Author Topic: Sup Sports One World 11'1"x30"x4.5" @ 173 Liters: Tanker Bow Wave Surfing Review  (Read 4258 times)

Night Wing

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Earlier this morning I drove on down to Galveston to do some small wave surfing at either Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula or at Surfside Beach near Surfside, Tx. Since I didn't know which beach I was going to surf at, I decided to take my computer laptop along and stop at the McDonalds hamburger joint on Broadway in Galveston since they have free wifi and I picked up some lemonade there too.

Since many people were taking Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off from work because of the July 4th holiday which fell on Wednesday, I knew the roads early in the morning would not be heavy with "work day traffic". So I left my house at 5am. Got down to McDonalds at 6:55am, parked my truck with my OW on top of my cab close so I could keep an eye on my sup while I was in McDonalds, bought a big lemonade and turned on my laptop. I looked at the waves via streaming webcams for Bluewater Beach at the small enclave known as Crystal Beach and Surfside Beach (and you can control the streaming web camera at Surfside) at the links below.

https://www.bolivarpeninsulatexas.com/Webcams/Bluewater-Beach

http://www.saltwater-recon.com/surfside-cam/

The waves at both places were "awful". So while sitting at McDonalds, I decided to see if there were any offshore tanker ships incoming which would eventually come in using the Galveston Ship Channel which means they would have to sail between the North Jetty on Bolivar and the South Jetty on Galveston Island. I went to this website at the link below. (Without a cookie on your computer, you'll most likely have to navigate over to the Ship Channel between the North and South Jetties). You can hover your cursor over the large red colored ship icon and it will tell you the ship's name, speed, etc. If you left click on the red ship icon, a picture of the tanker will appear in a window. (If you want to see the North and South Jetties, you'll  have to use Google Maps.)

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-94.628/centery:29.443/zoom:12

There were two tanker ships heading inbound to the port of Houston. One was the Gianella traveling at 12 knots and the other was the Pacific Endeavor also traveling at 12 knots. I left McDonalds and made it over to the Ferry Landing at 7:20am where I caught the 7:30am ferry to the Bolivar Peninsula. I parked my truck at 7:50am on the beach at the end of 16th Street next to the North Jetty (which is at the end of 17th street). I unloaded my board with it's 4 quad fin setup (2, 5") (2, 4"), paddle leash, life jacket, then hid my laptop computer under the passenger side seat. BTW, the North Jetty is 6 miles long.

Setting my adjustable paddle to 70" in length, I paddled out from my launching spot at 8:05am using my Naish Alana 75 paddle and I paddled out for 15 minutes. I knew I was a good mile out. I also was about 75 yards away (parallel) from the jetty rocks on the North Jetty. I stopped padding, sat down on my board and waited for the Gianella. After waiting about 10 minutes, I saw the Gianella coming inbound quickly. The depth of the water where she was sailing was about 45' deep and where I was, about 7' deep.

As the ship got closer, I could see her bow wave getting closer to me to me as well. Between me and the ship, there was a good half mile distance. I stood up, pointed my board towards my launching point and waited. Since the bow wave of the ship was feeling the shallow depth, the bow wave started to get big. By the time it got to me, it was a good 5' in height. I was already paddling forward and I started to paddle faster. The big wave lifted the tail end of my board and when it did, I immediately got into a surfing stance and then the ride was "on".

I could not believe how fast I was going. The speed made me nervous. It was a beautiful wave though. Just like a 5' roller without breaking. Anyhow, the 4 fin quad setup did great. I rode that wave, without falling off my board, all the way back to my launching point. Once back at my launching point, I took a rest break and drank some Gatorade and munched on some Lance crackers.

I knew the Pacific Endeavor would be getting closer inbound so I went back out, but this time, I paddled 20 minutes out. After 20 minutes, I stopped paddling, again sat down on my board and waited. About 15 minutes of waiting, I could see the ship steaming inbound. I repeated the same ride I did with the Gianella. Both rides were great and I was tickled pink, not just for the long ride, but for me not falling off my board surfing back to my launching point. With the crappy waves this time of the year on our upper Texas beaches because of the high pressure domes of hot air which suppresses wind and waves, tanker bow wave surfing looks to be the way to go.

By the time I got back from my second bow wave ride, it was starting to get hot heat index wise so I decided to head for home. Since I carry a few gallons of fresh water with me, I washed off the fin set screws on my fins to get rid of any sand and also flushed my two vent plugs with freshwater to make sure there would be no dried sand in the vent plugs by the time I arrived home. I left at 10:30am and caught the 11:00am ferry back to Galveston Island. I was back home at 1:30pm. Once home I cleaned off my board again along with the rest of my equipment and took a shower.

This 11'1" board at 173 liters is just perfect for my 146 lb physical weight. The small diameter Naish Alana 75 paddle makes paddling my board very easy on my shoulders too whether I'm flat water paddling and/or surfing. The small diameter shaft is excellent for my small hands too. My 11'1" One World is just great for flat water paddling, surfing waves off the beach and surfing large and fast tanker bow waves from ships.

I'm glad I switched gears and instead of choosing/ordering the 10'6" Hammer, I chose the 11'1" One World.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Zooport

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Sounds like a lot of fun.  How long was your ride?
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TallDude

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Sounds like a lot of fun.  How long was your ride?
Come on Zoo..... It's a word problem ;)   The first paddle out was 1 mile in 15 minutes. He then rode the wave back to he launch point. The second paddle out was 20 minutes. How far was the second paddle out? 

Sounds like a great session NW and the right board for sure.
« Last Edit: July 05, 2018, 06:19:40 PM by TallDude »
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Night Wing

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My second ride was probably around a mile and a third. The ride back is fast though. The ships were traveling around 12 knots so those bow waves were really moving fast when they got to me. These were rolling type waves. They weren't breaking.

There is really no turning the board right and left like it is in beach wave surfing. Once you catch one of these types of waves, you just stand up in a surfing stance, keep the board heading in a relatively straight line and just surf the wave till you want to stop by turning out of the wave or in my case, I turned out of the wave around 15 yards from the beach sand where I launched the board. If I wouldn't have turned out of the wave, the wave would have put me and my board on the beach sand.

I'm pretty sure most of you have seen David John's (DJ) videos when he surfs his 11' x 31" x 4.5" @ 175 liters Naish Nalu. He catches a rolling type wave and while holding his paddle out straight out from his body with his GoPro camera attached to the end of the paddle blade. He just stands on his board and/or crouches down and enjoys the long ride. This is the same type of wave. Just taller in height and faster. I thought about DJ when I was riding these two waves back to my launching point.

I hadn't planned on surfing tanker waves today. My original plan was to surf small beach type waves, but the surfing gods weren't with me because in the morning, from looking at the streaming webcams at both Surfside Beach and Bluewater Beach when I was at McDonalds, the water was flat. Not mirror flat, but flat enough where there was really no type of waves to surf. I had to shift into "Plan B" and luckily for me, tanker bow wave surfing saved the day.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Zooport

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Sounds like a lot of fun.  How long was your ride?
Come on Zoo..... It's a word problem ;)   The first paddle out was 1 mile in 15 minutes. He then rode the wave back to he launch point. The second paddle out was 20 minutes. How far was the second paddle out? 

Sounds like a great session NW and the right board for sure.

Way to turn a nice question, that gives someone another opportunity to talk about their ride, into something critical. ;)  I was wondering how much time he got to spend on the wave since there was only 2 of them.  I think it was a several minute ride, but I really know nothing about tanker waves, the distance, time spent on a wave, Etc.  We don't get those here in the OC.
« Last Edit: July 05, 2018, 09:15:13 PM by Zooport »
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lopezwill

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Great report Night Wing!

How many "Surfable waves' are in a tanker wave set?

How many sup surfers could catch separate waves?

Seems like if you missed one of the waves...its a long wait for another.?

Anyways ,,,great report!  Surf is where you find it.

surfinJ

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Very cool surf story. As I always wanted to do this but probably won’t have a chance, thanks for the play by play.

That board of yours is perfect as you want complete mastery of balance and mobility when that rare tanker wave comes up behind you.

Night Wing

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@ Zooport

My first ride was about 5 minutes in time and my second ride, since I was around a third of a mile longer, was about 6 minutes in time. I was also a half mile from the tanker. If I would have been a quarter mile from the tanker, the waves would have been bigger which would most likely generate more speed.

Tankers using the Galveston Ship Channel steaming between the North and South jetties, they move along between 10-14 knots (usually). In other words; more ship speed, bigger bow waves.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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@ lopezwill

There are usually three waves in a set that I saw. But the first two waves were the best. The third wave isn't the best, but it isn't the worst either. In other words, that third tanker wave, it easily beat any of the waves down at Bluewater Beach or at Surfside Beach yesterday. This is the reason why I switched gears at the last moment and did tanker bow wave surfing yesterday.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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BTW, I left this out yesterday.

On the way paddling outbound to catch the inbound tankers, I paddled out with my adjustable paddle set at 70" in length. When I saw the height of the tanker bow wave building in height when it started to feel the shallow depth of water that I was in, I set it to 66" in length for the ride going back to my launching point.

This worked well to get my 11'1" x 30" sup moving fast and quick enough to catch the big fast moving bow wave without any problems.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Badger

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It's incredible that you had the whole place to yourself. If that same situation was happening anywhere in New England, there would be a crowd of SUPs and longboards out there.

I would love to get my M-12'6 on a wave like that. I'd be out there every day.

Do the outbound tankers also make good waves?

.
« Last Edit: July 06, 2018, 10:16:35 AM by Badger »
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Zooport

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@ Zooport

My first ride was about 5 minutes in time and my second ride, since I was around a third of a mile longer, was about 6 minutes in time. I was also a half mile from the tanker. If I would have been a quarter mile from the tanker, the waves would have been bigger which would most likely generate more speed.

Tankers using the Galveston Ship Channel steaming between the North and South jetties, they move along between 10-14 knots (usually). In other words; more ship speed, bigger bow waves.

Holy cow!  I can only dream of that long of a ride. 
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Night Wing

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It's incredible that you had the whole place to yourself. If that same situation was happening anywhere in New England, there would be a crowd of SUPs and longboards out there.

I would love to get my M-12'6 on a wave like that. I'd be out there every day.

Do the outbound tankers also make good waves?

I had the whole place to myself because most people prone or sup surf beach waves in the surf. They don't do tanker bow surfing because they do not want to paddle out 1-2 miles just to catch one wave back to their launching spot and then make the long paddle out again to catch another wave. I kept the distance short on purpose. With the short 1 mile distance, I only caught two long rides.

But Texas is hot at this time of the year. The air temperature was already 90 degrees F when I left for home at 10:30 am. Combine that with a dewpoint of 76 degrees F and humidity of 75% and you have a heat index of around 103 degrees (or more).

I only weigh 146 lbs. Most people surfing weigh a lot more than I do. They expend more energy than I do so they feel the heat more than I do. This is why I was the only one out there tanker bow wave sup surfing. Sometimes there is an advantage in being real light in physical weight when dealing with extreme heat.

Outbound tankers make the same type of waves because they too travel anywhere between 10-14 knots. The only problem, where you launch near the base of the South Jetty on Galveston Island, you catch the tanker bow waves for a long ride, but you can't surf a wave back because the waves are outbound. You have to make a long paddle back to you launching spot at the base of the South Jetty depending on how far you rode the outbound tanker bow wave.

Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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@ Zooport

If you really want to see a long tanker bow wave ride, take a look see at the prone surfer who surfed a bow wave in the video below. Start the video and skip on over to the 3:00 minute mark and watch the ride this dude gets.

BTW, there is no music for a few minutes if you watch the video at the beginning and then the background music starts later on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CtbTO6_A4E

Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Subber

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Nice writeup. Excellent Plan B!
Jimmy Lewis Black & Blue Noserider 10'1"x31"x4.25," 164 liters, 24 lbs, 1 box
Pearson Laird Surftech Longboard 10'6"x23"x29.75"x18"x4.375," 154 liters, 24 lbs, 3 boxes
Takayama Ali'i II Surftech 11'x21.375”x28.5”x17.25”x 4.25,” 162 liters, 26 lbs, 3 boxes

 


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