All things are pretty good here. Got the hull on Wed, and with the help of Grahm, Arik, and George (mechanic) we had it together and in the water on Thursday afternoon. Ski is very solid. Sergio Buena from XFT has given me a very good, but very different set up from what I am used to. He went way out of his way to set the hull up so I would be comfortable on it, but it is very different from a stock based boat. My JSU motor is spot on as always. I did not have to so much as turn the screws on the carb, it just worked straight out of my bag. I really can't say enough about this motor. It has been great all year, and I have really beat on it hard!
Tuesday we had a really nice dinner party at Juliana's (Tchello's girlfriend's) house. She is a columnist for one of the largest papers in Brazil, and went all out for about 20 of us who were there. It was a great time catching up with everyone. We are a really big and diverse family from all over the world, but there is no question, this is a family.
Wednesday the French showed up, and that night we checked out Juliana's art gallery and then had dinner and hung out at a cool bar/restaurant in down town near the gallery.
Thursday Brett Armstrong showed from South Africa, great to see him again!
Thursday evening we headed up here to Itajai and the hotel. Then today, Friday, I was finally able to get some time in the water on the ski. I have spent about an hour and a half on it so far, and am getting comfortable. Slowly, but I am getting used to it. The boat that Brett was supposed to ride just did not want to run well, so I offered up my ski. I am a little stressed out about that, but he is a good friend and came a long way, so he should have a good ski. I have worked really hard to get where I am now, and I really hope to be able to pull off a Championship down here. But I would not want it at the expense of some one like Brett not getting a chance to compete.
I dunno...we will see what tomorrow brings. Lots of riding left to do.
BTW...Pierre's Super Flips are very good. And I think his set up is a little better than mine. This is the next step though. There will be lots of cool variations to come very soon.
