wave pools

More and more people have been creating wave pools and the quality of the waves has been improving rapidly. It seems like wave pools have to be lone of two ways, Either big with bad shape, or small with good shape. The perfect wave pool wound be the perfect mix of both. The wave garden is one example of a wave pool which makes perfect waves but is very small. In my opinion It is currently the best wave pool in the world but it wound be very hard for a bigger person to ride. The opposite of the wave garden is the Dubai wave pool. Its waves can be up to 6 feet but the shaped is not Ideal and backwash makes the wave very bumpy. Kelly Slater, who is the best surfer in the world, has had ideas for a wave pool for a long time. Recently he has gained more support and his dreams of a perfect wave pool seem more realistic than ever. His idea is to have a donut shaped pool which has waves peeling around it endlessly. in the middle would be a sandy island with bridges leading to it. Hopefully some day wave pools will be advanced enough to create perfect waves.

Seven Ghosts

Seven Ghosts is a river in Indonesia and most of the time it is a calm stream running toward the ocean. Several times a year the river transforms and large waves move along it because of a tidal bore. Tidal bores occur when the ocean tides decries so fast that the water in the river flows out fast enough to create waves. tidal bores can be very dangerous and destructive. Much like a tsunami a tidal bore has a large amount of water behind the wave. the water level rises and struckures near the river can be destroyed. The bottom of the river is mostly flat sand which makes the wave barrel. Rip Curl decided to send some of their top pro’s to surf it and get pictures and footage for magazines and promotional videos. This trip by the Rip Curl team showed the world that you don’t always need to live on the coast of and ocean that constantly has waves to surf. The waves which broke far inland and were shaped almost perfect inspired some surfers to try and create artificial waves. Many others rivers have been surfed since and  new tidal bores are constantly being discovered. There are so many surf videos out there that it is hard to make one stand out but surfing perfect waves in a river defiantly does the job.

Ours

Ours is a surf spot near Sydney Australia. The spot is called a slab which means that it jacks up very fast and the wave is very thick. Slabs usually break over large flat rocks that are usually very close to the surface. Slabs usually have a steep drop off outside the rock they break over. When the wave gets to the rock the water below the surface has nowhere to go but up. This often makes the waves be very thick barrels. Water is sucked out so fast over the rock that when a person is  standing on a wave there feet can be several feet below sea level.

Surfboard Shaping

 

 

 

Surfboard shaping has been going on for thousands of years since the ancient Hawaiian’s. Since then many things like the material and tools have changed but the feeling of shaping a surfboard hasn’t. Surfboards were originally made of heavy wood and did not have a fin. Then they were made from lighter balsa wood and then finally foam.  Foam is used because it is much lighter and cheaper than wood. The most important tool in shaping is a planer. A planer grinds aways surfboard foam and can very quickly create the general shape of the surfboard. After that you use sand paper and other similar tools to smooth it out. Recently surfboard shaping machines were created witch can shape a surfboard to an exact measurement in only minutes rather than days. Most surfboards now are shaped by machines but the boards witch are shaped by hand normally  cost more. Very few boards are made from wood and the ones that are usually end up on walls. Often times when people shape their own surfboards they want to try something new and end up creating an unusual board that most of the time does not work well. ?The rabbits foot surfboard is one of these boards that actually worked. It has n fins and half of the tail is chopped off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the north shore

The north shore of Oahu is the most famous surfing areas in the world and has some of the best surf spots in the world. The north shore was discovered by Californian surfers in the 1950’s. At the time riding big waves was something new and the north shore allowed surfers to practice and get good at it. The waves on the north shore range from huge big wave surf spots like wiamea to spots like pipeline which have smaller waves but are just as powerful due to their hollow shape. Pipeline is the most famous spot on the north shore and in the world. Wiamea bay and sunset beach are also very well known surf spots. The north shore is a place for up and coming surfers to prove themselves and gain sponsors. The Billabong pipeline masters surf contest is the most prestigious surf contest in the world and is the last stop on the asp world tour.  Another very important contest is the quicksilver in memory of Eddie Aikau. Eddie Aikau was a famous big waves surfer in Hawaii in the 60’s. He was a lifeguard at wiamea bay and was famous for going out on days know body else would. He was on a small boat when it capsized around six miles off hawaii in rough ocean. He decided to try and paddle to land and save his crew. His crew was later rescued but he was never seen again.

open water swimming

 

Open water swimming is just cornmeal swimming except you are in the ocean or a lake rather than in a pool. Swimmers are not separated by lane lines and swim all together which can make things chaotic. Open water swimming races are normally much longer than traditional pool swimming races. They range in length from one mile races to ten mile races. Open water swimming was first introduced to the Olympics in 2012 in London. The Olympic races were successful and it will be included in future olympic games. Because the swimmers are not separated from one another there is a lot more strategy  for how to pass and how to draft people. The start of races are the hardest because all of the swimmers are together and they all have energy. You are very often hit by the other swimmers arms and legs and your goggles can be knocked off.

The red triangle

The red triangle is the area with the most concentrated great white shark population in the world. The top corner of the triangle is at Bodega bay which is just north of San Francisco. The bottom point is in Big Sur and the final point is out from the farallon islands which are out from SF. Since 1926 when shark attacks began being reported there have been 98 attacks with 8 of those being fatal. Even with these numbers there is still a very very small chance of you even seeing a shark. In fact you have a higher chance of being killed in a car crash on the way to the beach than to be attacked by a shark so if you have made it to the beach then you are already past the most dangerous part. One surf spot that is particularly dangerous is Ano Nuevo. This is because just a few hundred yards offshore there is a small island that seals use as a place to have babies. That means that there are a lot of hungry sharks around the surf spot. The shark population in the red triangle is actually growing rapidly which can be a good and bad thing.

The Wavestorm

The wave storm or Costco soft top board is generally thought of as a board for beginners to use for a while before they get a better board. Some people have found that they are not only the perfect board to learn on but they also can be the perfect boards to have fun on as a better surfer. When the waves are not very good it can be easy to get frustrated if you are riding a normal short board but if you are on a wave storm you can be having more fun than if the waves were good. A surfer named Jamie O’Brien has taken riding wave storms to a whole new level by taking them out to big waves at pipeline and jaws. Some people think that what Jamie does n a soft top is stupid and others think that it is very cool. Another nice thing about wave storms is that it only costs 100 dollars compared to the 800 to 1000 dollars that a similar fiberglas board would cost. this price makes the board available to most people. No matter who you are I would recommend that you use a wave storm for maximum amounts of fun no matter how bad the waves are.

hand planes

 

Hand planes are used to help a surfer when body surfing. They can be made of almost any material and can be many different shapes but normally resemble a surfboard. They are very easy to make but you can also buy the for around 100 dollars. This price is really ridicules considering I have no wood working skills and managed to make one in only a couple of hours and it works as well as my store bought one. They greatly improve body surfing.

alai surfing

 

An alia is a thin wooden surfboard with no fins. They are usually about one inch thick and six feet long. Alias are replicas of the surfboards ridden by the ancient Hawaiians. Despite being an ancient surfboard design, alias can still be very fun. Because they have no fins they are able to go very fast. Alias can be very hard to learn how to use. Riding them feels nothing like a surfboard and takes a lot of practice to learn how to use them. It helps to stay on rail the entire time you are riding and especially when you are learning it helps to stay low and crouch down. Once you figure out how to ride an alia you can start doing 360 spins or turns. Turning an alia is very different than a surfboard in that when on a surfboard you can really lean into a turn and count on our fins to keep you from sliding out and an alia has no fins. Recently some very good surfers have decided to try and get good at riding alias and have been very successful. Dave Rastovich in particular has gotten very good at riding alias and is doing things like getting barrels and other new moves for alias. There are now multiple companies making alias and some of them have experimented with new materials, shapes, and channels on the bottom of the board. Modern alias have not been made for very long and that means they could still go through some changes that make them better and more fun. I am looking forward to trying new kinds of alias and other sinless boards.