Beautiful weather we're having...
SURF:
Just making small talk here. Kind of hard to do a surf report when there's no surf. But fear not! That's why God invented the Wavestorm at the Church of Costco.
We had a little bump from the SW/NW on Tuesday for waist high+ surf and chest high sets at the best spots- but that was about it. Our Pacific storm drought (nothing in the Aleutians, nothing off Antarctica, and nothing off Baja) has resulted in small surf across the board. Thrown in 5 days of NW wind last week, and our water temps dropped 15 degrees too (that must be a record). Del Mar last Thursday had a sea surface temperature of 75 degrees and by Monday it had dropped to 60. Holy cow.
For this weekend, we mainly have NW windswell and just a touch of new small SW late Sunday for waist high surf again. As far as the sun/water temps/tides go, here's what you need to know:
- Sunrise and sunset:
- 5:58 AM sunrise
- 7:52 PM sunset
- Winds have stopped blowing from the NW thankfully and the upwelling has stopped. SW winds are in charge and is pooling warm water into the Southern California bight. What does that all mean? Our water temps are back to 65-67. Hopefully we'll hit 70 again by Sunday.
- And the tides are a roller coaster this weekend:
- 1' at sunrise
- 0.5' at breakfast
- 4.5' after lunch
- 2' at sunrise
FORECAST:
Still nothing of significance on the horizon but we do have a slight rise in the NW windswell Monday/Tuesday (I just copied that from last week). Hoping to see ALMOST chest high sets at best spots. (Yippee)!
After that, forecast charts show a small storm forming this weekend which may give us chest high sets again towards the 31st. And if you're keeping score at home, models don't show anything of significance through at least the 1st week of August. That means, after our July 4th swell, we will not have seen a wave over chest high for a month! But hey- who's counting. Make sure to check out Twitter/North County Surf if anything changes between now and then.
BEST BET:
Monday/Tuesday with a little NW/SW windswell? Or next weekend with a little SW groundswell? Hello? Anyone? (I stole that from last week's report).
WEATHER:
Very weak low pressure this weekend will result in cooler conditions and partly sunny skies and temps in the low 70's. Weak high pressure starts to set up early next week for more sun and temps in the mid-70's. Monsoon moisture should make an appearance (finally) in the mountains and deserts by next weekend. And that's all she wrote!
NEWS OF THE WEEK:
I'm not one for conspiracy theories (except for that whole aliens at Area 51 thing- that's real) but there is a belief I have that I'm going to share with you. Whether you like it or not, I'm right- so deal with it. Here goes: There is no such thing as a bad surfboard. There- I said it. Now I know you're going to say "WHAT?! ARE YOU CRAZY? I can prove to you that I've had bad surfboards over the years that don't work!!!" My reply: They didn't work for YOU. It's funny how people see me out in the water and ask 'How do you like that board'? Or, 'I see you've been riding so and so's surfboards- how do you like them'? The answer I give them should be taken with a grain of salt. Sure it's easy to say 'Best board I've ever had- you should get one!' Or 'Brand X surfboards are insane!' But then that person goes out, buys one, and says "This board SUCKS! What's Glenn talking about?!" My reason that 'every board is good' is that there are a million variables to how a board rides and how YOU surf. Expressions like 'Oh that thing wants to dig a rail' or 'It has no drive' are moot points based on the facts that maybe the board was ridden in the wrong type of waves or it wasn't built for your surfing ability or body type. I've had brand new boards that I couldn't get to 'work', swapped out the fins, and it turned out to be one of the best boards I've ever ridden. Let's look at the variables as to why boards are considered 'dogs' or 'amazing':
- Fins:
- Fins with more rake (i.e. they look like long hair in the wind) tend to hold better through caves and not release unless you push hard on your turns.
- Fins that are more upright on the other hand tend to pivot quicker and not do a long sweeping carve like fins with rake.
- Then throw in fin size- bigger fins hold better in big surf (or big surfers) and smaller fins slide out (based on your weight and strength)
- And don't get me started on how many fins you may have attached on the bottom of your board. Single fins are cruisy and that's about it. Twin fins let you do quicker directional changes but slide out. Tri fins are the holy grail (thank you Simon) with the perfect blend of holding power and release, while Quads give you a lot of drive but tend to squirt at the apex of a turn.
- Wide point:
- This is something I just started paying attention to a couple years ago (36 years too late). Basically surfers are broken up into 3 types of stances: narrow, medium, and wide. Someone like Rob Machado and Filipe Toledo have narrow stances (quick turns and light on their feet). Someone with a medium stance would be Kelly Slater or Julian Wilson. And a wide stance? Adriano De Souza or Dane Reynolds (stable, powerful). Why does that matter in a board? I used to think the wide point was always halfway between the nose and tail (so on a 6' 0" board, the wide point would be 3' 0" from the top of the nose and bottom- right in the middle). But if you have a narrow stance, you want your 'sweet spot' to be little back towards the tail. And a wide stance? Pushed a little further from the center of the board towards the nose. I've got a wider stance (some people call me the American Mikey Wright. Just kidding), and I've had some boards over the years with the wide point a little more towards the tail. Big mistake. I'd have to narrow my stance to get the board to work which is a problem when you're flying down the line on an 8' wave over shallow reef. The last thing I want to think about is 'Are my feet in the right spot right now? Oops, just ate crap'. Some board manufacturers will list this for each model. I pay attention now.
- Rocker
- Basically the bottom outline of your board can be curved from nose to tail or it can be flat. Curved boards work well in waves with a pocket but they tend to plow water and may slow the board down. Doesn't matter though if you're surfing a powerful wave. Kelly and Shane Herring's 'banana rocker' boards from the 90's worked great in hollow beach breaks and fit into the pocket really well- but normal days? Not so much. Flatter rocker on the other hand planes over the water surface much more efficiently and helps you get over those dead spots on smaller weaker waves. You may have seen Slater's new small wave surfboard called the No Brainer? Flat as a piece of plywood. Not really, but it may be the flattest board on the market. Great for those small gutless summer days- like this weekend! THEN, factor in slight rocker on the nose or slight rocker in the tail, and the board does all kinds of weird things.
- Length
- Small wave grovelers vs. longboards. Basically one turns like a skateboard, the other feels like a Princess Cruise Line (without the legionnaires' disease). If you're looking to surf like Filipe at 2' Salt Creek, ride the groveler. If you want to surf like Joel Tudor at 2' Cardiff, pull out the 10' Skip Frye.
- Bottom contours:
- There have been all kinds of mad scientists over the years toying and tweaking with the bottom of surfboards. From Phil Byrne's deep six channel bottoms, to Mark Foos dimples (think Titleist Pro V1 golf balls), to Al Merrick's tri plane hulls, to Bob McTavish's vee bottoms (like the hull on a boat), or Maurice Cole's 'reverse vee', to whatever George Greenough concocted: the flow of water underneath your surfboard and how it affects your speed, turns, etc. is just another variable if a board will work for you or not.
- Tails:
- One of the more unique aspects of a board. Tails that are pulled in (pin tails) make boards tend to hold their line- which is good in solid surf. Rounded pins loosen the board up slightly and are great for carving. Squash tails- a little looser and user friendly. Square tails- pretty squirrely. And swallow tails? Various theories on that one. Some say it acts like two pin tails and holds through your turns. I say it's actually loose because there's less area off the tail and I can do tight turns off each pivot point. Who's right? The board of course. Doesn't matter what people tell you, if the board/tail work for you, then it works.
- Thickness/Volume:
- Let's look at two surfboards with identical measurements: 5'10" L x 19" W x 2 1/2" H. One has 26 liters of volume, the other has 30. How can that be based on the same L x W x H? It all comes down to how the rails are shaped. For exaggeration purposes, if you took a cross section of each board and looked at them from the tail, you'd see the one with 26 liters has more of a triangular shape while the 30 liters has more of a rectangular shape. Both are 19" W and both are 2 1/2" H at their midpoint- but the 26 liters has more foam shaved off towards the upper left and right hand edges, resulting in a more triangular shape. This 'knifey' look and feel to the rails will cut through the water more but may not be as forgiving as the 30 liter board (and won't paddle/float as well).
- Overall shape:
- Does the board have a little more foam towards the nose to help you paddle? Is the tail pulled in slightly on your shortboard (or even have a bump or stinger) to make it turn quicker? Is the tail wider to generate speed? Does the board have a straight rail line to hold your turns or is it curvey to turn on a dime in France? What does this all mean?!
- Construction:
- The Polyurethane (PU) or Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam debate has been going on for decades. PU is your standard shortboard foam since the 60's and EPS came to prominence in the 80's on the East Coast due to it's buoyancy and lightness (good for small days at Sebastian). Basically the bigger/choppier it gets, stay off EPS. And of course there's various types of wood in longboards, algae foam, etc. And epoxy resins... Anyway, here's another new one to add to the mix: Tom Curren back in the late 90's experimented with an old board of his and dug out the back half of the deck. He then put in bodyboard type foam with the hope the board would flex and give it a 'springy' type response off his bottom turns. Did it work? Only Curren knows. Now, his protégé, Kelly Slater, is on the flex train and various models of his Slater designs come with boards with flexible stringers (a.k.a. Linear Flex Technology). I've ridden a few of these boards and you can actually feel them flex. You'll go into a bottom turn, board compresses, the flex kicks in, and shoots you into your off the lip, carve, etc. I notice though they don't like choppy days though as the flex tends to make the board vibrate and seem lifeless. I've also ridden Channel Island's Spinetek technology and didn't notice it flex as much as LFT. Just my two cents...
- Surfing Ability/Fitness:
- And lastly, one of the reasons that new board may not make you surf like John John? You're not Jonh John. Sure you may have been surfing longer, you're reasonably fit, and you can do an air from time to time, but he's got that 'it' factor which resulted in 2 world titles and 0 for you (no offense). He, along with PT, Rabbit, Shaun, MR, TC (Carroll that is), TC (Curren that is), Damien, Barton, Pottz, Kelly, Derek (RIP), Occy, Sunny, Ceej, AI (RIP), Mick, Parko, Gabe, Adriano, and Italo have some freakish ability they were born with to turn a 2.0 wave into a 9.8. So even though their 'pro models' look insane, you may never be able to do an alley oop at 8' North Point on it.
So there you have it. The gospel according to Michael: Every surfboard is a good surfboard. Maybe that small wave board you can't get to work just needs another foot of swell. Or more of a pocket. Or less wind chop. Or someone else to ride it. In the immortal words of Oscar the Grouch: One man's trash is another man's treasure.
PIC OF THE WEEK:
Welcome to the game show called "WHERE! WOULD! YOU! RATHER! BE!" First question is today's Pic of the Week. What coast will be on fire next month as the hurricane season looks to be ABOVE average? If you guessed the East Coast, give yourself a point! Next question: Where has it been ALL TIME this past month? Trick question- there are TWO correct answers: Indo AND Australia! Next question: Where's it going to be BIG on Sunday (but under a hurricane watch)? The correct answer... Hawaii! And the bonus question for all the money... Where would you rather NOT be this weekend?... If you guessed California, YOU WIN A LIFETIME SUPPLY OF CUP O' NOODLES! Thanks for playing! Make sure to tune in next week!
Keep Surfing,
Michael W. Glenn
Prophet
Don't Know If I Should Pursue Being A Lobbyist Or A Hobbyist
Been Surfing 36 Years And I Still Have A Lot To Learn
