2013 - Part 4

Back to sailing. In this last post about "2013 resolutions" here is the new - or is it old news already- one. Sailing never really went away. Always present in some corner of my twisted mind. I guess the fact that I am doing a monthly check to the Napa Valley Marina is a good reminder as well.
Heard a story about a guy that forgot he had a boat. He was doing automated payment or something, and totally forgot about it. After a couple of years, the marina had really hard time to track the owner of this rotting boat, even if the bill was payed on time every month.

Landing pad for bird poo.

Anyway, If you followed this blog, you know that our "Mobylette" is laying up on the ground, still in the San Francisco Bay. In case, you did read this blog, you may have noticed we do not live there anymore. More like 3000 miles and 5 hours plane from there. Funny, no ?


A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, what felt an eternity, we had some good times together.

Couple of years ago.

We sailed at sunset.

We sailed at night.

We sailed during the day.

We did sail. Not too much. As often as we could. Always in the bay. One time we went under the bridge. In the open ocean ;) - That was something. Back to our blog. Wipe away this nostalgic tear. I have been thinking a lot about this situation, Us here, Her over there. As you noticed, I think a lot ;).


Maybe this book , helped to take a decision.

Breaking Seas: An overweight, 

middle-aged computer nerd buys his first boat, 

quits his job, and sails off to adventure

by Glenn Damato

The end is quite surprising, but you will have to read it, to make your own opinion.

First he did the Ha Ha too. He pointed the legal disclaimer.
“The Ha-Ha is a high risk activity open only to those gladly willing to risk injury and death in the pursuit of adventure.”
He became a little philosophe.
"I believe we are not humans who occasionally have a brief spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a brief human experience"

Frankly, If he did it, why not me ? And guess what... I already have the boat, and already know how to sail ... In the bay, at least.

...

This decision, like a bet. I am lowering her price down to what we bought here, 3 years ago, and getting ready to let her go for a little less, let s say, maximum 10% off the listing price. Seems like a deal. If she goes, she goes. But there is a dead line, not sure yet, certainly early May. If in May, she did not sell, she goes to Mexico. We go to Mexico. I will outfit her during this summer and we will go down the coast to join the Baja Ha Ha in San Diego, and go off for two weeks of sailing along the Baja coast, certainly aiming to another lay-up in Mazatlan.

What does that mean ? I will certainly post more details about the actions and consequences of this choice - bet. But that would be a challenge. At least for me. But I begin to fell I want - I need to be challenged again. Push the boundaries of what I can do. I begin to dream - and fear it at the same time - that she does not sell.
In the mean time,

Back to the books

Wait and see. What fate is saving for me for this year.

2013 - Part 3

If you followed the previous posts, in this serie, I go over my goals - intentions - resolutions for 2013. Pretty lame , isn't it ? Last weel, I explained my fitness goals. Could have been worst, at one point, I was thinking to prepare for the Maui Triatlon. Well, I do not have a bike, then, I bailed out.

Truth is I really like surfing, and all related activities. No kidding.
Anyway, this week is a transition week between no wind at all and good surfing with relatively small waves (4-6 foot) to crapy wind )15Knots from the north and huge swell (20+). Unfortunately, that makes poor surfing, poor paddle boarding and poor kitesurfing. Which did not stop me, of course.

-Surfing-
On Tuesday, I went to Hookipa. Totally misjudged the size of the waves from the shore. Thought it was doable. Made it outside, thanks to a huge R.I.P. current that send you offshore , between Middle and Pavillon waves. Once outside, to my amazement, I realized: Well, there was not so many people in the water. Has to be Big. F***, It is big. Believe me or not, but I saw some 18+ waves, when the forecast was calling for 12+ Max. Which is way over my skill level. Obviously. Couple of face plants and one missed bottom turn. Lot of salty water swallowed and lot of desperate swimming to avoid tons of white water. Double overhead ready ? Not at all.

No wind. 10mph. One guy got a 17m flysurfer. On Maui ?

Certainly a tourist. But why did he pack a 17m for Maui ? 

Did he read the wind charts ?

-Paddle boarding - 

Friday, I went paddle boarding. It was choppy, and windy, as I said. But overall, I am doing poretty good and hold my place in the line-up at Kanaha. Not yet ready for Hookipa or Lanes, but, well, double overhead waves are in my reach. Yes, I found paddle boarding way easier than surfing. Certainly due to the fact, like in long boarding, you can take the wave way earlier, and the drop is not that steep. Plus, the size of the board give you a lot of stability.

I did not have my camera on my board.

But I saw the stripes. And the body seemed to be at least 6ft long.

Did not wait long enough to see the tail.

Anyway, after a couple of waves, saw my first tiger shark, chilling in the line-up , doing turns between the set, maybe 10 feet from me. Of course, stressed, I fall down in the water. Which is not what you want to do when a 6-8ft shark is wandering around. It was only 3pm in the afternoon (yes, I took half the day off - I can see you coming), but tiger sharks are well known to not respect the common rule for  Sharks that only eat in the sunset or at dawn. Did not seem to be aggressive to me, but as he did not go away, I went home. Told the couple of guys that were surfing too. They seemed happy to go home as well.

Hard to say on this picture, so far away, but there is already 12+ waves.

And is picking up.

-Kitesurfing-

As I may have said in this blog, the last couple of months, we had good winds and waves, and except I am often overpowered on my 7m, I made tremendous progress in my strapless kitesurfing. Don't think I am very comfortable in 12+ waves, but in 6-8ft, definitively. Maui is maybe not the best spot in the world for kitesurfing (or is it?), but it is pretty damn close. Next week, the forecast seems very good.

Today was light again, And I tried for the first time to use my kite with my paddle board. I was able to go around in 12mph winds (??!!??) with my 10m and my 9' paddle board. Funny. 

The low that will plague our beaches with 20+ waves.

Cool.

Overall, I am pretty happy with my progress those past couple of months. My increased fitness and diminishing psoas pain allow me for longer session, more often. I think that's all I wished for.

Nothing surprising for 2013. More of the same. 

Of course, a french one. Bandit 6 !

But I will buy a 5m ;). Oh yes, it is already ordered !

2013 - Part 2

The fitness part.

What do I target for 2013 ? Easy more of the same and a little more of different.

Nothing surprising, I liked to lose weight. Feels way better. Looks better. Very satisfying. If you followed this blog, you will now that I was counting calories. Well, in 2013, I am not. I think I got a good understanding of what a 2000 cal /day is, at this point. But I will continue to track my weight. It is very satisfying too. Really.

Maybe I will go down to a weekly weighting, instead of daily ;) 

It sounds less crazy. 

Then, I will continue to eat the same and will try to exercise more. Theoretically, I should be able to continue to lose weight, for a target of 140 pounds, i.e.less than 64 Kg. Coming down from almost 80kg, not too bad, as a goal , right ?
Anyway, no hurry, my only real constraint is too stay below 150 pounds, 68 Kg.

Post-workout snack. (fruits, Vegetable, Coconut Water)

Slowly replacing those proteins energy bar when I can.

Exercising. No surprise either, I will try to continue to stretch daily at work (eh eh, I know, I know). And get up my chair. I will do at least one sport activity a day, surf session, kite session, or swimming, running. I will do a t least 3 endurance session a week (swimming, Running more than 45 min). I consider surfing and kitesurfing as taxing activities, not building ones.

What's new, then ? Yoga. I have started already "Sun Salutations" in the morning, and I really like it. But overall, I want to improve my flexibility. I came to the point than I think I do have the stamina to surf or kitesurf the waves I want to (not yet as long as I want to, come back to point 2), however, I do think I am stiff like a Rock.

The strapless song:

To begin to take some serious air Strapless,

I need to grab this board,

And to Grab this board, 

I need to bend my body.

And to bend my body,

I need some flexibility ....

.

3 keys for 2013:
Stronger, Flexible-er, Lighter.

Sounds like a plan, alright ?

-Interlude - Are you fit to run ?

I wish I did that for years. Awesome sequence from Runner's world.

Runner's World : Fit to Run ? Workout



Sitting too much ?



Yes, I know. But I said 'Except exceptions", right ?

2013 - Part 1

Never too late.
I have been thinking a lot (yeah, I know) lately about the next steps for me, and usually the new year is a good time to announce those. Well, frankly, I dont really think that the artificial change of calendar year means anything , specially regarding to life changes. The move to Hawaii, which happens to be in August, was certainly a bigger influence on my life that any other New Year intentions.

Anyway, some stuff that I liked from last year (Starting from my new life, on Maui) :
- The fitness program
- The progress on my psoas tendinitis
- The strapless progress in Kitesurf
- The overall surfing progress and paddlesurf astonishing big waves I was able to catch
- The better connection with my family
- My new life rhythm, working early, getting to bed early, and exercising a lot

Some stuff I did not like too:
- (relative) Lack of consistency in my workouts
- Late night schedule, with still too much TV (relatively), not enough reading
- The abandon of the plan for Mobylette - the boat
- The lack of jokes in some of my blog posts

Getting ready for a good open water swim. 

Molly in the back. 

First thing first, the Blog.
It is taking a lot of time. And even with millions of readers (This is the joke of this post), it does not make a living, because it is free. Right. Free. No advertisement. Free to be read. (End of the joke).

I need to reorganize my time around 3 main concepts, and the blog is no more a central piece of those. I guess I do not need so much public accountability no more. I proved myself I can (roughly) stick to my goals, my diet and my schedule.

Then, the blog will become weekly. Except exceptions. But in exchange, I will try to avoid the empty posts and try to keep it a little more focused - still around the same themes. I will try to stick to actual pictures I took, and not ones from Google. Really. And to keep things interesting, I will announce the thematic of the next couple of posts.

As I tried to use this new blog format for this post - no really ? - Now I will announce the couple of next posts subjects : 2013 Letter of intentions, and how I will try to address the things that I did not like too much in 2012, and try to reinforce the things I did like in 2012. Still following ? Great, see you next week then.

Swamp at work

Which is kinda paradoxical when you working from home.
Anyway, I did not have the time yet to prepare my first real post for the new year.

Still, I want to share this really cool vid of an Australian paddleboarder and pro-kitesurfer.

I am glad to be on Maui, and not Oahu. Looks crowded.

Looks like he can kite as well ;)

Check his FB !
http://www.facebook.com/keahideaboitiz

Mom!

I read this a while ago, And found it funny that an actor gets a beating at Maverick, where even seasoned surfer would not dare to paddle out.

 'Help, somebody!' Or 'Mom!'

Could be really scary:

Near death experience

Living in San Francisco, we went to check Maverick when the contest was on and the waves were big.
Nowadays, Jaw is breaking too.

Next door, Peahi.

Well, I can tell you right now : This is not my goal for 2013 ;)

Blog 2012- Retrospective (5)

December 2012 - 3nd month and last one one the year -

-Where we learn that exercising does not make you lose weight.
But it makes you lean and mean. And helps. Mixing sports and activities is key, to trick the body and the mind into enjoying it.

- Where I felt like an Iron man.
After my 80 minutes run in San francisco. First time I realized my hip was getting better, and all this work was paying off. In fact, sooner than expected. (PT gives you a 6 month window to heal).

- Where I eat less on the route than at home.
Proof that my eating habits are getting better, I tends now to eat less when I am not counting calories than when I am counting. Even when I have to find food in restaurants or on the move. And I don't mind exercising in murky hotel fitness facilities.

- We learn that Santa can surf.
But dolphins too. And I got a double overhead waves in paddlesurf.

Lanes.

- When we realize that Maui is windy.
Very windy. Even in winter, where the wind supposedly disappears, you still enjoy 10 days streaks at 20 knots + and all kind of waves.

Blog 2012- Retrospective (4)

November 2012 - Diet and fears -

-Where I learn that you feel lighter at 155 pounds than 175.
All training preparation starts by balancing your muscle mass with your lean body weight. In my case, that was pretty easy : too much fat !

-Diet is relatively easy.
But going over my fears and pre-made ideas , misconceptions of what is my ideal weight and my ideal behavior in society was not.

-Diet is not the goal.
The goal is too understand what you are eating, when and how much. After you can decide as an educated person. And, yes, it starts by counting calories and jumping often on the scale.

- A routine is easy to install
And it becomes pretty addictive. Pacing meals and snack, exercising ... Way easier than it sounds, but not that easy to find the time, or organize my time around it - to transform the ephemere in routine in life style.

Hookipa

-Still not ready for KSP.
Even when the event occurs at my home spot.