Spank My Wookie

I finally picked up the long awaited for Fish from Mollusk. First impressions were, what a nice looking board! Quad fin, 6'9", thick and floaty, pin lines and coke bottle green resin tint! I hope i don't ding it. I was dying to take it out that same day, but I was pretty surfed out from an afternoon session at SC.

Next morning, I took it out to good ol LM for a test run. I didn't have much time so we took a dip at the north end where there weren't that many crowds. I thought that I wouldn't be able to paddle it, but with my recent acquisition of the egg, I had gotten a feel of a shorter board. This one was surprisingly floatier than the egg. I even was able to get into a few waves. Man that thing is sensitive. Flick it just a little bit, and you have gotten it turned left, or right.

I took off on some pretty crappy waves. No shoulder, nothing to really work with. I did manage to bottom turn on one and I find my trailing arm to be way up in the air. Not sure if that is a byproduct of bad habits or just my natural reaction to the board.

All in all, I am really happy to be on this! I will need some time to get to know the fish. Hopefully, before the first fall swell start to roll in.

Posted by Baldwin at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

More on this when I pick it up!

Posted by Baldwin at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I really haven't been on hiatus. Just lazy to blog about utility, non-steallar sessions. I've been back on the egg for about a week now, and I suck. Back to square one, no coordination, paddling in the wrong spot, and just kooking it out.

I did start to get some more rides during yesterday's session. I also hit up a new break down the coast. There were lots of closeouts and some bigger sets, but I kooked out on most of them. I need more practice on the egg. It's a fun board and the break I was at was really fun too. Will probably hit it this week when the new s. swell fills in.

Posted by Baldwin at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Baldwin at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I did a double morning session. I started off surfing small mellow LM in the morning. It was really clean and about knee high for most of the session. There were some nice rides to have. But it started to get crowded as the morning went on. I got a crazy idea to explore some of the other Pacifica breaks. I took a nice waist high wave and then jumped in the car and drove north.

Most of pacifica was not breaking so we drove north to Ocean Beach. It's a nice day, looks a relative easy paddle and enough people out. The waves were about head high and peeling everywhere. Sandbars galore!

So I said fuck it, and just went for it. It took a little bit to identify which peak to attack. But then I saw a smaller shoulder high peak and we paddled out. The paddle was pretty easy, since we went out between sets. But once outside, I could notice how far from the beach we really were. Plus the current was pretty strong. You'd have to keep paddling every few minutes to stay in position. I start to get intimidated. Plus, the mere crest of a breaking peak knocked me over. The waves were a lot more powerful than what I'd imagine.

I decided to just take one in. So a set comes through, and I spun and committed. That was surprising! It took a little bit of paddling to catch the wave, but as I stood up, the bottom just dropped off from me. I could hear the wave crashing behind me. Since this is my first wave at OB, I didn't think to crank a bottom turn. I just rode it straight in, but fell off at the end. The washing cycle was more intense than I'd expect.

As I was walking on the beach, some loggers were getting some nice rides on the inside. But they were still drifting pretty fast and the inside sand bars look pretty intense. I think I want to go back for more. So maybe on another smaller south swell, I'd paddle out again, this time, on the egg.

Posted by Baldwin at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm trying to break this egg up and get some good rides out of it. It more or less reminds of when I started surfing the longboard. I wasn't as bad as last year. Last year, I had to worry about wave position, paddling muscle, how to pop up on the board, how to turn, and how to avoid people. While most of that is easier this time around, I keep forgetting to line up where the waves are breaking. I am either way outside or way too deep inside to get the waves. Thus, I'm getting about 2 waves a session. This isn't bad, but I want to be up on my wave count and get some nice rides. Most of my sessions have been at the local home break, but the waves have been pretty crummy. Nothing really good to work with, no real shoulders. I think I will stop complaining now. I should just say, "I suck!".

There's a lot to work on still. I've been drooling over videos of guys surfing and cranking that nice top turn cutback, with the arms stretched way out. One day I will get to do that. Now, I am enjoying cranking a bottom turn, and actually pumping down the line. On the waves that I am able to get into, pumping down the line is a lot of fun.

Last week, I decided to venture out and surf a new break. This spot is pretty close to the local break, but much less crowded and a much better wave. I've been avoiding the spot because I didn't think I'm good enough to surf it. But I think I did ok. Granted, the waves were about waist high, but I knew where to paddle out, where the channel was, where to line up for waves and actually got a couple of really fun waves. The crew that was out was pretty mellow too. This spot is more of a shortboard wave, but there was a crew of longboarders riding pretty vintage equipment. They even had a camera out taking pictures.

Needless to say, I survived, and actually felt pretty stoked afterwards. I made my waves, knew where to paddle out and just hung out there most of the time. Now, I need to get back out there when the waves a bit bigger, let's say head high?!

Posted by Baldwin at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)