Evening Session - 2/7/2025

Low tide - small waves - some wind (enough to chop up the surface a bit) - conditions to break out a longboard

But not just any longboard - The Viking!

And since I was bring the Viking, I went ahead and changed out the fin to this Kohola tubercle based fin.  It's a lot more raked than I've been using and with the tubercles not arranged in a pattern, this definitely provided a different experience.

Honestly with the waves as small as they were, it was hard to notice any difference.  It did feel less draggy and maybe it was easier to turn the board - but I'll need more time to properly evaluate it.

Looking at the picture above, I think I could at least move the fin a notch more forward to get a looser feel out of it (again, it wasn't bad - just need to mess with it and see if changes make things better).

I got plenty of rides - nice way to wash off the work week!!!

W:9/FD:22/PW:1/S:1

Evening Session - 11/27/2024

Yesterday evening the wind was up and down, the tide was lowish and the waves were small - I ended up bringing the Sweet Potato.  I could have brought the Mode Pro 6.8 and the Dragonfly - that for sure would have worked, but I opted to play it safe.

I actually got up on several waves - but there was so little energy it was hard to get maneuvers in.  At least I didn't get skunked.

Roland and Prayot on the other hand did take out their prone foil setups and had some good rides.  Three-peats were common.

This was Roland's last wave of the day - he took it all the way in.  But it wasn't sand on the inside....

Hopefully the wind comes back soon.

W:145/PW:2/FD:83/F:5/S:23

Evening Session - 11/25/2024

I finished fixing Roland's boards this afternoon - then headed to WPB to get the mold release from Norm, get Prayot's Pure 900 back to him, get Roland's boards back to him, then hit the beach for some more low tide surfing.

When I went to check out the surf, I could see Norm out in front of the Cabins riding wave after wave after wave.

Roland was setting up his prone gear.

I opted to play it safe with the Sweet Potato (outfitted with the BMT fins)

I also was out to try this new rashguard from Aloha Xchange - half the price of the Xcel ones I use.  And this actually did a decent job.  It's true to size in case you want to grab one.

Once I figured out where to line up with this board, I actually had a great time!  I caught five waves that I got in a bunch of turns on.  Made for a great session!!!

I love twin fin boards!!!

W:145/PW:2/FD:83/F:5/S:22

Evening Session - 11/23/2024

La went to an awards ceremony for the Hawaii Yacht Racing Association (I'm totally not interested in yachting community) and Marlon and his girlfriend went up to the North Shore for the evening.

So after I finished placing epoxy on the repairs, I headed over to the beach to see what the waves looked like.

Pretty low tide, light wind, and small but ridable waves. 

I knew the waves would be on the smaller side so I figured I'd try the Sweet Potato or this - the J. Splee Boogie Fish.

The Boogie Fish got the nod.

I was having a text conversation with Norm today about surfing - he doesn't surf much these days because he doesn't want it to mess with his foiling.  I said I surf when the waves are either super good, or if the tide is super low.  Today (like most evenings in the winter) fell into the tide too low category.

At the onset, I was having trouble catching waves that still had a face to work.  After a few missed waves, I finally got a good one - and three turns later I was stoked.  I caught several more after, and the sun set.

Landing any surfcraft over towards fenceline right now is risking cutting your feet - zero sand in the area right now.

Fun session!!!  I'm glad I still surf - if you look for the good sections and try not to dwell on the length of the ride, surfing is actually really fun!  And groveller boards notch things up also!

W:145/PW:2/FD:82/F:5/S:21

Evening Session - 1/12/2024

Marlon and I went to WPB to fly drones - but we saw the surf, ran back to the truck, went back to the house and grabbed our boards of choice.

Marlon brought his longboard, and I brought the Sweet Potato.

This was a short session - but I ended up catching some really fun waves.  Each one caught was better than the previous one.  on my last one I had some really good turns and it was pretty long.

Marlon was catching whatever he wanted - longboard definitely helped.

Duke was out and prone foiling the board Prayot gave him to wingfoil.  Pretty smart to figure out where the foil goes by proning the board.  And he was also catching pretty much whatever wave he wanted. 

Fun (but really cold for Oahu) first surfing session of the year!!!

W:4/F:4/S:1

Evening Session - 12/7/2023

Small wave evening session.  I'm just happy that there are still ridable waves on the south shore (surfline was calling this 20 kJ).

It was super low tide - so I opted to surf.  And for the given conditions, I brought out the Firewire Sweet Potato (in Volcanic - because it already had the Wayne Rich Nightmare Twins on board).  

I got out late because I took a short nap at home after I got home from work.  The crowd was not too bad (still lots of Wavestorm Gerry Lopez foamies in the water),  The waves were waist to belly high on the sets.

I caught maybe 7 good waves - where I could throw the board around and got some distance from the ride.

Roland and Prayot were on foils.  I didn't want to go there (0.1 low tide....).

Fun day!!!

W:117/F:105/S:57

Evening Session - 11/1/2023

I got in a late afternoon session today.  I thought the waves would still have a little size from earlier this week - but the waves were belly or less.  There was very little wind so it was nice and glassy.  And the waves did standup a little bit better since it was low tide.

I brought the Firewire Sweet Potato in Volcanic, and I put in the True Ames Wayne Rich Nightmare keels.

I caught a bunch of gut-less waves, but did get a handful of really fun waves where multiple hard turns and gouges were had.

Roland was out in his longer board - he was more patient and waited for the bomber to roll through (relative size wise).

Such a good combo!

If I go tomorrow, I might have to break out the Viking...

W:104/F:99/S:54

Evening Session - 10/6/2023

Got home from work and did some errands in the yard.  After that, what better way to start the weekend than getting in a surf session!

Marlon brought out his longboard and headed off to Middles.

I brought the Volcanic Sweet Potato - and I ripped!!!

I finally got to put in the Hess Noriega Keels from True Ames.

Obviously these keels have more release than the Mackie's I've been using in the Helium Sweet Potato.  Different feel but just as fun!!!

I caught plenty of waves - actually pretty ridiculous considering the size of this board.  The best one was belly high and I got in some roundhouse top turns and rebounding projected bottom turns.

I think my surfing has actually gotten better because of the Sweet Potato rides.

I never thought I'd still be shredding on a shortboard in my 50s - but here I am shredding daily!!!!  I love this shit!!!!!

W:102/F:92/S:39

Dawn Patrol - 4/16/2023

I thought I was bringing the right board for the conditions that would be present today at WPB... Nope

I did catch a handful of decent waves with the Sweet Potato - but the correct board would have been the Viking.

I picked up a SUP foil board from Kalani - I might have to dig out the boxes.  But for sure the deck delaminated in front of the boxes.  I'll have to do some exploratory surgery to define the scope of work on this one.

I didn't have a lot of time anyways - La needed the truck this morning so the short session was perfect.

W:34/F:21/S:26

Evening Session - 3/15/2023

Small surf today - but if you were patient, there were some gems.

I decided to use the Sweet Potato.  I actually got several waves and was able to crank some hard turns on my last one - full stand up ripping!!!

This board makes waist high slop really fun!

W:28/F:16/S:15

Evening Session - 2/15/2023

Marlon and I hit WPB yesterday afternoon.  The waves were tiny. but we both needed to break the surf fast.

The wind was side onshore, so there was some texture to the tiny waves.

I brought the Viking.  I can catch anything with this board.  I caught five good ones and called it.  

Marlon had plenty on his trusty blue longboard.

I was a little out of paddling shape considering the amount of winging I've been doing for the last week.  There is some funky weather coming - so it's going to be a day to day call on what goes on.

W:16/F:7/S:12

Evening Session - 1/24/2023

Marlon and I hit the beach for an evening session.  Taking a que from Roland from yesterday, I brought out the Firewire Sweet Potato to surf instead of having to be over cautious while prone foiling.  

The waves were smaller than the previous session.  The tide also seemed lower.  And Roland was foiling... one of us didn't get the memo...

Marlon was surfing right in the middle of the main crowd.  I can't stand crowds - so I mainly stayed on the inside of Fenceline to pick off the unridden gems that would come through every now and then.

Just like in prone foiling, when I change something up, it takes me a few waves to get recalibrated.  My first few waves on the Sweet Potato were short and unfulfilling - was making me question my decision to use this board in these conditions (thoughts of the Viking destroying everything were definitely bouncing around my head).

But eventually my muscle memory for surfing this board returned and I had several really fun runs turning up and down the wave, gaining speed and carving end turns.  I really love the Webber Transformers with this board.

Time to take a couple of days off I think  - rest up the body before the winds return.

W:4/F:6/S:8

Evening Session -1/6/2023

The waves were forecasted to be belly high this afternoon, on a lower tide.  I want to prone foil, but I don't want to ding any of my front foils.  I figured with some energy in the waves, it would be fun taking the Sweet Potato out again - and this time ride it as a twin with a stabilizer.  But not just any stabilizer - the Webber Transformer stabilizer which is supposed to flex during a turn and return the energy as the turn ends.

The rides I did get that were longer, I sensed my turns seemed to be snappier.  The tail was also looser than with the Da Hook quads.

Definitely fun out in the waves today - but there really wasn't enough energy to really get a feel for these fins.  I'll keep these in the boxes for a bit.

Tomorrow will be a foiling dawn patrol!

W:0/F:0/S:6

Evening Session - 1/4/2023

We hit the beach this afternoon after an eye doctor appointment (for La and myself) and a Costco run.  We actually hit the beach so we could take our annual family picture (just a few days late, but thats ok).  Surfing was just an added benefit.

I had heard the surf was coming down, so I brought the Viking.

I caught three really long ones from the outside.  This board is 11 feet of pure magic!  I walk all over the board to trim, turn, and glide.

The surf was definitely down, but still ridable.  I think this is probably the level that it will be at for the next few days.  With no wind in the foreseeable forecast and low tide predominating the afternoons, it looks like this will be a surf dominated first few months of the year.

W:0/F:0/S:5

Evening Session - 1/3/2023

La dropped me off at the beach this afternoon - I got some surf and she and Noe went on to get some shopping done.  I didn't take any pictures at the beach, but the wind was pretty much offshore, the tide was low, and the waves were really clean and thigh to belly high (and every now and then a chest high set).

I caught a bunch, but had to pick them off from the crowd - the further inside I was, the better my chances at picking it up.  My last wave was a long one, and I was turning all over the place.  Making lemonade from lemons!!!

I think I'm going to swap the NVS Aipa Da Hook quads out for either the Grennan quads or the Webber Transformer twins plus trailer (probably this set).

W:0/F:0/S:4

Evening Session - 12/14/2022

Brought out the Hayden Shapes Hypto Krypto 6'0" on this afternoon's session.  I thought the waves would be bigger and steeper with the low tide - but alas it was not to be (I would have been perfect on the TJ Everyday).

Regardless this was a good first session to see what the low end of this board is.

The first few waves were not so good.  Reminded me of the first time I took out that Libtech board I had a while back.  But after I paddled further out, I caught several of the larger waves and the board felt more alive.  I can tell this is going to be a very good board, but I'll need waves that are at least chest high and have some length to them.

I'm looking forward to using this up on North Shore this winter - with power I bet this board will rip!!!

W:124/F:97/S:41

Evening Session - 12/1/2022

I got in an evening session.  La dropped me off at the beach and she went on to Costco.

I brought the TJ Everyday out.  I caught a bunch of small waves and got some long rides out of them.  Surfing small waves is actually harder than riding bigger waves if you ask me.

The tide was really low.  Roland was out with his longer surfboard.  Duke was out on his foil (eek).

There was a green flash today at sunset.  Nice mellow sesion.

W:117/F:95/S:40

Dawn Patrol - 10/1/2022

Dawn patrolled this morning.  Waves were small but ridable - until the long lull, and the crowd descended.  The Viking was the board of choice again - and it did an excellent job of cutting through the crowd, and getting into waves super early.

Marlon used his longboard, after fixing his dings.  He used the Halo sidebites and the hatchet center fin  and got great results.

Tomorrow I think I'll jump back on the foil.

W:95/F:81/S:27

Evening Session - 2/28/2022

I hit WPB in the late afternoon.  The tide was supposed to be on the low side - a low high tide at 0.8' dropping fast to bottom out at 0.3'.  I did not want to fret about bottom strikes, so I brought out the TJ Everyday.

The waves were on the weak side at maybe waist high on the rare set (thigh high and lower for the most part).

With this combo of factors, I brought the Firewire TJ Everyday out.

If I could only have one board - this would be it.  The Everyday turned crap waves into super fun performance surfing.  Sure it was still pretty much gliding and cruising, but maneuvering to stay in the pocket, manually controlling speed by hand dragging in the face, and getting in a hard 180 cranking turn when the opportunity arose - all make this one incredible board.

Glad to have gotten in another surfing session among all the foil missions!

Roland was the diehard foiler (even with the low dropping tide...)

W:10/F:20/S:9

The Anointment of the Sunday on a Monday

The kids got home soon after I did and they both decided to come to WPB with me to anoint the Firewire Sunday.  The waves were forecasted to be 2-3', with a low high tide (at 0.9').  Light winds (but it was an onshore flow).

Originally I had the K2 keels on, but ultimately I decided on using the EN fins for this first run.  Uuuuhhhhhh - the ENs were perfect!!! 

The first few rides were short - I was trying to figure out where the sweet spot was so the takeoffs were slightly late.  Once I figured out to come back so my chin was in line with the top deck logo, I was able to takeoff really early and get some really long rides.  The juicy waves were far and few between - but on those rides I could tell this is going to be an incredibly fun board!!!

This fin setup is really good.  It'll make it hard to switch out to other setups - but I'll force myself to do so.

Marlon also brought the Seaside out - but he needed just a little more energy.

I'm glad I got this board!  It'll be a fun addition to the current lineup!  Now that it has been properly anointed, it's time to slap on some stickers!

W:6/F:13/S:8