We had a good race today. Maybe I should train between events instead of just showing up and trying to muscle my way to the finish. A second place in the mixed masters isn't bad until you realize there were only two boats in that class! But he says there were boats behinds us we weren't dea last... The new ama performed great giving Lise the reach she needed and the boat the trim I was trying to achieve. I really like Gary Dierking's design even if it isn't competative with the ultra light purpose built race boats but then like I tell everyone; "we can carry more fish!" People like it too. Everytime we are at an event we get plenty of lookers who want to know about it. I need to make up a card with Dierking's blog site on it. One of the things I should do is stretch it. Four more feet would give it a longer waterline and better glide. It could use to loose a few pounds too. Lise and I will have to try a race OC-2 one of these days and see how we do. Any way mid-race when I was getting into the groove and looking to pass the boat ahead, pull away from the paddle board on our tail (those are fast) and was digging for my reserves, I started thinking about how I could use this one as a plug for a carbon fiber and foam hull ultralight and stretched Ulua. It definitely has me thinking. ....now where my copy of Gary's book? I need to check the center cross section dimensions!

Did a little work on the 7-0 carbon fiber surfboard I'm building Fun photos with Ulua.

Ulua is now race ready. We are entering the PNWOCC Winter Series races. Last time we race we were squatting in the stern as the front seat was pushed back so you didn't hit the front iako with your paddle. I built this iako in four days around all the other things going on. hopefully it holds and hopefully it'll make us more level and therefore faster.

We are entering ULUA in a six mile outrigger race on Saturday. During our last race we discovered we were down by the stern. To correct this we need to move the front seat forwards. That requires a new iako. I've been at it in the evenings. We dryfitted it today and I made the modifications. Built out of scrap from around the shop as it's a fast and dirty!

I found a new eco-foam that seemed like an opportunity. Having had fun on the 6-0 fish I built, I thought that maybe I should make another board. This is a 7'-0" x 22" fun board. I've been dying to do something bigger than a paddle in carbon fiber so what the heck, I shelled out the money for three yards worth. I'm getting the hang of shaping foam - go slow and don't bang it around. I like working with CF it's different than e-glass more flow to it and you can make it stick when you need it to. I came up with this easy way of weighting down to by sticking 16 penny nails through the weave along the edges to get it to hang down. Should be ready by the end of the week if I can find some time.

Quick sketch of a Tiki 21 crabclaw ketch

Winter Paddling event that I entered Ulua in.

www.vimeo.com/8711166

Here is link to the Tiki 21 i have been helping on. It is quite a gathering and some interesting folks have been dropping by including Michael Schacht of Proafile.com. The goal is to launch this summer.

http://econscience.org/tiki

Making Tiki 21 lashing blocks

Foam vs Bamboo and the twin vs quad

Twin and quad in profile

Side by side tops

Side by side bottoms

..................a long absence however I have not been doing noth'in. Oh and I have work again so maybe I'll start being able to refill the sailing kitty. In the meantime I've been helping out on a Tiki 21, building and surfing surfboards and on Saturday paddled Ulua in a 6.5 mile open class race, survived the 3-4 foot running waves in 20 mph winds and finished pretty decently even against the ultra light carbon fiber OC-1 and OC-2's. Out of a pack of 61, two boats sunk (recovered) at least one boat was paddled by an ex olympian and the time spread was 51 min to 144 min. Ulua was in at 74 min just behind an OC-6. Results are at http://www.paddlingdynamics.com/challenge/default.html Eventfully there should be pictures up on their site.

The Tiki 21 project is pretty interesting and its great to see what a bunch of beer fuels boys can hammer out one night a week 8pm until 12midnight or beyond. This boat has been long in the making - started 2001 and just might be done for this summer if everyone does their homework. mine this week was to make lashing pads that I finished tonight so they'll be ready for tomorrow's session.

On surfing what can I say. I've been staring at rentals in the hawaian Islands dreaming of a warmer climate!