Big Tuesday, Oct. 21, Gales and Living Large at KP

8:30AM - Good Tuesday morning 4.2M sailing a gale

Brent making the 4.4 North take flight

Plenty of kites playing in the wavers too

The inside was flat between sets but the winds were ripping

Brent heading out through the impact zone

Believe it - Brent's mast is 15' - Waves 10-16+ feet outside all day

Big KP day was worth the drive and skipping work - I sailed a 3.7M NP Jet powered all day on a the 85ltr. JP FSW. I could have used a 77liter for most of the morning as the speeds going out through waves were hitting hyper-drive. I think for the morning session I had the largest hull on the water (2 guys on JP 68 liters). Temps were cold but the sun came out numerous times and the water was still near 60. Equipment wise I had to lengthen out my harness lines the furthest ever just to control the rig and have some working room when dealing with the gusts and the waves. Lots of great jumping runs but the wave riding was the real rush with steep faces and long sets. The winds were 30+ knots NNW most all day so you could still go straight out and the dead north direction showing at the buoys never materialized at the beach.

Finally! a great fall sailing day and a classic KP day at that.

Sponsor of the day: Red Bull and Alleve

Sat., Oct. 18, A Perfect Day for Poto

Awesome fall morning for a 19 mile ride in 2:10 with JB at Potowatomi in Pickney. Epic trail conditions and lots of hikers on this near perfect single track. Sun and 60 degrees gave us an average 8.7 speed and a 22.6 mph top speed. To cap it off a swim in the lake with atemp in the upper 50's.

Saturday Oct. 11 Gruber's Grinds the Gears

A great day for a ride 70 degrees and sunny with no winds to distract. JB and I got 15.5 miles in 2:16 on a Holly's Holdridge trail that is tight twisty and pretty technical. Sand abounds everywhere here too so its not your typical hard pack single track trail. The payoff downhill sections are really nice and there are 5-6 rock gardens you need to have speed to clear. The final 1/3 of the the trail is really overgrown so a long sleeve shirt is a must. Overall a great trail that rivals Highland in difficulty.

Tunes: Pillar - For The Love of the Game

Sat, Oct. 4, Highland Conquered - Amen!

JB joined me for my annual Highland MTB ride where I build up all season to ride this monster trail maze. Its a great ride when you've done it and accomplished something that's a really tough ride. 17.01 miles in 2:23 to be exact with a couple of stops to catch my breath. Weather couldn't have been better 60 degrees cool, sun and with the recent rain very little dust. This trial is the duke of all MI MTB rides - a masterpiece of singletrack.

Thursday, Oct. 2 Metro Weeds and all Rips!

LSCM4 Bouy

Armed with the 6.1 NP expression and the 105 XCite I got over 4 hours of sailing in before the rain ended the day. WNW, W and SW all over but solid 15-20+++ once you sailed out through the weed farm. Great day to just sail until my arms gave out even with lack of sun and all the debis in the water. Check the chart above - west and steady - finally a day worth posting.

There: Brent, Tom, Millard (? - missed you on water), Jeff and Tom

Eats: Tim Hortons!

Wednesday Oct. 1, a short sesh at Blue Lagoon

Busy schedule but I got in about 3 hours of WNW 15-20 sailing at the Blue Lagoon on the 85ltr. and the 5.7 NP Xpression. Quick session as I couldn't make the long trip to KP for the real wind and the boys riding the real waves... We need a good full day of sailing up there soon.