Board #11
5'10" Hollow Balsa Bellyboard
March '06
Description:
The deck / bottom is balsa...
The fins are Zebrawood...
Rails are laminated cork/bending plywood...
4 oz. E-cloth laminated on inside of deck / bottom...
Exterior Glass: Resin Research Epoxy /4-oz.E-glass...
...Built to ride...
Debut session: 4-6-06
Location: Westport, WA
Conditions:
Wind: Dead flat calm, turning to oily calm...
Swell: West - 5'solid @ 12 sec.
Air temp at dawn: 38 degrees...warming to the high 50's
Crowd Factor: What crowd...???... It's a weekday...!!!...
For the past year my nearly exclusive board of choice has been my 11'6"....Today was a drop to a new low extreme for me -5'6"...You do the math...
The first thing I noticed after suiting up was when I was walking with the board...It fills the area under my arm more than my narrow, yet thick 11'6"...The weight difference is also extreme...My 11'6" weights about 37#, this is 10#...Radical...It felt like nothing under my arm...
Once I was in the water and on the board, I found the paddling position and balance just fine, very familiar despite the shortness of the board...The board floats thicker than it's measured 3"...Feels more like 3.75"...Just the way hollows are...
Out in the line-up, while sitting waiting for a wave, I was surprised how high I was sitting in the water...High enough to have my waist out of the water...I was expecting to be rib deep...
The first wave I tried for I caught...Using only arm paddling I caught a solid 5-6'er in the Corner...I decided before hitting the water to mostly ride prone, and that's what I did on this first wave...The wave lifted, I pulled myself down the face with a couple of stokes, then the board started planing, did the drop, hit warp speed and the weeks of questioning how it'll ride were answered...In an instant...I have a keeper...
After having ridden several waves only prone, I decided to take the leap to my feet...Not so hard, but the swell was a bit too thick and powerful to really get in tune to the waves...After having ridden the surfboard equivalent of a Rolls Royce for a year, this watermelon seed was going to take some getting used to...The wide tail planes really easily, and is going to require me to get on the learning curve riding smaller waves...I'll experiment further on 3' waves and work my way up from there...Should be just a blast...!!!...
After a couple of hours using only my arms for propulsion, I went in and grabbed my swim fins...Instead of getting in the rip at the jetty, I got in at the middle of the beach...Just kicking my way to the outside was easier than I thought...When I encountered whitewater rolling at me, I let the board go up and over the wave, instead of trying to go under it...Simple...
Once outside, the advantage of the fins became obvious...While laying off of the back of the tailblock, with my arms extended far out in front, I'm able to kick into waves way easier than arm paddling...And I'm all about early wave entry...Get in and GO...And this thing goes...Flat out FAST...The wide tail just planes so easy and the wide set fins create just enough drag to keep the board on track...Throw into the mix being prone and so close to the wave face, the sensation of speed is intense...Intoxicating...Rights or lefts, it's all the same...Fast fun...
I had a few "way behind the peak" take-offs, just high lining it through the folding bowl, holding the high line for the speed rush under the lip...AWOOOOOO...!!!
The peak of the session was when there was only one other guy out...The air was warm, the sun was out, the peaks were peaky, and the surface of the water turned to oil glass...I was in another world...A world far away from the rush of life...All that was important was the next wave...
On the way home I reflected on the session I just had...I realized that I now, I have a board that I'll be able to ride for the rest of my life...I never had a board before that I thought that about...Somehow that felt very reassuring...