Topics

181

SUP General / Mavericks Winter Storm Session

« on: December 15, 2014, 12:27:47 PM »

Kudos to SUP standouts Ian (orange board) and Haley (getting steam rolled @ 1:50) for holding their own with the proners.

It was much cleaner on Friday and again Saturday.  Was out with just 5 guys on Saturday.  Everyone must have been worn out.

182

SUP General / Te Tainui: SUP and Kiter Love . . . Awesome Videography

« on: October 31, 2014, 11:49:20 AM »

Makes me realize that when I am 50 I need to take up kiting (again).

SUP and Kiting are just more evolved forms of surfing and windsurfing.  Enjoy:

183

Fish Tales, Stand Up style / SUP Fishing with Dog

« on: April 25, 2014, 10:41:55 PM »

SUP fishing is fun but its nice to have company.  I have a few kids that will fish with me in the morning.  Some are hardy enough for SUP fishing but eventually I run out of commitment except for Gibson.  I just throw the board in the water and he is on. 

Here we are on a Nantucket sleigh ride . . . . in Ct.  This was a good fighter.  The GoPro's battery gave out at the very end.  The fish was 38" pushing 20 lbs. 

I am a believer in minimalist SUP fishing.  A hip pack with tackle, tether for the rod and paddle are mandatory.   Nothing on the deck.  I troll for the fish in Ct and have found that  it is helpful to just throw the paddle when a fish hits. 

The best advice I ever received was to treat the board like a boat.  IT IS NOT A MOBILE CASTING PLATFORM.  It is a BOAT.  You will catch many more fish covering ground that going from spot to spot and fan casting.  Last summer we caught 1,300 lbs of Stripers.  This was slightly more than 1% of the catch.  99% were released.     

184

SUP General / I think I can I think I can . . .

« on: February 28, 2014, 05:48:53 PM »

You have to love the optimism with which he is looking down the line.

But it had to hurt when it landed on his big toe    Zoom in to see all the horrific glory.

185

SUP General / Phase Change

« on: February 19, 2014, 10:04:24 PM »

I have been blessed for the past several years working ‘business development’ but with the opportunity to sustain my passion for SUP.  Now I have come to a fork in the road.   The business development ran out of runway leaving me with the opportunity to redefine my path in life.

Here I stand, with a life jacket on a business suite.

Yesterday I paddled out to Mavericks.  Here is a video of the first guy out . . . . on  a SUP.   I paddle out into conditions that should have been rather large.   I wave my paddle for the camera.   Hello!!!!   Come all yee proners!   No one out.  F---- the proners.

I hold my ground for 20 minutes, then 1  proner, then 2.   Eventually I catch a wave and have to paddle in for an interview.

Here I stand on the brink of a several job 'opportunities.'  The world apparently likes guys who can count airplanes and fish, loaves of bread, barrels of oil and ohhhhh waves.   But do I take less money for more flexibility or more money for more toys?

This question is probably best suited to you older guys.  You know . . . . over the age of 30 with fewer than 3 wives:  Business suite, wet suite, or some where between?

186

Sessions / Wave Height vs Thinning Crowds

« on: February 18, 2014, 08:29:57 PM »

. . . Lowers is a lot better at 8-10 feet than 5 feet. Thins the crowd dramatically.

I was thinking of doing a regression on crowd vs. wave size.  It would appear that for every 100 potential surfers (who claim to really surf) the crowd thins at 6 feet to maybe just 80 people.  Then at 8 feet it thins really quickly to just 25 (%) remaining.  At 10 feet you're down to 15(%) people.  Double Overhead down to 10(%).

Then in situations that push 3X you are probably down to just 3(%).  I have found that given the vicissitudes of life, time of day, day of week and this function the good news is that when its big you'll likely have it all to yourself.

Since I have the data I thought I would plot it out.

Here is how the historical Crowd Data plots vs. Average Wave Height.  The data includes more than 100 sessions measured primarily at a reef break in California with a channel that starts to close out at 12 - 15 feet depending on tides.

I measure wave height as the average of the smallest vs. largest wave caught for a session.  So if I caught waves with faces ranging from from 5 - 7 feet this would be an average wave height (face) of 6.0 feet.

187

Random / Humanity Curve & Discovery

« on: February 06, 2014, 09:44:50 AM »

A few days ago Bill Nye the Science Guy debated Ken Ham a noted Christian author on Creationism vs. Evolution.

Deep questions were asked and the debate was long but it could be summarized with Bill Nye saying "We just don't know the answer but the pursuit of that truth gets us (scientists) out of bed in the morning."  Ken Ham would then reply with "Well Bill there is a book that answers that question."

Since I am a big data guy this got me to wondering how many 'man hours' (or years) have transpired since that book was written.  If some small fraction of these man years has been beneficial then just how much have we lived, learned and discovered?

The attached graphic shows the results with relevant milestones.  What I love about data, wonder and ultimate discovery is that it is often non-intuitive.  I relish the horror and subsequent glee when the answer doesn’t mesh with my instinctive paradigms.  For example the data suggests humans have added 1.24 Trillion human years since the bible was written.  This amounts to 90 times more years than the Universe has existed (roughly 13.8 Billion years).  Looking at the timeline this means that many people on this forum have lived through 20%, or more, of the cumulative humanity since the bible was written.

Measured in Cumulative Human Years Anno Domini (AD):

•   40% AD Copernicus suggested something was different and far simpler than the Ptolemaic system.  We humans and the Earth may not be at the center of the universe.
•   46% AD, 140 years later, Galileo proved it with his telescope and the discovery of Jupiter’s moons.  
•   50% AD Isaac Newton published Principia and fueled the industrial revolution.  
•   63% AD Darwin wrote a book suggesting we were related to monkeys and maybe even . . . fish.  90 years later Watson and Crick discovered DNA giving as much credibility to Darwin as Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto had to posthumously elevate Copernicus to the scientific hall of fame.
•   68% AD Einstein figured out that matter CAN be created and destroyed, his formula does go both ways.
•   Most recently, at 79% cumulative man years AD, IBM introduced the modern computer.

Think of the change, how many new, cool and aweing discoveries we have behind and yet still before us.  Given this geometric progression I am left to wonder who the next ‘Kook’ will be to discover how man can walk on water (SUP+), fly through space, live forever on earth, or in the heavens.  Like surfing in big waves I am sure that these discoveries will be as horrifying to some as it will be inspirational to others and yet through this dichotomy human kind will prosper.

188

SUP General / Best SUP Barrel

« on: January 28, 2014, 11:02:06 PM »

Kai Lenny hung around San Francisco after the Mavericks competition on Saturday.  He went to Ocean Beach and surfed with Matt Becker and locals Haley and Mark Alfaro.  

Here was the best barrel of the show.  And it was Mark's:

189

SUP General / MAVS SUP Final: Broncos 28 Seahawks 17

« on: January 24, 2014, 01:25:23 PM »

I will add flavor to the adventure later.  Short story was that 3 SUP’s were the first out at Mavericks this competition morning.  This was before first light.  Dodging security and navigating by moonlight and Venus to get to the Peak.

The two local ‘thugs’ Ian and Haley threw down the gauntlet for the Super BOWL.  It was game on at 7am, with 7 points per wave, 3 points per wipeout.  Manning vs. Sherman

In the end Manning’s game was flawless.   Sherman went down hard with an injury and was taken out of the game.  Broncos win 28-17.

If video doesn’t load (it is updating).   If I don’t have pictures soon someone else will post them.  

Manning had a few awesome takeoffs and Sherman’s final takedown was spectacular (he actually got stuffed by Jamie Mitchell).  Kai was watching from the channel on a jet ski.

PS: Surfline's "Rewind" function may be used for any debatable calls.

190

SUP General / Farallon Dreams: New VIDEO!

« on: January 16, 2014, 08:47:11 AM »

I had not made a video in a while but the recent California swell encouraged me to get out the GoPro.  The party wave motivated the production.

Since Farallon Dreams was posted on Vimeo it is forever editable.  Any suggestion for improvement CAN, and MAY, be incorporated with the links intact.  Kind of like crowd sourced editing.

Enjoy  



PS: Please do watch this on a big screen in HD.  It will better represent the 1080P source and artistic intent.

191

SUP General / Photo(s) of the Day

« on: January 13, 2014, 08:27:01 PM »

The swell softened and the kids went back to school.  I hadn't rigged up the GoPro for a while so I set it to 1080P and this was the winner.

Followed by a few others.  Note the hand I was NOT willing to give up

192

SUP General / California Forecast: 7X-10X Overhead to 43 ft Jan. 22

« on: January 11, 2014, 10:28:39 AM »

I have never seen this before.  

Better plan on wearing double float or watching the action from the beach.

Considering that Mavericks can more than double the Surfline estimates should make the conditions noteworthy.  Competition anyone?

193

SUP General / What do you do When Your Beach is IRRADIATED?

« on: January 08, 2014, 01:21:24 PM »

Its not often that your local beach makes the front page of National news.  

Here is the local report from Half Moon Bay comforting us with the fact that the 1,400% jump over acceptable background radiation is NOT related to Fukishima.  The readings were taken by a guy with 40 years of experience designing geiger counters.

Great but then why shouldn't babies go near the sand?  

I think Pono was a nuclear guy at one time.  Any insights?  

PS: You have to love the added pitch for fresh local Crab  

Article: http://www.hmbreview.com/news/experts-say-beach-radiation-unrelated-to-fukushima/article_d3bb5b14-77ea-11e3-a37b-001a4bcf887a.html

194

SUP General / California Lights UP!

« on: December 16, 2013, 05:12:19 PM »

Kelly Slater and John John left something for the rest of us from the Pipeline Masters.

It is interesting how when it gets good there are always more people standing on shore than in the lineup.  Fortunately one of those people, Brett Lando, had a camera in hand.  I chased him down after the session and Brett was kind enough to share these photos of me and a couple of my friends.  More to come of the other guys when they are uploaded.  

The sets were coming up to 8 waves at a time.  Corduroy texture from the light to strong offshore breeze.  

195

Gear Talk / 9’ 6” Jeff Clark Board Review

« on: November 23, 2013, 09:15:44 AM »

Having bought the first generation of Jeff’s boards I was happy to try another friend’s newer 9’ 6”.

For starters Jeff Clark, who pioneered surfing at Mavericks, has also been designing boards FOREVER.  The impetus was to figure out how to get his short boards to catch the faster moving pacific swell as it hit the point at Mavericks.  So he began making his short boards longer.  He learned to SUP 5 years ago and has been designing SUP’s since.

This board is 9’ 6” X 29” X 4.5” and it weighs 18.40 lbs with the displayed padding and no fins.  This board was a beefed up with a double stringer but was glassed with a lighter more high-performance construction.  It was noticeably lighter than my other boards but exposed areas of the deck almost feel soft to the touch.  The double edge of light construction.

The most interesting thing about this board is the bottom shape.  Triple concave with pronounced chines.  Jeff claims to have invented this but it does look like the bottom of a Boston Whaler.  What I will say is that it is fast.  Several others have reported the same and I didn’t understand until my 5th wave when I almost fell over backwards.  The surf was small and feckless but I got a set wave and when I dropped in the board picked up speed and just kept going.  On a normal board we must anticipate the ‘stick’ after being semi weightless when the board’s bottom re-adheres to the wave and pulls out.  We have probably all been pitched or pearled when the stick is too great or enhanced by chop.  In this case the board didn't stick it just kept speeding up.  Weird but cool!

While riding the board seems to easily rock rail-to-rail but doesn't appear to change heading.  It’s almost as if the board was on top of a log potentially created by the center concave.  The board will respond with more pronounced foot pressure but I haven’t pushed its limits in bigger surf or more challenging conditions.

Jeff has been making his short boards (e.g. 6’) and his Mavericks guns with this triple concave design for more than a year.  It has potential and could be the thing that gets you around the section that might have otherwise clipped you.  He has also partnered up with Riviera to build more mass produced versions of his designs in ‘sandwich’ construction by supporting laborers in the Far East.  The pop-outs look very nice and could be the best way to expand his customer base.