Sure summer is over but I’m not sad, mostly because it was so
Sure summer is over but I’m not sad, mostly because it was so
soul crushingly flat.
... at least so far anyway.
So just out of curiosity and to support discussions like this, I’ve been compiling statistics from my waterlogs. Having gone back five years so far, I see I’ve only been averaging about a dozen days a year sailing at the Rock. And that’s mostly because the contest is usually held there. And I’ve been living about a mile away from it. Contrast that with as many as 78 days a year sailing the Cape and several dozen more at the Rogue jetty. But the Jetty’s been hard to catch this year and the Cape, well, it seems to be broken. And it’s not just because the summer flat spell went into triple overtime (with the intermittent red tide conditions). My emerging theory points to how as the Pacific High pressure seems to be setting up further north, the prevailing NW winds now have a generally more northerly direction, and many subtleties of the local conditions have shifted noticeably. And when it comes to the Cape, not for the better it seems. Indeed, wind quality in the Cape has deteriorated and instead of what you would intuitively think would make for an even more offshore direction, it seems to bring the actual Cape wind almost sideshore and occasionally, a bit onshore.
I knew I’d been sailing the Rock a lot lately and that had not gone unnoticed by the local crew who have been teasing me large for slumming it. But imagine my shock to discover I have already gone out at the Rock on 33 days this year and Fall has only just begun. This from an admitted direction snob -- an effete wave purist that can barely tolerate dead sideshore wind, much less the degree of onshore that is usually featured at the dreaded “Bad Rock”. Indeed, it was I who started the meme, “Friends don’t let friends sail the Rock.” And besides, the Rock has emerged as something of a Kite spot anyway so why not stay out of their way as much as possible? Well, I for one have been in the way at the Rock all too much this year and I’d like to apologize for that.
But even worse than all the teasing and the onshore chop, I’ve been missing my thruster boards, as the quad is the only thing I have that seems to like sailing at the Rock. (Read fast enough to make sections and be any fun at all in an onshore setup).
So yeah, no Cape photos, or even any tasty jetty shots to share. Alas, just the Rock and nothing but the Rock, so help me if it weren’t for a couple of full on jetty sessions last month on the Thruster, I would have gone right off the rails.
10/18/17
The big news apart from Pistol River nearly being on fire for real there for awhile is of course the new threads. Oh man. Just in, a 4.0 and a 4.5 Fringe to go with the 5.0, and a 5.7 Banzai for insurance. And they are all so far beyond merely epic. Even more stable and worry free than before if you can believe that. They are not at all unhappy when held clew first. Even easier to rig and unrig. Another thing that stands out huge, something that I did not expect, was that my eight year old quad suddenly felt like a new board. Noticeably looser, with more freedom, more forgiveness. The sail goes nearly unnoticed as it’s quietly working in the background. As if it wasn’t even there. I’m having a hard time trying to translate this feeling or even understand what has changed. But I’m stoked to know I can wait a little longer before I replace that old quad. And I may now even keep her around for the all the riding at the Rock I seem to be doing lately.
So of all the signs that Summer is officially over, (of which there have been many lately,) the one that really brings it home to me is the Boss’s departure back to his other life in South Dakota. And we’re missing him already. With gratitude and respect.
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Much love and gratitude out to Tigi for grabbing nearly all of these shots for us. Both she and her camera suffered large for them as the Rock is not the most civilized place to shoot. And when it’s blowing this hard, there really isn’t anywhere to hide.
“Ahhhhhh but did he land it?” Yes. Lightly stalled, fairly dry, but not much exit speed. I’m still claiming it though, for sure. And much of my renewed confidence springs from the degree those Fringe just totally rock at any sort of rotation I’ve thrown at them.
The one thing I can boast about from all the time spent sailing the Rock of late is that I’ve made a little progress with my onshore backside aerial off the lip. Better form in the air and I’ve been landing out front more.
That’s James Lundin the Blue Guru taking a few chops at it as well. I have to say that it’s epic to have the local crew showing up with some fresh gear as well. It makes such a huge difference and to those that say the gear doesn’t matter, let me demo something for you next time we’re sharing a session.
“It was definitely the summer of kayak fishing south facing beaches, and fishing new areas that had been too gnarly to
access in recent summers. Actually, it was the summer of way too much fishing. I’m not sure it was the flattest summer
ever because we say that almost every summer, but the photo kinda sums it up.”
-Gerry Punt
Speaking of loop face, I would be pleased to offer clinics in the coming seasons. Get with me for your prerequisites and we’ll go to work on it. Or maybe you just want to refine your carries or your wave strategies or your rigging technique. And there is always my key survival strategies clinic to build your confidence in the shorebreak. Or how about all of the above and more, wrapped up in a south coast surfari? I can even arrange for some video/photographic support.
Just let me know what you’re up to and we can make a little time for some shred.
And perhaps you spotted the 88 thruster I have from Jeff in a couple of these shots, not her stunt double with the identical paint job, the 85. I was so missing her that yes, I had her out at the Rock just to see how it would feel to ride her again. But just this once and I did end up promising her after that I would probably never do that to her again. She’s a Cape/jetty board for sure and I can’t blame her for not really feeling the Rock either. And Jeff was so right when he said this board is way too sweet to beat up with a bunch of jumping. (This from the guy that let her be washed into that cave at Punta San Carlos, ...) And remember that “friends don’t let friends beat their ultra sweet offshore wave shredder at the Rock”.
Yeah, it’s been a good year for the Rock. Or at least it’s been a bad year everywhere else around here. But for awhile it was so flat even at the Rock that I resorted to setting a jibe mark in the surf line just to give myself something to do besides mow the grass. So the central idea was to ride a scoring wave (such as they were), make the mark clean with feeling, then toss a scoring jump on the way back out or you had to repeat. This went far to keep me entertained at the time and even had me thinking it might be fun to stage a weekend surf slalom series next summer if it’s anything like a repeat of the wave famine we just endured.
(These two photos of Gerry by Mega.)
2017: The year of the Rock, ...
Tigi photos: