My Story post 12

Even though my parents supported me and my surfing interests and put up with my little high school surfboard business. They never took me to the beach to surf. Well, except for a couple summer vacations at Balboa Bay anyway.

When I reached driving age with my friends and school buddies I had a couple friends that surfed and either had cars of there own or could use there parents cars for surf trips. My parents wouldn’t let me just go off with someone to the beach. Had to be someone they knew of and approved. One of those guys was John Clark.

John had a ’53 Ford that we could take the back seat out of and stick our boards in through the trunk. We used to have a blast together in that old car going off on all day surf trips.

Those older cars windshield wipers worked off of engine compression. If there was a leak somewhere in the system they didn’t work to well. I remember one day it was raining so hard and the wipers weren’t working well enough to even see. John had a great idea… for me to reach down under the dash board, feel around for the windshield wiper arm and try to move it back and forth manually so he could see to drive.

So here we are racing down Pacific Coast Highway in the pouring rain, me with my feet where my head should be, my head stuck down under the dash board and with my hands reaching up trying to find the wiper arm. If I would have pulled on one of the wires stuck up there I could have been fried. ‘Hey, I think I found it. How’s that?’ “That’s it Dennis, don’t stop I can see the road again”. Me, the windshield wiper guy all the rest of the way to Hobsons Park.

Or how ‘bout the time we were cruising along and all of a sudden there was this loud pop? ‘What was that?... what happened to the car?’ We both almost having heart attacks. Then we see the Coke bottle on the seat between us squirting Coke all over. We started laughing so hard we almost crashed. The bottle had been there bouncing along the whole trip until the pressure in it blew the cap off the bottle.

D.R.

Learning to surf a shapers view post 4

Having the right equipment will make all the difference in the world when it comes to surfing. Having someone that knows how to surf and teach the fundamentals is a really good idea too. There are schools that have both.

So what should you look for in a surfboard if you’re just getting started?

A surfboard that will float you well with more rounded features. It will of course depend on you’re body size as well. Surfboards that are between 2 3/4” to 3” thick, between 20” and 23” wide and between 7’ and 9’ long. The boards should have moderately rounded noses in the 16” to 18” range and have tails that are more full in the 14” to 15” width. And the board should have over all moderate rocker.

The reason you need a board that will float well is because they are easier to paddle and catch waves on. If the board is a couple feet longer than you are tall it will glide nicely across the water too, and again will help with catching waves. The wider width board will help with stability after you catch a wave and stand up. And the board with moderate rocker will trim best with less effort.

There are surfboards that are pretty much targeted to the beginner, the foam boards and soft tops specifically. If you go on with your surfing these boards will become obsolete for you after you get to where you catch waves, stand up, turn and maintain some control over the board. When you get to the next stage you will want to ride a more progressive board. Nothing wrong with the soft boards but, keep in mind they will not carry you in the next level, another board will be needed.

D.R.

My story post 11, the day we sailed to Kings Harbor.

It was the last Saturday of surf lessons at the Santa Monica YMCA. The surf class went on safari to Manhattan Beach. There was a good swell running and I think about the only person to actually surf was the instructor. The surf was a bit to treacherous for all us beginners. But the fun was to begin later.

After the class my friend Bob (the guy I took surf lessons with) and I were picked up and taken to Marina del Ray to a mutual friends parents sail boat for an afternoon sail to Long Beach. At least that was the plan.

We motored out of the marina and into the great Pacific only to be greeted by a dead calm. There was absolutely no wind. Hoping we would eventually see some wind as the day progressed we continued to motor along the coast, it was the only way to actually move the boat.

I can remember going really slow, and seeing some pretty good size swells rising and dropping as we slowly moved alone. But, at some point the motor decided to give out so there we sat with no wind and no motor bobbing around those swells in the ocean. And the day was not getting any shorter.

Now the plan was to sail around Palos Verdes and into Long Beach but after a couple hours we had not sailed very far. As the sun set the one thing that I remember being really magnificent was the fluorescent water from the rudder of the boat. We would move the rudder back and forth to try and get the boat to move a little and the turbulence from the movement would light up the water. At one point some seals came along to interact with the rudder movement and the fluorescent water that flowed off of there circling in and under the boat was really something to see.

It was decided that there was no way we would make it to Long Beach. The sail was planned to take place all during day light and it was now a fair time past sunset. So we changed course and headed to Kings Harbor in the dark.

Navigating into Kings Harbor was spooky to say the least. Very little wind to go on, total darkness, hearing the buoy bell and the crashing waves on the breakwater, remember there was a good sized swell running. I was happy to see the dock.

After a day of feeling the power of strong surf and seeing how large the ocean can begin to look from a boat. At 14, I gained a new understanding of what surfing and the ocean meant that day.

D.R.