Garage Works - 10/9/2023

Dewaxed took off the deck pad on this 5'1" fish

I personally prefer not to get straight polyester and polyurethane boards - primarily because the heel dents and pressure dings that seem to easily emerge on this construction.  But for $250 - I'll pull this into the latest round of experimentation.

You can see the pressures on this picture of the top deck.

The bottom deck is nearly in flawless condition.

The Octopus deckpad came off, but some residue didn't come up.

This was the biggest heel dent.  I am nitpicking here - in general, this board is in great condition (again - at $250!!!!).

This is the point where I stopped cleaning and turned to outfitting.

I put on a Retro Fish deckpad - it actually provides really good coverage.

And I waxed the deck - two coats of tropical/base coat and two coats of warm water wax.

I'll keep the weights on the deck pad for a few hours to get a good foundation on the adhesive.

I'm going to start out with the Hess Noriega keels on this one.

At 5'1", I do have some concern and being able to get this situated, but it is 34+ liters (so the same as the Cymatic).  More fun experimenting!

Evening Session - 4/1/2023

I did end up napping (boy was that wonderful).  And Marlon came home from an activity at school and asked if I wanted to go surf.  I said yes - but that we needed to trim the hedges, pick up leaves around the house and clean the driveway.  We knocked out the cleaning pretty quick.

As we were packing up, Marlon was loading his longboard and I said I was bringing one of my shortboards (the Hypto Krypto with the NVS Grennan Quad set).  He hesitated, but then loaded his Seaside.

When we parked, he checked the surf and said that he was going to pass and just fly his drone.

I paddled out and caught several really fun shoulder to head high waves!  I love taking steep (relatively speaking) drops and feeling the torque of converting board speed into bottom turns and carves along the running walls - yes there were running walls this afternoon!!!

I'm glad I waited to surf until this afternoon - with the rain clouds, the texture was almost glassy and the waves were more organized (even if they were smaller than this morning).

This was the best session I have had on the Hypto Kryto - I think this fin setup is perfect for this board!!!

W:29/F:20/S:21

Evening Session - 1/2/2023

I wanted to make up for a low wave count this morning, so I took the Sweet Potato out to WPB this afternoon.  It was a really low tide, light wind and a waist (to chest high if you waited) high swell pushing through.

I caught plenty of waves, and the longer I was out, the better my rides got.  My last ride I did multiple turns and rode it most of the way back to the beach.  I was catching most of the waves I would have caught on the TJ Everyday.  This board will help extend the life of the Everyday by taking some of the pressure to ride it when the waves are smaller and gutless.

I really like the feel of these fins.  If I have a wave face to work with, turning seems to actually generate board speed.  This set felt way better than the Machado Quads - more drive, speed and release at the same time.

I'm going to ride this board with these NVS Aipa Da Hook fins for a few more sessions - then I think I'm going to try out another set of fins I got for Christmas - the Webber Transformers.  And then the Wayne Rich Nightmare Keels, without and then with a nubster trailer.  It is going to be a fun year experimenting with the Sweet Potato and different fins!!!

W:0/F:0/S:3

Evening Session - 8/18/2020

I checked the report earlier in the day and it said a chest + high swell had set in.  I got home around 4pm and grabbed Marlon to hit the beach. 

I brought the Green Dually Stubby 5'10".  Before leaving the truck I pushed the fins up just a notch - maybe a 1/4" to see what that would do (last time I had the opportunity to take this board out, it just felt a tad sticky - it wasn't flowing). 

The swell would hit just overhead every now and then.  The tide was coming down from a big high so there was some depth.  The wind was up and from the East.  Eli was out on his 6m Wasp (and probably on his GL210).  All I know is every wave I caught was better than the previous one.  The board seemed to come alive and it was definitely "flowing".  No more stickiness!!!  Amazing what a 1/4" will do for a board.

Marlon was sitting out trying to pick off some of the bomber sets - I saw him on one that was just overhead and nothing but face in front of him - was definitely worth the wait.

On my last few waves, the board was working perfectly - nice easy drop on a slightly less than head high wave, front side bottom turn into a wall that let me get 3 or 4 fun turns in - Number 17 was working it today!!!

Evening Session - 6/2/2020

The south swell that started hitting yesterday was filling in nicely today.  The larger sets (overhead) were a little inconsistent, but they were totally worth the wait - Marlon got full on tubed taking off on one of the bigger ones (I got to witness the whole thing, but from the backside).  He also got another tube on the last wave he took on the outside.  Needless to say he is buzzing.

I brought the Dually Stubby.  I caught several, but my rides were short - nice drops, enough wall to get a good turn in then it was over.  Can't complain.  Oh - and we hit Pine Trees (which we both agreed is a better break).

Evening Session - 5/18/2020

The surf was forecasted to be bigger today than yesterday, so Marlon and I grabbed the boards when I got home and headed out.  Since he was bringing his shortboard, I figured I'd bring mine (and I still remember the lesson from yesterday - some days are better for surfing than foiling).  The swell was bigger - on the sets the waves were a bit overhead.  There was some wind on the surf and the wind was strong enough to slow you down going right (into the wind).  The tide was dropping... and that makes me wonder if that had something to do with the break (as noted yesterday, there were waves coming in, but sometimes they wouldn't break).  There were some long lulls between sets.  If you waited on the inside, there were some small fun waves breaking - but I could not resist the bombers coming through - I was compelled to wait and take the bigger drops.  I ended up catching three really good waves - tall drop followed by a hard bottom turn and a reasonable run along a wall.  The last one was well overhead and the drop was fantastic.

At this point I must say that there are few feelings in this existence that compare with catching a solid wave on a board you planned, shaped and glassed with your own two hands.  The Dually Stubby gave me that feeling today.

Marlon had some good ones too - and one scare.  He looked over at me and was holding his upper teeth.  He was tying his trunks and a sneaker wave passed through - caught him off guard and the board hit him.  No dings and no broken teeth - so all is good.  He got a few more waves and we called it.  He tamed the squirrel - that is another story.

Marlon Getting Close

Marlon di some artwork on his board today.  He is wanting to capture the light refraction lines one would see on the seafloor on a sunny day.

When he is finished with this and the logo (HIS NOT MINE), then we'll spray the sealant and outfit the board.  And then we'll wait for a swell where he can use this board.

Marlon Painting His Board

And Marlon and I finally got around to painting his board.  He wants a "water reflection in a pool" effect.

Got to tape off the deck first, and cover the stringer (optional but he wanted to).

Here he is spraying the paint on, and the finished product.

The next steps here include posca pen lines to get the desired effect, draw in the logos (I've encouraged him to come up with his own and not use my logo for his board) and dimensions, spray urethane over everything (two separate efforts), then outfit the board by cleaning up the boxes, inserting the set screws, installing the leash tether and waxing up the board.

Marlon Glassing

Marlon has been my assistant in glassing for a long time now.  MOST days he is an excellent epoxy mixer and with that I can focus on applying and getting a good lamination.  Today was the first time he did the glassing himself.

Always a learning curve, but the glassing job came out pretty good.  Tomorrow will be grinding the laps and laminating the top deck (while I'll be doing the fill coats on the pigfish).

Saturday Evening Shortboarding - 7 September

A lot windy (trades are back - finally), low tide (+0.5'), and a decent long period swell made for fun SHORTBOARD surfing on Saturday evening.

It was a hair crowded when we got there, but the group thinned out as time marched on.  My last three waves were pretty fun - head high walls that stayed open long enough to get a few good turns in.  Marlon had several good waves.

I opted to surf the Beaver mainly because of the low tide - the moon is just passing waxing quarter - another week and we'll be back to dual high tides.  Funny thing that surfing has become cross-training for me.  Used to be that everything else was cross training for surfing... still - good times on the Greedy Beaver!

Duped - April 29

I thought the swell from yesterday (which was pretty darn good) was supposed to get bigger today.  I figured I should bring the Greedy Beaver.  Well - I got duped - it was smaller, choppier and less consistent than yesterday.  I should have brought the foil.  I did get some fun rides on the beaver - but the swell and the tide were not complimenting each other.

Marlon brought the Wavestorm and he was happy with that choice.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm complaining - any day spent in the water is a good one!  It's just I really really really don't like it when I bring equipment that is less than ideal ;)

Taking a Break

Marlon and I went on a dawn patrol yesterday (Sunday 3/31) and instead of bringing out the foil again, I decided on paddling the Greedy Beaver.  Marlon brought the "Squirrel" (his hybrid shortboard).  I wanted to mix it up just a bit just to keep the muscle memory, and for the fact that at the last outing (Saturday evening) the foil touched bottom twice.  I could have switched to the 18" mast, but decided it was better to just try the shortboard.

It was crowded on the outside - lots of the regulars on their longboards - so I stayed inside and caught several fun ones (albeit not the crown jewels of the day, but my waves also didn't come with multiple riders).  Mostly waist high, but with larger waves on the outside.  Tide was still shallow - but that is to be expected with the nearly new moon.

Always a fun time in the water!

WIndy Head High Surf

I took Marlon surfing this afternoon and brought the shortboards out - me on the Firewire Greedy Beaver and Marlon on the 6'5" I shaped a while back.  We got to the beach after 5pm and here's what it looked like from the beach.

The break to the right (in front of the MWR building) was head high on the sets.  I caught three really fun waves - top to bottom and I was able to pull some good turns.  I really like the Greedy Beaver and see a fun summer ahead on this board!!!

Weekend Surfing

Our time demands were a lot less than normal this past weekend.  Enough so that I got to go out and surf twice this weekend.  Coincidentally, there was also a south swell that hit and made things interesting (but the tradewinds also picked up and it wasn't quite an epic swell).  With the larger than normal size, I decided to breakout the Firewire Greedy Beaver - a little overkill since it does fit in the bed, but here is the board tied up to the roof racks.

I was actually a little spooked about keeping it in the bed because of the forward tiedown hooks - they could put a ding in a board if there is a little movement in the bed.

Plenty of room up top.  The surf was pretty wind whipped on my Saturday evening session.  I did manage to grab a few waves where I got a good bottom turn followed by a long-ish glide.  Good fun (and probably better that fighting the wind on the TJ Everyday or a SUP).  I ended up putting the board in the bed on the way back home from surfing.  The board did not shift - I'll probably still put a piece of foam over the tiedown hooks, but it is pretty handing having a truck bed - might as well use it.

And on the Sunday morning dawn patrol - the wind was low at the onset.  And it stayed low just until I got out (about 8am).  Marlon used the 6'5" shortboard quad that I built (look to the beginning of this blog several years back) - he said it was real easy to duck dive through the breakers.  I got several good takeoffs - still short rides, but it feels good surfing a shortboard again!

This Just Happened...

Got a new board -

I have been wanting to get back into shortboarding.  I believe this is the board to help me get there - 6'4" Firewire Greedy Beaver

Noe approves!  Mahalo to Surf Garage!