Dawn Patrol - 4/15/2026

Today is my beautiful and wonderful wife's birthday!!!  And she likes to sleep in SO....

I had the opportunity to get a dawn patrol session in!!!  She pre-approved this so no issue - 

It was another one of those days where it was breaking way the heck outside, but inside it was kinda closing out.  The swell was coming in from 178 degrees (almost straight South).

The tide was low....

All those factors (time crunch, low tide, epic closeouts) - I chose to use the Firewire Cymatic 5'10" (I had traded the 5'9" I had bought new for this one to gain a few more liters volume), with the Kohola Thruster fins.

The extra volume makes this shape work better for me.  Makes paddling in way easier.  Based on this board and the Sweet Potato, I'd say my volume is now 37.5 liters.

These fins are something else also - all the drive and control you want from a set of nice, raked thrusters, but still loose enough to work around not-so clean waves.

I caught five waves and then headed in to make breakfast for La.  They were all good fun and reinforced this board is tons of fun.

Wave 1 was a smaller wave and I got a few turns in.

Wave 2 was a bomb - late takeoff and a long rippable right wall.  Good turns but I could tell my back foot was a bit forward of optimum.

Wave 3 was another late takeoff - but I was in perfect position - big turns top and bottom - long ride and mind blown (this board is staying in the quiver!!!)

Wave 4 was a big drop and closeout.  Still validation that the volume is optimized for my fat ass.

Wave 5 was one last bomb - some good turns then I headed in.

I got home before La woke up and made her a really wonderful omelet!!!

I'm thinking if the swell sticks around, I'm gonna bring out the Revo Max with the Reverse Vector 3/2 Twins... or the Great White Twin with the Rasta Reverse Vector 3/2 2+1s

PF:5/W:2/PW:31/FD:28/S:12

Garage Works - 2/4/2026

This was work from yesterday (forgot to post).

I sanded the nose and tail of the Cymatic.  All is now good with this board.

I went ahead and put the base coat and top coat of wax on.  And I placed it in the Faro board bag (fits perfectly).

Then I shifted to the next project - placing footstrap inserts and a vent into Roland's Appletree prone foil board (that he wants to use for Foil Drive-ing).

I pulled a deckpad section to see how much it would stretch and see if it could be reused.  It stretched too much so it couldn't be saved - then I proceeded to strip it all.  It'll make for a cleaner board modification.

Roland pointed out the delamination happening on the right.  But after taking up more deck pad, the one on the left became readily apparent.  These spots are pretty close to the footstrap locations, so they should be relatively easy to repair and hide.

I set these up according to how Roland indicated, and sent him a text to confirm.

20 cm is the spacing between respective holes - and he had these set pretty much at that spacing.

Personally I would have placed the back foot set further out towards the starboard rail - but that goes to show you everybody rides foils differently.

I'll route out the slots in reinforcement blocks, epoxy in the inserts, then cut the slots in the board.

I'll cut out the delams, epoxy on carbon patches, and then put on a cover sheet over each of the insert sets (so two side-by-side patches).

Garage Works - 2/3/2026

I got some work done in the garage this evening.

I sanded the repair on the Machadocado and it is back to 100%

Then I sanded all the small dings on the Cymatic.  All but the tail and nose repairs came out fine.

On the nose, I added another seal coat.

And on the tail I added a couple of basalt patches.

I'll likely add a fill coat with white pigment to blend in the tail repair.

Then I got the foot strap insert blocks for Roland's board all measured out.

I'll route out the slots for the inserts.  Then I'll epoxy in the inserts.

It never ends.... which is a good thing!

Garage Works - 2/1/2026

I had traded my pristine 5'9" Firewire Cymatic for a 5'10" version.  The extra liters should help me get more out of this design.  The unfortunate thing is this board had several small imperfections.

I sanded the dings/scratches/imperfections and placed a small amount of epoxy to make sure those areas got filled.

I'll pull the peel ply, wet sand the spots to blend, then spray a clear coat.

Here is the bottom deck being prepared -

And the top deck with the fill added and covered by peel ply.

Other angle to see the other spots

And while I was at it, I sanded the "dry spot" which I think is more a slight ding from the guy who I got this from not protecting the board.

I'll do the same thing - sand and spray.

Then these two boards will be up to par with my standards.

And I also got some Marine Grip on to No.43 - this will help during takeoff.

I also got a few stickers on - this board is ready to take on the world!!!

Dawn Patrol - 11/1/2025

Hit the dawn patrol today.  The waves were smaller than yesterday - and made me question my judgement to bring out shortboards.  But realistically, this testing day was to help me decide what to do about my equipment debate.

The tide was on the low side - so in that regard I was glad to have the surfboards out.

I started out with the Firewire Cymatic (5'9" 34 liters).  I placed the Futures Alpha Vector 3/2 large trifin set in place.

I actually had fun on this setup.  I could feel the speed potential, but the waves I caught were a tad bit too small to get any great turns out if them.

I caught a handful of meh rides and paddled in.

Then I set up the CI Neck Beard 2 with the same fins.

With the little extra length and more volume, I was able to get into the small waves a little easier, but there still wasn't enough energy in the waves to push maneuvers.

What this experience showed me was I don't want to have to use boards with too little volume on smaller days.  And this pretty much was the deciding factor on my wanting to get the Firewire Neutrino 5'8" at 33 liters volume.  I'd be much better off with a 36 liter version, but I don't feel like the 5'10" version would be as fun for me.  I even went to Clips Surf Shop this evening to put the 5'8" under arm.  Unless I can get this board used or on sale, I'm going to pass.

I also talked to the saleman about my experiences with the Cymatic, the Revo Max, the Sweet Potato, and other boards - and then I found the one... the Album Twinsman Twinzer 6'0" at 37 liters.

I'm going to research this a bit more but this feels right - and all because I wanted to see what I could do this morning with a smaller board.

W:58/FD:127/PW:61/S:11

Evening Session - 10/19/2023

The forecasts were calling for today to be the biggest of this late season south swell run.  There was some size - but again Tuesday seemed to be the best of the recent run.

The winds were pretty calm today - nice glassy conditions.

Marlon opted to take pictures in the surf today.

Thinking the waves would be bigger, I brought the Cymatic.  Every now and then, there was a good sized set rolling through - but there were relatively long lulls between.

I caught some fun ones - but if I knew it was going to be the way it was, I would have kept the Pigfish rotation going.

Now that I've been shortboarding for a while, I am starting to miss winging....

W:103/F:95/S:50

Evening Session - 10/7/2023

After running a bunch of errands (after the dawn patrol), I grabbed Marlon and we got in a session during the peak of the current swell.

The size was up from this morning, but the direction was such that a bunch of the waves were closing out.

Marlon brought his longboard and he was able to thread the needle to score a bunch of good rides.

I brought the Cymatic with the Glenn Pang thrusters.  When I was able to nab a wave with good form and size, this board and fin combo really showed its potential.  I caught a handful of those and called it a day.

Fun session (and I got lucky to double dip today)

W:102/F:93/S:40

Evening Session - 9/6/2023

I was tired when I got home today so I took a short nap.  I woke up at 4:30 and asked Marlon if he wanted to go (he said yes).

The swell was still pushing through!!!

I had debated which board to take - the Hypto Krypto with the Grennan fins, or the Cymatic with the Glenn Pang fins.

I opted for the Cymatic - and I was not disappointed!!!

I caught several waves and each was fun for different reasons - but it was my last wave where I got to carve full top to bottom turns on a slightly overhead wave and stayed with the pocket for a really long ride!!!  Plenty of projection and drive from this combo!

I decided to end the session on the great wave!  This board and fin set are perfect!!!

W:90/F:84/S:35

Kinda Dawn Patrol - 4/15/2023

I had to take Noe to Punahou this morning so she could take the ACT test.  After, I figured I'd get a quick session in.  I was hopeful that the waves would be chect high - but they were closer to waist.

Not the best conditions for this board.

I did manage to get a handful of waves, but this board was built to be used on waves with lots more energy.  Hard to call this one an anointment (same thing happened to the Hypto Krypto), so I write this one up as a test.

I can tell this is going to be a great board - it'll just need some size.

W:34/F:21/S:25

Garage Works - 4/8/2023 Part 2

I also spent some time outfitting the Cymatic and maintaining No.21

Base coat and deck pad are on.  The leading edge of this deck pad is lined up with the leading edge of the front fins.

I stripped all the wax off of No.21

These pictures are not great, but what I'm trying to shop is after heavy usage over the past two years, there are very few pressure issues on the deck.  The construction technique I use is holding up great!

I'd say there is a ton of life left in this board.

All dressed back up with a new coat of wax!