Days like this...

...are bliss!
Despite puny conditions, I had a terrific weekend.
Friday night after polishing out another Willis Bros gun (8"6"!), I went skateboarding on my new Gravity Buttons on my street, which is too narrow and steep my 48" pintail. All I say is wow, I love it! Tight and grippy.
I took out the loaned Takayama Model T 10'2" monster. I wanted to get aquainted with it's size before taking it out somewhere I might possibly kill someone with it, so I headed to the local beachbreak that wasn't offering too many waves with shape, but it would do.
The glide and paddle-ability were much as I expected (very nice), and I can knee paddle on it no problem. I really like the board, and enjoy the sheer power that can be produced surfing it.
Control was a different issue. The extra 8 inches over my Alter II was apparent on my first big cutback, where I was nowhere near the tail, and I struggled to avoid falling on my ass!
This thing is a true pivot turner, and I really needed to have my back foot right over the fin. I got it dialed after a few more waves, and generally adapted by taking much longer strides when walking it than normal, whether forward or back.
I got a few nose rides, the water was perfectly clear, the sun was shining, no wind, and I could see all sorts of sea life swimming around. A pod of dolphins cruised through and I stroked along with them a for a good long time, watching them surface and dart underneath me through the crystal blue lens. Lovely.
I then went and skated my utility hill and some local neighborhood hills, again enjoy the new Gravity. So nice.
Ended the day with a trip to the Patagonia store for a presentation by the Campbell Brothers, inventors of the Bonzer.
A really cool slide show, video, and Q&A session followed, as well as the opportunity for one on one access to talk design theory with the bros.
A pretty healthy contigent of heads showed up, and as chance had it, I ended up sitting next to Rob Machado and his wife and child. Other pro surfers were in attendance, and other local industry luminaries.
The slides were shots from 1972 to very recent of surfing and historically related items from legendary lensman Craig Fineman, who a friend and chronicled the development of the Bonzer until his passing a few years ago. He left them not only the Bonzer shots, but his entire archive of photos! Many funny photos of long haired hippes in short shorts ripping!
The video had footage from the 70's to present as well, with the Campbells and various past and present pros ripping it up on the Bonzers. The most amazing was of Russ Short getting these amazing long rides somewhere in Mexico around 1976. The rides were like a minute long each! Just astounding.
The concept and editing of the vid was by DuncanCampbell, and was really very good and artsy. The Q&A yielded infomration that I had been curious about, and also raised information that I had not thought about.
The design is now 36 years old, and is still enjoying new devotees. The Bonzer really got a raw deal, with people dismissing it as "just a single fin with side runners". It's really about water flow management. They pointed out that the heavy concave and side fins feed the water through the tail, rather than letting it escape off the rail. Faster water flow, faster board! They also perfomed experiments with several pro surfers, where they took a pros' personal thruster, whacked the side fins off of it, put on Bonzer sides, and had them ride the board again. They all reported that the board was faster! And that's without the heavy concave....
I spoke with Malcom and Duncan about the lightwieght center fins that some locals people here have been experimenting with. They responded that they had tried it similar things out, but the difference was unnoticeable.
I got to check out the new Bonzers that were built using Patagonia's EPS blanks and epoxy construction. They were really nice, especially considering that epoxy is so difficult to work with. The boards were really light, like 4 lbs. I personally like a little weight to my boards, except for thrusters, and I asked Duncan about his thoughts on that. He agreed that for himself, he likes the weight of traditonal construction and materials (noting that is probably because he's an old geezer like me).
I'm looking forward to getting my 6'6" out in some juice this winter. The sequences of Matt Archbold, Taylor Knox, Dan Malloy, and others tearing it up on the 5 fin models was really inspiring.
Sunday was small again, but I wlaked up to 4th street to get some better shape. I had more fun waves on the 10'2", and also dominated the peak with the sheer bulk of this board. I tried not to be a hog, but it was hard. That board has a lot of fire power!
I went into the shop to sand and polish a new longboard before leaving for vacation, then headed out to my in laws place, the one with no traffic and brand new pavement on terrific hills. I really started pushing the envelope with the Buttons, doing slides and going after steeper hills. Again, I'm really loving the new skate. I'm taking it with me for my land-locked vacation, and pretty much intend to spend a great deal of my time riding it. My only other agenda is to go up to Maine to check out the guys at Grain Surfboards (see my links). The rest of the time, I'm going to sit on my ass and NOT WORK!
See ya when I get back....
P.S. - sorry I didn't get up to Ponto Whiff, the surf was just way too sad for the drive..... Hope you got something....