jdc wrote:The kids keep the search close to home too. What we need is a surfers tunnel between Lonsdale and Portsea.
Brother, have you thought about selling the kids on Ebay? Threefold benefit; some flat day fun, some gas money for that Johanna trip, plus you'll be able to stay for the late session! It's a better idea than that surfers tunnel. Just imagine the congestion on the beach!
jdc also wrote:In general many ... do not seem to know about this site and never seem that interested in discussion.
The problem with discussion is that you have to take account of other peoples' points of view. For better or worserer, here's mine.
I started surfing on craft that had no fins. These were super-buoyant, super-loose and super-fun. Eventually I wanted to conquer some bigger waves though, and that required a bit of control, some directional stability at speed. To achieve that, I added a single plywood fin. Fantastic; speed, control, turns. I stuck with one fin for ages and ages, playing around with the size, shape and positioning of it to my hearts content. Changing fin position allowed me to make my board looser or stiffer, depending on my mood. Rail turns were the go, and side-slipping; I love a board that surfs loose, even if it does spin out occasionally. Stoked for years. Then one day I found myself riding a board with four fins. This had a completely different feeling. This had heaps more speed, more drive and control through turns, yet felt looser and way more responsive than any single fin I'd come across. It still had the side-slippy feel when put on rail, but without the occasional loss of bite that plagued the single fin boards.
Some time later I tried twin fins and found them similar to the quads, but heaps looser and lacking in drive. They became sketchy under pressure (on those full-on rail turns off the bottom usually) and spun out if pushed too hard. I never had that trouble with a quad.
I surfed three fins a couple of times, but never really got into them. There's a completely new way of riding that needs to be used on tri-fins, and it just wasn't me. The way I ride, a tri-fin feels like it has a sea-anchor attached. Just not my cup of tea, I'm afraid. I know plenty of really excellent surfers swear by tris, but I'm a crusty old fart now and far too set in my ways to think about change. All that said, I do have a 6'2" pintail gun that has three fins and on the rare occasions I manage to get that out in good-sized waves it goes like a dream. But that's another story ...
The point of all this is that different boards feel different to ride. Each has its own set of ideal conditions and its own set of limitations. Try as much variety as you feel you need to make an informed decision about what to ride and under which conditions, and then get out there and have as much fun as you can. The really ironic thing about it all is that I don't think I've ever had as much fun as I did in the first five years of my surfing life, when it was all coming at me out of the blue, all new, fresh and exciting. The thing then of course was that I knew nothing and was having the time of my life experiencing everything for the first time; far too much fun to actually
think about anything. Oh to have that sense of wonder again! Sadly, I think quite a few of us are a little like those crew who find one thing that works and then stick to it at all costs, even if that means having to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world.
Maybe that Mike Discasio could speak to Simon Farrer about engaging that centre fin. He doesn't seem to have any trouble ...
