Evening Session - 8/17/2026

The winds are not too steady - although there are periods where it would tempt you out to parawing, I felt it was a trap.

I figured it would a good day to test out these new canards - the FM canards from True Ames.

They are half the size of the standard canards - so they should produce a looser feeling over the standards.  But there's only one way to find out.

I caught five waves in the hour I was out.

As you would expect, the bottom turns feel like they have a bit more grip - but the over rotated top turn felt further away.  I think I like this board more as a straight twin. 

I think I want to try this with the Hi Pro Twins next.

Which should be fine as the wind isn't supposed to be up for a while.

PF:11/W:3/PW:93/FD:58/S:25

Evening Session - 8/12/2026

The wind was up earlier - but I opted to hang out at da casa and spend time with La.  With the northerly component and the bigger swell - it didn't seem favorable for parawinging without induced drama.

I did surf -

With the bigger waves, picking out waves that wouldn't closeout and didn't already have a couple of surfers on it became the task.  And it didn't help that I went out late (which I thought would have cleared out the crowd - but it was the opposite - super crowded).

I used the Big Fish with the Rasta Vector Reverse 3/2, but took out the canards.

I wasn't able to pick off any waves yielding long rides - but the four waves I did get on I could feel how much looser the back end felt (but it wasn't slipping out on the bottom turns).

And on one wave I could sense the release I was looking for (to over-rotate the top turn) - this is promising!!!

Quick session but very insightful!

PF:11/W:3/PW:92/FD:58/S:23

Evening Session - 8/11/2026

The wind was a little up and down this afternoon - at least that is my excuse for going surfing!

The surf was pretty good!

Nice high tide.  And some wind - actually enough to parawing with a 5.0+

This is the real reason I wanted to go surfing - getting to know this board more.

I switched out the twin fins to the Futures Rasta Vector 3/2 - and they worked really well!

I still couldn't replicate the over-rotated top turn that I can do on the Boogie Fish with the Futures K2 keels, but these felt much nicer turning

I caught multiple waves (an easy thing to do on this board), and three of them were long rides with several great turns.

I think the prudent thing to do is use this board with the Rasta fins but no canards - that way I can tell what the canards are doing.

The wind is supposed to be a notch stronger tomorrow...

PF:11/W:3/PW:92/FD:58/S:22

The Anointment of the J. Splee Big Fish

The anointment of the J.Splee Big Fish I custom ordered from JC Matthews occurred at this morning's dawn patrol

There was a really thick layer of clouds - which dampened the wind.

And if you were patient, there were waves (and if you were smart and sat inside, there were plenty of good waves to get onto).

Before leaving the truck, I swapped out the 0 degree canards for the 4 degree set.  I felt opening the gap  between the canard and the main fin would accentuate the twinzer feel, and serve as a good baseline before going into full fin testing mode.

This board paddles into waves easily, felt balanced, and was on the upper limit of me being able to duck dive it.  I asked for a durable glass job - and I can tell by the weight it's there.  I prefer my surfboards to have more glass than less - I feel you can build momentum and it smoothes out the ride.

I had about 10 rides in just over an hour.  And as you would think, the more waves I caught, and the more I rode the board, I was feeling the board out for how it wanted input in order to maximize energy extraction from the wave.

My last few waves were pretty darn good - lots of turns and really long.  That's mostly due to the wave been good shape and the tide supporting the breaking - but the board certainly played its part.

I really like the feel setting into a bottom turn - generates speed going through the turn.  I didn't quite figure out the top turns, especially having a mental image of what I normally get out of the Boogie Fish.  The DNA is there - but this being almost two feet more board, there is physics that needs to be worked out in order to find the "over-rotation" ability that the Boogie Fish has.  I think I'll swap out the TW1 fins for the TA High Pro twins next and see if the smaller fins open up that top turn.

The second to the last wave, I was riding in front of Dennis who was paddling out his Foil Drive setup - he had a front row seat to the turning capacity of the Big Fish.

This is going to be another great partner in the quiver!

PF:11/W:3/PW:91/FD:58/S:21

Garage Works - 8/8/2026

Big Fish from J Splee Surfboards!!!

6'8" board with the front half coming from the Aurora, and the back half from the Boogie Fish

Top deck all waxed up and a rear foot deck pad installed

I set up the fins with the True Ames Canard at 0 degrees and the Futures OG TW1

I'll take this out on the dawn patrol (I need to break up the foiling run - maybe that'll get the skunk off of me)

I'll bring the True Ames 4 degree Canards out with me to see if those work better than the 0 degree.

Can't wait!!!