Slow checkins

This year we have not just olives, but yoga and olives. Accordingly my da kine airwagon, normally used for moving kites, kiteboards and wet suits was stuffed with sleeping bags and yoga gear. The airwagon is a formidable sight. Its big. Way big. Not big enough to throw baggage handlers in the DR, but big enough to throw the nice folks at Lufthansa, who held me at the checkin counter for 45 minutes while they wondered if they could take the bag. Eventually, they decided to charge me for a surfboard explaining, with some embarrassment, "Its a 50% surcharge." Because they made such a big deal of it, I thought "50% of my ticket == $500!".
Fortunately the amount was $65. I have no idea what that was 50% of, but I was happy to pay it, until they added: "Of course, we don't know if it can leave Munich. Air Dolomiti may not take it."
Arriving in Pisa, I was a bit apprehensive, but the bag arrived and in Pisa they handled it as ordinary luggage. Go figure.
Happy as I was to see my bag, I was much happier when I saw Sabi waiting. Getting the airwagon into her car was impossible, but by unpacking it we were able to make things work.
Great chat on the way home, as always.
Arriving home, a thinner version of Gimmi emerged from the observatory. Our stars must be in alignment as we are losing weight at about the same rate. Cool.
Pat and Paul had arrived some days before. Good to see everyone.

Pandora Internet Radio - Find New Music, Listen to Free Web Radio

"Can you help me discover more music that I'll like?

"Those questions often evolved into great conversations. Each friend told us their favorite artists and songs, explored the music we suggested, gave us feedback, and we in turn made new suggestions. Everybody started joking that we were now their personal DJs." -- Pandora

I quickly created a 'station' based upon Bonnie Raitt, Joan Baez, Loryetta Lynn, Carla Thomas and covers of Give It Up Or Let Me Go by Raitt, the Dixie Chicks, and Karrin Allyson & got a great station -- material from the Etta James, the Pretenders and Muddy Waters showed up & it was on the mark.
Of course, there were many misses, but its still pretty cool.

Plus: I made a few small discoveries: Liz Phair & I'd forgotten how much I liked the Pretenders (Brass In Pocket).

But I quickly lost control and created a Link Wray station with X-Ray Spex (Warrier in Woolworths I had not heard in 10 years!), Joan Jett and some Clash & Sex Pistols. What a great station -- P J Harvey came to visit!

Crescent Moon and Three Planets

On the 20th, Mercury will be positioned just over 1-degree directly above Saturn, both planets positioned below and to Venus’ left. A narrowing crescent Moon will slide past Venus on the mornings of the 21st and 22nd. That same sliver of Moon—less than 36 hours from new phase—will be passing well above and to the left of Saturn on the morning of the 22nd. By then, Mercury will have brightened to magnitude –1.4, matching Sirius (the brightest star in the sky).

Thanks to Joe Rao

Astronomy in Tuscany

A new observatory is being constructed near Pisa. The site has been carefully selected to optimize proximity to the stars on one hand and proximity to olives and coconut curry on the other.

Headed to Calci

Calci
I bought tickets for Pisa today; Pisa is 10 k from Calci, where my friends Sabina and Gimmi have olives and host olive pickers from all over. Watch this space for more on this year's crowd.

Gimmi

• Check out Gimmi's coverage of ice climbing in the western alps. Fantastic photos and interesting commentary.
• The Calci Observatory is under construction and worth checking out. Olive pickers can get fresh photos of the amazing formations each day. A priceless introduction to the heavens and digital photograpy/processing.
  

Stories in search of an author...

Extra Virgin Olive Oil :: the truth & the fiction
Extra virgin oil comes from the first pressing. OK, but at the coop Gimmi and Sabina use, there is no second pressing -- 90% of the oil is extracted on the first pass. However, the oil is kept cool and isolated from air & light. The process is better than traditional pressing with a stone which exposes the oil to air, light as well as heating it. A visit to Frantoio allows one to see the traditional technique and have a decent dinner as well. They would probably allow photos. A second visit and photo shoot at the coop near Calci would allow an interesting contrast. Interviews with the wide assortment of people who show up to Shepperd their olives through the coop would expose some interesting, and passionate, characters.
Tuscans View the Visitors
In terms of sheer numbers, most people at the harvest are from Tuscany. What do they think of all the outsiders who step on olives, can't prune properly, and (probably) can't talk for all practical purposes? Sabina, with her insight into multiple cultures and deep language ability would probably make a fine translator.
Slow Food in and Near Pisa/Calci
Slow Food publishes a series of regional guidebooks. A survey, based on sample meals, of course, of what is available in the area would provide nice context.
Agriturismo in and Near Pisa/Calci
Agriturismo both a survey and critique would be interesting. Many so-called agriturismo operations are pretty thinly disguised tax shelters, etc. Are any of the farms nearby the real deal?
Organic, Local, Sustainable
How are Italians viewing those issues? Mariella would be a gold mine. She and Marco introduced me to slow food 7 years ago. [I'm forever in their debt.] She also has a family farm in Mezzano where we had a household reunion 7 years ago. This stuff is in her blood.
Italy and California
California Mission Olives vs. Tuscan?
Taste tests would be interesting. Might be fun to bring some oil to Calci. Comparison of techniques for growing, harvesting, and pressing might be more interesting. The economics would also be interesting. Are prices for quality California olives so high because the have to be? because upscale Marinites have lots of disposable income after they buy their yoga mats? Are California prices really higher than comparable quality from Italy?

Shark Fin Soup :: How I Became a Basketball Fan

A Yao Ming fan to be more precise.

Northwest Florida Daily News: NBA star Yao Ming swears off shark's fin soup in wildlife protection campaign: "BEIJING (AP) - NBA star Yao Ming pledged Wednesday to give up eating shark's fin soup, a Chinese delicacy, as he joined a campaign to promote wildlife protection.

'Endangered species are our friends,' Yao said at a news conference organized by the London-based conservation group WildAid.

The group said China is the world's biggest importer of shark's fins, which conservationists say are cut from sharks that are thrown back into the ocean to die.

'As the human population increases, many wildlife species are decreasing, and the primary reason is that humans fail to treat animals as friends,' said Yao, who played for the Shanghai Sharks basketball team before moving to the Houston Rockets."

Farmer's Market San Rafael Civic Center

Dinner
to start...
Sourdough breads from Pt. Reyes & some goat cheese from Bodega Bay.
Duck w/lots of fat.
Olives from somewhere in California, but I forgot where.
bbq appitizer...
oysters
wild boar sausage
moraccan lamb & beef sausage
main course...
tomatoes with tomatoes
wild arugula with tomatoes
cucumbers with tomatoes
garlic with tomatoes
basil with tomatoes
water cress and butter lettuce with tomatoes
tomatoes and olive oil + balsamic vinigar
tomatoes
extra bbq for the hungry...
grilled corn, picked this morning
grilled egplant
extra fruit for the hungry...
green figs w/walnuts
desert is on its way...

The Doctor Is In

I read a lot of magazines. Its not always time well spent. Yesterday I came across "Rowing News". It's been 6 years since I rowed reguarly, but the cover mentioned a story: "East Germany's Rowing Legacy." I liked the stories attempt to provide balanced coverage of the period "East Germany" dominated world rowing. Drug problems were real, but so was an approach to training that works in every sport. That approach was not invented in the GDR, but that was one of the places it was refined.
There was much more in "Rowing News" -- the best coverage of training, health, and technique I've seen in any of the sports-oriented publications. "Outside", eat your heart out. "Runners World", pack it in. Except for the tidily-winks players, everyone should read the article on "Balance and Stability Training."

Functioning Artificial Proteins

"The goal of our research was not to find another way to make artificial proteins in the lab, but to discover the rules that nature and evolution have used to design proteins," Dr. Ranganathan said. "The rules we have extracted from the evolutionary record of proteins contain a substantial fraction of the information required to rebuild modern-day proteins. We're building solutions so close that, at least in a test tube, we can't tell them apart from natural proteins."
--Ranganathan, Co-Author of a paper appearing in Nature Sept 22, 2005

Now that is programming!

Gamboling at the 'Stick

After waiting for a couple hours, I decided to gamble on wind coming up & we headed to Candlestick Point. At first the wind was very light & I had a hard time flying my 12 m kite at all. Peter, my instructor, told me to pull the bar in (power up) on the down stroke and push out (de-power) on the upstroke. This worked wonders. I did not get the timing right with reliability, but when I did my figure 8s produced much smoother power and the kite moved up faster.
The first part makes sense: powering the kite in light air produces more power. The second is not so obvious: by de-powering, the kite flies more efficiently & gets up high for a power stroke faster. (Perhaps it just makes the turn faster?)
Unfortunately, it was clear right away that the session would be short: the tear in my left abdominal was getting worse.
Soon the wind came up a bit; by that time my kite handling had improved a bit so that once again the problem was too much speed. Eventually Peter succeeded in getting me to use very subtle movements and to realize that I really did not need anything but one minor down stroke as long as my board position was good. When I did this, it was like Eos intervened. Everything was easy & I had good control -- until I didn't have good control. I think that if I had also made my hand position narrower when I no longer needed an aggressive initiation, I would have not worked the kite by accident so much -- that is where my excessive speed came from.
Looks like its almost time to try a smaller board. That would make edging much easier.
On the delta I've been riding a North Toro '05. That is their school kite, but many riders like it in the surf because its so stable. The fact is I've been dumbfounded by how stable it is -- that stability was especially useful in improving my starts because it makes it much easier to maintain good body position if you don't have to do anything to control the kite. [The stable delta winds also help] At the 'stick I was using a Cabrinha Contra '05. Nominally the kites are quite similar -- school kites from two leading kite companies. However, the Contra flies much higher & must have much better upwind potential. It flies so high, its hard to see it without cramping ones neck.
I called the session off way too early, but my gut was getting worse & with Peter's help I'd moved up a step. I've been really lucky to get such good instruction from Sandy & Donnie at Ki'topia and Peter at Kite Wind Surf .

Big Mistake

Yesterday's gym session was a big mistake. Everything felt fine & even fun when I was working out, but this morning I woke up to an unpleasant tear in my left abdominals. Not good.

Crippled Abs

Oops!
I'm very sore from the delta session three days ago. I really need to work on the abs. Looks like its time for a trip to the gym.

Skunked on the Bay

We decided to call off the kiting, because it looked like the wind would never come up. Rescheduled for Monday. This is nerve wracking as there will not be many many opportunities this year.

Sherman Island :: The Sequel

Today I had my second kite surfing lesson at Sherman Island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. I was able to do a lot more, but also realized that things were not quite as straightforward as I thought last time I was out. Then, I was surprised, and impressed, that I was able to hold my position in the river during an ebb tide. That was thinking like a kayaker, not a kiter. What actually happened then was that the wind and current more or less canceled each other out. I was not really working my way up wind.
This session began on a flood and ended on an ebb so I started with flat water with the wind and current both working against me and ended on the ebb with good chop & the two working against each other. But, my skills were much better and on many runs I was able to work my way upwind.
I learned a few interesting things about setting up kites.

• Since the front lines are always under tension, they stretch faster than the outside lines. That is why there are three attachment points: they accommodate stretching lines. I thought it was a tuning issue.
• A couple nice mnemonics for thinking about line placement:
• Outback -- outside lines go to the back of the kite (bottom)
  
• Front and Center -- center lines go to the front, the top, the leading edge
  
• The truly unexpected thing is that the kite is steered from the back of the kite (outside lines). Once you remember this, all the other pieces are logical, but this is odd.

My runs were good enough, that learning to stop became important -- the river is only so wide and its good to stay in the shipping lanes as those are almost guaranteed to be free of obstacles.
Most runs ended in a crash & that was usually caused by working the kite too much & not holding an edge. I'm just not getting the body position good enough to use the edge and back of the board as a brake. Once my kite starts working too much, I go too fast and when the kite goes up I have lift and guess what? I'm bouncing across the tops of waves going straight down wind.

Another lesson, this time on SF Bay, on Friday.

About 3 hours on the water with absolutely first clas instruction (again) from Ki'topia. What a treat.

Good Week for Yoga

Monday
I had a nice combination of Anusara and Yin & was shown a different way to get into handstand in the Anusara class. Its much more graceful than what I've been doing & it should make a full handstand (no wall) much easier. Yin was, as almost always, great -- especially since I'd been away for two weeks.
Tuesday
I took my first Iyengar class. As I expected, even one class was useful. Perhaps its due to a shortage of talent, but I need lots of time to feel a pose & the Iyengar emphasis on alignment helps. I's still not sure if the Iyengar people really face up to all the issues of body proportion and alignment, but I hope to do more of these.
Wednesday
I did another double header. The first was a pretty active level 2 taught by a real monster. He provided interesting variation on pigeon -- straighten the extended leg & it will help align the hips & then its possible to press back and out on the bent side to work the hip strongly. In Yin I returned to my own style of using a belt for hamstring stretches. This really works & its also nice to see I've made real progress on my hamstring in the last three weeks.
Thursday
My regular Yin instructor taught a strong level 2 & I had a great time. There was a really nice sequence for the hips & that always makes me happy.

Tahitians Rule :: Breakthrough at Teahupoo

At first I thought the term Tow-kite was a bad translation of something, but check out these photos.

Lessons, Lessons, Who's Got Lessons?

Surprise!
A few weeks ago I took a kiteboarding lesson from Sandy at Ki'topia, a great outfit on Sherman Island. Because my car was stolen by a shady pair from Pisa, I've not been able to take another lesson & today I discovered that their lessons are almost full for the rest of the season. [They then head for S. Padre in Texas.] I was able to snag a lesson on the 14th, but that will be it for the year.
Panic :: What to do?
I found a useful local site with a posting about lessons for people in Marin. That pointed me to a couple places in Alameda. I've avoided Alameda because the beach is a bit zoo like because of too many people pretty much like me trying to learn. However, it turned out that one outfit has PWC supported lessons & sells Cabrinha's new Crossbow, which is the kite I'm really interested in. So I signed up for a lesson next Friday and put a deposit down on a kite.
Getting Ready :: The SF Plan
So now I have two lessons in the next 14 days & I'll be taking my very nice Ozone Frenzy (really a snow kite) out to practice, practice, practice. Skills from one kite are not totally transferable, but they are still useful. Plus, I'll always want my light Frenzy for backpacking in the snow and perhaps some beach areas -- perhaps I'll try it this weekend with a longboard in Tomales. [The Frenzy does not include an inflatable bladder to make starting in water easier -- flotation is not too important on snow -- so its much lighter and more compact for hiking into the high country.]
Getting Ready :: The Travel Plan(s)
Playa Copal in Costa Rica looks good. Some kite surfing locations are inexpensive. There may well be better nearby locations that don't cater to boarders.

Hurricane Warning

Thin Ice
I'd hate to be misunderstood :: what's happening to people in the Gulf is terrible & there is nothing about the way I run my life that suggests I will always avoid a similar fate.
However...
The news coverage is driving me crazy.
We, those who pay attention to science, those who think reality matters, have expected increasingly sever storms for 10 or 15 years. Guess what? We have been getting increasingly sever storms.

• We should act on greenhouse gases, deforestation, etc. to limit climate shifts
• We should keep our National Guard at home where it can guard the nation
• We should not encourage people to live in flood plains
• We should remember that its not a good idea to piss off your mother

categories
Part of the problem I have with the news coverage, is how they categorize the disaster. Is it just bad luck or the result of negligence. I don't have a crystal ball & mother nature does not call me on the phone so I certainly can't say this storm would not have happened if...
But, we can say that storms like this are more likely because of greedy, short sighted policies.

Shredding the Delta

I had the best day today I've had in many years. [Be sure to read the disclaimer at the end of this post.]

I've avoided practicing my kite surfing much. I think it is quite dangerous while you are learning because:

• the equipment has not been very well thought out & safety systems have been afterthoughts
• your safety is always based upon the skills of the people on the same beach, if they are all beginners, then its like skiing Chamonix with a SF bike messenger as a partner.
• things are most dangerous if you are on the beach, but in most areas a beginner must spend 90% of the time at the beach.
• people keep getting electrocuted, bashing out their brains, and dying of hypothermia. The lucky ones only loose fingers & eyes. You may remember I saw a guy knock down a sement wall (bye, bye, leg), slam into a bigger wall (bye, bye, period), and one get lofted (10 year old DR helper still attached) into the top of a palm. I'm old enough to heal slowly if dismemberment or death comes my way.

I did spend a few days in Texas this year when the conditions were good, but the wind was very light. That was great training, but not great fun because in light winds you really must have great kite skills to power yourself. Therefore I was never able to get long rides and lever even able to practice going up wind. In addition while the location was great and the people at the school were nice, they did not provide a balanced plan of instruction. Skills like the ability to to up wind without your board were ignored. (You usually do this when your board has been blown off your feet & it is up wind of you. It is easy for this to be a 10-30 meters, although until to day, a kite even 3 feet was beyond my capacity to retrieve.)

Today I got the right combinations of location, equipment, and instruction & was able to get long rides, hold my own against a strong ebb current with pretty big waves, work my way up wind without the board, and handle the type of kite pros use 80% of the time. These give excellent up wind capacity, but require more skill to keep in the air & relaunch when they crash. The kite was fantastic, but when I buy a few I'll probably buy a newer model from a competitor, which is even safer. Next year: waves on the California coast!

So, I had more fun than a barrel of monkeys & got some wonderful runs. Because the kite gives you a lot of lift, it often feels like you are flying & just using the board as a rudder. The kite I was using was actually owned by one of the worlds top riders & he uses it for 80% of his riding. A little like learning to ride a horse a GG fields. [The kite was not a true high aspect kite, but these days most pros seem to be riding medium aspect kites for most purposes as they have greatly improved performance.]

If I can get a day like this in each of the next 4-6 weeks, I'll feel confident in a much larger set of locations, including Larkspur. I'll be able to ride over the hippos & terrorize the ferry passengers.

Since I've made one trip to the DR and one trip to Texas its been disappointing that I've not gotten real rides until today; sometimes I've really felt like the classic old fool. But, I've been confident that my kite skills are really pretty good and that I've had far from ideal conditions, although I've been in areas where the conditions are usually ideal. Its strange that I finally got the conditions I wanted near Antioch! My instructor was a real teacher & taught veterinary medicine for years. Encouragement from a young athletic blond never hurts.

So part of the excitement is the thrill of some nice rides & part is the confirmation that I'm really not past being able to handle the sport, which is the sport of the future. Next year Sardinia, which has the best wind in Europe & pecorino to boot!

Disclaimer: If you saw me riding, you would wonder why in the world I think I'm having any success at all. My body position is terrible, I'm never truly centered, I don't usually go anywhere after I get up, no intentional air, I ditch my board at the slightest hint of trouble, I'm still not ready to ride without backup. All the above was carried out with Jet Ski support. I was able to practice a long way from anyone else & I had someone who could cut lines and/or chase after me in an emergency.