Late Update

I got the kneeboard out to a south swell loving reef last Friday (a week ago!) The swell wasn't showing much and the tide was too low and the result was some 4' bowls over shallow reef. Good waves for the kneeboard and I even caught a few, but nothing mindblowing.

Two days later (after the peak of the swell) I followed a hunch up north thinking the south would make something happen. Well, there were waves, and I had fun, but again, nothing special. Except, perhaps, that I was standing up for the first time in many sessions. I pulled the GeeBee out a few weekends ago and started painting on it. It turned out looking kinda sciencey to me, I'll have to do a post dedicated to the process, with photos. Anyway, it was finished and I took it for a spin. Had some fun, I just wish the waves were a bit better.

The outlook for this weekend is poor, but I need to surf for fear of loosing the little bit of muscle I have left.

More Mat Time

Another matting session with no "Hard boarding" in between. Instead of getting more out of it, I seem to be enjoying it less. Now I should point out that the surf has been poor. It's been week semi-windy windswell beachbreak sessions for me, so I don't expect much. Today I did find some pitchy waves but was unable to put myself in a position to take advantage of a barrel. I do catch many waves, but I can't seem to do what I want to do, where I want to on the wave. I'm trying to catch a wave and duck under the lip close to the take off. I think the problem is that the mat doesn't accelerate off the bottom as quickly as something with a hard edge would. I try to angle my take-off which helps, but doesn't get the job done. I think that the mat just isn't the right tool for the job. If I want to remain prone, I think I should look into an HPD, or similar paipo. In fact, just the other day I was poking around the e-bodyboarding website. The conclusion I came to was that bodyboards aren't as fast across the water as kneeboards. But I find my kneeboard needs better waves than what's been available lately. Maybe it's time for a small wave, low volume, paipo-esque kneeboard?

I've also been dreaming of a mini-simmons. One with a fat, solid tail and two fins. That shape doesn't seem to be a barrel hunter though.

Okay, what about the idea of buying some marine ply and making a paipo? The marine ply I've worked with before was very ridgid. Time to find a boat yard and a salty old dude to get some advice from. (Or not.)

Nice sunny weekend at the beach. The waves were unorganized and must have been good somewhere else cause there were very few people where I decided to surf. I was on the surfmat and just wanted to get some time in the water. I had one good ride and several experiments that didn't seem to work. I've been reading suggestions on how to ride surfmats and lately I'm ridding the mat with my chin at the front edge and hands on each front corner. My biggest problem was loosing the tail end and sliding down the face, loosing all speed and bogging in the flats. Frustration.

After my session (and some sit on the beach time) I swung by Mollusk. I figured it was time for a new surf movie, one every 5 years seems about right. I had two in my hands, "The Present" and "Crystal Voyager." The Present is the hottest new movie, and CV is more along the lines of a novelty most people aren't interested in. I had been told by several different people that I should check out CV, so I went with that one.

The movie was basically a look into what George Greenough (GG) was doing in the early 70s. The movie impressed upon me several things. One, GG didn't ride the surf mat with his head over the front and his hands on the front corners. His head was a bit back, and his wave-side hand was holding mid-mat. I took heart in this because that's a more comfortable way for me to ride. Plus, I think having the weight back helps hold in the tail. If not that, then my legs are closer to the wave and can drag in the face to straiten myself out easier. Second, GG was a tinkerer. I knew this before, but watching him not only tinker, but stick with a big project (he retrofitted and resurfaced a big, live aboard sailboat) made me think I need to finish some of my tinkering. Admittedly I'm no GG, and my tinkering is following the directions of others, but still, I gotta start somewhere.

Took the plunge

Last weekend I ordered a replacement to the Haut Quad. The original one had developed a crack across the deck. I carefully repaired it, but it didn't hold, so I put it up in the rafters for safe keeping. I didn't want it in two pieces in case I ever wanted it cloned.

Well, last weekend I was driving by the Haut shop and saw what I thought was Doug's truck parked out front. I stopped in and was right, he was there. I asked him about the original board and he said he had all the info he needed in his computer, dimentions and such. So I went ahead and ordered one up.

All the dimentions will be the same, but I didn't pay extra for the fancy color job, or even the polish. Should come out to about $500-$600, and I hope it's as good as the first one.

List of things to do this summer in Central California

This is in response to the 23breaths blog for today. He listed 10+ things to do in Southern California this summer. Here's my version.

#1 Surf Waddell Reefs on a south swell.

#2 Walk into Ano before dawn and go surf alone.

#3 Surf OB on a rare, windless summer day.

#4 Show up to the beach wearing shorts and sandals on a day that the fog never clears.

#5 Pick a friend who lives closer to the beach than you. (If you're already closest, then pick someone who is closer to a different surf spot.) Surf an evening session with them, crash at thier house and surf again in the morning.

#6 Surf the Slot (Lane, cliffside) as the tide is dropping.

#7 Bodysurf, bodyboard or otherwise surf the side wave at Its.

#8 Surf the Bolinas Estuary.

#9 Surf somewhere north of that.

#10 Seriously consider surfing F****rs, but then chicken out (with excuses like "To far to drive.")

#11 Fly a kite at the beach on a blown out day.

Sold, now what?

I sold the Junod. Actually I sold/traded it for $200 and a down sleeping bag. A good deal for both of us. But the problem is, now what? I'm not really excited about replacing it with anything.

I have a 1/2 full surf closet with a kneeboard that's starting to fall apart, an old 7' single fin, a 6' stub (summer is starting.) I feel like I'll make it through the summer with what I've got and who knows what after that. Will I get back in shape? Will that bring the stoke back?

I did find a semi-secret spot. The wave wasn't great, not any better than the next beach over, except that there was only one person surfing there and there were about 100 at that next beach over. I balked at paddling out and paid for my hesitation. I watch for an hour and then started to get ready to do it when 4 more guys showed up. Anyway, the reason I mention this is because I got it into my head that this wave would have been good for an alaia, which I don't have one of, but would like to get one. I know where to get a Palowina blank (the wood that wegner uses) and my dad has all the wood working tools I would need to chuck wood. The problem is $200+shipping for something I would use occasionally, or rarely, like the surf mat and kneeboard spoon. Maybe I should focus on those items first, before I branch out further.

Update

I've been kneeboarding almost exclusivly since the new year. The reason for this is that I've gotten out of shape by working all week and surfing once on the weekend. The ability to flipper kick and give the arms a break really extends my sessions. The board is small and easier to push through waves and takes late drops or gets in early. It is kinda like a crutch if you let it be one.

The kneeboard has been a good choice for several days of OB offshore goodness, and I am glad I'm riding it. I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to wonder how it could be improved, i.e. what would I want my next one to do. My first priority on the kneeboard is to get barreled, which does happen. I can get in and, on rare occasion, come out. But I wonder if a different shape might not increase my getting out of the barrel chances.

Here it is now mid-April, spring, and I'm guessing we're going to run out of OB juice soon. To me that means it's time to return to the GeeBee. I stripped all the wax and fixed all the dings last fall and there it sits, in the closet, waiting to be put back into rotation. I've left it out because I want my wife to put some artwork on it. That was agreed to but hasn't happened. Time for a reminder.

Still want to sell the Junod but I havn't done anything about it. I should put it up on Craigslist again, or drop it in a shop with some foot traffic and a decent consignment deal.