microwaving boards

General Discussion
1

okay it’s “flat” season here now

i am the only one in the water sometimes

and i cop abuse from people driving past in cars yelling

“there’s no waves , you wanker !!”

but … i gotta say it …

the times i have caught a handful of empty little peeling waves [even though they apparently don’t exist here now?!] ,

i have been LOVING the “challenge” of finding speed pockets , trimming , relearning rail and fin control and positioning ,

and not having to ‘pump’ to generate speed / stay afloat

yep you guessed it … the 9’er is what i have been taking out lately . fun fun fun …the amazonian of surfboards !

[…am i alone in this ? i think not … ]

cheers

  ben

[it’s changed my thinking on what a “flat” or “unrideable” day really IS , i reckon !]

2

And here I was, seriously expecting one of your madcap adventures, Chip! I was certain you were trying to figure out a way to cure a board or some part of it in a microwave… You are most definitely not the only one looking for those little waves that ‘don’t exist’. My friends and I used to surf every afternoon together, and we would go out no matter if there were waves or not. Seems we always had fun, got exercise, and somehow managed to get a ride or two…

3

If you put your surfboard in the microwave for 20 seconds does it flow better?

4

Hey Chip

Got a thing for microwaves myself.

We have a beach nearby that a couple of times a year has flawless banks provided the surf is knee to waist high any bigger just a closeout. These things peel like a zipper and on a 10 x 2 log are fu*#@ing insane. Best thing is that you can drive to the end of the beach but can’t get a square on view of the waves. The amount of times we’ve seen cars arrive and then drive off with the occupants probably thinking " what are those dickheads doing it’s dead flat".

Ah yes… microwaves.

Cheers and Merry Xmas

Mooneemick

5
Quote:

If you put your surfboard in the microwave for 20 seconds does it flow better?

       hi ray !     please try it ,      take photos ,    and share the stoke ! [or is that 'smoke'?!]            cheers       ben     yeah moonman ...it's like having a 'secret , unrideable spot' , isn't it ?!   ....maybe , as i get older and more decrepit , i get less selective about the waves i surf , realising any time in the water is a bonus , while the body will let me .
6

Which end would you put in first?

7

And remember: plastic only leashplug! No metal part!

8

will it behave like a marshmallow??!?!?!?!

9

As you know young chipper, I live in Gulf St Vincent. So my 9’6" is my bread and butter board :smiley:

10

fun , aren’t they ??

and to think …ALL those years i held off on riding a mal !!

it makes me wonder how i survived our summers without one !

ben

11

Oh boy are they or what.

Waves in the gulf only get over about waist high when theres a really good stormy. That’s about the only time I dust off the old shorty now.

Mind you the 9’6" has had some absolute killer workouts in 6’+ stormies too.

But the shortie is easier in those :smiley:

12

I rode my first longboard (well, ‘mini-mal’ being only 7’8" or thereabouts) about a month ago.

Mate’s board, 1ft Newcastle slop, onshore… etc.

Could get a takeoff on my fish and then i’d sink, but this thing felt like a freight train.

Is your 9’ EPS or pu?

Finally for those who know, would a 9’ mal be easier to shape than a 6’3" shorty for my first EPS/balsa sandwich?

I want to do one of each.

13
Quote:

And remember: plastic only leashplug! No metal part!

Whaaaat??? Leashloops surely!!

14
Quote:

Is your 9’ EPS or pu?

 hi kieran !   it was made with a 9' polyurethane blank , glassed with epoxy resin...     cheers     ben
15

All I gotta say is I too have a guilty love of microwaves. So in honor of this thread, and Chip’s love of pics of people riding their own equipment, here is some microwaving of the Thing. These are from a surf session in late November. We were forecast to have some bitchin’ swell, and all the students were gone for the weekend, but the swell showed up a week late. We were left with gorgeous weather, my folks were in town, and so we went for it anyway. Anyhow, just me and my lady enjoying some waves, and people walking by and wondering what we were thinking. It was super fun.

WOOHOO! OUTSIDE! This was the set wave.

16

Those are some nice microwaves. That first shot might be the world record.

Here in Florida, we know a thing or two about tiny waves. Actually we know way too much about tiny waves.

Your ‘‘set wave’’ shot looks a lot like our typical summer conditions (of course our water’s 82 degrees and the

air is 90). We watch for sandbars and minute deviations in ‘‘swell’’ size. If it comes up 6’', it may be ridable!

Those that wait for a real swell can go weeks or months without surfing. I remember going into the offices of

one of my surf-biz industrial park neighbors last summer and everyone was complaining about how flat it had

been. I kinda laughed and told them I’d surfed every one of the last five days. They looked at me like I was from

another planet.

And nothing against longboards (I’ll ride them when I grow up), me and the guy I surf with use 5’9’’ fishies on

these ankle slappers. Hell, on that ‘‘set wave’’, I bet I could get to third gear! And yeah, I weigh 150 and he weighs

165, but we’re also 52 and 59. Great conditions for surfing with my son, who was 9 last summer, also.

Mike

17

Jim Phillips and myself used to shape 10inch long boards from foam scraps.Glass them using toilet paper for cloth.We would then take them to Kehi Lagoon and push them in to perfect 12inch hollow shorebreak barrells.Hawaii circa 1964.Well…he shaped them and I got to sand them.

18

We have a little bay by the house that gets about a 1’ swell everyday, its protected from the open ocean by six different reefs so when the wind is hard on the water, we paddle out and surf the little ones. Its a challenge to surf a 1’ or less mushburger, really makes you get smooth and fluid in a hurry.

19
Quote:

Jim Phillips and myself used to shape 10inch long boards from foam scraps.Glass them using toilet paper for cloth.We would then take them to Kehi Lagoon and push them in to perfect 12inch hollow shorebreak barrells.Hawaii circa 1964.Well…he shaped them and I got to sand them.

Jim as a teenager must have been a trip. Hope you don’t bear any lasting scars from the experience.

20

Aw, that’s a huge wave Mike! I’ve caught smaller, but I personally need a bigger board if it gets below that size.

And nothing personal taken about longboards. That board I’m riding is 8ft…my shortboard. Different strokes for different folks; I’m a very old 31 years physically, so I’ll keep…uh…stroking my big stick? Uh, yeah…you know what I mean. But I do appreciate what small boards can do on small waves.

As for that “set wave”, it was the wave of the day, a day consisting of a set of 100s of 6-12" waves, with that one big one thrown in for good measure. I would have hit third gear (fairly slow on that board, admittedly), but I had to stall my board so as not to rear-end my fiancee. Hehehe.

And I love it when I come back from surfing and people say, “You went surfing? But there’s no waves!”

–Ben