03-07-04

The day started with some early morning rain, followed by the sun, and a promising breeze for breakfast. Excellent eggs and ham, and some super fresh fruit! Gotta love it!

I was web busy for most of the morning ‘till almost 2pm, but the palm leaves started there dance on the breeze, calling for some afternoon rides!

I hit the beach to find the majority were on 5.0 to 5.9m sails, and Connie was already out on a 5.2m with a 262 wizard. I saw Tom and Kathy getting setup for sailing, and decided to try a short round of photos, to see if I could catch them on the water!

It was some fun watching the folks do their moves! Tom hammed it up for the camera, and I did manage a nice batch of shots,’till the card was full. Here they be:

I finished up with the camera, and grabbed a 272 JP, and the 6.4m sail, and off to the water. I made a couple runs, and then joined up with Ace and John for some outside wave play! Total stoke flying off the huge ramps one after another, first Ace then John then me! So much fun to see the other guys jump nearby! Some really nice air from everyone!! Huge 6-8 ft rouge waves and plenty of 2-4 ft terrain! Logo to mast hi jumps, WOW! We made a long run out and back, followed by a couple shorter, less shin battering runs! Just fantastic!

About 15 min before closing, we made one last run, and I saw Ace in front of me (as usual) and darned if he wasn’t already on plane. I pumped for air, and got on a plane myself, when I noticed Ace was in mid-catapult! That should slow him down, I thought, then as I sailed by, he said ‘I think I broke my toe!’ Now I heard; ‘I think I broke my nose’, and figured, oh well, a board repair, he’s in shallow water, and it’s a short walk back, so I sailed on.

When I got back and turned in my equipment, I was told to go to the street clinic, and check out Ace’s toe. I walked over, and saw him with his foot up, resting in a chair, waiting for a ride to the clinic. I looked, and his longer middle toe, was bent at a right angle, over on top of the neighboring one! A classic dislocation! I almost grabbed it and relocated it, but figured the x-ray and a proper doctor would be wise, as he was to depart on an early morning flight, and I would hate to make anything worse! NEW! Rodger just sent the photo! CHECK IT OUT!!

Turns out, that he was catapulted, but in the process, his foot slammed, toe first, into the mast, popping as it hit! Ouch! He looked down to see a strange bulge in his booty, and the pain said ‘broken’. He hobbled back in, and announced ‘You gotta see this!’ to the folks on shore. Once the booty was off, the freaky lookin toe made everyone shudder! Pretty good timing, last day, last run! Rodger and Ace made the trek to the clinic, with taxi, and returned, relocated and ready for supper!

The four of us, Ace, Connie, Rodger, and me; sat down for a laptop slideshow of the weeks pictures, as we waited for our pizza and salad orders. Plenty-o-fun checking out all the photos, and discussing the week’s activities!

Stuffed and happy, we said our sad goodbye’s to Ace, and headed home to Casa Rita. Diggin life here!