Surfing Thread

[Nords]

Al's rental link reminds me of another question.

A friend tried out a 9" Turbo Tunnel fin yesterday and I can't figure out why its hydrodynamics make it worth $70 + S&H. Have any of you tried it, and can you tell any difference?

 

[TromboneAl]

And here's Nords and me at WPB:

 

[JB]

Help me choose the surfboard to rent at Waikiki. Here are the options.

For me it would be fun to try the 9'8 and 10' August, and the 10' bear. Or just pic the one best for nose riding.

A friend tried out a 9" Turbo Tunnel fin yesterday and I can't figure out why its hydrodynamics make it worth $70 + S&H. Have any of you tried it, and can you tell any difference?

I can't imagine how that fin can be an improvement. What did your friend say? I've never experimented with different fins on my longboard. On the sailboard swapping fins can make a big difference.


A few weeks ago I tried Stand-Up Paddle surfing. I was on a 12' board and caught a few shoulder high waves. Even just paddling around was fun. I was lucky that the water was very flat and glassy (no wind). Even in those conditions I wasn't very stable paddling around. By the end I was getting the hang of it. The long board breaks around here are full of stand-ups now. They can catch the wave very very early.

 

[Nords]

I can't imagine how that fin can be an improvement. What did your friend say? I've never experimented with different fins on my longboard. On the sailboard swapping fins can make a big difference.

He's only been surfing a couple months and he couldn't tell the difference. I couldn't either. I can appreciate the submarine hydrodynamics applications but it seems like a gimmick.

The long board breaks around here are full of stand-ups now. They can catch the wave very very early.

I used to see one or two a week and now I see at least three every day, including one or two who need a very wide clearance with perhaps individual lifeguard monitoring.

I've seen some ugly "sup" flame wars on Craigslist. Reminds me of short vs long or groms&kooks or boogies vs everybody. I'm going to hold off until longboarding gets "boring", which at this rate will take at least the rest of the decade.

 

[TromboneAl]

Surfer drowned, but why?

Published: January 23, 2008
By Nicholas Grube
Triplicate staff writer
Mystery still surrounds the death of a Phoenix, Ore., man who died while surfing off South Beach last week.

An autopsy found that 39-year-old Sean Duffie [experienced surfer] drowned, but there is still no evidence of what caused him to inhale ocean water.

"He did die of salt water drowning, but there's nothing to attribute it to," Del Norte County Sheriff's Office Commander Tim Athey said. "The contributing factor that got him off that surfboard and into the water is just based on presumptions right now."

 

[TromboneAl]

Now, a dead whale has washed up on the beach. (picture)

"All of their blood and fluids going out into the ocean can attract sharks," Strong said. "Twenty tons of meat can produce a lot of bacteria."

 

[ronin]

There isn't much more rank than a rotting whale carcass! It was speculated that a season of odd great white encounters around San Onofre a few years back was due to a dead whale that they buried on the beach which leached out an oozey chum line into the line-up for a long, long time. Just what you don't need.

 

[TargaDave]

Old surfing pic in the attic

So we're packing to move and we discover these large old B&W photo prints (11"X14") prints from Hawaii in a box from DW's grandfather who was retired Navy . The surfing photo buried in the bunch looks pretty cool though I have no idea how old it really is (?) The board under the guy on the right almost looks wooden. I assume it is an original photo but I have no idea (maybe just a copy of some other pic?). Any guesses from the surfing guru's? Nords??

 

[ronin]

Could be 40s/50s, judging by the bathing suits. Foam boards started in the 50s. There were still plenty of these wooden ones around then. Hard to tell from this angle what kind of board construction they are though.

 

[Nords]

Could be 40s/50s, judging by the bathing suits. Foam boards started in the 50s. There were still plenty of these wooden ones around then. Hard to tell from this angle what kind of board construction they are though.

The guy on the right is definitely surfing wood, maybe even solid ohia.

I wonder if the others are balsa.

Those suits look like 1940s/early 50s. By the time Greg Noll surfed Waimea in 1957, jams were the uniform. Can you figure out dates on any of the other photos by the uniforms or the scenery?

 

[TargaDave]

The guy on the right is definitely surfing wood, maybe even solid ohia.
Can you figure out dates on any of the other photos by the uniforms or the scenery?

Nothing obvious to me but here are a few from the same set that might help narrow down the time frame?? late 40's early 50's?? Navy issue canteens? Not a single pic with cars

 

[omni550]

The cone top beer cans might help....

Nothing obvious to me but here are a few from the same set that might help narrow down the time frame?? late 40's early 50's?? Navy issue canteens? Not a single pic with cars

I noticed the 'cone top' beer cans and thought they might provide a clue.

At this site HISTORY OF THE BEVERAGE CAN Beer & Soda I found a few comments that might put the picture timeframe in the 40's...

The use of cone top cans started in the late 30's.

"The beginning of World War II accomplished a feat that the bottle makers could not... it stopped the production of cans to the domestic market, limiting them to stateside military bases and military units overseas."


And this site Success Comes in Cans states:

"During World War II, both the flat and cone top cans shipped to the troops overseas were painted in a basic G I issue olive drab with the text and logos in black or gray. This allowed the cans to remain camouflaged from the enemy. As steel became scarce, the cone top started to be phased out."

The cans in the bottom picture fit this description (cone top with olive drab), so I'd put these pictures in the WWII time frame.


omni

 

[Nords]

Well, you can't date those pictures very easily by the uniforms. Those guys hanging around the office could've been up at PACFLT last week, and the office would probably have the same coat of paint in it today. I'm pretty sure I was using that same chair in the 1990s. Khakis are no longer worn with ties like the group around the bay, but I don't know when that went out-- maybe in the 1980s. The Navy still issues those same glasses in the submarine force.

When I looked at the group by the water my brain immediately said "Hey, Hanauma Bay!" I think it's because of the bay's general shape and the fact that they seem to be standing on a dirt/grass bluff that overlooks the reef. If they were closer to the water they'd be standing on sand or coral. Hanauma Bay was largely deserted during WWII due to the coastal-defense patrols.

I hate to say this, but I agree with Omni that the picture is WWII vintage. The reason I hate to say it is because the hula dancers all appear to be of Portuguese/Caucasian heritage-- hardly an Asian or Hawaiian gene among them. Asian entertainers would've been a non-starter during this time and Hawaiians largely avoided performing hula in public back then. A picture in the 1930s or 1950s would have been much more ethnically varied and would have shown "real" hula, not the Kodak Hula Show variety. Today I don't think you could randomly photograph a halau that would look anything like that. Or such an ethnically homogenous office gang, either...

Other dumb questions-- are the backs of the photos marked with the paper's manufacturer, brand, or expiration date? Depending how the sheets were cut it might be spread across two of them. Are you able to determine what ranks your GFIL held and when he held them? That office photo looks like the office lieutenants posing for a shipmate shot. They wouldn't pose like that if an enlisted photographer was in the room.

If you really want to chase this down you might want to call Bishop Museum-- especially about the surf photo and the bay scene. They might be able to compare your GFIL's photos to their archives.

 

[TromboneAl]

Here's a closeup of the guy in the middle:

​

 

[TromboneAl]

But on a serious note, it looks like Hanauma in the first photo in the second batch -- compare it with a photo I took last year:

 

[TargaDave]

Cool about the cone top beer cans. Not a single marking on the back of the prints (home lab?). I guess when we get some free time we can do some more digging. GFIL kept a detailed diary of sorts so it might yield some more info. Maybe just send the prints to the Bishop M if they are interested. They'll probably end up back in a closet for 40 more years at our place.

 

[TromboneAl]

I surfed from my house today. That is, I put on the wetsuit and walked down to the beach and paddled out.

It's usually too gnarly on this beach, but the waves seemed small and there was a sandbar that had built up. This is the first time in the nine years we've lived here that I considered it. Of course there was no one else within miles.

I got one really good ride and another OK ride. The main problem is the shorebreak, which is pretty unmanageable. When I came in I made an uncontrolled crash landing on the beach, but didn't hurt anything.

I'm not sure I'll do it again, but it was fun to do it once.

 

[Nords]

Bummer. Woody Brown died last week at 96.

'Woody' Brown / 1912-2008 | starbulletin.com | News | /2008/04/20/

Drew Kampion did an interview with him a few years ago about getting caught outside at Sunset in 1943 and then barely surviving Waimea Bay (his surfing buddy drowned). Then Woody helped open Makaha a few years later.

Amazon.com: Greg Noll, The Art of the Surf Board: Drew Kampion,Greg Noll: Books

Just finished this book last month so I've been wondering how Woody was doing. Al, the main reason for Kampion's book is the photos. Greg Noll has been recreating classic wooden boards of the 30s & 40s, and even reissuing some of the 1950s/60s balsa/fiberglass models that he first put out. He has an impressive workshop up in your time zone...

 

[Nords]

I go through a lot of surfing books. I browse a lot of surfing sites and even watch the videos.

While I've read about all sorts of horrifying [-]cell phones[/-] things that can happen in the lineup, I've never ever heard of surfer's myelopathy:

Surfers' spinal injury can paralyze beginners | starbulletin.com | News | /2008/06/16/

Riding a Waikiki wave robs a man of his legs | starbulletin.com | News | /2008/06/16/

 

[JB]

Thanks Nords. This is good to know. I'm always telling beginners to 'arch your back'. Now I know to be even more careful.

 

[ronin]

I've never ever heard of surfer's myelopathy:

Did you forget about this?

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/surfer-s-myelopathy-16272.html

 

[Nords]

Did you forget about this?

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/surfer-s-myelopathy-16272.html

Whoa, yes I did.

That's pretty scary-- apparently I've come full circle in my posting and my memory...

 

[dumpster56]

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/surfer-s-myelopathy-16272.html

Are you sure this is not a story from the Onion?

 

[ronin]

Surfer's cerebral atrophy (not to be confused with Surfer's cerebral apathy!).

Card carrying member of CRS here.

Last day of the school year today. Pray for surf.

 

[Nords]

I'm reposting this from Lazy's link in the "retirement blues" thread:
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/showpost.php?p=693650&postcount=29

apparently, with a lake and a speedboat you wouldn't have to check, but just make your own surforecast. check it out...
briansears11 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

A different kind of tow-in surfing!

I figure that speedboat is going at least 20-30 knots. Maybe that flotation vest takes away some of the sting of impact... maybe not.