My new toy!

New toy!!

You can see the picture of my new Sea Plane model, by Beau Young, with the VersaTraction sticker on.

It’s a 9ft board, 68.5 L volume. You can check the rest on the net.

I love my 9’1 Brett White model, by Classic Malibu: a performer. I can’t do crazy things on it but I love how fast it is and how easy it turns. The steeper the wave the more it’s alive.

So I was looking for something more traditional to help me stay on the nose on those small days, but I didn’t want to risk buying a traditional big log that would weight too much for me and be comparatively very slow in making turns and makes my life hard again.

After some good hours spent on the net, I took the occasion of being in Byron Bay to visit a few shops and have a closer look. 

At the end, a good chat with the guy at the shop helped me deciding toward the Sea Plane, after a number of other chats that didn’t really hit me.

I didn’t consider the Sea Plane at first, so in my decision there’s a good deal of thrusting the guy’s expertise. 

Also I didn’t consider asking for a custom made. 

Why?

Because I don’t live near the beach and I don’t have “a local shaper”. 

And it’s not only a matter of knowing someone that you thrust. You can’t just order something with some specific features, pay it and surf it. And that’s it.

For the price of 1 -one- board, you should get one, try it (surfing a lot), understand it, then going back and saying: ‘ok, I’d like a bit more of that, and less of that’. And get another one more in tune with your needs. And maybe another one again! 

Unless your shaper really knows you and sees you surfing, why would you request a specific product that you can’t fine tune? 

If I have to pay just one board and surf it however it turns out to be, then I just buy what’s ready. 

So, according to the seller, the Sea Plane sits approximately in between the all-rounds and the old school longboards. It is sufficiently different from my 9’1 but not completely alien and challenging as a log could turn out to be.

I tested it in 2ft waves last Sunday. Not great conditions and the high tide made the waves harder to catch. 

It felt very heavy to speed up, and I had a bit more than usual nose dive problems (the board is more straight that the other). 

Once up it turned very slowly (I had the 3 fins), but at the same time it gave me a very good feeling of steadiness and when I got the right combination I walked on the deck with such easiness.

Despite the conditions I got a few nice waves and I had more fun than I expected, or feared.

I can’t wait to surf it more.

Merry Christmas!!

My new Sea Plane by Beau Young

Two different loves.. :)

Giocattolo nuovo!

Nella foto potete ammirare la mia nuova Sea Plane, by Beau Young, col Versatraction messo su.

E' una 9ft, 68.5 litri di volume. Le altre misure sono in rete.

Amo la mia "vecchia" 9'1 Brett White model, by Classic Malibu: una performer. Non sono capace di farla saltare su per aria come le si conviene, ma me ne sono innamorato subito, per la facilita' delle virate e per come diventa viva ogni volta che le dai un bel muretto ripido.

Stavo dunque cercando qualcosa di piu' tradizionale, per camminarci su con piu' calma, per quei giorni di onde piccole e divertenti che non sono l'ideale per la 9'1. Ma non volevo neanche comprare una longboard vecchio stile, pesante, enorme e lenta. Essendo io leggero, volevo qualcosa che rimanesse comunque agile.

Dopo ore di studio su internet ho approfittato del weekend a Byron per vedere dal vivo alcuni modelli.

Avendo fatto diverse chiacchierate non convincenti, volte a vendermi cio' che volevano vendermi piu' che cio' di cui io avevo bisogno, il tipo della Sea Plane mi ha convinto senza peraltro insistere minimamente. 

Non era neanche un modello nella mia lista.

Ora qualcuno storcera' il naso dicendo che avrei dovuto chiederne una custom made, fatta su misura.

Beh, non l'ho neanche preso in considerazione.

Motivo principale io non ho uno shaper di fiducia. Secondo, con questo shaper dovrei passare una sacco di tempo a definire e raffinare la tavola. Ne dovrei pagare una, provarla, e poi fargliela cambiare minimo almeno una volta, ma minimo, per essere esattamente come la voglio. Cio' significherebbe surfare un casino per testare e capire, e trattarci per mesi interi. Il tutto, ripeto, al costo di una tavola.

Ritengo che ordinare una tavola su misura da uno shaper che non ti ha mai visto e a cui non parlerai piu' per i prossimi due anni non abbia molto senso. Tanto vale comprare dei modelli testati e affidabili, pagare e averla seduta stante.

Quindi, a sentire le spiegazioni del tipo, questa Sea Plane e' un nose rider moderno. Garantisce tempo sul naso non rinunciando alla manovrabilita'. Inotlre e' lunga solo 9ft. Insomma, non completamente aliena.

L'ho provata sabato con onde da 2ft e l'alta marea che rendeva difficile prenderle.

Essendo piu' pesante dell'altra ho notato subito quanto piu' forte dovessi spingere per farla accellerare. Inoltre il naso quasi dritto ha fatto emergere problemi di nose diving che non avevo da tempo. Una volta su girava con una certa lentezza ma allo stesso tempo era incredibilmente stabile e mi ha subito regalato una giornata ricca di passetti incrociati come mai avevo provato in precedenza.

La titubanza iniziale ha lasciato il posto al divertimento.

Non vedo l'ora di surfarla ancora.

Buona Natale!

Back to Byron Bay

I went to Byron for the weekend and yet again I came back with a mixed feeling.

Love for the location and hate for what seems to me unsustainable congestion of people and cars.

Love for the waves and hate for the crowd.

I woke up early on Saturday. I was dead tired from the day before and it was cold.

I sat on the bed thinking, trying to be truthful to myself and understanding if more sleep would have done more to my wellbeing than a surf session.

But once you are awake and you know that waves are rolling just 5 mins from you, it’s extremely hard to resist.

So I went.

I didn’t want to spend time searching for a carpark near The Pass. So I stopped before, only to see that the walk along the beach to the point was way longer that I remembered.

Once in the water, despite the early hours, I went back to the same old Byron Bay frustration mode. The waves (medium small) were rolling precisely on a specific line and the chances to get one, without being in the middle of the lineup fight, was near zero.

I managed to jump on a few orphans at the last moment but I got a close out every time.

Ice on the cake I got stung by a jellyfish. I didn’t see it but it hugged my calf.

The pain got me distracted. And when I focused again the crowd was just unmanageable.

I sat for a minute and asked myself why. What was I doing?

The sky was blue, the sun shining. It was a beautiful day.    

And I knew I wouldn’t be able to fix my session. I knew my frustration would poison me.

So, for the first time in my surfing life I gave up and went back to the car after just 40 minutes or so. And it felt good. I bought coffee and croissants and went back to my wife at the hotel.

I spent the rest of the day feeling good, not being miserable for my failure. For once.

Sunday I woke up determined to catch a few at Wategos: the point just behind The Pass.

I went there early, and this time I could count the people in the water on my fingers.

The waves were bigger that I expected and there wasn’t a clear pattern.

The sun was still low, behind the hill, and the water was dark. I don’t know the configuration of the bottom there and I was a bit nervous.

I went in far from the visible rocks and pointing straight to some white water a bit far out, where a lonely lady was.

Wategos gave me back my stoke.

As the tide retired the waves got even better but the crowd never reached a stressing point.

I just waited and got my nice rides. I surfed well for my skills.

I’m stoked by the fact that I can consistently do things on a wave, when I can get one!

I think I’m where I dreamt about when I started.

It has been a 6 years journey (minus 6 months for surgery) to get to this point.

I am happy. I would like to progress a little more before my age will start working totally against me.

Thanks Wategos.

Byron, you drive me crazy. Every single time!

Wategos in between sets

Come al solito quando vado a Byron Bay torno indietro con un misto di amore e odio.

Amore per il posto, e odio per il modo in cui la cittadina e’ congestionata dal traffico e dalla gente.

Amore per le onde e odio per la folla insostenibile.

Sabagto mi sono svegliato presto. Faceva freddo ed ero molto stanco dal giorno prima.

Mi sono seduto sul letto, cercando di essere sincero e capire se qualche ora di sonno in piu’ mi avrebbe fatto meglio di una surfata.

Ma quando sai che le onde rotolano a 5 minuti da te, e sei ormai sveglio, non c’e’ piu’ niente da fare.

Sono andato.

Ho parcheggiato lontano da The Pass e mi sono fatto la spiaggia a piedi con la falsa idea di fare prima. Lo onde rompevano solo al point e sembrava la vigilia di natale al centro commerciale.

Sono entrato sperando di rastrellare qualcosa, ma la frustrazione ha cominciato a salire rapidamente. Dopo una manciata di onde orfane colte all’ultimo secondo e concluse immediatamente con un close out, una medusa mi ha abbracciato il polpaccio. Dolore.

Dieci minuti di bestemmie, e quando sono tornado a concentrarmi sulle onde con mio orrore la folla era aumentata ancora.

Con la gamba dolorante ho guardato il cielo blu, il sole splendente, l’acqua limpida e la buona giornata che sarebbe potuta essere. Mi son chiesto che cazzo ci facevo la a rodermi il fegato, e ho ammesso che anche insistendo non sarei riuscito ad addrizzare una situazione penosa. Non volevo vivere una giornata misera.

Mi sono fatto forza e sono uscito. Per la prima volta in vita mia ho abbandonato delle buone onde dopo appena 40 minuti. Ho comprato cornetto e caffee e sono tornato in hotel da mia moglie. Per la prima volta in vita mia ho vissuto una bella giornata, sereno, nonostante una brutta sessione.

Domenica mi sono alzato presto e sono corso a Wategos, dietro The Pass, in cerca di riscatto.

Il sole era ancora dietro la collina e onde grandicelle e buie rotolavano in punti diversi della baietta. Pochissimi in acqua.

Non conoscendo il fondale mi sono tenuto lontano dalle rocce visibili e mi sono recato titubante abbastanza in fondo, dove una donna sola prendeva onde su un fondale che sembrava abbastanza profondo.

Wategos mi ha ridato la gioia.

Come la marea e’ scesa le onde sono andate via via migliorando, senza che la folla raggiungesse mai livelli di fastidio.

C’erano diversi picchi e sono riuscito a surfare bene, su bei cavalloni.

Sono gasato dal fatto che riesco a giocare con le onde mandando la tavola su e’ giu’ a piacimento. Ho raggiunto quel livello che sognavo quando ho iniziato.

Sono passati 6 anni (meno sei mesi causa intervento) proprio in questo periodo. E’ stato un cammino lungo e spesso snervante. Ma sono felice.

Vorrei progredire un altro po’ prima che il mio fisico cominci a dire ciao.     

Byron, ti amo e ti odio!    

Making friends with the neighbours

I wrote it before and I’m going to write it again: if you are on my pages in search of something interesting to read, don’t forget to check on Rebecca’s blog “Making friends with the neighbours”.

The web is flooded by useless surf blogs that only have fancy pictures. It seems like people have the need to appear and be somehow recognised, but they want it with the minimum possible effort and zero engagement.

Instead, Rebecca writes. A lot. And she is a pleasure to read. She focuses on female surfing and the issues around it. But even so, there are so many things I can relate to in her texts.

Recently she has been very ‘productive’, and she made me think.

These posts stand out for me: ‘The Ocean doesn’t care’ and ‘Sitting wide’. And partially ‘Stupid women’.

Reading them makes me feel a range of emotions so wide I wasn’t able to write a single meaningful comment. I had to stop and think. And read again. Think more.

The fact is, she put into words a lot of things that I go through while surfing. Things that I write as well (but not as well!). Things that I think as well, and things that I don’t think.

Rebecca is from Byron Bay but she has been living in Brisbane for a number of years now.

And she’s giving me the impression that she is going through, or she has gone through a transformation in her mind: from being a local surfer to being a commuter surfer. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that she is finally writing as someone who’s not living in front of the beach anymore. (Here I use the term finally as: I can finally see ‘a local’ understanding me.)  

Even if she wrote about the lineup problem and commuting before, it’s like now, all of a sudden, she’s putting all the pieces together and saying: being a commuter surfer is bloody hard! Commuter surfers work harder than the others!

BTW, this is my opinion only. This is only how I perceive her writing.

And so, to me, it’s liberating!

My surf mind is having a party. 

It means that what I’ve been living and feeling, and writing, in my own little solitary surf world, finds recognition, or confirmation, in the words of a proficient surfer that has a story, a background, knowledge and an understanding of surfing that I may never have.  

Here are some sentences from those posts that stood out for me:

'Getting shit waves might not have too much of an effect when you can surf all the time, but when it's rare that you get into the sea, it can really bite.'

I never thought that getting shit waves could not have much effect on a surfer. To me it sounds impossible, as my surf experience is always being one of one shot only, then wait another 6 days, at least.

'..how surfing every day can make you even hungrier and less appreciative of waves than people who get to the coast to surf much less often. And yet, I saw these people - me included - treated as though they'd given something up! As though they - we - weren't real surfers.'

This sentence hurts me. It upsets me. I can’t stand the thought of my commitment to surfing being ridiculed by such a weak argument. Not after all my bloody, tiring, never ceasing bargaining with my wife and friends and commitments.  It’s an insult. My surfing translates into such a mental and physical effort that their surfing looks like a lazy, random past-time. Believe me. It really hurts.  

'.. it also means that belonging to a place is a bit different, and seems to be more based on going to a place, rather than claiming a place.'

I like this. Belonging by going to a place. And it’s true. I’m deeply in love with a lot of the places I go surfing. I can’t stop looking at the mountains, rivers ’ mouths, skylines, trees, colours and all. I got to know pubs, cafes, restaurants, parking lots, streets, shortcuts, rocks, currents, tides, waves, showers, toilets, locals(!) and all. 

I really feel I belong to those places.

'Getting waves when you live away from the coast isn't easy. It is a hard won prize, based on decision and effort. When you're working a lot (by choice!) then going surfing means taking a day off or waiting for the weekend, or not seeing your friends, or not getting things done around the house, or not sleeping in when you're dog tired, or missing a deadline, or myriad other things that you have to decide not to prioritise, when surfing means all of that, well, surfing means a lot.'

Exactly. A lot lot.

'I was sitting wide for more reasons than my board and my ability though. I was sitting wide because I don’t like being in the thick of a hassle-heavy lineup. I don’t like fighting for waves, I don’t like having to win them. I surf because I don’t like competitive or team sports. I surf because I like just being out in the water, in nature, on my own terms.'

Rebecca made my think about this and I discovered that while I hate the busy lineup attitude, I’m not being part of that partially because I’m not confident enough. If a fairy would give me exceptional skills overnight, I’d probably go there to take my revenge and satisfy my ego. (I’m just a human). Then, to my credit, knowing myself, I’d do it only if I’m desperate. And I wouldn’t enjoy it that much.

Sitting on the shoulder has always been my one and only option. And while I’m trying to surf better, I’m also trying to maximise my wave count like Rebecca says. But when the crowd is big I’m also so desperate and impatient that often I go for the wrong one, wasting sets, time and energy..   Still a lot to learn here.

  

'Sitting wide has taught me how to surf outside a lineup, and to value things other than status or performance. It’s helped me find more patience in my surfing, to expect less, and to make more room for other people with less confidence and skill than me. Out wide, the stakes are lower: take offs are less critical, the water less crowded and there are fewer egos. Not always, but mostly.'

Funny. As mentioned above, sitting wide has always been a constriction for me. When I know is going to be busy I don’t expect much, but my absolute need for a good wave still makes me unhappy. Until it happens. And when it doesn’t happen, I’m really down.

Then, yes, don’t take me wrong. I love smiling people in the water and I smile a lot, believe me.  I never take two waves one after the other because I’m absolutely aware of the needs of my neighbors (just like mine). And sometimes I resist the urge of giving people advises. 

And sometimes I can’t help to give a compliment to someone else (when watching them makes me feel happy).

But I’m not sure if I can say, like many people do, that the Ocean thought me something. 

I don’t know. Maybe I learned that I could be a better person?

I learned that surfing, and ALL aspects of life around it is/are hard?

'I don’t have respect for people based on their surfing alone.'

Yep.

'For me, the best surfer in the water is someone who gets waves, but leaves waves for others, who take pleasure from watching others have fun, who doesn’t surf at the expense of others.'

Agree.

'Sitting wide helps me be a better surfer. It helps me see more, understand more, know more. It helps me be more patient and expect less. It helps me better appreciate the waves I get, and to take more time to appreciate being in the sea.'

You can’t believe my sense of release/relieve when I’m finally there.  

Thanks for giving me things to think about, and perspectives, and direction.

A fantastic session

Two weeks ago I had a great day of surfing.

For once the waves were of very good size and the crowd manageable.

I got plenty of rides and I surfed well. I had chances to perform some good turn both at the bottom and at the top of the wave, spraying water on the sides. I made some cross stepping to the nose and I also surfed left, which is unusual.

Ice on the cake: it was the last session on the Gold Coast for a friend heading back to Europe.

We had so much fun. I’ve been stocked for days and still today I dream about it.

I know this is one of those days I’ll keep dear in my memory book.

If only I could have that every time, I’d be a very decent surfer.

I love surfing.

Due settimane fa ho avuto la migliore sessione da aprile ad oggi. Finalmente.

Per una di quelle combinazioni strane, mi son ritrovato a surfare onde facilmente piu’ alte di me senza che una folla agressiva mi ostacolasse in tutti i modi, come capita tutte le volte che le onde meritano.

Ho perso il conto di quelle prese, e ho surfato bene. Ho avuto modo di fare delle belle virate sia come bottom turn che sulla cina, sparando acqua di lato ad ogni occasione. Godo come un riccio a farlo col longboard. Ho fatto anche cross-stepping e sono andato pure a sinistra, cosa insolita da queste parti.  Insomma, stavo uscendo di testa dalla felicita’.

A completare il tutto c’era con noi un amico in partenza, e quella era la sua ultima sessione in Gold Cost. E’ stato bello salutarsi cosi’.

So gia’ che rimarra’ una di quelle sessioni che ricordero’ per molto tempo.

Se solo la folla mi lasciasse surfare a questo modo piu’ spesso, sarei un surfista di tutto rispetto.

Amo il surf.