Saturday, May 31, 2008

RAD SHIT!!!

Ran across this animation over at Wine and Woodsmoke, thanks Daniel. Some of the best shit ever!!!
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

MORE FOR ORGANS & WHALES

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A few Ozzie Wright clips of character from Save the Big Fat Whales:
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Look Back Slow-mo:
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Grab turn slow-mo:
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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

ON RAIL FOR ORGANS & WHALES

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Epic water-shot of Rasta on rail, from
the surf vid, Save the Big Fat Whales.
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Regular speed w/ slow-mo turn as seen in the vid:
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And w/ extra slow-mo examination of turn:
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All proceeds from Save the Big Fat Whales (trailer) go to:
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• Help fund a heart transplant for surf filmmaker, Peter Crumpton (Organ donor info available at
www.organdonor.gov for USA & www.australiansdonate.org.au for OZ).
and
• Help fund Sea Shepherd's (www.seashepherd.org) & Rasta's (www.surfersforcetaceans.com) mission to stop whale and dolphin slaughter.
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Monday, May 26, 2008

Sunday, May 25, 2008

PUNJI STICK


My local spot lived up to its heyday name of Tin Can Beach yesterday.



The next time you're running and jumping around the beach with your kid, beware of creased aluminum cans buried just inches under the sand. Sucks that having a good time barefoot on the beach is such a gamble.

In my time, I've also been hit by a hypo-needle in the sand... bummer to leave the beach needing an HIV test. At least this time 'round I don't have to think about that— just a hand full of days out of the water.

Just heard a story about a friend of a friend that had to get his big toe reattached after stepping on a broken shell while running down the beach for a paddle out. A good story to temper my irritation with a forced surf break caused by what is really just a minor cut.
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Saturday, May 24, 2008

CLEAN SLATE

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Mid morning fresh air.
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Friday, May 23, 2008

DUSK PATROL

Another rain that delivered a narrow window of clean sundown glass today.

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BRUCE IRONS CHOOSES TO LEAVE THE WCT


"I'm going back to being a freesurfer...


...It’s what I was meant to do."

Link to interview by Evan Slater

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Thursday, May 22, 2008

HAPPY HOUR

Localized thunder, lightning, and a short downpour of rain lead into a nice break in the wind for about an hour Thursday evening.


click for enlargement





Fun, well shaped, yet fat waves weren't spectacular. But combined with the weather made for something special.
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Saturday, May 17, 2008

LATE SEASON TREAT

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A quick hop over to the mid Pacific on Wednesday to catch some late season, fun sized, North swell that built through the day on Thursday.

As quickly as it rose on Thursday, it decreased through the day on Friday. But with favorable winds and the fact that it's North swell in May, and still plenty surfable as Friday's pics show below, there was no reason to complain.
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The ever positive Alex Gray, giving things a look.
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This trip has been a reminder that salt water can actually taste nearly sweet enough to drink... all depending where you are. Rather than spitting it out, as I'm so used to in my usual So. Cal haunts, it's swished in the mouth and the flavor savored while waiting for the next set.
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Monday, May 12, 2008

FLEX DEMENTIA (More Notes on the C.Toe)

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In response to the LIL' BIT SCHIZOID (Camel Toe Behavioral Feedback) post about the Parallel-O-Tail version #1 experiment, Dr. Robert asked the question:


"just curious as to the first blush reality of what you rode... as to what you expected, or hoped for?"


A simple question that required some time for me to put my expectations of the tail idea into solid words, since until asked, those expectations only existed in the ethereal, fluctuating realm of my imagination. The question also lead me to write more detailed notes concerning the performance of the board than had been originally posted. For those interested, I figured I'd post the notes that were motivated by Dr. Robert's question.

The notes/answer:


"what i hoped for was... that by the removal of the stringer via an actual slot through the tail section of the board, there would be pronounced flex in the tail (even more than a standard stringerless unified foam tail) that would load up in the beginning of turns and unload to create increased acceleration coming out of turns.

when surfing it seems most of my weight in the back foot is focussed through the ball of the foot when turning backside, and through the heel when frontside. thinking about that it seemed that a way to get a more sensitive flex load under the ball when backside and heel when frontside was to create two sides of the tail. for instance, the heel side's flex when under heel weight would not be retarded by being longitudinally attached to the opposite side of the tail that is not under the same concentration of weight. same goes for the ball side of the tail. my desire for both of these independent sides being divided by a slot narrow enough to be spanned by the arch of the foot is what led to the parallel-o-tail/c.toe design.

unfortunately, the way i foiled the rails up in the front 1/3 of the board causes it to dig rail upon turn initiation. to compensate for that, most of the time, i'm forced to stand so far back on the tail that there's not enough tail length behind my rear foot for my weight to load the tail with the amount of flex that the tail has the potential to offer.

there have been a few lucky cutbacks where i've managed not to dig rail with my rear foot in the optimal load position and i can feel the flex working.

but there have also been a few times when initiating a backside bottom turn, where the flex coming from the heel side alone has felt too damp— felt like too much flex concentrated in one area.

also, the few times that i was able to keep the nose from digging rail when squaring off at the bottom to go straight up into the lip, the tail half under the most load during the bottom turn seems to snap back so much when it unloads that the bottom of my foot would loose contact with it— as if it would pull away from my foot. on such a bottom turn the ball side of my foot was on one side of the split and the heel on the other, and by the time i was hitting the lip it would feel like one half of the bottom of my foot was in contact with the deck and the other half had lost contact.

when hitting the lip of an on coming section from more of a 45-60 degree angle, rather than straight up, i did not experience any side of the tail pulling away from my foot.

the damp backside bottom turn, plus the few times that a tail side did pull away from my foot when doing a 90 degree lip hit, goes to show there is much to be said for a unified tail structure. a unified structure that is able to flex under a focussed load point, and diffuse that load throughout the tail in a manner that results in accelerating unload spring without disrupting one's foot connection to the board.

the next parallel-o-tail will have a shorter split length to try and strike a balance between the advantages of unified structure and the characteristics i did have a chance to appreciate in the first split version. and the rails and bottom surface of the nose area of the board will be foiled as a standard planing hull, rather than displacement, so that i can concentrate unhindered on what is or isn't working with the tail flex."


In pics below, Parallel-O-Tail version #1, on the board I call the Wishbone... As in, I wish it worked better!


2lb EPS, 5'0" • 17" • 21 3/4" • 19" • 2 5/16"
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A narrow strip of track pad covering deck side of slot to prevent toe insertion and injury.
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The nose rail portion of the board that has a tendency to dig rail. high knifey rails that drop/blend into soft tucked rails. A bottom foil of belly where the rails are knifey & high that blends to flat where the rails transition to soft & tucked, which then foils into single concave in the mid section, to double concave within a bit of V through the tail section.
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Fins: 8 1/2" base • 5" tall... Lookin' a little big, to me in this photo, in proportion to the short 5'0" length of the board.
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Also, a few pics, as requested by Lawless, while Copper Dove glassed the "Plumbers Crack". It was decided that the most managable glassing solution was to lap the crack separately from the rest of the board.
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Dove, concentration in the crack.
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Saturday, May 10, 2008

DIMENSIONS OF FLEX

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Figured I'd chime in on the flex fin subject started by the recent posts at Cabinessence and Shelter with some flex comparison photos below ripped from the Grand Wizard's website which is worth the quick read concerning flex fins.
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Pic 1) True Ames L Flex
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Pic 2) Fiberglass Fin Co. G.L. Flex
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Pic 3) Refoiled Bahne (A.K.A Fins Unlimited) Flex
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All have their place and provide a choice for the frontsider and backsider in various surfing conditions.
— G. Liddle
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Also... some vid clips up on the Liddle website that these frame grabs of Dirt were ripped from:
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...Pist, Style and Jive.
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DOLPHINS IN BONDAGE

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Friday, May 9, 2008

INNER TUBE MOST LIMITS...

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Click image for readable enlargement.
Ripped from "The Onion".
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008

MORE BROOKLYN

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A few pics from the last few days during a skate trip to NYC:
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Darrell Stanton.
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Darrell sessioning.
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Sunday, May 4, 2008

BROOKLYN SUNDAY SCHOOL

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This morning in Brooklyn, New York.
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