Kneeboard Surfing USA Community Forum

Surfermag just posted this video:

http://www.surfermag.com/videos/two-days-at-the-bay/

Despite the hellish currents, the enormous distance between the shoreline and the lineup, and the fact that renowned big-wave charger Mike Parsons almost died out there recently, this video portrays kneeboarding heaven. Did any kneelos score this swell? If you have pics or video, or even just a story, I'd be stoked to see/hear it! Post away, you crazy chargers! Ocean Beach has always fascinated me. Despite the fact that it is nearly impossible to know if you are going to get a good wave (roaming peaks have a way of breaking in the most inconvenient, just-out-of-reach spots), I like surfing waves where that is part of the bargain. Because when you finally get a barrel and make it out, you know you earned it! I hope someone got a good kneelo barrel this day. I have sincere doubts in my mind I would have made the paddle on the days in the video--or even would have attempted it.

Im sure some did, but it was the weekend of the KSUSA Contest.

Lots of the boys were surfing waist high HB.

Hey Ed--yes, I found that situation extremely ironic. As much as I like seeing all of the top kneeboarders in the world (that can afford to make it to wherever the world championship contest is held that year) congregating and competing, I was actually a bit disappointed to see that the Ocean Beach swell coincided with the contest weekend. I've seen a number of kneeriding shots from Northern CA over the years, and the riders that kneeboard big surf up there are animals. This particular year--considering the obvious contrast between what squeaked into Huntington, and how the swell lit up SF--I think I would have been more stoked to see the best kneeriders in the world challenge immense and perfect Ocean Beach, as opposed to grovelling in small HB. Then again, if everyone ditched the contest when the surf was good elsewhere, there would be no competitive kneeriding venues left, period.

In the end, however, I think it was a good thing that a lot of people showed up for the contest, despite the small waves. An expression session at OB would have been far more spectacular. However, as someone who likes to kneeboard, seeing videos of the contest riding allow me to dissect how one type of wave can be approached in a wide variety of ways. And, I'm not sure I'd ever paddle out at 15-20' OB on a kneeboard--or anything--so video of massive OB likely has less educational value to me than video of clean-but-smallb Huntington Beach.

But if anyone has a shot of his/herself riding a kneeboard (or of any kneeboarder on that swell) at OB on that particular swell, I'd love to see it! And I think everyone else on this message board would agree!!

Yes, I think we all agree the best kneeboarding on quality waves will always take place outside of the contest circuit. There are so precious few breaks available to host real contests (which requires all sort of permits, adequate parking and bathroom facilities, local organizing crew, etc.). In addition, those sites that are available need to have rather broad and general reefs or sandbars so that the spots will break all day on a variety of tides (so that all the heats can be run in just a few days), and the waves need to be accessible to a wide variety of ability levels. And some of the really primo contest sites are only available to larger entry groups with a lot of sponsorship money to contribute back. The result is you'll rarely get a kneelo contest with a nice tubey wave or an overhead swell setup that kneeboarders would really relish. Was it last year the UK had just such a contest? I remember seeing some of the pics...

Yes, I'd like to see some kneeboarding at OB on days like that. I know a lot of surfers who tried to paddle out the second day (the Big day) couldn't make it out. OB is just really tough, and you never know for sure if it's going to be perfect, so it's tempting to head south to other areas where you know the there is a bit more protection for the swell and cleaner conditions in case there's some wind. And then you see the pics the next week and realize belatedly, "I should have been at OB!!"

Yes.

Tom Kendall got the South end on Sat. morning with swell building fast.

Paul Wuslich surfed Sat through Tuesday (Still DOH on Tuesday, but seemed small by comparison, by then) Paul surfed the south end on first two days and then the middle on the last two. There are some photos of him on Monday somewhere but nowhere near the size of the weekend.

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This was the contest I think you're talking about Scott....going by your comment! More shots either side of this one.
Because we are a smaller crew we can be more mobile.....with the numbers you have it would be impossible to take to the road!

Thanks for posting, Crox, that link to your contest. I looked through all those amazing pics again and got stoked all over again! Best kneelo contest surf I've ever seen...

Hey Scott! Trust me, I definitely understand the difficulty of getting good "kneeboard" surf on the day of a contest. As someone who started getting serious about riding waves on a bodyboard--and even though my last sessions have all been on a longboard (except for the very last time I went out, during which I bodysurfed)--I know that great surf comes to very few contests. I would argue that bodyboarders need even better surf than kneeboarders to look like they are ripping. It's hard to do a real air on a bodyboard in anything less than powerful, overhead surf. Almost every single bodyboard contest I've spectated at has been held in under head-high surf. In that type of surf, bodyboarding doesn't usually look remotely interesting--except for the DK riding.

And even though I would have liked to see all of the top guys charging OB, ultimately I think that the contest in Huntington was a more important event. I think that almost nobody who doesn't already kneeboard would have likely seen the footage/pictures of kneeriders at OB! At best, the footage would have been inserted in some Surfline.com video edit. And ironically, most viewers would have probably thought that the rider was going backside and grabbing rail on a surfboard, as opposed to kneeboarding. It's actually almost impossible to make out much detail of any of the surfers in that video, as the break is a LONG way out to sea, and the waves are very large.

So, I tip my hat to KSUSA, all the competitors, all of the spectators, and all of the sponsors. Without the contest circuit that KSUSA has put together, I don't know if anyone would be even notice that kneeboarders still existed. And, kneeboarding definitely wouldn't have made it back into the NSSA!

So I'm stoked the contest happened, and that competitors from the SF area did stick to their guns and compete. It would have been cool to see the pics of the kneeboarders charging OB. I love that type of inspirational riding. However, if a kneeboarder surfs a wave and nobody is there to take a picture, did he really surf it? (While we all know the answer is "yes," try explaining that to kids who have grown up with the interwebs and facebook!)

PS--Bob--do you know where those pictures taken on Monday of kneeriding at OB ended up? Is there any way to still view them online? I'd love to check them out!

Jeff Martinez at the South End. Photo is sometime 2000 or before.

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That's wicked! Thanks for posting! Epic.

Here is another video post from Grant "Twiggy" Baker of the same day

By Twiggy and brothers Rusty and Greg Long’s lofty standards this would be considered a ‘medium-sized’ day, we can all agree that these are some serious beachbreak barrels, and the trio score some incredible pits during two perfect days in San Francisco.

Two Days at the Bay - Twiggy & Friends in San Francisco


http://vimeo.com/64791610