Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: Surf Rig - How do you hide your keys?

« on: May 06, 2021, 05:38:25 AM »

I don't like getting down on the ground to get my key because I hate getting dirty sand on my wet hands or in my gloves when taking breaks. I also avoid getting sand on my wetsuit when leaving the beach because I wear my suit home and don't want that sand in the car or on my towels. I guess each person has his or her specific needs relating to their situation, but my way is easier.   

1) I don't wear a wet suit. When the water warms to 66 F; that is my minimum water comfort zone so it's bathing shorts, T-Shirt, water shoes and a hat for me. After a surfing session when I'm all wet and I want to go back home; I do get sand on me when I crawl underneath the truck to retrieve my key hider, but once I open the door to my truck, I go back into the beach surf where it is about 3' deep, dunk myself under the water, pop myself above the water and no more sand on me. Then I just walk back to my truck. The driver seat has a cover on it so the seat doesn't get wet.

2) Since I had "three" urinary tract procedures done (in the OR under anesthesia) in a 19 day span of time from Dec 22nd to Jan 11th, I'm down to 138 pounds. My truck tires have about 50 lbs PSI in them so this allows me to drive on loose sand and not sink the tires into the sand where my truck would get stuck in the sand. If I weighed about 175 lbs, I wouldn't be able to work the top half of my body underneath my truck because there is not enough space from the sand to the lower body panels of my truck for me to crawl underneath my truck. I would need to dig a small trench so I could fit underneath my truck to retrieve the key hider.

So in retrospect. A thief is not going to want to get the back of his body, from heat to toe, covered in sand and/or get covered in smudgy motor oil. And lastly, if the thief weighs 175 lbs or more and the thief doesn't know where the key hider is, the thief is going to have to dig a small trench to remove a lot of sand "from the back of the front wheel to the beginning of the rear back wheel" so the thief can actually crawl underneath my truck "for a look see" and if the thief did, the thief won't be able to see the key hider.

I'm guessing the time for what I do takes me 5 minutes longer than what it takes you to do with the key around your neck. But I'm not in any hurry.

2

General Discussion / Re: Surf Rig - How do you hide your keys?

« on: May 05, 2021, 04:22:21 PM »

I put two of my keys (ignition, camper) in the magnetic key hider and attach it to the underside of my truck where it can't be seen even if you look up at the underside of my truck. Hasn't failed me yet and I've been doing it this way since 1994.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Nite-Ize-Black-Key-Hider/1000518889

I tried that back when I started surfing and found it to be a hassle to get down on the ground to retrieve the key and risk being seen doing it every time I needed to change gear, take a break, get some water, etc.

That's my point. Thieves don't like to get sand on their clothes because I park on the beach sand. Or something a lot worse . Like hiding the key hider behind the oil filter.

One thing I know about keys around the neck while surfing. If the key is not wiped down real good, the key will transfer a tiny amount of saltwater into the ignition switch and if it does, rust (corrosion) will occur inside the ignition switch.

3

General Discussion / Re: Surf Rig - How do you hide your keys?

« on: May 05, 2021, 08:47:17 AM »

I put two of my keys (ignition, camper) in the magnetic key hider and attach it to the underside of my truck where it can't be seen even if you look up at the underside of my truck. Hasn't failed me yet and I've been doing it this way since 1994.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Nite-Ize-Black-Key-Hider/1000518889

4

Gear Talk / Re: Gearing up on fins

« on: April 04, 2021, 08:23:06 PM »

@ Luc Benac

Have you ever tried a Donald Takayama "Halo" fin. The Halo fin was originally designed for extremely long sups which were 13'-14' in length. A 10.5" single Halo fin might work well for a downwinder sup.

Take a look at the short video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNoM2f7x8YA

5

SUP General / Re: Is there SUP Surf life after 70?

« on: March 19, 2021, 05:32:45 AM »

Back in February, I turned 71. As the water is heating up, so am I.    Like my late dad said to me; "Son; when you retire, remember one thing. If you rest, you rust". 

My brother and sister in law are planning a trip down to Port Aransas, Tx this coming April and I'm seriously thinking of tagging along. I want to surf (sup or prone) the waves at the Horace Caldwell Pier. It will just depend on the wave conditions. If the conditions are right, l-o-n-g rides are the norm.

BTW, check out some of the "old guys" surfing in this video taken from a drone. The old guys are easy to spot. And this video is best seen in 1080p HD in full screen mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DlIVeSEIPw

And if the conditions are not right, I'll be stuck with the normal waves found at the webcam below.

https://hdontap.com/index.php/video/stream/texas-seagull-condos-live-beach-surf-cam

To paraphrase: "Stay limber my friends, stay limber". 

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Sessions / Re: March Sandbar

« on: March 09, 2021, 10:46:05 AM »

Nice video.

BTW, which one of your sups were you using?

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SUP General / Re: Southern Funk n' Flow 2.0

« on: March 06, 2021, 05:07:45 AM »

One thing about small funky waves like that. You won't see any prone surfers on their shortboards anywhere around so you'll have most of the waves all to yourself.

8

General Discussion / Re: Any thoughts on the Jimmy Lewis Mano 9'9"?

« on: February 24, 2021, 08:31:33 PM »

Guessing it was discontinued awhile ago?

The board is around 10 years old.

9

General Discussion / Re: Tanker surfing South Carolina

« on: February 22, 2021, 03:23:05 PM »

Chasing tankers is hard I hear.

Chasing tankers (or any ship) is hard. But instead of chasing a tanker (or any ship) to prone or sup surf a bow wave, the common sense approach is to let the tanker (or ship) "come to you".

In the video below, you will see a young man sup surfing a bow tanker wave at Port Aransas, Texas. He gets into the water at his launching point and paddles out to a spot where he stops and meets an incoming tanker (or any large ship for that matter) so he can sup surf the bow wave from the ship where the wave takes him back to his launching point. Watch the video in full screen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6bskUBzZu8

I have done this and I'll explain how I do it.

If I plan on surfing a ship bow wave, I always take my laptop computer with me and make sure the battery is fully charged in it when I do so. I stop at the closest McDonalds and use their free wifi. While I'm at Mickey D's, I access the "Marine Traffic" site which shows me any incoming ship which will come through the Galveston Ship Channel and the channel lies between the South and North jetties.

The Marine Traffic site is easy to navigate.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/

Basically, I launch my sup board at 16th Street at Port Bolivar on the Bolivar Peninsula and paddle out to the Boat Cut paralleling the North Jetty. The North Jetty is at the end of 17th Street. The North Jetty is 6 miles long but I just paddle out to the Boat Cut and wait for the incoming ship.

Once I see one (or two) incoming ships traveling anywhere between 10-14 knots, I know the bow wave will be big to give me a very long ride which takes me back to my launching spot at 16th Street.

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Sessions / Re: 50F Day W/Sunshine!

« on: February 18, 2021, 01:19:51 AM »

With waves like that, we call those type of waves "angry waves" down here in Texas.

Thanks for sharing this video.

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Sessions / Re: Okinawa Remote Point Break

« on: February 07, 2021, 05:45:12 PM »

Nice video. Looks like you had a fun session. BTW, the color of the board looks real nice.

Thanks for sharing your video.

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Sessions / Re: Orlena- CODE RED SWELL!

« on: February 03, 2021, 05:25:21 AM »

Cookie,

You're tough. After watching your video, I went to a site that monitors the water temperature at my favorite sup surfing spot, Surfside. The water temperature there was 59 degrees F which is still too cold for me since I don't wear a wetsuit.

As always, thanks for sharing your videos.

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SUP General / Re: SUP surf session Flash Mobbed by Sharks

« on: January 29, 2021, 07:49:51 PM »

Just be glad they weren't unpredictable bull sharks.

14

SUP General / Re: Surfboards (Longboards)

« on: December 12, 2020, 09:02:55 AM »

Hi Night Wing, It appears Realwatersports has the boards you want in stock.

https://www.realwatersports.com/collections/harley-ingleby-hi4/products/harley-ingleby-hi4-thunderbolt-black-95

"Close, but no cigar". The "devil" is "always in the small details which get overlooked".

Real Watersports has the Harley Ingleby HI4 model in Black Thunderbolt, but this model of construction has less flex more suited to bigger waves along with bigger people weight wise than me.

At my weight with the tiny to small waves which are typically found on the upper Texas, the Thunderboalt Red with its more flex than the Thunderbolt Black, is best suited for me. And REAL Watersports only has the HI4 in "Black", but I need/want the "Red" no matter if I went with the HI4 or the Parallax.

This is explained in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1WKMvLZj_U

REAL Watersports does have the Parallax in Thunderbolt Red, but they only have it in the 9'6" model, no 9'3" model. At the link below, you'll have to scroll on down to the bottom of the page to see the three Parallaxs they have in stock at the time of this post.

https://www.realwatersports.com/collections/cj-nelson-parallax

I'm leaning towards the Parallax in the 9'3" length since the HI4 also comes in a 9'3" length.

15

SUP General / Re: Surfboards (Longboards)

« on: December 12, 2020, 06:04:24 AM »

This message is going to have three videos in it.

The first video is with CJ Nelson on why he designed the Parallax for "enjoyment".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoGR432beew

The second video is a person who has a CJ Nelson "Classic" and the Parallax feels totally different. The Parallax is a fast longboard that can be turned mid board. This would be perfect for the tiny to small waves I usually encounter.

The Parallax in this video is 9'6" in length, but the guy doing the recording says it is a 9'5" length. At the end of the video, the specs are shown and I stopped the video and looking at the specs, it is a 9'6" length.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1zhDSbgZt8

The last video is a review of the Parallax 9'6" by REAL Watersports. In this video, the board was fitted with a 9.0" fin and they didn't like it. The board was then fitted with a 8.5" fin and both guys liked this fin for the wave conditions they found for the day of this review.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzbBiKVdDQk

For me at my weight and with our wind driven waves on the upper Texas coast, the fast single fin longboard would be a good in the same vein as the Harley Ingleby HI4 with 5 fin boxes.