Got wet this morning in SLA. Wasnt worth the mission but needed the salt water scrub. Couple peaks but zero juice and very inconsistent sets. Highlight was a left that stayed up for a few hacks with a little delayed float thingy to finish it off in the shorebreak. Flare with med WCT futures, shoulda brought the lb.. Really nice weather - mellow crowd of mostly familiar faces. Whens the next swell?
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***Official 2021 Community Surf Journal***
- Thread starter jkb
- Start date
Hess 6'0 Traveler was the perfect board for mushy, head-high to slightly overhead outer bar. Quad let me highline right on takeoff, generate tons of speed off the bottom and fling myself at the lip. Shared a peak with a buddy, no one else out. Nice to finally just cruise after anxiety provoking "big wave" sessions and overcrowded protected spots.
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Had to go look during my window of opportunity today despite being worn out and old and sure enough it was smaller but pulsed up on the tide turn and looked super fun and it was. Rode 1 wave with my feet in the right spot and the board was fast and loose and I felt like I was on point so I wanted to rush in and spray paint the exact spot my feet were in on the deck to replicate the feeling
The board...this the all wood construction?
Have you been able to ride both all wood and 1/2 wood version of this/other Hess boards? If so, how do they compare?
Went to my local this morning with low expectations. The wind was mostly offshore but slowly turning more south but the sets were pretty consistent. Rode the banjo but did wish I have gone with my GX on some of the sets. Got a nice little backside barrel (very unusual for me) and some fun longer lefts.
chest high weird beachie on the dark arts dad bod demo
board to big and thick for me but I sure liked the paddle. Any shaper that can give me 37 liters of volume but surf like my boards that are 32 liters hit me up, I'll pay double.
I think this may be the first stringerless board I've ridden. Lively but felt sort of corky and not overly solid under my feet.
board to big and thick for me but I sure liked the paddle. Any shaper that can give me 37 liters of volume but surf like my boards that are 32 liters hit me up, I'll pay double.
I think this may be the first stringerless board I've ridden. Lively but felt sort of corky and not overly solid under my feet.
It's EPS with the wood deck and carbon rails. Have not ridden the all wood board. It has that EPS buoyancy without the brittle feel. Probably as heavy as PU/PU. Definitely not featherlight like "performance" EPS boards.
Super fast. Feels like soap in a bathtub. Tail is quite foiled, and bottom is flat under the front foot to fairly deep double concave, so I can sink the aft rail. Did I mention fast?
quick session as the wind came up at reef #3. Got a few chunky chest-high rights on the twinsman roundpin. Probably could’ve used a swallow tail turning on the bumpy faces, but otherwise the board did well. Really enjoy the feeling of stability and control with the concave deck.
Wore a hood for the first time. It sucks. Don’t know how guys wear them unless it’s arctic. Definitely felt the peripheral vision was limited a bit and couldn’t hear. Not for me. Gonna stick to surfears plugs.
Oh, also I LOL’ed when I saw a dude wearing gloves in the water. That’s a first for me. I would’ve made a smart-ass comment to him, but you know... I was wearing a stupid hood.
Wore a hood for the first time. It sucks. Don’t know how guys wear them unless it’s arctic. Definitely felt the peripheral vision was limited a bit and couldn’t hear. Not for me. Gonna stick to surfears plugs.
Oh, also I LOL’ed when I saw a dude wearing gloves in the water. That’s a first for me. I would’ve made a smart-ass comment to him, but you know... I was wearing a stupid hood.
Another day on the North Coast... Surf was a lot tamer than last Sunday but still was dealing some solid chunky windswell (I think surfline was calling 10'@10). Cold, about 37 degrees out, with some light offshores. Waves were about a few feet OH to double or close enough to it on the biggest sets. But nothing as heavy as last weekend was. In hindsight, that "session" last weekend gave me a lot of confidence I needed - it's been a rough start to 2021.
No one out at all in any vicinity today. Which surprised me because it was really good. Some closeouts but for the most part, sectiony hollow rights with lumbering lefts off their back. The shorebreak wasn't that big (head high at most) but it was relentless, dumping hard, and ruinous. Reverse ripcurrents FTW. Any dreams of a hair-dry paddle out were shattered on 2nd wave I encountered and then wore 10 consecutively on the head with a classic ice-cream headache to go with it. Took at least 10 more on the head while deciding that I didn't like this at all. Put some heart into it, muscled my way hard through that mess, and got myself out the back.
Once out there, it was so good. Got myself a left off one of the sets which mostly was a huge, long drop into the teeth of it as I was actually originally planning on going right but that plan got nixed, huge drawn out bottom turn, and then fade up and over the top before it closed out. Seems like nothing but still covered 100 yards of ground or so going very very fast. Nutty compared to the much shorter waves down south (it's going to be so weird surfing down there again). Got a couple decent ones and then paddled over to the sandbar of note from last Sunday where I got buried by several dozen waves in a row. So many good rights off there but a takeoff zone that was at least 50 yards inside/out. All hunky dory until biggest set of the day came in. Day like today, if you had to duckdive the first wave in the set, you were fucked.
Gee, guess what.
I hate ditching my board but probably should have. That 2nd wave of the set broke 20 feet in front of me. I gave it the ol' college try to duckdive 12'+ high whitewater, got under the first thundercloud but that second was basically a large hand and ruined me so hard. I didn't even get a good breath in because I figured no biggie, I'll shove my way under it. Yeah... no. Slammed me hard, sent me straight back into myself, ripped my board out of my hands, and then dragged me at least 50+ yards in with set wave 3 through 7(?) finishing the rest taking me in to the inside edge of the sandbar, 99% of said journey underwater.
I might add, it's fucking hard to position yourself properly for a solidly overhead wave when you can't even see it until you paddle over the one before it.
Long paddle back. Very long. Thought I was feeling holiday weight badly until noticed this:
Apparently during that beating, leash string popped out my ding repair from a few weeks ago with a whole lot extra. Surficially that repair looked like magic but I the faith I had in the total bonding with the foam was slippery at best. And well, there that went.
So bummed I had to call that sesh so early in as it was a magic day in so many aspects. No wonder was paddling for sh!t; that ding was seriously hurting things. Needed to get in before it got worse. I took 2 waves into rip chop to get in but got ruined. Can't go in like that on such a good day. But finally got a late-drop left, little slash that was a bit choppy with that chunk out of the tail. Enough to go in on. But still, wanted so much more from today.
Well, at least picked up some Dungeness crabs, cooked them up with some lemon butter and jeow som sauces on the side. Solid feast.
Bummed I won't have that board back for a while. I like that 6'7 lost roundpin. Such a good board, especially on days like today.
And btw, havoc, send some tech bros up this way. It's getting lonely surfing these waves by myself with no one around at all.
No one out at all in any vicinity today. Which surprised me because it was really good. Some closeouts but for the most part, sectiony hollow rights with lumbering lefts off their back. The shorebreak wasn't that big (head high at most) but it was relentless, dumping hard, and ruinous. Reverse ripcurrents FTW. Any dreams of a hair-dry paddle out were shattered on 2nd wave I encountered and then wore 10 consecutively on the head with a classic ice-cream headache to go with it. Took at least 10 more on the head while deciding that I didn't like this at all. Put some heart into it, muscled my way hard through that mess, and got myself out the back.
Once out there, it was so good. Got myself a left off one of the sets which mostly was a huge, long drop into the teeth of it as I was actually originally planning on going right but that plan got nixed, huge drawn out bottom turn, and then fade up and over the top before it closed out. Seems like nothing but still covered 100 yards of ground or so going very very fast. Nutty compared to the much shorter waves down south (it's going to be so weird surfing down there again). Got a couple decent ones and then paddled over to the sandbar of note from last Sunday where I got buried by several dozen waves in a row. So many good rights off there but a takeoff zone that was at least 50 yards inside/out. All hunky dory until biggest set of the day came in. Day like today, if you had to duckdive the first wave in the set, you were fucked.
Gee, guess what.
I hate ditching my board but probably should have. That 2nd wave of the set broke 20 feet in front of me. I gave it the ol' college try to duckdive 12'+ high whitewater, got under the first thundercloud but that second was basically a large hand and ruined me so hard. I didn't even get a good breath in because I figured no biggie, I'll shove my way under it. Yeah... no. Slammed me hard, sent me straight back into myself, ripped my board out of my hands, and then dragged me at least 50+ yards in with set wave 3 through 7(?) finishing the rest taking me in to the inside edge of the sandbar, 99% of said journey underwater.
I might add, it's fucking hard to position yourself properly for a solidly overhead wave when you can't even see it until you paddle over the one before it.
Long paddle back. Very long. Thought I was feeling holiday weight badly until noticed this:
Apparently during that beating, leash string popped out my ding repair from a few weeks ago with a whole lot extra. Surficially that repair looked like magic but I the faith I had in the total bonding with the foam was slippery at best. And well, there that went.
So bummed I had to call that sesh so early in as it was a magic day in so many aspects. No wonder was paddling for sh!t; that ding was seriously hurting things. Needed to get in before it got worse. I took 2 waves into rip chop to get in but got ruined. Can't go in like that on such a good day. But finally got a late-drop left, little slash that was a bit choppy with that chunk out of the tail. Enough to go in on. But still, wanted so much more from today.
Well, at least picked up some Dungeness crabs, cooked them up with some lemon butter and jeow som sauces on the side. Solid feast.
Bummed I won't have that board back for a while. I like that 6'7 lost roundpin. Such a good board, especially on days like today.
And btw, havoc, send some tech bros up this way. It's getting lonely surfing these waves by myself with no one around at all.
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Glad you’re getting on it Kento - I’ll come join you soon.
Kicked around options this morning and ended up paddling out to a sandbar that showed mild promise and sharing the session with a couple erBBers (iceman and jkb) - highlights were minimal, but pulled into one barrel with a beautiful rising sun vision that I mistimed and got smoked on, and I also burned a pod of dolphins on a set wave jkb passed on - got to look back at 4 of em racing behind me and one of em punted out in front of me and gave me a scare.
then, as iceman put it, we got 000’d when a squad rocked up and paddled out on top of us... and proceeded to backpaddle and drop anchor. **sigh**
Kicked around options this morning and ended up paddling out to a sandbar that showed mild promise and sharing the session with a couple erBBers (iceman and jkb) - highlights were minimal, but pulled into one barrel with a beautiful rising sun vision that I mistimed and got smoked on, and I also burned a pod of dolphins on a set wave jkb passed on - got to look back at 4 of em racing behind me and one of em punted out in front of me and gave me a scare.
then, as iceman put it, we got 000’d when a squad rocked up and paddled out on top of us... and proceeded to backpaddle and drop anchor. **sigh**
Man, it would be great to have someone else out. I got freaked out my a repeated random splash that I finally realized was bull kelp in impact zone.
But overall, I love it. It's harrowing, there are times a Nebraska move seems good, but overall, man I love it. The essence of being alive. Stocked you're getting some - seems a lot friendlier down there wave-wise.
Kento, that's a glass on fin. How old is that board?
Like you, I do a lot of surfing on my own nowadays, I like it. In the middle of a holiday weekend now, but I still got a surf on my own yesterday evening. Nothing big, but plenty of speed from a difficult bumpy onshore doubling up takeoff left hander. There was a clean crowded option, but I never go there.
Like you, I do a lot of surfing on my own nowadays, I like it. In the middle of a holiday weekend now, but I still got a surf on my own yesterday evening. Nothing big, but plenty of speed from a difficult bumpy onshore doubling up takeoff left hander. There was a clean crowded option, but I never go there.
The last time I saw that logo on a fin I was not quite a grom yet, my dad's buddy was trying to explain the board was custom, and I was having trouble grasping what he was trying to tell me.
That's how old.
Almost 20 years old. San Clemente Surf Co. was still in existence.
Missing chunks of tail notwithstanding, board still surfs well. Hope it can be fully repaired. No question that foam got waterlogged a bit after a caught a few waves with it like that.
fun waves this morning. fat at first then got better as tide dropped.
second sesh on dad bod. definitely more used to it now. Love the volume paddling but not when surfing. hard to sink the fat rails and it definitely hindered my surfing on the bigger waves.
took advantage of one of the only windows we'll probably have this week.
second sesh on dad bod. definitely more used to it now. Love the volume paddling but not when surfing. hard to sink the fat rails and it definitely hindered my surfing on the bigger waves.
took advantage of one of the only windows we'll probably have this week.
shared some really fun waves this morning with 20w. Pretty empty when I paddled out
but filled to capacity with a reasonably mellow vibe. 3-4+ West swell peaks a little lully
light offshore, Model F twinzer
due to SOOO many surf and paddle session....been surfing like a hungover zombie...AND STILL STOKED! had a handful of fun ones...highlights were dropping in on N4sshared some really fun waves this morning with 20w. Pretty empty when I paddled out
but filled to capacity with a reasonably mellow vibe. 3-4+ West swell peaks a little lully
light offshore, Model F twinzer
So many sessions, so little internet. Hard to pick a fav session but probably the overhead swell at a semi crowded point break on the rusty blade. Have checked this spot many times but never surfed it till this trip. Always looked a little mushy and too many montana plates in the camp area and longboards in the lineup for my taste. On a decent swell with a nice low tide tho, wow. Long, racey outside section with a growing inside bowl. The anticipation of watching that thing form up down the line may be the best thing about the wave. That or the perfect quarterpipe face it offers once it passes the outside rocks and bends into the sandy bay. Ten turns later and my legs were jello. All the lazy vanlifers do the walk back but the current was non existent so i mostly paddled and easily beat them back to the top of the point.
A few days of that show and then swell dropped so we headed back to the more exposed cobble point for a couple days of nearly as perfect and in some ways better surf. Overhead and punchier. Blade suffered a mystery crack up the bottom side of tail about a foot long so i rode the driver 2. No complaints there, it felt amazing. Cobble wave doesnt fuss over tides as much so on light wind days its surf all day.
Couple 50 year old guys from sd were killing it. One thruster guy on paper thin xanadu throwing buckets every turn, other guy riding long channel bottom twin with keels taking off deep and holding rail through long, swooping carves. Stocked to see a couple grey dudes ripping so hard and getting their waves without being aggro backpaddler dick heads. We hung out between sessions and talked sh1t on the young group of 6 mid length world tour hopefuls who showed up together.
Heading south now to get some sessions in trunks and then back north to the points, hopefully before the swell machine clicks off for the season.
A few days of that show and then swell dropped so we headed back to the more exposed cobble point for a couple days of nearly as perfect and in some ways better surf. Overhead and punchier. Blade suffered a mystery crack up the bottom side of tail about a foot long so i rode the driver 2. No complaints there, it felt amazing. Cobble wave doesnt fuss over tides as much so on light wind days its surf all day.
Couple 50 year old guys from sd were killing it. One thruster guy on paper thin xanadu throwing buckets every turn, other guy riding long channel bottom twin with keels taking off deep and holding rail through long, swooping carves. Stocked to see a couple grey dudes ripping so hard and getting their waves without being aggro backpaddler dick heads. We hung out between sessions and talked sh1t on the young group of 6 mid length world tour hopefuls who showed up together.
Heading south now to get some sessions in trunks and then back north to the points, hopefully before the swell machine clicks off for the season.
The wind is howling so onshore right now it’s nuts. Luckily yesterday from 12 to 315 I had a great session with head high super long rights and enough juice to make it super easy to rip off turns and full roundhouses with white water rebounds. Surfed with my friends kid in his 20s who was ripping and we just kept getting wave after wave. Kept looking for people to paddle out but it never happened. Best I’ve surfed in a while.