An Inconvenient Sunset

[OkiWild]

Truth be told...there are no more secret spots, only inconvenient spots. Meaning that some spots are more inconvenient to get to than others, making them less crowded. Being able to easily get to more inconvenient breaks is one of the major appeals of SUP surfing.

Late PM session with one other surfer. We traded waves for about an hour, and then he left, leaving it to me for about another hour. Outside reefs are booming with swell from the northeast, but the wind beats most close places up. There are really good spots up north, and although most likely epic, I don't like to drive two hours for a couple of hours at dusk (yea, spoiled, I know). This spot faces south-southeast, so the swell has to turn better than 90° to get in. With only a 10 second period, it looses quite a bit of size, and all of it's power. Head-high on the largest set waves, but mostly chest to shoulder, and only good for a top turn or two, finishing with a cut back. When this spot lines up, it really fires with a big, hollow, long left. We surfed the outer reefs the day before yesterday, and the day before that, and then this spot yesterday. My legs are so beat up, I can feel them give on a hard bottom turn or cut back.

Feeling more comfortable with the camera, and will soon start taking it out on more critical days. It's more distracting than people realize, and can lead to mistakes in waves of consequence...so I leave it in the car on heavier days, but that will change soon as I feel more and more comfortable on the SUP in heavier surf.  Filming surfing seems to be the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's been a blast! I experimented with 120fps on a couple of clips, and while you can really slow a shot down (nothing under .400 in this video), the stabilization drops from Hyper-smooth to normal, and it starts to look a little jerky vs. keeping the frame centered. A couple of POV shots I like, and I think I'm getting better at that, so will run more with it in the future. 

Board is a Blue Planet Ninja Warrior at 8'10"x29"x116L.

Thanks for watching.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW7myI_xBmI&t=304s

[TallDude]

Sunny, clean and uncrowded. Looks like a great spot. The slow mo is something to play with more. As soon as you change the speed of the playback, the sound goes off. You can dub music or sometimes wind and ocean sounds (sound effects like the pros do) to make it appear as if the the sound is live still. I just got Adobe Premier and took a short class on it. Going to try to improve my editing skills. BTW, my paddle mount POV already got old for me. I filmed a bunch more with the swell we just had, but hardly anything I wanted to share.

[OkiWild]

Thanks TD. I bought a paddle mount and have been playing with it. Not happy with the results so far. The bite mount and kook helmet mount are working better, though. Hardest thing about the bite mount was just learning to ignore the camera. I surf so much better without the camera...when I know it's on, it's like I try to hard and fall off a lot LOL. Just doesn't flow right. Getting better, though.

[TallDude]

Try the chest mount too. I used it for the first couple years. I slide it around under my arm to film down the line. I fell on it a few times and it was never an issue. I can slide it off to my side and prone paddle too. What's nice is it doesn't move around like it does on your your head. The down side is the paddle is in the view a lot.

[surfercook]

Thanx for the stoke, Oke! I need it too! That break looks really far out there. Might even be beyond the 2000' threshold of the SOLOSHOT3. Cool you add the proner's rides in there. I always try to do the same to share the stoke. Nice rail work on that slo-mo cutty right around the 02:00 mark.
  I'm always up for the inconvenience of a distant break. Kinda adds to the whole challenge and adventure of surfing a sup.
 Love that little throw out section where you were one handing the paddle around the 07:00 mark. Keep at it, Oke!
One suggestion might be to try a paddle mount for a bit then water swap it to board mount half way through sesh. I've done that a bunch and it kinda adds some variety to a vid. Paddle mount can be a pita though withe all the paddling footage. Def wanna try and get the blade WAY out in front  DavidJohn selfie style. I use a Session 5. It's second one as my orig was lost on a blown drop on a hard offshore day w/overhead sets! The Session is such a good cam for paddle mount since it's so small. The other day I mounted it on our birdbath and did a remote shoot using the app. So many different uses and applications for a GP.

Those are "Yellow Rumped Warblers" your lookin' at.