Strike two!

Prior weekend I went to OBSF at the urging of a friend. I was told it had been good for the last few days. Even though the forecast warned that the wind would be onshore, I opted for the social option. The forecast was accurate and the surf was terrible.
This past weekend I returned to the spot I've been enjoying this summer. The bouy showed a south, 1.0'@18sec. I wasn't sure if that meant the waves would be bigger, and I hesitated to walk down the trail with my longboard. As it was, the longboard was the best choice. The mid-tide at dawn was hardly getting lower. That, combined with small waves made it nearly unsurfable. I chased and missed many, many small waves. I got a few decent ones, and I was mostly surfing alone, so I appreciate what it was. I also wish it was a little bit better. Oh well, maybe next weekend.

Wish granted, unfortunatly

Last week I was wishing for continuation of the small waves on the weekend. I got what I wished for, which then disappointed me because the waves were so gutless. I made the most of it on my V-pin and tried out the 10" Volan wide base fin. The waves weren't good enough to judge how the fin rides, but I can say the leading edge is pretty chewed up by the original owner, and the fin wobbles in the box. I'll touch it up with some resin and light sanding to fix both those issues.

There was a photog taking videos on the beach and got a few of me. It's rare for me to see any images of myself surfing so I was excited to see them. What I discovered is that I don't move as smoothly as I imagined, and I wait too long before cut back into the wave. But, screenshots hide all that so that's what I'll share!

The wave dies shortly after this moment.

 

I did make it out!

 

Volan fin in the sunlight.

 

The resolution is not great, but the bright yellow board makes it obvious it's me out there. Even though it wasn't great, it was still worth the effort.

 

I also made the time to work on repairing the Velzy. I bought some resin pigment to try to color match the repairs. When it was wet, the repair was more of a blue/grey white, while the board has a bit of yellow in the white pigment. The color might change when it dries, but if it still looks off, I can play with it. I was considering re-pigmenting the full rail because 90% of the repairs are on the rail. It might look okay with an opaque light grey, then add pinline in black. But I'm getting ahead of myself.



Velzy V-Fin

Very low tide and small waves so I opted to test out the Velzy V-fin. I though that since the depth of the fin is a few inches shorter than the fin I'd been using (9.74 TA Greenough 4a) that it would slide over kelp easier. I was wrong, and here's my theory. The kelp that causes problems is the stuff that grows long enough to float to the surface with a foot or more lying horizontally on the surface. In that case, any depth of fin will catch. The V-fin seemed to be a bit extra bad over the kelp and I think it's because the leading edge of the fin(s) is more vertical, so it's like hitting a curb on your bike rather than hitting a steep ramp.
Other than that, the fin performed well enough in the conditions. I had no problems on bottom turns and cutbacks, what little I could do in the small waves. It held a line running through sections, although it might be a bit slower than the Greenough 4a. It also may have been the way I was surfing, or the particular conditions. Overall I would say it's a good fin worth using again in better conditions. I defiantly still want to try it in the 6'2" GeeBee before returning it to my dad's fin box.

I also picked up two more fins. One a GL Flex Fin (Fibre Glass Fin Co) and the other a RFC that looks a lot like a 4a. They are both used, Volan, and 10". So I have some slightly larger fins, one with a wide base and one narrow base. So on balance, I now have more fin combinations to try than I did before this weekend!