http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/spo/1399084676.html
just ran across this... looks like fun. i like fat railed thrusters
Swaylocks rocks!!!.
that thruster looks fun!!
Finally got to surf the board last weekend couldn’t post till now. Was keeping it for a bigger clean day but we get lots of big days in Ireland but not always clean days - added to that I live in Dublin on the East Coast so I’m a day tripper and weekend warrior but hey I’m having fun.
Finally cracked 3 week dry spell so I loaded up the camper, Saturday forecast show blown out but Sunday has nice long period swell with some size and power, the wind was wrong - but there’s this beach that used to be hush-hush it semi well know now. It’s protected by a head land and gets clean lines when everywhere is blown out.
Drove up on Saturday evening to see a few lads out close to high tide and fading light, it works best low to mid tide. Looked like I’d missed it so I headed off to park up for the evening at a near by harbour and cook up some food - ah beef stroganoff with rice and kept some for next day.
Could hear waves lapping into the harbour all night got up at 5:30 but the sun wasn’t up. Phone woke me again at 8, Shane wanted a surf report, dove a half mile to the beach and gave him a call back. Ran into a friend I hadn’t see for a year the some others I knew - it was a bit of a woodwork swell, reports were that everywhere else was maxed out to messy. Enough chat and got suited up - 6mm rubber.
Paddling out was a struggle as the waves packed some punch, but I wasn’t the only one getting a beating. The board floated me very well and made good ground between sets. Even managed a few duck dives because it’s not to wide but turtle roles worked best - you can tell I’m a long boarder.
First wave was a close out, second I kooked the popup but soon started to get the hang of it. Managed a few good waves but most were bottom turn then get slammed by the close out. - waves were a little over head to head and a half. Seconds session was better with some nice drops and big turn. I find it much faster than my log and am still working out where to position my self. Need a few more sessions probably on a reef to truly get the hang of it.
Got bussy later and the board turned a few head.
Drove home that evening stoked.
Hopefully I’ll get it out next week at the Inercounties comp in Rossnowlagh swell permitting. Wish I had holidays left next Wednesday is looking so good might have a cold that day.
Bill the ding king did an out standing job fixing all the war wounds but I’ve opened up a small one on the tail where the leash must have caught it badly, it’s an easy fix though - I won’t be hanging it on a wall any time soon.
Sorry Burce but no photos I’ll get some as soon as I can
No worries…keep on keep on. Have your ding expert drill a leash hole through the fin box. to the deck, use a bit about as wide as the channel opening. Tape it on the reverse side and fill it with some resin and milled fibers and/or Q Cell. Let it harden then drill a slightly smaller hole for the leash rope to drop thru into the channel, countersink the hole so it doesn’t cut or fray your leash rope…tie a good knot and pull it up into the box. That’s the strongest your gonna get for a leash attachment!
Attaching to the fin is a no no…do this board justice.
DO NOT devalue the board by installing a leash cup!!! The leash hole would be considered original…the exact way I would have done it.
This board is a tail rider, so just look at where you back foot is and it should be slightly forward of the leading edge of the fin. Put the fin the center of the box for starters…for looser, move it forward, for longer turns, move it back…ahhhh, the single fin era…so bitchen!
Depending on your height, your stance should be between 14" and 17" apart…depends on how tall and your preference of style. This board is looser than it looks…
The pix of the board from Craigs List was graciously sent to me…I’ll see if I can get them on here.
Hey, it worked…this thing is kinda like the Dane Reynolds “Dumpster Diver” except a lot earlier!?
All my other boards use a hole in the fin box I’m no fan of leash plugs - i’ve a board from South Africa and had a horrible session on a reef called Easky left, was big and my head wasn’t in it, was making stupid mistaked. After getting hammered for the second time I was on-edge and got out. Slept in the car (it was early) and waited for a friend to arrive when he did we went to a nearby beach and had a great time. It was winter with short days. Close to dark on our second session I got one nice wave, as it closed out at the end I went over the back but the board went with wave. Pulled the leash back to me - at the end of it was the pulg but no board - swim in was easy had it happend that morning on Easkey left it would have been a different story.
I had a board on order with a local shaper living near by so I dropped off the board to be fixed and I could collect it with the new board - got him to install the leash coard as you described. I’ll be seeing him agian in a week or two so might get him to repair the tail and drill the fin box
I don’t trust leashplugs either and do the “through the deck and fin-box” attachment on pretty much all my boards but this particular leashplug may have been un-properly glassed in, too. Anyway, I would be much more concerned with the cheap urethane most leashes seem to be made of nowadays (no, I didn’t say that most of them are made abroad in a large asian country, lol). I have seen lots and lots of broken cords, not that many ripped out plugs.
Good story. Ireland must get gnarly…and cold! How warm does the water warm up to? I read about a “banana belt” somewhere in the isles where it is s’posedly tropical…is that true? If so, probably a micro climate where hot air gets trapped and no doubt the water is freezing anyway or not even present?
As far as leashcups, all my new boards have them underneath the glass. Guns have two cups. The only other way to go is with a glassed on leashloop using solid fiberglass rope filament like was the norm in Santa Cruz and Hawaii in previous decades.
I just had John Mellor send me a “Surfing Magazine” travel issue from 1976. It has an article on Panama from that year, and there is a sister ship of yours in there. I’ll scan it today and try to post it…you will see the similarities and refinement from your 1973 baby to '76…
Bonjour Balsa…maybe we should all go back to swimming when we screw up? Honestly, I have been out some very big days in Cali that I was GLAD the strap broke. Razorblades at Hollister push quad overhead. Ventura Overhead on epic days…looks unremarkable from the shore, then you paddle out and it is like your epic day at Guethary or ?
Just think what kind of superb physical conditioning it would be to have to swim again for all f-ckups!
I think a long boarding background will be perfect for that board! It will be a nice step down and you will already be used to turning a longer board. I know I couldn’t duckdive an 8’ or so board, IMHO you are on the right track with the turtle roll
spaceHopper I have surfed the Easkey left - it is a very fine wave and open to swell.
8 to 16 C or 48 to 50 F but in winter the air temperature and wind chill make for some very cold days epically getting changed - even surfed with snow on the ground once. Would love to see the article if you can scan it. Don’t know about the banana belt maybe it’s the Silly Isles off the cost of England they have their own climate.
It used to be magic, it’s still good but it’s not worked as well for a few years a big swell moved all the smaller rocks around changing the profile of the reef. Then the river running into it flooded badly and dumped all load of fresh stones in front of it making a new bank - hopeful it will get washed about evening this out so that it will be back to it’s old self - it’s a natural cycle. Oddly enough there is a half decent right off it now but you get caught inside if you get it wrong. The other reef (Easky Right) is fine and there are so many other spots to surf there it’s not a problem - here’s a pic a friend of mine (TSU) took back in July 2005 , don’t know why he took it I’d have gotten straigt in. One of the two blobs out there is me with another friend. Took the day off work and got it with just 3 of us out for most of the day.
Nice wave. Being a screwfoot I'd go crazy on a day like that. I'll get that sister ship pic from Panama scanned and in here soon. I flipped the page of the pic I'll scan and lo and behold, it's an article on Ireland! Too funny eh?
Next time your at the pub, have a pint on me! I think this scan will work......this is from Surfing Magazine's Travel Issue 1976. Check that Owl out...........look similar but a smidge more refined???
spacehoppers view of the Easkey left would look a bit different from the photogs view too, its a nice wave.
Deadshaper, which board is the Owl?
A smidge more refined - don’t be dissing my board 
Thanks for the scan.
The owl is the one on the right - see what’s next to it !!!
It's the one on the extreme right..picture coulda been better. From left to right you have a Creative Freedom by the late John Bradbury, a Yater, a Lightning Bolt (they had many shapers) Greenough's spoon, and the Owl I made.
I went to Panama through the 70's and got to surf Santa Catalina before it got 'discovered' by people other than my friends who live in Panama. There are sooo many super quality waves in Panama it's off the Richter scale......SC was just a little village then, we had a bohio (thatched roof hut with one wall to break the wind). No running water or electricity anywhere out there. 17 ft. tides.........traded stuff to the villagers for greeny spiny lobsters. We stayed for weeks at a time. And yes, time stood still as much as time can!
Space........I'd never "diss" your board....LOL. That board brings back fond memories. Steve Bissell just contacted me recently and he has some shots of a board I did for him around this time........he had me put a blue morphos butterfly inset into the deck.......they would float around the jungles of Panama and he was obsessed with them. As soon as I get a pic I'll post it in here.......I have had some other boards come my way recenlty from different decades......a pretty cool one from 1985 that I'll post when I get a chance............a parade of BF surfboard history? Hmmmmmmmmm, could be fun! Who says history isn't important????????
I drew one out today. A 7’6" that will be the first of my Time Capsules"…period pieces that still work! Stay tuned for the unveiling in the next couple weeks.
That's going to be cool, DS. One of my friends there just sent me some pics of the northern end of your county on a recent day where that 7'6'' would be right at home (maybe even a little under-gunned).
Under gunned eh? That's when you 'step up' to your 8'4" with the 9" pintail! :0.............LOL.
Actually his mid-twenties son was riding something around 8'4'', my buddy's board that day was around 10'0''. He captioned his em to me as ''wooly day'', that should be enough of a clue for you to figure out where they were.
Wooly day? Hmmmm, gonna have to think about that one. 10 footer eh? Sounds like a stick from Bob Duncan or John Tustin.
Just go off the ''wooly'' part....
Another clue, there's a gaping left (on proper swell direction) other side of the right point he was riding. Being a screwfoot, that has to tip you.