GROVELER TRIALS PT. 2, MON 17AUG2015

Loc: Manhattan Beach

Time: 0710-0910

Crew: Tom

Conditions: 1-3 FT, consistent, fast, hollow, empty

Board: Tom’s 5’6 x 19 ¼ x 2 ¼ Dumpster Diver

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Pre Blog:

     When Tom had texted me the dimensions last night, I had a couple concerns. I had the Dumpster Diver from Indo to compare to, which has exactly the same dimensions, save for the thickness. Tom’s is thinner by 3/16 of an inch. How much would this difference be felt?

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     Tom and I had planned on meeting at 0620. Coincidentally, we both text each other at exactly 0611, saying that we’re running late.

     I meet him at the lot at 0645. Joyce, another occasional local, is also here. I haven’t seen her for a while, so we catch up for a minute. She introduces Tom and I to her surf homie, a different Toru. He’s riding a CI Prototype. The thing looks like a short pill or a box of soap.

     Tom hands me the Dumpster Diver. It feels light in my hands. After reparking my car on the street and swapping out fins, I head down to shore.

     According to Surfline, the surf should be a poor 1-2, occasional 3 FT. Instead, the surf is actually standing up with fast hollow sections. With the low tide, the rides look short but fun. It’s almost like a small groundswell, but there really isn’t supposed to be much on tap, so this is a surprise.

     Warming up, I watch Tom take three waves on his Lost Weekend Warrior, not riding out of his turns, but putting as much mustard into the closeout sections as possible. It’s good aggressive surfing.

     Paddling out, the board feels like it’s lacking a little volume for me. Tom’s about a hundred and forty pounds, max, and I’m easily fifteen pounds heavier.

     Just like Indo, I scratch and kick as hard as possible to get into waves, and there’s good entry volume to get me into them. Since the waves are punchier than yesterday, it’s hard getting to the open face for turns. Backhand and forehand, all I can really do is pump. Even though the surf is fun-sized, I should be pulling in more than carving.

     Compared to the weekend, there is barely anyone here. It’s a blessing. Everyone had loyalty with the forecast and left us out here with decent surf to ourselves. Only the desperate dawn patrolled it, and the desperate are being rewarded.

     Some three-foot waves roll in. They’re so peaky and shouldery. Combined with the low tide, they offer hollow slots for potential barrels. I can’t say much for the rights, but I get some solid lefts.

     Blame it on the board or blame it on my skill level for not making it out of the barrels, but I don’t give a shit. I have so much fun pulling in. One shouldery wave tapers off and runs away, but before it does I pull in, stick my hand in the face, stall, and get some shampoo coverup before punching out through the ceiling. It’s nice, slow, and deliberate. I go late on another one and do a desperate frontside rail grab. It’s a nontraditional tactic, but it’s worth getting that barrel perspective. Tom even gets full view of me for that split second. There’s one that I should have made it out of. Probably more assistance from a quad setup would’ve helped. My standard shortboard would have been fine today.

     Tom and I trade off on waves until he leaves at the one and a half hour mark. He leaves at the right time, as the wind switches, its gets crowded, and the tide kills the consistency.

     Plenty of ass cheeks come out to surf, even that one Asian dude in some straight up Daisy Dukes. It just looks wrong. One of the chicks is wearing a thong. Gonna have to rename this place to Little Brazil.

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The verdict? After Indo, I’m a true believer in Dumpster Divers. There’s a reason this board had won the SIMA board of the year award (so did the Neckbeard if I’m right). As far as this particular one being the solution to my groveler dilemma, I felt like I was really missing some volume on the thickness. Surfing on in, I felt that familiar feeling of riding my brother’s standard shortboards. Just too chippy.

     I ran into Toru in the lineup today. He told me he also has a Dumpster Diver that’s a 5’7. He couldn’t recall the rest of the dimensions, but he said it was thicker than the one I was on. Maybe I’ll sample it, too?

GROVELER TRIALS, SUN 16AUG2015

Loc: Manhattan Beach

Time: 0800-1000

Crew: Bri, Klaude

Conditions: 1-3 FT windswell, scattered, consistent, crowded,

Board: Klaude’s 5’9 Neckbeard

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Pre Blog: Everyone has his own preference when it comes to board dimensions. For me, 6’0 x 20 x 2 ½ is as big as I would want to go. In search of a good groveler for my local break, ideally, I’d like to sample something around 5’8 x 19 ¾ x 2 ¾, maybe even a little more meat on the width and thickness and a little shorter. As much as I love the Motorboat Too, I need a solid groveler that does well in 1-2 FT South Bay slop without having to ride a huge fish.

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     The Neckbeard. I’ve heard so many awesome things about this board. Rick swears by it, even though his is a long 6’0. If I’m right, CI recommends riding this board a couple inches shorter than your standard shorty.

     This board has a few minor dings and is in good condition. It has a thruster setup with Futures fin boxes, so I slap on Klaude’s Black Stix that he had let me borrow.

     Compared to Saturday, the lineup isn’t as chaotic. We’re on the late train. Orlando and Jose are out again. Usual locals? Check. Bri’s on the 6’0 Mini Driver with a quad setup.

     First impression is how well this board paddles. It’s just under the width and thickness ceilings that I had listed above, so the volume feels solid underneath me.

     The surf has tapered off a little since yesterday, but there are still occasional three footers. The longboarders are milking the small surf the best, getting the longest rides. Of course, Roy’s killing it on his brand new Don Kadowaki board as well, a 5’10 small-wave catcher, and he’s selling it well.

     My first decent waves are rights. I have to pump on my backhand to get down the line, and I do so with minimum effort. The board is drivey and fast. I set up for a backhand hack but my foot slips off the deck. Next right, the wave just seems too soft to get a deep bottom turn to climb back up the face right.

     Klaude shows up about an hour into the session and makes the surf look easy on his Puddle Jumper. Bri says that the shorter Mini Driver feels much better underneath her.

     The crowd thickens a bit into the second shift. A noob drops in on Bri. It’s a right. Not only does he snake her, but he also goes left, the wrong way. I can only watch him and his soft top collides with Bri.

     Just as I’m paddling towards them, Klaude calls me into a right. I take the wave.

     Afterwards, I check on Bri and the Mini Driver. They’re both okay. Treading water off of my board and flipping the Mini Driver around for inspection, the noob looks back at us in frustration. I can see why. He thought that Bri was in the way and doesn’t realize that he had displayed bad surf IQ and etiquette. This scene can get ugly. I could say something, but main thing is that Bri’s okay. Equipment is fine. The foul is there but no harm done. My next wave is a right. He drops in on me but kicks out when he sees I’m behind him.

     On the lefts, the Neckbeard feels great going down the line, but it feels stiff on the turns. I’m just not used to surfing a board with such a wide tail. The Dumpster Diver I had in Indo was pretty wide, but I was surfing four-turn waves to get it dialed in, so it’s really hard to gauge this Neckbeard on single-hit surf.

     For most of the session, I practice my layback snaps on the end sections, never sticking any of them. Still, I get satisfaction out of this. It’s practice on small waves. I hope that the repetition will lead to the maneuver being a consistent part of my short-list repertoire.

     After two hours, we call the session. Bri and I have breakfast at Mandy’s for the first time in a while. Next door at Havana Sandwiches, some Porto regulars are having breakfast as well.

     The verdict? I’m picky. Straight up picky. I like the drive the Neckbeard has, but it did feel a little stiff. I would love to sample a different one as a quad. Tom Yamamoto had offered me to try out his Dumpster Diver. Maybe I’ll give that a shot, too.

BACK TO THE GRIND PT. 2, SAT 15AUG2015

Loc: Manhattan Beach

Time: 0640-0930

Crew: Bri, Klaude, Tom

Conditions: 1-3 FT windswell, scattered, consistent, crowded,

Board: 5’9 Motorboat Too

     After Friday’s lackluster performance on my old 6’0 Mini Driver, I opted for my Motorboat Too instead. It was Bri’s first session since returning from Indo. We scored free parking. As we walked past the lower lot, we saw Orlando and Jose changing. We exchanged a few passing greetings and continued to the sand. It was nice seeing those guys. I felt like a local.

     The lineup was crowded despite the small surf forecast. The day before had been a pleasant surprise for surf being bigger than expected. At that moment looking at the surf, I was glad that the surf had only tapered off a little bit. It was still shortboardable.

     Bri and I had debated on which board she should jump back on again and decided on the 6’10 Becker, so she could feel the difference after riding a 6’4 in Java.

     Aside from Orlando and Jose, just about every other local regular was out. Whoever I hadn’t seen on Friday was in the lineup, and I filled them in on how our trip was.

     After donating nearly all my Hurley gear in Indo, I only had one pair of trunks to my name, and the water felt great in them. Even after surfing tropical water in Indo, I was stoked to be able to bareback it.

     Surfwise, I can’t say that I surfed well. None of the rights stick out. I did catch some lefts. Though some of the waves were peaky, they were still a bit fast. No solid carves come to memory. Instead, the whole session I was setting up for layback snaps on the end sections. In the past, that would have been a disappointing session for me, but I wanted to practice something new instead of doing the same standard forehand carve over and over again.

     Just when we thought Klaude wasn’t going to show up, I spotted him on the shore warming up. That had to be around 0800. Shortly after KK showed up, I spotted Tom Yama on a short soft-top funboard.

     KK was looking good on his brand new Don Kadowaki shaped Puddle Jumper. In broken up surf, he was able to get into his waves early and make all the sections. On my board, I would have had to work much harder. I was stoked for him.

     Bri said her Becker felt much stiffer than before. Even though she surfed better than I did, she said she was over the Becker. Looks like we’ll be cleaning it up and putting it on consignment of CL.

     After the session Klaude came over for breakfast. I made him some coffee and a veggie smoothie. These little visits are always nice. He let me borrow his 5’9 Neckbeard, which might get put into retirement since acquiring his new board.

     With the surf forecast being on the tiny size for the next week and a half, and after seeing how well Klaude performed on his local-wave board, I really wanted to get a solid local groveler for small days, too. I hoped the Neckbeard would work out for me.