Trouble in Paradise

Hello all, this happened last weekend!

Surfing is a wonderful maritime sport. There's a magical combination of sun, salt, and surf that grants a wave-rider the ability to harness one of the ultimate forces of nature. And it's an experience I treasure enough to endure bruises, lacerations, sunburn, and sand burn for just one more wave. Last one, I swear.

Surfing has been a longtime staple in my family, but also a sport that seems to peak and settle through the generations as time marches on. Nearly all of my mother's immediate family found a haven among the waves off Diamond Head. My own immediate family have all hung ten at some pinnacle of Hawaiian living. (Whenever we're actually on the islands to enjoy it.) Mom and brother in their youth, dad during his military training.

The sport was something I had always had an interest in but did not pick up until my 25th birthday--chiefly because surfboards cost roughly $100/ft of board. Most beginners start on tankers, the 10'+ variety, which will set you back a dizzying $1000+. I nabbed my fiery longboard on sale for less than half of what it should have cost.

Now the trouble with surfing, beyond clueless newbies and self-inflicted injury, are sustaining dings in your board courtesy of reef or other surfers on the water. I've had my share of both but have not recorded how to repair the damages until now.

This time, I took my sister out to White Plains to get her a decent session since all of her other surfing experiences ended badly. I helped her pick out a board from the MWR and coached her on basics. We put in and away we went. It was a beautiful day, decent sets, gentle wind. My sister did extremely well, taking my observations in stride and picking up on the subtle nuances quickly. She caught several waves without my having to call out worthy faces. Toward the end of our session (or because of the incident), she came up close behind me just as a larger wave broke and shoved me back into her. Her nose hit my tail and this deep ding was the result of that collision.

Nothing huge, but deep enough to invite a waterlogged mess. No thank you.

We promptly got out of the water only to realize we had also cut up our feet on the reef as well.

Nothing huge, but deep enough to invite staph infections. No thank you.

So while both of us literally limped home, I realized I would not be able to hit the surf again until I repaired my board. Luckily for me, I still had leftover material from earlier surfboard repairs. This would be my third.

My repair kit components!

I had purchased a surfboard repair kit for $12 from the Navy Exchange a year or so ago in lieu of sending my board to professional shop. I often get beat up badly when I secure dings, so I end up with more than one. The one which prompted me to invest in my own repair was a surfer T-bone strike which ripped open more than 3 feet of my rail. (The jerk never apologized either.) A huge repair.

[I don't have a workbench to set my board on, so I laid it out over two sturdy chairs. I also wear sunglasses and a bandana over my nose and mouth while working with the mixing compound and the fiberglass. You really don't want to breathe that stuff in.]

The kit was a complete one! UV-curing resin, with a mixing chemical compound to fill dings, a sheet of fiberglass, razor, a spreader, and 4 grits of sandpaper. (200, 100, 150, 60.)

The UV-curing resin and powder compound drying in the sun after application.

The first thing I did, much like preparing a flesh wound, was cleaning the surrounding area of the ding. I sanded the area down and wiped it clean again. Then I got a spare plastic cup and mixed the UV-curing resin and the powder compound until it reached a peanut butter thickness. I had to fill a big portion because the ding itself was deep and the area around it had been compacted by the hit. This was my attempt to fill out the spot. I waited 10 minutes for the resin to set (no longer tacky to the touch) and brought it back in to my 'workbench.'

I used the 60 grit to sand down the cured resin.

I sanded down the cured resin with the 60 grit included in my kit until the repair was level with the rest of the surfboard.

Adding fiberglass over the repair.

 Next, I cut out a rectangle of fiberglass large enough to cover the affected area. I cleared the spot of resin dust with a wet wipe and applied the fiberglass. I saturated the fiberglass with just the resin and used the spreader to get an even coat.

At this angle you can see the resin-saturated fiberglass over the ding spot.

The resin by itself dries quickly so I had to work fast. You also want to be careful not to drip resin or build it up into ridges because it's harder to sand back down. After this coat of resin was applied, I set the board back out in the sun for another 10 minutes to cure.

More sanding. Sanding down fiberglass is hard work!

Now for the hard part. Resin sets like a rock. Resin-saturated fiberglass is rough rock. I used a stiff sponge to help stave off the heat from the friction during sanding. I started again with the 60 grit until I got most of the roughest edges smoothed. I bumped up to 100 for more buffing and refining. Once I was satisfied I could have applied another layer of resin to strengthen the repair even more, but I opted for a wet finish.

Prep for the wet finish.

I borrowed a bowl we rarely use and still operating with the stiff sponge, I used the 150 grit to smooth down the resin and finally the 200 for a fine finish. I was sweating something fierce by the time I was done.

Repair complete.

And there she is, fixed and sealed and ready to tear up the surf again. Now a professional shop would paint over the white patch. I probably could have spray painted the thing myself, but I chose to do something a little more my style.

I popped a Google search for tattoos and came up with several images and I felt torn between a shark and a manta ray. I ended up going with a shark curling its body around the white patch. I wish I could have gotten the waves to 'crest' into the white a little more, but I didn't want to crowd the shark either. 

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the design.

 Happy weekend.

White Plains, white wash

Hello all, it's not the weekend!

I apologize for the delay of post. I had a few fires to put out this weekend.

Pushing into Monday, my father is in town, and to my surprise he suggested we go surfing. Both of my parents surfed back in the day--my mom and her siblings out past Diamond Head and my dad at Barber's Point to the southwest of the island. I've since shouldered that mantle and I often go alone when the water calls. (Which is often.) It's a vigorous workout if you don't have a channel to paddle past the breakers, otherwise you're swilling whitewash trying to get into position.

My haunt is Waikiki. I torture myself getting up early, slogging through our horrible, horrible traffic (top 5 worst in the nation behind L.A. and San Francisco), walking a good half mile, paddling for a quarter, and finally catching that first glorious curl.

Welcome to White Plains beach!

This time, however, we headed out toward Barber's Point and the White Plains beach, which is a spot I have never surfed before. It's supposed to be sharky out this way and while I didn't see any in the water today, I'm sure I scared several attempting to dismount waves gracefully.

The surf report said the heights were 3-4 feet for southern facing shores and I would agree with that assessment. I swear I had a few 6-footers rollers that shunted me back toward shore. "Fun size." If you know what you're doing.

A glimpse of the breaks at the beach.

The lifeguard tower and Diamond Head in the background!

The nice thing about White Plains is there are plenty of breaks so surfers get to spread out. You're not all fighting for waves, 20 surfers taking off at once. The bad thing about White Plains is there are plenty of breaks, you have to fight the surf the entire way. And moreover, today was a little bit choppy. I'd crest one curl, tumble down the white wash out the back, and whoop!, here comes another one!

Waikiki is great for beginners with three distinct breaks. (At least where I go.) And I notice if you're in just the right spot, the waves will hit each break in turn. So just as you're losing speed, the wave will hit the next coral head and give you another burst of speed if you can adjust for it.

White Plains was weird because the waves were more roly poly. I'd pop up on a sharp face, slice a bit and drop back down and the face was suddenly gone, but I'm still catching...something. I can't slice anymore either without going right out the "top." I also had to avoid the swimming area which I accidentally broke past once. I thought I'd cleared the left buoy. My bad.

A stage set on the western side of the beach and...

...the cottage rental reception! I believe this is strictly for the military?

We only have one surfboard, my beautiful orange-flame one, and we had to rent the other one from Hickam's MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation); a slim 7'10" board. I caught a couple waves on my board and traded with my dad about 20 minutes in in the wash. Losing almost a foot of board made me purl my first attempt. Never fun. But I caught a few more and wish I'd popped up faster to see just how maneuverable a smaller board could be. But you know, between purling and the waves closing out, I didn't really get the chance.

Turns out Barber's Point has an MWR.

And a wall-full of monster surfboards! We wish we'd known so dad could have gotten a tanker.

Surfing haven through and through.

Next time. It was still a fun day on the water!

This weekend, I...might be in New York. Stay frosty.

Happy Monday.

The trend begins

It's a new year. Well, rather late into a new year to get started, but I'm starting now anyway.

You know how dogs pick up a scent and run with their noses to the ground? I feel like a lot of people run through life this way; we pursue this goal with our heads down and forget to look up to see what's surrounding us. That was me last year until I took this trip. Blindly charging forward, not even knowing what I was chasing, probably following this scent in circles and not really going anywhere.

The game changer.

Until I stopped. And looked up.

I can't be the only one who feels like 2014 is a breath of fresh air. Maybe its the nice seven "2014" makes or because the Magic Eight Ball told me so--but this year has got some mojo to it.

And you know the Magic Eight Ball don't lie.

But change is on the horizon. A good change. Here are some resolutions I wrote on a 3x5 card for this year verbatim--feel free to steal a few for yourself:

-12 months, 12 books, no excuses! (5/12)
-200+ minutes of exercise/week (I already biffed on this one, but every week is a new week)
-Get into grad school  
-Get a book published (or at least secure an agent, come on)
-Write an original piano piece  (And it was terrible! More on this later...)
-Online writing, peddle your craft, be serious! 
-Sing more, get out more, LET IT GO (Yes, Elsa left a profound impression on me)
-Learn a new skill
-NaNoWriMo 2014, you know which one (No, I don't.)

I came to the realization a lot of successful people already know and that's 'Life is what you make of it.' I never really grasped this concept so fully until I actually stuffed my inhibitions and really put myself out there. I made new friends and we went places and did things I never would have done otherwise. What you're willing to put in is exactly what you will get out of it. So I've resolved to be a producer this year. Hence the spine for this blog.

I've had this trend for the last month at least where I was doing something every weekend; hiking, writing group sharing, convention-ing and I figure, heck, why not share a bit about the experience? You've talked about maintaining a blog and you want to be a producer? Post something every week!

So that's what I'm going to do.

Tomorrow I'm hanging out with friends and finally hiking the Pillboxes in Lanikai.

While I won't carpe diem every diem, I will make a sincere effort to keep my nose off the ground and look up. Come with me--it's the weekend!