Last Friday I got a message that the beach was surfable and JZ has a window to surf. I grabbed the 6' Pacheco and the 6'8" Moraga thinking I could decide which one and lock the other I the cab of the truck. Well, after I got to the beach I realized that I couldn't get the Moraga locked I the cab. I turned out to be the better board for the day, but I was frustrated by the lack of choice. The session turned out to be not so good. Waves were 6-8' and jumbled. I caught three and fell on all three takeoffs.
But today I finally finished building the box. It's 8' long and 2'x2'. It will easily hold three boards and I'm happy with the locking setup I used. I painted it with grey garage floor paint which came out of the "oops" paint pile at the orange box store.
Next time I head to the beach I'll be able to choose from three boards and decide which is the best for that day. I expect this will lead to some extra stoke out of each surf session!
I have plans tomorrow, so I will head south before dawn Wednesday. I hope to see some of a new swell before I have to come home Thursday evening for a Friday morning job interview.
A few days back I took out the Dave Hahn custom (first attempt) surf mat. It's smaller than my smallest mat which made it easy to duckdive but hard to stay will sort waves. The waves weren't good enough to judge the mat any more than that one observation. Well, it also has a small leak, but leaky mats are part of the history of mat surfing, kinda like longboards without leashes.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Mixed Bag
As my chosen internet handle implies, I enjoy having a variety of surf craft to choose from. My ideal is to be able to choose which one based on my mood and the conditions. I gathered a respectable collection of surfboards, each with a range of optimum wave conditions and just enough overlap to feel like I've got all conditions covered. The sticking point, however, is that I can't bring them all to the beach with me at the same time.
Lately I've been stuck with the truck. While I though that this would allow me more room to shuttle boards around, I later learned it allowed me less "lockable" space. I can't lock up a board longer than about 6'6", and getting two in the cab an locked is the limit. My little Sentra could comfortably lock three boards, with the biggest my 7'4".
And speaking of the truck, it gets about 1/2 the mpg that the Sentra gets. So, doing the math, I figure I can only drive it to surf if I'm going to surf twice as much. This is pretty cool though, because I've been driving down south and sleeping in Santa Cruz, getting at least one surf in before and after. While I only bring one surfboard at a time, I also bring my mats and lately my new paipo. This last Mon-Tues is a good example of the "mixed bag" of surfing I've been enjoying lately.
I started around 7am Monday (Labor Day) meeting JB and JA at Waddell Lot. I stopped to use the toilet and they were checking the waves. We decided to surf where we were and I rode the QQ in chest high closeouts. It became fun once I accepted the fact that makeable waves were few and far between and instead searched for waves I could pull into the barrel cleanly on. I worked on riding the closeout for as long as possible.
The tide was rising after that and I did some recon hiking around at 3 and mi4le. 3 was just rolly polly high tide and 4 was doing it's higher tide point thing with 20 guys out. I headed into town for a shower and a nap.
As the tide topped and turned I noticed sewer had waves and only a few guys. As I sat and watched a few turned into a few more, and more. So I turned my attention to the Rocks. It looked like it would be fun enough in a few hours, which added up to 6pm. It did get good enough and I took the paipo out for a dusk session. Rocks gets all ledgey and steppy which takes some technique to deal with. On the mat I can just slip down the face, on a surfboard I can steer my way through things, on the paipo, I had to learn something new. Because the paipo has more edge hold than a mat, but less maneuverability than a surfboard, I had to find a way to deal with sudden steps in the wave face. I found that if I pushed down on the beachside rail then the inside rail would slip and I could quickly drop off the lip into the flats, then pull up the beachside rail, re-engaging the inside rail and keep my speed going down the line. I also used the body drag technique to stall into the narrell that occasionally cruised along the inside. This all worked great until the sun went down and it was too dark to read the face of the wave. After getting caught off-guard and smashed by the steps and lip, I decided it was no longer safe, time to give it up.
The next morning the swell had dropped so I headed to mi4le to find some mellow crowd. The tide was mid- at dawn and the crowd was mellow having surfed the past few days of swell. Mid-tide means the point is better and the inside is weaker, so I tried to make it work on the QQ. I got a few but mostly got caught behind on waves and in general wasn't enjoying things. I went to the beach and swapped for the 5thGF. Right away I was having more fun and was glad I switched. I got a good one from the point but noticed the inside was starting to work with only Stacey trying to catch them. I moved into my usual mat spot and got a few. The tide or swell angle wasn't right for longer barrel runs, but I got some short fun sections on the mat. I surfed until I was satisfied and left just as a new group of guys were coming down the beach.
So, I had three fun sessions on three different surf vehicles. I expected different conditions from what I got (grabbed the QQ hoping for hollow Waddell Reefs) but was able to have fun by swapping out for different equipment. While my belly ridding is considered less cool by some, I'm having more fun and feeling less frustration, which I think is the whole point! I know that winter is coming and that's the time that the surfboards work best. I know that I need to keep my strength and skills up so that I can take advantage of those epic days. But for summer type conditions, I'll be keeping my options open and trying my best to have fun.
Lately I've been stuck with the truck. While I though that this would allow me more room to shuttle boards around, I later learned it allowed me less "lockable" space. I can't lock up a board longer than about 6'6", and getting two in the cab an locked is the limit. My little Sentra could comfortably lock three boards, with the biggest my 7'4".
And speaking of the truck, it gets about 1/2 the mpg that the Sentra gets. So, doing the math, I figure I can only drive it to surf if I'm going to surf twice as much. This is pretty cool though, because I've been driving down south and sleeping in Santa Cruz, getting at least one surf in before and after. While I only bring one surfboard at a time, I also bring my mats and lately my new paipo. This last Mon-Tues is a good example of the "mixed bag" of surfing I've been enjoying lately.
I started around 7am Monday (Labor Day) meeting JB and JA at Waddell Lot. I stopped to use the toilet and they were checking the waves. We decided to surf where we were and I rode the QQ in chest high closeouts. It became fun once I accepted the fact that makeable waves were few and far between and instead searched for waves I could pull into the barrel cleanly on. I worked on riding the closeout for as long as possible.
The tide was rising after that and I did some recon hiking around at 3 and mi4le. 3 was just rolly polly high tide and 4 was doing it's higher tide point thing with 20 guys out. I headed into town for a shower and a nap.
As the tide topped and turned I noticed sewer had waves and only a few guys. As I sat and watched a few turned into a few more, and more. So I turned my attention to the Rocks. It looked like it would be fun enough in a few hours, which added up to 6pm. It did get good enough and I took the paipo out for a dusk session. Rocks gets all ledgey and steppy which takes some technique to deal with. On the mat I can just slip down the face, on a surfboard I can steer my way through things, on the paipo, I had to learn something new. Because the paipo has more edge hold than a mat, but less maneuverability than a surfboard, I had to find a way to deal with sudden steps in the wave face. I found that if I pushed down on the beachside rail then the inside rail would slip and I could quickly drop off the lip into the flats, then pull up the beachside rail, re-engaging the inside rail and keep my speed going down the line. I also used the body drag technique to stall into the narrell that occasionally cruised along the inside. This all worked great until the sun went down and it was too dark to read the face of the wave. After getting caught off-guard and smashed by the steps and lip, I decided it was no longer safe, time to give it up.
The next morning the swell had dropped so I headed to mi4le to find some mellow crowd. The tide was mid- at dawn and the crowd was mellow having surfed the past few days of swell. Mid-tide means the point is better and the inside is weaker, so I tried to make it work on the QQ. I got a few but mostly got caught behind on waves and in general wasn't enjoying things. I went to the beach and swapped for the 5thGF. Right away I was having more fun and was glad I switched. I got a good one from the point but noticed the inside was starting to work with only Stacey trying to catch them. I moved into my usual mat spot and got a few. The tide or swell angle wasn't right for longer barrel runs, but I got some short fun sections on the mat. I surfed until I was satisfied and left just as a new group of guys were coming down the beach.
So, I had three fun sessions on three different surf vehicles. I expected different conditions from what I got (grabbed the QQ hoping for hollow Waddell Reefs) but was able to have fun by swapping out for different equipment. While my belly ridding is considered less cool by some, I'm having more fun and feeling less frustration, which I think is the whole point! I know that winter is coming and that's the time that the surfboards work best. I know that I need to keep my strength and skills up so that I can take advantage of those epic days. But for summer type conditions, I'll be keeping my options open and trying my best to have fun.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)