Surf Ranch (*Warning: Long and self indulgent b.s.*)

[sh3]

Surf Ranch (*Warning: This is long*)


A little too deep on a CT2 wave

I recently had the extremely good fortune to be invited to surf at the Surf Ranch (SR) in Lemoore, CA. It’s not an invitation I accepted blindly; I knew just how lucky I was, given that the SR rents out at $60,000 per day… and is completely booked EVERY DAY of the year. (I asked: it’s booked for 352 days a year, closed 4 days for upkeep and maintenance.) This was a bit of a golden ticket.

Before going, I read up on everything I could find about the wave. The very best article I found was from Stab magazine: Click here.

Going to a new wave, and what everyone said is a fast one at that, I knew I needed boards I knew and were fast. As you all know, I chose my RNV4 and twin fin V4 both from Daniel Thomson. I also brought my Tomo shaped GMM2, although I never used it. Cleaned them all and waxed them with base and tropical wax, as the water was 85 degrees!


5'7" GMM2, 5'9" RNV4, 5'10" Twin V4


Quad plus trailer, Thruster, Twin

Lemoore and Hanford (which it’s next to) are not the cosmopolitan hubs of California living. They’re small towns in the central valley with not a lot on offer. Upon exiting the freeway, I drove some side roads until I saw a fenced in property off the side of the road. There it was.


Hmmm... what's this?


Heaven's gates?

I checked in on Thursday, September 2 in the afternoon, showing my COVID negative status, and the place just opened up. It’s not just the wave pool, but a water ski lake next to it, beautiful Air Stream trailers for guests, and a Mexican style palapa for eating and entertaining. From there, I parked and walked over to watch the wave. It was beyond my expectations. I have a video of me watching the first ever wave I saw in person there and could not contain my excitations - I swear it sounded like I was in the throws of passion, but what a sight! (If I knew how to post videos, I would. I have a few.)

There was a group of complete beginners being ushered into amazing waves by Raimana V.B. These were folks apparently somewhat well to do who wanted to get barreled. With Raimana’s help, I saw it happen. They did - it wasn’t pretty, but it was effective. They were constantly falling, but when they did Raimana took advantage on his 9’ soft top!


Raimana, not wasting a single wave - I've got this on video, too.


So after that, it was eating (amazing food there, all organic and gluten and dairy free) and wake surfing.


Homemade carnitas with black beans, red pepper hummus, rice, corn, beets, and tortillas. Gourmet all the way.


Washing off the road with a quick wake surf session.

Then off to bed early. I didn’t stay in the trailers as I was a last minute addition. I stayed in beautiful Hanford at the rather swanky Holiday Inn.


These were full on luxury Airstreams, with A/C. Key when it's 95* outside.


On Friday, September 3, it was up early and back to the SR. Breakfast was followed by a 30 minute orientation video and discussion, then off to surf the waves.

We broke into 3 groups of 4 people. The idea is that everyone is guaranteed 4 waves every hour, with a wave every four minutes. The surfers each line up about 100 yards apart, so if someone falls someone else can catch the wave and take advantage. It’s called “poaching” and it’s completely accepted and encouraged. They don’t want waves being wasted just as much as we don’t want waves being wasted.


As I said, you do NOT want to waste these waves.

... end of part one. See part two below.

 

[sh3]

Now part 2...


SR also provides boards if you want. Two rooms, three racks of board, to choose from. Here’s a rack of boards that ought to make ReForest drool:


Tomos, tomos everywhere.

There were three different waves to choose from. All are 600-700 yards long and overhead. Yes, these are legit overhead waves. Before going on your wave, you’d ask the ski driver to radio the tower to program which wave you wanted. Left or right, the waves at each level are said to be identical. Amazing. So here are the wave types:

-Intermediate: A slower and somewhat mushy wave with no barrels. No one chose this in our group.

1. -CT3: This is a fast wave that has the barrel at the end section. It’s a fast and committed barrel, which occasionally pinches shut as the day progresses. Probably 85% of the waves called that day were CT3. It’s a tough backside wave.
2. 
   
3. -CT2 (think “2 barrels): This is a slightly faster but much more critical wave. I believe the change in the wave is not only due to the sled/foil moving faster, but also the underwater foil being hydraulically moved somewhat. That’s a guess. I chose this for all but 6 of my waves. I ended up surfing about 16 or 17 waves that day. This wave has a long round middle barrel and a super super fast end barrel that’s almond shaped.

Notably, there’s also a CT1, but that wasn’t offered to our group.


My first wave there ever... yeah, I made it! Have video to prove it, too. : )

So the wave? It’s awesome. It is fast - very fast. No one was doing major maneuvers and most were safety surfing, myself included for the first 1/2 of my day. You didn’t want to lose your wave! When I’d had two good waves in both direction, then I started pushing it because I wanted to experience this thing. The middle barrel on the CT2 was super round but required you stall at the base and let the water do the work. Very different than ocean surfing; I couldn’t quite get used to that part. I had 3-5 second barrels here, but if you could properly stall a 10-15 second barrel was possible. The end barrel was much like an ocean barrel backdooring on you, requiring a ton of drive and rail commitment.


*Right here I'd like to insert two videos, but I don't know how. Sorry.*


The boards were amazing for me. I really did like the control I had with my thruster RNV4. My only issue was stalling enough and then driving enough. My twin fin was just too damned fast! Crazy. I never used the GMM2, which might have been perfect but I didn’t want to squander my day on an experiment.


Trying SUPER unsuccessfully to stall on my twin. It just wasn't going to happen. This was a CT3.

I will say, if I did it again I’d want to use a round tail or round-pin tail thruster Tomo, like a Hydroshort. Something super fast but also with stalling control when necessary. I’d also like to push it harder next time!

Regardless, what an incredible experience.

The entire playing field, me in the middle barrel section of the CT2.




(NOTE: Don’t have any water photos of me on the left yet. I expect to get those soon and then harass you all with them over the coming weeks/months/years.)

 

[ReForest]

Exceptional review! And yes - I was drooling on the first picture.

How far was the rather swanky Holiday Inn from SR?
Is CT1 even more high performance than CT2 & CT3?
Were you able to hit the lip or get any turns in?
Do they offer coaching or review of your waves at any point during the day?
Was Raimana yelling at you to "stay low"?

 

[waxfoot]

Nothing to add as a response really, apart from what frosty said above - great review!

Knowing I'll never ever surf it, it's fun hearing from the everyman's perspective.

ps: 21Mill gross sales, surely this alone is keeping the Wozzle afloat?

 

[manbearpig]

Bro

best post here in awhile.

 

[sdsrfr]

Design Forum needs more write ups and trip reports such as this.

 

[estreet]

*Right here I'd like to insert two videos, but I don't know how. Sorry.*

Sorry, no excuses...

 

[Waterlogged05]

Man I would be surfing so carefully not to blow the waves, we gotta know if you got some turns in during the afternoon

 

[HSY]

Awesome post! Sounds amazing. So they bring in about 20million a year before expenses... I wonder how much money they make. Also I wonder how many of those days are reserved Kelly Slater days, or if he just jumps into groups whenever he wants to because most people would be stoked to give up some waves to Slater and nobody would complain.

 

[manbearpig]

Waterlogged made a good point I feel a lot have showed same feelings about.

so how did you feel in the water there? Able to cut loose or did you surf conservatively?

 

[TheEl]

How does it feel to be better than the rest of us?


















Kidding. Jealous. Stoked 4 u.

 

[Oceanslide]

Hell yes, Steve! So stoked for you...thanks for sharing.

 

[silentbutdeadly]

amazing post and recap. sounds like a blast

 

[jkb]

Stocked!

 

[laidback]

Good stuff, sh3
Imo not long enough
Great post

 

[sh3]

So here's a bit more... I hope:

1. My first time seeing the wave. Please forgive the ridiculous commentary but understand I had no idea what I was about to see. I couldn't contain myself. It's a bit embarrassing, but you'll understand that I did not know I was about to see this. WOW. Again, I know I'm being a dork but seeing this in person was mind-blowing. (Edit: the guy at the end getting worked while on his knees is Raimana.)

2. My first wave there, the end section. At this point, no one had completed a wave, so needless to say I was stocked. Hence the fist pump dive off claim. *facepalm* I was riding the RNV4 on this left, safety surfing my way into the end bowl section.

3. Riding the twin fin into the end section on the right. I poached this wave when someone else fell off. I was trying to stay back so I wouldn't outrun the end bowl again, but ended up staying too far back. DOH!

4. Raimana on his 9'0" soft top taking advantage of the guys before us falling. He didn't make all of them, but he did make this on one his INT soft top!

So you are aware, this is my second time trying to post these four videos. If I fail again I'll delete the post again & give up for the night. Maybe I'll give it another shot tomorrow. (Edit: IT WORKED!)

-sh3

 

[Havoc]

yo steve u had an epic tavarua trip report on here like 15 years ago lol...

 

[Retropete]

Just about covers that report.
FULLY Stocked!

 

[enframed]

Had to turn the volume down on that first video or my wife would've thought I was watching pron.

Nice write up and vids.

Cheers

 

[santacruzin]

Epic report thank for sharing !!