In this kind of surfing you feel the power and control in your hands rather than your feet. You sit much further out than everyone else and crowds are never really a problem. Also, you don’t stand, you sit…in a really comfortable chair…with a beer or some other juice in your hand. You don’t have to be in great shape. even 70 or 80 year olds can do it.
Your head has to be erect because you have to pay really close attention to wind force and direction. That’s what makes the waves. Today you’re surfing lefts off a big point. The wind seems gentle as glide through the lineup. You let some fo the little ones go by. Then you see it loom up…a big one. Yeah! You lean forward and the wind begins to increase. You can kind of control it. You start taking off…accelerating, faster…and then you pull up hard with your hands and you’re flying down the face of the wave, you glide for awhile sipping your beer, until the wave backs off.
And there’s another one right behind it.
I never understood why more surfers don’t sail.
I’ve basically described sailing from the R10 bouy off Lunada Bay, rounding the corner at Indicator, the “inside section” at Hagggerty’s, and “kicking out” at Redondo Beach (King Harbor).
ps. My boat cost only $4500 (CF 27 aka Dennis Choate 27) and had no motor. Sometimes people were incredulous. “Not even an outboard?” And I replied, “Did Columbus need an outboard to discover America?”
The thing hauled butt. Dennis Conner became a PHRF Champion on one of these things. Of course I also have to admit- often it wasn’t me steering the boat… Captain Morgan usually did it for me.
Lazing, cruising along the shallows, or just settin’ there at anchor as the sun comes up and looking over the sandspit betwixt you and the ocean to see what’s making that sound in the twilight. Hauling out the gear from under the bunk and hopping over the side to mebbe get a piece of it, then coming back for breakfast after the tide.
aw man, now you did it. i miss sailing like crazy. in exuma we have the bahamas national family island regatta, an all wood, all hand made, all bahamian material sailing race. the boats are beautiful,12-18’ single mast sloops. really heavy, but really fast, and fun to sail. i hope these pics from last year come out…
yeah, i agree with you that more surfers should sail. especially when its blown out.
It’s also a very special feeling when you sail up to a middle of nowhere spot, drop anchor, grab your board, throw yourself overboard, and paddle into some good waves. Hmmmm…it’s been a while.
Now Keith, that board is almost big enough for my quiver :),
you were asking me when I’d build a big board, maybe oneday.
would love to. Ever sail her out to the Ranch or any other otherwise inaccessable spot? Anyone sail to the back side of any of the channel islands to surf? are there any good surf spots out there?
While the high-end glass boats might be faster, the wood working boats, or something descended from a working boat, they’re just something that I like.
The lines, the way they’re put together, a big wood stick on 'em and mebbe a tradition of how to make 'em go - yeah, that does it for me, definitely…
i agree with you doc, i had a 29’ Philips RHodes that i learned to sail on, but after being on an old sloop-style boat it was all different. they force you to be more graceful, and punish you if your not.
if you ever want to see the regatta it is the last full week in April every year, and there’s another one on Long Island - Bahamas, not NY, 3 weeks later which isn’t such a party scene, and some serious sailing going on.
I love oldies and all the stuff that circulates around sailing, but what I was really talking about is SURFING WAVES on a sailboat and to do that efficiently you really need a ULDB- ultra light displacement boat. Some of them are really works of art. When you design a boat to surf what you get are clean, fair lines. I’ll try to post a pic what I’m talking about.
Cool stuff… I remember going sailing with my Dad a lot… I also remember him buying a 19 foot sailboat in Long Beach CA then sailing it home with my Grandfather to Haleiwa HI. I was only 5 at the time and I thought they were nuts! They were gone awhile… I also remember when they first got home they couldn’t walk very well on the “stable” land…
remember the quote from bruce brown—“you can surf, or you sail OR you can surf a sailboat” there is nothing quite like catching a swell from behind and dropping in with my 18’ hobie and just flying like a bat outa hell across the wave for hundreds of yards and zooming over the wall at the end to slide out and do it again and again all summer afternoon when the sea breeze has come in and textured the waves that we board surfed all morning-----NOW thats surfer paradise!
llilibel, I have tried to attach a pic below from the Van-Isle race around Vancouver Island. These guys were into some big surf for several hours.
Keith, Doc et. al.: Perhaps it is time to organize a Swaylocks Crossing. At present, I’m into a heavy navigation course and would love to try not getting lost on a little offshore journey.
Not on topic, but saw an interesting boat this summer while wandering the docks of a small harbour up here. The captain, whose name was Hobart(sp), stated it was a custom built cat. A few days later I see an interview with the captain in the lacal paper - turns out he is the Hobie of some fame in the world of surfing and cats. Kicked myself for not figuring it out at the time.
Well, as I grew up with this sort of thing on fish boats, I have to say it’s no longer my idea of a pleasure cruise. I’ll stick with the old sharpie for a bit… I must be getting old or something, I used to enjoy that sort of thing.
And a Swaylocks Crossing ( or Sways at Sea ) sounds like a good time. But mebbe shift the locale to the Carribbean, someplace where they have those nice Bahamas sloops and distill rum. There are, of course, no waves in the carribbean
And Patrick, navigation? Out-standing. Something I always think about is that while GPS machines and LORANs can die, a sextant, tables and a good watch will never let you down. Wish I had known, friend of mine was selling a very nice Plath not long ago, dunno if he sold it or not.
The Sharpie is beautiful! Wonderful lines. Is it yours?
Added the page for the plans you posted above to my favorites. At the point now where I am looking over plans for the next project. Atkin boats have a good deal of drawing power. The only problem is my age vs the building time.
If the truth be told, I would just as soon avoid being chased down by 20’ seas. Definitely one of lifes major thrills, but!!! A Sway-Cruise through the Carrib. with some mellow winds, smooth rum and some fish to ride and eat would be more in keeping.
Not sure about the wisdom of wasting time on the sextant in these days of the GPS! However, I enjoy going into the backyard at night to check out the stars and pretend I am sailing across a remote section of the south seas in search of a clean, warm, little break.
