Go with the flow

While we were working our way back down to Oxnard from San Francisco, we stopped in a bunch of places - one of which was the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Lots of cool displays that had lots of happy specimens in them. I'll use this trip and other points on the way down as posting sources for the next few days (yes - the surf is down, but thats not the only reason I'm moving in this direction - it's my blog...).

For now - here are some cool jellyfish!

Enjoy!

New blog

Check out http://hooyah-theboatlog.blogspot.com/

It will chronicle our adventures with the boat!!!

Splintering

This upcoming weekend represents a huge step in the Velasco family.

We will journey North to pick up our new boat!!!

If you have been following this blog, you know the boats under consideration were narrowed down to the Hobie 16 and the Weta Trimaran. Well after much debate and consideration, we decided the ability to carry our entire family (without them getting totally wet) and the compactness of the Weta was worth going with the Trimaran (or as the cat sailors say - a cat and a half).

With this announcement, I will start a sister blog to the Life Amphibious where we will post highlights of our adventures with the trimaran (as of yet un-named, but we are pretty close to a name - I just don't want to jinx it). It won't be the official log (that we will maintain on the boat), but it will have the fun stuff that we want to share.

By Sunday this new blog (which will bear the boat's name - but again, we need to do this properly) should be up and running

Stay tuned!

Seabee Divers Association Reunion weekend (35th Anniversary)

This weekend's reunion was awesome!!!

Of course we had the jolly jumper (to help burn off the extra energy the kids always seem to have when they are around each other) - only this one had a slide and a jumping section - one word - AWESOME.

I got to meet some really interesting people who were instrumental in shaping the Underwater Construction Teams (Thanks all!!! I definitely feel my roots got stronger).

One of the events we sponsored was allowing guests and family members to try on our MK-21 hats (also known to the civilian diving community as the Kirby Morgan Superlite 17) to get an appreciation for how heavy the gear is.

I had to bribe both Big M and La to wear the neck dam so I could take these pictures.

Second to last fidgeting

After sanding yesterday, I cleaned up the fin boxes, placed the worm screws in and took a look-see.

I saw small, narrow channels of "shiny" - areas not hit by the sander.

Instead of more sanding (and risk of oversanding), I placed a gloss coat on (bottom first).

Tomorrow I'll do the same to the top and fill in the void around the leash plugs.

Thursday will be vent and pad install day leading into...

Friday and the liquid christening!!!!

If I had to shape this board over again, I would thin the tail out more and increase the exit rocker.

Any how - one step closer!

Almost finished...

Sanded the board today.

I think I am going to squeegee one last coat of epoxy onto the board, just to get a gloss coat on, instead of living with the matte look.

Those steps will slow down the christening, but what are a few more days for a project that will last for a long time (remember the glassing schedule - 2x 4oz on bottom, 2x 4oz on top of the bamboo and a layer of 6oz all with epoxy resin - bullet proof).

I also have to fix a small slip up with the leash plugs, add the decking pads (front and rear foot only - either monster paint or wax in between), and the last step will be the vent (since the core is EPS foam).

If I can put the time I want to into the board this week, I should be surfing MEGASHREADZILLA on Friday morning.

A-LO-HA!!!

First board finished

The surfboard making class I put on is coming to a close.

The first one finished turned out awesome!!!

The significance behind the images and colors:

- Red is the port (left) running light on a ship or watercraft
- Green is the Starboard (right, looking forward at the bow)
- The "fish" are "dolphin" fish - possessors of strength and speed and long admired by sailors and hungry people
- If you zoom in, the purple/white object is a mermaid - the shaper's wife's tattoo

He painted the blank black, but had a friend airbrush the details. He also took it to a glasser to make sure it wasn't ruined (we're all amateur glassers aren't we - professionals are all either aliens from another planet who can control air bubbles and plastics with supernatural powers, or mutants that can control gravity). The glassers let him do a lot of the polishing work too to gain that experience.

The other boards will be coming to fruition soon (hopefully this week) - especially megashreadzilla - I'm going to need a new SUP - the Walden and the Naish may get sold today.... more on this later.

A-LO-HA!