That wave last week

I don't know how or why I got sick a few days ago and I still am.

The weekend is wasted.

So, instead of winging I'd write about last week.

As I wrote in the previous post, I got a very good wave. A few good ones, but an incredible good one in particular.

It was the second wave of the day and I was testing the VersaTraction.

I was sitting on the shoulder halfway between Snapper and Greenmount and there were big sets (over head high - for me it's big) coming every ten minutes or so. 

It was one of those days where the waves were a 100m wide, left to right. Not breaking, peeling perfectly like it does at Superbank, but with the wall of water out and high just there, in front of you.

I love it when it's like that. Only problem when it's big and it's like that it scares me, because a killer set can leave you without escape.  

So this set came and I was sitting wide and safe, still measuring my distance from the breaking point, from the curl, from the others. And all the waves were taken from the horizon. The second one, I think it was the second one, was this beautiful, high, powerful, blue wall of water, and this guy with a yellowish longboard was doing all sort of numbers on it. Then he made a mistake and fell, leaving me with less than 5sec to go. When I saw him going down I felt great joy! Now that I think about it, I wonder how I didn't worried about the size of the wave approaching. I remember joy, and determination to catch it. So I turned the board and paddled and I felt it was the last moment available. I jumped up and there I was! On top of this moving mountain. I started my trimming routine and then I realized that probably the people I came with were still near the car park watching me. I became self conscious and in a fraction of second I thought something along this line: "every time someone is watching me there are horrible conditions and/or they are never there when I get the best rides and they never saw me actually surfing well like the others. So now I stop trimming like a chicken and I go down this wall and turn back up!" And I did it!

And after that the wave was getting to half the size, and I cut back, and trimmed and moved my feet, and finished my ride well pass the rocks of Greenmount, with my heart full of great, unbelievable joy.

I knew I could ride decently one of those big mountains and recently it just happened that I did it a few times. Not that I care about upgrading my waves, but when you see and evaluate the conditions around you, and what the others are doing, and understand that the crowd is the only reason you don't get to ride a 2m wave, well.. you start to say: I can do that! Let me try! And when you finally do it.. well.. you know.. it's unbelievable!

Then the people at the car park actually saw me riding it! I only regret there's no record of it. You see, I often have the GoPro with me. I don't use it when it's big because I don't have mental RAM available while big things are passing by around me. But I don't mean that it's a shame not to be able to admire myself, no: I would like to see if I did what I believe I did. You know what I mean?

Did I really went all the way down and bottom turned up?

After a couple of hours I took this pic at Durambah

Wild life note: a dolphin played around me for a good 5 minutes! And I mean: in front of me, to my left, behind me, to my right.. just among the surfers!

 

Malato.

Weekend buttato.

Quindi dopo aver guardato di tutto su youtube mi sono deciso a scrivere questo post.

Ho accennato nel precendente post di aver preso delle belle onde.

In particolare la seconda del giorno e' stata magnifica.

Era un giorno di set molto grossi (per me, ovviamente. Caramelle per gli altri. Ma per me onde da due metri circa sono cose con cui non scherzare) distanziati da minuti di quasi piatta.

In ogni caso stavo testando il VersaTraction e me ne stavo bello tranquillo sulla spalla, largo, e al sicuro da onde traditrici. Ancora valutando la mia distanza dal breaking point, dal picco, e dagli altri intorno a me. Trigonometria applicata!

Quando e' arrivata in vista la mia onda era gia' occupata da uno che c'era su da chilometri, e con un longboard faceva numeri da circo. Quindi questo bellissimo muro d'acqua si avvicinava e io guardavo il tipo maledicendolo, sorprendendomi poi che le mie maledizioni avessero funzionato facendolo cadere giusto in tempo per me! 

Senza esitare ho girato la tavola e ho remato come un disperato sapendo che un'occasione cosi' non sarebbe tornata (ero l'unico a quell'altezza) sentendo anche che la stavo prendendo proprio all'ultimo.

Sono quindi saltato su e, magnifico, mi sono sentito il re del mondo. Tutti giu a remare e togliersi di mezzo mentre io me la godevo. E me la godevo in modo conservativo, trimmando allegramente, quando mi ha colto questo pensiero: "quelli in spiaggia probabilmente sono ancora la e mi stanno guardando! Non mi hanno mai visto su un onda decente e quando c'erano le onde non c'erano loro. Quindi ora smetto di fare la femminuccia e scendo giu' da questa montagna, giro e torno su come un serfista serio!". E cosi' ho fatto!

Giu', girato, su, trim, cut back, onda ormai scemando, passi avanti, giochini.. da meta' baia a oltre le roccie di Greenmount! Una goduria infinita!

E poi in effetti mi avevano visto! Peccato solo che non ho niente per poterla rivedere! Spesso ho la GoPro con me, ma quando il mare e' grosso evito di fare lo sfigato che gioca con la videocamera perche' le probabilita' che venga punito dalle onde ci sono tutte. Ma il peccato lo dico pensando al fatto che sono sceso giu' da quel muro e ci sono risalito: sara' andata veramente cosi? Ho magari la mia mente ha ingigantito tutto e mi sono mosso di mezzo metro?

Mah.. un giorno lo rifaro'..

Nel mentre guardatevi la foto scattata qualche ora dopo a Durambah. Giusto dietro il point.

Nota animali: c'era un delfino che giocava intorno a dove stavo io per almeno 5 minuti.. in mezzo a noi surfisti.. troppo bello

VersaTraction review #1

(For the final review, click here)

Done it. Tested it.

I've been to Coolangatta this Saturday.

At first they were predicting some 30000m waves for the weekend and i was ready to head north to the safe port of Noosa, then it became clear that the swell was passing by out far. So I went south confident to find small and easy conditions for my test.

But when I arrived at Rainbow Bay I was stunned to see some head high set in front of me.

I said: I'm fucked. Now I'll work my ass to get out to the line up, I will be beaten fighting with a slippery board, I will catch a too big one and slip down and die like a perfect kook.

But in truth the sets were big but unreliable. There were minutes of gaps in between, so after some watching for a bit I timed my paddling right and went out safely.

As soon as I lied down I had this weird sensation of no control. When I sat I was a bit uneasy. And then when I did the first paddle I understood what was happening:

the VersaTraction has not grip on a wetsuit! (I cleaned the wetsuit off wax beforehand)

The situation was not alarming anyway. I still had to catch a wave and I could feel the grip on my hands. The feet should work the same way, right?

I sat wide on the shoulder, as my habit when it's crowded, and waited a bit. In ten minutes along came my wave: a shoulder high one. I paddled with my body sliding sideways at every stroke and then I jumped up. And nothing happened. I already had forgotten all and was focused on my ride, which was good but had to abort due to a lady paddling out in exactly collision path with me.

In then more minutes came the "wave of the season" (hopefully not of the year!) and I had one of my best ride so far.

Then wave condition and crowd factor affected me and I only managed a few good one later on, just before calling it quit. (I was a cold, dark, rainy and windy day and after two hours and too many people around me I had enough)    

My VersaTraction test was done!

So the verdict?

Well.. once you are up and running it's just as fine as wax. But because the waves were big and fast I didn't need walk on the board that much. I believe I need some Noosa like waves to see if at any point I loose grip and slip down.

Then there's the wetsuit problem. Paddling is unsettling because you don't stay put where you want to. And sitting is fine but only as long as you don't sit on the tail with the board up, otherwise the board will slip up off you! 

I suspect that with normal shorts this won't be a problem, because of the treads of the fabric. But it's cold now.  

Also I cut the stickers keeping them on the deck and not going down on the rails. Main reason was for proper placement without folding problems. So I knew the rails were going to be slippery but still, after some white wash I managed to loose grip with my hand and almost going face down on the deck! Just once, but not funny.

So my verdict is: it works, but I need some more trying to re-evaluate the wetsuit problem and the walking on deck aspect.

Meanwhile I think I will put the leftover cuts on the rails to help there. Just on some strategic spots.

I'll write more on this.

Stay tuned. 

Fatto. Provato.

Dovevano esserci onde della madonna poi invece venerdi si e' capito che lo swell stava passando oltre. Cosi' invece di andare al riparo di Noosa, sono andato a Coolangatta avendo visto venerdi le camere che davano le solite onde da 2/3ft che amo.

Quando sono arrivato a Rainbow Bay pero' mi sono spaventato vedendo invece passare sets di onde facilmente intorno ai 2 metri. Ho stretto il culo perche' uscire a Rainbow con un longboard quando e' grosso e' un casino, e avendo appena messo il VersaTraction invece che la cera mi sono sentito fottuto.

Invece poi in effetti i set erano abbastanza distanziati e c'erano momenti di piatta. In effetti era una giornata strana. Poi tirava vento, pioveva a tratti, era buio tutto il tempo.. insomma il contrario di quello che mi immaginavo.

In ogni caso sono uscito senza drammi ed in dieci minuti ho preso la prima onda che ho poi dovuto abortire per via del traffico. E dieci minuti dopo ne ho preso una enorme che ricordero' per molto tempo. Poi ho passato molto tempo ad aspettare, a negoziare posizioni con gli altri, ed infine ne ho preso un altro po' prima di uscire, dopo due ore abbondanti, stufo della gente, dei momenti di piatta, e del freddo.

Ma il punto e': funziona?

La risposta immediata e' si. Una volta che sei su non ti accorgi della differenza.

Ma ci sono delle considerazione che meritano altre prove.

Prima di tutto, per vie delle onde grosse e potenti non ho praticamente avuto bisogno di camminare sul deck, quindi non ho messo la tavola e i piedi in posizioni strane dove avrei potuto scivolare.

Secondo, la wetsuit scivola! Credo che con un normale costume non ci sia problema, ma la muta e' liscia (e io l'avevo ripulita dalla cera) e non tiene. Se ti siedi sulla coda alzando la tavola questa tende a scapparti via da sotto, mentre quando remi la forza delle braccia trascina il busto a dx e sx ed un poco anche in avanti ed e' abbastanza fastidioso.

Quindi funziona ma non sono convinto. E' questione di abitudine o e' un problema?

Per ora non cambio e sono determinato a fare qualche altra uscita. Anche perche' l'assenza della cera si rivela una figata per quanto concerne tutto il resto.

State sintonizzati.

Heretic - Eretico

If you read my post On surfboard #2, #3 and #4, you know what I think:

Surfboard are obsolete.

No doubt.

Now, because I've time and some money to spend I decided to take the extra step: on my perfectly hand shaped and then perfectly machine reproduced epoxy surfboard, I won't use wax anymore. Fuck wax. 

Wax is a technology from the middle age. Can you believe it?
Nobody is undertaking the problem of the slippery surface like we were still in the 50s, and there's no technology, and they sell you wax.

I'm sick of it.

Wax is polluting, dirtying, annoying, stupid. A stupid solution to a stupid problem.

And polluting. You love the ocean but you discard you load of wax in it every moment.

Stop.

Some times ago I found an ad about a non slippery, transparent sticker for surfboards. It was intended for a public of wooden surfboard users. For not ruining the beauty of the boards with wax. I was surprised nobody ever mentioned this product ever, and nowhere.

I googled it but found nothing, as usual. Surf community is kind of super extremely conservative. Same as for epoxy board, you will never find real comments and evaluations, but only bullshits. Like this two:

whats wrong with just using wax? takes like 10 secs to apply

For me applying wax is part of the whole surfing process. I love the smell of new wax and the feel under my feet, I couldn't imagine using anything else! I know it does get dirty and need removing every now & then but to me surfing without wax is like taking a shit without wiping your arse? 

Wow. Geniuses.
I'm so sick of this attitude.

So I said, ok, fuck it, I'm gonna try it on my own. And the time has arrived.

This are the stickers just out of the box.

Today I spent some 1 or 2 hours removing the wax from my surfboard.

Soon I'll put this "new technology" (!) on it and probably I'll test it saturday.

Now I don't know if this is the answer. Apparently people use it, specially on other boards/sports rather than surfboards. But if someone uses it, it works, right?

Well, if it doesn't work, ok, back to stupid wax. But at least I tried it and I will know how it goes. I could talk about it knowing it, not like the geniuses.  

Faccio l'eretico.

Non saprei come vanno le cose in Italia ma sono stufo della chiusura mentale dei surfisti da queste parti e nel web.

E' impossibile trovare commenti e valutazioni su cose nuove e diverse.

Se avete letto i post Sulle tavole 2, 3 e 4, sapete come la penso: le tavole sono oggetti obsoleti. Si continua a farle come negli anni 50 e nessuno ha mai risolto il problema della scivolosità. Come se non ci fosse la tecnologia per farlo.

E sono stufo della cera che inquina, sporca e fa sostanzialmente cagare in quanto tale.

E soprattutto inquina il mare che i serfisti dicono di amare.

Cosi' ho deciso di provare questi adesivi che vedete in foto. Esistono da un po e li ho trovati pubblicizzati per un pubblico di surfisti con tavole in legno. Essendo l'adesivo trasparente, non rovina la bellezza della tavola. 

Quindi appunto e' un prodotto che esiste, lo usano alcuni con le tavole in legno, lo usano altri per altri sport, ma non si riesce a trovare commenti e valutazioni serie.

Cosi' come per le tavole in epoxy, semplicemente derise a priori, anche questo prodotto e' accompagnato da commenti di questo tipo:

cosa c'e' che no va con la cera? ci vuole un attimo a metterla

per me la cera fa parte del rito. Mi piace al tatto, all'odore, e come la sento sotto i piedi. certo sporca e occorre toglierla e rimetterla ogni tanto, ma non usarla sarebbe come non pulirsi il culo..

I geni.

Quindi basta. Oggi ho ripulito la tavola e una delle prossime sere applico gli adesivi.

Non saprei cosa aspettarmi ma almeno ci provo.

Fanculo gli altri.

A new link - Un nuovo link

I just found this blog.

It's from an italian surfer who lost a leg in an accident years ago.

He's fighting with his disability and he's working hard to find a good prosthetic which can let him surf properly. And he's also helping a kid in Bali. And he's also trying the get  enough funding to take part of ISA World Adeptive Surfing Championship. 

I'm speechless.

Well, he deserves all our respect, and more.

Check out is welcoming page, or follow the link on the right.

I'm in contact with him now. I may write some updates here every now and then.

I wish him all the best.

Ho appena trovato il blog di Fabrizio Passetti.

Fabrizio ha perso una gamba anni fa ma non ha perso l'intenzione di surfare!

Credo sia una persona degna di nota e che meriti tanto rispetto.

Non c'e' bisogno che io scriva altro, date un'occhiata al link e leggete un po'. 

Gli auguro tutto il meglio.