Sessions : One Turn(s) & Weird Pop-Outs

Thursday Nov 10th Riddle Ave Manasquan

Met up with Tommy Abatello (aka Tommy-Talks-A-Lot) and went out at Riddle around 1pm. The waves looked great, but Tommy said he though it was way too shallow. We talked each other in anyway, any boy I am I glad we did. The waves surfed even better than they looked. As we walked towards the ocean, Tommy reasoned that conditions didn't matter too much because "sometimes it only takes one" [wave to keep you stoked]. I disagreed saying three was my quota to get the tank off empty.
Nah, he said, sometimes it only takes one turn.
There was only one gut out. We watched him ride about four waves kicking out at the end of each.
"Well, we're about to ruin this guy's fun" Tommy said, genuinely half remorseful.
After Tommy and I both took off on nice peaky rights, I was paddling back out when the guy spoke to me.
"I been out here for 40 minutes" he said.
"Glad someone else came out."
"Yeah, we saw you on those last few", I responded.
"Looks good"
I guess we weren’t ruining dude's fun after all. He was stoked to see us. Cool.
After stretching his lunch break well past the point, Tommy had to paddle in. He was frothing. I couldn't get out, so I had to stay. I had brought my Town & Country 6"2" thruster out. It was a board I didn't ride much. Super thin with a killer set of fins. Rockered out. I took off on a head high right that ended with a closeout section. Instead on straightening out, however, I chose to shoot straight up to the top and then, to avoid the closing section I carved a huge turn off the top and cruised right back down what was left of the clean face. The rocker had done its job. The light bulb went on...twice. Sometimes all it takes is one turn.


Monday Nov 14th Gee Gee’s & Riddle Ave Squan

Today I got the idea to pull out one of the weird boards in back of the shed that I never ride. I pulled out this pop out that I usually give to (non surfing) guests just to paddle out and get a little sun in the summer. It’s the beater. This is not to say the board is in bad shape, it is actually damn near mint, as it never sees water. It is a pig/fish called The Spoiler. It’s 6’2” and 2 7/8 with a mini swallow tail and a thruster set up. Some previous owner had the audacity to put a traction pad on this thing that I’ve left on. I threw this and my 9 ft log in the truck and headed out. When I got to the beach I saw 3-4+ feet of perfection. A persistent south swell was lighting up every jetty. Slight offshore winds groomed hollow faces as the waves peeled from right to left almost all the way down the beach. This was gonna be a real easy session I gloated to myself, thinking this thick round board was just gonna make it so simple that I might not even have to paddle! It didn’t take long to realize that this little board was a dog. While you could catch waves with relative ease, the board didn’t paddle the way you might expect given its dimensions. I popped to my feet on a nice right and got ready to feel some acceleration and…nothing. This board was so slow; I couldn’t believe it. I took off on another one and figured I’d put it right in the pocket and let the wave energy do the work…nothing. Finally, on the third wave I put my front foot all the way up on the nose like you would a long board and it begrudgingly accelerated the slightest bit. I was practically nose riding as this board made its sluggish way down the line. Wow. I was not stoked. I struggled with this board for about an hour taking right after right till I wound up at Riddle. At that point I went in to grab the log, but it was pretty much too late. The wind had shifted and conditions were less than stellar. I took a couple lame rides and went home pissed. That board went right back to its place in the back of the shed. Maybe see ya next summer.

Riding "The Spoiler" in Puerto Rico 2-3 years ago.

Merry Christmas 1942!

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Right Coast Surfz: Subway Surfers short film

Here is a short film by my good friend Chris Shashaty entilted Subway Surfers that details the winter surf scene in NYC. Check it out.

Subway Surfers (Full Length) from Chris Shashaty on Vimeo.

Sessions : Boards Grow on Trees, The Longboard Tribe, and Moonbeams

Thursday Nov 3rd Manasquan Inlet

Went out at Manasquan Inlet with Mark "Penetrator" Sisom. His board had been sucked up into a tree by a wind gust and got damaged, so I lent him my 6'2" Town & Country. There were about 20 guys out. We surfed for an hour in the chest to head high, slow and sloped waves. It was the first time using a new 4/3, and the first time of season for booties and gloves. YaaaaY!

Sunday Nov 6th Manasquan Inlet north jetty

Went out with the Erie single fin at Squan today. Nothing notable really, save for the fact that I waited too long to paddle out. The wind had gone from W to SE by the time I got out. It was about thigh to waist high. I took off on a crumbly little right just inside of the northern jetty, and the board pokes me in the right bicep. Yow! The Erie single fin has a gnarly old school "beak" nose. I shouldn't even have been out there, really. It was pretty lame.

Monday Nov 7th Gee Gee's Manasquan

Went out at sunset in front of Gee Gee's. They were breaking somewhat close to shore, but of decent size (waist to chest) and shape (light SE wind). Surfed the blue log until the moon came out. It was cool seeing both the sunset and the moonlight reflecting off the water at the same time. Three local groms were the only other people out. Two were surfing and one was sponging off the Brielle Rd jetty. I went over the falls on a fairly steep shoulder high wave, caught about three more and went home. It was getting dark as I walked back to my car.

Tuesday Nov 8th Manasquan Inlet

Took the log out around 12 or 1 pm. Was surprised to see as many people out as I did considering it was the middle of the work day. There were a few loggers way outside and a couple of short boarders on the inside. The waist to chest high wave was clean, but peaky. At one point, one of the short boarders mockingly said " Noooo, go over theerrre with the long boarders apparently identifying me as a member of a tribe of whom I have no knowledge. He pointed out to the main peak. He was struggling to catch waves on the wrong equipment for the conditions. OK, I thought and continued to catch nice, clean rides from all the way out. It was a great session.

Wednesday Nov 9th 18th Ave Belmar

Went out at Belmar today with the old school twin fin fish. There was no one out and it looked pretty good. A hurricane somewhere off shore (I don't know where as I haven't been tracking it) has been generating consistent surf for the eastern seaboard. It was about shoulder to head high and peeling from right to left off the 18th Ave jetty. The paddle out was a challenge. These waves had push. I wasn't long out before I realized a pretty gnarly situation. These waves were ledgey and breaking in about a foot of water. A few were makeable, though, if you popped up and set a line quick. This is what I proceeded to do for about 6 or so waves before heading in. the successive paddle outs weren’t worth it. After changing in the car I got a cup of coffee and ran into Red Eye who was about to paddle out the 16th Ave jetty on a weird pop out shape. It was probably about as odd a choice of board for the day's conditions as my old twin skeg. He told me he was leaving for Puerto Rico in about two days so we made some vague plans to do a couple shows over the coming winter. After that, I headed back home to The Squan.

Wednesday Nov 9th Riddle Ave Manasquan

As my earlier session had left me somewhat lacking, I decided to paddle back out later that afternoon closer to home. The waves were about the same size, still shallow but a bit cleaner on the faces. I took my 6'2" fish out to Riddle Ave. The steep take-offs had me pondering the merits of various amounts of rocker, as my board had almost none, I had to be very conscious of what the nose of the board was doing at almost all times. Caught a bunch of waves before calling it a day and heading home for good.

Stringbean and the Good Reverend

After the Inspecter 7 show at the Wonder Bar Saturday night, we went over to the Langosta Lounge and saw Stringbean and the Stalkers. I was invited to sit in but declined as I was pretty faded after playing the Wonder Bar show. Instead the Good Reverend Wright took to the mike and I to my camera to film this small bit for your enjoyment. It was another fine evening.

Waxin' Poetic

I have a serious love/hate thing goin on with surf wax. Love the way it smells, texture, taste (c’mon, you haven’t?) etc. Hate the way it makes my skin all greasy. Goin out at night with a shiny face after immersing myself in petroleum product all day kinda sux. Also, the brands that smell like cheap air fresheners get no love. A friend from West Coast Surf shop in Florida sent me a bunch of a new (unmentionable) organic wax to try. While it was generally, ok function-wise, I found it had to be reapplied before every session. Lame. No wax=No traction. $3 bucks a bar? You can keep it. I went to The Surf Wax Museum (http://www.surfwaxmuseum.com/ ) and selected a few favorites from some of the more colorful, adventurous, risqué, and just plain classic brands of days past.

Thanks to:

http://www.surfwaxmuseum.com/

Sims '84 New Wave Redux

I got the idea that I wanted to re-create the first skateboard I ever owned. It was a 1984 Sims New Wave in Aqua green that I got at Island Style in Sea Bright, NJ. It had the worst example of 80s style graphic anybody could have come up with. It came with Tracker trucks and yellow Sims Street Wheels. I put some serious miles in on that board, taking it state to state and even getting hospitalized once.

I found out that Sims had recently been reissuing decks, and the New Wave was one of the few. Limited quantities. I grabbed one for like $60 bucks. Tracker Trucks also had a small re-issue program as well. Many of the limited run trucks were already gone. It had been a thing they did in ’09. They did; however, have the Six-Track that was on the original board. Sick. Got two for $30 bucks.

The search for wheels led me to discover that this idea of mine was apparently not an original one and I found myself immersed in the world of black market skateboard wheels. It would seem that 1980s Sims Street Wheels were trading for an absurd $300 bucks! F that. Instead I got a set of 80’s Kryptonics for $34 bucks. That’s pretty much the standard current price for wheels anyway. They were brand new, never used and in a kind of hot/flamingo pink color. They gave the board this Miami Vice color scheme that seriously kicked up it’s 80s cred.

To finish it off proper, I found some new old stock 360 tail plates in the same color as the wheels. Bam! A NOS 80’s “nose bone” guard in purple matched the crazy graphic on the deck, so I grabbed that too. A set of Christian Hosoi (you bet) rail guards in white went perfectly as well.

I got everything together and headed over to Branded Surf & Skate where Adam hooked me up with bearings, riser pads, and grip tape. The grip tape proved a bit of a challenge as they make the rolls thin for the boards of today. He had to do some cutting to make the pattern the original board had. We also did some drilling to the deck too. Sims set it up with the new school bolt pattern. Wow. Once it was done, the board looked sick. Ronnie Jackson was in the shop working on the store sign with a few other guys and everybody was trippin on this board. This kicked off a round of back in the day talk about skate spots, gear, grinds, etc. Killer.

The board rides with a real 80s swag, though at first the trucks felt a lot looser than I remembered. After I tightened them down almost as far as they would go, it was spot on. I listened to some new studio tracks as I took the dog for a run with the board. It was a really cool way to start November.