Return

Someone ran across this blog and found a board he had regretted selling. It was the bumblebee which I had just recently dropped of in Santa Cruz to sit and wait for me to visit. The board filled a space in my quiver that didn't need filling, somewhere between the Haut2 and the Buttons. He wanted it back and I'm happy to see it get used.
I asked him what he liked about the board and from his response the main thing I could identify with was that he said it didn't outrun the pocket like a fishy board is likely to do. That is why I got the Buttons, which takes a different approach to slowing the board down. The Buttons is narrow tailed while the bumble bee has an ass like a quad, just a bit narrower than a full on fish. I'm not sure what helps the bee stay in the pocket. The side fins could cause drag when away from the pocket, or maybe it's something about the rails or rocker that I didnt see. I'm fairly certain that a narrow tail like on the Buttons provides less resistance against the face of the wave. It's this resistance that provides lift and when leveraged by the fins and rider weight, forward movement. Less tail width reduces the forces at the source.
At least that's what I think is happening.

I did it.

Last weekend I took public transportation to surf. JZ was having a party and KT was going to show up later, so I bussed and bussed out there, met JB and borrowed a board. The surf was good, the party was fun, and I rode home with KT at the end of the day. Riding the buses I made beginner mistakes like not having change and not knowing what options I had for buses. I had a $20 and I thought I could make change when I arrived in downtown SF. Turns out on a Sunday morning all the Starbucks (and the few other places around) are closed! So I walked in circles until I got down to the ferry building where I found a place open and a pile of buses parked. I asked a driver if his bus was the best way to the beach and he suggested another would be better. I took his word (since it match what my friend had suggested) and rode the 38. Turns out there's also a 38L and 38X. The L has limited stops and the X has even fewer stops. My bus stopped at almost every block (it felt like) and took an hour to cross the city. Next time I have change and try to land a faster bus.

Crowd wise I think there's enough room on the bus for me to bring a surfboard if I wanted. Next time I do this I'm gonna mat-surf or bodysurf, or borrow from JZ if he's around. I'm not quite ready to carry a board round trip yet.

Surfwise it was fun. I was on a 6'10" board shaped like a high performance noserider longboard. It had good float to catch waves easy and chase down the rangy peaks, but a narrow enough tail to stall and hang in the limited pockets that there were out there.

Looks like I'll be selling the Bee to someone who will enjoy it more than I did and will give it some use. Awesome! I don't think I'll be filling that space anytime soon and will instead concentrate on the surfboards I already have.

What is the minimum for happiness?

I didn't do the bus thing last weekend because I "carpooled" to the beach with my wife. I still intend to give the bus a try, but later.
I got some waves this weekend but it was a drive then a drive south to Rockaway. Rockaway was waist to shoulder high with sw wind blowing offshore and the low tide helping the small waves hit the sandbar. The waves were about as good as it gets, but the crowd was at critical mass. I went out o. The buttons and had trouble getting waves. A combination of out of shape, off timing, and tight crowd made the session less than perfect, but still pleanty gun enough.

The crowds have me down. Not just in the water but traffic driving to work too. I need to remind myself what it is that I'm doing and why I'm doing it. My first though is, "How much of this can I purge and still be happy?" less stuff requires less work which means more free time. I need to ponder on this awhile

Public Transport

This isn't meant to be a rant on what is wrong with public transportation, although it may sound like it. It's really a mark of where I'm at right now in figuring out how to make a "bus to beach" situation work.
The background to this is that I'm getting deeper into the science of climate change. In doing so I'm getting a look at what is projected to happen to our lives in the next 50-100 years. The news that is pushing me to action after a year or more of driving every day is this; ~5 years ago the IPCC created projections of CO2 emissions which included: decreased CO2 emissions, same rate CO2 emsisions, and increased rate of CO2 emissions. Most people figured we would be somewhere between less and same. As of now our CO2 is higher that what was considered a high estimate ~5 years ago. That is not a projection, that's the way it is with no room for argument.
So, what can I do? I don't think technology is the best answer, although it will be important for limiting climate change due to human actions. I think the best answer, one that hits all angles at the same time (and instantly, as in right now) is to reduce consumption. I could go on and on about this but I wont, and I'll now return to the more directly surf related talk.
So, how can I take public transport (PT) to the beach? Well, I've already purchased a drybag backpack for cleanly transporting my wet wetsuit. Next I've decided that at least at first I'll forego the surfboard and shoot for either bodysurf or matsurf. Lastly I've mapped out my path, which to be honest is surprisingly direct with only two busses to ride and less than a mile total walk required for a few surf spots. The downsides are many and obvious, but the one I have the most trouble with is the cost. It will be $6 each way, $12! In the car I figure it would be 1.5 gallon of gas @ $3.25 + bridge fare @ $5 so $9.90. Now, I still have a car so I'm still paying for insurance, and a bus takes you one place only. If the surf isn't good there then I'm kinda screwed. I've given up my freedom and paid extra for it!
(The one thing I havn't looked at is the bus transfer system. For no extra charge I can get one transfer ticket. So, perhaps I could take the bus to spot A, then decide to check spot B, which wouldn't cost any extra.)
Okay, that's enough for now. I'm hoping to get my mojo up and do this move this weekend.

Bonzer BumbleBee

I have ridden the new Bonzer enough now to know it's not for me. It works with big shoulders and softer take-offs, but what board doesn't? I missed some runaway waves not because the board isn't fast enough but because I couldn't nail the late drop solid enough to start projecting across the face early enough to make it. The board may be fast once in the pocket, but if I can't get there then who cares? Float isn't the problem like the last Bonzer I had, and I wasn't struggling with burying the nose. It is really just a problem with hanging at the top and then not feeling solid once I got over the edge.
Ride wise I have nothing much good or bad to say about it. The good is that it doesn't automatically outrun the section. The bad is that it will release off the face if I get too steep and up on a rail. Mostly I found it to be rather blah. Combine that with the droping in problem and this one is being released.
I'm sure there are other waves and other surfers for which this would be a great board, but for me, where I surf, it doesn't fit the bill.

Bonzer BumbleBee Ride Report

I ditched work yesterday to catch the offshore winds. I surfed VFWs for a few hours from around 7-10am. Waves were shoulder to head-high with offshore winds and beautiful partly cloudy skies. The air started cold at 7:00 but warmed up to t-shirt and shorts weather by 10am. I started by trying the Bee at Lincoln where the waves were barreling with some make-ables mixed in. After a blown take-off and missing the first section on another I was getting exhausted trying to paddle back out through the heavy waves. I gave up, deciding I felt more like riding more waves for longer rather than burning out in 45 min of pounding.

Moving up a peak was better for me and the board. The waves were breaking softer but still steep with the off-shores holding them up. Mixed in were short peaks and longer, softer walls, and a few hard breaking waves too. For the most part I was able to survive on the Bee without being excited by it. It feels looser than I would expect a single fin of that dims to be, but not much faster. It holds speeds through turns, as I said before, and feels alright once I found the right spot to stand. I picked a high line on one and then dug the rail trying to drop off the high line and down around the section. Pumping the high line felt like the board wasn't really responding with speed like a quad would. The board actually feels similar to what I remember of a thruster. I've heard the term "neutral handling" used to describe a board that only goes where you make it go, but will sit in one place on the wave if you don't tell it to go anywhere. I feel like this board is like that. I did stall a steep wall to see how it might feel in the barrel and it held comfortably. I also pulled into one closeout and it held a line for awhile without pulling too high, or maybe it's just me getting used to which line to pick.

The board has plenty of float but wasn't feeling all that great when trying to catch waves. It may have been the offshore winds, but I felt more struggle to drop in, and less control getting in later.

So I think I'll give this board a few more tries to see if I can find the right wave for it, but I would be willing to sell it if I could avoid a loss on the deal.

Review

A rain day and I was on call for work. Yesterday during the warm frontal part of the storm I had work down the SM coast and on the drive I saw light side/off shore winds on easy waves. They looked better earlier when the tide was lower. Today I was on call for work and figured it was no matter because the storm was in full swing and OB was reported to be destroyed by the wind and huge swell that arrived. As it turned out I didn't get called to work, and JZ reported that the SM coast was still side/off shore. Reviewing the day in weather it seems that the storm stayed north dropping over 1/2" in Oakland and 0.0" in Fremont. The south winds to the south of the front didn't ruin the surf on the SM coast, mental note.
Missing it like that, and not feeling surf satisfied I pulled out my boards to look them over. Not in a repair sense, more in an admire them sense. The new Bonzer BumbleBee has similar dimensions to the Haut2 except that it is more hippy. They have nearly the same tail width and middle width, but the Bonzer gets there quicker. Then I pulled out the HessQQ to compare, and before you know it I had them all laid out. I decided to rephotograph them all to make a side by side comparison, but before I got around to resizing and cropping I found myself rereading every post on this blog. So what do I make of it?
My quads are for making turns and going fast. My singles are for feeling the wave and sitting in the pocket. Well, I'd consider the Bonzer a single, but I'm not sure how it will ride since I've only had one chance on it. I'll have to revisit that statement.
When will I next revisit it? Possibly tomorrow. I had planned to do some post storm work in Fremont, but there was no storm in Fremont so maybe I'll "go into the field" with a quick stop in Fremont and then continue south to SC where the west side will be big. Or, I could wrap up some work that needs to be done this week and take Wednesday or Thursday to surf. I guess I'll be checking the weather thoroughly tonight.
Back to the review, I seem to be riding a higher quality of wave lately. Ona, WR-BB section and some good days at VFWs all combine to make a picture of hollower waves than I used to settle for. That, and riding /not/ the quads which I prefer to ride in softer waves with shoulders to run around on. Anywhoo, let's see where I go next.

Another one added

I went ahead and did it, I bought the Bonzer. I took it out immediately into 4-6' funky OB. My first impression of the board is that it feels a bit stiff, but that's coming off several sessions on the narrow tailed Buttons. The stiffness was felt when trying to initiate a railed bottom turn and the Bonzer, being wider in the tail, resists going on rail. However, that same width makes it easier to complete a cutback because the board maintains it's speed for longer through the turn. I managed a full change of direction on one wave which let me hit the foam ball (at which point my "plans" ended and I didn't know what to do the instant after I hit it.)
The most memorable moment from the session was a left that got steep as I was holding the rail. Perhaps my technique was off because I lost the fin and side slipped down the face. Because I was holding the rail the minor slip down the face caused no problem and I made the wave.
Overall I'm not thrilled with the board, but one funky session isn't enough to pass judgment. It paddles just fine and duck-dives well too so I'll be giving it another chance. 

Single Fin Time

After the success at WReefs on the Buttons single fin I was excited to give it a go at VFWs. The first run was a few weeks ago and the weather was great, waves were 4-6' and hollow. The crowd was out but it didn't completely shut me out because the Buttons has plenty of float to get in a bit early if I have to, but able to take later drops too. I was having a good time, but it got better when I walked south to Lincoln where there were fewer people and I could find my waves better. I even got something deeper than a narrel that I came out of. Later that day things fell apart but I went out with JZ to Balboa and the Cove. The quality had diminished, but we had a few fun ones. One the beach I had a guy want to get a better look at the Buttons and said he saw me pig-dog on a few lefts that looked good.

Skip forward to last Tuesday morning (or was it Wednesday?) The conditions were very similar with a bit more size. This time I stayed put right in front of VFWs and got my share of waves. A few memorable ones including a set wave that the guy at the peak decided at the last minute he was too deep. I was over and inside of him and went for it at the last second. Nearly a free fall drop where I landed right where I needed to be and hit a solid bottom turn that gave me the speed to make it down the line. After the session I stopped at Mollusk to look into a bigger fin.

See, the deal is that I am having trouble keeping the fin engaged at all times on the Buttons. I've had it release on a steep angled take-off more than once, and I had it release on me that day when the whitewater hit my feet. With the wide point so far forward, and not much rail in the tail I get my center of gravity too far forward which lets the fin release too easy. I figure the fin I have is 7-7.5" which is what is suggested, and when I put bigger fins in it they just looked wrong. I decided I would try the big flex fin off the GeeBee first to see what too much fin felt like, then I will ask around to see who has a fin in the 8-8.5" range that I could borrow. Maybe it's just a matter of technique.

Meanwhile, I took note of a 5'10" Bonzer Bumblebee (three fin) on the used rack at Mollusk. The price just dropped to $350 which looks like a steal to me. The hold up is that the template is closer to the GeeBee than the Buttons. The thing is short and fat! I'm not sure what it would be used for and I suspect it has a ride somewhere between the GeeBee and Haut2, and those to aren't very far apart. I'm not sure when I would choose it since I'm trying to find a way deeper into the pocket, but still...

A different part of the reef...

Took a surf day off work to dodge the crowds and try to get a piece of the swell. I got a very small piece at WR at dawn. Lucky I got out at that time because I surfed warbled early south swell for about an hour before the wind picked up and made it un-surfable. I headed into town but the West Side wasn't working and the East Side was very crowded. I did nothing much for the rest of the day except watch the surf and visit a surf shop.
The next day I surfed with Jeffs back at the same spot. I started on the North corner, where I normally start, but Jeffs went south to the BB-shoulder section of the reef. I wasn't having much fun on the north end so I paddled down to see what they were doing. WOW! That is a great waves. The peaks bounce around a bit but when they came to me I was getting steep drops from behind the peek into a steep, but short shoulder. Very fun indeed. I was on my 6'6" Buttons Pipeliner, which was a good board choice. The extra float allowed me to get in a touch early and the narrow template let me stay close to the steep face. I had a really great time on the few waves I got. I pushed my luck on a few and got too angled on a take-0ff and the tail slipped around as I pulled under the lip. I did a similar thing a few waves later and decided I should let the wide ones go by.
Meanwhile, at the TRUE BB there was a crowd of rippers gathering. That take-off was just as critical but the wave after had a nice long shoulder. I stuck with my peak until the waves stopped coming and took one in.

That afternoon we tried the reef/beachy south of Scotts. It looked great so we stopped on the side of the road to watch. Several more waves of good quality filled in and we suited up and paddled out. We each got a few waves, then it all stopped. We went in and before we left saw only a few more good waves over there. Scotts and WFs was not doing anything good with the south.

The thing that made my weekend so great was I found a new part of WR that I plan on surfing again, hopefully soon, and I got a really good feeling from the Buttons board.

Right now the forecast is for a west swell and glassy conditions for the weekend. There will be 1' low tides in the evenings, so I think I'll surf OB in the morning, then again in the late afternoon/evening this coming Saturday.

September Mornings

It's September, and if feels good.
Yesterday was warm, in Berkeley! I had lunch outside and we stayed for an hour or more soaking in the sun and arguing about Afganistan.
Today I surfed OB with SR. The waves were chest high and all mixed up and warbly, but it was sunny with no wind and just so pleasant we made the most of it anyway. 5' @ 9sec from NW with little to no S in the water.
Anyway, it's September which is the start of good waves and good weather around here. I'm spending the weekend in Aptos (wedding) and I hope to get some surfing done while I'm there.

MatMeet North

On August 21st MatMeet North was held in honor of the main MatMeet which happened the following day at Cotton's Point. See 23breaths blog for the glorious details.

MatMeet North had one participant, me, but I shared some interesting waves with one friendly kneeboarder. We were at onA at very low tide with a small south and small NW windswell in the water. The kneeboarder, Darrel "in the Barrel," said the south was causing more close-outs and that the previous 6-weeks had been great at onA. (He enjoyed the small, shapely peaks and I witnessed one tube ride he handled well.) So, onA likes the small NW wind swell better than the south?

Anyway, while I was there the side wave worked a bit, the water was freezing, and I caught some exciting waves on my mat. Coulda maybe been narreled on one or two.

UDeeTs test ride. I used the bench-top belt grinder to remove material from the Large sized UDTs. The idea is to soften up the blade and reduce the resistance while kicking. The fins have proved too powerful for me in the past and caused foot cramps. I didn't feel like I took off very much, and I concentrated on the center spine which I probably reduced by half on both sides of the fin. Anyway, I surfed for an hour or more and never got a foot cramp, even though I was kicking most of the time. I think that is a positive result and I'll leave them like they are and try them out some more.

Well, not exactly as they are. I wore them without fin socks and I rubbed holes in my feel. My right foot on the bottom had a row of open blisters where the fin hits, and my left foot inside ankle was also blistered and open. So, if I want to wear these barefoot (which I do) I need to re/apply the wetsuit material to the fins, and/or redesign the straps.

After a leg cramp that wouldn't go away I switched to the Haut2. I only caught one decent wave and gave it up as the crowd was growing. I took my time and changed out of my wetsuit on the beach. I watched as the side wave was no longer working and the take-off was next to the rock. The tide had filled in to ~3.5ft or maybe a bit more. The waves were much more peaky and the rippers that had showed up were getting good rides, but not quite barrels. Anyway, the point is that low tide south swell is not the only combo for Ona, and maybe not even a good one.

Thinking about returning this weekend, but my feet still haven't heeled.

August

It has been a terrible summer. Long streaches of onshore wind, little to no surf, and I've been working harder than I ever have. (Well, except that few months I worked two jobs.) My last two sessions were two weeks or more apart with a mat surf in crap waves more than a month ago and a fun but minor bodysurf session two weeks ago. Out of town this weekend.
Once I finish all this work I'll be looking to vacation somewhere surf related. Not sure where (or when) but hopefully this fall.
Options:
North up the coast would be interesting, less crowded, colder, camp-able = cheaper, but without any prime surf spots that I can think of.
South down the coast has many, many options that are well advertised. Once I round Point Conception the water is much warmer. Camp-able, but less so, especially without reservations. Crowds, but I could surf the not-longboard spots which I would guess are less crowded. I could also try to meet with other bloggers.
Mexico = warm waters and new territory. I still want to spend some time at Puerto Escondido and make a tube. I think I could do it if I had a week of 6-8ft surf. Puerto could end up giving me a week of 16-18ft surf, or break my boards and end up costing me mucho pesos in repair costs. Pleanty of other options down there, but for someone who speaks little spanish it's intimidating going it alone.
Hmmm....

The Three Bears of Hess

I've ridden the HessQQ (Quinara Quad) three more times now. Once I ended up at overhead 3mile. It was big enough to make duckdiving hard and move enough water around that I got tired just trying to get to the take-off spot. At the same time it was breaking soft and hard to get into. Once in there wasn't enough power to get me going much, at least on the waves I caught. Blah, any other board I own would have been better, probably... Papa Bear, to much water moving.

The next time was a pre-work surf with work friends at Linda Mar. The north end did have some shoulder high waves with a bit of push at the start. Some even had shape on the inside. I got some good waves but would have been better served by the Haut2. But other than that it was sunny, warm, and glassy with few people in the water competing for waves... Mama Bear, to small and soft.

The next day I went to catch some south at Waddel Reefs. The tide was low and the swell was about head high, with a few bigger. It was great! Some steep ones and attempted barrels. One I'll count as a long narrel (not a barrel, nearly a barrel.) A few other guys out there were getting in the pit but for the most part I was holding my own, even though I was paddling all around never staying lined up for very long. Not that I was getting pushed off the reef, just that it felt crowded and I was trying to find waves uncontested. Overall that is the kind of wave I should be riding on the HessQQ... Baby bear, just right.

Trigger Pulled

So, I bought the board. I tried to be thoughtful about it. I put the boards side by side on the grass, I compared dimensions, I tried to think of counter arguments... But in the end my excitement was too much and I bought the board in a fog of giddiness. I got it in the water that afternoon and right away felt that it was much smaller than I imagined it would be. I'm guessing that Hess doesn't dome the deck like the Haut2 is. And perhaps the wider template has more effect than I thought it would, and calculated.

I was able to catch waves and ride them, and it duckdives great because I sink it completely when I'm paddling. It made me feel very out of shape.

I had a board that was small, the mint Bonzer, and I had to let it go. The reason was that it didn't have enough float for me to catch waves early and it didn't drop in late very well, or at all. This Hess board drops in late just fine, so maybe I will be able to make it work. It just wont be my everyday board, more for good waves.

Big Island Little Waves

Went looking for Shark Pit and found it HUGE. It was the day the Mavs contest was held, and they said it was some of the biggest surf ever paddled into for a contest. There was a car parked overlooking SP with two 10' full guns on the roof and the driver telling his friend it was just too big to surf, out of control. We took that as a good reason to go home, via a quick dip at Bolinas.

Bolinas was about head high and smaller. The bigger waves closed out and the smaller ones rolled along without much excitment, but it was wet.

The last week in Feb I was on vacation with my wife on the Big Island of Hawaii. There were waves out in the ocean somewhere, but all I ever found was some small wave bodysurfing at Hapuna Beach. It was warm, in clear water, and with not too many locals to make it unsurfable. The weekend did bring more boogers to the beach but we were on a schedule and didn't have much time anyway.

Now I'm several weeks since a decent session and I may be making up for it chasing down a used Hess board. I've wanted one for a long time, and this used one is a good price and is close to if not exactly what I would order if I was to buy a new one. I'll have to see how it works out, whether I pull the trigger or not. I'm leaning towards yes, especially since the wife is starting work and we'll be a two income household again. And she's been spending money doing her things, and we just had a cheap vacation, and the tax return is coming, and...

I'm probably gonna surf this weekend, good waves or not, just because I have friends in town and I'm getting desparate. Here's a photo of the board. It's 6'2" 19 3/4 and 2 9/16 thick.