Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Carpet Hunting

Eeek this is a late post... busy at work and at home... Marlon and I did take the boards out this weekend - both on Saturday and Sunday for dawn patrols (ish... more like 8 am). Sunday was bigger than Saturday, but we had fun both days. I didn't bring the GoPro out so no pictures of surfing. On Saturday we did run errands after surfing. One of the said errands was stopping off at a local carpet shop. We saw these fun, nautically themed carpets.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Amy Bizy Surfing White Plains

The Bizy's came out to come surfing with us. Noe coaxed the Bizy kids out to go bodyboarding and I volunteered to keep and eye on them while La and Amy went out for some waves. La came back a bit later and I took the "Everyday" back out. I was able to take some pictures of Amy surfing - here are the pictures from yesterday.

Surfing on Marlon's Birthday

We went to the beach for the day to go surfing on Marlon's Birthday! Marlon and I went out first - and I got to christen the new board!!! These pictures are from the first wave. On the earlier post I forgot to mention that the two Futures boxes on the board weren't cleaned up well... I spent the morning before leaving for the beach cleaning resin from both boxes and tapping out one of the worm screw holes. No harm no foul (although maybe a telltale sign of quality control issues??? - then again I did acknowledge they haven't placed these sidebiter boxes on before). Marlon took his board out, but I believe he is still getting used to the lower volume of the fiberglass board when compared to the old "Skipper" board. Once he was on the Skipper board, he was catching waves more frequently. I went out for a second session with Amy and Charlie - I'll post pictures of Amy surfing in a separate post. Great day - especially since it was Marlon's 13th Birthday!!!

Rocker Comparisons

With the TJ Everyday, we have three longboards. Having waxed La's board (Patagonia Noseglider) and the new TJ, I had an opportunity to compare the boards side by side, along with the TJ Pro. When I lived here in the late nineties, I weighed 157#. I could surf anything from sub 6' potato chips all the way up to a friends 10' longboard. These days I have to watch what I eat, but I am working on getting back down to my fighting weight. All that said, when I originally sold some shortboards to buy the TJ Pro, I was working with the mentality that a 9'0" board would work for me the same way they did back in the day. That board is a great board, but it really needs juicier waves with more energy to work well. This TJ Everyday is the opposite - it'll pick up almost any wave without having to expend a ton of energy paddling. Perfect for White Plains and other longboard spots. The Everyday definitely has a longer flat section in the middle of the board - that added with the extra volume makes for easier paddling than the Pro model. The other reason I couldn't take my eyes off this board is the sidebiter Futures boxes - I had looked at this board before, but they were single fins (they can be ordered with different tails and fin configurations, but one had the right stuff in the back ;) I'll still take out the Pro to places like Cliffs and Daystar on a good day, but for the jogs to White Plains, the Everyday will be the ticket!

La Bought Me a Surfboard

For as long as we've been together, this is the first board La bought me!!! With all the boards we've gone through, her, not buying me one has not been for lack of desire, but more because I'm too picky and she didn't want to get me something I wouldn't be happy with. Well, after watching me stare at this board for a while, she just bought it ;) There have been other boards I've been looking at (a Starboard Pocket Rocket SUP, a Morgan Olo Triple Stringer, Walden Magic Model), but this board was just that good! Thank you Babydoll!!!

Birthday Lunch at Gyotaku

Another request for Marlon's Birthday - his favorite food - Sushi! We hit a restaurant that has intrigued us - Gyotaku. This is the second place we've been to that has used fried wontons as a nacho chip. And I finally got to eat natto (not bad, but I'd have to stretch pretty far to figure out a use...). The sushi was ok - funny thing is we're having a hard time finding a great sushi restaurant (that won't break our wallet). I think the Japanese bentos and other dishes would be a better bet (as those dominated the menu - but we can also make those dishes, so why go out to eat those). Naoki gyotaku on the walls (but only three of them??? I thought the whole place would have been covered). Still good and Marlon found another place to offer a Godzilla roll.

Snorkeling Hanauma Bay for Marlon's Birthday

Yup - Marlon wanted to go snorkeling Hanauma Bay for his Birthday (I still wonder whether Noe influenced him on this decision somehow...). For most of the trip, La was the camera operator - Lots of fun and tons of fish that made us hungry!!!