Hurricane Bill: Part II

Here are some photos of Bill courtesy of Joe from Right Side Productions. Hurricane Bill was the start to what many will hope will be an eventful hurricane season this fall on the east coast. I myself being one of them as I am traveling back east in just a couple of weeks, and haven't surfed the Atlantic in years. In the meantime the first N Pacific swell of the season is hitting California this weekend which is kinda like the unofficial start to the season around here. After a dreadful August and a July spent on crutches, things are starting to heat up.

Intervention Time?

Does this....... (Favorite Hobby = Drinking Beer)

Lead to this???

Flipping through my old E.M.T. book, I happened to come across this interesting photo portraying the adverse effects of drinking alcohol. Suffice to say, it wasn't the effects that intrigued me, but rather the uncanny likeliness to one Mr. Dane Reynolds of Ventura, CA.

Is Dane moonlighting as a Delirium Tremen-induced bar fly for some medical book artist? (Art is also another one of his favorite hobbies...) Is my E.M.T. book some grim glimpse into the surfing future a la Biff's sports book in Back to the Future Part II ?

One of the first warning signs perhaps occurred during the 2008 Boost Mobile Pro at Trestles, where according to Surfermag.com, Dane was feeling a bit under the weather.

"My stomach hurt because I ate gas station food before my heat," he replied following an opening round victory.

Uh-oh. Stomach aches? Gas station food? Not a good sign. Nobody eats gas station food unless you are currently drunk, or currently hungover. And that stomach ache, could that be the volatile mixture of Southern Comfort, Coors Light, and Hostess' powdered-sugar mini-donuts? Very suspicious...

Despite being awarded ASP Rookie of the Year in '08, Mr. Reynolds has yet to live up to his mega-hype, posting a season-opening 9th, followed by four straight 33rds. Tales of late-night partying and constant double-fisting were running rampant during the first half of the '09 season. Yes, he did post a career-best 3rd at the hangover-curing cold waters of J-Bay, but what is a man to do during the long gap between South Africa in July and Trestles in September? For a man who lists drinking beer as his favorite hobby, there is little doubt about it. Stay with us Dane! The ASP World Tour needs you!

Hurricane Bill

Hurricane Bill. I like that name. Direct and to the point. That's what this storm should be, too. For all the madness of Sunday, things are looking to wrap up just as quickly as they came in. So get it while the gettin's good, because you won't see the words 'EPIC' too soon again on the Surfline regional forecasts. Oh yeah, that's a 36 -52 foot @ 16 second forecast you're seeing in Nova Scotia. I wanna see some footage of that.

Los Angeles County - reppin'

These photos are from the huge West swell in the first week of December, 2007. You don't see Los Angeles throwing this down too often. Also, the Yacht Club will be keeping an eye on Hurricane Bill as it heads towards the East Coast, with some possible photo evidence to document the madness. Good luck to the boys (and girls) on the Atlantic who deserve this after a long summer.

You Know What I Want!

I heard the great Spinal Tap on the way home last night on 95.5 classic rock (they're good, but where's my Nights with Alice Cooper! Another reason to hate L.A.). In honor, I thought this video was appropriate. Why? Because whenever I'm sitting in the lineup and there is a lull between sets, I have this song stuck in my head. Except, instead of "mo-ney", they say "wa-aaves".

Gimme some waa-aaaaves! Gimme some waa-aaaaves!

PHOTO DISPATCH - SoCal Vol. 3

Props to Jenny Kug from Kugssurfgurnal and Kug Eats for some of the photos. More to come as we finally start to head towards the glory season of fall.

PHOTO DISPATCH - SoCal Vol. 2

PHOTO DISPATCH - SoCal Vol. 1

Just some photos taken over the 2 years I've been in L.A. now. Most of these I think tend to show L.A. in a favorable light. It helps to deal with living here while you're dreaming of some far off locale, like the Mentawais or 4 mile.

A Morning with Merrick

The Yacht Club spent this last Saturday morning hitting up the Channel Islands Board Demo at El Porto. While the waves were not epic, they did prove to be rideable, even with a few fun sets rolling in. A combo S swell / NW windswell helped cross things up a bit, making for some shoulders to play around on, and the calm morning winds kept things relatively smooth.

Because I went with Kug, we got to demo two different boards and switch off in the water (score). Here's what we rode.

The Pod: 5'10" x 20 1/4" x 2 1/2"

"A requirement in Dane and Kelly's board bags, the Pod is built to fly. It will position itself into the smallest ramp and allow for a technical launch. Deep concaves with a foiled nose and a swallowtail keep the Pod lively and maintains its high performance. The 'snub' nose puts volume forward, allowing for maximum plaining and wave catching."

The Biscuit: 5'4" x 19 7/8" x 2 3/4"

"A short and stubby tri-fin; the Biscuit was developed with Rob Machado. Like Rob, the Biscuit rides free and easy in the smallest surf and catched waves like a board a foot longer... Everyone should ride this board at least twice."

Wow, that's a lotta name-dropping. Aside from that, these boards were pretty fun, however the Pod stood out for me. It was very fast and responsive, and the extra rocker on the nose allowed for some steeper take-offs. I would have loved to ride this board as a quad just to really step up the speed factor. Overall it got into a lot of waves and was a blast to ride.

The Biscuit was fun too, but almost more as a novelty than an actual performance shortboard. Like something you take out with your friends to goof around on. Yes, you can get good rides with it, but I'm not Machado and I don't spend most of my surfing time in Indo (yet), so the Biscuit isn't something I would drop $700 on. Ironically, this was the board I thought I would love the most, and I just didn't turn out to be true. That's were the magic of the demo day comes in. The Biscuit had almost no room for error, and seemed to bog down on turns. Hmmm, maybe if it had been a 5'6"......

In an attempt at journalistic integrity, I offer a quick Q and A with Kug regarding these boards. I do this because I am a strapping 6'3" 180 lbs, and not all of you out there might fit this description. Therefore, my experience on these boards might not speak to you more condensed-types. Here's what Kug (5'6" 120 lbs) had to say......

The Yacht Club: So Kug, what did you think of the boards today?

Jenny Kug: It was definitely really fun to try different boards, but overall I liked the Pod a lot better. And it was good to just get an opportunity to ride a board I normally wouldn't.

YC: What do you normally ride, and how did these boards compare?

JK: I ride a 6'0" x 16 1/2" x 2 1/4" Rusty Redline, it's my magic board. I love it. The Biscuit was weird, it was really hard to paddle and really hard to figure out where you should be lying on it because it was so short! It was pretty fun but I would like more rocker in it as I could get nervous taking off on bigger waves. I really liked the Pod, it was really fast...it almost slipped out from under my feet! But I could tell the 5'10" was too big for me. I would have to ride something at least a couple inches shorter than that in real life. I felt like a lot of board because it was really wide, so it was harder to turn quickly, but I could tell it had the potential to.

YC: Did you learn anything about what kind of board you might want to get in the future from this experience?

JK: I wish I could say I was super board-savvy. I like the fatter rail, but skinnier all together, with a little bit of rocker but not a ridiculous amount. Basically, I want a board that generates its own speed really well.

YC: Which board dealt better with the shit show that is El Porto on a Saturday morning?

JK: I'm gonna go with the Pod because it was way easier to duck-dive and maneuver. The Biscuit was so thick it took all of my being to push it underneath waves. I felt a lot more in control with the Pod, easier to do everything.

YC: What did you like about the Biscuit?

JK: It was just a fun, kooky board that was a challenge, something new. It would be really fun if the waves are shit and you're just fuckin' around.

YC: Any parting words of wisdom that you gained from this experience?

JK: It's good for your surfing to try new boards and to feel like an idiot for a little bit. Struggling is not necessarily a bad thing, it reminds you where you came from and teaches you where you want to go.

Gone Fishin'

Cuz there ain't no surf in the southbay. Channel Islands Demo Day coming to the El Porto car park tomorrow. The Yacht Club will be there, so stay tuned for a full report!

Artwork by The Cap'n

What I Rode Today

Dan C. swallowtail thruster. 5'10" x 18 3/4" 2 1/4". This is one of Kug's boards, originally bought as a backup stick for El Salvador. It's a little small for me (I am about 6'3" 180 lbs), or I should say it's a little too thin on the rails for me, but with a stronger wave it rips. While it may not float me as efficiently as it should, this board still rips as you can snap turns like a whip. Always good to ride different things now and then.