good friends, good day!

Sunday dawned windy, so I grabbed some rental gear from Big Winds and went to the Hatchery with my friend David Kao. The wind punted and Dave and I got skunked. We grabbed lunch together and then I spent the afternoon cruising around Hood River.

BACK TO MY OWN HOOD!

My trip home started with a flight from Portland to SF. Turns out Rebecca and Jane were on the same flight, but we were several rows apart and couldn't chat. I was treated to a spectacular sunset over the Pacific as we few down the coast. Quick good byes at the airport, and I was off to Charlotte. I finally arrived in Baltimore around 9:30 Monday morning. LONG TRIP HOME.
I met Sarah at the boat and we had a sunset sail on the Chesapeake. Can't really think of a better way to end a great week. Sarah, the boat, and the Chesapeake Bay. Things are good in my hood!

Capt. Sarah
&
Sunset Sail




Until next time.................

Aloha

Happy Birthday To Me!

Early morning SUP before work yesterday to celebrate my 51st

A Fruit Tart to finish up the day

ben cooking

Swordfish, grilled eggplant antipasto, risotto.
YUM!

ben facebooked

Sat AM SUP Session before work.

Sunday Sunset Sail

Monday AM Heading out of Annapolis

Ponies at Assateague Monday PM

Aloha,
It has been awhile since the last blog. I guess I have been spending too much time on Facebook.

Facebook is sort of like a cliff notes version of a blog. What the hell is a blog anyway? I looked it up on Wikipedia:

A blog (a contraction of the term "weblog")^[1] is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.

So, I was wrong about Facebook being"cliff notes". I learned that it is a micro-blog. Is Twitter a micro-mini-blog?

Why do we blog anyway? Why do we read other peoples blogs?

Jason Berry's blog has taken me to Alaska and the Tour de France. I can only hope that one day I can go to both places myself. Sue Haywood's blog took me all over the world when she was racing mountain bikes. Her stories always inspired me to ride my bike just a little bit harder.

I guess I write benboarding blog for a a few reasons.

1. Definetly for my own amusement, and maybe the amusement of a few friends.
2. It gives me a place to post some pictures (a photo-blog).
3. But, mostly so I can remember the places I have gone, the things I have done and who I have done them with.
4. And finally, if reading about the fun things I do with my friends, inspires someone else to get out and do something fun.......well that is just kind of a bonus.

Facebook? Hmmmmm.... It has allowed me to track down and get it touch with some old and special friends. Pretty cool. It has allowed me to meet some pretty cool friends of some of my pretty cool friends. However, last week I opened a "cool video" that a friend didn't really send me, that released a "cool" virus in the computer at work. Then that computer promptly sent a "cool video" from "Mark" to all of my friends. Gee, what are friends for? Thankfully, most of my friends are smarter than me and did not open the file. Sarah is working on cleaning up the computer at work, but until then I'm not posting a thing on Facebook. No more micro-blogs for awhile. It will give me an excuse to post some pictures on benboarding. And maybe if I'm lucky it will take you some place you have never gone before or someplace you want to go back to!

ben getting my mojo back

It has ben awhile, but I think my back and I are finally starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully it isn't a train coming the other way.
Last weekend I survived an easy bike ride on the B&A Trail with Mike, Christi, Cole, and Sarah.
This past Wednesday I had my first acupuncture treatment, and then against the advice of the therapist, I went windsurfing for an hour or so. I was afraid of hurting myself, so I really took it easy, still it was great to be out.


I have ben getting out for a few sessions in the morning on the SUP around Annapolis, and so far I don't feel too worse for wear. The new plebes are in town and the other morning it was fun to watch them do their morning calisthenics as I paddled past the Naval Academy. I'm pretty sure I was enjoying my morning workout more than they were.

I saw Mike and Heather out for a morning spin in the inflatable with their new pup Joshua. Josh is a very cool looking dog and he seemed pretty stoked to be out cruising around Annapolis Harbor. Aahh... a dogs life!

Yesterday Mark Saunders, Sarah, our new friend David, and I took off for a 40 miler through Crownsville. The hills were ugly, but considering I have barely ridden in the last month and a half, I was pretty stoked not to die. A bit stiff this morning, but so far so good.

I've got a few things to do this morning, but I'm thinking about and easy spin on the bike or a short paddle a bit later on.....maybe both. MOJO.

Tonight I'm signed up for a Therapeutic Yoga class. The description said " great for 1st timers or those recovering from injury". Sounds just like what the doctor ordered. Then again I've never exactly followed doctors orders!