As I started thinking about surfing in summer 2023, I pulled out two old boards to check their conditions. They'd been stored under the deck since we moved from the Westside up to Felton. The shorter green board is 7'11" x 22" x3" and was shaped for me by my old friend Mark Goin in 1991. I'm betting I got this to do more surfing at Getchell's with my old boss at UCSC Tim Price.

In late 2023, I sent the green board into Brian Ebert at https://besanding.com to have the major dings fixed. Here are a before and after.

Thoughts from my notes over the 2024 season.

I'm still not smooth enough with some turns. Need to watch for multiple input changes during sweeping turns. Good place to try a cue word like smooth (breathe, eyes up, increase gas, smooth turn input).

I've plateaued a lot and need to force myself to get some help from other drivers. 

Overdriving; going too hard pushes me off the line and a few times into a spin out.

AM sessions are almost always faster than PM sessions. So, what we need to dig into is how to optimize for the entire day.

As my head fills with surf training from various sources, I went back in the time machine to find some old classics. The shot above is recent as of Nov 2024 (new picture, old guy).

Here are a few clips I edited down for Longboard Sessions.

Longboard Sessions 3 and 4 11/29-12/4 2024 at Cowell's Beach.

This past week, the swell and tides were in my favor. Everyone else too. If you can’t see it, there are 4 folks behind me and 1 in front of me. Gotta love Cowell’s.

Luckily, the guy in front of me kicked out and I got a nice setup for the section.

I bought a kit from Isudar for about $225 back in September for my PCM 3.1 unit. There are some YouTube videos that help with installation. It's a PITA but I finally got it going. Everything works to spec and its great to have a similar experience in both our cars.

Here are my notes from that job.

For Isudar CarPlay install we will need the following tools.

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So, the horn(s) stopped working and I started to investigate.

Yeah well, the goal isn't to fall. 

I've been trying to get into the water a few times a week. I got a new GoPro as a present and I bought some accessories to capture some video of myself. Video is a great tool to find silly mistakes. I'm making progress. 

I started on a 8'8" foamie but soon got tired of not being able to get the thing turning. I'm now on a 9'1" Torq longboard witch seems to work ok.

The year began with a trip to Palm Springs where we stayed in La Quinta for the Palm Springs Dog show. The desert is great in January and I got some nice bike rides in and around the region.

We came home to an atmospheric river event that showed us where some new engineering would be needed for our grave paths. The storms also dropped a huge douglas fir onto other trees blocking our route, power and internet for about a week.

It almost felt like spring. We had some 80 degree days and we’re back to rain and high 40’s this afternoon.

I'm prepping the greenhouse for the season. We did well with overwintering a few hot peppers. Green onions and leeks are being harvested; tarragon, oregano, thyme are all putting out new growth. Fall saffron is dormant. Potatoes have just broken the ground.