Tuesday Afternoon Surf Report

The previous week has seen waves more reminiscent of a lake than the mighty Pacific Ocean, so I have taken several days off from surfing. After over a week in dry dock, I was really feeling a salt-water deficiency, an so hit the water today on my lunch hoping for a few good waves.

The water was clear and - even better yet - uncrowded. It seems that if all of the people who invaded my local break before the 4th of July have all packed up and found something else to do. Exxxcellent!

The wave were fairly consistent, and I caught a handful of very fun chest-high rights. All in all, the waves were better than expected and the beach was less crowded than expected. Nice!

New Board! 6' 5" CI MSF Bonzer

It has been a while since my last surfboard purchase, and for good reason - I've been very happy with all of my boards. However, while checking out craigslist.org one day, I came across what sounded like a very good deal.

I called the person offering the board for sale, and after talking with him a bit, it sounded like just what I was looking for: a Channel Islands Merrick Singe Fin (MSF) which had been retrofitted with Bonzer side bites. It was in almost new shape, and was the same dimensions as my MSF.

So, I decided to sell my MSF first, chip in a little bit of extra cash, and then pick this one up. Here she is, in all her beauty:

Top side with nice slob job resin tint

Dimensions

Bottom

Close up of fin cluster

Bottom view from the nose

Translucent fins from Rainbow Fin Co.

Near the end of my photo shoot with the new board, Ace came on out and decided to get in on some of the modeling action. What a ham...

Ace seems to like it as well

I got her all waxed up this morning and just need a bit of juice to try her out on some "waves of consequence".

Thursday Afternoon Surf Report

Swamis - March 10, 2005

I've been able to get out in the water these last three days, and the conditions have been pretty decent compared to the lull we've experienced the previous week. On Tuesday , the sky was overcast and the wind was almost nonexistent, dishing out waves that were glassy, peaky and extremely fun. Wednesday and Thursday saw the sun make an appearance - unfortunately the wind also showed up and the waves were not nearly as nice as on Tuesday.

I've been surfing my GH canard quad fish and loving it. We'll see if we get some of an expected southern-hemisphere South swell early next week. If we do, it might be an opportune time to try out my new board (pictures and more information coming soon)!

Surf Report - "You got NOTHING!"

That's your surf report, folks - "You got NOTHING!".

We had some nice waves last week, but this week has seen the Pacific Ocean transform into Lake Pacific, with waves no more than knee high in most locations. The weather has been beautiful, with clear skies and high temperatures, but the swell is just not cooperating.

Furthermore, it doesn't look like things will not improve in the next week or so! Gah.

Tuesday Afternoon Surf Report

The last week or so has seen some significant swell in the water, however the wind in the mid-day has not been kind. Today I noted that the wind seemed to be letting up a bit, and decided to take my newly repaired GH quad canard turbo fish out for a spin.

Let's just say that whereas the waves were good, I was not. Having not taken out the fish in several months, nothing felt quite right. It is a lot shorter, wider, and thicker than my thruster, so I knew it would take me a bit of getting to know it again.

At least the weather was beautiful! As I waited for another wave, the sun broke through the marine layer and it appears as if it is here to stay for the rest of the day. Nice!

Friday Afternoon Surf Report

I decided to hit the waves today on my lunch, even though we did get a very small amount of rain last night. My body desperately needed some water time, and I reasoned that not enough rain fell to actually flush the bad stuff from the storm drains into the ocean.

What a beautiful day it is! The waves were chest high, with a light onshore wind putting a bit of texture on the surface. My lack of surfing in the recent weeks made itself known by the fatigue in my shoulders and triceps as I tried to get back outside after catching my first wave. I felt like a newborn struggling to move across the floor as wave after wave of the set pummeled me. Leave it to me to take the first wave of a set...

I finally made it back outside with my arms burning and doing their best impersonation of linguini. I caught several more waves, all of them lefts that had a bit of juice to them and plenty of time to ride. At the end of my lunch, I was exhausted but had that "post surf glow". Nice way to finish off the work week!

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, with high hopes for a prosperous new year! I'm taking a couple (much needed) weeks off from work to spend time with the family, surf a bit, and decompress. See you in 2007!

Breaking Off Is Hard To Do

I haven't posted much on the topic of surfing as of late, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been doing my best to get out in the water every day possible. What you see in the picture below is my Gary Hanel canard quad turbo, which I have enjoyed immensely since it first blessed my quiver last year. However, note that is is sans fin...


How did this happen? Did I drop in on a 12' wave, try to turn too sharp, and blow out the fin due to my extremely powerful surfing style? Ermmmmm - no. In fact, this incident occurred last Thursday, when the wave size could best be described as small and closed out.

I paddled for one of the larger waves, popped up just as the lip came over and took the board out from under my feet. Said board did a nice 180 degree rotation, and placed itself deftly in the path of my descent. I felt the fins bite into my left tricep and right hamstring, and wondered if I was now leaving a nice chum trail to my newly pierced body.

After a brief inspection, I determined that the wetsuit took the brunt of the damage with major bruising to show up in a day or so. Then I noticed the lack of a fin where one usually is. It was probably a good thing that it snapped off instead of embedding itself into my flesh, so I'm looking at it in a positive light.

I called the good folks at Rainbow Fin Company, and they are shipping me a replacement fin which I should receive today. It's not the same color, so I am expecting a 25% reduction in speed (everyone knows that red fins go fast, right?). However, at least I don't have to shell out for a complete set of fins.

Springsuit Surf Report

Ah yes, that wonderful time of the year has come when the water warms up enough to put away the 3mm/2mm wetsuit I've been wearing for the past several months, and get back out the springsuit! The water has warmed up significantly over the last several days, and if this trend continues, I'll be able to ditch the springsuit in no time as well!

Last week, the onshore winds were extremely strong in southern CA (10-15+ knots in the afternoon), which really kills the surf. Yesterday, I woke up and noticed that the wind wasn't blowing much, and took a Memorial Day jaunt down to Oceanside Harbor. The waves weren't great, but there was some fun short period wind swell with a few occasional set waves making a rare appearance. I surfed for almost 2 hours, and the overall weather conditions were amazing. I was wearing my wetsuit, and actually felt too hot as noon approached.

During lunch today, I broke out the springsuit and headed down to D street. Another beautiful day with playful surf, and the water just felt perfect. Of course, this means that the crowds will start to increase as well... ;<

2006 Fish Fry

Last Sunday was the annual Fish Fry - a gathering of surfers and shapers who enjoy surfing fish surfboards. A "fish" surfboard is usually shorter and wider than your usual shortboard, customarily with a swallowtail. A standard fish has two fins (or keels), although more modern designs are now popular as well, like the quad canard fins on my GH board.

As I was getting ready to paddle out, with a crowd-induced grimace on my face, Mike Miller of ppb-photos snapped a rare picture of me. Note to self - need to cut back a bit on the red trolley ale...

The Launching Pad

The picture above is from Wednesday, December 21st, 2005. With the winter sun lower and to the southwest, I thought the back-lit take-off zone at Swami's was particularly beautiful. Watching the wave regularly jack up and over the reef is one of the more amazing sights on a large swell day. 

Swami's, Big Wednesday - Dec. 21, 2005

The day after I took the picture below (at D Street), the bulk of northwest swell slammed into North San Diego county. Swami's picks up these winter NW swells exceptionally well, and the reef can hold wave sizes of triple-overhead plus... as the picture above can attest!

D Street in December

December was very good to surfers in North San Diego county. The above picture was taken on December 20, 2005 at D street in Encinitas. An alternate title for the picture I like is, "A Shoulder to Cry For". 

First Surf Report of 2006

subtitled, "It's About Damn Time"
The holidays have come and gone, and we are all still alive. That's always a good thing, I think you'll agree. I need to post up a few pictures from the holidays, but they are at home and I am at work, so those will have to wait for another update.

During the end of December and the beginning of January, I took 7 days off. During this time, I did many things having absolutely nothing to do with surfing. I got a lot of stuff done, saw a movie with my kids, and enjoyed sleeping in for those seven days - but I didn't surf one day.

So, when I came back to work last week and got back into the water with big surf, you can guess the consequences. As I get older, I find that taking time off from surfing will make me pay dearly when next I go in. And pay dearly indeed, I did.

On Thursday and Friday of last week, I paddled against the oncoming waves, duckdiving and paddling until my arms resembled wet vermicelli noodles. After 20 minutes of paddling both days, I consoled myself with this hollow platitude: "Well, at least I got some exercise".

Today (Monday) was the beginning of a new week. Over the weekend I performed minor ding repair surgery on my beautiful turbo canard quad fish (shaped by Gary Hanel), and decided to take her out for a spin today.

Victory at last! The smaller waves and increased endurance from my previous two outings allowed me to get out there and catch a few fun waves. My arms are now tired, but in a good tired kind of way, if you know what I mean. I'm not back to my pre-vacation form, but I can feel myself getting there!

Here's hoping you had a wonderful Christmas, and a safe and prosperous New Year to come.

Monday Surf Report - "Humbled"

I haven't posted to the blog in a while, since I've been extremely busy at work (getting ready for my vacation) and at home (getting ready for the holidays). Furthermore, a plague descended upon our family over the last week, infecting all but the strongest of our clan (my wife - mothers aren't allowed to get sick, I guess).

So feeling moderately better yesterday (Monday), which means I was spewing out a relatively smaller amount of chunky green phlegm balls, I decided to try and hit the water again and get a few waves under my wetsuit. Great idea - poor timing!

All this week we have some good sized swell coming to our coast, with some truly gargantuan waves forecasted for tomorrow (Wednesday). So, not being in the best paddling shape, I tried to paddle out through the crushing beach break. After 20 minutes of fighting against mother nature, my arms were spent. Humbled for the first time in I don't know how long, I paddled back into shore.

I'm getting ready to go and give it another shot today, before the monster swell arrives tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a picture day, I'm thinking...

Two Great Days of Surf

What a way to wrap up the week! Thursday and Friday saw some of the best waves I've ridden in quite a while roll into North San Diego county. I took an extended lunch yesterday and today, and rode some of the longest, biggest, and fastest waves on my new quad fish.

The new board performed extremely well, and I never felt under-gunned in the bigger surf, even though the board is only six feet. Today, I am sore in a way that is sooooo good.

Up in Newport Beach (which faces to the South more than the beaches here in Encinitas do), the surf was bigger and meaner. I can't wait to see some of the shots from the Wedge, which will probably be completely crazy tomorrow.

3 Days on My Fish

With swell scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, I took out my new 6' GH quad on Monday to get a feel for how she paddles, takes off, rides waves, etc. Went out on Tuesday and some of the swell was starting to show, but not too much (too steep for my location). Wednesday was damn fun, with some big waves and the first "outside!" moments I've had in quite some time.

Paddling my new board, I was immediately struck by the width. She's a good 2 inches wider than my thruster (19.5"), and it just felt a bit different. Even though my fish is 4" shorter, she paddled like a dream and I felt comfortable paddling quickly. Duck dives like a... duck, I guess. No problems there (easier than the 6'5" CI MSF, without a doubt).

Taking off and catching waves was comparable to my thruster. I didn't notice it beeing much easier, but I probably need a few more sessions to get dialed in on the board.

On my first wave, I tried a hard turn and dug my backside rail pretty damn deep. Lesson 1 - that thick tail will not respond the same as the thruster. Instead of stomping on the tail, I approached turns with a more "carving" approach, and things got much better. Yesterday I caught a nice left set wave and carved up and down the wave, connecting sections and looking a "drop-in foo" off the wave. I dunno if he didn't see me or if he didn't think I'd make the section, but at least he had the decency to get off the wave.

How about them turbo canard quads? I expected the board to feel a lot more skateboardy-flicky than it was. I never lost the back end on a hard bottom turn, and on steep wave faces she held like a dream.

The low entry rocker is throwing me a bit off, as I've had to "walk off the nose of the board" twice after late/steep takeoffs. Nothing major, it's just something I'll need to work on a bit.

Overall Impressions: Damn fun. I love the carving turns and speed, and didn't once feel like I had too little board. The turbo canards really seem to keep the board in line, and I've fleetingly glimpsed some of the speed of which this board is capable.

Mini-Vacation Day #2 - The Stoke Strikes Back

After a great Friday, I wasn't sure if Saturday could live up to the expectations of the following day, and thus slept in. We had plans to meet my uncle along with my cousin and his family down at the South Carlsbad State Beach campgrounds around 11:00, so we had a relaxing morning.

Then, it happened. Yes, it! Out of the blue, like a piano falling on your head while walking down the street (but in a good way), Sally from Moonlight Glassing called to let me know my new board was done and ready to be picked up. Woo-freaking-hoo!

We decided to leave a little bit early to swing by the moonbase on the way to the camp grounds. As we parked, I asked if the kids wanted to go in with me and see the new board. They all nodded in agreement, so we went inside to see who was there.

Mr. and Mrs. Pinliner were the only folks in the shop at this early-for-a-Saturday-morning glass shop hour (10:00 or so), and both stopped what they were doing to talk with my kids as I ogled and drooled over my new board and then wrote out a check for the balance.

The kids got a tour of the moon unit, and some Moonlight stickers as well! My kids were very impressed with it all, and many thanks go out to Peter and Sally for treating them so well! I oftentimes think that how a person treats children is a good way to see past their exterior and into their true nature. From silly questions about bubble wrap to boards heading off to Japan, they fielded them all. Again, thanks very much!

And now, onto the new board porn! As mentioned earlier, it turned out amazing. Pictures of it are scattered throughout this entry, so enjoy the views! This is probably my favorite picture of the tail end, as you can see the grass reflected in the gloss coat.

The fins are LokBox Turbo Canard Quads (aka "Speed dialers" for their reputation for some giddy-up). Here's another look at the tail end, showing all four fins.

The turbo canard quads are actually curved, and canted out at a pretty good angle. A view from the rear illustrates this better than anything else I could describe in prose.

One more shot of the tail, looking from above (including Moon froggy).

The boards was shaped by Gary Hanel (a local Encinitas shaper and calculus teacher), and looks like it will be the perfect small wave board. The dimensions on it are: 6'0" (length) x 16.5" (nose) x 21.5" (mid) x 17" (tail) x 2.75" (thickness). You can see the rocker in this profile view.

Ack! Ace (our dog) wanted to get into the action, it seems. One more try...

For now, I'm letting the board cure until such time that a decent wave is spotted here in SoCal. Hopefully that will happen sometime before the end of August!

After picking up my board, we headed down the beach to spend time with relatives (successfully avoiding the jellyfish), and later had a great BBQ dinner with friends. It just doesn't get much better than this...

Mini-Vacation, Day #1

Day 1 of my mini-vacation was Friday, and I was determined to get some surf generated stoke in my extended weekend one way or another. After going to the AM swimming lessons (see here), we went back home and loaded up the family bus to head to the beach.

With three kids, getting ready for any trip (no matter how mundane or short the duration) is an organizational task similar to that required to invade Europe on June 6, 1944. Factor in the additional stuff you need to bring to the beach (surf board, boogie boards, beach chairs, drinks, food, towels... and don't forget the munchkins!) and you can possibly understand what a herculean task this is.

We muddled through the supply and planning phase of the operation, and actually left our house. Our Destination? Oceanside Beach, near the South jetty:

I didn't bring my camera, as sand and expensive camera equipment generally don't go real well together, and I planned on doing stuff other than just shoot pictures. The picture above is from December of 2003, but the conditions weren't quite so nice.

In fact, the waves were miniscule, it was overcast with the sun in hiding and the water was extremely chilly for this time of the year. In short, it was a near perfect day for letting my two older kids try out surfing! I brought my old (from the 80s) 6 foot thruster for them to beat up. It is thick, and floats them both well.

I pushed both Alan and Jasmine into a dozen or more "waves", trying to teach them how to pop up in a somewhat smooth manner (and how to avoid going to the knees as well). Jasmine got up once or twice, and Alan seemed to nail it down extremely well.

In fact, Alan seems to have caught a mild case of the surfing bug, as he asked if we could watch one of my surf videos the day after. We sat down and watched through September Sessions, and he's ready to go charge. He's already talking about his first surfboard, and being able to turn and get in the tube. Too funny!

I think Jasmine had a great time as well, and I'm thinking she'll be a surf queen in a few years. We'll see if they both stay interested in surfing as time goes by. It is my hope that they can find the peace and solitude I enjoy while bobbing in the lineup, waiting for that next does of adrenaline delivered from 270 degrees at 14 seconds.

Thus, at the end of my mini-vacation day #1, I was already filled with surf stoke even though I didn't catch a single decent wave the entire time I was at the beach. Little did I expect it to be exceeded on Day #2...

Friday's Encinitas Double Shot Surf Report

Just a quick post before I head home for the weekend. I went out this AM, and was rewarded with an extremely low tide, small waves, and inconsistent sets - ack! At least it was quiet and peaceful!

By lunch, the building southwest swell was showing, and the waves had picked up in size to the 4 ft. to 6ft. size during the sets. Unfortunately, the heat drove a majority of Californians, residents of Arizona and Nevada, and perhaps even parts of Utah to the beaches. To say it was crowded in the lineup would be a severe understatement.

If only the swell had arrived 6 hours earlier!!! ;>

Have a great weekend, and try and catch some of this soon to be fading swell. By Monday, it will probably have finished expending itself on our coast, so get it while you can!