Jeff: "This was probably my best day of the year."
Me: "This was one of my best days of all time. Best conditions in three years."
Thank you thank you thank you L Road. In the last few years I've felt that I was tricked into SUPsurfing by conditions we used to get, but see no longer. Well-spaced, well formed waves coming in sets you can see from a distance. Plenty of wave for everyone, all day. I haven't had anything like this for years...it's all been slop and closeouts. Okay I'm exaggerating but in the Olde Days of a few years ago it was much better.
Sunday brought it all back. Jeff, the Wolf and I had L Road to ourselves, as beautiful sets of 4-6 footers (with the occasional 7) came rolling through. Beautiful long lefts and rights. Little or no dues to pay. Nice spaces between the sets to get back out. And an offshore breeze that held the wave faces up so long you had to wait until you thought they were going to crash on top of you to catch them. Wonderful. Jeff was slashing it up on his Starboard Go...he's getting so good on that windsurfing board that "my next SUP board purchase will be informed by the Go." I don't know how many bottom turn/cutbacks I linked together, but I certainly set a new record for myself yesterday. And the Wolf had fun too, though he arrived after the best portion of the day. To cap it all off, Jeff's Aunt Cindy was on shore, snapping photos, which is a treat because usually photos in the Puffin are by Jeff, not of Jeff. She snapped enough that Jeff was able to stitch together a few video clips. Here he is, putting the Go through it's SUPsurfing paces:
(All imagery courtesy Cindy Sattler.)
SWEET!
Posted by: Bonnie K. Frogma | November 04, 2013 at 11:06 AM
Glad you guys scored!
Posted by: Jon | November 04, 2013 at 11:42 AM
It was sweet, Bonnie! And it renewed my stoke for SUPsurfing. I've been having fun for the last few years, but not like first years when conditions were better. I'm back!
Posted by: Michael | November 04, 2013 at 11:51 AM
Arrggghhh! Sorry I missed it but glad you guys got some tasty looking waves.
Posted by: CHRISTIAN | November 04, 2013 at 03:33 PM
OK, Now you have totally convinced me, I should get a 9.5" tuttle box wave fin for my wife's Starboard GO ... and a leash.
Posted by: McPhilly | November 04, 2013 at 09:24 PM
Oh and congrats on picking the right day. I went on Saturday, regular surfing (if you could call it that) it was too large and nonstop, no nice gaps to paddle out in. Come Sunday, I was done, cooked, kaput, woulda, shoulda have known better.
Posted by: McPhilly | November 04, 2013 at 09:28 PM
Phil, just find an old tuttle fin and saw it down. Jeff has been SUPsurfing this way all summer and he's had great success at it.
Posted by: Michael | November 05, 2013 at 05:50 AM
How big is Jeff's GO? I have a 170 L GO. And how big is the fin he is using? I have a 10 inch tuttle box Wardog Weedwave, would that be too big?
Posted by: PhilipN | November 06, 2013 at 05:03 PM
I think a 9-10" would work fine, though take care with weed fins which can be pointy and skin-piercing. I also wonder how tightly a weed fin can turn. Experiment and see!
The GO I'm riding is a 2004 165L ( http://2004.star-board.com/products/go.asp ), which came with a 58cm Drake Race fin (~23"). To survive the shallow depths of Pamlico Sound, I borrowed a saw from the guys at Ocean Air and chopped it down to 9.25". It still planes and can track upwind, but feels looser when turning. Good luck, let me know how you guys do GOsurfing.
Posted by: Jeff | November 07, 2013 at 10:15 AM