Evening Session - 2/8/2022

The thermals were in effect at WPB this afternoon - but the tide was really low.  With that I opted for a longboard session.  Waves were a little bumpy - but waist to belly high.  I got lots of fun rides!

Marlon opted to fly his drone today (says a lot about the waves).  Eli was out on a 7m Blue Planet wing - it was definitely enough for that wing.

Post Script - I actually went to Hickam yesterday to wing - but the wind died and I was just floating around - I'm not taking credit for winging yesterday.

W:5/F:13/S:5

Evening Session - 1/6/2022

 The surf was giant sized today up on the North Shore.  Sometimes the surf will wrap into the South Shore when the conditions are right.  Well something was different because there were waves - waist high on the sets, and they felt like they were bending in.

The tide was low - so I opted for the longboard.  I've said this before, but my favorite thing to do when the waves are small is to control my speed by hand dragging.

Roland was out - and he was the only person on a foil (TOO SHALLOW WITH THE LOW TIDE).  I think mixing it up is a good thing - reminds you how much fun surfing a longboard really is (though it isn't as fun as a good session on a foil).

Evening Session and Droning - 1/3/2022

Marlon and I hit WPB for the afternoon session after I got home from work.  The tide was pretty low, so I brought out the TJ Everyday.  Marlon brought his trusty longboard.  Wind was mostly onshore - Roland was at the launch point, but contemplating what to do; he ended up just hanging on the beach while Marlon and I swapped surfing-drone piloting.

Not bad considering it is the beginning of winter.  Thigh high on the sets and plenty of waves for everyone.

My turn to surf, and Marlon at the sticks.

And vice versa - Marlon was stoked because he doesn't have many pictures of him surfing from the drone.  And I actually had a lot of fun trying to take pictures and video of him.  This isn't easy trying to pilot and compose at the same time all while making sure nothing bad happens to the drone.

Talkin story, flying drones, surfing waves - just plain awesome!

Evening Session - 3/22/2021

Marlon got his work done early this afternoon and he specifically asked La if he could go surf (she said yes).  The winds were forecasted to die back (almost to nothing) and the report said there was waist high waves breaking.  We brought our longboards (but I had initially said I was going to bring the dually).

Well - I should have went with my gut because everything was wrong.  There was a side on stiff wind that was chopping the surface up, the swell was occasionally head high, and the tide wasn't low at all (in fact it was deep enough to foil).  The TJ Everyday is such a fun board - so this session was great regardless.  In fact - the wind died back as forecasted and the surf smoothed out.  I caught 5 - each one getting progressively larger.  My fourth wave was head high and it was awesome.  My last wave was just overhead and it was top to bottom - had to distribute some weight on the fly to stay on the wave, and after a really long ride in the pocket, I was pretty much done (I knew I wouldn't catch a better one before it got dark).  Great way to start the week!

La's Birthday Request

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  La wanted to go to the beach for her birthday.  Not hiking, not to an arboretum, not to fabric shops (although most of those things are currently closed) - she wanted to go swimming at the beach.  In that regard, this was more like my birthday present...

She and Noe used the boogie boards and they were having a blast!  I was even able to give Noe a High 5 one on wave!

I had the TJ Everyday out and Marlon was on his longboard.

I hope she gets into this mode more often - we had a wonderful time!  Happy Birthday La!

Evening Session - 3/1/2020

The wind was up and it was pretty cool temperature wise this morning.  Decided to sleep in instead of hitting the dawn patrol.  After a full day of errands, Marlon and I did head out for an afternoon session.  The wind was even stronger than this morning - over 20mph for sure.  The swell was still up - waist high breakers with plus size sets still coming through every now and then.  The tide was an upcoming high - but it was still sub 1.0' - so I opted to bring the TJ Everyday.

Marlon nailed a helicopter right in front of me.  I stuck to the outside to pick off the bigger ones and opted to ride them as far in as I could.  I probably got 7 in less than couple of hours we were out.

Chubbie was back.

Despite the wind, this was a really fun session!

Other Things

Today is Sunday - and I didn't touch the boards.  Instead I did a bunch of other things - put the new Starboard Hypernut together, stripped off the old grips on two of my SUP paddles and replaced them with a modern version, setup a new windsurfing boom, made two foam protectors for the windsurfing masts, and cleaned up a lot of the storage boxes in the garage (getting rid of old stuff primarily). 

I also swapped out the center fin on the TJ Everyday, charged up the Scrambler battery, fixed my pirate "welcome" sign, packed up a hydrofoil kit for Charlie Bisgard, and even went surfing (next post) - all to avoid more glassing.  Despite my aversion, I really do like glassing with the rollers - more on that later.

Fuselage Sanded and an Afternoon Session to Clean off the Grime

Saturday we had a busy morning helping some folks with digging some agave and cactus out of the ground - I've got the arm welts to prove it.  I was targeting an afternoon surf session with Marlon, so I figured I should get even grimier before going.  I added more sweat and fiberglass dust from sanding the fuselage down to the dried up sweat, dirt and blood from moving agave.

Next step is to glass the top of the mounting plate and then get the mast attached.  With this step done -surf!!!  I'm not sure where the swell came from but it was over head and a blast!!!!  I got more than a few really great waves and got to pull some fast large arc sweeping turns and speed runs along long walls - so much fun!  If I had known there was swell, I would have brought the Greedy Beaver - but the TJ Everyday wasn't overpowered so it's all good.

I also got a gyotaku printed - but that's another blog....

Marlon on Dawn Patrol

I got this young man out on the dawn patrol this morning! I'd say he had fun. I used the GoPro on a long selfie stick - I turned it back on me a couple of times. The "stick it down the back of your pants" method I was using didn't work well for taking live action surfing pictures - but I did manage this one ;)

Surfing on Marlon's Birthday

We went to the beach for the day to go surfing on Marlon's Birthday! Marlon and I went out first - and I got to christen the new board!!! These pictures are from the first wave. On the earlier post I forgot to mention that the two Futures boxes on the board weren't cleaned up well... I spent the morning before leaving for the beach cleaning resin from both boxes and tapping out one of the worm screw holes. No harm no foul (although maybe a telltale sign of quality control issues??? - then again I did acknowledge they haven't placed these sidebiter boxes on before). Marlon took his board out, but I believe he is still getting used to the lower volume of the fiberglass board when compared to the old "Skipper" board. Once he was on the Skipper board, he was catching waves more frequently. I went out for a second session with Amy and Charlie - I'll post pictures of Amy surfing in a separate post. Great day - especially since it was Marlon's 13th Birthday!!!

La Bought Me a Surfboard

For as long as we've been together, this is the first board La bought me!!! With all the boards we've gone through, her, not buying me one has not been for lack of desire, but more because I'm too picky and she didn't want to get me something I wouldn't be happy with. Well, after watching me stare at this board for a while, she just bought it ;) There have been other boards I've been looking at (a Starboard Pocket Rocket SUP, a Morgan Olo Triple Stringer, Walden Magic Model), but this board was just that good! Thank you Babydoll!!!