Watering the Roots of Maverick’s
In the Green Room with Mike Wallace
Surf season has been in full swing on the coast as the Indian summer trades blows with Old Man winter in a losing battle in which surfers are the opportunistic beneficiaries.  Onshore wind flows begin to clock around from the south in advance of storm fronts, and then switch to the northwest in their wake. Finally they swing to the northeast or, more rarely, due east – in piercing blue offshore perfection that mends tortured lumps of water into shapely waves, the shroud of summer fog lifts and reveals the coastside in all her glory.
This familiar seasonal change is met with great anticipation by surfers around these parts, but the vibe seems just a little more electric this year. Hollywood has made itself at home this fall as a battalion of moving vans sets up camp at various locations along the coast for “Of Men and Mavericks,” the movie paying homage to Maverick’s surf legend Jay Moriarity. Producer and star Gerard Butler got a firsthand welcome to the break with a legit 2-wave hold-down and flush through the rocks. The World Surfing Tour also decided to pay a visit, stopping over “Somewhere in San Francisco” en route from Portugal to Hawaii, spending just enough time to crown Ke11y Slater with his 11th championship…twice.
Yet with all the celebrities under foot the past couple months, the real star has yet to show up after skipping town last year – the Maverick’s Invitational 2011/12. While “The Jay at Mavericks” never ran, Jay’s outgoing spirit will still be in ample evidence, as a new local grass roots organization takes shape with the community and surfers as the driving force behind the event. A five-member board has been put in place for the contest composed of a group of surfers, local businessmen and leaders to ensure that the event stays true to its new manifesto. Reappointed as Contest Director, Jeff Clark aims to “get back to a great event showcasing the world’s best big wave surfers.”
Slater is negotiating with his sponsors to again challenge the infamous break. Kelly took second place back in 2000 behind eventual three-time winner Darryl “Flea” Virostko when his sponsor Quiksilver was still lending its name to the event, narrowly pipping Jay Moriarity in an earlier heat that many thought the young Santa Cruz charger had won. The rest of the Invitee list of 24 surfers will likely remain essentially the same one that was decided by peer vote of the athletes themselves last year (see Bruce Jenkins’ revealing profiles). The caliber of international big wave athlete is such that there will be not one easy heat, though there was a fresh heat draw at the opening ceremonies on January 6 a week into the revised January 1- March 31 contest window. Even the alternates list reads like a veritable “Who’s Who” of hell men. Talk is that Flea will be on water patrol this year — replaced by Ben Wilkinson. Josh Loya is first alternate, with Tyler Fox and Colin Dwyer next in line.
Board member Brian Overfelt is the owner of Old Princeton Landing and a community activist, which informs his perspective on the contest’s mandate and structure. A 20-person panel reports to the board, delegated responsibilities ranging from rescue to beach marshals. The aim is to build a stable structure for years to come based on three central pillars: “community, athletes and environment.”  Tight coordination with over 14 government agencies, ranging from the Sheriff to the NOAA, has gone exceptionally well, but may ultimately be assigned to an event planning company in the future.
As Brian puts it, “It is important to water the roots of the local business community, which is always at the front of my mind on any decision the board makes.” In terms of tourism, contest day is one of the biggest of the year for Half Moon Bay and it’s important that the stakeholders in the community benefit from the contest. He foresees a day when local pride in the event runs deep and everyone celebrates it, rather than ducking and running for cover when the show comes to town.  Indeed, all will be welcome to a Maverick’s Festival during the contest, which will take place in the Oceano parking lot to help minimize environmental damage to the sensitive cliffs of the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. Details about tickets are available on: http://mavericksinvitational.com/
Access to the bluffs will be severely curtailed after previous incidents of rock slides and spectators being flushed into the harbor during the epic 2009/2010 event won by Chris Bertish.  Land-based judges, photographers and journalists have in the past been granted access to the Air Force radar station at Pillar Point, but the new commander has been tightening security rather than offering access to witness the extraordinary natural events at the base of its cliffs. After recent productive meetings, however, the Air Force may relent on access and even provide “air support” for the event, allowing in some contest apparatus including judging, photography and officiating.
Jeff Clark has always been in sync with Maverick’s and a little Clark luck could well be in order when cherry picking a contest day, requiring full use of the tighter contest window. Mark Sponsler of Stormsurf forecasting doesn’t like the way the weather gods are conspiring this season, which has already slashed viable days for the Invitational.  He accurately anticipated “high pressure taking firm control of the North Pacific amid remnants of what was a moderate-plus inactive La Nina weather pattern that he expects to hold well into the spring of 2012. That is not to say there will be no storms, in fact there could be short periods of intense activity when the ‘Active Phase’ gets an opportunity to come to fruition, but that will be the exception rather than the rule.”
Yet there is a refreshing sense of earnestness, renewal and hope about the new contest organization and Overfelt emphasizes that the board has gravitated toward volunteers with a genuine love for the sport of big wave surfing and the community. Indeed, pending a key long-term sponsorship deal or two, which are expected to be imminent, start-up funding is tight and the new group is leery of making big promises and coming up short. It will take a lot of hard work, coordination and a little luck to pull it off and, as usual, Mother Nature will not be rushed by any official time table.
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Mike Wallace has surfed for over two decades on the East and West Coasts, Hawaii, Europe and NorCal. Currently a resident of Moss Beach with his family of four, Mike has been spearheading an effort by The Surfrider Foundation to reopen Martin’s Beach to the public. He helps coach the HMB High and Cunha Intermediate School Surf Teams, and in his spare time is dedicated to surf journalism and surfboard design under his “Iconoclast” label.

Related posts:

1. 12th Annual Kahuna Kupuna Contest in Pacifica on Saturday, August 6, 2011
2. SurfPulse Coverage of 2009-10 Maverick’s Contest on Saturday, February 13, 2010
3. “THE 24” SELECTED FOR 2006 MAVERICKS SURF CONTEST

It has been a memorable year of extremes in the surfing world, including the untimely death of 3-time World Champ Andy Irons and the 10^th World title for Kelly Slater. Yet when Mother Nature makes the call, Maverick’s will once again surge front-and-center into the impact zone. On December 1 the window will open for “The Jay at Maverick’s Big Wave Invitational” and will remain open until February 28 (Ed: except for blackout period between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day).

By a fortuitous accident of geography, the reefs off of Pillar Point have for eons funneled muscular long-period winter swells into cavernous bowls and towering walls off of Half Moon Bay, which has comparatively only recently rolled out its welcome mat for this new threshold of surf legend and lore. For one epic day this winter our cozy hamlet will be thrown into a frenzy of activity as the contest machinery whirs to life, spectators jostle, shutters click, jet skis hum and locals either rejoice or duck for cover. Why, then, name the contest after a cheery, blue-eyed kid from Santa Cruz with the disarming grin who drowned on June 15, 2001, free-diving in the Maldives?

Well, in a world full of compromises, traffic jams, deadlines, dead-end jobs, bills, taxes and any number of other banal distractions, Jay lived his brief life with the rare sort of purity, joy and focus that most people never achieve in a lifetime. Pacifican Matt Ambrose vividly remembers the wide-eyed grom who “blew past me straight to the bowl” and said it “looked fun” before swinging into a past-vertical freefall. A less precocious veteran would have had a gut check, knowing that he’s way too deep if closer to the peak than Ambrose.

But from the moment Jay launched into public consciousness at age 16 on December 19, 1994, on the cover of Surfer, crucified in the maw of a feathering lip of that very same wave, he surfed his life in the sweet spot, right in the curl, making Maverick’s his second home. At times Jay was so excited to greet a rising swell, he was known to sleep overnight on the cliffs to be the first to crack it at dawn. Surely that’s grounds for residency, or squatter’s rights in our town? How many people can honestly say that their path inspires that level of passion?

In his too-brief 22 years, Jay’s preparation and athleticism was only outclassed by his infectious personality, which deeply touched those who knew him, surfed with him and loved him. And one person who knew him well was his Maverick’s mentor and tow partner, Jeff Clark. The pioneering big wave gladiator and the young gun built a special relationship in the water, logging countless sessions seared in the memories of a small cadre of awed witnesses. Clark recalls, “Mike Gerhardt, one of Jay’s best friends, brought me a bunch of stickers recently that said: ‘Never Forget Jay!’ And I said, ‘Mike, what do I need those for? I’ll NEVER forget Jay.’”

On just one of those many special days, Clark threw Jay the tow rope on an improbably giant and clean swell on December 22, 2000, and told the few remaining stragglers in the channel: “The sun’s going down, it’s 25-foot and we’re going to show you the future.” With the harbor horn bleating its lonely call, an amber mist on the water and the size of the swell amplified by the 20-30 foot spinnakers of spray and dark silhouettes of the waves, Clark zipped out the back and whipped Jay into a bomb. It was one of the longest rides ever witnessed at Maverick’s and you could only follow its progress by watching the ski on the shoulder with Jay completely engulfed by the shadows. Kicking out 45 seconds later, past the rocks, Jay would have probably continued all the way into Surfer’s Beach and high-fived a few groms if the wave hadn’t prolapsed back into the maelstrom.

As noted local sports journalist Bruce Jenkins sums it all up, Jay set the tone for future generations: “There’s only one thing about the Maverick’s contest that reminds me of Jay, and that’s the contest day itself. It’s always a huge success – fog, wind, rising tide, whatever, to say nothing of perfect days – because of the spirit in the water. It all came to a head three years ago, when Greg Long split his winnings among the five other finalists, but the Maverick’s lineup always shines when the very best, most committed guys are in the water. All the egos, sponsorship deals and personal agendas are cast aside, and nobody epitomized that attitude more than Jay. If he got the biggest wave on a certain day, he only wanted to talk about Grant’s wave, or Ambrose’s, or how good one of the hot young kids looked out there. His soul was pure; nobody could recall ever seeing him out of character.”

Jay had the audacity to live to the fullest, push over the ledge and laugh at life’s precariousness. In this sense, surfing Maverick’s is better characterized as a dance of life, rather than cheating death. This is why those of us chained to desk jobs and the daily grind are drawn to witness the contest. To be transported for a fleeting few seconds when time is suspended and a relatively puny human stands up, dwarfed by the enormity of the universe, pulls in, and comes back out to do it again, rejoicing in his good fortune to be alive in such a place.

As Maverick’s veteran Grant Washburn puts it: “For me, Jay represents the personification of stoke. Enlightenment is usually described as living in the moment, and enjoying every minute… and people work hard to achieve that state, but I think Jay was born with it. He had this very special disposition, a way of treating everyone like an old friend. He also had a habit of giggling at everything, and it was contagious. As we grow up, most of us lose part of the magical feeling that comes from just having fun. Big wave surfing is a way for us to get back to the wonder of being a kid. When a big set hits the reef, everyone becomes a wide-eyed grom. We all tap into our inner Jay – that amped-up 15-year old who was drawn to Maverick’s. Jay is that rare individual who makes a lasting impression on everyone he meets. If one of my kids had been a boy, he would have been named Jay. We had girls, but my wife liked the name Jaden… so I asked if we could throw a ‘y’ in there. Now my younger daughter Jayden is almost 6.”

Unlike Eddie Aikau, the Waimea lifeguard who sacrificed his life at age 31 on March 17, 1978, to save his crew stranded aboard the outrigger canoe Hokule’a in the Molokai channel, Jay didn’t put his life on the line to save others. Aikau made over a thousand undocumented rescues, but of course couldn’t be bothered to do the paperwork. Aikau selflessly put others’ lives before his own and, in addition to being a true waterman, set the standard for Aloha and Hawaiian pride.

In contrast, it was by living for the moment that Jay provided his lasting gift. Rising above pettiness, avarice, selfishness and other human frailties, he led by example with joy, camaraderie and inclusiveness that all too often seems to get lost in the rip tides of negativism. To “Live Like Jay” is to embody goodness, friendship and stoke. As contest organizer Katherine Kelly Clark recalls, “Jay was an angel come to earth. He used to come into my café and just light it up. I loved him like a son or a kid brother – nothing can replace him. Jay belonged to the world, crossed all barriers and rose above it all.”

What did these two legendary watermen share in common? Neither of our humble heroes sought the limelight; it came and found them. Both innately knew the secrets to living a simple life fully and sharing their gifts for doing so. Both, by their shining example, compel us to reflect on our own better nature. And, both were taken from us too soon.

Mike Wallace has surfed for over two decades on the East and West coasts, Hawaii, Europe and NorCal. Currently a resident of Moss Beach with his family of four, he can often be found haunting the beaches south of Devil’s Slide in search of the perfect sandbar with his blind dog, Moose.

(Article originally published (in modified format) by the Half Moon Bay Review and SurfPulse thanks them for the permission to post here.)

Related posts:

1. “THE 24” SELECTED FOR 2006 MAVERICKS SURF CONTEST
2. NBC Sports To Broadcast The 2004/2005 Mavericks Surf Contest
3. Maverick’s 2008 Surf Contest Report: Notes from the Channel

Heaven's Gate closed to the public

One of our favorite haunts is the not-so-secret spot of Martin’s Beach just ten minutes south of Half Moon Bay. A short drive down a winding, pot-holed road leads through scrubby farmland to the beach, allowing a quick surf check from the cliff before committing to the $15 parking fee on the rare occasions now when the gate is opened. Since the property changed hands, however, the new owners have painted over the old billboard advertising access and shut down access for all but the remaining residents. The epic beach survives, but appears to be lost to corporate greed and development. Or is it?

Straight out front of the shuttered Deeney family market lies a rolling and jacking reef break leading to the soft inside sandbar. To the south is a thumping reef that bends and stands up both south and north swells for hollow funnels at low tide and fun rollers at high tide. All this is set inside an amphitheater in the form of a unique pyramid formation of rocks that even features a tunnel running from north to south.

Generations of coastsiders and curious visitors have found the secluded and dramatic backdrop just the tonic for a quick get-away for surfing, fishing, and family frolicking. Forty-five ramshackle cottages squat in a worn vigil on the terraced cliff above the main beach, grandfathered in and pre-dating Coastal Commission restrictions. If you just squint your eyes a little on a bright sunny day, the peeling paint and decay blurs, and you could be transported to any number of Mediterranean villages.

Jeff Clark

Maverick’s pioneer Jeff Clark recalls the days when access cost only 25 cents and local families took full advantage of the mystical and multi-faceted playground, when “we used to paddle out, climb over the rocks and shoot the tunnel to surf alone for hours.” Now Jeff’s rebuilding a broken-down old powerboat to get back to the surf spots of his youth.

After years of working the land, owner Rich Deeney sold the property—rumored at under $40 million—and reportedly invested in land and a former B&B on the east side of Highway 1 to spend more time with the grandkids and less time herding cattle and growing hay. From the subterfuge and mystery surrounding the change of ownership, the predominant vibe has been a palpable sense of doom; current residents’ cabin leases will expire in 2021 and have no further claim to their property and lifestyle, while non-residents have been shut out. Strangely, several properties are still listed for sale, ranging in price from $110–175k in what amounts to a glorified rental, since the value will zero out in eleven years.

Martin's Oak: omen for poisonous attitudes

Some intrepid surfers we’ve interviewed have been rumored to park up on the highway and make the longer trek in to still surf Martin’s beaches, only to face trespassing threats and, in some cases, allegedly finding their tires deflated while attempting to get reacquainted with the area’s charms. One anonymous local was confronted by security guards when attempting to walk in to the beach a couple months back. He warned them in no uncertain terms not to touch his vehicle, claiming that it was a violation of California Coastal Commission law to deny access. One of the guards let slip that the “public” bathrooms were in a state of disrepair and this was the “pretext” for the “temporary beach closure.” Certainly, no attempt has been made to install portable toilets in the meantime, while just the fact that there were public bathrooms and a general store suggests a long history of public access.

"Temporarily closed"?

These reactions by the new owners are unacceptable and completely ignorant of the history of access and the loss to the community of slamming the gates shut. Just how wrong-headed this combative approach is will be proven when plans for development or changes on the property are inevitably undertaken. Even worse, the “temporary closures” may be a cover to demonstrate that public access has not been continuous and, therefore, is not legally defensible. Any attempts at zoning changes or new construction will face full review by the California Coastal Commission, where community input will be considered. In the meantime, it is up to coastsiders to bring pressure to bear on the new owners to reopen the property.

Martin's Beach: a setting that should be open to all

Local families have already started a facebook page, “Friends of Martin’s Beach, CA”, that has some great historic photos, and familiar names like Cunha and Duarte populate its pages, mourning the loss of their childhood memories. This is a great place to start to galvanize support to coordinate a campaign to reopen the beach that transcends generations and the attempts to shutter it for good from public access.

As the Friends page poignantly states: “This is for all of the people who loved Martin’s Beach, CA, and the way it was before. For all the families that spent their days fishing, watching the Pelicans and sea lions and enjoying the tide pools. Feel free to share your memories and pictures of one of California’s most beautiful and unique beaches.”

Joao De Macedo, Program Director of Save the Waves

As Joao De Macedo, Program Manager of Save the Waves Coalition in Davenport explains it: “It speaks volumes that one of the most legendary surfers in Half Moon Bay, Jeff Clark, is passionate about that reef. Public beach access is an important free resource for humanity—one of the most beautiful things. Like a natural theme park with sand. Even a limited entrance fee to maintain the beach is acceptable, but to completely gate it off is just wrong. The reef, tide pools, and unique rock formation have inspired generations of families, fishermen, and the local community. This is not just a surfing spot.”

Precedents for access have been set in communities such as Malibu, where wealthy residents attempted to block passage to and along the beaches with private security, fencing, etc. As the Coastal Commission states, “Along the California coast the general public has historically used numerous coastal areas. Trails to the beach, informal parking areas, beaches, and bluff tops have provided recreational opportunities for hiking, picnicking, fishing, swimming, surfing, diving, viewing and nature study. California law provides that under certain conditions, long term public access across private property may result in the establishment of a permanent public easement. This is called a public prescriptive right of access.”

The Surfrider Foundation has dedicated some of its finite resources to campaigning for coastal access, in addition to maintaining clean water, education, and other environmental programs. Under the topic of coastal access, the group cites the California Coastal Act of 1976 that states one of its main goals is to “Maximize public access to and along the coast and maximize public recreational opportunities in the coastal zone consistent with sound resources, conservation principles and constitutionally protected rights of private property owners.” Unfortunately, those the public’s rights tend to expire without community activism to uphold the law and establish and maintain easements for access.

Rufo

Rufino Hernandez Vega enjoyed soaking up the mystery of the spot and taking photos of its moody backdrop. Having grown up in Puerto Rico and Hawaii where beach access is vital to tourism, he warned: “What bothers me is that it seems like such a violation of our rights as human beings and our heritage. That shouldn’t be restricted, but enjoyed by all of us. Surfers, fishermen, and families are generally pretty green-friendly and conscientious visitors, so why are the new owners being so secretive?”

Rumors have swirled that “Do No Evil” Google purchased the property, though a knowledgeable local realtor suggested that an anonymous “Silicon Valley venture capitalist” was the new owner. A title search of the property reveals that 22325 Cabrillo Highway South in Half Moon Bay, 94019 has been divided into two parcels: Martins Beach 1 Llc for Parcel # 066-330-230 and Martins Beach 2 Llc for Parcel # 066-330-240. A “Limited Liability Company” (Llc) is a company structure that essentially shields the identity of the individual or company who now owns the property, as does the mailing address of 1760 The Alameda #300, San Jose, CA 95126, which is most likely the CPA or attorneys retained to create those companies.

Postcard from Paradise

A spokesman for the San Mateo Planning and Building Department was contacted about the beach closure and what building permits were being sought by the new owners. He acknowledged that his department has “an open investigation and cannot comment on the details.” This is actually critical, as it suggests that someone has already made a complaint about a zoning violation or that the new owner has made a petition for a permit to build or redevelop on the Martin’s Beach property. Ultimately, if the community’s access is denied, the community will have a say once the process is made public.

Martin's Beach in the old days: a long history of public access

The Coastal Commission requires that in the case of private housing development along the coast any entity requesting permits must provide an “Offer to Dedicate” or grant public access through their property to the beach vertically and laterally in areas where evidence can be found of long-term beach access for  five years or more. Martin’s has been accessible since the 1950s and should amply qualify. The catch is that a government agency such as the city or county, Parks and Recreation, POST, or some other official group must accept the responsibility and liability for maintaining the easements for beach access in exchange for public title to those specified paths. If such an “Offer to Dedicate” is not accepted by an agency within 21 years, it can be permanently lost.

Surfrider also points out that the city of Half Moon Bay can specifically require that the new owners grant the access paths to the city directly in order to receive permits for redevelopment. That’s where public pressure again could be critical going forward. Surfrider Counsel Angela Howe warns that prescriptive easements can get sticky unless the public access was “continuous and uninterrupted” and the fact that the previous owners charged a fee suggests there was no apparent “right of access.” This could also shed light on the cynical tactic of the new owners actively interrupting public access, which then effectively becomes a self-fulfilling legal interruption. Common law equity, however, can still argue that access specifically to coastal assets should be retained where it has been available in the past.

Tim West

As local Maverick’s charger Tim West observes, “That beach area has been a great getaway from town, not only for a day at the beach stretching out in the sun, but also for bringing the family down for a picnic. The fishing is great since the water drops off pretty deep right from the beach. The people who live there are always respectful if you share the same vibe with them. There is a lot of history in this small community that has deep roots. We should be able to access the beach area without opposition.”

Ultimately, Martin’s fate may lay in the hands of the Coastal Act of California, Section 30604 (c), which provides that “Every coastal development permit issued for any development between the nearest public road and the sea or shoreline of any body of water located within the coastal zone shall include a specific finding that the development is in conformity with the public access and public recreation policies of Chapter 3.”

In the meantime it is up to the public to exert pressure, raise the stakes for the new owners and keep a spotlight shining on the issue. The campaign to “Save Trestles” in Southern California and “Keep the country COUNTRY!” on the North Shore of Oahu were successful precisely because of unwavering public support, spearheaded by the surf community. This set a strong precedent for the power of targeted protest, aligned with the legal resources of enlightened organizations like Surfrider and Save the Waves.

Now it’s time to Save Martin’s!

Sunset for Martin's Beach public access?

Mike Wallace has surfed for over two decades on the East and West coasts, Hawaii, Europe and NorCal. Currently a resident of Moss Beach with his family of four, he can often be found haunting the beaches south of Devil’s Slide in search of the perfect sandbar with his blind dog, Moose.

Related posts:

1. Save Martin’s Beach! Guerilla Coastal Access Update
2. Save Martin’s Beach! UPDATE
3. San Mateo County to Push for Opening of Martin’s Beach in HMB

Tim West slashes back

Montara wetsuit upstart Isurus has teamed up with coastside charger Tim West to develop an innovative new line of high-end, buoyant, light and flexible wetsuits targeting hardcore watermen and women who tend to spend as many as 200 days in the water per year. Named after the Latin genus for the sleek Mako shark and inspired by suits developed for hyper-competitive triathletes, Isurus has leapt right off the starting line in an audacious attempt to marry superior materials with a tighter tolerance fit and high quality manufacturing geared toward NorCal surfer-athletes.

Wetsuits have come a long way since 1951 when waterman and physicist Hugh Bradner invented the first wetsuit (see A Waterman’s Tale: The True Inventor of the Wetsuit). Driven by a bygone ethic of invention for the greater good, and sponsored by the Defense Department, Bradner didn’t patent the idea that a person donning such a rubber garment didn’t have to stay dry to stay warm. As Bradner put it, “I don’t give a damn who thought of it first, as long as I’m not going around making a false claim.” Bradner died on May 5, 2008, at the age of 92 without ever receiving full credit for his creation. But his legacy lives on in those with the character to innovate and charge just for the love of it.

John S. Foster in Bradner wet suit prototype, ca. 1953

Flash forward to the present: the wetsuit has evolved from a stiff, ill-fitting, leaky strait jacket into a refined garment with warmth and flexibility as its main function. In the pursuit of those sometimes competing attributes, many wetsuit manufacturers have sacrificed durability and quality in the process. By infusing more nitrogen bubbles in the neoprene that is sandwiched between layers of nylon or Lycra, such suits are prone to deterioration and saturation within a couple of months of hard use, despite industry claims and warranties. The more durable 5-mm suits retain their thermal properties longer, but tend to be more restrictive, and even 4-mm suits can add pounds in water retention, equivalent to dragging around a bottle of water or small dumbbell in the line-up.

Isurus Wetsuits (http://www.surfisurus.com/)

Any hardcore surfer on the North Coast will tell you that the older a wetsuit gets, the heavier it feels, the less it insulates, and the longer it takes to dry, reaching a terminal point of diminishing returns at some stage in its finite lifecycle. There is nothing more irritating than pulling on a damp, clammy wetsuit, only made tolerable by the knowledge that you’ll soon be getting wet again and chasing down some more “tasty waves.” In fact, most watermen use at least two wetsuits in rotation to avoid just that chilly scenario.

Isurus = form + function

Isurus Founder-Innovator Jim Brateris’ concept was to design wetsuits “for surfing by surfers.” After blowing through two to three wetsuits a year himself, Jim realized that wetsuit quality was being sacrificed with the corporatization of the wetsuit industry. In 2003 he figured there had to be a better way to bring the wetsuit back to its core values and re-engineer it for more discerning and demanding surfers. As Jim says, “We were looking for a different design concept, more suited to the muscular structure of the human body in order to get a better free range of motion,” like that illustrated in the archetypal illustration of ideal human proportions, “Vitruvian Man” by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Isurus, Fit for a Vitruvian Man!

Isurus took their inspiration from triathletes, who have long demanded better-fitting, lightweight, and more buoyant wetsuits from their suppliers—all of which add up to shortened swim times and quicker muscle recovery in later stages of the competition. Such a performance wetsuit provides a clear competitive advantage for triathletes and surfers alike. Like only a couple of other manufacturers, Isurus starts with the gold standard of Yamamoto “closed-cell” neoprene, fused between “hydrophobic linings.” This allows for a much thinner and 50% lighter wetsuit that retains significantly less water than conventional versions. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpqivbsGI-4&feature=PlayList&p=250CC809413E3062&index=2)

Yamamoto rubber is the best.

As Brateris explains, “The main difference between the mass-produced and -marketed wetsuits is right here (fingering the wetsuit rubber); Yamamoto has a proprietary process in which they inject nitrogen to get the prime part of the rubber to have a closed-cell neoprene, and that’s all they use, the best part of the rubber. Unlike an open-cell kitchen sponge-like material used in many conventional suits, the stitching will hold much better in a closed-cell structure.”

In terms of materials, Isurus wetsuits also integrate “Aerodome” panels in the front, from the chest all the way down the thighs, and on the back. These are the rubberized air-cell panels adopted by a few manufacturers that not only increase floatation, but heat retention as well. The slick skin surface of Aerodome helps resist wind chill (most of any suit) and actually adds to board traction, as well, when paddling prone. Rounding out the ensemble is a feature adopted from tri-athlete versions, called a “Forward Propulsion System” (FPS). FPS is basically textured rubberized strips on the inside of the forearms that add water traction and adherence with each stroke and, in theory, greater power.

Details, details

The high-end materials choice will only get you so far, and Isurus has taken it a step further, pairing the best in Japanese neoprene with the highest-quality Chinese (ISO 9002-certified) manufacturer. The suits are designed with the panels specifically anatomically structured to mirror body contours, rather than resist them, by taking 20 points of measure compared to the standard 15 points. Isurus suits can generally be worn about one mm thinner year round than comparable suits. That results in a wetsuit that fits much more snugly than conventional suits, ideal for heat retention, blood flow, and dynamic functionality in the water —much more like a custom suit.

Starting a local wetsuit company from scratch with the ambition of taking it to “a higher level” and creating a superior product for the demanding Northern Californian marketplace is a daunting task. But Isurus has found something that has been nearly lost – quality. By using the best materials available, they have dramatically cut the weight without sacrificing warmth and flexibility.

A demanding customer base: Maverick's Contest Opening Ceremony

The I-Elite 343 version is the lightest and highest performance model in the stable and comes with a removable hood. The I-Evade 434 model feels like wearing thermal underwear and sheds wind and water with ease. It has an integral 2-mm front-zip pull-over hood with a buttery yellow lining that just steams when pulled up and is designed to not be restrictive when rolled down, which is nearly anytime the sun comes out (when was the last time you were almost too warm in your 4-3?). The hydrophobic jersey material sandwiched around the closed-cell neoprene also dries extremely fast and retains 80% less water, making double-sesh a breeze.

Maverick’s journeyman Grant Washburn has taken the suit out to his favorite haunts and reported back that he’s used a number of different wetsuit brands and this one “feels totally different and is built really well.” Grant has even taken out the thinnest 3 mil I-Elite version of the suit to Maverick’s without a hood and been quite comfortable. Not only does the cut of the suit aid in paddle recovery, but the improved warmth is the key, as “the biggest enemy out there is the cold, which more than any other single factor burns calories and increases fatigue.”

Grant Washburn

In addition to the superior thermal properties and fit of the suit, Washburn was particularly pleased with the thin, warm hood. “Back in November of 2008 I was nominated for the XXL Wipeout of the Year for a wave at Mav’s that I didn’t make. My wipeout didn’t win, but I did tweak my neck on that fall and it has been sensitive ever since. The ‘slippery stuff’ (slick skin) on the hood helps penetrate the water during spills and the turbulence just doesn’t get the same grip on your head. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this became the new standard for hoods out at Maverick’s.”

Grant also chuckles that friend and former champion Grant “Twiggy” Baker hauls around a battery-powered blower hanger to dry his wetsuits, which is not needed for the quick-drying Isurus. The whole package works: the lighter weight, the warmth, the flexibility and fit. He even feels “something going on” with the Forward Propulsion System (FPS) on the forearms, aiding in paddle power over numerous strokes, just as with competitive swimmers.

Washburn has known Tim West and his family since he was a little kid and was really stoked when he found out about Tim’s ambition to surf Maverick’s, since there were few locals doing so. Though crowds of elite international surfers mob the line-up now compared to the early days, Grant says he tries to keep it fun and light out there, sharing waves especially on the busiest days. He sees Tim as also keen to have a good time at the break, having a certain “Jay vibe” (Jay Moriarity) about him that transcends the “us vs. them localism” that can infect any spot.

Like most other wetsuits, the Isurus suits occasionally flush through the yoke on the shoulder when you take an awkward fall, but as Grant notes this is almost a relief after you’ve been steaming along and the suit warms up fast. They are also a little more challenging to remove than enter due to that near-custom fit, which feels like a vacuum seal on your body once wet. But this is a “small and acceptable price to pay for the performance advantages, and you quickly figure it out,” says Washburn.

Grant Washburn, cruising on coldest day in 40 years at Ocean Beach, San Francisco

The high-quality Yamamoto rubber is also initially stiffer, but soon begins to mold to your body after a session or two. Isurus is so focused on quality materials and fit that any initial minor issues have already been ironed out in subsequent versions about to be released. Getting the right size with such a tight-tolerance suit is also key, and Isurus offers a wider range of sizes for this reason.

Test Pilot Tim West

Tim West rides a bomb

Tim West grew up in Montara and has been a fixture in serious surf along the San Mateo coast for much of his young career. His stocky build and tenacious attitude have kept the goofy footer firmly planted to his board in frequently heaving and hollow beach break conditions that few others would dare to attempt. More recently he has taken that finely- tuned act to Maverick’s after “doing his homework” on big waves. Montara neighbor and renowned sports/surf writer Bruce Jenkins noted in his recent 3 Dot Blog that “the best of the up-and-coming generation from the Half Moon Bay coastside, West is confident, level-headed and a regular whenever Maverick’s is going off.” His commitment to the spot in all conditions and hard-charging backside attack earned him underground recognition and a slot in the Maverick’s contest as one of only two local invitees. The other is his tow partner Ion Banner. Here is some Powerlines footage of their breakthrough tow session on a mean west swell on December 4, 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imArpSkBPDE

West out the back

For Tim, “Maverick’s is just something I’ve always since day one been dreaming of– just paddling out there, let alone being in the contest” following years of diligent preparation at other spots. He remembers as a grom working his way up into double-overhead conditions at Ross’s: “Then it was like closed-out Cove, yah. Then it was just CRAZY closed out Cove. Then I’d go out by myself on my Mav’s gun just to practice, and then I’d go out to Scott’s Creek and practice there too. And finally I got geared up and went to Mav’s. I didn’t have anybody to go out with; nobody wanted to go out with me in my generation. I just did it all on my own. I didn’t have that push…”

In turn, Tim has been an incredible role model for younger surfers in the area, especially members of the Half Moon Bay Middle School Surf Team, who he has encouraged and mentored along with Wyatt Fields and others. In his formative years he vividly recalls examples of good and bad eggs in the line-up, and says he drew motivation and determination to succeed from both.

Tim mentors Half Moon Bay grom

Among his most influential surf mentors he credits Ion Banner and Curt Meyers, while Jay Moriarity of Santa Cruz also embodied the positive spirit that he embraces. His dad, Tim Senior, got him started surfing and still keeps him on track in their day jobs as fire sprinkler fitters, setting the bar high as Tim’s number one role model. As a result, nothing could give him more pride that seeing the “local line-ups loaded with local kid-rippers.” The ocean has been his teacher too, of course, keeping him “grounded and clean” and having a huge impact on his performance, attitude, and life.

Tim, Sr. and Tim, Jr.

It’s clear that he sees a lot of himself in the local kids searching for their places in the line-up. He can regularly be found stopping by Sunday team practices, generously handing out surf stickers and advice—checking in on “Tim’s groms,” as his proud mother calls them. Tim went to some lengths to formally invite the entire team to the 2009 Maverick’s opening ceremonies back in October to give the kids “a chance to see how the contest works, meet the competitors, and expand [their] horizons.” The event included the paddle out, heat selections, and dinner, which was a thumping success thanks to the consummate hosting skills of Katherine Clark.

Brateris of Isurus was in touch with Tim West as far back as 2003-4 and broached the idea of a locally-grown wetsuit of superior design. Tim was in on the ground floor and contributed ideas for key features at an early stage for a near-custom suit that was ideal for harsh local conditions in the region. As Brateris recalls, after trading ideas and drawings with Tim before heading off to China, “Tim put on an old wetsuit and he stood there as I traced the new lines with a magic marker on his body to get the design just right and have an accurate prototype to send out.”

Tim grabs rail at Todos

Of the symbiotic relationship, West was stoked to help out a friend and “water the roots locally,” while Brateris felt there really couldn’t be a better test pilot. Tim has tested out the suit this season at Maverick’s and has noted no problems despite numerous beatings. Much like Tim’s polished surfing, “the suit speaks for itself.” Tim is in it to test himself and have fun in big waves, not for photo ops.

He once paddled out with friend Chris Loeswick, only to be vaulted several feet in the air by a ballistic attack from below by a Great White shark. Several TV networks including the Today Show, Good Morning America, and National Geographic were all clamoring for an interview, but Tim refused them all because he wanted to be known for his surfing, not some freak attack. As Tim recalls:

“The only insight I want anyone to get out of that incident is to live each and every day to the fullest. When the shark hit it was unexpected and out of the ordinary. My attention was focused on an epic sunset with one guy out at small Maverick’s and I wanted to get one more good one. Then BOOM. I know anyone can relate-driving a car, walking in a lightning storm, etc. How about the guy who took a meteorite through his chest! One second everything may be perfect and content in your life, and at a moment without notice your one life on this earth can be taken. I’m lucky. I’m lucky to be alive. I’m lucky to walk, shake hands, talk. I’m lucky to be able to surf still at the same place I almost had my life taken. I’m lucky to hug my family and sit down with them at holiday dinner. I’m lucky to experience the next phase of my life, and one day to experience bringing another life into this world. Don’t take it for granted. It is inevitable that one day each of us will wake up and that day will be our last. I’m so thankful that Nov 2, 2005 wasn’t that day for me. So when you see me gone for months at a time in the tropics or off to ‘spot x’ for the weekend, its cuz I know life is short, especially our youth. Live in the now.”

Tim moonlights as a barrel miner in Puerto Escondido

As the first Isurus team rider, West is among a vanguard of five participants in the Maverick’s contest using the suit, with others impressed enough to be willing to plunk down cash for a superior wetsuit in the most challenging proving ground on the planet. Tim has taken to the road as well to hone his skills in the hollow waves of the Southern Hemisphere at Puerto Escondido and Todos Santos in Mexico—prep work for big winter surf at home. He published some insightful “Puerto Journal” entries on his adventures south of the border on the Maverick’s contest website, giving a unique glimpse into the big wave fraternity: http://maverickssurf.com/buzz/press/2009/aug/TimPuerto.php

Here’s an excerpt from his final journal entry on August 26, 2009:

“This was my first trip to the area and definitely not my last. It’s a true test of a waterman to surf this beach, because it is like no other beach break in the world. The local crew has the place wired and gets much respect, not only for surfing well, but for their kindness and good vibes. My two month trip had more of everything than I ever expected—waves, friends, food, culture, landscape and juice smoothies, ha. Thank God for the smoothie bar; couldn’t have pulled it off without that place.

Tim tows into a keg

Thursday was the day pulse #3 showed up. Around lunch time you could hear it from wherever you were on the beach. Thunder-like sets rolling through with a little bit of cloud cover, which meant a possibility of clean evening conditions. During the next 6 hours the swell jumped up dramatically- nobody out. Sure enough the winds shifted offshore as 40 foot waves marched in like a brigade of soldiers, back-to-back-to-back with 10 to 20 wave sets. So I’m sitting on the roof, watching this macking swell flood into town with the most unforgiving close out sets I’ve ever seen, and all of a sudden out of the corner of my vision I see Greg Long running down the street with his Puerto gun ready as ever to tackle one. He, Jaime Sterling, Rusty Long, and Will Dillon were on it. It looked scary, not fun, so I opted out. Big props to those guys for getting out there that evening.

Sunset at Todos

On Saturday, the next day after the big swell (that peaked and A-framed at 40 foot top-to-bottom, no joke) it was still 15-20 foot. So I launched the ski and all morning towed in a few friends that I had met during my stay with a few waves for each and most of them for the first time on a tow board. They all said they got the biggest tubes of their lives and I was more than happy to provide the assist. In fact, it’s just as fun towing people into big waves as surfing them sometimes, especially when you witness how stoked they are at the end of their ride. After towing them for a couple of hours I packed my rig, attached the ski, and B-lined it straight back to Half Moon Bay with an adrenaline rush that still hasn’t gotten out of my system. Livin’ it to the fullest!” –Tim West.

Tim drops in at Todos

It was in Puerto that Tim met and traded waves with Mexican charger Coco Nogales, another well-traveled surfer whose pursuit of bone-crushing waves occasionally finds him outside of his tropical element. Tim put Coco on to the Isurus program and his positive feedback from Northern sessions in Todos Santos and Maverick’s has been invaluable. As Jim Brateris said, “our challenge was to keep him toasty and flexible in Todos and Mav’s this winter.”

Tim doesn’t take big wave surfing lightly and has been methodical in his approach to excelling at Maverick’s. Like others, West cites “Powerlines” videos by Curt Meyers and Eric Nelson (http://www.mavfilm.com/) as providing a library of essential study materials chronicling the break. He has examined the videos backwards and forwards as part of his preparations, and credits them with helping him understand the wave. He has also listened very carefully to interviews of surf legends for any hints or tips on how to handle different risky situations, testing and adding their techniques to his own survival program.

When in the impact zone, one technique is to slip off his board and point it toward the beach, take a couple pencil dives down. Then he will adopt a specific fetal position when closed out in the impact zone, tucking his head and limbs into a cannonball ahead of detonation. Then there are no surprises when it happens and only relief if he pops up sooner. “You always want to go into a comfort zone, because in big waves if your arms are flapp’n around, and you go limp, it’ll rip your arm off. It’ll tear your sockets up for sure.”

West cuts back at Nelscott Reef

It is his mental preparation as well that keeps him calm and alive. On any wipeout he is ready to have his wind knocked out and assumes he will be facing a two-wave hold-down. “Every time I go down I automatically assess in my head that I will have a two-wave hold-down, because if you don’t and you expect that air, your mind is just going to be bummed and you’re going to panic. Even if you broke your arm, even if you’re gashed wide open, it’s survival mode and it’s the instinct that we all have, but most just don’t know it.”

As Tim says, “The suit makes me feel that much more ‘on it’ when I’m in heavy surf. It’s comfortable; it keeps me warm when the air/water temp is really cold; the propulsion system on my forearms improves paddle power. All these factors give me more confidence being out there, knowing I have the best wetsuit pretty much ever made for surfing.”

Maverick’s Contest, 02/13/2010

West paddles out for Heat 3 during Heat 2

West had ample opportunity to put his survival training to the test during Heat 3 of the Maverick’s contest on February 13. His first drop was a long, steep one, nearly making the corner before being devoured and taken down deep. He remarked, “I nearly split my wig open,” and when he came up managed to “get one big gulp of air and one pencil dive before the next hold-down.” Taken through the rinse cycle three times before Garrett McNamara swooped in on a PWC, Tim was so drained and confused that he couldn’t hang on for more than 20-30 feet splayed across the sled sideways before getting flushed again.

West courting the wave on Valentine's weekend

Amazingly, his leash didn’t break and his board was still attached, providing a life line to the surface each time. Finally, Santa Cruz’s Vince Broglio found Tim “gone-fried,” grabbed him, and pulled him through the rocks into the lagoon before swinging back around and taking him back out into the line-up for his second wave. And that one was even less friendly, flipping him on his back and skipping him down the face like a wayward sled at a snow park. Tow partner Banner described Tim’s spill as “one of his worst ‘ragdollifications’ ever.”

Tough date

Warmth and flexibility breeds the confidence to thrive, not just survive, in the unforgiving littoral zone of NorCal. Unlike body armor (and apparently surfers like Tim, who have survived both shark attacks and semi-consciousness) a wetsuit is not indestructible. But made without compromise in terms of materials and fit, it does have the ability to boost your game. Like a new custom board, that thin layer of neoprene, once you get a feel for it, may become the single most important piece of equipment you’ll own.

More photos of Tim West at Maverick’s Contest, 2010:

Heat 3 wave, shot 1

Heat 3 wave, shot 2

Heat 3 wave, shot 3

Heat 3 wave, shot 4

Afterburner time

Mike Wallace has surfed for over two decades on the East and West coasts, Hawaii, Europe, and NorCal. Currently a resident of Moss Beach with his family of four, he can often be found haunting the beaches south of Devil’s Slide in search of the perfect sandbar with his blind dog, Moose.

Related posts:

1. Maverick’s Contest Locals Trial Heat Held on Tuesday, January 18, 2011
2. Cold Water Chronicles, No. 2: 7 Seconds
3. Maverick’s 2008 Surf Contest Report: Notes from the Channel

Sand Trap in Pillar Point Harbor

On November 10, a historic meeting took place at the Oceano Hotel in Princeton to find a solution to the scouring of HMB’s precious sand by waves, currents, and refraction off the Jetty.

Signs of abject failure in coastal stewardship are starkly evident to any who can recall the “Turkey Overflow” parking lot on the west side of the highway that was cordoned off and reclaimed by the sea or the miles of sand bars and wide open beaches between the Jetty and Francis Beach to the south.

This area has been starved of the sand accumulating season after season behind the boulders of rip-rap constructed to keep waves out of the harbor. Armoring of the area next to the highway and further down in the residential and commercial zone of Miramar has merely shifted the problem to the south, and in between, amplifying erosion and providing only a temporary fix against the relentless forces of nature.

Aerial photo of Turkey Overflow Lot

According to a broadly sympathetic preliminary study by the Army Corps, detailed by John Dingler and Tom Kendall, in mathematical terms HMB is a “Logarithmic spiral” or growth curve that appears frequently in nature (think cross-section of a nautilus or the view inside a barrel).

Nautilus Cutaway

No coincidence then that Bernoulli wrote that the log spiral “may be used as a symbol, either of fortitude and constancy in adversity, or of the human body, which after all its changes, even after death, will be restored to its exact and perfect self” (Wikipedia). Several centuries later, he might recognize a kindred spirit in Brian Overfelt, who for the past two years has made it his personal crusade to liberate the sand bottled up in the harbor and restore it to the beaches. Brian will tell anyone willing to listen that it is a matter of great urgency: ill-conceived engineering created the problem in the first place and new engineering now needs to undo the damage. Corps engineers frankly admitted that had the harbor project been constructed today, a sand outflow would have been integral to its design.

Sand filling the harbor’s southeast corner

According to Brian, “There were many voices saying that it’s going to take a long time to get this started, but this process began ten years ago, when Harbor District General Manager Peter Grenell wrote a letter to Senator Olympia Snow asking for help. The need for fast-tracking this situation is a dire one, as every downpour, high tide, and high surf advisory washes away more and more of our coast.”

It was Brian’s lobbying of the Harbor District, the Army Corps, the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, among many others, that brought this disparate group to the table. Brian has been surfing the region since 1986 and considers himself an “accidental meteorologist,” having kept close tabs over the years on swells, tides, winds and weather, all of which need to align to create surfable waves. Between those discrete events Brian has observed the longer-term environmental changes, including beach and cliff erosion, and the related deterioration of his beloved surf breaks. Armed with petitions, affidavits, and a portfolio of dramatic before-and-after photographs, Brian kept his arguments simple, sincere and succinct. Aerial and ground-level photos showed without any doubt the damage already done.

Coastline getting scoured

As Brian notes, “It must be understood that it is not just the area directly south of the breakwater that is being affected, but the entire stretch of Half Moon Bay. Anyone doubting the integrity of that claim merely has to jump up on the Jetty at a negative tide and take a look at the acres of sand on the harbor side, and then gaze down the coast toward Half Moon Bay to witness the erosion and sand starvation further south.”

Barring dismantling the harbor wall or re-routing the feeder creeks delivering natural sediment into the harbor, the one obvious solution is to pump the sand over to the Jetty side, if more detailed tests on the material confirm that it is non-toxic. Overfelt took it upon himself to have preliminary tests run on the quality of the sand, sampled from four separate locations within the harbor, and found that 98.5% was sand and the balance silt and clay, compared to the EPA’s requirement of an 80% to 20% ratio of sand to silt for dredging. The Surfrider Foundation’s Sarah Corbin mentioned that fecal matter has been found in areas of the harbor, which will require a careful assessment of the source, amid reports of deteriorated sewage pipes that may have to be replaced anyway for the health of the harbor.

Hey, didn't we used to park here?

The Corps initial study of the “post-construction changes” of the harbor breakwall backed up Brian’s intuition and observations to the hilt, as a “preponderance of evidence found that the breakwater dramatically increased erosion” according to their own findings. The Corps conservatively estimated that “thousands of feet” of shoreline would be lost as nature redraws its half-moon curves in the bay. At a rate of 80 inches (6.66 feet) a year, that means much of Miramar will be gone in a generation and a half or else it will become a rock island fortress if present policies remain in place. Even worse, according to respected independent Coastal Engineer, Bob Battalio, if nothing is done, CalTrans will be forced to take matters into its own hands and armor the whole area with rock to protect Highway One, as recommended by a Corps report as far back as 1979. To “rock it” would potentially kill off the break for good and ignorantly goad the ocean into redrawing the coastline even further south.

Soon-to-be island nation of Miramar

More vanishing coast, the Venice Beach stairs

But here’s the catch, while the Harbor District may dredge inside the breakwall, it may not deposit the sand outside the wall, which is the domain of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, without permission. The law explicitly prohibits disposal of dredging materials within the Sanctuary, according to representative Brad Damitz, unless an exemption is granted or the EPA issues an approval. While the Monterey and Santa Cruz harbors had pre-existing sites designated for dredging materials, Pillar Point mysteriously does not. Sanctuary staffers were clearly uncomfortable being labeled as obstructionist or the villains at the meeting, but they made it quite clear that “the marine environment is the number one prerogative or filter through which the Sanctuary views the process through their Coastal Sediment Management program.” Instead, they insist that all alternatives to dredging be considered and that any impact on surrounding reefs and fisheries be studied before moving ahead with any particular plan.

Among those having advised Brian Overfelt on the dredging plan, Davenport-based Save The Waves “advocates the dredging of the harbor, with the fill being disposed over the breakwater wall onto Surfer’s Beach where it will re-nourish starved beaches, creating better surf conditions and protecting the coastline.” Save the Waves was instrumental in putting its organizational and lobbying clout behind the successful “Save Trestles” campaign in San Clemente, along with The Surfrider Foundation and Sierra Club. Their recent Surfonomics study found that Maverick’s alone brings in a socio-economic value of $24 million to the Half Moon Bay region, based on attracting some 420,000 visitors annually. Just imagine what a protected, well-managed beach front with groins to retain growing sandbars would do to that social and economic value. Clearly, increased parking and a footbridge over the highway from the Eastside would be minimum necessary additions for this rare sheltered break on the North Coast, as anyone who has herded kids and dogs across the highway knows.

STW Environmental Director Josh Berry recalls “Brian first caught out attention over a year ago with his incredibly grassroots and inspiring advocacy for Pillar Point harbor dredging. His passion and dedication to this issue has lit a fire under the local community and is really driving the process forward. It has now reached a tipping point, where fresh support and involvement from the community could secure a positive outcome.”

Cliff erosion accelerating rapidly

“Our first direct involvement in this campaign was in helping to initiate and carry out a sand quality study in which scientific experts studied the quality and size of the sediment proposed to be dredged and funneled to Surfer’s Beach. Sediment either too large (grainy) or too small (muck) would not stay put and stick to the seafloor after being moved,” Berry said. “This would defeat the purpose of the dredge; however, we have confirmed that the sand sediment is of perfect quality to attach to the site and truly nourish the eroded beaches south of the harbor.” The Army Corps actually recommends pumping sufficiently heavy quantities to establish a desired base level on the beaches before throttling back to maintenance levels.

With experience facing similar fights in many other parts of the world, Save The Waves expects the process to be slowed by input from the multiple agencies involved, along with the inevitable politics and turf wars, but can vouch for the importance of a local grassroots campaign. They advocate bringing together all stakeholders and minimizing bureaucracy. As Josh Berry says, “Ultimately, this is about the reclamation of a natural coastline from man-made erosion.”

Can the Jetty and beaches south be improved after dredging the harbor?

There are successful precedents for similar dredging projects, such as the Superbank in Queensland, Australia, which is the product of sand pumped from the Tweed River, though there have been some unintended consequences, such as the loss of surf breaks Kirra and Rainbow Bay down the coast. The costs and benefits will have to be carefully weighed, but the Harbor’s “Shoreline Improvement Working Group” is an important first step, and Brian will need local support and pressure to make sure they remain on track.

Going the route of involving Congress would mean working with Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, along with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, who all sent representatives to the Oceano meeting and expressed interest in working with Overfelt and the rest of the disparate interests. Brian has even gotten the Audubon Society onboard in the interest of rebuilding the habitat of the threatened snowy plover.

Used to be a road

A number of tall hurdles remain, but Brian is determined to bring the matter to Congress if that’s what it takes: “I don’t understand why the San Mateo County Harbor District wasn’t active in getting Surfer’s Beach designated at a beach nourishment site in 1992–1993 when they had the chance, but that will just be a speed bump in the process. I plan on going to Congress to get the designation myself, if I have to.”

“The need for urgency can’t be stressed enough. We have lost so much shoreline at such an accelerated rate since the completion of the breakwater that there is no time to waste,” warns Overfelt. His grey-haired friend and long-time local surfer Robert “Bird Legs” Caughlan couldn’t agree more: “If they don’t hurry up, Brian will be my age before anything is fixed,” he warned.

Mike Wallace has surfed for over two decades on the East and West coasts, Hawaii, Europe and NorCal. Currently a resident of Moss Beach with his family of four, he can often be found haunting the beaches south of Devil’s Slide in search of the perfect sandbar with his blind dog, Moose.

Related posts:

1. Update on Princeton Harbor Jetty Dredging in Half Moon Bay; Public Meeting on November 11, 2010
2. Dredge the Pillar Point Harbor (HMB) Update
3. Public Meeting on Proposed Dredging of Princeton Harbor in Half Moon Bay on Friday, February 15, 2008

Ghost Shaper in the Machine

Minimum hand tools

Be forewarned, however, that you will NOT save money taking this route and cutting out an experienced shaper from the process by making a couple quick knock-off boards. If you want to surf better, buy a reputable board off-the-rack or have the patience to order a custom board from a local shaper familiar with the region where you surf.

Fish takes shape

If you have any delusions of grandeur, find a copy of “Shaping 101” by iconic Hawaiian shaper John Carper, on how to mow a blank from scratch to gain a deeper appreciation for the art of shaping.

Or check out Todd Proctor’s short musical tribute to the dying art of start-to-finish hand shaping. If these videos still make your pulse race and your head swell, then read on, my friend—there are easier ways of doing it for someone committed to the process and with true love in their heart for boards and board-making.

Contrast this with how long it takes to cut a blank on a machine:

And then hand-finish it:

A New Quiver

My personal shaping odyssey started simply enough with the burning desire to create a functional beach break Fish under 6’-0” that would float my 185-pound mass and perform well in bouncy, windswept bowls that are endemic to most San Mateo County shorelines in the summer. Inspiration for the outline came from the Christiansen Fishes that I long-admired, but could ill-afford. With a nickname contrived by my good friend Bruce, my private label became the “Iconoclast,” due to my tendency to break from the pack and camp on my own peak, whether real or imaginary.

Nose view of new fish

But for my first board I wanted to put a little more rocker in the nose and tail, with a modern concave bottom and pulled-in quarter-moon tail that would still accommodate a quad-fin set-up. In the end, I settled on overall dimensions of 5’-8” length, 21” width, and 2-5/8” thickness. The board turned out surprisingly well for a first attempt, getting up to speed quickly, turning on a dime and punching above its weight and holding in well in bigger, more hollow surf. It has become the fun mainstay of my summer quiver.

New quiver

On subsequent boards (five in all), with professional feedback from Matt Ambrose, Rick Eastman, and especially Vince Broglio, I gained greater understanding over foiling out the nose and tails, trimming down the stringer properly, and improving my rails. All these components were the greatest stumbling blocks to my success, but through variance and instant feedback in the water I learned more than I would have without making minor mistakes.

Quiver, top view

My second board was a 6’-6,” 19-1/2”, 2-5/8” shortboard with a staged rocker, somewhat flat in the middle for speed and soft rails up front that proved a bit clumsy in smaller surf, but actually works better as a forgiving semi-gun in larger surf. The third board was a 6’-0”, 20”, 2-5/8” roundtail, five-fin shortboard with sharp down-rails and very flat entry rocker. This experiment in speed requires some finesse at the take-off, but generates blinding speed and high lines in clean surf—not so much fun in the junk. One skilled local test pilot, Brian Inch, managed to pull a 360 on his first ride, proving what I already intuitively suspected: it’s not always the board, but the rider. Experiments with Alaia planks at Sunset and Waimea in Thomas Campbell’s film “The Present” visually argue that point.

Broglio and 5'-10\

The final two boards were the first ones to be inflicted on my surf crew, with a full-outlined 6’-10”, 20”, 2-1/2” semi-Fish for Scott and a 5’-10”, 20”, 2-3/8” Fishy shortboard for Jochen—two very different boards for totally different surfers. Feedback has been good and the experiment continues. So, how did I do it?

Virtual Board Design for Budding Scrubbers

Be forewarned that this section provides only a loose outline of the steps required to design a blank worthy of being machine cut, and is not a comprehensive blueprint. It took a fair bit of trial and error, along with patient tips from Matt Ambrose and company to get to that point. However, a few simple suggestions could save budding “scrubbers” or hand shapers some time and avoid rookie mistakes. Having a strong sense first of what kind of wave you want to surf with your design, and how you want to surf it, is critical in dictating its shape.

The Aku Shaper provided the free software I used to design my boards, with tutorials on its main website making it relatively easy to grasp the fundamentals. If I, as a computer illiterati, can figure it out with a little advice, then it’s user-friendly. Simply follow the instructions by downloading a recent copy of Java and the software, and then you’re ready to start. Functions such as opening a new board, redesigning it, and “ghosting” an existing shape for comparison are available, along with viewing it all in a virtual shaping room (complete with a classic pin-up photo of Brooke Burke in the corner).

Screen shot: virtual shaping bay

The first step is to pull up a new board and enter its basic dimensions, including length and thickness, while nose and tail rockers can be adjusted as you go. The next move is to create a top-down “outline” of your shape using a minimal number of control points to construct a natural, flowing template for your board that will be the main building block for the rest of the curves. It is here that you will adjust the location of the wide point on the outline, nose volume, and tail shape.

Screen shot: board outline

The next tab over on the screen is the “slices” function, which allows you to literally view a cross-section in several places along the board in order to hone the slope of the deck, form the rails, and contour the bottom. Slices get a bit trickier and, for the purposes of flow and simplicity, Ambrose recommends using three of them all copied from an original slice to avoid waves in the cut, as the software blends the area in between. It is here that some of the shaper’s alchemy comes into play as the rail hardness migrates from nose to tail. Concaves or “vee” can be built in at this stage as well, and also change from end to end, possibly requiring an extra slice at the deepest point on bottom.

Screen shot: board slices

Then come the “top” and “bottom” tabs where the rocker, or curve profile, is refined: a side view of the board, if you will. This is another fundamental step that will determine how a board flows; how fast or loose; how it takes the drop; how it holds off the bottom. Design a banana and it may handle hollow surf, but be a pig in softer waves. Make flat plank and it could be a dream in the mush, but pearl badly in larger surf. Finding the sweet spot for a board’s rocker and foil between the nose and tail can be one of the most challenging and vital factors contributing to its performance. One starting point is to simply pull the fins from a favorite board, put it on a flat surface and simply measure the distance from the floor to the nose and tail. But that will not get you very far.

Screen shot: board rocker

How did it go? Now is the time to check the new stick back in “The Bay” —your virtual shaping room. With a click and drag, the board can be viewed from all angles, top, bottom, nose and tail, and checked for its overall esthetic. Striking the ALT key while toggling “V” and “L” will change both the “view” of the board and its “lighting” for some surprising and exciting additional visual inputs.

Once satisfied with the results, the final step is simply to save the file to a drive and/or disk and forward it as an e-mail attachment to a shaping operation like Ambrose Industrial, who will select the best fitting blank, run it through the APS3000, and call you when its ready. The intersection between the software and machine will produce a rough cut surprisingly close to the design viewed in the virtual shaping room, warts and all. Go ahead and lovingly fondle the result, but at this point you’re only about halfway there.

Prepare to “Scrub”

Your design acumen will have a tangible result at this stage. Just how well the design stage went will determine how much work will be required to hand-finish the blank. In a perfect world, a little sandpaper and elbow grease would do the trick from here, but, alas, it’s not a perfect world. A minimum set of tools is required, along with some ingenuity for more complex tail shapes, like swallows, bats, or quarter-moons. Among the basics are wire sanding screens of 80–120 grits and a foam pad for backing, essential for smoothing out the machine tool cuts. You will also need a straight edge to measure concaves and “vees,” along with sandpaper grits 50–250.

Quarter-moon tail

Another vital hand tool is a surform for quickly taking thickness out of the deck, ends, and rails. At least three types of hand planes may be necessary to get the wood stringer shaved flat: a small block plane, a master planer, trim plane or even a small spokeshave for cleaning up the fine nose rocker area. Along with handsaws, a small round surform and micro rasp can also be useful for those of you determined to cut a swallowtail. Note that the majority of blanks that I got back from Matt did not have the bottom rail cut, though he has since upgraded his software to eliminate this problem. That means you have to be prepared to do some shaping on that important contact point with the wave. One tool that makes that roughly 30-degree cut with greater precision is the Fred Tool, invented by John Carper, that is essentially two back-to-back surform blades mounted and angled on sanding block.

More tools

Checking out www.foamez.com and shapers’ forum www.swaylocks.com can also provide some valuable insight from other hobby shapers, who may have faced similar problems.

More work in progress

Veteran hand shapers recommend you keep a loose count of the strokes you make on each side of the deck and rails as you go from the more coarse tools, such as the surform, to the finer sanding screens and papers. My approach was less disciplined and more tactile and done in my garage in late afternoon light to help see the texture and scratches. Ideally, access to a shaping room coated with blue paint and low louvered fluorescent lighting on the sides will allow a more refined finishing of the blank, but it is not as critical to the performance of the board, so much as the esthetics. In the end, a good glasser will be the one to make or break your board and give it the smooth protective coating that transforms it from a delicate sponge into a flexible precision wave tool.

Color: Do You Dare?

Mixing tints

Resin tinting can also be done by a professional glasser, but will cost more. Let your imagination be your guide, but be doubly careful at this final stage after all that hard work. Any logos can be printed out on an inkjet, but need to be done on translucent rice paper, which disappears when saturated by resin.

Shapers with Skill

Having gone through the steps of imagining a new board and how it might surf, to designing it online, hand finishing it, and then surfing it has been an extremely satisfying journey. For me, it has been the beginning of a new learning curve, an opening of a Pandora’s Box of questions and lines of inquiry, rather than an end in itself. It has given me even greater appreciation for what it takes to become a shaper, a better understanding of the shaper’s craft and skill, and how to better communicate with a shaper. Thanks go to Ward Coffey at Ward Coffey Shapes, Randy Cone at Randy Cone Surfboards, and Geoff Rashe at M10, who have all made me a better surfer and inspired me to become a design addict. Matt Ambrose especially deserves praise for patiently guiding me to make my first board.

8'6\

Mike Wallace has surfed for over two decades on the East and West coasts, Hawaii, Europe and NorCal. Currently a resident of Moss Beach with his family of four, he can often be found haunting the beaches south of Devil’s Slide in search of the perfect sandbar with his blind dog, Moose. Comments? Mike(at)surfpulse.com

Related posts:

1. Shaping Without Skil: Confessions of a “Scrubber” (Part 1 of 2)
2. The Modern Meyerhoffer Longboard Goes Global
3. Surfing Lesson: How to Duck Dive

Over the course of the past few months I have computer-designed and hand-finished five new surfboards and, despite minor character flaws, they have all been functional and fun. Let me make it abundantly clear up front that I do not own the traditional shaper’s plow horse, a “Skil 100” power planer; I have not paid my dues. Nor have I earned the right through curvature of the spine, inhalation of pounds of toxic polyester dust and resin fumes, and hand creation of thousands of boards, to call myself a “shaper.”

Shaping room dust

True shapers are a justifiably stubborn, quirky, masochistic and self-righteous breed who have honed their craft to the point of attracting a following. It is an increasingly narrow group of high-volume foam messiahs who make some serious coin. Others eke out a living, doing it for the love and satisfaction of creating functional art in what is one of the lower-margin business models in the surf business. Those with bigger ambitions and deeper pockets have created global manufacturing and distribution networks with which to supply both team riders and the masses. Many of the rest of us are just board “scrubbers,” perhaps a solitary craftsman whittling away and sanding relatively pre-formed blanks into something resembling a rideable surfboard…until now with the advent of computer-aided design.

APS3000 trims a blank

Board Design Cracked Wide Open

Surfing savants like Tom Curren, Joel Tudor, Kelly Slater and Rob Machado have always pushed the style envelope in the water. Accordingly, they have been very influential in experimenting with and pushing alternative design as their surfing has matured. Searching for new challenges and placement on waves, they have helped revive retro shapes, push the boundaries on what can be surfed in bigger waves, and opened us up to the alternatives.

Most recently, Slater turned the Pipeline contest on its head, winning the event this year on a 5’-11” Fish hybrid that he designed on computer by combining the nose of a K-board with the tail of a semi-gun. Al Merrick finished the board out and the result was a ride that gave him paddle speed, dexterity in the tube, and purchase on the steeps. He broke a 5’-3” version of the board in Indo; otherwise he would have ridden that one – almost unheard of in big, hollow surf. The board is now called the “Deep Six” and undoubtedly will become available at a surf retailer near you soon.

In lulls between contests, Curren was notorious for prowling vintage board shops for interesting shapes, which he then would test in challenging conditions just for fun, hacking off and reshaping fins on the spot if the board didn’t go right. In the Sonny Miller film “Chasing Curren,” the shy guru was captured riding a short Fish in solid double overhead Indo. In his appraisal of the experiment, Curren remarked, “You couldn’t go as deep in the barrel, ‘cause the width of the tail would draw you up the face. Sometimes when things aren’t going the way you want, you have to break out of it… break the pattern. If you focus and think about it, it’s best to act on that feeling. Part of surfing I think is experimental; with so many different boards, getting involved in what you’re actually designing and what its function is.” It would seem that Slater finished off Curren’s Fish experiment by narrowing the tail to great effect.

For more “alternative” ideas, see Rusty Preisendorfer’s informative Surfline blog “Talking Design”: http://www.surfline.com/blog/entry.cfm?id=26651. Joel Tudor’s retro shapes can be admired on http://www.joeltudor.com/, while Rob Machado’s latest projects can be found on http://www.robmachado.com/thelatest.asp. Even more interesting is a snapshot of Machado’s current working quiver on http://www.surfline.com/surfnews/photo_bamp_900_v03.cfm?id=26114&ad=1.

Steve Coletta, Designer-Shaper

Mr. Coletta of Natural Curves Surfboards of Santa Cruz had a long history with a Skil planer before adopting computer shaping as his mainstay. Far from killing off the skilled board builder, Steve argues that it has refined his capabilities, with technology allowing a level of accuracy and repetition that greatly enhances the process and the end-product. Translating the experienced shaper’s tactile memory into computer files and breathing life into a virtual board all take a high level of skill, not to mention the hand finishing and tweaks that put the “magic” into the final shape.

APS3000, half-way there

Steve himself has written several very insightful articles on digital shaping and is living proof that the computer and hand can coexist and drive the boundaries of performance. As he says, “Machine or computer shapes by a master shaper totally involved in every nuance of the final shape can indeed have magic and soul. Shaping great surfboards requires imagination, observation, and skill to translate designs into reality. Master shapers are part scientist, artist, and craftsman. Hand shaping great surfboards takes years to master. Combine the experience of decades of hand shaping with current technology and the results are awesome.”

CAD software fine tunes cut

Coletta dismisses the view that the computer destroys the artistry of shaping, convinced that the more efficient process affords the shaper more energy to apply to the design process. “Hand shaping surfboards with planers, grinders, and the other tools of the trade is very physically and mentally demanding. Computer technology allows an abundance of this energy to be focused on design. Now, more than at any time in the history of shaping surfboards, technology offers surfers the benefit of accelerated design evolution, relevant custom design, and accuracy in the never-ending pursuit of perfection.”

Top and bottom finished

The next step in the evolution is designing remotely, creating a database of shapes and forwarding the board file directly to a cutting machine or center via e-mail. The shape is then machined and hand-finished locally. Coletta has been an avid user of the APS3000 system since December, 2005. “We have produced thousands of functional, relevant, and ‘magic’ surfboards in the brief time we’ve been using the system. The system also allows us to provide greater service than ever for our surfer/clients. We regard it as a great tool in the evolution of surfboard design and production.”

Creative Destruction of Board Building

From rough-hewn redwood planks, to chambered balsa logs and foam blanks, each quantum leap in the surfboard’s development has come at the callused hands of individuals who were convinced there had to be a better way. One central figure in the CAD process is Miki Langenbach (www.aps3000miki.com), a German engineer and mathematician with a passion for sailboarding who, beginning in 1984, made some rudimentary attempts to mechanize shaping of larger windsurfer blanks. By 1997 he constructed a low-maintenance machine that would kick out up to 12 blanks an hour, but his vision of a digitized and air-conditioned clean room for cutting all kinds of board blanks from 5-foot “glass slippers” to 12-foot “stand-ups” culminated in the APS3000 machine by 2003. Miki says the acronym stands for the Australia colloquialism “Ants in Pants,” roughly translating as “hot stuff,” or “da kine” if you favor Island pidgin.

Top and bottom finished

Nev Hyman of Australia received a $30,000 grant from Queensland in 1999 and partnered with Miki to develop the machine and fine-tuned software needed to maximize its functionality. They contracted with Emmanuel Vilmin, who spun off to create Shape3D (http://www.shape3d.com/). Other competitors are Digital Surf Design’s Surf CAD, masterminded by Brazilian surgeon Luciano Leao, while still others include the Aku Shaper (http://www.aps3000.com/) and KKL Machine (http://www.allaboutsurf.com/articles/kkl)

The dirty little industry truth is that the foam “blanks” that are sculpted into the core of the surfboard under a fiberglass skin have been mainly pre-manufactured ever since Dave Sweet perfected the first polyurethane foam blank in 1956 and Hobie Alter sold his blank business to his glasser Gordon “Grubby” Clark. Clark refined that process to such an extent that close-tolerance blanks were created very near to marquee shapers’ specifications, requiring minimal planing of foam or adjustments to the key basic rocker.

After dominating with nearly 90% the industry, Clark’s abrupt exit from that business in December 5, 2005, shifted the balance of power to CAD machines, which were just beginning to find favor among foresighted shapers like Jeff Rache of M10, Bill “Stretch” Reidel, Jeff “Doc” Lausch of SurfRx, among others. Board manufacturer Randy French of Surftech also crossed over from the windsurfing industry that had been at the forefront of molded materials and technology advancements.

Ambrose Industrial Surfboards

Matt Ambrose enlightens shaper

One enlightened early adopter of this technology was Maverick’s veteran Matt Ambrose, who ordered an APS3000 machine in late 2003 from Miki. One of the first three on the mainland, he received the machine in March of 2004 just before Clark’s demise, and set himself up in the computer-shaping and blank distribution business in Pacifica, forged into a company aptly named “Ambrose Industrial Surfboards: http://www.ambroseindustrialsurfboards.com/contact.php.

Ambrose selects a blank

As Matt says, “AIS is a Northern California cutting center designed to help shapers get what they need to manufacture surfboards. AIS is a one-stop shop, specializing in design assistance and milling boards to exact specifications, as well as supplying blanks, resins, cloth and special order items.” He literally stocks hundreds of blanks from only top producers: Surfblanks America (polyester) and Marko (EPS). In his choice of blanks, machinery and shaping supplies, “quality” is his calling card of choice.

Ambrose’s blank check

Realistically, he says, “If you don’t have experience riding boards and intimate familiarity with their performance characteristics, you won’t be able to shape a board remotely anything like an experienced master shaper like Dick Keating.” He agrees wholeheartedly with Steve Coletta that computer shaping has refined board design to such an extent that, for most, there is little point in hand shaping boards end-to-end. Such is the system’s capacity to refine the process.

Ambrose dials it in

Without Ambrose there would truly be no story here on SurfPulse. While he doesn’t gladly suffer fools and has a hard business-like edge, he also has an infectious enthusiasm for offering design and shaping tips to those alert enough to pick up on his invaluable rapid-fire insights and sharp wit. The same qualities of focus and ruthless efficiency that he exhibits in the water apply on land: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1w0BDO4Txk. Matt is a waterman in the purest sense of the word: his business is boards, his sport is surfing the heaviest peaks, and even his recreation is scuba diving.

He charges off on trips with friends to dive for abs and lobster in remote areas off the California coast and its islands. Matt once even helped investigate the craggy underwater topography of the Maverick’s bowl with divers for a Surfer’s Journal article on a rare day that was barely clear enough. He’s dived the spot several times—with and without tanks—advising against lingering too long anywhere but the bottom, then making a beeline for the boat. Few other Maverick’s chargers have demonstrated that depth of commitment.

Ambrose slicing through a boil

He lets his skills do the talking in the water and his business acumen on land. More than one surfer has respectfully noted, “If you find yourself sitting deeper than Matt at the peak, you’re positioned way too deep.” In a testament to his experience and persistence, his Maverick’s contest bio notes, “Once known as an underground warrior, Ambrose has become an established name after reaching the Mavericks finals in 4 of the past 6 contests” against increasingly youthful competition: http://www.maverickssurf.com/Surfers/SurferBio.aspx?id=598.

Matt’s father, John, was a veteran hardware engineer from the early days of computing at RCA and IBM, who transferred from the East Coast to Silicon Valley. He settled with his family in 1973 in Pacifica, and currently runs a software consulting business. Effectively acting as Matt’s chief technology advisor, John was a key resource to draw upon when Matt first imagined his business plan. Another luminary who mentored the young surfer-shaper was Pacifica legend Dick Keating, who still actively contributes his design experience and co-shaping skills on big wave and specialty boards. A truly spectacular history of surfing in Northern California, traced to its Hawaiian roots and the aqua-exploits of the Keating family in Pacifica, can be found in the Surfer’s Journal (Volume 10, Number 4) and on http://www.surfingoods.com/articles/article2_2.html

WanderInn with Eastman

Rick Eastman of WanderInn Surfboards is another prolific shaper who actually houses his well-equipped shaping room on-site upstairs at Ambrose’s shop. Soft-spoken Rick showed me the ropes, always ready with a few well-timed insights, from tricks to planing down nose stringers to advice on smoothing out concaves and how to make an inexpensive and solid set of adjustable shaping racks.

Work in progress

Rick vividly recalls getting the word about the very first murmurs of the shortboard revolution directly from Dick Keating, fresh from the inaugural Duke Kahanamoku Invitational contest in Hawaii. In 1968, Australian Bob McTavish introduced deep “V” bottoms on the Greenough-inspired 8’-8” “Plastic Machine,” which he rode at the Duke at Sunset, but left an indelible impression at Haliewa and then later Honolua Bay in Maui.

Hand-finishing a modern shortboard

With the design imprinted only in his mind, Keating was the only one in Northern California to see the new shorter shape first hand. Picturing how well it would work in less forgiving beach breaks in Pacifica and Rockaway, the local crew immediately went to work stripping and chopping down their longboards and buying factory second blanks from Grubby Clarke for $10 apiece. This was truly the genesis of the garage shaper. Surfboard factories like Noll, G&S, and Hobie recognized the threat clearly, trying to keep Clark blanks from being liberally distributed to lower-volume guys, especially in Southern California. So there is a strong, local precedent for individual craftsmen to shake up the board-building industry with the right know-how and tools.

Garage shaping, circa 2009

According to Eastman, that gave “creative and resourceful underground Northern California shapers a head start on the shortboard revolution.” The “paradigm shift” was settled once and for all by the epic duels between David Nuuhiwa and Nat Young, he said. Not only did Rick take part in the shortboard revolution firsthand, but he is also helping shepherd the next generation of rippin’ local groms—his grandkids Kadin and Brogie Panesi, who already have amassed an enviable competitive resume on the NSSA circuit.

Mach 10 with Geoff Rashe and the DSD

As Geoff Rashe of M10 tells it, he was introduced to Dr. Luciano Leao shortly after visiting Eric Arakawa on the North Shore in the summer of 2000. Arakawa had acquired one of the first dozen of Leao’s Digital Surf Designs (DSD) machines in operation since 1998-99. The earliest versions reportedly went to shapers Jeff Bushman and Bill Barnfield in Hawaii. Arakawa had invited Rashe over to design and cut a test board; he was immediately hooked after the painfully honest Hawaiian shaper swore it was the real McCoy. Rashe received his own machine in January 2001. Prior to that, Channel Islands had been getting boards scanned by the KKL Motion Master and Procam CNC (computer numerical control) machines, which were essentially large surf blank Xerox machines. Unlike the DSD, these machines didn’t allow the shaper to design and cut individually-tailored boards.

That’s where Dr. Leao came in—as a genius former surgeon from Brazil, he had shaped some boards in college and began tinkering at night with the design for a computerized shaping machine in 1995. SurfCAD was the software developed to provide the brains behind the machine and make it so smart. Rashe quickly realized the potential of being able to “tweak and replicate” any shape in a database in order to customize it with a high degree of precision, then save the result for future custom boards. As he says: “I vary, sometimes I have a bad day or get tired, but the machine is always consistent.” He had tried to outsource machine cutting at one stage, but found it was more efficient when shaping 1000 or more boards per year to have his own, which he upgraded in November, 2007.

Unlike the APS3000, the DSD doesn’t anchor the blank with suction cups, but rather it grabs the board by the wooden stringer down the middle, which requires a little more hand planing when all is said and done. The cutting tool on the APS is an 8- to 10-inch circular blade that runs perpendicular to the blank, while the DSD is “essentially a large standard router” that runs on tracks the length of the board.

Vince Broglio Glassworks and “Solarez”

Glasser-surfer Vince Broglio

One of the top independent production fiberglass laminators on the North Coast is Vince Broglio, who got his start in the business working as a volume glasser for Pearson-Arrow in Santa Cruz. Working like a dust-covered ghost from horse stables a few miles north of town, Broglio has a very professional work ethic and a unique operation that keeps custom boards churning out of his shop like hot loaves of bread. Vince knows what it is like to be a valued customer, and says he just treats others like he expects to be, remembering being a grom and jonesing for that long-overdue promised board.

VB, a man of his word

As he says, “Never believe a shaper when he says the glasser still has it,” which I can vouch for after he once turned a board around for me in two days. The range of services run the gamut, from polyester and epoxy glassing to in-demand resin tints, all the more remarkable as he is color blind and consults his wife Nancy to help with special customer requests. His new pup, “Roxie,” supervises the whole operation.

Guard dog Roxie

Everyone starts somewhere in the board building business and Broglio vividly recalls glassing his very first three boards for Pearson back in the day. He had two polished up and sitting in the racks and had just one to go when the surf Jones struck the young apprentice bad. As sponsored competitive surfers, Vince and a friend planned to bolt for a session just as he polished off the last board, but there was just one catch: the board had glassed-on fins. When he hit them with the 5000-rpm polisher, the board flew off the rack like a scalded cat, pinged off a couple walls and then slammed into the rack with the two finished boards. All the boards were damaged, and even after repairing them he wasn’t paid for his handiwork. Broglio did “gloss and polish” work for both Pearson and Haut through the late 1980s and credits Tony Mikus and Mike Walsh for showing him the ropes. He went into business for himself in 1991 at his home and then took over the space of West Cliff Glassing, after his wife kicked the smelly operation out of the garage.

Juggling boards

Years after his inauspicious start, Broglio today has the formula down pat for juggling multiple boards at a time (and not dinging them). The secret ingredient is powdered “Sun Cure” that replaces the usual toxic MEKP resin catalyst or hardener that normally sets within 10–20 minutes. “Sun Cure” is triggered by ultraviolet light either from a florescent light box or directly from the sun. Created as a class project at Flagler College in St. Augustine Florida by Dale Christenson, this much more environmentally-safe product has been employed by Vince for years, even as other pros are just coming around to its benefits. Namely, the hardening process can be controlled by the glasser: slowed or sped up. Excess resin can be filtered, reused, and not wasted, “going off” only when hit by UV rays. This allows more time to squeegee off the fiberglass perfectly during lamination and kick off the hardening of the resin in stages for a stronger board, as well as keeping multiple boards in motion. Added strength comes from eliminating the “guesswork” of adding the catalyst. Vince has branded this as “Solarez.”

Polyester vs Epoxy

Poly resin with this UV process is pretty efficient and controllable, allowing Vince to laminate and sand a couple of finished boards in a day, but epoxy glassing is a more drawn out affair altogether and will cost you an additional $50 as a result. Epoxy resin is much more temperature-sensitive and the “prime” curing range is precisely 72–80ºF, more often than not requiring a hot box to control the reaction. This is less of a problem during lamination on hotter days, but the resin bucket can kick off unexpectedly. This happened once mid-job on an Iverson stand-up board he was working on, and he nearly scalded himself while working in the resin out to the rails. Epoxy has a “better flex memory; like I always try to explain the difference, it’s like the old fiberglass fishin’ rod compared to a newer graphite or epoxy rod. It’s like you cast that thing and it has that dead feel and you cast the epoxy rod and it just flies. And the memory lasts longer—you get double the amount of time out the boards.”

Checking the laps

With Broglio’s method he “really likes to pull his laps,” as the fiberglass is stretched like a drum on the overlapping rails as the next best technique to vacuum bagging. He tries to avoid working “wet” with lots of resin that gets absorbed into the blank and adding weight, following closely behind a stiff plastic squeegee with the bucket for a light coat before going back over the area.

Kiteboards awaiting their turn

With a poly board you just laminate the bottom, file the rail, then “lam” the top, but with epoxy you have to sand the lap on the rails in addition for adherence. If the epoxy job sits too long, you have to sand again and wipe, so you really have to stage it carefully with roughly a step a day to ensure a really strong bond. An epoxy board done right can take up to 6–7 days, though unlike the poly finish, you don’t have to add a surfacing agent for the final coat since it’s already in the epoxy finish. The “pop-out” manufactured boards are vacuum-sealed in a bag then placed in a mold that “sucks all the air out and all the excess resin” leaving a pure, thin lamination that would be flat without a rocker jig. Yet he sees a world in which the market got flooded by pop-outs and is now recoiling, a backlash over cheaper boards as surfers move up the food chain and become more discriminating again.

Shaping with an Original, “Da Bull”

Pioneer shaper, film maker and surf explorer Greg Noll recently visited Half Moon Bay for the first annual Maverick’s Film Festival to host a compilation of the his best “Search for Surf” film series, narrated with Bruce Brown. Like a profane Santa Claus of surfing, the gregarious icon traced his early hot dog years, along with pioneering breaks on the North Shore, mainland Mexico, and California. One scene about the early days of shaping solid balsa boards shows a mechanical router-jig set up to cut the top and bottom rockers of the cumbersome balsa blanks. There on celluloid was an early version of the shaping machines of today. As Noll quipped, “All the new stuff you’re trying today, we did it long ago.” From this vintage example, it would appear the shaping machine has really been in the works since the 1950s.

(Click here to read Part 2 of this article.)

Mike Wallace has surfed for over two decades on the East and West coasts, Hawaii, Europe and NorCal. Currently a resident of Moss Beach with his family of four, he can often be found haunting the beaches south of Devil’s Slide in search of the perfect sandbar with his blind dog, Moose. Comments? Mike(at)surfpulse.com

Related posts:

1. Shaping Without Skil: Confessions of a “Scrubber” Pt. II
2. The Evolution of Randy Cone and the Maverick’s Gun
3. The Modern Meyerhoffer Longboard Goes Global

The Meyerhoffer Quiver

Meyerhoffer has reinvented the wheel multiple times over during his storied career, but his latest project is one close to his own heart—reinventing the longboard.

Developed and tested over the past few years, this new equipment represents a radical departure from the incremental design evolution of the past and potential quantum leap forward in form and function.

The “Modern Meyerhoffer” was sculpted around the principle that longboarders turn off the tail and noseride up front, with the middle of the board an excessive transition zone in between that could be reduced. Accordingly, the board has a relatively traditional nose up front, leading to a tapered waist in the middle, a dynamic, wider rear end and elongated tail for stability and drive. This gives the Meyerhoffer its distinctive organic “parabolic” shape. Meyerhoffer is quick to point out that

“the negative curve is only there so that I could shape a more positive curve … as on a surfboard you turn around the positive curve.”

Meyerhoffer and the Modern Quiver

Noosa Bottom Turn

The breakout design had its debut at the GSI Noosa Festival of Surfing on March 15–22 and clearly won over even the crustiest Australian longboarding veterans, while the younger surfers adapted even more readily to the board in the perfect small peeling surf. Cross-stepping, switch-stance, floaters, nose-riding and cut-backs all a familiar look, but the whole exhibition seemed to draw fresh dynamism and energy from the experience.

The board appeared to levitate on the wave faces with the front section easily lifting out of the water for faster trim speed, while a step back on the tail yielded a snappy turn and redirection. Yet the board “locked in” tight against the curl when ridden from the nose. More than one dripping wet, ruddy, and stoked Aussie remarked that they couldn’t wait to try the board in larger surf. After exiting the water with knowing grins, it looked like they had just been let in on a well-kept secret—in truth they had.

But the secret’s out now. Prototypes have been produced in the firm’s proprietary SLX (Super Lightweight Epoxy) and are beautifully glassed and finished with white tinted epoxy resin and a gloss polish that gives them an art gallery-quality resonant finish. In no way does the new design resemble the “pop-outs” of the past; this is a light, superbly designed and well-engineered wave tool.

Meyerhoffer's Shaping Bay

Don’t be surprised if these boards appear like UFOs in a line-up or contest near you, ripping where others have plodded before them. Stand-up-paddle surfers beware: in the near future, that glowing and flowing longboard surfing circles around you and your awkward balancing act may just be a Modern Meyerhoffer.

Board sizes will range from 7’6”–9’6” and will come with 6” or 8” center fins along with FCS side fins, depending on the length of the board. Look for demos and boards to be made available in Northern California in the coming weeks at the following shops: Wise in San Francisco, NorCal and Sonlight in Pacifica, and Freeline in Santa Cruz.

Modern Meyerhoffer at Bells Beach

Related posts:

1. Surf Movie “Modern Collective” in San Francisco on Thursday, November 5, 2009
2. Shaping Without Skil: Confessions of a “Scrubber” Pt. II
3. Board Stolen in San Francisco around October 2, 2009

[1/5/2010,Editor's Note: With some huge swell on the way and a possible Maverick's Contest vote, we thought this an opportune time to re-post this feature by Mike Wallace. — matt]

[Author's Note: Facts are still mostly relevant a year later after Mother Nature skipped out in 2009, but note that for the first time the contest "call" is not made by one director, but by a democratic majority of the participants, who are rumored to be casting their ballots as soon as Friday, 1/8 (or next week?). — mike]

Sponsler with trusty gun

Those who drill into the SurfPulse.com “Report” and “Forecast” pages undoubtedly have located one of the more useful tables of ocean swell information on the site. Nightshift Mark diligently keeps us up-to-date with the projected swell trend, wind speed, swell details, set size, and swell direction each week, sufficiently detailed to give a succinct snapshot of just what’s on the horizon. That’s a lifeline for many of us working stiffs also leading double lives in the workplace and in the water, allowing us to optimize our schedules to fit in a few waves each week.

In addition to his regular updates on these surf sites, Mark is called upon by traveling pros and photographers who draw upon his forecasting skill for contests and the frequent diaspora of surf travel, photo, and film missions around the globe. Eric Nelson and Curt Myers, collaborators on several definitive Maverick’s documentaries, were sent globetrotting by Sponsler for their “Down The Line” video. He directed them to Peahi on Maui for one particularly epic Pacific swell, then to Ghost Tree in Monterey and full-circle back to Maverick’s to chase the same swell again. Nelson says that Mark is the forecasting “guru” around here and he “relies on Mark’s expertise” to be prepared at a moment’s notice to gather footage for their next film. In turn, 2008 Maverick’s champion Greg Long called the Powerlines box set essential “study materials” for his victory and “if this was my classroom, I’d be an ‘A’ student for doing my research.”

Green room with view

Proving that even ‘A’ students can get schooled by Maverick’s, Long was pitched on his very first wave of the epic, exceptionally thick and clean 25-second swell recently on November 29–30. Slammed and driven deep into the pit, he burst an ear drum and was so badly disoriented after a two-wave hold-down that when Jeff Clark swooped in on a PWC, Clark found the big wave hero feet in the air, struggling to swim down to his likely death from the surface, completely upside down. That life-or-death event is one among many in heavy and disturbing footage caught in Powerlines’ compelling new film Ride On, which recently premiered at the Princeton Landing and is slated to show around the Bay Area. (Visit http://www.powerlinesproductions.blogspot.com/ for more information.) Ahead of that swell, Sponsler is caught on film presciently warning even experienced riders to “stay away from the bowl.” Even as the paddle-in envelope was pushed that weekend, PWCs provided the security for paddlers to charge some of the biggest waves ever caught by hand, again proving their place in the line-up.

Drumbeat of Distant Breaks

Sponsler treks out for a surf

As fun as the Florida surf spots are, there’s more to surfing than Cocoa Beach, Sebastian Inlet and Reef Road. Fickle Florida surf only fed Sponsler’s appetite for larger, more consistent waves, starting with the typical forays to Cape Hatteras, Puerto Rico and regular pilgrimages to the North Shore of Hawaii with his buddy and prolific Florida shaper, Matt Kechele. The inconsistency of Floridian home breaks tends to breed hunger for MORE among its competitive surfing citizenry, and Mark is no exception to this rule.

Sponsler discussing his equipment

Sponsler got his first taste for big waves in the Hawaiian Islands, and it was Kechele who drove him deeper and bigger at Sunset Beach and Waimea on the North Shore of Oahu. Like many other surf junkies, Mark made the annual winter pilgrimage for a couple weeks each year. In an eerie future connection with Maverick’s, the pair would stay at big-wave maestro Mark Foo’s complex near Waimea “and surf ’till we dropped every day.” Sponsler recalls strolling out at the river mouth at Waimea with a 7′-6″ gun and 6′ leash, clueless in his zeal to tackle a 25′ (Hawaiian) swell; off to his right was a bronzed Foo waxing up a 10′-4″ Rhino Chaser with a 12′ leash. Undaunted, Sponsler scampered back to the rental car and knotted two 6′ leashes together, paddled out and still managed to catch 4–5 waves that day. Foo later infamously surrendered his life after going over the falls on a comparatively tame day at Maverick’s on December 23, 1994.

Early Days of Forecasting

Mark recalls prowling the old Maverick’s surf shop on Main Street in Half Moon Bay on his days off (the shop is now located deep in the dusty heart of industrial Princeton) in search of advice and equipment before starting to paddle out at Mav’s on a regular basis. Jeff and Mark traded e-mails on the outlook for significant-class swells, and Mark’s distribution list eventually exploded to a size where he could justify starting a website of his own. That in turn led to the creation of Stormsurf.com.

1/22/09: Will this forecast make Jeff Clark pull the 2009 Mav's Contest trigger?

Pioneering Maverick’s surf photographer Doug Acton harks back to the pre-Internet days when he and Mark would trawl through buoy reports and even harder-to-come-by shipping reports for their swell data, “growing with the surf break together” and sharing information. Truly, it was an insider’s game back then, mapping out readings from the 46006 SE Papa Buoy (600 nautical miles west of Eureka) to gauge the distance of the swell and checking the 46059 California Buoy (357 nautical miles west of San Francisco) for a better bead on its duration and proximity. A friendly “heads-up” e-mail was the result and was passed around between surfer-forecasters and photographers.

That’s all changed now with the democratization of the forecasting business by the Internet. While rival Surfline.com covers the globe, Acton says that Sponsler is still the go-to guy for Northern California: “He came from Florida with a great attitude and was welcomed into the Maverick’s brotherhood.” Jeff Clark agrees that Mark turned a hobby into his “passion,” but the darker side of progress has been the crowds who have come with the more accurate and accessible forecasts, which has “really loaded the line-up.” In fact, assaults on the Half Moon Bay Buoy have been rumored on more than one occasion, aimed at disabling the equipment during peak Maverick’s season. If the swell and period readings go blank, it is possible that sabotage and not nature may be the cause.

Making the Call – A “Visceral” Experience

Sponsler makes it abundantly clear that Jeff Clark makes the call to hold the contest each year, while Mark plays a supporting role, by providing data that pinpoints a swell and then must fit a complex variety of factors that will “reach the minimum threshold to have a contest.” The “minimum” bar is set pretty high, with the swell required to hold at 20-foot (Hawaiian) from the right direction and a sufficiently long period between waves, along with calm winds and a daytime window of at least four hours of low tide during the workweek and not a major holiday. Recall, the last time those conditions came together was for the January 12, 2008 contest (see video below), unfortunately a Saturday, which required some extra arm-twisting of local authorities by the contest director. Several invitees had also been making a beeline to the “Tow-in Classic” at Nelscott Reef in Oregon and had to turn back.

While Mark provides the hard data, Jeff has to consider a variety of soft factors:  gambling how deep into the winter season to risk waiting for the ideal swell; gauging whether the surfers would be willing to concede some wave size for clean contestable conditions; and determining whether the Half Moon Bay community would be well served and able to support the contest when Mother Nature decides to play ball. “So I take a very conservative approach and try to recommend swells that meet the ‘letter of the law’ minimum requirements, then Jeff gets the unenviable task of having to make the decision when conditions may be marginal,” says Sponsler. “Typically, on any given swell event, Jeff and I talk days before the storm even forms, then start increasing the number of touch points to maybe 2–3 times daily once the storm has actually formed, and we’re getting confirmed data on sea heights off the Jason-1 satellite and wind speeds from the QuickSCAT satellite. Almost all my data comes directly off of Stormsurf.”

Jeff Clark remembers giving Sponsler the option to make the call for the contest in 2008, since Mark had reservations about the size and consistency of the swell. With a chuckle, Jeff still vividly recalls a message left on his cell phone voicing those doubts. But Clark scanned the data again, noting “the swell came from 3000 miles away with no cross-winds” and decided to pull the trigger anyway. With the exception of a few heats with very long lulls, the waves came, the surfers surfed, and the final was an epic, salvaged in the last ten minutes by a few clean bombs that arrived just in time—thanks to more than a little of that Clark magic. That’s why he’s the contest director.

Sponsler dropping in, back-dooring the peak (1 of 5)

Sponsler dropping in, back-dooring the peak (2 of 5)

Sponsler dropping in, back-dooring the peak (3 of 5)

Sponsler dropping in, back-dooring the peak (4 of 5)

Sponsler dropping in, back-dooring the peak (5 of 5)

Out of all the forecasts he is most proud of for their accuracy and impact, Mark says that without a doubt he’s developed a special relationship with Maverick’s. He’s invested a lot of himself in terms of time and tools to hone his forecasts around this break. Unlike other scientists or lab technicians, his “sampling” process is done not in a white coat with a pocket protector but, more like Superman, by donning a black wetsuit and booties. As he describes it, “The feedback is instantaneous, very detailed and visceral. It’s not like making a forecast, then a few days later looking at a buoy or some cam and saying ‘Yeah, looks like the surf is what we thought it would be.’ Instead, you get to paddle out and see a 20-footer unload on your head and think, ‘Uh, maybe I under-called it.’”

Taking the Weather Personally

Whereas storms in the Pacific are for the most part given anonymous labels like N#1 and S#2, in the Atlantic they take their weather personally, christening them with names like “Bob” and “Andrew.” Considering the human and economic havoc they can wreak (recall Katrina and Gustav), any major storm could bury your home underwater. “The threat was always there and they left quite an impression” on a young lad who was never far from the surf, says Sponsler.

Turning back the dial a decade or two, weather forecasting has been in the Sponsler family for a couple of generations. Growing up in the hurricane catcher’s mitt of Florida and on the vulnerable barrier island of Cocoa Beach, Mark remembers as a kid plotting out storm paths as they bore down on his home break. Insight into weather patterns was tantamount to saving your own neck or potentially your neighbor’s property. Mark’s dad, Leonard, was a closet weatherman and his brother Steve actually worked for the Air Force as a meteorologist for a time, “so it was a frequent topic of conversation around the house,” he confesses.

While other kids were trading baseball cards, as Mark recalls: “Once I started surfing, I started really getting into tracking the storms and mapping their progress and strength, trying to turn that into a surf forecast. Remember, this was before the Internet, before weather radios and before any of the technology we take so for granted now. So I put together some rudimentary forecast tools, mainly based purely on storm tracking, and then tried to correlate those data points to what actually occurred swell-wise on the beach…It was a very organic and natural progression.”

Fast-forward to the present, and he spends roughly 14 hours a week doing routine forecasts on top of the in-demand custom forecasts. Not satisfied standing still, Sponsler has been engrossed in a major technological overhaul of Stormsurf. Scripting all the swell models himself, he has been buried in the upgrade, improving the site and keeping it current with all the new information spawned by the NOAA. It is true that Mark himself is a big beneficiary as he plots his recreation plans across the Bay from the hills of Hayward, heading south to Santa Cruz in the summer, and to Maverick’s and Ross’ Cove in the winter.

Right and Left Coasts

Sponsler cuts back on a section

In terms of surf culture, Sponsler doesn’t see a huge difference in attitude between the two regions, though Florida may have the edge in terms of wave-hunger and opportunism. He has found surfers in both areas fairly friendly if you put in the time and are respectful at the quality breaks—unless you abuse your welcome and your attitude exceeds your skills.

Sponsler ducks for cover

In addition to the regulars, there is a whole crew of “fresh faces in the line-up trying to get a piece of the action on well-advertised days,” notes Mark. “That’s OK, but some push themselves pretty hard. You have to understand that even an inconsequential wipeout can have very real physical repercussions. And a bad wipeout anywhere near the peak on a long period swell, well…let’s just say it’s a very long and painful ride to the trauma ward. The odds of a serious injury occurring are actually pretty high. You don’t hear about it, but all the guys above have wipeout horror stories, some of them occurring even on small days. You will not get out without paying a price. And, if you’re not ready to pay, don’t play.” But the 52-year old Clark says the injuries add up over the years, and, though he still gets out there, “the young guys don’t have as much to risk.”

Sponsler swings into a glassy one

Not being able to surf every day, Mark takes his land training very seriously and spends any spare time in the gym. In an example of his diligence, he was once caught striding purposefully across the sands of Montara State Beach like John Cleese to the Ministry of Silly Walks… ”Firing up the quads before jumping in the water,” he sheepishly admitted.

Not big on breath-holding exercises, he combines his weight training with balance and fitness work on a “Bosu ball.” He credits being able to balance with eyes closed and training the minor muscle groups for the confidence to take a big drop even when blinded by spinnakers of offshore spray. Like Mark “Doc” Renneker and Clark himself, Sponsler reckons he can push the age envelope in giant surf through superior fitness and preparation.

Maverick’s—A “Technical” Wave

Compared to his early big-wave experiences surfing Waimea, Sponsler describes Maverick’s as a much more “technical” wave. Whereas Waimea is a huge drop, bottom turn and then point toward the shoulder, Maverick’s is “a full carveable wave. You drop, turn off the bottom, turn off the top and then set yourself up to race through a series of sections over a 400-yard field. There’s a large canvas to work with between the main bowl and Mushroom Rock… and beyond.”

On December 22, 2000, the author witnessed Jay Moriarity being whipped into the outside bowl by tow-in partner Clark and kicking out at Mushroom Rock some 45 seconds later. Jeff had rolled up on the ski with Moriarity and told the paddle-in die-hards: “The sun’s going down, it’s 25-foot and we’re going to show you the future” (a future now dimmed by the partial marine sanctuary ban on PWCs). As he looked back over his shoulder, he saw Jay disappear into a cavernous, silhouetted barrel all the way from the bowl to the channel.

Sponsler, Moriarity, Clark & Renneker share a moment

“It all depends on the board you’re riding and what your goals are. If you have the guts, you can get tubed, or you can do full-on cutbacks. It’s almost futile to try to describe in words the experience of growing to know that wave over more than a decade. It’s an ongoing evolution and I’m still learning,” says Sponsler. Even after cutting his big-wave teeth in Hawaii, Mark admits he was “totally clueless” when he started at Maverick’s. Now in his fourteenth season, after logging hundreds of hours of water time, and even more time forecasting for the break, he sees Florida as “a whole planet away.”

Attack of the Purple Blobs

And the relevance of all his hard work for others? For newcomers to surfing, paying attention to Mark’s forecasts frankly could save your life, when those red and purple blobs start appearing on the radar screen, come winter when conditions change quickly. A trawl through the Surfpulse.com “News” section reveals as recently as October 25, 2008 “an inexperienced surfer” rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard at Ocean Beach near the Cliff House, after “having trouble getting in.” That swell peaked at 16-foot and 25-seconds and, according to Maverick’s regulars, rammed through sets of as many as 15 double-overhead-plus waves followed by hour-long lulls. Not conditions for a newbie at an exposed beach break like OB, something his reputed “friends” should have known.

“Though a hurricane can generate waves with periods in the 14-second range, storms headed for Maverick’s can generate waves with periods at 25 seconds or greater, the most powerful waves on Earth short of a tidal wave.” (Sponsler, from Inside Maverick’s; Acton, Jenkins, Washburn)

Hollow tidal wave; any takers?

Another inexperienced surfer who was not so lucky was Sean Fahey, who died on January 22, 2006 after tangling with a medium-sized but extremely hard-breaking 7-foot, 16-second northwest swell, which detonated that day on OB’s ferocious inside bars. Maybe surf shops should require that first-time wetsuit and board buyers complete a tutorial of wave forecasting and condition assessment before entering the water. More experienced surfers know their limits and all target their search with resources like SurfPulse, Stormsurf, Wavewatch, and Surfline.

Refining Equipment

Mark is readily identifiable in the surf by his friendly demeanor and his shock of red hair, which he usually keeps tamed under a hoodie. He unabashedly flies those colors on his boards as well, most brightly tinted with oranges and yellows. Kechele still shapes all of his short boards, while he goes for local knowledge when it comes to his big-wave equipment. He gets his guns hand-crafted by Clark and Randy Cone, and credits a consistent working relationship with “shapers who have a shaping style that fits what I’m looking for. Then I can experiment and try new things with the boards and don’t have to worry that the fundamentals won’t be there.”

Favorite 10'-2\

Past and present converged when a close friend visited from Florida, who also happens to be a hot surfer. Says Sponsler, “I handed him one of my Mav’s boards (the 10′-2″ Clark). He stood there holding the 3+inch thick gun, with the skinny little pintail sinking into the grass and the nose pointing straight up into the blue California sky. Looking at it for a few moments, trying to get his head around the board, he said finally, ‘I can’t even imagine riding a wave so big that I’d need a board like this.’ The funny thing was, that wasn’t one of my bigger boards.”

Down to a Gnat’s Eyelash

For the winter ahead, Sponsler says that he is not especially optimistic in terms of large, clean surf. The dominant Pacific weather pattern is still a weak La Nina configuration. In contrast, her brother, the more muscular El Nino, “is almost a guarantee of large surf, but often you get a lot of weather with those swells, too.” While he’s been tinkering with long-term forecasting for the last decade or so, he’s come around to the idea that a strong La Nina may also boost storm and swell activity in the eastern Pacific—within the Maverick’s window. What appears to be happening lately is that neither phenomenon is dominant and “you get a grey area in between these two extremes where the potential really drops off.” In the past couple of years, a weak and late El Nino has been replaced by a frail La Nina, and the period during that transition “was the worst season we ever had.”

The heated sibling rivalry between the two long-term weather patterns tends to have less direct impact on Southern Hemisphere swells generated in the summertime. But Sponsler is coming around to the notion that, especially in transition, the Southern Hemi season can provide a preview of what’s to come the next winter. In this case, we had a pretty unproductive summer, which corroborates his pessimism about the potential this winter. “Of course, you can map it all out and track it down to a gnat’s eyelash (or butterfly’s wings), and then nature will always do something you don’t expect. But, in general, I believe there is much value in and a reasonably high degree of correlation between long-term forecasts and what eventually occurs.”

Mr. Jones

So the next time you scan the forecast pages in hopes of satisfying your surf Jones, be thankful that someone like Mark is working late on the night shift to keep you in the loop. With today’s resources on the Internet, it is all too easy to take for granted such valuable swell information and all the hard work that has gone into perfecting it. And, if you pay attention and time just it right, you just might catch him out there on an epic day.

Sponsler on an old gun

Mike Wallace has surfed for over two decades on the East and West coasts, Hawaii, Europe and NorCal. Currently a resident of Moss Beach with his family of four, he can often be found haunting the beaches south of Devil’s Slide in search of the perfect sandbar with his blind dog, Moose. Comments? Mike(at)surfpulse.com

Related posts:

1. Maverick’s 2008 Surf Contest Report: Notes from the Channel
2. “THE 24” SELECTED FOR 2006 MAVERICKS SURF CONTEST
3. NBC Sports To Broadcast The 2004/2005 Mavericks Surf Contest

With spring and summer comes increased downtime for surfers as Mother Ocean becomes more mean-spirited and quality waves harder to find (see Ode to Spring). It would be an unwitting mistake to sink into apathy as a result, with a chain reaction of boredom, moroseness and depression lurking close behind. Between bouts of relief during viable swells, when the adrenalin rush subsides and reality sets in, that’s when a land-training program can bridge the gap and break you out of your surfless funk.

There’s no single solution for keeping fit and motivated when not surfing, with obvious cardio benefits from swimming, mountain biking and running for disciplined athletes, stimulating missing endorphins triggered by exercising in the surf. For many surfers, though, these more linear activities lack variety and don’t come close to mimicking the multidimensional stop-and-go patterns of prowling the impact zone, bursting into a dynamic wave face, gunning it down the line and punching through a defenseless lip.

The addictive pull of surfing and satisfaction of complete immersion in the elements spoils surfers for other activities; surfers for the most part don’t make good gym rats. As in life, finding balance is the key, a missing element in many fitness regimes. One surfer who simply sought to keep himself tuned up between swells in Florida turned that desire (and over 30 years of tinkering) into a fulltime crusade for balance. Known to friends and colleagues as the “Balance Sensei, Balance Whisperer and even Indo Man,” Hunter Joslin developed the “Indo Board” from a single balance trainer in 1998 into a full range of indoor core fitness products.

Dry Land Surfing

Hunter basically taught himself to surf by using a balance board back in 1966: “I was a swimmer and not able to go to the beach very often. I did my homework standing on the balance board and rode it constantly. I learned to cross-step and surf better than most of my friends. Now that I’m 56 and running a business, water time is hard to find. The Indo Board has kept me ready to surf at a consistent level regardless of how infrequently I get to surf. It is invaluable, especially in cross-stepping, which on the Indo Board translates directly into smooth footwork.”

In its first incarnation, the balance trainer was basically a combination of a small plywood plank with back-stops on the bottom that perched atop a heavy plastic tube, hopefully with rider attached. Joslin discovered the apparatus as a competitive swimmer in his youth, a primitive version used by his coach to add variety, balance and strength to training regimes. An avid surfer and skateboarder since the 60’s, Hunter originally refined the deceptively simple tool by placing an oval skimboard on a roller. He ran with the concept from there, fully loading his stable of products with over 22 different offerings tailored to athletes of different sizes, skill levels and sporting activities.

The variety of Indo Boards includes the “Original, Mini Original, Pro Deck, Mini Kick Tail and Mini Kick Tail Pro.” That range runs from larger boards for beginners and longboarders to smaller boards designed for skaters and wake boarders aiming to perfect their bag of tricks. The “IndoFlo Cushion” also offers stand-up paddlers and others a means to improve their skills, with an inflatable 14-inch diameter cushion placed under the board, designed to simulate 360 degrees of gimbaled instability, rather than plain old lateral fun.

Going with the IndoFlo

Hunter reckons the IndoFlo set-up is the closest simulation to stand-up surfing on dry land, being very targeted at core balance skills. He even advocates holding a paddle or broomstick while balancing on the board and cushion. For the truly advanced, the cushion can be placed on a small step stool to keep the board from touching the floor. And among the most respected watermen in the world is the C4 Waterman group, who actively use the Indo Board for their land training. Joining forces to refine and develop the stand-up tradition and equipment are Hawaii’s Brian Keaulana, Todd Bradley and Mike Fox who formed C4, along with respected shaper-journalist Dave Parmenter. They are aiming to bring the original beach boy tradition together with a range of modern high-performance equipment to broaden the appeal of the sport. (For more information, visit www.surfline.com.)

Joslin has seen the C4 team in action and marveled at their skills, feathering the paddle either side of the board in the wave face and changing directions as if they were on much smaller equipment. For a glimpse at who’s having all the fun in soft surf, check out this YouTube video of the C4 Watermen in action in April, 2007, at Val’s Reef on the North Shore. Even tow-in pioneers Laird Hamilton and Darrick Doerner have employed the Indo trainer as part of their bag of training tricks in preparation for balancing on the very unstable hydrofoil board in XXL surf, as has Kauai legend Titus Nihi Kinimaka. (See www.hawaiianschoolofsurfing.com)

Indo Therapy

My landlocked surfing brother-in-law gave me a classic version of the Indo Board several Christmases back and I have incorporated it into my intra-swell routine ever since. After suffering a minor meniscus tear in my right knee, strengthening the muscles around my knees became a high priority. Rather than just tipping it back and forth, riding the nose, etc., I added a twist: doing squats while balancing to simulate pumping down-the-line and toning the very same muscles (just add a little hand jive for style points). Likewise, “Indo” push-ups can imitate the technique of popping up to the standing position on a board. Simply place your hands at both ends of the roller and grip the sides of the board as if you are about to push to your feet, or place them perpendicular… and feel the burn! This is just scratching the surface of the tool’s versatility.

In fact, the tube itself can be used like a jumbo rolling pin to iron out post-surf kinks in your back. Place it under your spine on the floor, exhale and gently pull forward on your neck as you slowly work your way down your back and even roll your hips. Your vertebrae will thank you. Releasing tension has become part of my daily routine, alleviating rigor mortis from being chained to the computer desk before getting in the water. Incorporated into a regular stretching routine, the roller can even be applied under tight lats and triceps après-surf to loosen up small muscle tears in that typically overdeveloped area of the surfer’s anatomy. Posture and ergonomics are critical to the longevity of older athletes, especially in our increasingly desk-bound society.

Hunter Joslin made that discovery after lugging 60 pounds of luggage on his back through the Heathrow airport in London one year, when one side of his body went completely numb. Being in the balance business, he researched his options and found that incorporating an IndoFlow cushion and balance board into a standing position at his desk was the solution. To do that, however, he had to order an adjustable desk that levitates into position at the flip of a switch, keeping him mobile and his spinal discs floppy, not hard. Joslin swears by the work routine and even when doing paperwork he balances on a backless stool with a flexible shaft that keeps his spine limber as well. Comical-but-effective, a video of the set-up can be found on his website:
www.indoboard.com.

Outdo Skills

When you consider the hours surfers spend in the water paddling and just waiting for waves, compared to the mere seconds of unbridled joy actually riding, anything that skews that ratio toward vertical time is of benefit. Frankly, in addition to improving balance and therapeutic effects from regular use of the Indo Board, the tool can improve your surfing. More precise footwork, dynamic lower body positioning, tucked-in hips and relaxed upper body can all be practiced and learned. Envision your favorite pro surfers; even their highly individualistic styles have many such elements in common.

Short-boarders can strengthen surf-specific muscle groups and simulate crouching in the tube, switching stance and popping to their feet. Even small foot placement changes have a big place in new school maneuvers—forward for speed, back for shedding it quickly, widening your stance before an aerial. A training video that comes with the package also holds a trove of tips on maneuvers and techniques, such as flipping the board up on the roller, 50-50s, round-the-worlds. Hanging 10, cheater 5s and cross-stepping, on the other hand, are of obvious value to the longboarder. Why not practice that elusive move on land first, before attempting it in the water?

Land Training

Personal trainers have jumped on board the Indo trend as well, and it just depends how much effort you want to put into your land program to take it to the next level. If you are going to put in the time, you may as well make your routine surf-specific. Pumping light free weights in lifts, curls and presses while balancing on the board prime the body and mind for the impact zone and poise on the wave face. The video even features a pair of Indo riders facing each other and tossing a small medicine ball back and forth while balancing. That other rider can represent the wave throwing sections at you and the ball a lip or chandelier falling in front of you. The best surfing is reactive and instinctual—anticipating what’s just ahead while maintaining balance, and with practice comes precision.

Pros like current ASP World Champion Mick Fanning proved last year that core fitness can make all the difference in consistency of results and performance. Often discovered as part of rehabilitating an injury, balance training in combination with cardio work, speed, and strength work, all make eminent sense for those who genuinely want to improve their skills and wave count in the water. Surfing three times a day on multiple boards like Mick, along with gym and balance training, may not be an option for us working stiffs; nor is bronco busting a large Swiss Ball a safe maneuver for other than the most nimble among us. While we all don’t have the time to “Train like the Champ” (Surfer Magazine Surf Tip, May 2008), we can clearly spice up our regimes on a more stable platform like the Indo board. The only downside is the risk of falling off, which is boldly stamped into the non-skid deck grip: “Warning: Use at your own risk.” Staying on carpet and away from furniture will help avoid injuries.

The Sultan of Smooth, Rob Machado, says his personal trainer has him stand on the Indo Board with his eyes closed at the end of his workout session. Lasting only 10–20 seconds per attempt initially, after two months Machado was able to sustain his position for over three minutes—that equates to a lot of tube time with salt water in your eyes. Pros C.J. Hobgood, Shea Lopez and Sunny Garcia all used the Indo Board as a serious part of their knee rehab routines over the past few years.

Olympian Ideals

Hunter Joslin has donated equipment to several Olympic training centers and formed a close bond of friendship with backstroke Olympic gold medalist and world champion swimmer Aaron Peirsol. Originally from Newport Beach, California, Peirsol is not only a world class swimmer, but more importantly a surfer. As a swimmer-surfer himself, Hunter could relate on many levels to the gifted athlete and recommended the Indo Board to Peirsol’s trainer. Peirsol found it made his kick-turns more explosive in a sport where hundredths of a second separate gold from silver and bronze.

Even the elite CrossFit training craze for hardened athletes has adopted the Indo Board as part of their non-regime. Variety is the name of the game for this ultra-intense combat-style training program, which relies on strength and conditioning at its core to challenge participants at all levels and scrupulously avoid the routine. If you care to try inverted push-ups, the clean-and-jerk, or truck tire hoist on an Indo Board, watch this video(These people clearly have a lot of time on their hands and probably no children.).

The electronics and gaming industry is taking notice of the balance trend, with Nintendo offering a highly in-demand Fit and Balance Board trainer version of its popular Wii game, designed to entertain players and get them moving at the same time.

Early reviews have been mixed, with the set-up aimed at a weight-loss program of body mass indices and charting goals, along with a limited game selection outside of imitating your personal Mii trainer in a cyber gym or yoga studio. Sure you can virtual hula-hoop, snowboard or head soccer balls… if you like that sort of thing. These exercises may have spawned a whole new genre of YouTube demonstration videos that may improve your Internet surfing, but won’t get you more cred in the line-up.

For the great hoards of the landlocked unfit, the Wii may be an ideal solution, but for more serious athletes and surfers the flat balance pad that resembles a bathroom weight scale doesn’t seem to offer sufficient challenge. With that in mind, perhaps Nintendo will enlist “Balance Sensei Joslin” to help develop the next-generation Kelly Slater Pro Surfer version of the Wii series? Can you picture a Wii board floating on top of an IndoFlow cushion or roller, while riding a simulation of the world’s best breaks? Some Indo fans can and have already taken a small step that direction by playing video games while balancing on the Indo Board.

Until that time, take your land training to the next level with surf-specific exercises that emphasize core fitness, explosive strength, flexibility, and the most important and often overlooked element in surfing… balance.

Mike Wallace has surfed for over two decades on the East and West coasts, Hawaii, Europe and NorCal. Currently a resident of Moss Beach with his family of four, he can often be found haunting the beaches south of Devil’s Slide in search of the perfect sandbar with his blind dog, Moose. Comments? Mike(at)surfpulse.com

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3. Any good surf fitness books?