Shelter in place

We're all stuck at home. The cams verify that the police are doing their job and keeping surfers out of the "town" spots up and down the coast. We all know of some hard to reach spot that we could get to and probably not end up with a $1,000 ticket. Some are on it, others like me don't want to drive in circles trying to work it out.
And back to those cams. Watching empty waves is like a dream I have. In this daydream I imagine having a time machine. The cockpit has to be big enough to fit a surfboard, because I'm hitting all the spots, and doing it back before Columbus' big adventure. Malibu with nobody around to jockey for the set waves. Rincon with nobody snowballing the wall. Shoot, even the spots that are considered third and fourth rate would be tons of fun without the crowds.
But then my son comes to visit me at my desk. He's stuck at home with parents who are supposed to be working remotely, and he's going crazy. I get an instant message from a boss asking about a report, and another from a coworker asking questions about another. I'm back to reality, but one that is surreal in it's own way.

In these times I greatly appreciate http://surfmatters.blogspot.com/ for continuing to provide stories and photos to help me make it through the week. I wish I had some photos and a story to tell, but the strongest memory from my last session is someone paddling under my longboard and taking the wave of the day. I don't want to rehash the details, I'd rather plan my next session. Maybe somewhere hidden from the eyes of the police. Maybe somewhere that the police have given up trying to control.

Pushing limits

A good sized swell was delivering overhead waves to the Lane. I thought I could ride the V-pin through outside indicators, but the waves weren’t making it through. I kept trying to snag the ones breaking deeper, but instead just got hit by set waves and washed in. I got a few rides, nothing memorable, and found myself back at the car. I wasn’t done surfing, but I wasn’t having fun. I decide to swap boards and put the Velzy V-fin on the GeeBee and try the Slot. The V-fin got some attention on my way to the water. I got a few good overhead fast waves, but had trouble. I felt like everything was loose and out of my control, like slippery not stiff. When I tried to make a turn, I turned but the board didn’t.
I should have swapped to a normal fin and tried again, but it was more crowded, and I was getting worn out. I talked with a friend who also pushes the limits on his hull and he was familiar with the experience. He also gets squirrelly in bigger, fast waves. I’ve had good, fast waves on the Gee Bee, but maybe those times the waves were just below the “speed limit.”

Paddling without waves

The prior weekend I opted to mix it up and went north instead of south. The wind forecast was more appropriate for the Bo, but when I arrived the wind had a bad angle. At dawn the low tide was also making a mess of things and I lingered on the beach. I was glad I did because as the tide filled in the waves got better and the wind eased. I got to it and snagged a few by sitting deeper than the crowd. It didn't last long before the tide went too far and the wind came back up, ending the short session.

This weekend had all the weather elements in place, but no swell. I've been very slow on the repair of the Velzy because I don't feel up to it after work, or after surfing. So this weekend I worked on the repair instead of surfing. To get exercise I took out the SUP to the Oakland harbor. The preferred launch spot (Jack London Aquatic Center) is now more accessible as the Embarcadero Bridge has reopened following a rebuilding. (No more tiptoeing through the trash to get down to the water.)  I took my time paddling past the construction along the Oakland waterfront, down around Coast Guard Island. Coming back I went close along the 9th Ave Terminal where fancy new condos are matched with ongoing improvements to the waterfront. Things don't look pretty yet, but I am optimistic. Heading back to Aquatic Park was into the wind and the sound of the wind driven ripples smacking the big flat nose of the SUP got me thinking of a prone paddleboard. I picked this SUP off craigslist because it's suitable for riding waves, and it has a flat bottom on the nose instead of a chop-cutting hull shape. I don't use it often enough to justify the purchase of an upwind type SUP, but I would like to add a prone paddleboard for those conditions and to mix up the type of exercise. There are not that many on craigslist in my area, but there are several down in LA. Too far to go just to pick up a prone paddleboard, so instead I'll bid my time watching out for something local.

Anyway, it was a 3 mile loop that I did in about an hour. Not much exercise, but anything is better than nothing. Fingers crossed that next weekend will have waves.

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!

Velzy Rehab

Nice 10-foot Velzy found for a good price on CL. I pointed it out to my dad to see if he was interested because I was kinda 50/50 on it. (I would like to try it, but not store it.) He mentioned that a family friend has a need and this would be a good one. I arranged to look at it and unfortunately it hadn't been well taken care of. There are a few repairs that weren't perfect but probably better than I could do so I'll leave those. There are also a handful of open dings. So I figured how much I thought it would cost to have professional repair, cut that number in half, and took it off the asking price. The seller was happy with the negotiation, and I took it home to fix it myself.
The board has an off-white pigment in the laminating layer and clear gloss over the top. I bought some "bone white" pigment because some of the repairs will go into the lamination layer. The pigment makes it look like it, but it's not an epoxy SurfTek. Those pin-lines are only on the deck and are beneath the gloss coat, which is a nice touch. I started working on the repairs but will have to wait for the pigment to arrive before I can continue much further.

The shape is a nice middle-ground log. Gentle continuous rocker throughout, gentle belly flattening towards the middle, but roll/belly out the tail. It seems like an excellent board for our family friend who surfs 38th and sometimes 2nd Peak.

And as an edit to the other post I made earlier today, the 10' Velzy fin off this board will be added to the list of fins I'll be testing out. It'll be the first one I play with because I want to get the board repaired and handed off to it's new owner. To help with the fin experimentation I ordered 6 wonderbolts! I've lost the other two I had, and I figured since I found a deal online, I'd buy a bunch. So now I can shift the fin forward and back while in the water, and swap out a fin on the beach without needing to pack in a screwdriver.