I was terribly optimistic at the time of last posting. I figured I had a new job "in the bag" and I was counting chickens. Well, that one didn't pan out, nor did the next one of similar description. I have continued to apply for jobs but I have gone through a drought of responses. Who knows, maybe they will all reply at once.
In the meantime, I've been able to surf a bit. I've had some pretty good sessions at OB, and even SC. I spent a few days down in SC mid-week and took advantage of new sand at a normally crowded surf spot. The new sand and the bit of swell combined to make a new wave with far fewer people than normal. I rode the GeeBee to get a feel for the hull style. With a very flexy fin it bogged on turns, which was fun in a way. With the proper fin in the center of the box it ran just fine. With that same fin at the front of the box, WOW! The thing surfed more like it was a round disk than a surfboard. It certainly opened my eyes to what can be done with fin movement. I think it's especially sensitive because the overall board length is so short at around 6'. And then last week I caught the rising of a swell with the dropping of the tide and had some good lefts at OB. The wind was offshore which helped make the waves hollow.
And to continue the drought theme, California is in a serious drought. It's our first year to have a vegetable garden at our home and I feel conflicted about watering the plants. Besides the vegetables we're trying to grow, the rest of our yards are low water needs. Not fully succulents, but mostly tolerant plants. I am still moving forward with planting food, just with a twang of reluctance.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Friday, November 15, 2013
Closing in fast
I want this:
Plus this:
Plus this:
With some of these:
tapered pinlines and deck patch.
The shaper is Andreini. The board is his somewhat-mellower-but-still-very-much-a hull. The dimensions are to be decided, but will be around 7'. The goal is a good paddler that still can duck dive if needs be. It's been tough for me deciding between a knife railed hull and a down railed gunnier type board. I've ridden both, had good waves on both. I think a hull would get used more, and I have a slightly too small downrailer that I can use if I am really needing that feel.
The artist is a friend of mine, Katie Owens. You can find her work on Society6.com and other similar places. The art will be printed on rice paper by a company like boardlams.com. I'm think either smaller on the deck near the nose or very small mirror images in the same location. Larger on the bottom a bit forward of center, maybe lined up with the wide point.
I believe the glassing is out of the Haut shop, although I'm not sure what the glassing company calls themselves. There is always a high quality of work coming out of that shop, so I'm confident they can do the pinlines I want.
I'm not sure of the final cost but I'm afraid it'll be near $1K. Andreini suggests his boards finish with a sand coat for the water shedding properties. I think that would wash out the artwork, so I will ask first and go with gloss if the glasser agrees with my idea. I just want the pinlines along the rail covering the glass wrap line, and maybe on the deck patch line. The deck patch wont look like what's shown above because I want it to carry to the tail. I'd love to have the fin glassed in for "style points" but I don't know if I'd be able to fit it into my Sentra. If I can't, I wont surf it as much so I'm going with the box. Glassed leash loop, or none and I'll get one of those glue on ones.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Where am I going?
The job interview was crap, or at least that's the way it made me feel. The upside is that I've decided to take a 1/2 day off and go surf this Friday. Forecast is small and clean, the kind of waves that a mid-length egg would go well in. Why do I say that if I don't even have a board that matches that description? Well...
A few weeks back JZ took me to go look at a mid-length single fin pintail. I thought the $700 price tag was too high, even for a new board, but the visit stirred an interest in a style of board I hadn't given much thought to before. A long time ago I got washed around trying to ride an 8' egg at various surf spots. I couldn't duck dive it, I couldn't outrun the waves to the channel, and so I was a sitting duck getting repeatedly beat down by waves. I decided that mid-length boards were for suckers.
Since then I've ridden smaller mid-length egg like boards in more appropriate conditions. Down around 7'6" I can start duck diving a board but still can glide into waves early. At 6' most of that glide is gone but a certain maneuverability is available. A wide, hulled bottom gives more glide, flow, rail hold and smoother or easier turns. Hulls are better in non-barreling waves. Downturned rails and narrow tails allow control in steep sections and more abrupt direction changes but at the cost of difficulty controlling the board. Still, down rails and narrow tails are better in hollow waves. Single-finned boards don't handle late drops as easily as multi-finned boards, and so early entry is key.
All these facts/impressions I've recently gathered in my head and tried to figure out what board I would want next. Part of the problem is that I have so many boards that there isn't a gap to be filled, more like a nook or cranny. So do I want a hull that's a longer version of the GeeBee or do I want a beefier version of the Buttons? Looking at pictures of surfboards I'm drawn to the pointed spears that work well in perfect large hollow surf. The kind of conditions that are so rare that it would be unlikely that I'd find those conditions AND have the board close by. But I'm still going to surf OB, so I need to be able to handle difficult conditions if I ever expect to bring it to the beach. Where does that leave me?
Something in the 7'2" range, +/- 4". Something like a double-ender but less egg shaped and more drawn. Some examples:
7'2" Liddle Death
7'0" Andreini Vaquero
And I could go on for hours just based on the Mollusk website. Many shapers have some version of a basic beginner's egg and most also have some "tuned up" version as well. I know I want a tuned up version, but is that a knife railed hull or a narrow tailed hard railed? There's many examples on shapers websites, but there are very few on craigslist at the moment. And that's what I should be doing, looking for a cheap way to explore this range of shapes.
The fact is that even though I have some money in my surfboard account, I don't yet know how to spend it.
A few weeks back JZ took me to go look at a mid-length single fin pintail. I thought the $700 price tag was too high, even for a new board, but the visit stirred an interest in a style of board I hadn't given much thought to before. A long time ago I got washed around trying to ride an 8' egg at various surf spots. I couldn't duck dive it, I couldn't outrun the waves to the channel, and so I was a sitting duck getting repeatedly beat down by waves. I decided that mid-length boards were for suckers.
Since then I've ridden smaller mid-length egg like boards in more appropriate conditions. Down around 7'6" I can start duck diving a board but still can glide into waves early. At 6' most of that glide is gone but a certain maneuverability is available. A wide, hulled bottom gives more glide, flow, rail hold and smoother or easier turns. Hulls are better in non-barreling waves. Downturned rails and narrow tails allow control in steep sections and more abrupt direction changes but at the cost of difficulty controlling the board. Still, down rails and narrow tails are better in hollow waves. Single-finned boards don't handle late drops as easily as multi-finned boards, and so early entry is key.
All these facts/impressions I've recently gathered in my head and tried to figure out what board I would want next. Part of the problem is that I have so many boards that there isn't a gap to be filled, more like a nook or cranny. So do I want a hull that's a longer version of the GeeBee or do I want a beefier version of the Buttons? Looking at pictures of surfboards I'm drawn to the pointed spears that work well in perfect large hollow surf. The kind of conditions that are so rare that it would be unlikely that I'd find those conditions AND have the board close by. But I'm still going to surf OB, so I need to be able to handle difficult conditions if I ever expect to bring it to the beach. Where does that leave me?
Something in the 7'2" range, +/- 4". Something like a double-ender but less egg shaped and more drawn. Some examples:
7'2" Liddle Death
7'8" Christianson Flat Tracker
7'0" Andreini Vaquero
And I could go on for hours just based on the Mollusk website. Many shapers have some version of a basic beginner's egg and most also have some "tuned up" version as well. I know I want a tuned up version, but is that a knife railed hull or a narrow tailed hard railed? There's many examples on shapers websites, but there are very few on craigslist at the moment. And that's what I should be doing, looking for a cheap way to explore this range of shapes.
The fact is that even though I have some money in my surfboard account, I don't yet know how to spend it.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Yard Work
Three days drafting, three days slingin' Joe. Mornings and evenings spent working on the shed and yard. Sunday revolves around watching the 49ers. It leaves no time to surf and surprisingly not enough money to pay the bills. Next Tuesday I have a job interview. County job, great pay, further inland. At least I'd be able to pay the bills, and pay someone else to make home repairs and improvements and do it right. And I would be able to pay for a vacation and a new surfboard. It's a difficult life trade, but it represents a major improvement in my situation. I wont be moving towards the coast any time soon, might as well bank some $$
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Fun in the cove
Even though the cove is visible from my friends porch, I don't feel welcome there. He can get his share when the "boys" are on it by virtue of his recognizable face and aggressive wave catching. Even though I've never been talked to out there, I still sit off to the side letting the best waves go to the best surfers, or their friends. So, this Sunday was a treat. The cove wasn't awesome, but it was one of the better spots along the beach. JZ and I walked down the hill and paddled out to a crowd of about 8 people. As we paddled toward the peak the crowd paddled away from us. Eventually it was us and a few others getting all the waves we wanted. They weren't great waves but they were some of the better waves I got in the last three (dismal) months. I even got a small barrel which I exited too early and could have ridden twice as far if I had kept my balance forward and into the face of the wave.
I was on the Pacheco and I'm in just enough shape to catch many small waves for about 90 minutes. I'm not ready for winter, but I'm not as out of shape as I've been this time in years past.
Next week my wife will be gone for two weeks. I'm only working part time, so I might spend a few week days in Santa Cruz or beach camping somewhere. No swell is forecast, but maybe the week after will have waves. Also, this time of year we can get decent surf out of local wind swell, if the weather at the beach cooperates.
I was on the Pacheco and I'm in just enough shape to catch many small waves for about 90 minutes. I'm not ready for winter, but I'm not as out of shape as I've been this time in years past.
Next week my wife will be gone for two weeks. I'm only working part time, so I might spend a few week days in Santa Cruz or beach camping somewhere. No swell is forecast, but maybe the week after will have waves. Also, this time of year we can get decent surf out of local wind swell, if the weather at the beach cooperates.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
September
I bit of magic yesterday. I got a call from JB saying he'd like to meet at OB. I jumped on BART (bridge repair weekend) and met him at DC station. We were headed to Jud ah area but upon seeing the huge number of parked cars, settled for Riv era. This turned out to be a solid choice as the high tide light wind inside-outside waves evolved into low tide glassy connecting waves.
I was on the 5GF and was catching plenty of 4ft waves. I got some disrespect but an equal amount of interest in the mat. Wave-riding wise I got a few okay rides but wished for more edge control to make harder bottom turns. Towards the end of the session I increased the inflation and found more edge, but still matty in my turns.
Previously I'd been having trouble with my fins carving a sore into my ankle every surf. I spent some time carving and sanding away at the strap and really noticed the improvement yesterday in the water. I got a smaller sore in a different spot, so it's not perfect, but it's better. I also drilled some drain holes at the toes (top and bottom) and came home with much less sand. Overall it's a marked improvement without any loss of power for the fins. They really felt great. I was getting some folding at the toe and I think it's because I took some material (neoprene) off the straps and now my toes don't go as far into the foot pocket. It was only during extreme situations like going over the falls and trying to get my feet under me. Never while kicking like the old, soft, too big duck feet did.
JB also got some good rides and although he looks awkward, he threw some solid turns that I witnessed. One mid-face snap that released the fins just a bit, and one top turn where he nearly got the fins above the lip. Both times on his backside riding, so that's cool.
I was on the 5GF and was catching plenty of 4ft waves. I got some disrespect but an equal amount of interest in the mat. Wave-riding wise I got a few okay rides but wished for more edge control to make harder bottom turns. Towards the end of the session I increased the inflation and found more edge, but still matty in my turns.
Previously I'd been having trouble with my fins carving a sore into my ankle every surf. I spent some time carving and sanding away at the strap and really noticed the improvement yesterday in the water. I got a smaller sore in a different spot, so it's not perfect, but it's better. I also drilled some drain holes at the toes (top and bottom) and came home with much less sand. Overall it's a marked improvement without any loss of power for the fins. They really felt great. I was getting some folding at the toe and I think it's because I took some material (neoprene) off the straps and now my toes don't go as far into the foot pocket. It was only during extreme situations like going over the falls and trying to get my feet under me. Never while kicking like the old, soft, too big duck feet did.
JB also got some good rides and although he looks awkward, he threw some solid turns that I witnessed. One mid-face snap that released the fins just a bit, and one top turn where he nearly got the fins above the lip. Both times on his backside riding, so that's cool.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Slow
Work has been so slow that the bank account has been on the decline for several months. It's difficult to separate out the expenses that relate directly to new home ownership from the expenses of everyday life. Either way, the trajectory causes me to take pause. I haven't driven to the beach in awhile. I did take a ride to very small Linda Mar with JO one morning. It was worth the dip for the exercise and the friendship, but not much else. I haven't taken the kid out for a surf in awhile, and I don't see it happening anytime soon.
I took a low paying part time job to help fill up the bank account. It's not enough to make up for zero work from the main job. I hope that stops happening. If it does, I'll have to find a new job. The low pay job is reliable though, I can count on those hours every week, which is something the main job doesn't give me. The wife is going to Europe this fall with family, and I'm staying home by choice. I though it would save us enough money that I could go on a surf trip, but with the bank account slipping, I have a grand excuse to not plan anything.
The first few days of this week I didn't have work. I should have done anything of a list I keep in my head, but for the most part I stayed home and did very little. I think it's true that our animal instinct is to lay low whenever we can. To reserve energy for times when it's needed to survive. This instinct is short sighted and doesn't blend well with community living. There are things I want that I need to act to achieve, but I don't take action as often as I easily could. I would like to, but I don't. Its like a silly thing I like to say, "I'd like to know how to play the guitar, but I don't want to learn to play the guitar."
There's been a internet streaming of a contest at Teahapoo. I've been enjoying watching it live because the slow pace of waiting for waves is more familiar that the hard cuts and loud music in surf movies. I also enjoy watching the pro surfers get waves that for me would be my best ever, but they score very low on. A good score for this contest comes when they make waves that look impossible. I'd like to go there to surf some day, but I know I couldn't handle it right now. I would need to take a month or more to get into shape for it. Of course fall in California is right around the corner, I should get in shape for that!
I took a low paying part time job to help fill up the bank account. It's not enough to make up for zero work from the main job. I hope that stops happening. If it does, I'll have to find a new job. The low pay job is reliable though, I can count on those hours every week, which is something the main job doesn't give me. The wife is going to Europe this fall with family, and I'm staying home by choice. I though it would save us enough money that I could go on a surf trip, but with the bank account slipping, I have a grand excuse to not plan anything.
The first few days of this week I didn't have work. I should have done anything of a list I keep in my head, but for the most part I stayed home and did very little. I think it's true that our animal instinct is to lay low whenever we can. To reserve energy for times when it's needed to survive. This instinct is short sighted and doesn't blend well with community living. There are things I want that I need to act to achieve, but I don't take action as often as I easily could. I would like to, but I don't. Its like a silly thing I like to say, "I'd like to know how to play the guitar, but I don't want to learn to play the guitar."
There's been a internet streaming of a contest at Teahapoo. I've been enjoying watching it live because the slow pace of waiting for waves is more familiar that the hard cuts and loud music in surf movies. I also enjoy watching the pro surfers get waves that for me would be my best ever, but they score very low on. A good score for this contest comes when they make waves that look impossible. I'd like to go there to surf some day, but I know I couldn't handle it right now. I would need to take a month or more to get into shape for it. Of course fall in California is right around the corner, I should get in shape for that!
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