Water balloons

These water balloons made a great impact on my son's last day of 8th grade. Students brought squirt guns, more balloons and various launching devices.

Surf has been small but fun. Great for beginning surfers.

The hull should still make it out of the bulkhead doors for fiberglassing. Surfing has been good lately with small waves and little wind chop.

Best time is about 2 hours after low up to 1 hour before high tide.

Summer arrives on Cape Cod

It's been a warm weekend. I found a longboarding spot where the waves peel to the right and the left. My arms are shot now. The boat is progressing slowly since the weather is much better. Just a little left to do before the hull is finished.

Strip Proa nearly complete

So here's the boat being more complete. Just a few more strips to go. I'm using shorter, narrower strips to make fitting and bending easier. Maybe someday I'll learn to steam the wood for easy bending.

Check out this video link to sailing in Micronesia. It contains music so adjust speakers accordingly.

This proa is pointy at both ends and will have an outrigger for stability.

The top will be partially enclosed to hold styrofoam floatation. The eighth inch hull will be glassed inside and out.

Boat in the basement

I have been wanting to build a sail boat for years now and just like anything else, "if you don't start, you'll never get it done." So after years of looking at photos and designs I finally started putting wood together. It is about 15 feet long and two feed wide and deep so far. The outrigger will be attached later when the weather warms up.

Cold fun

A quick visit to the beach on a winter day lets us see some alternatives to surfing in cold waters. Strong winds hitting the line of dunes diagonally give thrilling low and fast rides. John, a highly experienced paraglider, makes his way back to the launch area in this shot. He says onshore winds would put more people in the air and allow for much higher flying. In some areas, people make flights as long as 100 miles.