The year 2008 in pictures... part 2

I like the these pics too...the AP pics from 2008.

• April

April was a great month! Skied Kirkwood on Saturday (last day), then rode a century in the N. Bay on Sun on the first weekend.



Went up to Tomales Bay for an overnight kayaking trip.


Did some midweek paddles through cal canoe and kayak. They teach great classes (surf zone - highly recommended), but don't have the best customer service...


Back on the skis for the annual Pear Lake Hut extravaganza, a 5 star weekend...



Then to N.Lake for some climbing and music.

• May
  

Back to Tahoe for some more climbing... this time in S. Lake... also did some biking.


Kited at Crissy Field with Andrew.


Made my annual pilgrimage up Shasta during the full moon, came back to enjoy Bay to Breakers.


Rafted/Biked Downieville with an entourage.






Snake Dike with Bako.

• June

Hung around the city the first weekend...


RE-started TIMBER (Thursdays Intense Mtn. Bike Extreme Ride)


next weekend, took a Kayak Surfing class with Kim and Alex down by Mavericks.


Grouse lake backpacking trip the next weekend.


Climbed Mt. Watkin's with Nick

The year 2008 in pictures... part 1

Since other folks are doing it... I might as well... although my pics aren't as professional as some of these.

New Year's in Yosemite is always a good start to a new year.

• January

Ski Cabin time...

Went up Tallac with Nick.


Toured in the Desolations with Funk and Nick the following weekend... a good way to deal with the horrendous snow conditions...


Got to enjoy some Snowkiting the next day in the meadow next to the house... a little gusty, but fun nevertheless. Mingie liked chasing me around too.


Jasper came down to join the Bay Area crew to goof around at Kirkwood

• February

Carson Pass B/C, first time at Sierra...lots of snow


Next weekend was very different... warm, sunny... went up Angora Peak with Tim, Hoefty, and Jasper.

The next day, we all hung out at the cabin, and constructed a snowcave.


And the following weekend... off to the Sawtooths with Metres and Nick.


The weather changed yet again... so we went right back up to Tahoe for some pow-pow fun


And back to the E. Side to Rock Creek the next weekend with Kimbo, Kelly, and Nick to ski the Cat's Ears Couloir.

• March

After leaving town for the last 8 consecutive weekends to go skiing, we stayed in town to kayak around Alameda with Moses, Seth, Julie, and Kimbo.


But enough of that... went back up to Tahoe to ski the next weekend, and Kimbo's parents visited Tahoe with us.


And off to Colorado with Funk. Scrambled up Ancient Art on the way out, I placed 16th at the Telemark National Extreme Ski Championships, skied some great terrain at Crested Butte. No injuries, a memorable trip.


And back at Kirkwood...




Then Kimbo and I escaped up to Mendo for the weekend... check out that circumzenithal arc


Not a bad start... part 2 coming soon.

Photo: kite cam

I'd love to set one of these up...

Here are some links... that lead to more links... and more links...

• from a guy in Berkeley...
• Scott Haeffner
• from make magazine

Also, you can put one on your kite for kiteboarding... a few folks have thing in the bay... pretty cool shots from it.

http://www.camrig.com/photos.php

You can also do some hacks on your camera... maybe I'll blog about this later... but... for now... if you are interested in hacking your Canon, it's very very easy.

You can hack your canon sd camera to shooot in RAW mode (which is amazing!) ... and put an interval setting on it... if it doesn't already have one... like my 870 does... but the RAW mode is super nifty... now I just need a little more time to play with that feature... I'm thinking you can hack the olympus and get some sort of interval shooting as well... let me know if this is the case.
http://scottlenger.com/technology/epic-shoot-28mm-raw-with-the-canon-powershot-sd800/

Well... I guess I won't until next year... but this would be fun...

Kiting at OB - Wave Riding...

Kited Ocean Beach for the first time.
Jumped in the water at OB for the first time.
Rode my kite in waves for the first time.

Here's what I learned:

• Kiting in waves is SCARY...
• ...but really, really FUN and addictive
  
• I need about 25 more sessions out there, before I'd feel comfy.
  

Had a fun session on my 2004 Cabrinha 8.5 m... which I need to replace with a newer kite... the winds died after about an hour, but that was about all I could take anyway. Earlier I had driven down to 3rd, which shut down as I got there... frustrated, I came home, went on a run to OB, and there were tons of kiters. Ran back, grabbed the gear, and kited... my quads are sore...

None of these pics are of me, but of other kiters. Met a few nice kiters out there, but don't know who these kites belong to...


Lots of foam... wuz up wit dat?


Makes for some cool pics though...


Also, I got to use my O'Neil Thermo Hooded vest that I purchased from Kite Wind Surf... which rocks for colder waters... used it under my 4/3 and was never cold. Ear plugs might help though.

Ben Wilson's Basic Wave Kiting Info
http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2350557
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/Articles/Kitesurfing/Summary.aspx

more pics here.

Kiting...

Is AWESOME...

got to go out for a nice session last Fri. Haven't been able to go out for a while as I've been busy with other activities... but man... there aren't too many things that equal the sensation you get after a good session on the board.

And as of last month of so... Kiters are the fastest sailors on earth. As a french man hit 50.57 knots.

Landed a few front and back loops. Not bad considering I haven't kited for 2 months now...

For those wanting to learn... take a lesson. Kiting is dangerous. You need a professional lesson. Don't think about learning on your own...