Great Lakes Storm of 2010

Well, I guess if the NOAA isobar animation was any indication of what was about to happen, this photo sure sums it up. I hope no one sustained any major damage. Gotta love mother nature sometimes!

Isobars!!

Check out these isobars for next few days. They are so close together you can't even read the numbers. Something big is about to happen.

Alliance for the Great Lakes

I some how ended up on this Alliance ad, at one of my favorite Great Lakes point breaks. If you haven't heard of the Alliance they are doing tremendous work here to protect our Great Lakes resource. Check'em out!

Planing Hulls for GL Sliders

I am loving my mini simmons more and more as I continue to learn about its flow. For more inspiration check out www.hydrodynamica.blogspot.com


casestudy casper
"We hope to be able to resolve some part of that controversy now raging between those who believe in miracles and those who are dead set against them...Only one thing will stop the realization of that wish and that is the tenacity with which man clings to old forms because he does not yet understand the new."

Dawn Patrol Sunday 10/03

The biggest Great Lakes enthusiast I know having a moment with his favorite body of water.

All American Quiver for the All American Great Lake

Lake Michigan is affectionately known by Great Lakes enthusiasts as "The All American Great Lake" due to the fact that it is the only Great Lake that lays entirely within the United States. My favorite sliding tools for this special body of water are as follows. 10ft volan cloth Bob McTavish noserider (Pre-Global Surf Industries), 6ft Burly mini-simmons (locally made), and the 5'8" Grunion 9fish retro quad. This seems to cover most of my bases here in the freshies. I didn't plan them to be red, white, and blue, but thought it was symbolic enough to warrant a post. Hope all you GL sliders got some this weekend. See you in the water soon.

MIDWEST shades

Alright people, you know how stoked we are about the Midwest! So naturally we think the new MIDWEST sunglass company is the bomb diggity! Get some inexpensive shades instead of those overpriced brand names, these shades won't set you back a hundo, and you'll be letting the world know the Midwest is the best! From the middle since day one! Check'em out. Send them a shot of your mug, cause they are currently looking for some ridiculous real Midwesterners to model these epic sunglasses.

Kite Score on Beaver Island

I feel really fortunate after scoring a really memorable session on the south shore of Beaver Island yesterday so I figured I would write up a little tale of the day. The deal was, I had to be on the island, at the Central Michigan University Biological Station, for work by Saturday evening. I was planning to leave my house in South Bend in the morning, cruise up and catch the 2:30 ferry. However, after checking the offshore forecast as I was leaving work on Friday afternoon, seeing that it was calling for winds out of the southwest at 20 kts and 6 foot waves, I quickly started scheming to get up there ASAP. So, I kissed my son and wife goodbye at 8:00 pm, made the 5-hour drive to Charlevoix, met up with my buddies Beau and Ben, who just happened to be renting a cottage up there with their families. Of course, we drank beers until 3, I took a quick nap, and just barely made it to the ferry terminal before the 8:00 a.m. departure, threw two kites, a board, and a bag of clothes and a wetsuit into the luggage cart as they were wheeling it onto the boat, and I was off. Despite the lack of sleep and mild hangover, the 2-hour boat trip got me super stoked watching solid white caps and sets of 6 foot swells slide under the boat as we slogged the 32 miles to St. Jame Harbor. Of course, in my haste to get out of town and up to northern Michigan, I hadn't made any arrangements for transportation on the island. I just figured, if it was meant to be, it would work out. Sure enough, I got off the boat in St. James, swung into the terminal office and asked the women behind the counter if she know where I might get ahold of a car for the day. Now, bear in mind, this is a small island in the middle of Lake Michigan, there's no Avis. She called her freind Pat who showed up in less than 10 minutes and for $40 I was throwing my gear in a rusty minivan. From St. James I headed south, 15 miles of gravel and 2-track roads to the south end of the island. As the winding gravel road rolled out onto the beach, I knew it had all been worth it. Maybe I was getting paid back for those 3 or 4 skunkings I had on the south end this spring, or maybe I was just lucky but what layed out in front of me was the setup and conditions that I had been dreaming of for most of the 5-hour drive north the night before. A sand and gravel spit stuck out from shore and protected a nice little embayment, perfect for launching and some flatwater freestyle. To the west, head-high rights were reeling off a rocky point. To the east, waves were unloading on a shallow sandbar. And to top it off, a solid 20 knot wind was blowing 80 degree summer air (a rareity in northern Lake Michigan). All this, and of course, not a soul around. Any kiter knows the rest of this story... 5 hours later, I packed my stuff up, clicked a few more photos, smiled, threw my gear back into the rusty minivan, and wondered how a Lake Michigan session could ever get any better.

Women's tanks are here!

Hey girls! Check out the razorback tanks! We will have the website up and running soon, and you can order online. Or, swing into Sharkless Boardsports in South Haven to pick one up in person.

Tarp Surfing

So it's summer, and if there's no surf, that's cool because tarp surfing is the new bomb diggity! I found this on Justin's blog burlysurfboards.blogspot.com. Gotta love it!