The Lull Between Pulses

It's beginning to look a lot like Seattle around here. Low clouds and rain for the last three days. So far we've had three times the normal rainfall for May. Need it though, after three straight drought years in a row. (La Nina go away!) Maybe they'll cancel water rationing.

I knew the swell was going to back down, but today waves were a shadow of what they were yesterday. I arrived early in the just lightening dawn, looking forward to my second go on the 6-10 WC Winged Biscuit. But the swell had dropped so much over yesterday (I wasn't expecting THIS much of a lull!) that I hesitated and almost backed out. Which is one of the reasons I always present myself to the waves already suited up...much harder to backslide.

But there were what looked like some rideable little angles down at GDubs. I warmed up in the drizzling rain and was paddling out by 0620. Surfed alone until Greg knee paddled down from Scimi's. Then one other guy late in the session, but really, there wasn't much this morning. Lot's of sectioning walls in very little energy. I did hook into a couple longer walls where I could put the 6-10 through some paces though.

This board is really fun. Even though the board is wide (23") and thick (2 7/8") for a "shortboard," it is very, very light (styrolite eps) and there is almost, literally, no swing weight. Isn't that what we all want? (I mean, the part of the board you don't use for paddling is just excess weight and bulk for surfing. Right?) But the 6-10 moves almost effortlessly from the primary standing position. So once you train your body to think and remember ("muscle memory") then you can concentrate on the wave and think your way through the ride. (Of course I'm not poo-pooing training and technique, that would be short sighted and an incomplete part of the overall equation. But everything has it's genesis in the brain.) While riding boards with swing weight is fun, and different, there is always the time lag between thinking it, applying it, and it happening. That time lag or gap is much less distinct on a lighter board without (or with less) swing weight.

I surfed for almost two hours, catching a lot of small ones, but getting the occasional longer ride too, especially when I paddled down to Simi's and got my last wave of the morning. It's really fun throwing this board around, and dancing all over the wave face. Although Fred Astaire I ain't.

May 5, 2009 (Tu)

In: 0620
Out: 0815
AT= 56F
WT= 53F
Wx: Low clouds with light rain
Tide: 2.3' Rising to 3.8'
Wind: Calm to light to moderate southwesterlies
Sea Surface: Glassy in the kelp to light wind ripples
6-10 Ward Coffey EPS (Marko Styrolite)/Epoxy Custom

Fin set-up: Thruster/Quad with Future Fins AM1 tri-fin set-up.
Bathymetry: Rock reefs
Deep Water Swell and Wave Face Heights CDIP Archive
Buoy: NWS (Nearshore)
0600: 3.6 feet @ 11.1 W (2 - 3 ft. faces)
0630: 3.0 feet @ 11.8 W
0700: 3.6 feet @ 11.1 W (2 - 3 ft. faces)
0730: 3.6 feet @ 11.8 W
0800: 3.3 feet @ 11.8 WNW (2 - 3 ft. faces)
0830: 3.6 feet @ 11.8 W
0900: 3.6 feet @ 12.5 W

First of Two Spring Swells Makes Landfall

The first of two pulses of relatively long period WNW swell made landfall early this morning. I paddled out in the overcast morning gloom at 0614. First stop, Sarges. The tide was moderately high and rising to somewhere around 4 ft. Sets were consistent, made up of chest/head high waves. I took a couple, one for a long ride past the nudie beach. But the higher tide and larger waves were causing a backwash off the point that put a lot of bump and chop onto the wave faces. Even though I was the only one out, and there were decent waves without kelp interference, I decided to head up to GW's, which looked pretty good. It felt good to be riding without having to worry about getting caught up in the kelp.

Greg and Steve were in the water when I arrived and consistent head high sets started pouring in. Steve had been out for a half hour all alone, taking down wave after wave. Scimi's was off the hook with pretty, a-frame overhead bombs pouring through, with even more consistency than GW's. Only a dozen guys out. The three of us surfed for another hour and a half before Greg and Steve had to go in. I surfed another half hour before I got tired, paddled back to Sarges and took a chest high closeout into the beach. Finally, some good Winter, high tide waves. Too bad Winter is over.

Greg got a nice one for one of the waves of the day. I hooked into a couple myself. Click HERE to see it full screen.



May 5, 2009 (M)

In: 0614
Out: 0845
AT= 54F
WT= 53F
Wx: 100% overcast with some light misting
Tide: 3.4' Rising to 3.8': Falling to 3.4'
Wind: Light southwesterlies
Sea Surface: Glassy to very light wind ripples
10-0 Angulo EPS/Epoxy Custom SUP with Infinity Ottertail carbon fiber paddle

Fin set-up: Thruster with K2D2 4.75" center fin (fourth mark up from back) and Future Fiberglass YU (actual fin not shown)
Bathymetry: Rock reefs
Deep Water Swell and Wave Face Heights CDIP Archive
Buoy: NWS (Nearshore)
0600: 6.2 feet @ 11.8 W (4 - 6 ft. faces)
0630: 5.2 feet @ 12.5 WNW
0700: 4.9 feet @ 11.1 W (3 - 5 ft. faces)
0730: 5.2 feet @ 12.5 WNW
0800: 4.6 feet @ 10.5 W (4 - 6 ft. faces)
0830: 4.3 feet @ 10.5 WNW
0900: 5.2 feet @ 13.3 W (3 - 5 ft. faces)
0930: 4.3 feet @ 10.5 W

Surfing the New 6-10 Ward Coffey "Power Biscuit"

I have no real idea what to call this board. All boards have names right? "Power Biscuit" was all I could come up with. Feeble, I know.

First off, here's the dims: 6-10" X 16" X 23" X 16" X 2 7/8". Marko Styrolite Foam...it's really light and strong. Glassing sched: 6 and 4 on top, 6 on the bottom. Bottom config: single concave into double barrel concaves with VEE out the back.

Click HERE to open the slideshow in a new window.



I was totally chomping at the bit to get this new board in the water. This was a design I've been thinking about for a while. It evolved from the revelation that came with the 10-0 Angulo Custom SUP I've been riding for the last several months. This Angulo SUP is a big, thick, wide, stand up paddle surfboard, and it surfs better than any longboard I've ever owned. It's more versatile, stable, fast, maneuverable, nose rideable...it does it all, and it does it better. If Ed can do this with a SUP, can larger dimensions be shaped into a "short" board in the right blend and balance to create a laydown surfboard that would do what I want it to do as a "shortboard?" That was the question I hypothesized, and the answer was, "Yes!"

It works! I surfed it today in decent waist to chest high waves that gave me the opportunity to put the board through it's paces. Today was a good test, because if it could perform in surf like today's, it could perform in really good, high energy surf too. (And I'm going to get a chance to try that out in the next several days.)

I first paddled out at Roots, which is a spot that breaks only when there is swell and at a minus low tide. Eric said it was working good yesterday, today it wasn't all that good. But I got a couple take-offs that let me know the board was stable, a good paddler, and a good wave catcher. Waves at Roots were inconsistent and really lacking in energy, with sets swinging too wide to set up for the main section. (The swell was more punchy yesterday for sure.) So, after a couple waves I paddled through the kelp beds to Scimi's, which surprisingly had only one guy at the 1st Peak.

That was when I found out that the board was a keeper. 1P Scimi's put up some long walls, punctuated with enough sections to hit the lip, drive off the bottom, wiggle through the flats and floater some crumbling white water sections with stability, speed and maneuverability. Nice!

Ward and I had a good conversation re fins, and I eventually decided on the Future Fins AM1's instead of the larger AM2's. Good choice. This is plenty of fin for this board at my weight. Since I love fin stuff so much, I had Ward install five fin boxes which would allow for a tri-fin set-up as well as running as a Quad (AM1 front, SB1 rear). Today, I rigged it as a tri-fin for it's maiden surf because I wanted something familiar to relate too. (I've been running my Angulo Custom as a three fin for a while now, so the "feel" is familiar.) My first wave was a little squirrelly. (What do you expect coming off a 10-0 longboard!) But it all got better from there. I got my "surf legs" right quick, and was able to surf the board with control and confidence.

The board floats, paddles, and catches waves as I had hoped. It surfs better than I thought it would, being more fluid and loose than I thought it might be. And this is only the first time I've surfed it. As I get to know this board better, and get more comfortable on it, it's just going to get more and more FUN! It takes a while for me to get to know a board, so the review on this one will have to come after a couple months. But at this point, I see no reason why this board isn't going to be a complete and total WINNER, thanks in large part to the skilled craftsmanship of master shaper Ward Coffey!

May 3, 2009 (Su)

In: 1345
Out: 1515
AT= 56F
WT= 52F
Wx: Low clouds with light rain
Tide: .3' Rising to 1.3'
Wind: Calm to light to moderate southwesterlies
Sea Surface: Glassy in the kelp to light wind ripples
6-10 Ward Coffey EPS (Marko Styrolite)/Epoxy Custom

Fin set-up: Thruster/Quad with Future Fins AM1 tri-fin set-up and SB1 rear quad set-up.
Bathymetry: Rock reefs
Deep Water Swell and Wave Face Heights CDIP Archive
Buoy: NWS (Nearshore)
1330: 2.0 feet @ 10.5 W
1400: 2.0 feet @ 11.1 W (2 - 3 ft. faces)
1430: 2.0 feet @ 13.3 SW
1500: 2.0 feet @ 10.5 W (2 - 4 ft. faces)
1530: 2.0 feet @ 13.3 SW
1600: 2.3 feet @ 15.4 WSW (2 - 4 ft. faces)

SUP Surfing and Shortboarding

I picked up my new "shortboard" (well short for me anyway) today over at Ward's shop. It came out really nice and I can hardly wait to take it surfing. Tomorrow early I hope. Thanks to the SUP world for the traction pad inspiration.

Also by way of inspiration, check out this video I first saw posted on John's paddlesurf.net blog. Obviously Luke Egan don't know shizzizzit, and can't surf either. (Ward told me that Luke is coaching Parko this year and he ain't doing too shabby on the world tour. He took two firsts in the first two contests of the year.)