Bacardi HIHO 2000

Trolling back through the memory bank and at random we come across the biggest HIHO event we ever ran: the 2000 Bacardi HIHO. Yes, memorable because of it's size- something like 90-racers. Also because of the parties, great wind, and so forth. Back then we had a bunch of Polish in the event. I guess the event defined freedom, or maybe they just loved the tour of the beautiful British Virgin Islands. Anyway, these guiys could party. One of may favorite anecdotes was some guy telling me they arranged that the Polish would come out to their boat for a late night drink. The host cannily hid the mixers so the Poles wouldn;t stay for long. The problem was, he said, they just drank everything straight, and stayed up all night partying on his yacht!

Stand Up Paddling

Our new favorite watersports activity is stand up paddling, simply called SUP, or SUPing. The boards are 11'+ feet long. You stand on them and use a long paddle to move around. We love catching waves or just cruising around: going for a hike on the water as we put it.

Last weeks Christmas winds eased off and we've been out catching waves at our favorite out-island spots. We have a long list of favorite places to paddle; it really depends on conditions and where we want to go. The above photo is off Sandy Cay near Jost Van Dyke. It's hard to imagine a more perfect island than Sandy Cay- it's just a half dozen acres of gorgous sand, with a cliff and some coconut trees. The water is translucent and catching waves off the reef that extends off the islands NW corner is a cinch. Out there off the corner of the island is magical. You glimpse the wonders of the reef as you move around looking for waves while the raw salt scent of the sea permeates the air. Out beyond the line up big rays occassionally leap clear of the water ; every now and then a turtle pops up only to freak out when they spot you.

For the record we ride Naish and BIC SUP's. I like the Naish 11'4" (that's what I'm riding in the photo). Josh prefers the BIC Jungle (10'10") while Sam rides an August 9'6' Surftech board. Carbon paddles are the only way to go. Check out our HIHO guide to SUPing in the BVI on our website www.go-hiho.com

Team HIHO Windsurfing

Lately I've enjoyed the watershed experience of being able to windsurf together with my boys. We started surfing together a year or so ago, and can sail & race boats together. Ripping around a bay though in 15-knots of wind, and heading out for inter-island crossings is new ground for us, and very welcome. Naturally, I love windsurfing, and I'm happy to report that Josh & Sam do too. I instilled the fundamentals when they were young and so the learning has been relatively easy going. Having good equipment also helps. Currently Josh is using a Neil Pryde Combat Wave 4.2 with an X9 mast and kids boom. Sam is on a Neil Pryde ONE 3.0. (the ONE is a well-designed kids concept rig). It's worth noting that for Josh I splashed out for an X9 mast. It's much more expensive, but lighter. We all three use BIC Techno 2 140 liter boards. I have moved the straps in for the boys.

A month or so ago the boys were using the BIC Jungle SUP boards. We'd keep the centerboard in and they would be flying all over the place. The transition to short boards was painless. Like I said, we're using BIC Techno 2's now. Actually, they should be on slightly smaller boards but we don't have any. Anyway, it's been great fun progressing so quickly to short boarding and ripping around together. I've been in love with windsurfing for years, but now being able to sail with my sons is like falling in love all over again.

Caribbean Winter

I've always said there is nothing better than winter in the Caribbean. It's cooler (even chilly at night); breezy; there's surf; and our businesses are humming. Mostly, the everpresent humidity that defines much of the year is absent. Winter is surf season so we get our in the waves a lot. We're heavy into paddle boarding now. We enjoy both flat water and waves. Steep learning curve still, but lots of fun. We undertake a lot of inter-island travel this time of year checking out our shops in Antigua and St Barth. (Attached photo was snapped from a yacht close to the St Maarten airport as we were sailing home from St Barth last month). I'm just back from a flying visit to Antigua where I visited my friend Eli Fuller. He has a new 40ft Carriacou island sloop which I am dying to sail. These are the boats that used to ply the Caribbean. They are fast & seaworthy, if slightly wet. Eli, his girlfriend Mykl and another friend and I Roddy went out to dinner Sunday night where they regaled me with tales of snorkelling with sharls on Cades Reef, and the great weather thay had for the sail from Antigua to St Maarten. Speaking of sharks, the Highland Spring HIHO race is filling up. A potential entrant asked if we ever see sharks to which I had to thruthfully reply "no".

Roots

Roots in the Caribbean means the same thing as everywhere else- it's your origins; your heritage. "Roots, mon," is a big thing. Our HIHO roots go back to growing up on Tortola where our friends and I spent all our time on or near the water. By the time we were 11 years old we all owned Sunflish and spent days weaving amongst the boats in Road Harbour, and ducking into the nearby bays. As we got older we'd cross the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Peter Island. Then, when we were teens, we discovered windsurfing and the love affair with the sea widened. After school I spent plenty of time wavesailing in Maui and traveling to Japan and Europe to race on the World Cup. But it was my roots which always grounded me. My fellow racer Brian Talma from Barbados and I used to always agree that while it was fun in Lake Garda, or The Gorge, home was the Caribbean, and home we would one day go because here is where the people are nicer, the air is sweeter and the sailing & surfing is the best.

Eleven days to go until this year's Highland Spring HIHO event. This is the genesis of our brand of clothing. It's a simple story- We took over this cool event in 1993 and a clothing business grew from the T-shirt we offered participants and sold in my mothers store in Road Town. Fifteen years later we own and run the HIHO brand of clothing. Our line is 100% Caribbean- and I mean the line of clothing and our "line", as in our "tagline". Cool clothing; cool story.