Messages

1

Random / Re: Erik Antonson interview with Stacy Peralta

« on: April 13, 2024, 08:25:35 AM »

With Apple Podcasts, you can view transcripts (for all episodes)
https://appleinsider.com/inside/ios-17/tips/how-to-use-the-new-transcripts-feature-in-apple-podcasts
You can search within the episode's transcript.
Though I wish the select all (to copy) feature worked on Mac, so it could be exported with ease.

2

Random / Re: Erik Antonson interview with Stacy Peralta

« on: April 13, 2024, 06:44:26 AM »

Hey Beasho,
I did.  Erik said that moving forward the podcast will have transripts for future episodes.
I will go through the backlog.
There is a request for Speaker Diarization so you know who says what.
I am testing how do that now with pyrannote.audio.
https://forum.progressionproject.com/t/transcriptions-for-the-progression-project-podcast/5071/4

3

Random / Re: Erik Antonson interview with Stacy Peralta

« on: April 11, 2024, 06:07:49 PM »

Attached is the transcription OpenAI-Whisper produces (default settings), quite impressive.  Not perfect.  But very usesable.

4

Random / Re: Erik Antonson interview with Stacy Peralta

« on: April 10, 2024, 11:54:05 PM »

Currently testing transcriptions with OpenAI-Whisper:
references:
https://github.com/openai/whisper
https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/23/23367296/openai-whisper-transcription-speech-recognition-open-source
https://goodsnooze.gumroad.com/l/macwhisper
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2023/transcribing-recorded-audio-and-video-text-using-whisper-ai-on-mac

5

Random / Re: Erik Antonson interview with Stacy Peralta

« on: April 10, 2024, 06:18:19 PM »

Hey Beasho, Are you still thinking about having your own big wave foil podcast?  I am a big fan of your as well.
For the text posted:
I slowed down the audio in VLC and typed what I heard, repeating several, several, several times.  I love Stacy's voice.

A while back I was really motivated to get transcriptions of the Progression Project podcast because I believed having a searchable text would be invaluable for the community.  I tried this technique of using Google docs and a virtual cable, but it would crash (stop dictating) after ~ 20 min.  Anyone know if MS Word works better?
https://youtu.be/sLlI6WdUsXE?si=cT_-XZcPBj4EvGml
If someone knows of a free workflow that works, I am all ears.  I am motivated enough to transcribe the backlog of his podcasts and post it (on his forum?).
It looks like ChatGPT can be used to fix punctuation:
https://youtu.be/kMKYFk_kaVI?si=fmnH9QGJ7M54bF1a

6

Random / Re: Erik Antonson interview with Stacy Peralta

« on: April 09, 2024, 11:26:08 PM »

Eric: "I think that as we age we create this incredible filter for life to where you are not really present ever you just kind of
have these automatic programs running and  the reality that you see is a very small subset of the information that is actually coming in because you just filtering it all out.  and I think that flow happens, the feeling happen, when you put yourself in a position where you have to remove the filter to navigate what you are doing."

Stacy: "Can I launch into something?  Launch into something that I have been really thinking about a lot because it has affected my life in such a positive way.
I have been a surfer all my life.  Started when I was 11.  Was a sponsored surfer with the Zepher surf team and that is how the skateboarding team happened, etc, etc
My close friend Sam George, I don't know 24, 25, 23 years ago something like that called me one day and said hey, you've seen Laird Hamilton do this new thing called Stand Up Paddleboard surfing.  I am doing it now.  It is unbelievable.
I got an extra board and paddle I would like to come down and turn you onto it.
I thought that sounds good, new form of surfing
This was something like 24 years ago, maybe longer I don't even know.
But anyway, he comes down and I'm thinking I have been doing this all my life, I am a former professional athlete, this is going to be easy
it was unbelievably difficult.
That first day, I was shocked and how bad I was.
And I had not experienced being a kook in maybe since I was 11.
certainly had not experienced being a kook as an adult
and I was an absolute kook.
I couldn't navigate the board around to go catch a wave, I fell constantly.
I was out of the water after 40 minutes because my ankles were so tired.
i was on the beach watching Sam and it was like watching a matador.
I could see the beauty of what he was doing. and it was right then and there I thought ok,
I am going to buy a board and buy a paddle and I will learn this.
if somebody told me on that beach that it was gonna take me 5 months.
I would have said no I am not going to buy this board, I am not going through that, not going to do that
and I am glad somebody wasn't there because that 5 months was really tough.
And I was shocked that I was that bad.  And that it took me that long.
Well to make a long story short, I eventually got good at it and it provided years of enjoyment
still do it, still love it ok
When I looked back on that 5 month period, I realized something really magic happened.
And I couldn't figure out what it was.
But something during that learning period, even as uncomfortable and as difficult as it was.
something magic happened   And I really wanted to know what it was cause I wanted to do it again.
Well I would get that chance again a couple years later when I learned to kiteboard.
kiteboarding ok, SUP took me 5 months.  kiteboarding took me a year and a half.
because I had never been a windsurfer.  I knew nothing about the wind.
I knew nothing about riding boards that looked like wakeboards
so the whole thing was so new and it can be really dangerous if you are not careful.
so that took a year and half.  This time I really paid attention, what's the magic?
And I found out what it was.  And its totally counterintuitive.
And it is not going to make any sense.  But it is going to play into exactly what you just said.
About we are not paying attention. That we just kind of put a veil over things.
The magic was for that year in a half.  I lived in a state of total uncertainty and insecurity
whether I was ever going to figure this out.
It dominated all of my thinking.  I was constantly problem-solving.
How can I get better at this?  What do I need to do?  this that.  When I was in the water I was problem solving.  When I was at home I was problem solving.  I was so alive to this situation.  Because I wanted to figure it out so badly and I wanted to get good so badly.  And I didn't know if I could.  And all this insecurity and not knowing weighed on me heavy but that weighing on me made me pay attention and step up. it was as if kiteboarding and SUP was looking at me, and saying you want to do this you have to give it everything you got to give it everyday. And I finally got it.  And I became, SUP, quite good at it.  And loving it.  But as I got good at it, it took less and less of me to do it.  Now I can do it in my sleep.  But back then it just took so much and so I really realized I need to be a kook about every 3  to 4 years of my life.  I need to do something that puts me in the kook phase where.
I have to go into that thing of being so bad at something.
that I don't know what is going to happen that I am uncertain, I'm insecure, all of that
because it keeps me incredibly young and it keeps me paying attention.
Now since that time I've done a lot of research and found that psychologically they are finding that people that are willing to put themselves in uncertain situations actually put themselves in healthy situations.  Because when you are facing uncertainty and you go through in it and not retreat from it
you end up breaking rigid thought patterns, neural thought patterns in your brain, and by breaking them and shattering them you make way for newer and healthier ones and so
this is when I got into foiling, that's taking 2 and a half years to figure out.
so I was able to be a kook for 2 and a half years.  in fact, I am probably still a kook.  But nonetheless.  That's the part.  That's the magic.  That is the magic.  Being a kook is magic.  I hope I have explained this right.  I hope I don't sound like a complete idiot."

7

Random / Re: Erik Antonson interview with Stacy Peralta

« on: April 09, 2024, 09:34:30 PM »

Eric: "When did you know that skateboarding was going to take hold?  That could be it for you."
Stacy:
"Well, God it is so hard, well ok, let me throw it this way.
I've been asked so many times why skateboarding. 
Why skateboarding? Why not bowling?
Why not baseball?...
I really had to do some searching in my life
What was it that really got me about this?
And here is what I can tell you.
When I was about 7 years old,
I was skateboarding , I was 7 or 8 skateboarding, around the perimeter of a drug store, that was down the street from my house
And the drug store had this double-wide paved sidewalk around it .
it was perfectly groomed cement, super super smooth with no cracks in it.
I was skateboarding there one Saturday.
And it was a very busy day there was carts coming in and out of the lot.
there was people with baby carriages and market baskets going up and down this sidewalk that I am on.
And I am cruising go through all these people.
Now a skateboard is very different than a bike.
A bike has a seat, it has pedals for both feet, and it has a handlebar, so it is actually a pretty secure thing. 
You are sitting down when you are doing it.
And you have got something to put your hands on, you are holding on the handlebars, and you are steering with the handlebars.
Skateboarding, you are holding onto nothing.
You are standing on something that's moving.
And it's really insecure, it's an unbelievably insecure thing.
if you hit a pebble when you are riding a bicycle nothing happens because you have rubber tires.
When you hit a pebble or a crack in the sidewalk and you are riding clay wheels, which are the same thing as cement, you completely lock up and stop and get catapulted off your board.
So here I am going down this sidewalk around this drug store
and I am aware that at any minute I can be completely destroyed.
I can faceplant into a market basket.
I am weaving out of all these people.
I am looking for rocks and stuff like that.
And I experience this incredible form of stillness.
I am a little kid.
And suddenly amongst this, like mayhem, like I am in a little hurricane of action, I feel still inside...
I was not able to articulate that to myself when I was a kid.
But I know that every time I went back on that board, that is what I was searching for.
Because I remember times just being in a driveway, kick turning all day long, just kick turning.
And feeling that sense of stillness, that inner stillness.
And I got that when I was on a skateboard.
And I've gotten it ever since.
And I've gotten it on a surfboard as well.
That, that inner sense of somehow in the middle of all that crazy action,
you feel the stillness that's within you.
And that is what attracted me to these sports my entire life.
And what keeps attracting me to them is that, what you experience when you balance on something that's moving...
You can fall at any second and somehow, in that, you feel still.
It's a real seductive feeling, really amazing feeling."

8

Random / Erik Antonson interview with Stacy Peralta

« on: April 09, 2024, 06:36:30 PM »

Just when I thought the Progression Project couldn't get any better...
Whether your are a skater, surfer, SUPer, kiteboarder, foiler, do medication, there is something for everyone to appreciate in this interview. 
Loved it, gave me goose bumps. 
Highly recommend.
Enjoy...
https://www.podbean.com/site/EpisodeDownload/DIR1E1D5C376AN8Z
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-progression-project/id1206097336

9

Foil SUP / Re: Supfoil beginner board size

« on: April 08, 2024, 06:49:14 PM »

What was the volume of your 6'6" x 30"?
e.x.. 6'6" x 30" @ 69L: https://www.totalsup.com/product/starboard-hyper-foil-starlite-6-6-x-30/
e.x. 6'6" x 30" @ 135L: https://stingerfoils.com/product/66-wing-foil-board-135l/
Blue Planet has a 7'6" x 30.5" @ 144L Easy Foiler which is in the "beginner" category at your weight: Maybe reach out to the shop and they can guide you between the 7'6" and 6'11" x 29.5" @ 128L (intermediate) based on your skill level.  https://www.blueplanetsurf.com/76-x-305-x-144l-easy-foiler-2020.html
https://youtu.be/tluw3l37iek?si=-F9dIzL-fYVPjJn4

What kind of conditions are you taking it out in?  (i.e. Flat water, wind swell, surf, etc)
Would you also be using with a hand wing?
Would you using it for downwind?  "Downwind SUP foiling is not easy" https://youtu.be/I3Kn0bOoQiQ?si=YhnY_QWDfVURHbWy
Which foil were you using?  Projected surface area?  Wing span?  Aspect ratio?
How long was your mast?

10

The Shape Shack / Re: Reseating leash plug

« on: April 07, 2024, 11:31:48 PM »

I've had a dual set of plugs get pulled out of a 11'6" Jeff Clark Mavericks SUP gun.  I replaced with standard FCS leash plugs.  I used epoxy with a thickener.  Don't use q-cell,  you wan't to use something stronger like milled fibers.  I fiberglass over the top for strength.
The vent plug in my Hobie RAW CMP cracked and started leaking.  I replaced it with a vented leash plug from Greenlightsurfsupply. 
https://greenlightsurfsupply.com/products/surfboard-vented-leash-plug-v314?_pos=1&_sid=633d54269&_ss=r
The kit came with 2 part epoxy (the kind in a tube where you rip a piece off and rub together like Playdoh to mix) that you form a ring around the bottom of the hole of the board to seal the vent, then epoxy and milled fibers to seal around the perimeter of the plug.

If there is a lot of play in the plug, I would reinforce the hole.  For example you can put a sheet (or two) of fiberglass around the plug  I would something like milled fibers & epoxy under the plug to strengthen the foam underneath. Then I would tape over the hole, and do another 2 layers of fiberglass over the plug.  I would also glass over the cracked areas of the wood on the board.  You may want to consider adding a second leash plug to ease some of the load.

The balsa idea should work but sounds like it would be more involved (i.e. take longer). 
I recently had to repair a fin box that was damaged and sunk into the board.  The foam compressed.  I ripped the box out and reused it.  I had to rebuild the foam.  I used gorilla glue mixed with a drop of water and cover the finbox with clear packing tape (so it won't stick) and insert to make a mold.  Then I removed the finbox (still has packing tape) again and used epoxy and filler (i.e. milled fibers), toe strengthen the gorilla glue (give it a hard shell).  Then I removed the tape off the fin box and added epoxy and filer and fiberglass cloth underneath to reinforce.  Then I taped the holes for the fins and glassed over the top of the fin box.  Depending on how much play you have you could skip the gorilla glue step.

11

Gear Talk / Re: JL Super Frank fin advise

« on: April 07, 2024, 11:03:44 PM »

I agree with Badger regarding the fin size and type. 
I have the 8'6" SF Wide and weigh 200#.  I liked the GL-2 Quads and rode it like that exclusively until I found I didn't like the way the board felt in larger surf.  Then I tried Pancho Sullivan thrusters and it was a night and day difference in larger surf.  Based on my experience quad is good in the smaller stuff, then switch to thrusters when the waves get juicy.
I have the 8'9" Worldwide and liked that board with Keel fins over quads (SF didn't work with keels).  But after my experience with the SF and thrusters, I gave thrusters a try on the World Wide and the board rode sweet.
Don't be afraid to experiment with your fin setup for varying conditions as you might find your amazed at the different feels you can get with the same board..
Jimmy Lewis makes user friendly boards that work in a varety of conditions.
No experience with the Destroyer & Allwave.
One guy is running thrusters on the 7'7" Destroyer here:
https://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/Review/NEW-2019-Jimmy-Lewis--Destroyer--Model-arriving-December?page=1
Enjoy the new gear (fitness equipment)

12

Random / Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?

« on: April 01, 2024, 04:40:51 PM »

I am interested in reading your book The Retirement Trap  too.
Best I could find is the table of contents:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210811175228/https://retirement.pressbooks.com/

13

Travel, Trips, Destinations / Re: The state of SUP surfing?

« on: March 28, 2024, 07:36:41 PM »

I haven't seen much of a shift in CA.  Like any sport that explodes in popularity, there is going to be a healthy decline.
I was at a break a few weeks ago.  A guy that resembled Bob Miller was out on the original Laird SUP with his dog.  It was like he was on a conveyer belt paddling to the outside peak, then riding the wave all of the way in, never he nor his dog dropping in the drink once.  It was like he was in the carpool lane in terms of right of way in the crowded line up.
The SUP scene that I have seen first hand seems more popular in SoCal than NorCal.  The beaches got hammered in SoCal this winter, messing up some of the beach breaks, but SUPs still work.
Foiling is fun, there is a reason why people are addicted to it.  But it all comes down to what equipment works best for your local break.
Me personally, SUP has taken a bit of a dip, due to an uptick in my prone surfing.  I tend to gravitate to the best equipment based on the current conditions, which could be SUP, prone, or kite. 
Don't worry about what what other people are riding, ride the equipment that feels good to you. 
Stoked on your El Savador trip.  Welcome back.

14

Gear Talk / Re: Any ECS Widebody reviews

« on: March 21, 2024, 08:56:59 PM »

Widebody?  Or Wideboy?

Review by somebody at your weight:
https://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/Review/20145-ECS-Wideboy-brushed-carbon-review?page=1
p.s.  You may consider making one of these:

15

Gear Talk / Re: surf SUP volume

« on: March 21, 2024, 08:43:31 PM »

I agree with B-walnut, should be a nice next step progression board.  A guild factor of 1.5 is a really fun size in my experience.  A guild factor of 1.3 is a nice factor to end on.  Advanced surfers typically fall in the 1.3 - 1.8 range.
https://www.blueplanetsurf.com/blogs/news/sup-board-volume-recommendation-chart/
9'6" ist still a good length that maintains glide.  Having an inch narrower will have less drag, so help maintain glide.  I think you will enjoy this board when the conditions are clean.