Typhoon 18 and USU

Typhoon 18 has wreaked havok in southern Japan, our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone recovering from the devastation.

As fall typhoons often do, Typhoon 18 spun off towards Alaska last night, leaving Hokkaido with only sunny skies and groundswell. As I pulled up to Usu Point this morning and watched the waves pour into the bay, John Severson's 1960 caption from a photo of Hammonds rung like a bell:

"In this crowded world, the surfer can still seek and find the perfect day, the perfect wave, and be alone with the surf and his thoughts."

Indeed.

Update: glassing

A great week of waves this week, and it looks like it's picking back up again with Typhoon 18. Nothing finer than surfing in Hokkaido in the fall.
I got the 6' Chop Tail glassed, now I just need to install the vent and leash plug, sand and clearcoat it, and I'm good as golden (Molson Golden...sorry I couldn't resist). Can't wait to try this little board out. Here's some pics from today:

Top

Bottom (pika pika ne)

Time to glass, and the waves are arriving

Summer's done, but, thankfully, that means the good wave season is here. Today there was a bit of juice, hopefully it'll be around for a few days.

Also got the 6' chop tail ready to glass. I need to hop on it this week while we still have the warm weather. I think I'll just put a single fin box in for now, and later add a set of FCS quad plugs if I want to go in that direction. I'll put up some more pics in a week or so when it's glassed.

More summer pics

Just sorting through my memory card of pics I took over the summer. Here's a few shots that catch the mood of the summer at Kako.

End of summer, one more board

The end of summer has arrived and fall is in the air. As usual, I didn't write on the blog over the summer, just been too busy enjoying myself. Besides trips to Canada and Singapore, I've surfed pretty well every day for the past 2 months. Tons of two session days as well. It hasn't been great wave-wise, but it's been fun enough with a few good days thrown in; can't complain when the water's warm and there's something to ride. Overall, another glorious Hokkaido summer.

I'm working on my last board of the season, trying to get it done and glassed while the air is still warm enough for the resin to cure. It's a six foot fishy outline, but without a deep swallow tail. I'm going to chop the tail and go for a wide squash tail. That way I can run it as a single fin, or set it up as a twin or quad. The 6' Simmons I made works well enough, had a real good time on it this morning, so I'm continuing with the short fat approach, just with a pulled in nose and more curvy outline this time. Here's a pic of where I'm at now. I hope to have it done in the next two weeks.  

Progress on the 6' wide squash

One of the bigger days in August

Noboribetsu Diamond Head

6' Mini Simmons(esque) done

Finally got the hybrid (wood over EPS) board done, and it's ready to ride. It ended up 6' x 24.5" x 3.25. Unusual all around, way to much volume for most people, but it was put together for the mushy waves we get here on high tide and where nothing else works (besides a real long board)...super long boards don't fit into my car so I though I'd give this a go. It was fun experimenting with the shape, new materials and the resin tint over the paulownia plywood. The bottom is flat, so it won't have the hydrodynamic lift of a concaved hull, but there is plenty of surface area to help it get up on plane. I'll give it a go tomorrow, and report back how it went.

Summer Update

It's been a while since I opened up the old blog....when summer arrives life gets moving pretty quick. I've been out in the water pretty well every day for last six weeks, with a few days off here and there, but basically going at it every day...had a few multiple session days before and after work and must say...it's bloody wonderful. Nothing finer than this, lots of different waves rolling through and beautiful conditions...already in the spring suit as well. Wish it were like this all year.

I've finally almost got the EPS core paulownia mini simmons ready for glassing. The weather's nice and warm now, so it should cure up nicely.
Tomorrow the swell is jumping up to 2 meters again...will update again when we hit the summer flat spells.