Messages

1

Travel, Trips, Destinations / Re: Surf recommendations - Santa Barbara?

« on: August 02, 2022, 06:41:27 PM »

Nice photos.

2

Travel, Trips, Destinations / Re: The Gorge

« on: July 23, 2022, 12:16:43 PM »

It looked so good yesterday in the central Gorge.  Grade A spectating at the Hatchery and Swell city.  Classic summer Gorge conditions. I am amazed by the winging skills and how quickly that has advanced.  Full aerial show at the point with a lot of great visiting riders in town.  Watersport playground mode.  Windsurf, Windfoil, Wings, kite, kite-foil, SUPfoil, OC's, Surfskis.

What is the one watersport not on that list?

3

Travel, Trips, Destinations / Re: The Gorge

« on: July 18, 2022, 08:46:23 PM »

It really does seem that downwind SUP is over in the Gorge. I live across from Mitchell Point, roughly half way in a Viento run, and watch the traffic in the river from my deck. There are still quite a few boats going downwind, surf skis, OC-1's and the like, but I have yet to see any SUPs this season. Look at the inventory at Big Winds; 1 or 2 raceboards or downwind boards at most, every other SUP is an inflatable! Five years ago they had 20 downwind boards for sale. However there are many more people doing upwind-downwind runs, of course all of them are on foils!

4

Sessions / Re: April Storm Surf 4-19-2022

« on: April 26, 2022, 04:44:17 PM »

Good for you for going for it! As I get older I am starting to get more and more finicky about when I go out. Cold beatdowns are becoming a serious disincentive!

5

Sessions / Re: March-in In Like a Lamb

« on: March 22, 2022, 01:44:09 PM »

Sweet.

6

SoCal / Shark at Sunset

« on: February 15, 2022, 12:21:21 PM »

I have always wondered how I would react to seeing a shark up close while I am in the water. Sunday I found out. I was SUP surfing at Sunset on Sunday afternoon, before the Superbowl party at my neighbor's house, and just as I started to paddle away from the break to head back to my car (on crowded days I park about a half mile up PCH and paddle over to the break) I looked down in the water and saw a 6 or 7 foot long  shark casually swim past my board, a few feet below the surface, going the other way! I yelled back to the other surfers "Shark!" and pointed my paddle  generally toward the direction he was headed. Someone asked "How big?" and I yelled back  "6 or 7 foot".  That was it. I was not nervous or scared. However I wonder if I wasn't already on my way home whether I would have  stayed in the water? I don't know. I felt pretty safe up on my board, but I wouldn't have wanted to fall in.

The fact is, now that I think about it, I have seen sharks in the water in the past, just not quite so clearly. It has never stopped me from going out, and this won't either, but it will make me think.

7

General Discussion / Re: Santa Monica Intel

« on: September 11, 2021, 11:24:12 AM »

Here is a shot of Sunset on a good south swell.

8

General Discussion / Re: Santa Monica Intel

« on: September 11, 2021, 10:25:14 AM »

Sunset (by Gladstone’s) is a soft longboard wave that’s closer to Santa Monica. You could ride a fish at the point there. Dies above 3’ but doable any other swell.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. Sunset is a mushy, soft wave for sure, but it can get really fun when it gets some size. I SUS there regularly all winter and when it gets big it is still very user friendly and not scary. I have even been denied there on really big days, when paddling out on a SUP is virtually impossible. A prone board that can be duck dived, or even going turtle, is a different story.

9

General Discussion / Re: Santa Monica Intel

« on: September 11, 2021, 10:06:58 AM »

If you have to walk from the pier, you are basically limited to Bay St. which is about a quarter mile south. That might be OK though, because it is a beach break with room to spread out that won't be too crowded. Certainly nothing like Malibu or Topanga. Right around the pier, and to the north, there is no surf. I don't know if the lifeguards are still flying the meatball (black dot flag) during weekdays anymore. When that flag is up it means no surfing. Usually flies during the day on crowded beach days, not mornings or evenings.

10

SoCal / Re: Wingdings at Topanga

« on: April 19, 2021, 12:35:10 PM »

Where did the prone downwinders put in? For years I tried to find someone to try a SUP downwinder from Malibu to Sunset. Never made it happen. But I was also afraid that the on shore direction would make it hard, unless you first went way outside. Does this mean that foil downwinding is now making this run practical? Not that I ever plan to try that. That ship has sailed.

11

SoCal / Wingdings at Topanga

« on: April 17, 2021, 03:36:24 PM »

I just checked the Topanga cam and saw at least 5 wingers, as well as at least one prone foiler scoring rides. And it is a blown out typical on shore afternoon and still crowded as hell because its the weekend. Must be official now, gotta get a foil and wing!

12

Gear Talk / Re: usbox versus longboard/surf/bahne box

« on: April 14, 2021, 01:50:53 PM »

Or you can screw up like I did, when the custom SUP I ordered came with a center box that was too tight to use any of my quiver of windsurf wave fins. I had the board built with the intention of sometimes using it to wind SUP in light wind at spots in SoCal and it needed to be in single fin configuration. I filed the box out, but of course went just a tad too far, so since then I have had to use multiple shims with all the fins.

13

Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: SoCal Wing Lessons??

« on: May 23, 2020, 01:39:05 PM »

I have seen a couple of wingdingers in the last week in north LA. One guy, total newbie, at Topanga, struggling to get up on his foil in 8-12 type wind. There was a much more experienced winger out at Sunset the next day, in better wind. I have yet to see any windfoilers at all, but kite foilers are common. There is also a guy I have seen several times at Sunset on an electric foil.

14

SUP General / Re: SUP Sports

« on: January 26, 2020, 09:55:05 PM »

Wardog turned me on to SUP before it had a name. We had known each other for years, as Wardog had been selling windsurfing gear out of his garage, and I had bought windsurf boards from him in the past. At the time most of the SoCal windsurfers I knew were into wave riding, and equipment that worked in waves with our typically light winds was always of interest. One day Warren called me to tell me about a revolutionary long board windsurfer that he was developing with Sean Ordonez. In addition to being a light air  windsurfing wave board it could also be paddled without the sail, he told me, as an afterthought! That's how I ordered one of the original "Big Red" SOS boards, from the first batch. I did wave sail the board a few times, and I have sailed other SUP boards, but that aspect of the sport seems not to have really caught on. However I have been paddling ever since!

No question that Wardog was there at the earliest stages of SUP on the mainland, and he did a lot to make it grow.

15

Gear Talk / Re: Drying out your wetsuit...

« on: December 05, 2019, 12:57:32 PM »

Looks like a beautiful house. To what do you attribute it not selling?