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Surfed a popular S.C. spot on the East Side.
Negative tide, and lots of exposed reef and kelp
took out the longboard and did a lot of trimming
Early take offs, stall off the bottom and cross stepped forward
trimming, and more trimming...
Friday I went out, paddled, got caught on the inside, took a few on the head, wagged my tail between my legs, and then went to work. sucks for me.
Sunday, went logging at super high tide and a mundo crowd. Got a couple of outside sets before the tide really slowed things down. must go surf somewhere and must go do it soon...
damn it...itching, jonesing, itching, jonesing,
dreaming, glassy peaks, hollow barrels,
green room sensation, offshore spray, onshore hoots, friendly lineups
lightweight banter, courteous manners,
hooting everywhere, hooting your bro into waves
paddle over to the stacking sets, pop ups and hard bottom turns
taking the high line to outrun the waves, full spray cutbacks
damn i wish i can do that! just one day...
I'm hoping to pull off a 5'7"x21x2 3/4 disc shape. The nose is 17 inches and the tail will be 16 inches. I'm imagining this with a singe fin and will be surfed in the upcoming summer mush.
Here are the template details:
I actually woke up before the sun came up and darted out of the house. Well, not really darted. I still have a morning routine that must take place. It goes down like a checklist. Get dressed, say hello to the porcelin throne, fill my water bottle, wake the dog, hop in the car and drive. I'm at a point where I don't think twice about it anymore. What, now that I've said that, I am bound to forget one of those items. Probably, something stupid like not walking the dog. Sacrifice the dogs morning routine so I can get to the early. What an asshole, huh!?
Anyhoo, I got there just in time for the tide to fill into its highest point. Now, don't get me wrong, there were still waves to be had, but I would have to work harder for them or sit way inside. Today, a did a little bit of both. I suited up, minus the booties(I think I can start leaving those at home again), and sprinted to the least crowded spot. As I was jumping in, there were three beginners attempting to paddle out. Gosh, I remember those days like it was yesterday. Wait, yesterday, I did feel like a beginner.
After making it to the outside on a pretty uneventful paddle out, I did something I don't think I've done on my fish before. As I sat up on my board, a set comes through. There were only three guys out, and I know all of them. Two of the long boarders paddles into waves, so that leaves me sitting on the outside as the last wave of the set approaches. I swing and start paddling for it. It was a steeper windswell wave, but nonetheless, about shoulder high. I stroked just a little bit, and felt the wave jack up. Got to my feet and cranked a turn and started gliding down the face. The lip was just featuring but allowed me to play on it a bit. Cutback to meet the curl, and cranked it back up the face and made a clean exit.
At this point I could already call it a day, as it was a really fun wave. I got back to the outside, and waited just a little bit. Another set looms and the longboarders get their share. I stroke into another wave, but this time I was a bit too deep and had no option but to turn straight. Well, I guess I should of cranked a true bottom turn, but I didn't get to do that. I'm making a mental note to do that.
Last great wave before the tide really kills it comes long about 15 minutes later. It was very similar to my first wave, but this time, I had the pick of the litter and stroked into another fun little peeler. This wave was similar to the first one I had, except I kinda stalled at the peak before the board fully committed. It was like levitating on water. Nevertheless, as I started dropping in, I cranked a turn and trimmed down the face.
Then the tide killed it. On top of that, it was such a nice day, I had thoughts of lounging around at home. So instead of heading downtown to work, I aimed the car homeward bound and just worked in front of the TV.
So my desired dimensions were 7'6"x21x2 3/4. I think I got the 21 inch part. I also think I came close to 7'6", but I am pretty sure I'm off on the 2 3/4 part. I don't have a way of measuring that, yet. Thanks to Swaylocks for the advice.
I did some more cleanup work on my first shape. Starting from the bottom, I surformed about an eighth of an inch off, and also took a little bit off the top. I don't have a caliper measure, so I had to eyeball it. I was careful not to over shape it. Just when it felt right in my hands, I stopped taking foam off.
The other fun part was using the small block planer and removing excess stringer. By doing so, a beautiful layer of wood was revealed. I didn't know that would show up! The only hard part of removing the stringer was up at the nose. The rocker configuration made it so that i couldn't get some of the stringer off. Also, a little bit of the stringer glue was left. damn it! oh well
I made a little bit of a rail adjustment to the right side because I didn't feel it was even enough. But again, I didn't take too much off. I figured I could leave the imperfections as a reminder of my first shaped. I was pretty excited to sign it and number it #0001. that's 3 zeros, because I want to go make more already!
Here's some pictures for you:
Now, I need to find a glasser. Any suggestions?!
I am on a utility session run. Starting from Saturday, I've hit the home break and got similar results. Saturday afternoon was ok, with lots of wind swell coming in. About waist to chest, with some + sets. Not much shoulder to work with. Sneaker sets were closing out as the sandbars were not that great. There was a slightly bumpy texture. I figured out one good duck dive; but the rest of the time, I am still getting knocked off my board. That's what I get for riding a board with a lot of foam. Oh well, at least I can paddle well on it now. Got one good ride, then hung out on the inside. Some small peaks were reforming form the outside closeout and there were long rides to be had.
Went logging Sunday morning, with the weekend crowd. The crowd was thick, but everyone was mellow and I had my share of waves. They were definitely there, but you just had to find them. I almost crashed into a beginner, because I wasn't successful on my cutback. Sorry, if you are reading this. Still glassy, warm, and mucho closeout sets.
Made it out for my first evening glass-off; if you can call it that. It was definitely spring time surfing, with warm skies, killer sunset, and lumpy, bumpy, textured onshore wind waves. I got a few, and hung out on the inside, made it back to the outside, and called it a day. I can't wait for more of these. I might even book it down the coast one of these nights and hit some south swell spots once the southern hemi starts to brew.
Spontaneous morning DP
didn't expect to score much
got out and north end was throwing four foot peelers
took the trusty fish out to sea today
hopped in the channel, and paddled to the lineup
mellow crew of shortboaders
take the first one that comes to me, about chest high, pump down the line a little bit, exit early
second comes through, i swing to go; as did another surfer; i won the battle, popped up and went backside on a nice shoulder high, so much speed!
caught another right hander, earlier entry, pop up, turned down the line, wave mushes out
milk it till it reforms, lay in another bottom turn, and exit....
first real session on the fish, so much speed, and so loose....I'm beginning to feel stoked on this board.
Friday night, I rolled up my sleeves and went forth to mow some more foam. It was definitely a night of firsts. It was my first time skinning the hard crust off the blank. I didn't realize that in order for the planer to work properly, I needed to make smooth, swift motions across the surface. Instead, I went slow and ended up gouging out a lot of foam. damn me! Luckily for me, I figured it out halfway through removing the crust on one side. So I ended up not destroying the rest of the board.
Here is what I ended up with:
So after marveling at it for a little bit, I got frothy at the mouth and went on to turn the rails. So on with more of the discovery phase. I knew I want to turn a harder bottom rail, that turned into a hard rail in the tail. I did my best guess on where to start, and just starting surforming off the edges. I didn't know how much I need to take off, but had a good guess of around 2 inches. I ended up with a somewhat uneven rail, because I wasn't sure how to keep it straight. Halfway through turning the bottom rails, I started to get a better idea of feeling out where I was on the rail, on how to keep myself more steady and thus turn a better rail.
When it came time to turn the top rails, I got a little better and it didn't turn out half as bad as I thought. Check out the pictures:
So that took me all the way to 1am. After some more top and bottom sanding, I called it a night. I still need to take some more off the top and bottom and smooth out the rails a bit. But over all, I think I'm stoked to have it come out the way it did. Sure, there was some dips, and lots of gouges, but man, I think I can go on to make another board!
I managed to find some time today and built my shaping stands. They were nothing more than a couple of 2x4s and some screws. Courtesy of www.surfersteve.com, I was inspired to make my own version of the shaping stands. I didn't want to fill buckets up with sand, so I built a simple base for the stands. Its a little wobbly, but I was able to work with them. Not too bad I guess.
After carpeting the areas where the blank will lay, I retraced the template on the top of the blank, and started counting down to cutting time. After rechecking the web for last minute details, I pulled out the hand saw and hacked away. The first time cutting into foam felt weird. Its a lot softer than I thought. The decision on where to place the first cut was troublesome. I thought, here I have this blank but don't know where to start. Anyways, I decided to start in the middle, and just sawed into it. I frequently checked the top and bottom lines to make sure I didn't cut into them. The results came out like this
After some work with the surform and sanding paper, it looks like this
I managed to not over sand the edges. In fact, I think I didn't sand enough off the sides. Oh well. The only correction I'm going to make is to the right side of the nose. There is too much foam, to the point, that it is noticeable.
Next up, planing the top and bottom off.