Hi Paul,
How are you? Looks like (gleaned from
Surfmatters) you went on a trip? Hope it was good, that you are good,
family is good, 4th Gear is pumping, Spring is kind, Trump
loses ignominiously... all that, sincerely.
I'm
well. Only three weeks left for me here. I recently had a chance to get
out of Raglan and housesit for some friends about 4 hours south of
Raglan. It's a fine surf zone, 270 degrees of coastline fanning a
magnificent 2,500m conical volcano. Dozens of good-quality lava reefs
and points, lots of creek and rivermouths, and plenty of options to
catch a good wind direction. It's a pretty compact geography too,
maybe... I dunno, an hour from the first viable surf zone to the last?
After bussing down, my hosts gave me use of their car, which was
fantastic, although my favorite little cluster of spots was only a bike
ride away from their house. There was even a solid swell and high
pressure predicted, so I had high hopes.
What a
great time. I had a handful of fun surfs in five days before the
conditions went to custard. I'd brought the Liddle and the Super Sport Standard. I
ended up using the mat most of the time.
Surf 1
was at a right point (amidst a complex of other lefts and rights, with
still more setups visible in the distance). It was a Saturday, it was
school holidays, and even still, only 5 teenagers sharing good
chest-to-slightly overhead offshore waves (that's the difference between
the rest of New Zealand and Raglan right there!) It's a great mat wave,
long, with fast, wall-y sections going into flatter sections, then back
into a fast wall again- don't you just love "imperfect" point waves on a
mat?
The Standard ripped. The wave demanded
constant repositioning in a way that the machine waves at Raglan didn't,
and the SS went wherever I wanted it to- high line, cutback. I guess
I've run out of new insights from what I've already said, but to repeat:
compared to the regular Standard, the SS doesn't sideslip in crucial
sections down the line, it responds more decisively to turn
implementation, so I was able just that more effortlessly to go where I
needed to go to make the wave.
Two things stood
out to me this session: On my first wave I was outside and in full view
of all the kids. For better of worse, you want to do well your first
wave to establish your competency and place in the lineup. Without a
warmup, I caught an outside set wave and did a half-drop into a top
turn, came off the top then down into the flats then back to the top,
and so on past the watching kids. The SS enabled that showiness, no
doubt.
The other thing I noticed this session
is that while the Super Sport has a much higher "hold threshold" before it breaks
rail trim to go into a side slip (or a "trimming side slip") than the
regular Standard, the way I'm riding, it
does go into a sideslip
cutting back quite easily. I guess I'm just riding flatter then, less angled on the
rail, air more evenly distributed, inside rail less full.
On
the topic, side slipping is something that I really want to explore
with the SS mats. The extra hold was the first thing I noticed with the
Super Sport, I've been super-stoked on the hold in crucial sections, but...I 'm
finding I kind of miss the ease with which the regular mats broke into
sideslip. Just need to find the right technique; I'd rather have the
hold than not have it. I think the key is flattening out, and that I'm
breaking loose cutting back suggests it's there to be found....
The
swell came down the next day, and I took the mat out to a little secret
beach break that picked up what swell was left. The peak I chose was
about chest high, it was a windswell and the little waves had a variety
of speed pockets and reform zones, requiring quick choices to get the
most out of the ride. The extra-responsive SS was a blast. The rides
were like little Rubic's Cubes, puzzles to solve : ) Really fun session,
alone on a lonely beautiful beach (well, I had the dog I was sitting
with me).
Late afternoon the next day, I
caught the beginning of the new swell at one of the spots near my house.
Each set was bigger than the last- it went up from chest high to well
overhead in less than an hour. Oh boy....
The
next morning it was BIG. I went with a friend to a left point that is
somewhat fickle; it can be a longer ride than Raglan's points when it's
on. This day it was imperfect, most waves were broken into two big
sections, with some connecting through and some maxing out and pushing
through both. My macho pal who errs on the side of underestimating was
calling the biggest set waves 6-7 foot, meaning 12-14 foot! But there
were lulls where it was possible to paddle out dry-haired, it was sunny,
the water was gorgeous, blue and glassy, and many of the waves were
perfect (and smaller non-bomb sets were a friendly 8 foot). I initially
paddled out on the Liddle, more because I'd fantasised about this spot
on that board than it seemed like a good choice, but after a few waves
realised, naw! Went in and got the mat.
Well,
WOW! This was a first for me. A few impressions. Maybe stupidly, I never
felt outgunned. Because the setup included an indicator outer point and
a blue-water zone to the right, I felt pretty confident. I did get
caught inside one by a massive surprise bomb set, but I just held on
with my whole body and was able to roll it, and wasn't really badly
worked or mentally freaked. In fact, this was the first time I've
handled rolling waves (and fucking 10-foot whitewashes!) doing the
whole-body bear hug that I've read about, and it was the ticket this
day, I just immediately knew it (I've always opted to hold one or both
corners and let the mat go turtle, my body straight down).
No
huge problem getting into the waves. It was glassy, and the waves rose
in a friendly, ramp-y way, not jacking up. I swim into waves on the mat,
mat on one arm ahead of me, which allows early entry. The two zones
were pretty concentrated and distinct, so positioning wasn't an issue,
or too heavy.
MAN!!! The drops! I kept, or it
felt like I kept, getting sucked up to the very top of a huge ski jump,
dangling for a second, then whooooooooooshing on down! On some of the
first few I had so much forward speed turning was an issue : 0 At least
on one, I just realised "fuck it" and had to keep going straight (and
discovered how big it really was, rolling huge whitewater walls). Each
wave was followed by a 15 minute paddle back out (half hour if I got
pushed all the way in, which happened twice)- the sweep down the point
was intense. I had a lot of time to think about what to do
differently... I needed to angle left on the drop. And in fact, that
worked- the mat freakin' handled that line, on (for me) huge waves, at
eyeball-peeling speed. I sure felt small though, and splayed out, not
really sure what to do with my limbs going that fast with so much face.
Survival stance, haha!
So the takeaway from
that session is that rolling using the whole-body hug works, it's hard
as hell to "bottom turn" after a big drop straight down; need to angle a
bit. And the mat HANDLED it, it WORKED, and it was FUN!!!!!
So-
thank you for giving me that experience, and all the others!
-Jonathan
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Hi Paul,
Been
back from NZ for a few weeks now. I got a job the second day back, produce at a
health food store, 4AM wakeup time, so it's been quite a trip getting
accustomed to that. One of the nice things is it leaves a fair bit of
time to surf, and there's been those nice south swells the last few
weeks. Had some fun sessions at Steiny's (or The Lane, to some people).
Kind of amazingly, it's been LESS crowded than freakin' Raglan, which
says more about the state of poor Raglan than anything else.... I'd say,
to sum up the surfing side of my six months in Raglan, it was rather
sobering. I knew the high season would be packed, but previous years the
mobs tapered off around March. This year that never happened. I had
very few sessions that weren't marred by overcrowding. My hopes of
really "studying" the Super Sport mats in those fine waves were pretty
compromised, and if I ever make it back there, I'd definitely choose
another place to visit, for surfing at least.
Raglan
bears watching though.... Folks there are recognizing that over-tourism
is threatening to ruin the very qualities that draw people in the first
place. NZ legally allows "freedom camping" which is pretty much what it
sounds like, and more tourists are taking advantage of it than ever.
The upside is a degree of revenue for businesses. The downsides are
packs of people in the faces of the majority of residents who
don't profit from their dollars, hanging out, cooking meals and lounging
right there on the town's main street or on residential streets, leaving
trash and (ugh) used toilet paper in barely-hidden places... and yep,
crowding out the surf.
So the
people have been holding a series of community meetings, to isolate the
issues and try to figure out strategies. There's also been talk of
attempting to regulate the numbers of surfers at Manu Bay. If they can
figure out a feasible way, it'll be a true precedent for the modern
surfing world.
In the meanwhile, I
figured out a way to personally handle my own mood in the water. Ever
notice how a dog wags it's tail when it's just walking along? Pure
joy-de-vivre.
I picture I have a wagging tail, like a dog's. It's
been working for me- for real! I am a serious animal lover, so no
illusions that I've hit upon The Answer, but it might work for others
that love dogs : )
Anyway, this is the coda for my trip. Now that I have the means, I'm attaching some photos.
First
is Hillbilly Hill, Mike's land, with my shed, Possum's bus and Mike's
place bus at the top. Over the crest is Macho Phil and family's land
(Mike and Phil own the parcel together).
