Progress has been made, but I’ve had some trouble with the experimental strip lashing. Mostly my fault in trying to keep it too simple: in trying to use the strongback beam alone for wrapping the line around to secure each strip, I’ve found that some areas of the hull are not being held down tight to the forms. I now have worked out a new method, that seems to be going much better, but I had to take some time to put small nails into each form station to act as hooks for the line. I’ll explain this better in a later post.
I’m also searching for something more organic than monofilament fishing line, as this is going to create way too much waste. I’ve found some small diameter linen and cotton lines online, but hoping to find something locally. Something with about 40lb test strength, and a little stretch would be ideal…
What does a dishrack that contains hand-washed used tin foil and zip-lock baggies say about the people who live in the household?
I’m mostly asking Joe, since he’s the only person reading this blog these days, and he needed an update.
Tags: Volcano Life
Dammit. I always miss these things. Coverage of Hilo Bike Hub’s annual Poker Run at Kulani Trails.
Low budget fun on mountain bikes.
From The Leucadia Project…
(I’m blessed to be able to say that I once called Leucadia, CA (& Encinitas) home, and that lovely community will always have a fond place in my heart. I learned to surf at D-Street before taking a hiatus in the New Mexican desert for 5 years.)
Ryan Burch surfs a block of foam. From an upcoming film entitled “Stoked and Broke”…
Sea Movies- Stranger than Friction from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.
Via the blog of the Oceanic Research Vehicle Alguita.
On the heels of last weekend’s trip near the southern-most beach in the US, we find Cpt. Charles Moore jousting with Stephen Colbert about the astonishing amount of plastic that is wreaking havoc in our ocean, and on the Big Island’s own Kamilo Beach. He brings to the table a bowl containing one square foot of ‘plastic sand’ that he scraped up from the beach. I’ve stepped in the stuff up to my ankles- tiny fragments, bottle caps, toothbrushes, etc. It’s nuts. I have noticed that each time I go down there though, it is looking a little better. Routine organized beach clean-ups have been doing a great job with getting the big stuff out of there, but the fragments are another thing altogether.
I support the ORV Alquita any chance I get- please help spread the word on the good work their committed to.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Charles Moore | ||||
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Mr. Dierking has posted a very nice video of him sailing his Ulua canoe with the HD GoPro camera attached to the bow. The video is very good quality from these little buggers. I’ve wanted one for a while. Someday….
Link to HD GoPro video
I love that his sail is a brown poly tarp that seems loosely wrapped on the mast with some line he had laying around. He’s a practical man in a practical boat. Building his 24′ Wa`apa canoe is on my to-do list for this year, as soon as the kayak is done.
The kayak has simply been hanging in the rafters for some time, but a little progress has been made here and there
Some strips applied to temporarily to view the lines of the deck. Exploring a technique that involves monofilament line to secure the strips instead of staples the leave unsightly holes.
Only the best strips will make the bend up to the bow...
Home sweet home for the next day or so… Watch this space for updates as DriftngSon & Son ride waves and attempt to catch some fish!
Sheltered by a Kiawe tree
Viewing southeast from the tent
Dante's first fish! (don't ask me what the heck it is!)
Paradise at dusk...
We tried- the swell was easily 4ft as we set up camp, but as soon as I paddled out, it dropped to a consistent 2 ft. Always happens. I got few decent waves and paddled in to do some fishing. Dante won the day with his fish but, alas, we were unable to put dinner in the pan. And so- we find our hero enjoying the feast of the unsuccesful fishermen- chili. Joe commented on scorpions; though none have been spotted thus far, we are having to fend off very aggressive cockroaches the size of my big toe!
Feast of the fishless
These buggers are nasty! The only downside to an otherwise perfect spot.
Morning update, 1/2/10:
We awoke to overcast skies and light sprinkling of rain which this landscape needs desperately. Not enough to make much difference though. I spent a few hours in awesome chest high and glassy surf with one other guy out-Scott from Na’alehu, who is a recent import from Haleiwa. In between sets, we devised a plan to kayak out to a wayward bout that has flounder a new home just off shore here- there has to be a fish colony hiding under that thing!
Dante, catching some waves, and refusing to come in for lunch.
Wild boys of Ka`u
Ok- and we’re back. Looks like I broke the blog again, so liveblogging stalled out but we did make a trip out to the bouy, which turned out to be FAD G ( Fish Aggregation Device) (Check this out: it’s been missing since 04/09) which is usually many miles offshore to create a food chain of small fish that attract bigger fish that attract bigger fish, etc. It apparently broke its mooring (northeast of Hilo!) and has become hung up on the reef about a quarter mile off Kaalualu Point.
So Scott generously offered up his tandem kayak to Dante and I and he took his one man out for the mile or so paddle around the swells breaking on the point and out to the bouy. Once around the point we were rising and falling in the brunt force of the swell that definitley looked to be all of the 5 ft that Surfline was calling it- pretty impressive in the kayak, and humbling. I jumped in with my mask on at the bouy to scan the area but saw nothing substantial in the 50 ft depth that quickly dropped off to blue water, so we just started trolling with some plugs. Scott hooked into the first fish and we paddled over to watch him land it- turned out to something neither of us coul identify. He quickly got another one, and I think he threw the first two back, but after Dante hooked one we started keeping them to have something to bring home. Dante had a blast, barely holding on to the pole when they hit and shaking from the strain of reeling and sheer excitement. I took over to land the two we ended up with, after he fought them up to the boat. A thrashing fish with double trable hooks sticking out of its mouth is nothing to mess with! They were probably less than two pounds, but put up a really nice fight, and fileted out nicely into firm white slabs. Turns out that they are forktail snappers, as it just so happens that Scott was camping with a couple of oceanographers who were able to ID them. The only problem, is that from what I’ve been able to google, they are an introduced species from Africa, and notorious for carrying the ciguatera toxin. So- I think I’ll be holding off on eating them until I can verify that info, and maybe even buy a cigua- test kit. Nasty stuff.
Wahanui (forktail snapper)
Tags: Boardriding, Excursions, Fishing, Oceans
Small gifts from the soil,
And giant ones from the sea.
A good day for me.
Poha berries, Thai peppers, and stubby carrots
A holiday 'wrapping in' of a big northwest at Small Channels
Mele Kalikimaka–I hope your own was just as swell!
Tags: Boardriding, Garden, Volcano Life
Just testing the Wordpress iPhone app that FINALLY works, while getting some work done on some gift boxes…
Ship lap joints, naturally.
Tags: Volcano Life