Might have this one.

Since my last post I've been surfing.  I tried out my new to me surfboard.  It worked well and I was reminded how much more I have to paddle on a shorter board.  The good thing was catching waves goes a lot better when there is more rocker in the board.  The board went exactly where it was pointed and it didn't have any weird tracking.

I was talking to some surf friends about their mini simmons.  Lots of guys are riding these things and I was asked to modify my Keiki board bones to make it a mini.  Basically, I'd be making the nose hips and tail wider.  It'd be any easy project and might be fun.  I think that's the direction I'm headed in now.

Starting a new board.

The board I have in mind will be a copy of these.  There are somethings that I like about each of these boards.  I'll take the best features of each one.  The quad is a 7' 3" S7 Super Fish.  The tri-fin is a 7' 4" Gotcha.  My next step is to copy the outlines and design a spar.  I want to take the Gotcha out in the water in the next few days.  It's got more rocker, it's thinner and not as wide as the Super Fish.  I think that'll work better for the conditions here.

Reverse engineering

I've been experimenting with different boards for awhile now.  There are a bunch in my garage.  They range from 7-10 foot.  I've found the shorter I go, the better it's working out.  I'm anxious to try out a 7' 4" board I picked up last week.   It's a bit thinner (2 3/4" thick) and a little bit narrower (20 1/2").  My intention is to find my favorite and copy it.  I think that building with cedar and balsa should keep the weight down.  The rails will probably be pine. Anyways, making a board that works as well as my foam ones is going to be a challenge.  I know it can be done and I'm looking forward to starting one in the next month or two.

Ridin the inside

The groms were out yesterday.  I had a bodyboard session in the late afternoon.  There were kids all over it.  The conditions were blown out and messy.  The reforms were steep and nasty.  The kids didn't seem to care.  They'd drop in, bottom turn and rip the lip.  That's pretty much it.  They're cool about sharing with me and the water is still nice and warm.  It's fun to see these shredders surfing together.

Gettin' it dialed.

I've been surfing a lot more lately.  It's more fun than building boards for me but, I'm also getting better ideas.  The waves here in Ormond Beach are peaky fast beach breakers.  The rides are pretty fast and sometimes long.  Anyways, there are a couple of things that make huge differences for me.  The first is the volume of the board.  A couple of my boards have too much buoyancy for me.  What happens is the nose will flap up and down if I'm too far back.  It's a little touchy if there isn't much nose rocker.

My favorite board for bigger days is a 9' that's 2-5/8" thick.  It's fast and turns well.  The rails are slightly pinched and the fin set-up is 2+1.  I took out my shorter quad fish but, I didn't have as much fun with it.  It felt just a little bit corky.  Your results may vary.

Solarez

We've got a little swell headed this way so, it was time to pull off the stickers and fix my board right. I used Solarez for the first time today.  It worked out well and the UV curing is much better than mixing. Another good feature is the chopped fiberglass already in it.  I was able to fix all my splits and dings much quicker.  

Summer fun

I've been having a fun summer of seeing family, friends and surfing.  There hasn't been anytime to build new boards but, I have been getting the wood ones out when the conditions are right.  I still have to finish my blunt nose longboard and have some ideas for new boards.

Riding the fish.

I took out my 8' fish and got some fun rides.  The waves were kinda small.  The board worked good and it has plenty of glide to stay with the mushy conditions.  There were a lot of curious people asking me questions and giving compliments.  It's so much fun to take out the wood ones.

Ridin' the balsa cedar evo

I finally got a good day to take this one out.  The wind was blowing off shore all day and the waves were small but, there were some set waves rolling thru every so often.  This is a 9' evo that Ron Ferrer built before he went to Hawaii.  It's light and that made it easy to swing around.  I liked the way it turned with that thin pivot fin.  It made it's way down the line with good speed.  I really enjoyed the session and would like to take it out again when the waves are bigger.

We got waves.

Tropical Depression Beryl kicked up some 10'ers.  Fun to watch from the beach.  It was too wild to surf and only a couple of guys went out.  BOth of them got worked.  I'm looking forward to the next tropical depression and getting some waves before it gets crazy.

looking back

I have been fortunate to have owned and ridden lots of boards when I lived in CA. One of my favorites was a G&S 7' 2" egg. It was a good design and was easy to surf. The only times I used my longboard was when the surf was small. I still like to ride longboards on small mushy days. Now, I'm riding shorter boards and looking forward to seeing where this takes me. I don't see myself building any boards until next year.  I'm going to design a 7'2" fish with tapered rails and quad set-up.

patience, oh crap

I never lived in a place that the waves were so ....... (fill-in). It's pitiful right now. We had wild lumpy brutal close out waves a few day ago. I've been going out on a boogie board, that's right a boogie board. The water feels great but the waves are dumpers. If you're lucky you get a few seconds of unbroken faces and then crunch. Please, PLEASE..... I need some waves.

what you need

Having lived and surfed here for awhile. I found out a couple things. The waves here are pretty fast and real pitchy. They're a lot different than the waves in Imperial Beach that I learned on.  You need a fast board, otherwise you'll be playing in the foam. I' ve made some adjustments and got some faster boards. All that I know is faster is better, here anyways. The other thing that helps a lot is having a board that turns quickly. Some people like thrusters, others like quads. I like quads. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x8l107miLM

SUP's at the beach

We had some beautiful weather today. I thought it'd be fun to take the SUP's down since the waves were small and the wind was blowing off shore. The wind was so strong that catching waves with the 12' er was impossible for me. It's got a big nose.

I wound up taking out the 10' er and surfed it without the paddle. Fun board. It felt great to get back in the water. Big thanks to my girlfriend Julie for the great pictures.

Balsa Cedar Pine board

I got this board from my friend Ron Ferrer. He's a good guy and good HWS builder. THe board is an evo with the regular longboard spar. It's super light and feels strong. I can't wait to take it out and see how it goes.