Nature Fest - this weekend

We will be doing demos of the Expedition Windsurfer and Alex Aguera's new SUP designed for fishing at this years Nature Fest at Hardee Lakes Park in Hardee County Florida.  The Nature Fest is this Saturday October 2nd.  I know it is a bit of a late notice but if you are in the area it will be a bunch of fun.
  Here is a link about the event: http://www.hardeecc.com/downloads/2010%20Nature%20Fest%20Flyer.pdf

Here is a photo of Alex's new stand-up-paddle boards The Hooked Sup.

This is a great board for everyone in the family to use.  It is wide and stable and easy to carry. 
Come out and try it on Saturday.

Great Adventures

Ancient Indian Mounds and Mysterious Mangrove Creeks

It’s been hot here in central Florida, well real hot. The temps have been in the high nineties and on some days even hitting triple digits. Add in the near 100% humidity and it makes things just a bit too uncomfortable for any type of adventure requiring a person to sleep in a tent without air-conditioning. Since I have not figured out how to put AC in my backpacker’s tent I have been very reluctant to do any overnight camping trips. So things have been pretty boring around here for a while.


But I did manage to get in a day of adventure at one of my favorite places to sail and explore, Bishop Harbor on the east side of Tampa Bay. The past week we had a high pressure ridge stationed over the Gulf of Mexico changing our typical weather pattern. The high was producing a westerly wind flow throughout the entire week. The day would begin with a light breeze out of the west and as the landmass of Florida’s peninsula heated up the sea breeze would improve and we would get winds in the 10-12kt range. Not anything to get too excited about, but enough to have some fun sailing the Expedition Windsurfer. With this type of weather pattern the potential for afternoon thunderstorms is reduced so I would not have to worry about getting off the water too early in the day.

So after wrapping up a few loose ends at home and packing a cooler of food and drinks, I headed for Bishop Harbor. The first stop on my adventure would be to try to find an ancient Indian mound hidden deep in the bowls of the tropical jungle. I would need to hike through the mangroves into the snake and spider infested jungle of Florida’s back country. As I made my way through the dense overgrowth, I was sure that at any moment I would rouse a large snake or even catch a glimpse of the ancient peoples who lived here centuries ago. As I stood atop the ancient mound I tried to imagine what life would have been like for those who built the mound. What was the fishing like? Was the water clearer than it is now? How in the world did they deal with the mosquitoes? I pondered these questions as I made my way back to the Expedition Windsurfer to head to my next stop.

I found a nice clearing on one of the mangrove islands to lay my 7.5 Zenith windsurfing sail on while I took a SUP paddle into a hidden mangrove tunnel. As I paddled around the island to reach the entrance to the tunnel I spotted a dolphin jumping completely out of the water over and over again just like you see at Sea World. I managed to get it on the Go Pro video I made, but he was too far away to be seen clearly. As I entered the tunnel the mangrove canopy was so low that I had to paddle from a seated position. Because of the denseness of the surrounding canopy and the overhanging limbs the air was stifling, no breeze to keep the temperature pleasant even with the shade. Fish darted here and there; water fowl looking for the next meal would take off making a loud ruckus. I spooked a raccoon as he was having lunch in the shallow water of the tunnel.

I exited the mangrove tunnel into a lagoon named Moses’ Hole; an almost perfectly round body of water surrounded by mangroves. The fish were teaming. With no mangrove canopy, I was able to paddle standing on the Expedition Windsurfer which enabled me to see right into the water, spotting fish of just about every kind. I was wishing I had brought my fishing gear.

At the far side of Moses’ Hole I discovered another mangrove tunnel; this one deadened into a perfect place for lunch. At the end of this tunnel the mangrove trees were larger than in first tunnel providing nice shade and the sea breeze was filtering through, making the temps perfect.



After lunch I paddled back to my sail, re-rigged and did a 6 mile sail into Tampa Bay. On this leg of my journey I spotted numerous stingrays, it must be mating season. On my way back in I spotted something I have never seen before; a spinner shark. It jumped at least three feet out of the water spinning 3 or 4 times before disappearing below the water.

All this adventure in one day! Mysterious mangrove tunnels leading to strange places, Indian mounds with ancient history, wildlife of all kinds, and of course windsurfing. Who needs TV?

Take a look at the short video and let me know what your think. Sorry for the smudges on the lens.

Great adventures!

Days Like These

One of the best times of my life so far, was spending a long weekend with my son Jared sailing around on our windsurfers.  Time well spent.

Plans available- correction

On my previous post I inadvertently said to click on the link below, when I meant to the link above.

Sorry for the confusion.

Plans are now available!!!

Build your very own Expedition Windsurfer! 

Yes you can do this. 

Check out the link above for more details.

Adventure, fun, relaxation, increased knowledge of the world around you, all awaite you when you step onto the Expedition Windsurfer.

Shellkey Preserve- A great trip

My 19 year old son, Jared and I had planned to do the Florida 120 in north Florida, but work and family obligations took precedence.  So we decided to do a three day trip to Shell Key Preserve (http://www.pinellascounty.org/Environment/pageshtml/SK_site/sk3000.html ) just north of the mouth of Tampa Bay. 

Here we are all loaded and ready to shove off for three days of sailing and exploring and fishing and just plain fun.

In the picture above Jared is discussing the attributes of the Expedition Windsurfer.

(click on images for larger viewing)

Here Jared is headed for the island- he was hard to keep up with!

After a long day of windsurfing a good meal hit the spot.  I liked the idea of Jared cooking dinner, but I had to do the dishes.

What a great way to end the day- good meal and great company.

In the photo above we made a sun block with the sails.  This provided a nice place to eat lunch and relax a bit out of the sun.

Sailing through some very skinny water...4 to 5 inches maybe.

So what do you do when the wind dies?  Go stand-up-paddling (SUP) of course!

In the mornings the wind would come out of the east, light and variable until mid-afternoon when a sea breeze would kick in.  The wind would shut down for a few minutes and we would do some stand-up.

Here the "old man" is doing his best to look cool. 

Check out the water color and the beautiful white sandy beach!  Wish you could have been with us.

Jared and I can hardly wait for our next adventure on the Expedition Windsurfers.

"Leave nothing but a wake"

Demo Day at Tierra Verde

Saturday we met a few fellow windsurfers at Tierra Verde in South St. Pete for some demo rides on the Expedition Windsurfer.  The video is a compilation of some of those who took it for a ride.  We had winds out of the south in the 18-20kt range.  As the day went along, the winds dropped to 10kts giving us a good feel for the board in various winds.  The reviews were all positive and everyone had fun.