Handboarding 5

Some serious waves in this and another great vid for the handboarding series on this blog with thanks to Monsterboards.org for the discovery. The blog Handplane Gooddness now added to my follow list.

Ummm.... A Carver!

Our home break has changed and so has the nature of the waves that are commonly found there and so the type of boards that are required to successfully ride them also changes.

Remembering previous home break buddy Surfer Pete's recent acquisition and highly praised acquisition of a McTavish Carver, during a recent morning surf, at which the local surf shop owner turned up for a quickie before opening up, I discovered that this very same board was available from said local surf owner's shop and that he had one also and was equally impressed.

"How much for an 8' or so McTavish Carver." I asked?

"Come in to the shop and I will be able to give you a price." he replied!

So the other day I did and a big red 8' 1" Carver is on the way as I write!

So this means that the 7' 4" x 21.5" x 3.15" thruster and 6' 10" x 21.75" x 2.7" fish that Aido shaped to accommodate a big guy such as my good self need to be sold to help to pay for this new acquisition!

Interested in either or both?

Little surfed but popular when conditions are right!

At one of our favourite beaches to walk the dogs that rule our lives, the conditions are normally onshore with massive wave action as it is exposed to the full onslaught of the open ocean.

The grainy picture at the left, as it was taken using Camera Zoom on my iPhone, giving you some idea of the first time the conditions had been ideal in quite a while with offshore winds and a small swell.

We figured that it was likely to be a bit too extreme for us, but we were keen to observe the action if our analysis of the conditions was correct and as it is quite a trek to the actual break the dogs would get a bit of exercise too so off we went.

When we arrived at the car park it was chockers with surf wagons and as we crested the hill that overlooks the break about 10 surfers could be seen partaking of the spoils.

So up the beach we trekked to find a quite reasonable channel closed out by the occasional bigger sets with a jumbled array of waves which occasionally set up nicely with barrels left off the peak if one was up and able to pull in quickly enough.

We must have spent 45 minutes or so watching the antics of the riders who displayed varying degrees of skill and gender before we trekked our way back up the beach ( me carrying Hermyne all the way as she had apparently sprained one of her back legs ) eager to get into the water ourselves at a less extreme location as it was apparent that the wind had changed in our favour.

However, I would like to have the courage one day to take a bodyboard out there and get some of the barrels that were on offer.