Wingdings at Topanga

[laszlo]

I just checked the Topanga cam and saw at least 5 wingers, as well as at least one prone foiler scoring rides. And it is a blown out typical on shore afternoon and still crowded as hell because its the weekend. Must be official now, gotta get a foil and wing!

[PonoBill]

Be careful, it's as addictive as crack.

[Hdip]

That was the industry guys and Los Angeles foil club guys after they had a foil expo at sunset. The prone guys weren't surfing at topanga don't worry. They were doing prone downwinders to past sunset. I talked to one of the wing guys and he said he freaked out because he's way outside winging and then a prone guy came up next to him. It was like looking out the window of a plane and seeing someone sitting in the wing haha.

[surfcowboy]

Dude, you must. There were 14 of us out!! Super fun.

We had Evan from Axis, the Cloud9 posse, and our local Lift rep Ryan along with a crew from here of all skill sets. We laughed at the beach goers who must've been like, how have we missed this sport which is clearly huge. lol Winging in a group is a blast and yes, to all who told me you couldn't do this in LA, yeah, you can. Some guys got nice outside waves in with their wings luffed and I had my first truly solid ocean session.

Also, in the middle of it all 3-4 of our prone buddies chipped in and pumped through our pack way offshore heading downwind (to Will Rogers!) It was wild seeing a guy on a 4' board without a wing that far offshore.

Great day and fulfilled a dream of mine. Hdip and I have talked about winging that spot for a while now. Surf in the am, eat lunch, then wing if the wind is good. That's my Summer hopefully.

DM me and we can meet up at the lake and flail around.

[Hdip]

Just to prove the point that the prone guys weren't surfing Topanga, so no need for angry messages please. 

[PonoBill]

won't matter, you'll still get bitchy comments. The driver for all the shit isn't safety, or tradition, or whatever someone dreams up to justify their bullshit. It's simply "you aren't doing what I'm doing here, so it's wrong". If social media hasn't sufficiently demonstrated that a fair percentage of humans are monumentally stupid and proud of it, then twenty minutes in a lineup with equipment that doesn't match the herd should do it. Doesn't matter what you do with it, they'll still whine.

I wandered into a discussion on an RV forum about electric RVs. The stupidity was staggering. Every dopey statement about EV's yarded back out and rehashed with total agreement and reinforcement. The topper was some clown stating that Elon Musk was a fraud because Spacex rockets are fueled with methane which is 28 times worse as a greenhouse gas--as if they squirt methane out the back like a party balloon. He stated that the rockets would be electric if he was serious about climate change. I wandered back out. Move along, nothing to see--no intelligent life here.

[surfcowboy]

Pono, so true. But the comments weren't from surfers, just beach goers. No surfers worth their salt out yesterday.

One interesting thing is that quite a few guys in the lot, (not the angriest stoners, oxymoron?) but regular guys are really curious about kiting. I'll bet I get a few of them on wing foils this summer instead.

It did feel like getting away with murder though seeing 3 or 4 of the crew ride waves that we've all mind surfed but have always been too soft to paddle into.

It was also cool to see the gear. The boards were from pretty awesome shapers. Foilsurfmachines, KT/Quattro, a Wing Master by Robert, Cloud9's customs and FCD boards, and then a really cool Greenough/Morey thing that our buddy Alex had made. I learned as much about shaping as winging.

[laszlo]

Where did the prone downwinders put in? For years I tried to find someone to try a SUP downwinder from Malibu to Sunset. Never made it happen. But I was also afraid that the on shore direction would make it hard, unless you first went way outside. Does this mean that foil downwinding is now making this run practical? Not that I ever plan to try that. That ship has sailed.

[Hdip]

Let's do it! Couple guys from Hawaii are saying it's the easiest downwind run they've done. From Malibu to Sunset might be hard with the wind direction.

These guys are currently racing to see who can make it to the Santa Monica Pier first haha.

[surfcowboy]

Yeah, Topanga to "anywhere Sunset or more South" is the run. Malibu is likely still shadowed by Dume.

Should be very doable for a SUP foiler. I want to do Bigmtn's idea, take a wing and go which due to the lack of power straight downwind means you angle around and play and make the 2-3 miles take an hour. Super fun sounding and probably the way I'll learn to ride toe side since you can lose all the ground you want.

[PonoBill]

If there is swell pointing at any angle along the coast and wind sort of following it then it's a Wingding downwinder. Folks here are going on southside downwingers that would be out of the question for anyone but the most experienced SUP riders (or intermediate and up OC and surfski folks). The wing makes it feasible. Of course, if you have an equipment failure you might be a bit hooped.