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Saturday, July 05, 2008
S WIND 15 TO 20 KT. GUSTS TO 25 KT IN THE MORNING. WIND WAVES 4 FT. SW SWELL 5 FT AT 8 SECONDS.
Tom Wegener on Style [from his website]:
Catching the wave early:
First, I like to enter the wave early. The wave moves fastest as a swell in deeper water and slows as it breaks. The wood boards catch the wave very early while it is moving fast. Then I have plenty of speed and inertia to set up my ride as the wave slows to break. Also, the wave is biggest as it first breaks and I like to make the most of the takeoff.I can still identify whether a surfer learned to surf on a single fin or a tri-fin just by the way they stand on a board. Learning to surf on a single fin develops a better all round style.
Leaning into Turns:
All my traditional boards have big wood fins place right on the tail. I love to lean into my turns as hard as I can and the big fins give plenty of surface area and traction so that can lean way over and come out of a turn with plenty of drive. Placing the fins on the tail make for a tighter radius pivot turn. The fins are thick, ¾ inch, so there is plenty of curve for water to stick to (no cavitation) which makes for very smooth turns.The light wood fins give positive buoyancy to the tail. This makes a big, positive difference in the way the boards turns, paddles, and enters the wave. Big fiberglass fins are heavy, slow, and cavitate. Never again will I put a heavy fiberglass fin on a traditional board.
Wegener Style is to surf in the pocket:
My boards work best in the most critical part of the wave. The boards tuberide and noseride where modern longboards are sliding sideways or catching a rail.With my boards the approach to noseriding is to stay in trim in the middle of the board until the wave is steep in front of you and you are accelerating. Then you walk the nose. On most longboards, you run to the nose early and back off when the wave gets steep. On my boards, the fin will not pop out and you will not slide sideways when the wave is steep. Instead, you feel the incredible rush of hanging ten through steep sections or even through sections that have already broken. My approach is to back door sections and work the pocket. If I make it to the shoulder, I cut back to where the power is. Hanging ten and tuberiding have a very similar approach. It is about positioning yourself deep in the pocket, which is really, just good surfing.
The average quality surf:
My surfing is mostly about enjoying the surf you are dealt. It is great when the surf is perfect, but often it is not when you get the chance to paddle out. Getting into a wave early, pivot turns, and inertia through sections can make poor quality surf a very enjoyable and exhilarating experience. These photos were taken on days that few surfers would have bothered paddling out, but I had a great time and got some memorable waves. A good attitude along with a proper board can make this quality of surf something to look forward to.
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7 comments:
He may have a very valid point about what a person learned to surf on, single fins being unforgiving of mistakes in weighting in comparison to thrusters which are so stable and therefore not good indicators of one's imbalances.
If you spin-out you learn to have more controlled posture but if the board doesn't then you never know you're doing anything wrong....
i swear i could kick the fins off all my boards and adjust to the change just fine. i think i tend to surf the rail. Hmmm, if the fins mean so little to me, maybe I am kookier than i thought...
Actually...
Seems like the perfect opp to shape a Central Coast Alaia
"Actually...
Seems like the perfect opp to shape a Central Coast Alaia"
Funny you should mention that.... follow the URL's;
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2008-5/1309779/plank.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2008-5/1309779/plank1.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2008-5/1309779/plank2.jpg
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2008-5/1309779/plank3.jpg
Type those in on the OSP design thread if you don't mind I can't get them to highlight at all?
sho 'nuff, baby!
A good attitude along with a proper board
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