Sitting at my office computer dreaming instead of working. I'm catching up on the latest free videos of people doing what I wish to be doing, riding waves. I tend towards the weirder stuff (alaia, mat, etc,) but will watch a bit of everything I run across. Winter has ended and being in the middle of Blown Out Spring I'm thinking of ways to deal with small waves when the wind finally stops.
Mini-Simmons tearing down mini-walls.
Classic longboard cross stepping.
Full rail engaging on a Liddel.
Belly rides on flat pieces of wood.
The problem is all these things require me to be at the beach, not the office. Really what I need is to not be at the office, instead be at the beach.
I still havn't figured out how to do that for more than one day a week. Time to check what the jackpot is up to in the local lotteries.
Powerball $80mil
Mega $74mil
Super $12mil
geeze, thats alotta mouhlah, even after taxes. If I hit one of those then the next question becomes which remote tropical location do I ex-pat to? Clearly I'd have to travel around for awhile to see what's out there. And there's plenty of Mexico coastline to explore.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Mat review
A few weeks back I picked up a 4GF brand, 5GF model. The 5GF is supposed to be better suited for steep waves and since I've been pushing the limits on the Neumattic and finding myself failing to make barrels, I felt the specialized mat was a justified purchase. In the past I've gotten harsh responses from people when I shared my opinions and observations online, so I've been holding back on talking about this but I think I'll give it a try. To be clear my surf history is 10+ years of log riding, 10+ years of shortboard riding, with scattered experimentation with bodyboards, bodysurfing, plypo, handboards and, recently, a fair bit of surf mat riding. I originally bought a Neumatic mat back in grad school when I lived on Long Island in New York. This puts the date as pre-2005. Since then I've ridden the Neumatic about 5 times plus 6 times in the last 7 surf sessions. With my amateur status in, mind here's my "Mat Review."
When the package arrived I fairly tore into it needing to know how it was different than the Neumatic. The first thing I noticed was that while the bottom material was similar to my first mat, the top material on the 5GF was thicker. The bottom material is windbreaker thin and the top material is canvas like. Thin and pliable on the bottom seems like the right way to go so I decided I agreed with the makers choice that the top material didn't need to be ultralight. Second was the deck coating. The Neumatic has stripes of deep texture which are apparently something called Vulkem while the 5GF has wax melted into the deck material. (Link to article from 4GF website giving a list of things he's tried, a great read.) It had taken me awhile to get used to the ultra grippy Neumatic deck so I wondered if I would prefer the smoother 5GF deck. I also wonder if the 5GF would be smooth enough to ride without a wetsuit, since the Vulkem on the Neumatic gave me a belly rash when in the tropics.
The valves were different too. The Neumatic has a "micro-adjustable" valve plug with a small hole which allows air to escape when the plug is pushed into the hole in once direction, twist 180 deg. and it seals tight. The 5GF is a simple stopper. I've never used the micro-adjustment on the Neumatic and usually have to twist the plug and check to make sure it isn't leaking. The extra care required for the Neumatic plug is offset by the knowledge that someday I'll appreciate being able to slowly bleed air, when I reach that skill level. At my skill level the 5GF simple stopper is all I need.
And finally the Neumatic comes with a custom bag and your initials stenciled on the side. This is a nice touch for sure, like getting a fitted board bag with a surfboard purchase.
The next thing I did was unroll both mats and lay them on top of each other. (This is a terrible way to compare anything about mats except what size they are when deflated and flat.) The Neumatic was slightly longer and narrower, no more than an inch total in any dimension. My first thought was how a surfboard for hollow waves tends towards a longer and narrower template, which worried me that the 5GF was not going to be better than the Neumattic in hollow waves. But once I inflated both mats the dimensions changed and the Neumatic ended up being wider (but still longer.) The Neumatic has a natural rocker and the 5GF is flat.
Surf test was next. The waves were really good at OB with light offshores and 6'+ swell creating hollow walls. I took out the 5GF and right away noticed that the deck wasn't as sticky as the Neumatic. Sometimes this is a good thing like when trying to get back on top of the mat, sometimes you want to stick to the mat like when the whitewater hits you. It's a noticeable difference but not one which I have yet developed a preference one way or the other. The 5GF duckdives noticeably better. I don't know why, and my initial guess was it had to do with the different pontoon arraignment, but folding the mat lengthwise (lead by hands at the front corners, elbows helping) I was able to punch under waves better than I expected. Still, matting in 6' beachbreak, or any beachbreak, is more work than at a break with a channel. The minor advantage in duckdiving was welcomed. The smoother deck also allowed me to sit ON the mat, like sitting on a surfboard. It took some struggling to do, but on the sticky Neumatic deck I never could pull it off.
So how does it RIDE? Well, to be honest I can't point to anything different that I noticed that first day. The thicker deck on the 5GF feels stiffer, but that thought never crossed my mind while riding waves, only while paddling around. The next surf was on the Neumatic (previous post) and I still can't name anything different in the way they two mats ride. Maybe someday I'll get someone else to mat surf with me and we can trade mid-session and the differences will be more obvious, but for now it's beyond my powers of observation.
Check out this guys history of postings for another mat comparison.
http://magictowelride.blogspot.com/
Much more important to how the two mat's ride is technique and inflation. Body english, fin drag (or not draging,) hand draging and recently body dragging are all more important to the ride. I've also gone in reverse to what many surf mat riders describe and found I prefer riding the mat with more air in it rather than less. Perhaps I'm just coming around to where I should have started and now that I'm on the right track I can work towards less air.
When the package arrived I fairly tore into it needing to know how it was different than the Neumatic. The first thing I noticed was that while the bottom material was similar to my first mat, the top material on the 5GF was thicker. The bottom material is windbreaker thin and the top material is canvas like. Thin and pliable on the bottom seems like the right way to go so I decided I agreed with the makers choice that the top material didn't need to be ultralight. Second was the deck coating. The Neumatic has stripes of deep texture which are apparently something called Vulkem while the 5GF has wax melted into the deck material. (Link to article from 4GF website giving a list of things he's tried, a great read.) It had taken me awhile to get used to the ultra grippy Neumatic deck so I wondered if I would prefer the smoother 5GF deck. I also wonder if the 5GF would be smooth enough to ride without a wetsuit, since the Vulkem on the Neumatic gave me a belly rash when in the tropics.
The valves were different too. The Neumatic has a "micro-adjustable" valve plug with a small hole which allows air to escape when the plug is pushed into the hole in once direction, twist 180 deg. and it seals tight. The 5GF is a simple stopper. I've never used the micro-adjustment on the Neumatic and usually have to twist the plug and check to make sure it isn't leaking. The extra care required for the Neumatic plug is offset by the knowledge that someday I'll appreciate being able to slowly bleed air, when I reach that skill level. At my skill level the 5GF simple stopper is all I need.
And finally the Neumatic comes with a custom bag and your initials stenciled on the side. This is a nice touch for sure, like getting a fitted board bag with a surfboard purchase.
The next thing I did was unroll both mats and lay them on top of each other. (This is a terrible way to compare anything about mats except what size they are when deflated and flat.) The Neumatic was slightly longer and narrower, no more than an inch total in any dimension. My first thought was how a surfboard for hollow waves tends towards a longer and narrower template, which worried me that the 5GF was not going to be better than the Neumattic in hollow waves. But once I inflated both mats the dimensions changed and the Neumatic ended up being wider (but still longer.) The Neumatic has a natural rocker and the 5GF is flat.
Surf test was next. The waves were really good at OB with light offshores and 6'+ swell creating hollow walls. I took out the 5GF and right away noticed that the deck wasn't as sticky as the Neumatic. Sometimes this is a good thing like when trying to get back on top of the mat, sometimes you want to stick to the mat like when the whitewater hits you. It's a noticeable difference but not one which I have yet developed a preference one way or the other. The 5GF duckdives noticeably better. I don't know why, and my initial guess was it had to do with the different pontoon arraignment, but folding the mat lengthwise (lead by hands at the front corners, elbows helping) I was able to punch under waves better than I expected. Still, matting in 6' beachbreak, or any beachbreak, is more work than at a break with a channel. The minor advantage in duckdiving was welcomed. The smoother deck also allowed me to sit ON the mat, like sitting on a surfboard. It took some struggling to do, but on the sticky Neumatic deck I never could pull it off.
So how does it RIDE? Well, to be honest I can't point to anything different that I noticed that first day. The thicker deck on the 5GF feels stiffer, but that thought never crossed my mind while riding waves, only while paddling around. The next surf was on the Neumatic (previous post) and I still can't name anything different in the way they two mats ride. Maybe someday I'll get someone else to mat surf with me and we can trade mid-session and the differences will be more obvious, but for now it's beyond my powers of observation.
Check out this guys history of postings for another mat comparison.
http://magictowelride.blogspot.com/
Much more important to how the two mat's ride is technique and inflation. Body english, fin drag (or not draging,) hand draging and recently body dragging are all more important to the ride. I've also gone in reverse to what many surf mat riders describe and found I prefer riding the mat with more air in it rather than less. Perhaps I'm just coming around to where I should have started and now that I'm on the right track I can work towards less air.
Those waves look good enough to surf.
Medium sized wind swell was the only thing in the water yesterday, and the wind generating it was blowing over it. That narrows the focus to a few NW wind protected spots that still produce with NW windswell. I wasn't even going to bother driving to the beach but a friend offered to drive the longer leg of the trip so, hey, why not. I brought the Pacheco expecting softy high tide windswell waves, and the mat in case it was worse than that, and off we went to 4.
The wind was on it and the tide was rising but there were ridable waves breaking across the inside and not too many people on it. When I pulled the mat out of my bag Z offered the observation, "Those waves look good enough to surf." suggesting that I should ride the hard board. To me they looked like I wouldn't enjoy myself if I took things too seriously, which is why I opted for the mat. This made me realize that riding the mat means I lower my standards of what having fun is, which means I have more fun as the result. For awhile there I was on a wave catching rotation barely having time to rest before picking up another wall and sliding through the inside.
The far inside section gets steep but with a very short shoulder that I was outrunning and struggling to stay in the pocket. I started playing with dragging my body off the mat as a way to slow down yet stay high on the face. It's a fun feeling and has the advantage that if you stay high on the face you can easily pull yourself back on the mat and VOOM! you're off and running at full speed.
For the most part the other surfers in the water respected me with only two borderline drop-ins. I was far enough back on the take-off that it was arguable that I was going to clear the peak. I made most of my waves and of the ones I didn't, half had someone dropping in down the line. I feel like the mat is more sensitive to the "snowball" effect where someone down the line causes the wave to break early as they paddle for it. For me this snowball coming down the face kills my speed, or makes coming around the whitewater that much harder as it adds length to the distance I must overcome.
Z isn't one for complimenting my varied wave riding choices, but he did say that many times it looked like I wasn't going to make a section but I routinely did. In my book barely making a section is doing it right. It means I'm staying in the pocket.
I had fun.
The wind was on it and the tide was rising but there were ridable waves breaking across the inside and not too many people on it. When I pulled the mat out of my bag Z offered the observation, "Those waves look good enough to surf." suggesting that I should ride the hard board. To me they looked like I wouldn't enjoy myself if I took things too seriously, which is why I opted for the mat. This made me realize that riding the mat means I lower my standards of what having fun is, which means I have more fun as the result. For awhile there I was on a wave catching rotation barely having time to rest before picking up another wall and sliding through the inside.
The far inside section gets steep but with a very short shoulder that I was outrunning and struggling to stay in the pocket. I started playing with dragging my body off the mat as a way to slow down yet stay high on the face. It's a fun feeling and has the advantage that if you stay high on the face you can easily pull yourself back on the mat and VOOM! you're off and running at full speed.
For the most part the other surfers in the water respected me with only two borderline drop-ins. I was far enough back on the take-off that it was arguable that I was going to clear the peak. I made most of my waves and of the ones I didn't, half had someone dropping in down the line. I feel like the mat is more sensitive to the "snowball" effect where someone down the line causes the wave to break early as they paddle for it. For me this snowball coming down the face kills my speed, or makes coming around the whitewater that much harder as it adds length to the distance I must overcome.
Z isn't one for complimenting my varied wave riding choices, but he did say that many times it looked like I wasn't going to make a section but I routinely did. In my book barely making a section is doing it right. It means I'm staying in the pocket.
I had fun.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Back up to speed
Spent the weekend in SC. There was a good swell over the weekend and I went out Saturday on the falling tide before the low tide crowd. I got some good waves using my new approach at John, and riding the Hess Pacheco. I doubt I could have made the waves I did if I was riding a mat, and I struggled to understand why. I think the reason is that having fins on a board allow me to abruptly convert speed in one direction to a different direction. This allows a quick pump half way down the face on the drop to project me into the first section with enough speed to make it. I think the mat can go that fast, but I can't get it up to speed fast enough.
Later that day I checked out the new shop Sawyer Land and Sea on the westside. I dug the casual, quality vibe of the place with polished wood and technical outdoor brands clothing. It's the kind of place you might buy an understated hoody that just happens to be windproof and "technical." I also realized I had met the owner before, back when I was working retail at Bugaboo. I like what she's doing with the shop, and my wife said she wanted the shop to be her living room, and wanted to buy everything in the store. She settled for one shirt and I left empty handed, but I hope to direct some of my limited disposable income to this shop in the future.
I didn't surf Saturday evening and instead had a nice dinner at Laili.
The next morning I checked the westside but decided to let JA and JB decide where to surf. They brought me down the the beaches and although we saw some good waves, only one good wave was ridden. It was 6-8' with a few bigger waves and mostly walled up. This made it difficult to ride and difficult to paddle through. I guess they like going there for the lack of crowds, but I can stomach a bit more crowd if it means much better waves. Also, I don't need to drive to SC to surf beachbreak.
Mid-day was spent at the UCSC arboretum looking at protea and other flowers. The wind was blowing hard already so I didn't need to check the surf at low tide, I knew it was ragged. I did recheck around 4pm and the wind was sideshore making it surfable, but it was smaller with a decent number of people surfing, so I didn't bother. Even if I didn't get waves at the beaches that morning, I did get plenty of exercise.
So that was the weekend. Had I been alone I would have spent more time sitting at the beach and would have gotten more waves. But relationships (friends and marriage) is about compromise now and then. Now I feel like I've given some, next time I'll surf more, and surf my waves.
Later that day I checked out the new shop Sawyer Land and Sea on the westside. I dug the casual, quality vibe of the place with polished wood and technical outdoor brands clothing. It's the kind of place you might buy an understated hoody that just happens to be windproof and "technical." I also realized I had met the owner before, back when I was working retail at Bugaboo. I like what she's doing with the shop, and my wife said she wanted the shop to be her living room, and wanted to buy everything in the store. She settled for one shirt and I left empty handed, but I hope to direct some of my limited disposable income to this shop in the future.
I didn't surf Saturday evening and instead had a nice dinner at Laili.
The next morning I checked the westside but decided to let JA and JB decide where to surf. They brought me down the the beaches and although we saw some good waves, only one good wave was ridden. It was 6-8' with a few bigger waves and mostly walled up. This made it difficult to ride and difficult to paddle through. I guess they like going there for the lack of crowds, but I can stomach a bit more crowd if it means much better waves. Also, I don't need to drive to SC to surf beachbreak.
Mid-day was spent at the UCSC arboretum looking at protea and other flowers. The wind was blowing hard already so I didn't need to check the surf at low tide, I knew it was ragged. I did recheck around 4pm and the wind was sideshore making it surfable, but it was smaller with a decent number of people surfing, so I didn't bother. Even if I didn't get waves at the beaches that morning, I did get plenty of exercise.
So that was the weekend. Had I been alone I would have spent more time sitting at the beach and would have gotten more waves. But relationships (friends and marriage) is about compromise now and then. Now I feel like I've given some, next time I'll surf more, and surf my waves.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)