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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Mar 15, 2016 - 11:48am PT
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scored at the ever fickle Torre Pines did ya. Good for you!!
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Gunkie
Trad climber
Valles Marineris
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Mar 15, 2016 - 12:17pm PT
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Going to Costa Rica next week, Playa Langosta. Spring break with the family has been in the works for like five months. CR north is usually pretty consistent this time of year with NW and SW swells. And it's been really good over the past few weeks, apparently. Arriving Saturday night and the swell is projected to drop to piddly 2 footers and stay that way for a week and then it's supposed to pick up again as we're flying out.
Do they serve beer in CR?
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Mar 15, 2016 - 12:44pm PT
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Gunkie- Imperial Beer. Pick me up a shirt while your there, they have a great design.
South county sand bars are very good except the high tide spots are all good at a lower tide right now due to all the sand displacement.
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T2
climber
Cardiff by the sea
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Mar 19, 2016 - 02:31pm PT
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I just had these 2 made by Sean McCabe and Aloha glass. Both boards have the same volume of foam at a little over 37 liters. The 6'4 is 21" wide in the middle the 6'0 is 22". I traveled and surfed in Coasta Rica with Sean so I thought I would try his boards. [photoid=449441]
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Apr 23, 2016 - 06:37am PT
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7-2 (point break board) 6-8 Aipa Stinger (reef board).
I like making these late 70 outlines. They're super fun to ride with modern fin setups.
T2- I like that rounded pin- How'd it work for you?
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overwatch
climber
Arizona
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Apr 23, 2016 - 07:24am PT
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killer video
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Escopeta
Trad climber
Idaho
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Apr 23, 2016 - 07:32am PT
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Looks like Garret McNamara gets to go to the top of the worst wipeouts video....
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MountainShark
Trad climber
Camarillo, Ca
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May 24, 2016 - 04:57am PT
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Surfed my whole life. Crowds really get frustrating. Waves aren't good when you can go and epic when you can't. Climbing is for the most part always available and has taken me under wing. I've had some amazing experiences on dry rock but none have quite matched those moments in a hollow barrel.
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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South swells are heating up!
Contractor Junior taking advantage.
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Jun 22, 2016 - 09:47pm PT
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Surfboards I Have Loved: vol 1
THE HAWAIIAN SPIRIT
When I first moved to San Clemente I'd been surfing less than a year and was riding a 7'2 pointy fun shape thruster and a hand-me-down thruster longboard. They were good boards to learn on but my surfing had progressed and I wanted to surf differently than those boards allowed.
I was helping my cousin clear out a storage unit and scored this 70's single fin, which he had been using as a prop in the back of his '47 Merc Woody. I fixed the dings and waited for the day.
One day some friends stopped by and said Lowers was firing and empty. I had sold the 7'2 when I needed rent, and wasn't going to ride a longboard at Lowers, so it was time. I sanded my hasty ding repair, waxed up, and was ready.
I'd actually never surfed Lowers before, even living about as close to it as one could. It was a Marquee break usually teeming with pros and wanna-be pros, a world famous spot. On an ordinary day I'd have no place out there, and I knew it. But this afternoon it was empty, for whatever reason- pre surf cams and a sneaker swell, probably.
We made a quick drive-by check, got dropped off, made the hike, and there I was, on the cobblestones at the Point, and sure enough it was empty and perfect. I was with my main partner Elvis, his gal, and two pretty well known surfers- Matt and Britt, or "Rice and Beans". They were ground zero on the retro revolution. Full 70's hippies, just in their 20's. Not many people were riding vintage boards and they were stoked on the look of this board, drooling in fact. They couldn't paddle out fast enough. Me, I was a little nervous, but followed their lead.
The board paddled like it had a motor, with its low rocker, down rails, flat bottom, width and thickness, and with only one fin, less drag. It also had, what I later found out, were called "Jets", four channels angling out to the rails and baby swallow tail.
And there I was, finally out at The Point. The way sets would roll in and stand up, focusing on the point, was something I'd never experienced, only dreamed of. I dodged some and watched some, trying to get a feel. Really, the wave is a no-brainer it's so perfect, but I did not want to blow it. I really did not want to blow it. My friends got waves and left me out the back.
The feeling of being alone out the back and seeing a set coming is a feeling only a surfer knows. With crowds as they are, and at a premium and usually densely packed spot like Lowers, the feeling is pinch worthy. Like, is this really happening? For a split second, it does not compute.
But then, for me, there was this 15 seconds of nervous anticipation, of building stage fright. I'd never ridden a board this small, much less a single fin, and at a famous spot with the spotlight on me, and me alone.
The overhead peak came in and bent toward me. I'd never received a wave like this. I was in the perfect spot and swung toward the beach and started paddling. The wave let me in and I stood up.
Where in small, crappy waves, standing up quickly and generating speed to get down the line is necessary, here I was faced with the most gorgeously curved, smooth, fast moving, wide open face I'd ever been on. I dropped straight down for what seemed like forever as the peak built behind me. Then, and I will never ever forget the feeling, I made my first bottom turn on a single fin shortboard. The rail set, the fin flexed, the water pushed back, water sprayed from the "Jets". And got my first view down the line.
The specifics of what happened next are lost to memory, but I made my wave and I do remember that it was the smoothest, fastest, bendiest, longest feathering wave I'd ever ridden. The top turns felt great but the bottom turns, the bottom turns felt amazing. The board was doing exactly what I wanted it to do, like and extension of me, like a dream, like I was mind surfing.
And to pass my friends as they paddled back out, smiling and hooting at me, instead of cringing or heckling. I didn't feel like a kook anymore.
Back on the beach, my friends told me with that single wave my performance level had jumped by leaps and bounds, and that I had found, I'd invented, my style.
With that one wave, with that one board, I developed my style.
The Hawaiian Spirit changed my life.
I often wonder what life that board lived before I adopted it. Born in Hawaii in the 70's- who rode it? Where? Moved to the mainland- when? Found at a garage sale- why?And left to ding, dry out, and gather dust in the back of a Woody for years until it caught my eye.
Well it's back in a garage now, has been for years, probably hotter and further from the coast than it's ever been. But it is a much earned retirement. I have so many memories locked away in that board, and it was the best teacher I ever had.
Hawaiian Spirit Surfboards
Shaped by Gabe Garduque
6'3 x 21" x 2 3/4"
Thank you GG
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jun 23, 2016 - 06:38am PT
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Currently its Overhead N.L.A. smoooth
Bring long and short board everytime you surf..
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Escopeta
Trad climber
Idaho
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Jun 23, 2016 - 06:40am PT
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It always is during fire season.... lol
What direction?
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jun 23, 2016 - 07:43am PT
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Wonderful little piece DrJefe. Thanks. It sure reminded me of a session or two.
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Jun 23, 2016 - 07:52am PT
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Drljefe, yes. Very nice tale! You may have inspired me...there is a story I have been thinking about for quite a while.
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Jun 23, 2016 - 02:34pm PT
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Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!
I visit with my old boards in the rafters once in a while and remember some good times.
That board is in surprisingly good shape considering it's 40+ yrs old and was a rider, not a wall hanger.
I liked the paint job so much it became my thing- a number of custom boards with that same scheme.,
Years later I was riding that same board at lowers and Laird was out.
He asked what I was riding and if he could check it out.
He gave me some back story on the shaper Gabe Garduque.
Hawaiian Spirit was his backyard label before he started ghost shaping for Ben Aipa.
Then a long stint of shaping for HIC.
He shaped Brock Little's gun for his infamous barrel in the Eddie.
Basically he's a longtime, low key, respected legendary shaper.
Bust out with some stories Chris and Darwin!
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Jun 24, 2016 - 06:31am PT
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Current conditions for MALIBU 1ft overhead
Have fun in the sun because im getting wet..
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Jun 24, 2016 - 07:03am PT
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k38- Fish tacos and Bohemia during the last swell.
It's crazy to look towards the cliff while surfing with my wife and see a condo tower on top of the camp spot we shared on one of our first dates almost 30 years ago.
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