Author Topic: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)  (Read 23239 times)

Zooport

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #30 on: February 26, 2017, 12:05:45 PM »
Is there only one wave after a tanker?
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Night Wing

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #31 on: February 26, 2017, 01:21:46 PM »

I checked out your link and all I could find was past and present conditions. Am I missing something?

The wind speed and direction indicator is to the right of the temperture. At the link below, the wind speed changes every few seconds. It's the round circle with the wind speed in the middle with the wind direction on an outside edge of the circle. And it's working for me because I just checked it.

https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KTXPORTB3#history
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
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Night Wing

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #32 on: February 26, 2017, 01:38:12 PM »

You can see in that video why a prone board doesn't work well on that wave. They had to stay in the white water the whole time. Prone boards just don't have enough glide to actually ride the face of the wave for very long.

It's perfect wave for standup. Why aren't there more videos of standup boards taking advantage of these perfect waves? I've done some searching and have only seen one or two vids with standups. If anyone knows of any, post them up.

Standup paddle boarding is not well known for surfing tanker waves in Texas. I guess the reason why is because most people think you have to have a boat to pick you up far from where you started. With my Plan B setup, one doesn't need a boat.

Another reason is, all the sup surfing I've seen people doing on the upper Texas coast is surfing the waves on a beachfront. I accidentally ran across sup surfing tanker waves by watching YouTube videos with regards to sup surfing.

In reality, supping is just catching on in the state of Texas. This is why you don't find many sup dealers in the state of Texas. Austin Canoe & Kayak is a sup dealer in Austin, Houston and Spring (Texas cities) but you won't find any sups in their showrooms. Just kayaks. The prone surf board dealers have a few sup models, but you're not going to find any Starboard, Naisch, Sunova, etc; big name dealers.

As an example, the link below is the only place on Lake Conroe to rent a sup. And the place is only open on weekends at this time of the year.

http://lakeconroepaddleboards.com/
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #33 on: February 26, 2017, 01:42:17 PM »
Is there only one wave after a tanker?

I think it depends on the where you sup surf a wave in the Galveston Ship Channel. From watching some of the tanker surfind videos, it looks there is one wave, but I'm guessing there are secondary waves behind the first wave.

If one is sup surfing a tanker wave near a rock jetty, the waves from the ship have to reach the jetty rocks and then bounce back towards the ship channel. This is why on the young man sup surfing a tanker wave at Port Aransas on his Naisch Hokua, you can see more than one wave hitting the retainer wall lining the ship channel.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Badger

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #34 on: February 26, 2017, 03:03:51 PM »

I checked out your link and all I could find was past and present conditions. Am I missing something?

The wind speed and direction indicator is to the right of the temperture. At the link below, the wind speed changes every few seconds. It's the round circle with the wind speed in the middle with the wind direction on an outside edge of the circle. And it's working for me because I just checked it.

https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KTXPORTB3#history

Yes, as I said, it only has past and present wind conditions.

The present wind is in the circle and if you scroll down, you can get the wind speed and direction for the past week, month, or year.

Wouldn't it be more useful to know what the wind will be doing in the future so that you can decide when is the best time to go?

.
« Last Edit: February 26, 2017, 03:17:44 PM by Badger »
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yugi

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #35 on: February 26, 2017, 03:41:14 PM »
Is there only one wave after a tanker?

I think it depends on the where you sup surf a wave in the Galveston Ship Channel. From watching some of the tanker surfind videos, it looks there is one wave, but I'm guessing there are secondary waves behind the first wave.


There will be a bow wave and a stern wave unless the tanker is planning.

You will get a better wake where the tanker is accelerating rather than decelerating. I would presume outbound leaving the channel out to open sea. A loaded or empty ship makes a difference too. Heavy and fast is best. Some loads and speeds the wake is useless. Observe and figure it out.

The wake is steeper near the boat and, with distance, becomes progressively lower. Typically you want a longer narrower board for speed and glide to be able to work the wake far from the boat. As well as for the paddle out or in. Longer and narrower than the 10’6 you are thinking about Nighty night. More gun. A 14’ surfy DW board is ideal. Or a foiler I imagine.

I don’t have monster tankers to ride but I have trained my local boat captains well so they buzzme close and hit the gas. I catch them as close as I can. Real close without ever getting in their way. Coast Guard would NOT approve, but the Captains get as much a kick out of it as I do. It's a relationship well worth developing.

You can also look to surf the wake at spots where bottom contours abruptly become shallow. As usual.

« Last Edit: February 26, 2017, 04:27:21 PM by yugi »

yugi

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #36 on: February 26, 2017, 04:52:20 PM »
^ forgot to point out

If the tanker will take a predictable turn the wake on the inside of the turn is the sweet spot. That the place to be. The wave can stay steep much longer.
« Last Edit: February 26, 2017, 05:34:12 PM by yugi »

lucabrasi

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #37 on: February 26, 2017, 05:55:17 PM »
Cool thread.

...You will get a better wake where the tanker is accelerating rather than decelerating. I would presume outbound leaving the channel out to open sea. A loaded or empty ship makes a difference too. Heavy and fast is best........
Well by golly........with all the new exports we going to have we gonna have more ships leaving full. See......an unthought of benefit of the new president and his policies. I guess that might be alternative something tho.  ;)



Night Wing

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #38 on: February 26, 2017, 05:58:40 PM »
Yes, as I said, it only has past and present wind conditions.

The present wind is in the circle and if you scroll down, you can get the wind speed and direction for the past week, month, or year.

Wouldn't it be more useful to know what the wind will be doing in the future so that you can decide when is the best time to go?

You must have something blocking it because it changes about every 20 second or there of time wise for me.

As for knowing about the future wind conditions. Sometimes the weather person gets the wind wrong. Like when he/she says it will be coming from the southeast when in actuality it is coming from the southeast.

Also, sometimes the weather person will forecast the wind speed from 5-10 mph, but there are times the wind speed is blowing from 12-17 mph with wind gusts to 20 mph. Since I live 90 miles from Galveston, I can check on my computer to see what the wind speed is at that moment when I normally leave for Galveston at 3:00 AM in the early morning. If the wind is blowing way too high, I don't waste the gas money and also the time to go down there and come back to my home.
« Last Edit: February 26, 2017, 06:05:31 PM by Night Wing »
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #39 on: February 26, 2017, 06:31:19 PM »
^ forgot to point out

If the tanker will take a predictable turn the wake on the inside of the turn is the sweet spot. That the place to be. The wave can stay steep much longer.

That would be true if that would happen, but that will never happen in the Galveston Ship Channel. And the reason is below.

Any tanker/ship in the Galveston Ship Channel has to maintain it's designated lane and there is no turning in the ship channel once the tanker passes between the entrance to the  North and South jetties inbound. The same goes for passing the narrow distance (1.5 miles) separating Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula outbound. In other words, it's like a two lane highway and course deviations aren't allowed.

Lastly, the lanes in the ship channel have known water depths and every boat captain knows how much water depth there is between the bottom of the hull to the seabed in both high and low tides for any time of the year. If a boat captain; and I was one but now retired, veers off course for any reason in the Galveston Ship Channel, the tanker/ship can run aground and that is going to be a MAJOR problem since it would effectively shut down the port of Houston with no goods going outbound or inbound ship wise.

If that were to happen, then the Coast Guard would open up a Board of Inquiry and that is no fun for any boat captain. Besides the monetary damages, the boat captain will lose his/her license and effectively he/she will never pilot a boat (crew boat, tug, etc) or a ship (tanker/cruise liner, etc) again. It would be hard to ever get a captain's license again and even it the person could somehow get their license back, no maritime company would hire the person.
« Last Edit: February 26, 2017, 06:37:16 PM by Night Wing »
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #40 on: February 26, 2017, 06:33:52 PM »
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Badger

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #41 on: February 26, 2017, 06:42:32 PM »
Yes, as I said, it only has past and present wind conditions.

The present wind is in the circle and if you scroll down, you can get the wind speed and direction for the past week, month, or year.

Wouldn't it be more useful to know what the wind will be doing in the future so that you can decide when is the best time to go?

You must have something blocking it because it changes about every 20 second or there of time wise for me.

As for knowing about the future wind conditions. Sometimes the weather person gets the wind wrong. Like when he/she says it will be coming from the southeast when in actuality it is coming from the southeast.

Also, sometimes the weather person will forecast the wind speed from 5-10 mph, but there are times the wind speed is blowing from 12-17 mph with wind gusts to 20 mph. Since I live 90 miles from Galveston, I can check on my computer to see what the wind speed is at that moment when I normally leave for Galveston at 3:00 AM in the early morning. If the wind is blowing way too high, I don't waste the gas money and also the time to go down there and come back to my home.

Lol, I'm not having any problem with the site. It's working fine.

I just wondered why you thought it was useful. Thanks for the explanation.

.
« Last Edit: February 26, 2017, 06:55:06 PM by Badger »
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Sunova Flow  8'10 X 31"  119L
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yugi

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #42 on: February 26, 2017, 07:20:20 PM »

Wouldn't it be more useful to know what the wind will be doing in the future so that you can decide when is the best time to go?

As for knowing about the future wind conditions. Sometimes the weather person gets the wind wrong. Like when he/she says it will be coming from the southeast when in actuality it is coming from the southeast.


^ Well by golly.....



^ forgot to point out

If the tanker will take a predictable turn the wake on the inside of the turn is the sweet spot. That the place to be. The wave can stay steep much longer.

That would be true if that would happen, but that will never happen in the Galveston Ship Channel. And the reason is below.

Any tanker/ship in the Galveston Ship Channel has to maintain it's designated lane and there is no turning in the ship channel once the tanker passes between the entrance to the  North and South jetties inbound. The same goes for passing the narrow distance (1.5 miles) separating Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula outbound. In other words, it's like a two lane highway and course deviations aren't allowed.

Lastly, the lanes in the ship channel have known water depths and every boat captain knows how much water depth there is between the bottom of the hull to the seabed in both high and low tides for any time of the year. If a boat captain; and I was one but now retired, veers off course for any reason in the Galveston Ship Channel, the tanker/ship can run aground and that is going to be a MAJOR problem since it would effectively shut down the port of Houston with no goods going outbound or inbound ship wise.

If that were to happen, then the Coast Guard would open up a Board of Inquiry and that is no fun for any boat captain. Besides the monetary damages, the boat captain will lose his/her license and effectively he/she will never pilot a boat (crew boat, tug, etc) or a ship (tanker/cruise liner, etc) again. It would be hard to ever get a captain's license again and even it the person could somehow get their license back, no maritime company would hire the person.

LOL,
I wasn’t suggesting the ship turn where it isn’t allowed to.

I was suggesting you go surf the inside of where the ship will/does turn.




yugi

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #43 on: February 26, 2017, 07:35:23 PM »
Yes, as I said, it only has past and present wind conditions.

The present wind is in the circle and if you scroll down, you can get the wind speed and direction for the past week, month, or year.

Wouldn't it be more useful to know what the wind will be doing in the future so that you can decide when is the best time to go?

You must have something blocking it because it changes about every 20 second or there of time wise for me.

As for knowing about the future wind conditions. Sometimes the weather person gets the wind wrong. Like when he/she says it will be coming from the southeast when in actuality it is coming from the southeast.

Also, sometimes the weather person will forecast the wind speed from 5-10 mph, but there are times the wind speed is blowing from 12-17 mph with wind gusts to 20 mph. Since I live 90 miles from Galveston, I can check on my computer to see what the wind speed is at that moment when I normally leave for Galveston at 3:00 AM in the early morning. If the wind is blowing way too high, I don't waste the gas money and also the time to go down there and come back to my home.

Here's past (report tab), current and forecast for ya'all

https://www.windfinder.com/weatherforecast/crystal-beach_bolivar-peninsula

Night Wing

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Re: Sup Surfing Tanker Waves In the Galveston Ship Channel (Texas)
« Reply #44 on: February 26, 2017, 07:57:48 PM »
Here's past (report tab), current and forecast for ya'all

https://www.windfinder.com/weatherforecast/crystal-beach_bolivar-peninsula

Thanks. I didn't know about this website. I'll add it to my favorites/bookmarks. I'll also check it out in more detail and see if it will forecast other places I go to on the upper Texas coast.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

 


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