Ooh, lucky

Nothing at all was forecast but the wind came up so I hit the beach. Thought I might be able to try some surfing, but not enough for the 10m and the Vanguard-clone is still a slippery despite the awesome wax job by the ASP guy. Swapped it all out for the 15 and the Limited.

After a shit launch, I got rolling nicely powered and had a little boosting fun for the rest of this four hour session.

Got tired, got lazy, dropped the kite at the shore, let it get tangled... called it a day. A good day, that is.

Have I told you already? I hate wax

It's the devil!

Good wind forecast and it delivered. Tide is low until very late so I went for a look at the beach, thinking I'd do a little on the surfboard then head off to the estuary...

Goddamn wax! I'd redone it but I still slipped off the front of the board every time I tried to swap my feet. Real shame cos I was having fun.

So back to the car for the TT. Zoom zoom!

Ermagerd! KICKERZ!

Good air play. Found a nice section of the beach with long period waves and flat water between the foot high kickers. Boom! Splash down depth was a bit hinkey though... thanfulky though I only ballsed it up once big time, hitting the lip of a breaking wave and jumping out of a strap, spinning around and splashing down not so badly, in front of the rubber-necker.

Repeat for 3 hours til the tide changed the water into mountainous chop and I was tired of the anal probing from the Dakine Proctologist harness. Started carving around and a wind-down but that lasted an hour...

Finally came off the water around 6:30. I love daylight saving time!

... have sunburned knees where the harness pulled my shorts up over the tanned zone :-/ stupid country. So cold out IN SUMMER you need a sweater, but you get burned in minutes.

I really hate wax

No joy again today. "The next three days are going to be great" seems to be the local joke.

Got desperate and headed out for a run. The Axis board stuns again with how good it is, and wax annoys me again with how shit it is.

Give up after a few runs and walks. Again.

I hate wax

Hmm, lost some days here. Sure I went out on the last two days but then what happened to Thursday?

Low tide early afternoon so I head to the beach rather than the estuary... No messing about, straight out with the Speed and Spud.

Bah. So close to being able to go upwind well, but I can't so I ride, carve a turn, ride back, jump off and wade out upwind...

After an hour or so, I give up and ogle the blonde in the bikini as I pack up.

Head to the estuary cos I think I can get some riding in. Same set up; works just ok, I'm getting upwind a tad so I switch to the smaller Axis prototype Vanguard clone.

Oh myyy! What a stunning thing to ride... only 5' 4" but bloody hell, it cranks upwind, handles chop, and carves a turn better than the Spud. Which is bigger and wider. Wow! Shame the wax is such a shit of a thing!

Give up when the wind dies away.

Right. Plan D.

Home to drink beer.

Waste of time, wind wasn't picking up. Fucking frustrating.

35 degrees!

Total luck I got any riding at all. Forecast was supposed to switch to cracking NWs but that held off long enough to get an hour's blast in.

Prior to that, I'd gone to Tim's shop to ask about beach access and he offered the Spud to demo.

So I rode that and liked it, but I still think it's too small, but I can't get a straight answer from anyone on the matter of a longer board giving better bottom end...

Off to Jed's for fush n' chups.

The more I learn about wax, the more I hate it

Arrived at high tide and was the only one or two there... Bit light relatively speaking, rigged the 15 and went out in the Limited. Not that good for jumping, then the SPL broke and I had a long walk in. Weak, dude.

Pumped up the 10 and went out. Ok but the jumps aren't stellar so I start in on the stunts... yeah, the old tricks work. Tried some hand-drag back rolls and only one worked so I gave up in them.

Wind dropped so I went out on the FruJu. Good board -- too good for me. Crisp and lively, rocks upwind but I had a hard time carving it nicely. Good ollies when you hit it right, butt he was is going and I risk doing the splits...

Wind seemed to pick up so I went out on the Limited but it sucked and I went out on the FruJu again til I decided I had enough... Good long session, about 4 hours!

Fare thee well, Dialer

Wind seemed light so I went out with the 10 and the Dialer, but it was also shallow so I spent a lot of time running aground and falling over.

Board felt strange when I got out of the water and it was then that I spotted the cracks in the fin bamboo near the fin boxes. A trip to Groundswell and a conversation later, the big D is pronounced DOA.

Sadness.

Goodbye J-winter

All excited about using the 7, even thought I'd need the TT but no, the wind is just jerking my chain. Maybe 10 minutes riding, 5 continuously... bah.