Topics

16

Random / Flowmaster Mufflers

« on: May 09, 2019, 08:14:52 AM »

My 2001 Chevy Silverado LS 1500, 2 x4  extended cab (4 doors) truck's factory installed muffler finally wore out. It had a hole in it. And I was glad. I used to own a 1988 short bed Chevy Silverado 1500 (2 doors), 350 CID, 250 HP truck which had a nice "growl" to it when it was started.

My 2001 Chevy has a 4.8 liter engine in it. It was so quiet, I could barely hear it when it was idling. Sometimes it was so quiet, I almost tried to start the engine when it was already running. But looking at my odometer told me the engine was running.

I'm not into metric measurements. I'm old school so I looked up my engines specs for the 2001 model. I found my 4.8 liter engine was 294 CID with 270 HP. This engine has always given me very good gas mileage even though it is a truck.

I looked at Magnaflow and Flowmaster mufflers and I also looked on YouTube to see if there were any videos showing how the sound comparisons were between Magnaflow and Flowmaster. I like the sound of the Flowmaster so I went to the Flowmaster site to see if they had a muffler for my 2001 truck.

https://www.holley.com/brands/flowmaster/products/exhaust/mufflers/street_chambered_mufflers/

I wanted a muffler that had "that growl", but not a droning sound in the cab. The 50 Series Big Block does not fit my truck. But the next one up from that does. A 70 Series did fit my truck so I ordered one from my local muffler shop and they also did the installation.

The owner of the muffler shop was quite familiar with Flowmaster mufflers. He told me I would have my "growl", but he said around 70 mph, I would notice a slight droning sound inside the cab of my truck. But he also said once I drive about 200 miles, the droning sound in the cab would disappear.

So I needed my new beach parking permits for Surfside, Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula. I got up early and left my home at 5:00 am and went to all three places to get my beach permits and was back at my home at 11:50 am.

I did notice the droning sound in the cab around 70 mph, but when I was almost back home, the droning sound at 70 mph disappeared. Anyhow, I like my new muffler for my "beach vehicle".  The only time I notice the sound of my new muffler now is when I start it up, when it shifts gears (automatic transmission) and when I get behind a slow poke on the road and "hit the gas pedal to pass the poke".

BTW, this is what a Flowmaster 70 Series muffler sounds like after it has just been installed.

17

SUP General / A "Guest" Sup: 3 Main Choices

« on: April 20, 2019, 08:44:08 AM »

I've been toying with the idea of getting a "guest" sup so some of my friends can go flat water paddling and also do some sup surfing (if they are adventurous enough) with me.  Nothing is set in stone at this point in time.

I've been looking at production made, not custom made, sups. I've also got some "wants & needs" for my choices. They are:

1) Length between 10'10" & 11'2"
2) Width between 31" & 32.50"
3) Thickness between 4" to 4.75"
4) Volume between 175 to 190 liters (or there abouts)
5) At least 3 fin boxes
6) Durable construction

By doing lots of research, I've come down to three choices (at this point). They are the NSP Allrounder 10'11" in Cocoflax construction, Naish 11'0" Nalu GS construction and the Tom Carroll Outer Reef in MX construction. The links to all three are below for their specifications and where applicable, the construction links (I can find) as well.

For the NSP Allrounder:

https://www.nspsurfboards.com/product/cocoflax-allrounder/

https://www.nspsurfboards.com/new-cocoflax-2019/

The one big advantage why I made the NSP Allrounder 10'11" my "leading" choice is because it has 5 fin boxes and I love the versatility and customization I can do with 5 fin boxes in both flat water and in the small to medium type of waves on the upper Texas coast where I sup surf. And the 4.06" thickness is an added bonus. At 186 liters of volume with a 4.06" thickness at it's thickest part, it has to have thinned out rails so surfing this board should be pleasurable.

I don't know anything about Cocoflax construction so I'm a little in the dark about this type of construction.

For the Naish Nalu 11'0"

https://www.naishsurfing.com/product/nalu-110-gs/

I think the GS construction would be better for the "everyday bumps and knocks" (dings) if you get my drift. It has 3 fin boxes.

For the Tom Carroll Outer Reef

https://shop.surfindustries.com/us/surf/stand-up-paddle-boards/all-rounder/tom-carroll-outer-reef-mx/



The Outer Reef also has 3 fin boxes The physical weight of the 11' Outer Reef in MX construction is "not" listed. However, an older 11' Outer Reef in CX construction is a heavy 30 lbs. I'm guessing the MX construction might be near 30 lbs also. But the guest board will always have two people around so this heavy weight will be discounted with help from the second person.

The main drawback to the Outer Reef is there is no US dealer so shipping this board from Australia or wherever they ship this board from, the shipping cost might be as high as the cost of the board itself.

So there you have it. Any comments are welcome both pro and con.

 

 

18

Sessions / First Flat Water Paddle Session Of The Year: March 30, 2019

« on: March 31, 2019, 10:59:42 AM »

A little history.

During the third week of September of 2018, I severely injured my left knee. To make a long story short, I had a "trifecta" as the saying goes. I twisted my left knee which produced a partial tear of my meniscus. I also twisted the tendons and ligaments in the knee. And to top it off, when my left knee hit the ground, under some leaves, my left knee hit an exposed sweetgum tree root. These roots are as hard as concrete and it gave my left knee a bone bruise.

My orthopedic surgeon had an MRI done and it showed the partial tear of my meniscus. A partial tear of the meniscus is not the same thing as a torn meniscus. The two are different animals although closely related. My surgeon told me the partial tear may never tear to the outside of the edge of the meniscus so there would be no surgery. He also said many people have partial tears of the meniscus in one of their knees and they don't even know it because these types of tears are so small, they don't produce any pain for many people. Partial tears never heal either. And they may never tear any further to become a full blown torn meniscus. My discomfort back then was due the stretched ligaments, tendons in the knee and the bone bruise on the side of the patella.

My surgeon gave me some exercises for the knee over the Fall and Winter months. Eventually, the ligaments and tendons healed up and the bone bruise went away. The last thing my surgeon said to me was, "When the ligaments, tendons heal up and the bone bruise goes away, don't baby the knee". He told me to do what ever I wanted to do outdoor activity wise.

Fast forward to yesterday (Saturday). Before Saturday, the preceding 6 days prior to Saturday, the weather had been quite warm. We had one day where the high temperature at my home was 86 degrees F. This warm weather has made the water temperature in the two lakes in our subdivision where I live, get up to 71 degrees F. But Saturday was going to bring a cold front to our area where the daytime highs will be in the 50's and 60's with the night time lows in the mid 30's to low 40's. This cold front was forecasted to arrive at my home around 3:00 pm.

So I decided to take my 11'1" sup, by walking about 150 yards, to the largest of our two lakes in the subdivision to beat the incoming cold front. I got down to the largest lake at 11:15 am, I was feeling a little hesitant because of my left knee. So I decided to see if I could sit "indian style" (Apache) with crossed legs on my board. I could and there was no discomfort. Then I gave my left knee the acid test. I wanted to see if I could sit my rear end onto the calves and backs of my thighs. I could and again there was no pain in my left knee.

With that said, I placed both of my feet on the sweet spot of my board and stood straight up. Put my paddle blade and the water and starting to paddle. I paddled the length of the lake and back again. I did this many times during the time I was down at the lake with some short breaks inbetween to keep my legs from feeling "tired".

But I kept my eye on the northwest part of the sky. Later, I could see the clouds in the northwest part of the sky getting dark looking. I knew the front was fast approaching. Returning to my launching spot, I walked back to my house with my board. Just as reached my home, the rain starting coming down in sheets. So I cleaned my board and paddle in my garage, towel dried them both and went inside. The time when I went inside my house said 2:35 pm.

I enjoyed my first paddle session of the year on the lake. I saw lots of sunfish and small largemouth black bass in the shallows. Our two lakes are very clean and you can see down about 3'. The red eared slider turtles were out in abundance too along with a few soft shell turtles. And the spring peeper frogs were calling also. Saw a few blue herons trying to catch a few sunfish to make a meal for themselves.

When I got back into the house, my left knee felt fine. When I awoke this Sunday morning, again my left knee felt fine. By this mid week, the daytime air temperature will be back in the mid 70's which should find me back on the lake again for "Round 2". 

19

SUP General / Bests Place To Sup Surf On The Upper Texas Coast: Surfside, Tx

« on: February 11, 2019, 09:01:53 AM »

Surfside, Tx is my favorite place to sup surf on the upper Texas coast with regards to wind and wave conditions. Our waves are wind generated. We don't have a large drop off in depth from the beach out. Think of a dinner plate so far from the beach, the water is still shallow.

With much wind, we have tiny waves which one can see in another topic thread. With some wind and combined that with our normal prevailing onshore wind direction (southeast or south), depending on the wind speed we get some good moderate waves which you can see in the video below which was taken close to Drum Point. If you notice, most of the women were surfing longboards and they had better rides than some of the men who were surfing shortboards. At these times, I'm never along, but I'm usually the only one sup surfing on a sup.



As the wind speed picks up to 20 mph or more, we get "washing machine type of waves with plenty of whitewater" which you can see in the next video below. Notice the flag in the breeze which is sticking straight out. Never mind the audio of the people speaking. The point of this video is to show the waves which I find when I get down the beach at Drum Point. And just listen to the wind whipping.



Since I've got more info, I'm going to make another post since I don't know how many videos I can put into one post.

20

SUP General / Tiny Waves

« on: February 10, 2019, 07:29:55 AM »

Most of the time the waves on the upper Texas coast are small waves. Maybe 1.5'-2' in height. But there are days where we have "tiny waves". These waves are basically slow rollers and they range in height from 9"-1'. The kind of tiny slow roller waves found in the video below.

BTW, the video below is about a vacation spot in Bali (Indonesia), but this vacation spot is not the point. The point is the tiny waves where the married couple are sup surfing these waves in rented 10' x 33" sups.



Sometimes the forecasted wave height for the upper Texas coast is wrong. Instead of small to moderate wave heights, we get "tiny waves". I've found my 11'1" x 30" @ 173 liters One World can easily sup surf these waves with me and my 144 lbs (at the moment) physical weight.

When these types of waves happen, I sometimes have the entire beach to myself surfing wise since all the prone surfers are riding 6'-8' short surfboards where their volume of liters is between 70-100 liters and their boards cannot really support their weight between 175-210 lbs when these tiny waves occur.

In the next video below you can see some of the tiny slow roller waves far off the beach. This video was taken from a drone at Drum Point at Surfside, Tx so you can see these tiny waves.



Now how I do I know which of my two sups to take to the upper Texas coast so I take the right sup? I have streaming webcam links to the beaches where I sup surf and some of these beaches have webcams where there is enough light to see from houses, piers, etc; at nightime (3:00 AM) which helps me choose the right sup since it takes me between 2-2.5 hours of one way drive time to reach these beaches.

Some of these streaming webcams are below and I've chosen these since they do not need Flash since some of you on this site do not and will not use Flash.

Take note. You won't see any tiny waves (today as I type this post) since the wind is up and coming inshore from the East at 19 mph.

https://www.bolivarpeninsulatexas.com/Webcams/Sunrise-Beach

https://www.bolivarpeninsulatexas.com/Webcams/Bluewater-Beach

https://www.bolivarpeninsulatexas.com/Webcams/Crystal-Beach-Surf

https://www.galveston.com/east-beach-videocam/

21

Training, Diet, and Fitness / Left Knee Torn Meniscus Diagnosis

« on: October 19, 2018, 07:24:39 AM »

I always thought I would get an injury from one of my sups. Instead, my latest injury is from......yard work.

On September 22nd, I was working on my yard to pick up the fallen leaves from my sweetgum tree since Fall has arrived. Long story short, I was walking along and stepped into a mole tunnel with my left foot sideways and it got wedged in the mole tunnel with my upper body still going forward. This caused my left knee to twist violently to the right.

Since my forward momentum was still in force, I couldn't get my left foot out of the mole tunnel fast enough and I started to fall. I put my arms out in front of my face since I was in a free fall face down and so I avoided a "face plant".

With my left foot stuck in the mole tunnel, my whole body was falling like a felled tree. Even though I avoided the face plant, both of my knees hit the ground. Unfortunately, the right inside of my left knee hit a semi exposed sweetgum tree root since sweetgum trees have shallow roots and some of them are exposed on the surface of the ground.

This particular tree root was hidden by the fallen leaves. When my left knee hit the root, it hurt.....LOTS! I thought I a broken my patella. I was lucky I didn't. The right inside of my left knee swelled up and in 5 days, the swelling in the knee went down, but not all the way down.

After almost 4 weeks of having a slightly swollen knee and having one spot on the knee feel tender and if pressed down upon, it gave me a burning sensation so I decided to call up my orthopedic surgeon who repaired my left and right shoulders. I suspected a torn meniscus.

When I finally saw my surgeon yesterday on the Oct 18th, after looking at my still slightly swollen right inside of my left knee, he asked me when this injury occurred. After telling him on September 22, he felt the spot on my knee where it was giving me a slight burning sensation when pressed upon.

He told me unofficially his diagnosis was a torn meniscus and he was 95% sure of his of that. He told me he was going to send me for a MRI which would confirm it and with the MRI, he could tell if there is any damage to my Medial Collateral ligament as well as any cartilage damage.

My MRI is scheduled for Nov 6th at 8:15 am in the morning. But my surgeon's PA told me to call the MRI place everday to see if they have any cancellations. If they do, I might be able to get my MRI done sooner in the cancelled appointment slot. Once my MRI is done and the results are sent to my surgeon which usually takes 24 hours of time, I will get a surgery date.

I suspect the surgery will be done on Nov 28th since my surgeon is a very popular orthopedic surgeon in the Woodlands Sports Medicine Center. Since he is very popular with a stellar reputation as an orthopedic surgeon, he performs surgeries every Wednesday from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm at the WSMC so this is why there is a long wait from an MRI result to a surgery date.

To keep the swelling down in my knee, he prescribed 120 tablets of Etodolac (500 mg per tablet) for me and I have to take two tablets twice a day. One tablet after breakfast and one tablet after supper (dinner). My surgeon also told me to "baby the knee" (stay off of it as much as possible) until I have my surgery.

BTW, the last time I took my 11'1" One World out for a leisurely flat water paddle was on Sept 21st. With the weather turning colder now; the water temperature is dropping and since I don't wear a wetsuit, with my present left knee injury, my sup paddling (flat water and surf) is over for the rest of 2018.

I just want to get my left knee surgically repaired so I can get back on the water with my sups during the last week of March or the first week of April in 2019 when the lake and beach water temperatures again returns to 66 degrees F which is my comfort zone since I don't wear a wetsuit.

22

Sessions / Full Moon Moonlight Flat Water Paddling Session

« on: September 26, 2018, 05:54:17 AM »

I've been wanting to do a full moon, moonlight flat water paddling session on a totally cloudless night. I finally got my chance last night. I walked to the largest lake in our subdivision, which is about 100 yard from my home with my board and arrived right at  8:30 pm. The water temperature was warm. I'm guessing around 83 degrees F. The air temperature was 82 degrees F. And the moon was 99% full. Moonrise was at 7:58 pm last night where I live.

There was absolutely no wind. Dead calm. The water was like glass and with the moon shining on the lake, the water looked like a mirror. Since it was the dark of night so to speak, I knew the mosquitoes would be out and hungry. So I came prepared wearing a long sleeve shirt, long pants, socks on my feet (I used water shoes for the walk down to the lake) and a flats cap hat with a 5" long bill. And the mosquitoes were out.

Besides my board and paddle, I took my usual paddle leash, Type IV life jacket and I was wearing my old trusty Casio G-Shock watch so I could tell the time since it has a light feature.

I placed my 11'1" One World sup on the water at the lake's edge in knee deep water, got on my board knees first and then finding my sweet spot, stood straight upright and then used my paddle to get away from the lake's shore. From the light of the moon, it was very easy to see.

With no wind, the glide on my board was great. Very little effort from my 75 size paddle blade to get my long length board to quickly get up to speed. But then I thought to myself, I'm here to enjoy a nice leisurely moonlight paddle so why be in a hurry? So I slowed my pace and just let the board glide for the rest of my session.

As I slowly glided along with a just a few paddle strokes every now and then, in the moonlight, I could see the splashes from the largemouth black bass in feeding mode chasing minnows and/or small sunfish near the shoreline. The bullfrogs were out bellowing on the shoreline as well.

I took a few small rests breaks like I always do when the bottom of my feet tell me to. Normally, I rest by sitting on my board close to the shoreline for about 5 minutes of time. But this didn't work last night. Since there is vegetation on the shoreline, the mosquitoes were there as well. So I had to paddle a good 25 yards off from the shoreline to keep the mosquitoes from finding me.

I paddled north to south and vice versa from one end of the lake to the other end. Ditto for east to west and vice versa as well. With no wind to make any ripples on the lake and with my slow pace of travel, my board moving over the water didn't make a sound. The only sound came from my slow paddle strokes.

I originally planned to paddle for 90 minutes and leave the lake close to 10:00 pm, but I was having so much enjoyment from this moonlight paddle, I ended up paddling till 11:00 pm. My wife was a little concerned since I wasn't back by 10:30 pm so she came down to the lake (she drove to the lake in her car) to check up on me to see if I was alright. After she found me and I paddled on over to her, I told her I would quit at 11:00 pm. BTW, time seemed to fly by very fast last night. It felt like I had only been on the water for 90 minutes.

After walking back to my home and arriving at 11:07 pm, I found my wife had turned on the outside flood light and she had placed my Shore Stand sup holder in the ready to use position on the ground where I could see it. Placing my board in the Shore Stand; using the water hose, I cleaned my board from nose to tail, top and bottom, my fins, my paddle, paddle leash, long pants, long sleeve shirt, socks, water shoes; dried everything off I could and put my board, along with the rest of my equipment back into the garage. My clothing and water shoes I let drip dry.

I then turned the outside flood light off, came inside the house, took a shower, hopped into bed at midnight and went to sleep. I slept great last night. And no tired or sore legs this morning. But staring next year in late March of 2019, I need to paddle more often during the week to toughen up the bottom of my feet.

If you haven't tried a full moon, moonlight paddling session and if you have a place to do it, you should. You won't regret it.

23

Random / Shark Attack At Crystal Beach, Texas

« on: August 10, 2018, 05:02:01 AM »

One of the places I sup surfed in 2017, because of its small but consistent waves; was Crystal Beach, Texas on the Bolivar Peninsula. I haven't been down there so far in 2018 because the place has been without any real waves to sup surf this year.

Yesterday a male beach goer was in the water in the gut around the 2nd sand bar enjoying the 87 degrees F water temperature when he felt a bump. Then a few seconds later, he got bit by a large shark right above his knee on his thigh. You can read about it at the link below and there is a graphic picture of the bite wound.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/08/09/breaking-texas-beachgoer-bitten-by-shark-rushed-to-hospital.html

Judging from the teeth marks from the wound, it looks to me to be a bite from either a large bull or blacktip shark which are a quite common in the waters off of Bolivar. I'm guessing the shark was around 6' in length.

So the next time I venture out to sup surf the waves at Crystal Beach, which has three good sup surfing beaches (Sunrise, Bluewater, Crystal), I'll have to pay attention and keep alert for any dark shark shapes prowling the guts between the 1st, 2nd and 3rd sand bars.

BTW, the link to these beaches, which have streaming webcams, can be seen at the links below.

https://www.bolivarpeninsulatexas.com/Webcams/Sunrise-Beach

https://www.bolivarpeninsulatexas.com/Webcams/Bluewater-Beach

https://www.bolivarpeninsulatexas.com/Webcams/Crystal-Beach-Surf

24

Gear Talk / Sup Sports One World 11'1"x30"x4.5" @ 173 Liters: Tanker Bow Wave Surfing Review

« on: July 05, 2018, 03:05:29 PM »

Earlier this morning I drove on down to Galveston to do some small wave surfing at either Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula or at Surfside Beach near Surfside, Tx. Since I didn't know which beach I was going to surf at, I decided to take my computer laptop along and stop at the McDonalds hamburger joint on Broadway in Galveston since they have free wifi and I picked up some lemonade there too.

Since many people were taking Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off from work because of the July 4th holiday which fell on Wednesday, I knew the roads early in the morning would not be heavy with "work day traffic". So I left my house at 5am. Got down to McDonalds at 6:55am, parked my truck with my OW on top of my cab close so I could keep an eye on my sup while I was in McDonalds, bought a big lemonade and turned on my laptop. I looked at the waves via streaming webcams for Bluewater Beach at the small enclave known as Crystal Beach and Surfside Beach (and you can control the streaming web camera at Surfside) at the links below.

https://www.bolivarpeninsulatexas.com/Webcams/Bluewater-Beach

http://www.saltwater-recon.com/surfside-cam/

The waves at both places were "awful". So while sitting at McDonalds, I decided to see if there were any offshore tanker ships incoming which would eventually come in using the Galveston Ship Channel which means they would have to sail between the North Jetty on Bolivar and the South Jetty on Galveston Island. I went to this website at the link below. (Without a cookie on your computer, you'll most likely have to navigate over to the Ship Channel between the North and South Jetties). You can hover your cursor over the large red colored ship icon and it will tell you the ship's name, speed, etc. If you left click on the red ship icon, a picture of the tanker will appear in a window. (If you want to see the North and South Jetties, you'll  have to use Google Maps.)

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-94.628/centery:29.443/zoom:12

There were two tanker ships heading inbound to the port of Houston. One was the Gianella traveling at 12 knots and the other was the Pacific Endeavor also traveling at 12 knots. I left McDonalds and made it over to the Ferry Landing at 7:20am where I caught the 7:30am ferry to the Bolivar Peninsula. I parked my truck at 7:50am on the beach at the end of 16th Street next to the North Jetty (which is at the end of 17th street). I unloaded my board with it's 4 quad fin setup (2, 5") (2, 4"), paddle leash, life jacket, then hid my laptop computer under the passenger side seat. BTW, the North Jetty is 6 miles long.

Setting my adjustable paddle to 70" in length, I paddled out from my launching spot at 8:05am using my Naish Alana 75 paddle and I paddled out for 15 minutes. I knew I was a good mile out. I also was about 75 yards away (parallel) from the jetty rocks on the North Jetty. I stopped padding, sat down on my board and waited for the Gianella. After waiting about 10 minutes, I saw the Gianella coming inbound quickly. The depth of the water where she was sailing was about 45' deep and where I was, about 7' deep.

As the ship got closer, I could see her bow wave getting closer to me to me as well. Between me and the ship, there was a good half mile distance. I stood up, pointed my board towards my launching point and waited. Since the bow wave of the ship was feeling the shallow depth, the bow wave started to get big. By the time it got to me, it was a good 5' in height. I was already paddling forward and I started to paddle faster. The big wave lifted the tail end of my board and when it did, I immediately got into a surfing stance and then the ride was "on".

I could not believe how fast I was going. The speed made me nervous. It was a beautiful wave though. Just like a 5' roller without breaking. Anyhow, the 4 fin quad setup did great. I rode that wave, without falling off my board, all the way back to my launching point. Once back at my launching point, I took a rest break and drank some Gatorade and munched on some Lance crackers.

I knew the Pacific Endeavor would be getting closer inbound so I went back out, but this time, I paddled 20 minutes out. After 20 minutes, I stopped paddling, again sat down on my board and waited. About 15 minutes of waiting, I could see the ship steaming inbound. I repeated the same ride I did with the Gianella. Both rides were great and I was tickled pink, not just for the long ride, but for me not falling off my board surfing back to my launching point. With the crappy waves this time of the year on our upper Texas beaches because of the high pressure domes of hot air which suppresses wind and waves, tanker bow wave surfing looks to be the way to go.

By the time I got back from my second bow wave ride, it was starting to get hot heat index wise so I decided to head for home. Since I carry a few gallons of fresh water with me, I washed off the fin set screws on my fins to get rid of any sand and also flushed my two vent plugs with freshwater to make sure there would be no dried sand in the vent plugs by the time I arrived home. I left at 10:30am and caught the 11:00am ferry back to Galveston Island. I was back home at 1:30pm. Once home I cleaned off my board again along with the rest of my equipment and took a shower.

This 11'1" board at 173 liters is just perfect for my 146 lb physical weight. The small diameter Naish Alana 75 paddle makes paddling my board very easy on my shoulders too whether I'm flat water paddling and/or surfing. The small diameter shaft is excellent for my small hands too. My 11'1" One World is just great for flat water paddling, surfing waves off the beach and surfing large and fast tanker bow waves from ships.

I'm glad I switched gears and instead of choosing/ordering the 10'6" Hammer, I chose the 11'1" One World.

25

Gear Talk / Sup Sports "One World" 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters Surf Review

« on: June 26, 2018, 11:14:10 AM »

For the last two months, we've had little wind because of a high pressure dome of air which suppresses the wind and without good wind, the wave action on the upper Texas coast was poor.

Monday's weather and surf forecast (6-25-2018) called for temperatures in the low 90's at Surfside, Tx with humidity at 79%, dew points at 76 degrees with a strong onshore wind out of the South at 15-17 mph with gusts as high as 25 mph. I knew the waves down at Surfside would be wind driven waves (wind swell) with lots of foam and chop. Anticipating that, I decided to use a quad fin setup (2, 5") and (2, 4") on my 11'1" One World and lower my paddle length from 70" which I prefer for flat water paddling to 67" since I figured paddling against a strong onshore wind was going to make me really bend my knees while using a lower profile for paddling. This was my first surfing session in my OW and I felt the 75 adjustable paddle with a 67" paddle length would be a good starting point in length for me.

I arrived at Surfside around 5:50 am Monday morning. My guess was spot on with regards to the wind and waves. The onshore wind was around 18-20 mph from the South, gusting to 25 mph and the waves were around 4' in height. The waves would form, then the tops of the waves would just collapse resulting in lots of shore break type foam with lots of  chop on the water. When the waves started to break, they just seemed to roll slowly over giving the look of a ramp effect as the white water just slid out in front of the wave. I got into the water at 6:15 am. BTW, I was the only one down on the beach at this time of the morning. I had the whole place to myself.

Since this was my very first time out to try and sup surf, with lots of foam and a strong head wind in front of me paddling out, instead of trying to stand up and paddle out through all of that stuff, I decided to play it safe and paddle out in a prone position with my paddle blade tucked under my chest with the shaft of the paddle pointed out above the nose of the board. This proved to be a good move on my part. I had a feeling if I tried to paddle out standing up, by stepping on the rear of my board too far, the nose of my board might be pointed too high in the air while going over a wave. This would allow the wave to push my board back on top of me and if I did, I probably would have gotten hurt real bad.

I had to prone paddle out around 150 yards to finally get away from those 4' choppy waves in height. At this distance, the waves were more like downwind waves because of the deeper water depth. This made it easy for me to stand up on my board. I got into position to catch a wave and waited for a good wave to form. When it did, I was already moving forward. The wave lifted the tail end of my board and when my board started to move forward, I quickly got into a surf stance and rode my first wave. This big board generates a lot of speed in waves like this. I was surprised just how fast the board took off and how fast it was moving along on the top of the water.

At first, I did have a problem turning the board, but this was not the fault of the board. It was because of me not stepping back further towards the tail end of the board with my back foot in conjunction with my front foot towards the left or right rail. This is what happens when one is used to sup surfing a shorter length 8'11" Hammer. But after a few rides, I adjusted and turning my 11'1" board was no longer a problem. When turning my 173 liters board, the thinned out rails on my One World makes turning very easy even for a person like me weighing 146 lbs.

Most of my rides were somewhere between 50-65 yards as best as I can tell. After each ride, I had to again get into a prone position to paddle back out because the water between the choppy waves was like a washing machine. Since I was wearing, amongst other things, my Casio G-Shock watch, I surfed for 30 minutes at a time. Then I came back to my truck parked on the beach to get some Gatorade and take a 10 minute break. This kept me hydrated and the 10 minute rest kept me from getting tired. I also munched on a few Lance Toast Chee Peanut Butter flavored crackers at each break to keep my energy level up.

As the morning wore on, the wind began to get less in speed so I raised my paddle length on my adjustable paddle from 67" to 68" since I wasn't bending my knees as much like I was when first started out at 6:15 am. The wind was around 12-14 mph with gusts to around 19 mph as best as I could guess when I left for home. In summation, I had a very enjoyable time surfing my One World in not so great wind and wave conditions. I must say, I think I'm a closet long boarder. I have a feeling surfing my One World with 1' wave heights is going to be easy.

I quit my surf session with my One World at 10:30 am. Before loading my One World back on the top of my truck cab, I had brought with me four, 1 gallon jugs of fresh water. I poured the freshwater over each fin screw hole to dislodge any sand in them. I also poured lots of freshwater over my two vent plugs. This washed out any sand since the water was sandy brown in color with lots of sand in suspension. I wanted to make sure there was no sand above the gore-tex membrane which would harden by the time I was back at my home since it was going to be at least a 2 hours and 15 drive with lots of traffic at that time of the morning.

I was on my way back home at 11:00 am. When I arrived back home at 1:15 pm, I again washed down my One World, cleaned up everything, took a shower and took a little 90 minute nap.

I'll be re-visiting this topic thread again when I take some more trips down to the upper Texas coast with my 11'1" One World to sup surf with different wind and wave conditions at either Surfside, Galveston Island or the beaches on the Bolivar Peninsula.

26

Random / Winter: Just Won't Leave

« on: April 15, 2018, 11:48:11 AM »

Normally this time of the year where I live in southeast Texas, Winter has left the scene and Spring is in full bloom. Not this year. Our normal springtime low temperatures in the mornings are between 66-70 degrees F and our afternoon high temperatures are between 78-82 degrees F.

We caught the glancing blow of a bad cold front Friday night around midnight. The neighbor behind me has a small weather station and it recorded wind speeds of 55 mph when the cold front came through along with the usual thunder, lightning, hail, and 2" of heavy rainfall. A lot of straight line wind and it blew down quite a few trees in our area.

To add insult to injury, our ISP is Comcast and Centerpoint Energy powers Comcast's equipment. Some trees blew down and toppled over on some power lines which powers Comcast's equipment. The result, it knocked out our television and internet service for 18 hours. We got our service back around 6:00 pm Saturday evening.

Woke up this Sunday morning and it was 43 degrees F. Today's high temperature is forecasted to be 65 degrees F. Tomorrow, Monday morning's low temperature is forecasted for another 43 degrees F morning. But Monday's high temperature is forecasted to rebound to 79 degrees F.

These cold mornings and not so hot afternoon are playing havoc with our water temperatures for both freshwater and saltwater. The lakes, including the two in my subdivision, are around 64 degrees F. They should be around 70 degrees F at this time of the year. The beach water temperature is around 66 degrees when it should be around 71 degrees F.

So Winter is hanging around in the mornings while Spring is trying to hold serve in the afternoons. But when Winter finally vacates the scene and Spring takes hold in the mornings, I'll be ready. This past week I went and procured my beach parking permits for the Bolivar Peninsula, Galveston Island and Surfside, Tx. My new 11'1" x 30' One World has tasted freshwater, but hasn't tasted saltwater yet.

Hopefully, where I live, we won't be having any more of these hard cold fronts so I can let my new sup board taste a little saltwater beach water when the water temperatures reaches and holds in my comfort zone.

To bide my time until the mornings are a lot warmer temperature wise, I'm watching all of the webcams down on the upper Texas coast from the Bolivar Peninsula down to Surfside, Tx checking out the beach water wave and water conditions.

27

Training, Diet, and Fitness / Right Shoulder Surgery: One Year Later

« on: April 01, 2018, 06:08:34 AM »

Looks like this forum could you use a little love topic wise.

Just over a little over a year ago on Mar 29th (Wednesday), 2017; I had my right shoulder operated on to remove a very large bone spur which cut 90% through my rotator cuff in my AC joint. The operation was out patient and it only took 45 minutes from start to finish.

If anyone has to have a shoulder operation of this type, if they offer you a nerve block, take it! If they don't offer you a nerve block, request it. When I got home later that morning; my right shoulder, right arm, right hand and fingers were "numb". I had trouble gripping anything since I kept dropping things with my right hand.

The nerve block is supposed to last 24 hours. In my case, it started to wear off after 21 hours. I could feel my pain level in the right shoulder increasing. Two hours later, I took two hydrocodone tablets. Four hours later after that, I took two more hydrocodone tablets. My prescription from my orthopedic surgeon was for 90 tablets. In the end, I only took 16 of those tablets.

The first four days is the absolute worst for this type of operation. My first night after my procedure, I had to sleep with a sling on and that was the only time I slept with a sling. If my rotator would have been entirely cut through, I would have had to wear a fixed sling which would have immobilized my shoulder for "2 months" so I dodged a bullet.

Two days later after my procedure (Friday Mar 31st), I went to physical therapy. I had a very good physical therapist and she and I got along real well. The first thing we discussed, what was my goal? I told her my goal was to get back on my sup board. She told me, since my surgeon had told her, it would take one year for my shoulder to heal since I was double stitched inside the shoulder. And there was no way to speed up time. In order to be totally pain free without any complications, after my one month of physical therapy with her, I would have to do the same exercises at my home for the next 11 months and I have.

She also reminded me that I had 12 sessions with her and those session were to be one hour long sessions, but if I wanted to come early, I could get an extra 30 minutes on my own without her since she was helping someone else out who had a knee replacement. My sessions were 3 times a week for 4 weeks (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays).

The only restriction I had was to stay off of, at that time, my Hammer since they didn't  want me to take the chance of me somehow falling on my shoulder on my board if I took my board for a flat water paddle. Ditto for sup surfing because if a wave came crashing down on my shoulder, since the shoulder was "fragile", it would damage those stitches internally. This was the hardest part to accept.

But I must admit, I did cheat "one time". While I was off the water, during the summer of 2017, I was searching for streaming webcams for Lake Conroe. I was lucky and found one at the Palms Marina on a Saturday afternoon.

http://www.lakeconroewebcams.com/palms-marina-webcam/

I went early Sunday morning with my wife to check this spot out. This was when I met two women who were coming back from an early flat water paddling session on the lake. One of the women was paddling her Starboard 11'2" x 30" Blend. Naturally, I enquired about her board. To make matters short, she asked me if I would like to demo her board. Since I was in wearing a t-short, shorts, socks and shoes, I took her up on her offer. I paddled around the marina's covered slips for about 20 minutes.

Since I was going to get a longer sup than my 8'11" Hammer and I was looking at a custom 10'6" Hammer, this short demo ride is what made me switch from a custom 10'6" x 30" Hammer to consider a custom 11'1" x 30" One World and which I now have in my garage.

Getting back on track. My surgeon told me most people who have this type of procedure, they only do about 4-6 months of their shoulder exercises at home and then they stop. They stop because their pain levels go way down and there is more of a discomfort in their shoulder. They think doing the shoulder exercise is not needed anymore since time will do the rest of the healing without doing any more shoulder exercises.

When they do this, the nagging discomfort in their shoulder does not go away because the tendons inside their shoulder still need to be stretched out. If the tendons aren't stretched out properly, the tendons take a set and they'll always have from that time forward, a nagging discomfort in the repaired shoulder.

In conclusion, if anyone has a procedure to repair a partially torn (which I had) or a totally torn through rotator, if your surgeon wants you to do your shoulder exercises for a whatever length of time, do all of the time and don't slack off. Your repaired shoulder will thank you in the end.

28

Gear Talk / Sup Sprorts "One World" 11'1' x 30" # 173 Liters Flatwater Review

« on: March 27, 2018, 05:20:54 PM »

I had a few errands to run this morning and returned home at 11:30 am. Ate an early lunch. Then checked the water temperature at our subdivisions largest private lake. Water temperature was 66 degrees F. Perfect for me. Air temperature was 83 degrees F with 96% humidity so it felt warmer than it actually was.

What wasn't perfect, there is a weather front slowly make its way across Texas. The wind was out of the southeast at a steady 14 mph with gusts up to 22 mph. This wind condition put a damper on myn different fin setups experiment. With this wind, I decided to only use one single fin setup and the logical choice was my 9" fin. I placed the back of the fin about 1" from the tail end of the 10" Futures fin box.

My paddle equipment included my new Type III manual inflatable vest, my 10' sup leash and my new Naish Alana 75, two piece adjustable paddle. Since I had right  shoulder surgery on 3-29-2017, almost a year ago, I was anxious to see how my right shoulder would hold up with my new paddle in these wind conditions. This paddle also has a small diameter shaft which is perfect for my small hands. And the Blue Planet Sup Grip made carrying my board, with the left rail under my right armpit, a pleasure.

https://www.naishsurfing.com/product/alana-75-vario-rds/

The lake had lots of big ripples on it and at times, they broke into very small whitecaps. With these wind conditions, I decided to make it easy on myself. Since the wind was coming from the southeast, I decided to launch my board at the northwest part of the lake. I figured going into the wind would give my surgically repaired right shoulder a good test and coming back, I would have the wind at my back with my back acting as a sail. Which means I could rest  on the way back to my launch/starting point.

I made six round trip runs. Mainly because I was really enjoying myself and I hadn't been on my Hammer since the last week in November of 2016.

My One World (OW) was very stable when I first got on it. I decided to use a 75" paddle length to start out with. Just a little ways from shore, I went to a 75.5" length. This suited me better.

Going upwind, I was surprised how easy my OW went upwind with less effort than I anticipated in the high wind. Tracking in a straight line was very good since I could paddle 7 strokes on the right side and then paddled 7 strokes on the left side. I made sure to keep the wind in my face going upwind. If the wind speed wouldn't have been as high as it was, I might have had a chance to get 8 paddle strokes on each side. But that will be for another test on a different day when the wind speed should be lower. I'm hoping for this upcoming Friday.

Coming back to my launch/starting point with the wind at my back, I had a lot of fun just gliding along with the wind pushing me. After three round trips, I adjusted the paddle length to 76" and I think I'm going to settle on this length for flat water paddling for right now.

I didn't try to do any flat water paddling with the wind coming broadside at the board at a 90 degree angle. I figured I was just going to keep it simple today and not tempt "Murphy's Law".

Oh! Almost forgot. Badger, you were correct. I didn't fall off the board and I only got wet up to my knees when I first got on my board and then when I got off of my board at the launch/starting point. Absolutely no problems with my right shoulder. The right shoulder felt strong at the start and it felt strong at the end. I guess all those shoulder exercises I did 3 times a week, in 1 hour sessions for 52 weeks paid off. I have no pain or discomfort in my right shoulder. Full range of mobility, but I had that 4 weeks after surgery so I wasn't concerned about shoulder mobility.

And I came away with a small bonus. My cranky lower back was not cranky. I think the new and proper mattress for my shoulders and back I bought in April of 2017 for sleeping on is the root cause of that. I'll explain later in a different forum.

I'm going to take my OW out again and with the weather iffy for Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I'm looking forward to Friday. I want to test out a 2 + 1 setup (2, 5") and (1, 9"). Then the acid test will be a quad +1 setup, (2, 5") (2, 4") and (1, 2.25"). I will report back in this topic thread.

29

Random / Pacific Weather Fronts In Texas

« on: February 28, 2018, 08:12:01 AM »

Where I live in southeast Texas, at this time of the year, we mostly get mild Pacific weather fronts. Many times, these weather fronts just don't have enough "oomph" to make it down to the upper Texas coast.

As an example, last week we had two Pacific weather fronts that stalled out over Houston, Tx. I live north/northwest of Houston. So our daily high temperatures were in the high 50's. But Galveston, Surfside (Freeport) were south of the stalled weather fronts by about 45-50 miles. So these places had high temperatures of 70 degrees F and above.

The most interesting thing about these stalled weather fronts is how they effect water temperatures. Right now, about 25 miles from me is Lake Conroe. The water temperature there is (as I type this post) 57 degrees F.

But down on the coast at Galveston, Surfside (Freeport), the beach water temperature is (as I type this post) a balmy 69 degrees F. So it looks like where I live we are going to have an early Spring.

There are other signs too. The wild cherry laurel trees on my property are starting to bud out. All of my loblolly pine trees are budding out as well as all of my live oak trees. And quite a few of my wife's azalea bushes are budding out too. The only thing I don't like to see, my brown San Augustine grass is starting to turn "green" in color. I don't like to mow grass.

For the next 10 days, my plate is full with lots of things to do so I can't take my new board down to Surfside since the water temperature down there right now is in my comfort zone of 66 degrees F and I'm itching to "take some nice long gliding rides" with my new toy.

I'm just hoping we don't get one last Arctic weather front which drops the water temperature down by 8 degrees and if there is no Arctic front, I plan on surfing my new sup during the second week of March.

As they say here in Texas, "what is it like in your neck of the woods" where you live?

30

Gear Talk / US Coast Guard Approved Type III PFD's

« on: February 25, 2018, 09:41:27 AM »

Now that I have my 11'1" x 30" One World in my garage, I've turned my attention to getting a PFD so I can "comfortably" paddle my sup when flat water paddling on area lakes, rivers, salt marshes and coastal cruising. My old Type III I used for kayaking is just too bulky for sup paddling.

In the state of Texas, sups are considered a vessel by the US Coast Guard and they come under the jurisdiction of the state of Texas through the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD). Texas state water extends out to 9 miles offshore from the beach into the Gulf of Mexico. Which means I'm going to need a US Coast Guard approved Type III PFD.

I've come to two Type III choices (so far). One choice is similar to my old kayak PFD but isn't as bulky. The second choice is a manually inflatable PFD. I don't want  an automatic inflatable because when I fall off my board and get dunked in the water, it would inflate. Can't have that. BTW, I do know there are advantages and disadvantages to both kinds of PFD's.

The two US Coast Guard approved Type III PFD's are the Onyx MoveVent Dynamic Vest and the MTI Helios 2.0 (Manual) Inflatable PFD. You can see them at the links below.

https://www.onyxoutdoor.com/p/movevent-dynamic-vest?pp=24

https://www.mtiadventurewear.com/products/sup/web400200000-helios-20

Right now, I'm favoring the MTI Helios 2.0 (Manual) Inflatable Type III PFD because it won't get in the way of paddling, nothing to stick out and foul my paddle stroke and it will be relatively cool to wear in the extremely hot months of July and Ausgust when the heat index can reach 112-115 degrees F.

So if anyone has any comments on my present choices, please feel free to post your opinions.