Back to Business: Surf/Tow-in teams/S-rails?

Whew! Good thing Sunday brought such fun surf, I was getting a little too uptight with Jason Smith's puff piece in Surfing Magazine. Final word on that: In the end he's right, this sport is no fun and it's lame- better if he never gives it a shot.

The head high swell predicted by many surf forecasters came in just as predicted- on time and as big as promised. Don't know how it was up the coast but here at home, it was lined up, head high, lefts and rights. A few new faces in the water including two unknown tow teams buzzing in and out of the lineup. One team featured a tow in boogey boarder. Five minutes before the law showed up, one of the guys bolted south- not really sure if he thought he had anywhere to hide down that way but he was going for it. Mike P. with the lifeguards told us that they are restricted from any surf break by a thousand feet- since they obviously broke the law and CF numbers were taken, somebody is going to get busted (Coast Guard was alerted). I'll keep you posted as details emerge.

Top Photo: Kelly Kraus Kills it Konsistently. Going right and going fast on his new BK Edition C4 10'0"
Check out the tow team in the background.
Photo: Spidey

Middle: Kraig Surplus looking happy on his new Stamps 10'0". Last saw Kraig dropping into an overhead right doing about Mach 10. The bigger guys (220 - 270, yup I said 270) are digging these boards. Stable, fast and carvey they are really a nice choice for a shorter board.
Photo: El Tigre

Bottom Photo: Emerald City Surf Shop in Coronado (619-435-6677) just added to their inventory of stand up boards. I'll post some of the stand outs later but for now, take a look at this: The S-Rail on South Point's Bonga Perkins model. In person, it looks really nicely done, would be great to try it out. More on this and others to come.
Photo: Igor Von Smiley

New C4 9'6": Jamming it at Cardiff

You like to sink the rail, right?
Here's Emerald City's Kelly Kraus sticking it to the inside section at Cardiff Reef. The line drawn and obvious bite at the bottom is a testament to the effectiveness of both man and machine.

It's going to be interesting to see where these boards are going to take us. Parmenter's leaning them out, throwing on some wings and swallows and in the process making a soft Cardiff reef reform look like a Super Bank race track.




Middle Photo: Mash that go-peddle to the floor- the full rail approach to inside Cardiff.
All Photos: Phillip (Hi-Rez coming soon!)

In the water: C4 Waterman 10'0"

Last week, I had an opportunity to test drive one of the long awaited, C4 Waterman, stand up boards manufactured by Boardworks. Evidently, the boards had been imprisoned in a shipping container in San Pedro and were just unleashed upon the mainland last week- look for them as they spread across the coast and into your local surf shop.

Kelly Kraus of Emerald City (619 435-6677), in Coronado, Ca was willing to let me hop on his brand new 10'0" version of the board (the board line also includes a 10'6" and an 11'6").

Setting the scene: I paddled this board in the ocean on a moderately choppy day, the surf was a small 2 - 3' wind swell. I'd call the conditions "semi-challenging" due to the pop-up nature of the wind swell peaks and the amount of south wind, cross chop. We surfed the board at a local beach break, no channel cheating here.

Paddling: I have to say, I was a bit apprehensive about the how I'd do on such a small stand up board. I'm currently riding a board that is just about 12' by 29.5"- the dimensions on this board put its width at 28" with a thickness of 4". I weigh about 210lbs and I honestly didn't think the board would float me.

I was completely wrong. The board handled me; the deck wasn't awash. In fact, I found the board surprisingly stable for it's size. I could paddle around, back paddle it and even pivot turn it with a foot on the tail. Undoubtably, paddling it did require considerably more thought then my other board but I have to say that my preconceived notions (see the article about the Craig paddleboards) regarding paddle-ability and board size have been put to rest. A guy my size can definitely paddle boards in the sub-11' range.

Surfing: Scott Bass wrote a great article ("Got Paddle? A Preliminary Look at StandUp Paddle Surfboard Design" at www.surfermag.com) about stand up boards that discusses the trade offs in a board's design. There is evidence of this in this board. The board does not possess the glide of the big 12' tankers and I'm reasonably sure it was never meant to compete with them in this area (however, the 11'6" C4 may have been designed for this purpose). What the board does do extremely well is surf. Form definitely follows function with this board- the thing surfs really, really well.

Taking off on this board is a different experience then gliding in on the 12 footer. The board has a snappy acceleration (think a twitch of the wrist on a rice burner) and an easy entry into the wave- there is some meat in the nose of the board allowing you to really lean into the paddle over the front of the board. Kelly Kraus goes from zero to ripping in about three strokes, I've seen him get into waves he had no business catching.

Another clue regarding the board's purpose? Check out the tailpad (the board comes stock with a deck pad and a cut-in tail pad). Like your favorite short board, the board was meant to be surfed off the tail. Get your foot back there and the board goes rail to rail down the line very nicely; it's "pump-able". The board makes speed easily and feels like a much smaller board then it is. I didn't get a chance to disfigure a fat reef break shoulder but I have no doubt that thing would carve a cutback very nicely.

Summary: This board would not be my choice for a long distance (10 mile or more) coastal cruise, it just doesn't have the waterline and weight to match the speed and glide of the big boys. I would use this board for a two or three spot go out; the kind of session where you roll up, see the peak you want to poach, surf it and then hit one or two adjacent spots. The board has an extremely "surfy" feel that will appeal to shortboarding cross-over surfers. At my weight, I could see myself eventually getting used to a board of its size, realizing that I'd have to climb the SUB learning curve again. I'd be interested in trying out the C4's bigger brother the 10'6", given my dimensions and experience I think this larger version would be a better fit . Overall, I can say that riding this board has expanded my paddle surfing world a little bit- and I've begun to realize that I may have to make room in my shed for more then one stand up board. Ouch.

Photo Day: Working on the new watercam setup

Well we're getting a little eclectic here with our photo collection but there's a reason for it.

MOFO (the guy on the right in the photo to the left and stand up paddling into the wave below) decided to merge his origami skills with his hidden Martha Stewart to create a camera neck "holster" for his waterproof Olympus point and shoot. He used scraps of wetsuit material, glue and hand stitching to put together a really functional and robust camera housing. The water photos were his first attempt with the new camera rig.


I'm going to talk him into letting me photograph his new camera holster and will post it soon. The other photos are of Kelly Kraus surfing Cliffs (photo to the left) on his new C4 Waterman 10'0 a board we'll be reviewing soon. I'm the screwfoot fading left to go right at the Cliffs. Conditions were pretty meager yesterday (7-15-07) but we were able to get into some fun waves once we paddled far enough south.

I'm excited to get into the water photography game. Last week I ordered a Sanyo Xacti waterproof camera that will allow me to videotape and photograph in the water. I think the MOFO housing will make it user friendly by keeping it close at hand but not allow it to dangle all over the place. The camera should arrive next week and I'll have it in the water as soon as possible. Be sure to check back for the shots and video.



Note: The other two gentlemen in the top photo are North kiter John Klinger (Klinky) on the left and Kinsley Wong of Xtreme Big Air in San Luis Obispo. Klinky is a Strand local and has been stand up paddling a Mistral Pacifico when he's not lofting himself over the Cay's overpass.

Also: Kelly Kraus is the owner of Emerald City surf shop in Coronado on Orange Avenue. If you're interested in checking out the new C4 Waterman boards you should go to Emerald City. Kelly's the only guy I know of that has the whole range of C4 boards and he rides one everyday so he knows what he's talking about. Go check'em out!