C5 Golfer

My son who is about 155 lbs just started on alpine a rides a Sims Burner 162 and does quite well for a beginner on that guy and loves it. Other boards frendly to your size and beginning would be Burton Alp in a 157, Nitro Blazer 159, Prior 4x4 ( I personally have one of these and is one of my favorites) hope it helps and good luck and lets us know how you do and what you rode.:D P.S. Buy a used set of TD 1s step ins - you can always sell them for what you paid for them!! And check out Ebay for a pair of Raichle AF 600 or 324 and get a new Intec heel peice from bomber for the step ins. You'll be good to go for a very long time.

Any of you out there riding Blackcomb 23-26th of Jan?

And it was good to meet you too Bill... I don't think I can take credit for the tracks you mention .. the good ones were laid by Sean I am sure. We missed not having Portland guys there maybe next time. Art.. wished we could have met up Saturday , it would have been good to ride with you again. We'll have to start a new thread on a Washington state carver meet, this one is well used. And my son made his Rookie debut as a carver yesterday and did extremely well on his new AF 600s and a Sims 162. Add one more to the Wash State carving list. AL

Sean.. Lets plan the same time and ect for Sat

Come up to Crystal this weekend- check out the thread.:)

Jim: Channel 9/13 and we can meet at the base of mountain near the 6 person chair lift. I think it opens at 8 AM on weekends and 9 on week days but here is the Crystal site http://www.skicrystal.com for all info you need. We are due as you guys are for a new crap load of snow this week so if you have room and you prefer powder over nice groomed carving bring both. I will be in all black- Helmet, coat, pants with AF 600s.--Sat only As you will see on the site the snow is wonderful at 18 deg or so and we found only one place with rocks last week. The groomed runs have great coverage- people are going to be our biggest problem.

Can you describe the graphics of the 178 - there seems to be a lot of opinions out there on what year Volkl are. Mine is about 3-4 years old and is the grey graphics one would see on the Reliable Racing site. I have one older than that and it is the yellow Tail with 3 stripes on each side into the black nose. I' may be interested in one if it is the Tiger face like on the Bomber Store site under Volkl boards. I believe these to be 2+ year old boards. I think the newer Volkls have a color scheme with orange tiger going lengthwise which I think are this years and last years boards but could be wrong. Any one have any input here on year of Graphic on Volkls? Maybe Vinn Q -- ??

Carving is a bit like masturbating – the most fun one can have by your self! :D

Salt water rides in Puget Sound but I don't ride as much as I'd like due to golf taking the number 1 spot. I also have a canoe by Mad River - 17' also a Kevlar model. But it gets out even less. I prefer the Kevlar models so I can lift them on top of my SUV. Easy Rider I think are made right here in Seattle area in a small town of Tukwila I think and have looked over their model of which you speak. Nice ride My passions would make an interesting tatoo also.. snowboard, golf, paddling, classic cars specially Corvette, and a few other minor ones thrown in like when it is raining outside and I am inside my wood shop. HAve a great year Bob. I am off to work , I am finding that hard to say again after not working for 2 1/2 years.

is that a white water paddle or a Sea Kayak paddle? I am a sea kayaker on a Current Design Solstice GT Kevlar model.:)

We have the following people coming this 9th and 10th to Crystal mountain. Sean- 9th and 10th Al - 10th Brandon- 10th Jim - 9th and 10th Art - 9th - a maybe on the 10th -( Hope you can Art) Jason W- 10th Hope others see this and can add to this post that they are coming - see ya''ll there. Those I show above please correct if I have it wrong. How about it Jason Watkins or Mike T .. show us a little Portland style carves?:) Sean.. most want to demo any Doneks you may have and TD2s.

thanks for the info -- I think out lift ticket with the Party package is good only after 4- But we'll see once we get there. If I can I'll give you a call on 10-5 - hope to see you on the 10th at Crystal

On Meadows - will be there for New Years

attending the New Year's Eve party and dinner too

Last month on Bomber, Sean posted a carving get together for the Jan 9th and 10th 2004 at Crystal Mt. Now that time is getting close please reply by email to me or on this Bomber post if you are planning on attending and note which days 9th, 10th or both so we can know how many to look for. Radio Ch 9/13 And if you desire to demo some gear that Sean has please note what kind or range of gear you want also on your reply. This is important so Sean knows what if anything to bring up to the mountain. Doneks and TD2s are among his many wonderful toys. For those of you who have not met Sean he is a super guy and certified coach. Don't we all wish we could ride like he. Art, Sean and I rode Crystal on the 29th and the snow was perfect- squeaky dry stuff and the first 2 hours the groomed stuff was as smooth as a baby's butt. I think I saw a skier in one of Sean's trenches. Hopefully we get some Idaho and Oregon riders to come these days. I will be there only on the 10th due to my now un-retired status. CYA there Al :)

I have a 174 4X4 which I ride quite often and I also ride a 173 RT Volkl - Both are a great ride and surprising they ride very similar. I would have to agree the 168 would be a little small for you at 190lbs. I am about 215. I have been looking for a 168 for my son who is around 155 lbs. But on the other hand only you can say if it is a good board for you and since you say you have hard pak the softer Volkl 168 just may be ok. If you can get it at a good price - try it if it is no good you can always trade or sell it. for curiosity sake- What kinda price is a "good deal" you mention

Anyone else going to be there the 29th?

My girlfriend and I are planning on going to the New Years Eve Party they host. Is there anyone out there who can tell me how the conditions and terrain are? And anyone else from the Portland area doing the New Years Eve party there?

So if you visited the post with out seeing the fish and the story please go backk... and Thanks to Jeff for his help:)

And here is the story to go with it.. I friend with whom I used to play Volleyball called me and wanted to go GIANT as in super big Sturgeon fishing with him on the Columbia River. It was a helluva day. These sturgeons are big if I did not mention it already. We were on the water about 4 am, by 5 we were waiting for the first fish to hit. The guide boat is anchored and we have about 150 feet of line out with this set up-- 3 lb lead ball weight, 200 lb test leader, with 100 lb test wire line and a fighting belt for supporting the butt of the rod and the bait we used is about a 3 lb whole shad with one hook that had an opening the size of three of my fingers. (About the size you'd use to almost hang a side of beef). Well anyway back to my fish. About 5:30 we started getting a hit on one of the two rods we had out, the guide who was a super good guy, tried to set the hook and missed, happened a couple more times and finally it was set and I was in for a ride of my life. When a fish is on the guide runs the motor, on this fish I have the pole, Mike was up to disconnect from the 45 lb anchor and Karl was reeling like mad on the other pole to get it out of the way. I can best describe what is happening as this- Find a big fishing rod with an adjustable drag reel, now turn the drag down to where you can not pull any line out, stand on your porch and hook up the line to small automobile and have him drive off in any direction. And now the guide says to you with the fear of God “do not let go of the pole!” I fight this bad boy as we motor downstream and then up stream thru other boats back forth and finally as both of us are getting tired he shows himself…. I say “holy ****!, we’re going to need a bigger boat (just like from Jaws). He dives again for another run and finally come up again and we get him along side the boat. The guide unhooks him and we let him go to fight another day. This fish was estimated as nice fish coming in at about 9 feet and 400 lbs. Medium by sturgeon standards. My arms hurt so much , my left bicep is so tense it won’t relax but I am laughing so hard with excitement I don’t feel it yet. We go back up to our anchor buoy and send two more whole shad to the bottom. Over the next many hours we have many hits and we hook up to 7 more of these pigs and get 4 of them to the boat. Have I said I was tired yet! Damn arms hurt but want more. It is now getting time to leave and we give it 10 more minutes then the left pole hits again. Karl’s turn is up and he goes to fighting position at the transom and this guy takes off downstream I can hear the reel spitting out line from the bow of the 22 foot boat. We are off to war again. This one is a fighter but hanging out on the bottom, some of the other fish surfaced and jumped out of the water – what a show that was! Anyway Karl is tired and we are getting into several boats so the guide says I want a fresh set of arms on him, so I take over and it feels like I have hooked mother earth and she is shaking like an earthquake. Finally she tires and we see her of the port side – over 10 feet she is and the guide thinks about 500 lbs, I inch this guy over to the side for photos and the fish must have been shy because it takes off straight down with the reel singing a song. Finally get the fish back up and we shoot a few photos with the digital camera. We go home and I crash super tired.

But I can't seem to get it to post. It is under 100000 and a jpeg. Anyone know what I could be doing wrong? :confused:

Send me you email address Jeff and I will email you a picture.. I tried to attach it here but it won't work for me. Or tell me how to attach a photo here. It was and still is a big fish- catch and release.

I was riding the other day on my Coiler 177 and just coming down the start of a run off the chair where many soft set up riders sit down and block the way for others to go thru- I am sure you have seen this "it is all about me" attitude. Anyway after some close encounters winding thru this maze I get to the last guy who was squatting instead of sitting doing the final ratcheting of his 3 strap soft ride, he is perpendicular and in the middle of the narrow approach to the run. As I approach him on my right he jumps up like he is going to do a slam dunk with a basketball and accelerates forward without looking up hill - again" it is all about me" attitude and he lurches directly at me so I do my best football maneuver with a straight arm to ward him off and I end up pushing him back down as fast as he got up. I was about 70 lbs heavier and much taller than he – I am sure you’d agree you would not want a snowboard riding right over the top front of a new Blue Flame Coiler AM. Anyway I continue down with out missing a beat and expect this AH to soon speed right by me- I was right and here he comes to show me huh? Well you know what happens with a little to much speed in a soft setup and a teenage attitude? He crashed un-hurt except for a bruised ego, as he did a heel side turn in front of me – I continued down, made some nice smooth turns and never saw him again. :D

where is the bulk of your 250 lbs? Ha just kidding.:) One or two boards you might consider is a 177 F2 Speedster if you want a fast carving board or a Coiler 177 AM. I weigh a little less than you at 6'3" and have both of these boards they ride extremely well for big guys like us. These are little hard to find but if you ever ride them you'll find out why - it is not they are rare it is because the owners are like gun owners "From my cold dead hands":D

I sent an Email to all of you that previously sent me your email address about a ride on the 29th at Crystal. For those of you who are not on the email list, please show up - it will be fun to ride with you! And if you can't but want to be informed in the future of a Washington State Carving get together please email me with your email address and I will do my best to send a group email with the info. Niblick5@msn.com Radio channel for the 29th is 9/13. CY there!:)