in Peniche

We're in Peniche Portugal now. This is the site for the 2009 Surf Kayaking World Championships. Pretty cool town so far. lots of beach breaks here, but sadly no swell.

We are in portugal now

Well we crossed over into Portugal yesterday. One thing weve noticed is that the shops seem to be open a lot longer than they were in spain. The swell isntas big as we hoped, yesterday was dismal but today is looking better. got some good video of the boys in some fun waves this morning. ill probably paddle tonight. hope all is well back home

jHo

On our way through spain....

Heres a Halloween shot for you....scary
Happy late Halloween everyone. We've spent the last few days traveling through the top part of spain. We left Bakio on Halloween day, and headed west. We stopped in Bilbao first to try to get some internet, but apparently they havent ever heard of the internet there.....even though it is a big city. We ended up in a nice little town called Sucrese, and set up camp in their port area. We walked around and ran into some Trick or Treaters who seemed very interested in the weird looking foreigners. They surrounded me, laughing and trying to speak to me in their best english. They demanded money so I gave them some american coins and they said thank you and headed off for more Halloween adventuring. Halloween is my favorite holiday back home, so it was cool to have a little halloween cheer so far away. It also proved to me that kids are gonna be kids no matter where they live or what their culture.....pretty cool.

Sucrese
So we surfed on thursday morning at the Sucrese break. We ran into a local kayaker named Kino, and he tried his best to tell us about a break called Gerra, down the road a ways. I managed to get a nice session in at Sucrese. It was a weird break, and you had to take off really deep in the broken section, but if you stayed with the wave it picked up steepness on the inside and walled up. The Fusion 7 7 simply flies....I'm really enjoying learning the boat. It loves to bang off the pocket on a cutback and it takes off late with no issues.

We packed up and headed through the beautiful northen spainish countryside, winding up through the mountains and down into a valley with a huge beach nestled between rock cliffs and rolling cow fields.....Gerra...the break that Kino was telling us about. Nathan was torn between gaining some ground (we have to be in portugal soon) and stopping for a short surf session. I told him that the reason we're on this trip is to surf, and he happilly agreed and headed out at the break. He got a good hour and a half session on some steep little waves and had a good time while Marc and I shot video and stills.

Gerra

Gerra
Last night we were starving and desperate to find a "super mercado" so we headed to the large city of Gijon. What we didnt realize is that it was All Saints Day and thus, everything was closed. To top it off, we couldent even find a super market at all! Where do these people get their food? It is a mystery to us.

We left the city and headed to Luanco. There we set camp, used some of the free food that some kind US East folks gave us back in Bakio and cooked up a meal and pakced it in for the night. Today we hope to make it to the "corner" of spain.

Hello to everyone back home and Happy Birthday Mason Cooke!

Joey

Some photos

This is Team Jersey, of which I am an honorary member. They were my surrogate family at the Championships. Stuart, Ailsa, Robert, Sammy, and Lizzie. Not pictured is World Champion David Speller.....he charges for photo appearances now and I cant afford his rates.

This is me, Yellowboy, and his girlfriend Naomi. Naomi is an awesome kayaker and she's going to be a ripping surf kayaker for years to come.

This is Robert Hearne. Don't be fooled, he looks tough, but he's more like a big teddy bear. He's also 5th in the world in the Long boat.

Yellowboy

Heres me in a heat in the long boat
Here are some photos of my friends at the worlds.

Here's me on a big one.

Worlds are finished

Well, the Worlds are over. Here is how it finished up for me.
In the team event I finished with a first, 2 seconds, and a fourth, which I'm pretty stoked with.
My second Short boat heat of the team event went really well, I got a few nice cutbacks and some end moves, getting some long rides in the process. I got 2^nd place behind Tom Finbow of Scotland, and managed to finish above Rusty Sage who went on to become the Mens Short Boat champion in the individual event. (He took his revenge on me later in the day by eliminating me from the Short boat individual class ;) )

In my second Long boat heat in the team event I surfed at the world famous surf break Mundaka. I was in the first heat and the conditions were closing out a bit. I got a long ride early on with some tail slashes and a barrel roll. Later in the heat I got some shorter rides on the steep, deep section, and managed to get a few more barrell rolls and karate chops. I was excited to finish 2^nd behind the talented Darren Bason from England.....I love long boats.

I struggled in my individual Short Boat round 2 heat, I had some good rides, but I didn't get the best waves of the heat. I finished 4^th in the heat and was eliminated by Rusty Sage and one of the Portugese paddlers. I wasn't too upset though, because I was happy with my perfromance in the Dbxclusive Fusion 7'7' which I'm now paddling.

Overall the World Championships was a really fun experience for me again. Though I didn't do as well in the indiviual event as I'd of liked, I surfed well in many of my heats and managed to do well for the team. I worked hard for the WSKA committee at the event, making heats, and helping make daily decisions about the event. Its a pain sometimes to do the behind the scenes work, but it is rewarding when you see people having fun at an event. Also, it gave me an excuse to spend more time with many of my friends from other countries. On that note I was so happy to spend time with my friends from Jersey, Stuart, Ailsa, Robert, Sammy, Lizzie, David, Tim, Chris, and the others. Stuart and I do a lot of work on the WSKA committee, and it i s a joy to work with him. The Jersey folks fed me dinner nearly every night, and I was really sad to have to say goodbye to them after the event was over.

The Mens finals were the last thing to happen at the event, and the conditions were beautiful. The sun was shining for the first time in days, and the surf was large and rolling at Bakio. It was thrilling to watch and I got some great video shots for the surf kayaking movie I'm making.

Thanks to all my friends and family and sponsors back home for their support. Please check back here to check up on the rest of my trip. Yellowboy, Marc, and myself head down to portugal next. I'll be here until the 20^th of November.

Joey

sorry for the lack of updates!.....round 1 individual and team events

My old buddy patchy did me well in the team event

Well, sorry for the lack of updates, ive either been too busy to post or ive been unable to get an internet connection. We've finished 1 round of the individual event and 1 and a half rounds of the team event.
The surf has been of varying quality. The “A” site has been steep and powerful, while the “B” site has been weak and slow. Unfortunately ive had most of my heats at the B site, which is not conduscive to my style. I finished 3^rd in my long boat individual heat, which really crushed me. I was just too relaxed during my heat, I had no sense of urgency. I was beaten by only 1 point. I was really bummed because long boat is my specialty and i wanted to do well. But thats how it goes.
My individual Short boat heat was a different story. I was more focused and I got some good turns and some small lip moves on the weak waves. It was good enough and i advanced to the second round, which will happen later in the week. I was glad for that.

Yesterday was the first round of the team event. In my short boat heat I did horrible, again on the weak B site, I just felt off. I got 4^th and it crushed my confidence again. I needed something to pump me up.
I got that in my long boat heat.....at the pumping A site. I noticed all the scared faces on the beach before my heat....all folks who'd never surf a bruising beach break like this on their own free will. Since our surf back home is often pumping shore break, I was stoked to go out and throw my long boat around. I was admittedly a little nervous, as the waves rolling in were pretty large, but it was a good sort of nervousness. Also in my heat were several other good surfers, and I could tell they were a little nervous as well. When the heat started, a huge set rolled in. I dropped in on the most critical part of the largest wave, dropping into a big bottom turn, a few pumps, and then headed for the huge lip for an attempt at a big move. I knew I had to commit and I knew there was little chance of ladning a move off this big of a wave, but I went for it anyway. After what seemed forever I hit the lip, flicked my boat over and did a big barrel roll right in the close. I landed flat in a huge boil of water and somehow made it out upright. I was stoked. I had several other good waves with finishing moves and just had a blast during my heat. James Hawker, a surf kayaker that I highly respect, was slashing the smaller waves up nicely, and I expected him to win the heat. When I came in from the water people were waiting for me on the beach to tell me how big my wave was, I was grinning from ear to ear. Not only did I WIN the heat, I was in first by 8 points! I was so stoked, I really needed this confience boost, and it was great to be able to surf some waves in the style I enjoy the most. Even still today people from several countries have come up to me to tell me they heard people talking about my big wave, which i sreally flattering.
Our long boat mens team did well, with three firsts and one second for the day.

Our US East team is in 4^th place currently, tied with Jersey.

Ive been working my butt off helping organize the event. Its a lot of work but the good thing is I get to spend time with a lot of my friends from other countries.

Today we surfed at Mundaka, which was really weak looking, but my heat was postponed because the waves died out so i go tommorrow.

When we got back here to Bakio I coerced nathan into going out in the medium sized shore break here at the beach. We went out with a few other Welsh folks and were having a good time just wiping out and getting crushed.....and soon lots of other people came out and joined us. It ewas a lot of fun.

I'm having a good time here, hope everyone is well.

Joey

day 5 - prelims

today we had the prelims. I didn't have to surf because ive competed in the worlds before. Lots of our US East folks had heats though. I went out surfing before the comp started and had a really good time, even though it was crowded. I'm starting to really figure out this DB Fusion 7.7 boat, I really like it, it transitions from edge to edge nicely.

Tommorrow i have the first round of individuals, and ive got two tough heats, we'll see how it goes, im going to give it my best.

You can see some photos of me in my orange cyclone here (im in a white helmet)
http://www.bakio.com/bst/2007/kayakf2.htm
Thanks
Joey

Opening ceremonies

Well I spent most of the day measuring boats during boat check-in. Afterwards we had the opening ceremonies. We had a huge meeting at town hall, a lot of local officials spoke, then we all followed the Basque contingent for a parade through town. It was really cool to see the locals come out and wave to us, it was a big deal for this little town.
Tommorrow is the individual prelims, i dont have to surf in those, so i surf on sunday. I'll spend tommorow cheering on my team mates and doing some work on my boats.

I hope everyone is doing well.



jHo

Day 3

Well, its time for a little more in depth post. I arrived in Spain two days ago around noon. My boys from Wales, Yellowboy and Marc picked me up at the airport with grins on their faces. I soon met my new home for the next 5 weeks....a silver delivery van

I'm a little nervous, because out of all the different folks I've talked to here, none of them seem to think me traveling with these boys is a good idea.....the typical reaction is a look of shock....turning to concern....usually ending with an offer of "you know, we have extra room in our house". I appreciate the concern but so far its been hilarious traveling with these guys.
We've been eating well, YB and Marc are good cooks, theres been lots of pasta and "egg betties" for breakfast. My bed is a thermarest on the floor of the van....marc and nathan are sleeping on a bunk above. Its a pretty good setup so far.

I've been out at Bakio 3 times so far. I think I mentioned this before but Bakio reminds me a lot of many of our home breaks on the east coast....steep and dumping shore break. I tend to really enjoy this kind of surf, though you can definitely get caught in the "break zone" and get a severe butt whipping. I've been splitting time between my trusty Cyclone "Patchy" and a Fusion 7.7 designed by yellowboy and produced by DB Exclusives. It is a really nice boat.



We're still practicing, the event starts with the opening ceremonies on friday, followed by the individual heats beginning on saturday.

Everyone is really nice here and its been good to catch up with old friends.

The town of Bakio is a really quiet little beach town, its a pretty nice place.

More soon,
jHo

2nd day in spain

Surfed the beach break at Bakio again today. I got my butt whipped on the paddle out several times. Didnt surf great today but im still jet lagged.....i plan on using that excuse as long as possible. hopefully tommorrow will be better. The weather is great here, shorts and tshirts.

Because people have requested it, i will try to post some photos tommorrow.


Hope everyone is well!

Joey

I made it!

Well after an uneventful flight I made it to spain at 12:30 local time today. Yellowboy and Marc picked me up at the airport and we drove off to Bakio in my new home for the next 5 weeks....a silver delivery van!

We immediately went out and surfed some nice waves at the beach break at Bakio. Totally reminded me of the OBX beach break that I love. Was in my long boat, got worked quite a bit but I did manage to pull of one of the best "Karate Chops" I've ever done.

More later

Joey

I'm going to try to document my trip here...

I'll be in Spain and Portugal until November 20th 2007. I will be competing in the 2007 World Surf Kayaking Championships in the Basque Country of Spain from the 18th-28th of October.

Hopefully I will be able to keep this updated depending on how reliable internet access will be, I will do my best.

Thanks to everyone for the support.

Joey