Whoopee.
I was sitting at Kanaha looking at piddly surf trying to talk myself out of paddling out. The offshore wind was cleaning the waves up, but I know how hard it can be to get into waist high mush when it's blowing ten knots up the face. My cell rang--Bill Foote--my board is ready. Saved me from a frustrating session.
As you all know I've been very patient, and only camped in Bill's yard and threw tantrums for a short while. Worth the wait of course. What gorgeous work this guy does.
Before pad. You can kind of see the bamboo foot reenforcement in the middle of the deck
Yum. Mine looks longer, but it isn't. It also looks narrower, and it is. Both of these boards are quite a bit thicker than the usual Maliko 14--because Bill and I are both lardasses.
My pad is seafoam green, but it's a bit lighter than I had in mind. I might airbrush the pad with some green dye. Have to test the effect first.
You can see my other new Footie on the jeep--son of Gecko. Great board.
The proof is in the pudding, Larry and I did a semi-flatwater run from La Perouse to Makena Landing. Choppy and a lot of groundswell and shore bounce from the lava cliffs. The board was great. I don't think I have the right fin on it yet, I tried a 14" Future Downwinder fin. The board didn't track well with it, I'll try that fin again in a real downwinder, but I'm also going to get a conventional raked low aspect fin.
I can't wait to get this board into real swells, it's stable, light and fast. Whoopee.
Author
