Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Surf Travel Changing Again

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fi-surfboardfees22-2008aug22,0,2880131.story

This article from the LA Times talks about the continuing increase in fees that airlines charge for surfboards. It makes me think about the evolution of surf travel. As a disclaimer, I am a lightweight when it comes to surf travel. The first time I got on a plane to surf was in this decade, so I'm not much of an authority on the subject. But, nobody reads my blog so I don't expect to get any negative comments. :P

Back in the day of wooden kook boxes it seems like just getting to the beach was surf travel. Later, in the early 60's guys could sleep on the beach at Malibu and eat seafood from the cobble reef. To me that sounds like surf travel. California surfers rode steamships as a cheap way to get to Hawaii. I remember a movie with Greg Noll flying to Mazatlan, MX and finding surf. The Endless summer had Bruce Brown and company traveling by plane and auto all the way around the planet searching for surf, asking for directions, and finding so good waves.
The 70's was a time of tune in, turn on, and drop out. Feral Aussie surfers posting up in Indo breaks risking malaria and starvation for barreling waves the likes of which I've never seen. California surfers exploring Baja and mainland Mexico. Travel down every path that looks like it leads to the ocean.
The 80's seems like it was a time of more access, more travel, more magazine coverage but still an inequality of information.
The 90's and the internet brought the ability to research and pass along information on a massive scale. No longer did someone have to overhear a conversation, search for a map and bit's of travel information. The internet allowed one slip of the lip to result in 100s or 1000s of other people learning. Then they could search for more info on the net. The golden age of surf travel (unless you were one of the older crew who worked hard to find remote surf spots that now all of a sudden everyone knew about!)
Then the turn of the century, 2000! Not long after I jump into the surf travel scene with a trip to Puerto Rico planned perfectly between two great winter swells. Waist high waves for 5 days strait, me with my 6'4" potato chip and I could hardly catch a wave. A few years later was Panama. Better waves but harder to get to. The waves weren't better than what I had left behind but the water was warmer and seeing how people from another country lived really opened my eyes and changed my perspective forever. (I'm digressing)
So on to today. USA is in a recession leaving less money in everyone's "travel account", gas prices have jumped leading to increased costs for flying. The base tickets are more expensive, now they are gonna charge you for a pillow and a cup of soda. And to top it off, up to $300 per board per direction! Are we headed towards the 70's again? Are we going to have to take local buses through mainland Mexico and walk the last 5 miles to camp on the sand and live off hermit crabs and coconuts just to surf somewhere else?
Anyway, my surf travel account is only large enough for me to make it to the nearest beach once a week so the rising cost of bringing a board on a plane doesn't really affect me. :)

Sunday, August 17, 2008

In this years election, I'm voting for the surfer...

www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/08/barack_obamas_bodysurfing_vide.html

That's enough for me right there. Although, I had no problem with John Kerry windsurfing and that seemed to cost him some votes.

I wonder who those voters are? What is the thought process?

"Look at that guy, he's having fun, outside. I'm not gonna vote for someone like that."

"That there fool is on one of them new fangled surfy boards ridin' the wind!"

I wonder if Obama in the ocean will hurt his politics. I guess I'll never be president.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Contests

To be honest I've never been much of a contestant myself. I didn't play organized competitive sports until high school and never did again after. During high school I played water polo for the "tied for worst" team in the league. I was also on the swim team and enjoyed practice more than the meets. On to the topic of surfing contests.

Who the eff cares? Well obviously quite a few people. To be honest when I was first learning to surf in the late 80's early 90's I was excited to go see the Cold Water Classic. I remember Gary "Kong" Elkerton getting shafted in the finals by Tom Curran. Kong nailed a solid vertical lip bash late into the lip of an 8' wave. Curran had more turns on his waves. I felt like I missed a chance to go surf somewhere else. The finals were during low tide, I should have been surfing.

I'll still poke around a contest these days, but I'm never satisfied with what I see. Even the brotherhood/no sponsor ones turn me off. I've spectated at ASP, high school, Grom, kneeboarder, kayak, skimboarding. All the same when you break it down.

The worst was a weekday morning when the man on the loudspeaker reminded those of us surfing before the contest that there was "GOING TO BE A CONTEST" and that in one hour we would "HAVE TO EXIT THE WATER" he continued to remind us what felt to me every 2 minutes. The surf was good, the weather was good, the contest was bad.

Then there was the Surfline "Contest" in Mexico that amounted to a bunch of guys buying the beach so they could surf with their friends. Everyone was upset. Several people complained that it wasn't even a contest. As far as I'm concerned it didn't matter, it was the same story whether it be a company and "Pro Surfers" or a group of individuals. They're still excluding others.

And the latest contest detail that got under my skin, I was watching a clip from the "Somewhere in Bali" contest that I think was Rip Curl, and between the repetitive whack the lip, whack the lip, whack the lip, was a clip of a contestant climbing onto the back of a jet ski and heading back to the line-up. I may be mistaken, but it seems to me like this is becoming more and more common in contests. Chauffeured professional surfers. It's one more step towards golf! And one more step away from my personal surfing experience.

End of Rant.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Retro

Here's a link with a (fictional) story that's been lighting up the web world lately.

http://www.surfline.com/surfnews/article_bamp_400_v03.cfm?id=17437

I thought I'd put my two cents in at an out of the way place where it wont bother anyone else, here!

Most, if not all of the boards in my quiver would most likely be considered retro by the author of the story. That being said, the GeeBee is a new idea based on an old board. The Bonzer has been continually refined since it's invention. The Junod Daisy is basically a fat tri-fin that I think works better with large outside fins. The Wheelwright (is that one up yet?) is truly retro because my dad and I are guessing it was made in the mid-70s. I also have a board at my dad's house that is modern built but truly retro because we had Junod shape it to exactly match a board from the 60s that I liked. He told my dad all the ways he could make the board ride better but we were determined to remake the old board. Anyway, they're nearly all "retro."

So why do I ride retro boards?

1) Wave quality. The majority of the waves I ride are soft and small. I'm not happy about it but that's the reality. Retro boards typically have more floatation and work better in small, weak waves. This fact was conceded in the story. But there are exceptions to this rule in my quiver. The Bonzer is for good waves. Narrow tail, design that works better in good waves. The Wheelwright is somewhat of a Cali gun, so I expect it to handle size alright. The Strech flexspoon kneeboard has almost no floatation and needs a powerful wave to work at all. Still, the Haut Quad, the GeeBee, the Junod Daisy all work better than a modern tri would when the waves are small and week.

2) Style. I spent 10+ years on very large longboards. That approach lead me to a down the line style with few turns. I didn't do a square off the bottom hit the lip combo for the first 8 or so years of my surfing. To this day I am front foot heavy more concerned with staying ahead of the lip than bashing it. Not that this is the way I want to surf. I'd love to be able to surf like the pro's when I wanted to. Anyway, the front footed, rounded turns style doesn't work well on modern tri-fined boards.

3) Wave count. Retro = more float = more waves. Not always true, such as a sudden barrel over a shelf reef, but see point 1) for why this is normally true.

4) Education. I like trying as many different styles of boards as I can and try to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each shape. Understanding the progress that has been made, why certain shapes have been at the forefront, where different styles of surfing came from and where they're going. These are all things I value. "North Shore" was a silly movie, but I always thought it was interesting when the Arizona kid was forced to ride all the old boards as part of his surfing education. I'm trying to do that on my own.

5) Mistake? What if there is a shape or style that was actually a good idea but was dropped because everyone wanted something else? What if a shape will only really work with modern materials? Or materials yet to be used?

All that being said, I've felt a hole in my quiver lately. I'm strapped for cash so I won't be able to fill that hole anytime soon. That hole is a modern tri, somewhere around 6'4" with a touch more tail width, but far from fish dimensions. I rode my friends Merrick this spring for only a few waves but was amazed at my ability to make late drops and hit the lip on the thing. Maybe it was a fluke, but I'll never know until I get another board and give it a go.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Surf report!

An excerpt from my local surf report,
"The onshore breeze continues today putting chop and texture on the ocean and the surf continues its downward spiral of getting smaller and smaller. The waves look to be in the ankle to maybe chest high range with very weak, crumbling, blah conditions at the moment and foreseeable future."
Yea!

So what I do when I can't surf is comb the interwebs for surfboards I can't afford. Here's one from the Mollusk Venice shop. It's 8' and gunny and a board I wouldn't have much chance to ride around here. It also fits into the "looks good, doesn't ride good" category that I described in my "Most ridiculous post"

It was shaped by Hynson, who I think is shaping for Rainbow, but I'm not sure. Anyway, if I had money and somewhere to display it on the wall, only to be ridden a few times a year, well... I might buy it.
Go surf (if you can)


Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Blah

Blah blah blah.

Maybe nobody reads the words.

Maybe there's only photos.

Blah blah blah.

Not surfing makes me sad.

I flew a kite on sunday. It didn't substitute well for surfing.