Charlie put some time into the paddle he is making for Amy. Maybe next month I'll start on my paddle.
Working on boards and with tools again made me really miss my own gear.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
New Tool Experience and Progress
More shaping on Sunday - worked on the first of three handplaces. I started off with a hand block planer. Really slow going but controlled and steady as ever. Mind you that was how I shaped the paulownia boards I have (paipo and kick board). Charlie highly encouraged me to use the belt sander and then the electric planer. I have extensively used a random orbital palm sander, but never a belt sander. After a few minutes, the belt sander and I were friends. Then I tried the electric planer. I've used this tool before, but with a sanding barrel attachment (no blades) and on foam blanks, not wood. This one took a little longer to get used to, but afterwards I actually got very close to the finished shape on the hand plane. A few more tweaks and this one will be done.
Charlie put some time into the paddle he is making for Amy. Maybe next month I'll start on my paddle.
Working on boards and with tools again made me really miss my own gear.
Charlie put some time into the paddle he is making for Amy. Maybe next month I'll start on my paddle.
Working on boards and with tools again made me really miss my own gear.
Carnage and Destruction
There was a prolonged high wind event that hit the Windward side of Oahu on Friday night into Saturday. I went to see what had happened on Sunday morning. There were tree limbs and signs knocked down all over the place. At Kaneohe's Marina (MCBH), nine boats broke free from their moorings and the bolt-together jet docks all came undone.
Since I was over there, I also wet a line. I broke out the spinning gear and used a Makata Minnow Strip on a small number 10 circle hook. I got to play tug-o-war with one of these small barracuda (kaku), but when I figured something wasn't right with the food it just ate, it promptly let go. Some fight is better than no fight I'll take what I can get. Here's a similar sized kaku chasing some real minnows around.
Since I was over there, I also wet a line. I broke out the spinning gear and used a Makata Minnow Strip on a small number 10 circle hook. I got to play tug-o-war with one of these small barracuda (kaku), but when I figured something wasn't right with the food it just ate, it promptly let go. Some fight is better than no fight I'll take what I can get. Here's a similar sized kaku chasing some real minnows around.
Naish Hawaii Shop
I've been in this store so many times in the past 21 years - windsurfing, kiting and now SUPing - these guys have been at the pointy end of the spear the entire time.
The funny thing is time stands still in this shop - there is history. There is the future. And it all comes together in a singular present. There are boards that changed the direction of sports, and there are sails/footstraps/fins that helped build a great champion.
And with Sean and Noel still behind the counter, it is just like the day I first walked into the place. I felt like I was in my twenties again....
The funny thing is time stands still in this shop - there is history. There is the future. And it all comes together in a singular present. There are boards that changed the direction of sports, and there are sails/footstraps/fins that helped build a great champion.
And with Sean and Noel still behind the counter, it is just like the day I first walked into the place. I felt like I was in my twenties again....
Woodcraft Honolulu
Found some cool stuff at the Woodcraft shop in Kalihi.
Teak from the USS North Carolina (the WWII Battleship)
A table saw that has sensors to drop the blade if the conductivity of the system changes (like a finger getting in cutting range.
Cool place if you like working with wood.
A table saw that has sensors to drop the blade if the conductivity of the system changes (like a finger getting in cutting range.
Cool place if you like working with wood.
Tamashiro's
First stop on the window shopping run (rainy Saturday...) - Tamashiro's Seafood Market
Abalone (sushi sized - and still alive)
Lots of limu
Ahi - and not just any ahi - several different grades and cuts
And if you sell limu and ahi, it's only natural that you sell poke
If you're hungry - stop into this place and get some ono grinds!!!
Abalone (sushi sized - and still alive)
Lots of limu
Ahi - and not just any ahi - several different grades and cuts
And if you sell limu and ahi, it's only natural that you sell poke
If you're hungry - stop into this place and get some ono grinds!!!
Cutting Out the Handplane Templates
Got some new jigsaw blades and went to town!!!
This was on Saturday before Charlie and I went window shopping (which will be chronicled in the next several posts).
This was on Saturday before Charlie and I went window shopping (which will be chronicled in the next several posts).
Lots of Catch Up Posts from the Weekend - Nice Chairs
I was busy this past weekend - not just playing in the ocean, but laundry, washing the truck, meeting with old colleagues, and even some work. The next several posts are less than a week old - playing catch up for now.
I ended up going to Waikiki twice last week (one big sprawling shopping mall with people living on top - not my scene, except in the summer when the surf comes rolling in). I posted pictures of the fish paintings a couple of posts back from the first trip. On the second trip, I saw these chairs in the Quiksilver shop.
Nice chairs
Nice chairs
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Chambers Beach
I'm so glad you guys got to get out of the house on a nice day!!! I miss you all and I wish I was there with you (or better yet, that you were here with me!!!)
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Fish Painting in Sansei Sushi
A wonderful three panel painting with a lot of the pelagic fish that you can find swimming offshore
Enjoy Handplanes at Honolulu Patagonia
I had a few minutes to kill before meeting an old friend for dinner. I decided to stop into the Patagonia shop here in Honolulu. These "Enjoy" handplanes are really something. Nice, well built tools for wave shredding.
And I really like how they've gone full bore into fabric laminates. Gives me some ideas for my own builds.
And I really like how they've gone full bore into fabric laminates. Gives me some ideas for my own builds.
Monday, February 9, 2015
What do you see?
I see really good hackle for tying up some bonefish flies (Meko Specials, various shrimp).
Fly Fishing the Pier
After I left Charlie's house, I figured I should try fishing the pier since the weather was so nice. I rigged up the Epic 686 - and brought out the full sink and floating lines to do some more comparison out here in the islands (way different fishing techniques than in Florida).
I could see the fish in the water - papio or hahalalu, and some big aha (Houndfish).
I decided to try for the aha first. I tied on the "bloody guts" fly to I used to catch the Atlantic Needlefish when we were living at Mayport. Strip in the fly as fast as you can and you get some eager takers! But for some reason the yarn doesn't get tangled in the teeth like it did back in Florida. I had several takes, some decent pulls - but each ended with the fish off the fly.
I checked the fly and saw that I had cut off the hook at the bend - not that I would have hooked the fish anyways - they have pretty hard, bony jaws. Teasers proved just as fun (and I didn't have to handle the fish). I didn't have any looks from the other fish - even when I broke out the spinning gear and threw the small kastmaster. I have some more homework to do to get to the point where I can consistently hook up.
I could see the fish in the water - papio or hahalalu, and some big aha (Houndfish).
I decided to try for the aha first. I tied on the "bloody guts" fly to I used to catch the Atlantic Needlefish when we were living at Mayport. Strip in the fly as fast as you can and you get some eager takers! But for some reason the yarn doesn't get tangled in the teeth like it did back in Florida. I had several takes, some decent pulls - but each ended with the fish off the fly.
I checked the fly and saw that I had cut off the hook at the bend - not that I would have hooked the fish anyways - they have pretty hard, bony jaws. Teasers proved just as fun (and I didn't have to handle the fish). I didn't have any looks from the other fish - even when I broke out the spinning gear and threw the small kastmaster. I have some more homework to do to get to the point where I can consistently hook up.
Paddle Progress
Charlie cranking it out - paddle face glued up
Time to get busy with the belt sander... I'll probably make a paddle once I'm finished with the hand planes. But for now it is a great learning experience for me just to watch.
Time to get busy with the belt sander... I'll probably make a paddle once I'm finished with the hand planes. But for now it is a great learning experience for me just to watch.
Sunday Dawn Patrol at Turtlebacks
Went on a dawn patrol with Charlie. There were 6 guys out when we got there on short and longboards.
Charlie got some good rides. I saw him racing down the line on an overhead wave - too far away to take pictures with the gopro.
This pictures are from a sequence where he rode one further in (but still pretty far away).
For me this session was a big pile of steaming hot humility. My leash broke after two waves.
I had to swim quite a ways to get back to the board (at least there wasn't a significant wind or current - or I wouldn't have gotten the board back at all). Swimming with a paddle in one hand, reefwalkers on your feet and a broken leash on your ankle is not easy. And it didn't end there. I figured I could ride some waves on the inside and not lose the board - not true.
And with the wipeout came the long swim again. There was a local out there on a new Blane Chambers Paddle Surf Hawaii SUP - he was ripping it up!!!
I did manage to get a few rides, but lesson learned, don't wait until your leash breaks to replace it. Once a year if used heavily and gets stretched a bunch in bigger surf.
Turtlebacks don't take it for granted!
Charlie got some good rides. I saw him racing down the line on an overhead wave - too far away to take pictures with the gopro.
This pictures are from a sequence where he rode one further in (but still pretty far away).
For me this session was a big pile of steaming hot humility. My leash broke after two waves.
I had to swim quite a ways to get back to the board (at least there wasn't a significant wind or current - or I wouldn't have gotten the board back at all). Swimming with a paddle in one hand, reefwalkers on your feet and a broken leash on your ankle is not easy. And it didn't end there. I figured I could ride some waves on the inside and not lose the board - not true.
And with the wipeout came the long swim again. There was a local out there on a new Blane Chambers Paddle Surf Hawaii SUP - he was ripping it up!!!
I did manage to get a few rides, but lesson learned, don't wait until your leash breaks to replace it. Once a year if used heavily and gets stretched a bunch in bigger surf.
Turtlebacks don't take it for granted!
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