Evening Session - 2/24/2026

The forecast called for parawinging/winging conditions this afternoon - but the clouds said otherwise.

Sure there were gusts that would come through that would have gotten me up on foil.  But those clouds would come back and shut it all down.

I had originally brought the same gear from yesterday - but I went back home and switched out to the...

DMS Gherkin

First time I had this board out.  I had the quad set of the Futures Alpha Vector 3/2 fins on the board.

Dare I say this board has more groveling power than the Firewire Sweet Potato???

I did catch some waves that would have been challenging on the Sweet Potato.  And I had a few waves that I was able to maneuver to stay in the pocket.

But from this limited session, I'd say I can turn the Sweet Potato harder.  And the Gherkin can go down the line better (and also catches waves easier).

Definitely a fun board if you can get your hands on one! 

PF:2/W:2/PW:16/FD:17/S:9

Garage Works - 2/16/2026

And I did spend some time in the garage -

I got this new to me DMS Gherkin checked in to the hangar.

This is a super clean 5'8" coming in at 39 liters - a couple of liters above what I normally ride - but I am wanting to see the limits of uber grovellers.

This is a Surftech board - and I haven't owned one of these before.  The previous owner had also put a deck patch on so this should resist deck pressures nicely.

The tail is intriguing -  

I got the base coat and the top coats of wax on.  Never rush this step!!!

And for fins, I moved the Futures Alpha Vector 3/2 quads from the Firewire Sweet Potato.  The fin boxes on the Gherkin are pushed further out to the rails - I'm thinking this will suite a quad set better.

And having moved the fins over to the Gherkin, I went ahead and got the Sweet Potato waxed up and refinned - 

The CI BMT with an added True Ames 2.5" trailer 

I remember absolutely loving how the BMTs worked in this board - so again in the interest of finding what works best for hacking small, mushy waves apart into pure stoke - I'll give this setup a run.

It'll also be interesting to which of these board grovels better for the waves I surf over here.

Evening Session - 1/28/2026

This was yesterday's session.

Monk seal chilling on the beach.

The waves were forecasted to be bigger (swell peaking) - but that was far from what was present.

Low tide still and marginal wind.

Marlon brought his longboard - he had no issues catching.

I brought the Sweet Potato with the Futures Alpha Vector 3/2 quad fins.

This setup made catching waves easier (than the Machadocado), but the wave shape made it so the rides were generally shorter, and I wasn't able to get many turns out of it.

I still had some good turns and nice rides - plus the great exercise and just being able to be out in the ocean.

PW:5/FD:9/S:7

Evening Session - 1/12/2026

There was a decent north wind blowing - strong enough to parawing/wing, but when I checked out the conditions after work, the wind line was pretty far out (and the tide was getting silly low).  I opted to do some much needed yard work and to check the conditions later.

After mowing the yard, the wind did actually strengthen, and the wind line did get closer to shore - but I didn't have a lot of time.  I grabbed the Sweet Potato (Volcanic - I sold the Helium 2 one yesterday) with the Alpha Vector 3/2 quad set. 

Marlon came with and brought his longboard.  He got several good waves (easier to paddle in board).

I got three - and they were mostly straight runs.  It was nice just to get in the water.

Roland was out on Foil Drive testing out the Vyper 150 for FD.

Hopefully the wind starts to lineup to allow some parawinging -

PW:3/FD:4/S:4

Evening Session - 1/8/2026

I did end up surfing today.

The tide was really low - and I just don't like foiling in those conditions (or at least having to paddle out super far).

There was a westerly wind blowing - but it did not mess up the surf.

Firewire Sweet Potato finned with the Alpha Vector 3/2 quad set.  These fins are becoming what I prefer to use with this board when the waves are small.

Marlon got asked by Roland to record some more video, so he came with.

I caught three really nice (albeit small) waves where I got in multiple hard turns and got some distance out of them.  You had to be patient - both in waiting for the sets to come through and in trying to get away from all the kooks.

The waves may get a little bigger tomorrow - may be another surfing day with the tide.  Might try the Sweet Potato again but with the Ryan Burch Asymmetric 

PW:3/FD:2/S:2

Evening Surf Session - 12/10/2025

Winds were light from mid-morning on.

Forecast was calling for a small pulse from the SW - and this was reinforced by Roland giving a report from a morning session.  He said it was chest high.

I got to the beach closer to 4pm and would you look at that - chest high glassy waves!!!

The tide was low, and I didn't have a Foil Drive battery charged up.

And I actually wanted to surf -

Perfect conditions for the Sweet Potato!!!

And I wanted to try these rear trailers - the quad set of the Vector 3/2 Alpha construction set.  I got these when La purchased the Album Twinzer Twinsman. 

The first half of my session was so much fun!!! Belly to chest high, and so smooth - 

I was able to crank some really great turns.  And these fins did what I wanted to do with the sections that presented themselves.

The second half of the session saw the swell start to lull out, and the crowd got thicker.

Prayot was out on his new (replacement) 270 DW SUP board and the Evo HA 1000 foil/Uglide 41

Roland was out on his Foil Drive.  He had just gotten a used Sport battery from Paul.  This was his second session with it.  I saw him blast a good jump.

And Eli came out late with his tow boogie.

I'm glad I surfed - no need to worry about grounding a foil!

W:58/FD:140/PW:72/S:19/PF:3

Garage Works - 11/13/2025

I have been wanting to give the Sweet Potato a go as a quad again - but this time with the Futures Alpha Vector 3/2 set (I bought the rear quads when La got me the Album Twinsman Twinzer).

These look fun!  But I ended up doing lawn maintenance work and skipped out on the second session.

And I also set about to fix this interesting ding in No.40

Some cracked epoxy... not sure where or when that happened - but in order to set the universe right, I went ahead and sanded, prepped and recoated this area.

Should be good as new tomorrow.

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