New South and NW Building In

UPDATE...Wednesday Evening

Paddled out for a low tide afternoon/evening session at the reefs. The combo swell has arrived, although it is weak, lacking any real energy. Wind was out of the SW at 4 mph which was good as it added a small bit of windswell to the low grade groundswell.

It was inconsistent but there were enough waves to have fun and during the lulls I got to practice my "quick" turns from a dead stop clockwise and counter-clockwise. I'm working on a technique called the "bunny-hop." It is completely absurd, probably looks incredibly stupid but unfortunately for the ego and fashion conscious, it appears to work really well. It's simple really. All one does is to take several hops back from the normal parallel stance paddle position. Hop back enough to submerge the tail of the board. Crouch and using a wide arcing stroke, turn left or right. You'll be surprised at how fast you come about. When ready, hop back to your normal paddling stance and position for wave catching or paddling. Variations of this are to move just one foot or the other back (like a surfing stance). Of course like all things SUP, it's easier to do in calmer water.

The other thing I experimented with today was to move my Greenough 9.5" cutaway single fin from it's "all the way back in the box" position, to "all the way forward in the box" position. It made a remarkable effect on the boards performance maneuverability. It also had the effect of making the board yaw more left and right when paddling. I've found this to be true with every fin set-up I've tired, both single and tri-fin. So if you're going for a big long paddle and want to go straight most of the time, slap that humongous single fin in the box and slide it all the way back. If you're going for performance, then move it forward and expect to exert more energy keeping the board going in a straight line.

After a while I watched a stand up paddler making his way towards me from the east. The guy had on a long sleeve tropical shirt, boardshorts and a cool floppy hat to protect his head and face from the sun. I thought, "I gotta get one of those hats..." Turned out to be my stand up pal Brother Joe the fireman. We gabbed and caught waves (he got the prettiest wave of the day) and then he headed back to his take out spot, tired from a long night last night at the firehouse, and from a nice three mile paddle and surf today.

I took some pics of him (see sequence below) and I was pleasantly surprised to received some nice shots of me (posted above) that he took after he got out. Thanks Joe!
March 5, 2008 (W)
In: 1540
Out: 1759
AT= 65 - 58 degrees
WT= 53.4 degrees at the farshore buoy
Wx: Clear and sunny
Tide: -0.30 Rising to 1.41
Wind: 4 to 9 mph SW
Sea Surface: Light to moderate bump with light wind mottling to glassy
Buoy: NWS
1500: 6.9 feet @ 13.8 Seconds WNW
1600: 5.2 feet @ 14.8 Seconds WSW
1700: 4.9 feet @ 14.8 Seconds W
1800: 5.2 feet @ 14.8 Seconds SW
1900: 5.6 feet @ 14.8 Seconds WSW
10'4" Angulo SUP with Infinity paddle
Rock reefs
Waves: 2.7 feet at 13.8 seconds (Nearshore buoy approx. ave.) Storm Surf Buoy Model

Wednesday Morning
The big wave SoCal buoy started showing a new south swell pulse of 4' @ 16 seconds last night at 8PM. Forerunners have been filing in slowly. At 6AM the buoy is filing reports of 5.6' at 15 seconds. Meanwhile the nearshore NorCal buoy is reading sporadic WNW energy of 5.6' at 15 seconds. Major early morning high tide has erased the dawn patrol unless flat water paddling in ephemeral dawn sunrises is your thing...(and who's thing wouldn't it be?) Cold though, 38 degrees at my favorite launch.

I'm gonna wait out the high tide and shoot for low later today. I meet with John this morning about a custom SUP with an already shaped, 9'6" X 28 X 4.25" swallowtail styro blank he's been trying to figure out how to use. I stopped by the factory the other day to take a look at it. Jesus and Maria, John's expert glassers were on break and let me into the shaping bay to scope it. It hasn't been glued up yet so I only took one half of it out and set it up on the stands. At first gaze it seems too thin in the tail and nose to float me without struggling to stay on my feet in anything more than smooth water. I couldn't see the bottom contours well either. We'll see if it can be shaped into the "holy grail," i.e. a SUP you can fully put on rail in a wave, but is stable paddling in moderately bumpy sea conditions.

More later...