Late Update

I got the kneeboard out to a south swell loving reef last Friday (a week ago!) The swell wasn't showing much and the tide was too low and the result was some 4' bowls over shallow reef. Good waves for the kneeboard and I even caught a few, but nothing mindblowing.

Two days later (after the peak of the swell) I followed a hunch up north thinking the south would make something happen. Well, there were waves, and I had fun, but again, nothing special. Except, perhaps, that I was standing up for the first time in many sessions. I pulled the GeeBee out a few weekends ago and started painting on it. It turned out looking kinda sciencey to me, I'll have to do a post dedicated to the process, with photos. Anyway, it was finished and I took it for a spin. Had some fun, I just wish the waves were a bit better.

The outlook for this weekend is poor, but I need to surf for fear of loosing the little bit of muscle I have left.

More Mat Time

Another matting session with no "Hard boarding" in between. Instead of getting more out of it, I seem to be enjoying it less. Now I should point out that the surf has been poor. It's been week semi-windy windswell beachbreak sessions for me, so I don't expect much. Today I did find some pitchy waves but was unable to put myself in a position to take advantage of a barrel. I do catch many waves, but I can't seem to do what I want to do, where I want to on the wave. I'm trying to catch a wave and duck under the lip close to the take off. I think the problem is that the mat doesn't accelerate off the bottom as quickly as something with a hard edge would. I try to angle my take-off which helps, but doesn't get the job done. I think that the mat just isn't the right tool for the job. If I want to remain prone, I think I should look into an HPD, or similar paipo. In fact, just the other day I was poking around the e-bodyboarding website. The conclusion I came to was that bodyboards aren't as fast across the water as kneeboards. But I find my kneeboard needs better waves than what's been available lately. Maybe it's time for a small wave, low volume, paipo-esque kneeboard?

I've also been dreaming of a mini-simmons. One with a fat, solid tail and two fins. That shape doesn't seem to be a barrel hunter though.

Okay, what about the idea of buying some marine ply and making a paipo? The marine ply I've worked with before was very ridgid. Time to find a boat yard and a salty old dude to get some advice from. (Or not.)