hello from the Turks and Caicos

[La Gringa]

ive only done it a few times but it is a lot of fun. you have the right boat and the right water. now snowboarding....33 years. yikes im old!!

Sometimes we have the right water.... lately it's been very windy and bad-knees unfriendly!! Great for kayaking the canals though!

[randall]

glass is fun but not really necessary. it is almost never glassy here. i see you're really liking the kayak thing.

[La Gringa]

glass is fun but not really necessary. it is almost never glassy here. i see you're really liking the kayak thing.

I put up some photos of two of my boys on that post on the other page.

But anyway, I am loving the kayak thing...!!! The only thing I miss about living in the States really is mt biking. It's simply not safe enough to bike on the roads here and there aren't enough "back roads" without traffic for a decent ride. So this has become the next best thing. Did a nice couple of hours yesterday with my youngest son who is visiting on his spring break and now he is hooked too!

Glass is better for bad knees and bad backs when going at a high rate of speed. I will say tho - the Contender handles it a lot better than the panga did!

[Gringo]

ive only done it a few times but it is a lot of fun. you have the right boat and the right water. now snowboarding....33 years. yikes im old!!

I have been trying to encourage them to seriously look at kiteboarding, but it's for a selfish reason. I have this idea that a properly setup kite could be used as emergency propulsion for a boat.

[randall]

assuming its windy. ive spent a few very uncomfortable days in big glassy seas on sailboats with no engines just drifting along. up down up down.

it is a pretty novel and creative idea however. as long as you want to go down wind....im thinkin the contender isnt going to want to reach let alone run into the wind. a kicker might be a better solution.

[davidkuhlmann]

Hello LaGringa/Gringo

I found your blog a few weeks ago and read it all. Love the pictures and the narative that goes with it. Hopefully one of these day's you will write a book about your adventures. Dooley the Demented is fantastic, give him a scratch behind the ear for me.

I would like to plan a trip one of these days to the TCI and it is all because of your blog. My girlfriend and I have discussed it and it will be in our future thanks for sharing your lives with us we really enjoy all that you have shared.

Good luck on the bone fishing guide/resort thing I'm sure you will do well.

Anyway I just wanted to say HI and that all your blog work and pictures are appreciated. It is kind of like we are going thru what is happening as you are. I have lived through several hurricanes having grown up in New Orleans and have some idea of what you guy's went thru. Not as bad where I was compared to you guy's being right on the water I'm sure.

Thanks again and keep up the blog

[Gringo]

assuming its windy. ive spent a few very uncomfortable days in big glassy seas on sailboats with no engines just drifting along. up down up down.

it is a pretty novel and creative idea however. as long as you want to go down wind....im thinkin the contender isnt going to want to reach let alone run into the wind. a kicker might be a better solution.

Well, it's windy here. Always. Except for maybe five or six days a year. We have actually done a little experimenting, and have discovered a surprising amount of "rudder" authority using the outboard to steer. The kites are steerable to some degree. Yeah,would never go upwind, but the difference between being able to steer +/-45 deg off the wind and getting blown straight downwind is substantial.

I have mixed feelings about kickers. Yeah, they are handy to have, but also a pain. If you don't use them often enough, they run into the same issues that motors exposed to elements experience after long periods of idleness. Do you go with an electric start, or hope you can pull start it ? What if the problem with your main engine is fuel related? Do you carry a seperate supply for the kicker? That has some complications, with lugging gasoline around, keeping it fresh, etc. Kickers are thief magnets, too. Easy to grab, so you have the whole security thing. They get in the way when fishing sometimes. And they are not cheap, and neither are the brackets. And I don't like drilling holes in boats, much.

I am thinking that a kite, with the needed rigging all pre-determined, and rolled up in a piece of PVC and stored onboard might be better than nothing. The visibility of the kite at sea would almost guarantee that someone could find you if they got within say, five miles.

I have talked to some kite people, and a couple hundred pounds of pull is not out of the question with a kite. I have a mental image of using the center cleats and some pulleys to attach and steer. It's just an idea, so far. I want to play around with it.

[oneill469]

Hey Gringos!!!!!

[mthomas]

Good to see everyone again.

Gringos

Glad to see you made it thru the storms. I followed your travails thru Freebirds site.

Marc

[randall]

hey...dont get me wrong....the idea has gone through my head as far as the canoe and kayak. there is a very popular wind surfing ,kite surfing spot near hear.....definitely has possibilities and would probably be doing it myself except my garage looks like a sporting goods store as it is. there is only so much time.