Summer of ASurf

[pridmore]

smaller fins in the tail will loosen up the tail and reduce the drive....give it some time and adjust to it , maybe we can catch up for a surf and I can see whats going on first hand...I'll bring my big box of fins and we might be able to do some tweaking if thats whats needed.....feel free to PM or ring me if ya wanna discuss anything with the board mate.....

SS, whats the thoughts on the B-flies on your little board, ? is that the fins you been runnin ?

[steve shearer]

Yeah, haven't taken them out.......in love with them.

I know I have to give them back......

[pridmore]

I know you love em mate, I am working on a new , different but similar( and better ) set with Phil , maybe in the new year mate....the little "nubbin" feels ok then ? remember its reversable too for your fine tuning pleasure...

Braithy, going from high rockered shorties to this flat slab with quads is a big change, the flat rocker will be an adjsutment, hang in there, lets have surf soon

[steve shearer]

Yeah, only ridden it with the 5 fin set-up and that feels great.

This board is LOOSE.....I couldn't imagine reducing the fin area.

Those butterflies just feel so positive and fast.

[pridmore]

switch the 'nubbin' around mate, put the highest peak of the template to the tail for more hold....
and if ya wanna try putting the small b-flies at the front, would be interested to hear the results mate...

[crabmeat thompson]

Braithy, going from high rockered shorties to this flat slab with quads is a big change, the flat rocker will be an adjsutment, hang in there, lets have surf soon

For sure MP ... It's only been two surfs. I'm keen as to get right into this sucker, and like SS said, I'll start to approach the wave differently, and find new lines to draw.

The surf I had y'day afternoon, was all time considering the conditions. Without the dumpling I woulda been swimming with the kids not surfing, let alone catching 25 odd waves. I caught that many waves, my ribs are sore today. My fcuking ribs! Last time I had sore ribs, I was a grom.

Hopefully tomorra morning there's a few around.

[crabmeat thompson]

Had another 2 surfs on the board yesterday. This time with Shearer's advice at the front of my mind.

First surf was in the morning at a sneaky little beach which due to it's angle, is close to offshore in a straight northerly wind. There were about 5 guys out, all on longboards. I thought what the hell, I'll join 'em.

On the dumpling, I could link the big fat hightide lumps from out the back into the dredging shorey. Considering there was only one other guy out there able to do it, and he was on a 10 foot log, it's pretty impressive. This board flies, and catches just about any wave the ocean offers.

It's true what SS said, about changing the way I approach a wave. These last two surfs I just let the board take me to where ever it wanted to go. I'm drawing much different lines on it, I find I'm riding higher on the face, and doing more Donovan F type of bottom turns. On my HPS I'm racing sections and pumping the board as fast as I can, just to line up a violent whack, while on this one, I'm doing stylish (well I hope they fcuking are) trims and top turns and actually stalling on 2 foot waves so I don't race ahead of the energy.

It is a different kind of surfing, and a kind which I can really appreciate. But even in saying that, after just 4 surfs, I feel the tail loosening up, knowing now how much force I need to apply to get this baby to dance. That really excites me, because as the waves get bigger the board has possibly unlimited fun and potential.

[Cpt.Caveman]

Sounds like you're starting to adjust to it mate.

Another thing I find with quads is the back foot sweep spot can be pretty important. When you get it you can notice both the drive and maneuverability together nicely, but too far forward and it's more drivey than loose.

With mini-boards I also find there tends to be a smaller sweet spot with both feet, possibly because in boards this short the transitions between different curves happen in a much shorter space. After a few surfs im sure you'll find where that sweet spot is and it'll really open up for you.

Seems to have been my experience with all the mini-boards I've ridden.

[steve shearer]

I have to think back to my tour of duty in the Old Dart, surfing the mighty English channel at Boscombe Pier, to recall surfing waves of a more heinous nature than what has been the daily fare for most of Nov.

mostly NE slop .....no-one out is the best that can be said for it. Slop on slop. Slop squared.

I found a little rhythm of summer of surf.

Down in the bottom garden to pull out a few farmers friends and keep the beds weeded, I discovered stink bugs on the citrus trees.

These things are evil, black and loathsome, they will lift their hindquarters and squirt a toxic, foul smelling liquid over anyone who disturbs them. I thought they had no natural predators.

Anyhoo, there's a bearded dragon lives around the house. I was fossicking in the garden,dislodging stink bugs and squashing them under heel when the lizard, whom my son calls lizzy, came rushing out of the bush.
Hang on a minute , whats goiing on here I thought.
Lizzy scaled the lower trunk of a mandarin tree and gulped down a fully grown stink bug, crunching it between his jaws and licking his lips.
No fcukiing way I thought.
I flushed a few stink bugs to the ground and lizzy ate them with relish.

Now, I only have to go into the orchard and rustle some leaves and Lizzy comes running like a reptilian pavlovs dog. He eyes me with anticipation until the first stink bug is fluttering on the ground, when he runs up and gulps it down with a relish that is a joy to behold.

We hunt together for a while. Then it's time to surf.


Symbiosis like this is a wonderful thing. Man and animal working together shows there is much to understand about our potential role in nature. So too, man can have relationships with surfboards, understanding in new ways that which seemed either opaque to the better angels of our nature or discarded as rubbish via force of comparison with the surf porn we are bombarded with.

IN weak windswell I can get my Mulletdumpling moving fast. Maybe two or three runners amongst surf so shapeless there will be no-one else paddle-out.
The butter-fly fins convert any steepness into speed, sometimes allowing a full speed wrapping cuttie (thats a good session if I find a little bowl section that allows one, it's not always so) or a close-out blast.
Sometimes I've got so much speed and find a section that I have no idea what to do with, I've hit the lip and ended up doing some kind of crazy boardslide, probably ended up doing things which look pretty goofy and out of control.
But mostly I find the board easy to surf.
I'm gagging on the eventual time I get it in some small shapely surf.....A little wrapping left would be ideal...I know there's been some of those at Tallows but the general claustrophobia of hipsterism in Byron Bay has kept me in the junk, alone with my thoughts, the whitecaps and the bluebottles.
Enjoying my very own Summer of Surf.

[Donweather]

Steve, I heard from a reliable source that a particluar beach nearby you was pumping out the odd 3ft+ set late last week with very little crew on it!!! You shoulda got the mulletdumpling into that!!!

[crabmeat thompson]

Funny you mention the sweet spot CC. Just wrapped up a 2 hour surf in some shapely rights... I could really notice when I got the sweet spot. The board would run, turn, launch like nothing else.

Shearer... I'm introducing soul - by the bucketful - into my repotoire of surfing arsenal. My next purchase will be a tea cosy for my head and a ukulele.

[pridmore]

dont foret to grow a scruffy neckbeard and wear an unbottoned collared shirt and have ya arse hangin out of ya pants....

[crabmeat thompson]

Will you still make me boards if I look like this?!!

[pridmore]

no....

SS, howz Lennox Lizzy this mornin ? cool stuff mate, we have a roo that we feed everyday over the back fence, I love my wildlife and great for the billy lids too....I got a few pics of a mutant gecko from last Thai hol I might try to dig up.....

[crabmeat thompson]

The dumpling, aka the Flying Saucer was cleared for takeoff this morning.

Dredging and churning low tide 3-4 footers on offer, and this board ate them up. Reo's, late take-offs, racing sections. It did everything I wanted to and more.

Just came back in from an arvo bash, 2-3 foot, higher tide, howling offshore and mad sweep. It was probably the best surf I've had yet on it. With waves with a little bit of push in them, the Flying Saucer out performs my 6'2" Merrick.

I'm stoked.

[Cuttlefish]

"The sea mullet" - SS
"the flying saucer" - Braithy
"The wasp" - Cuttlefish
We must be truly be finding the individuality within the Dumpling genre.

[scot]

Down in the bottom garden to pull out a few farmers friends and keep the beds weeded, I discovered stink bugs on the citrus trees.

These things are evil, black and loathsome, they will lift their hindquarters and squirt a toxic, foul smelling liquid over anyone who disturbs them. I thought they had no natural predators.

Steve, make sure you keep your sunnies on when hunting stink bugs.
unfortunately I know all to well about those nasty little bugs. I was taking a leak one night on the mandarin tree in the backyard, looking up at the stars. very peaceful it was. then next thing i know, i feel a light spray and searing pain in my left eye. little bastard must have been on the branch right in front of my face. it hurts like hell.
i had to take the next day off work as my eye was bright red and swollen and I had blurry vision for about 24hrs.

also, my chooks eat them, but they eat anything.

scot

[Cuttlefish]

Hey Steve,
Did you ride the mullet in last weeks/weekends swell?
If so how'd the butterfly's work in larger waves?
Can you do me a favour and let me know the height and bases on them?
I've got a chance to nab some and want to have enough area.
Feel free to PM me.