today was my maiden voyage on my velzy jacobs. i was so excited when i hit the sand, i felt i should think about my breathing. when i got to the beach i snapped a picture and then suited up. there were these aqua lines of energy transitioning to nothingness that were screaming at me. "put your board on us!"
balance. i snapped this picture just before i waxed her up. click on it enlarge it , and look at that peeler out the back. i was literally laughing after EVERY one of my waves today. this board surfs itself. i am entering into a new understanding of interface between surfer, board and wave. beautiful evening. my first wave was a head dip. strangers were commenting on the "glide" of this board. i am shocked at this board's performance. i had so much adrenaline rushing through my veins when i was first paddling out, it felt like i had just narrowly missed having a catastrophic car accident or something...that feeling lasted my entire session. hence my lack of material in this post. it was a mental gymnasium. i still can't believe i have such a board, and the board is one of the most functional and intuitive surf craft I have ever had under my feet.
well, i don't know where to start. i'll try to be concise and not too lofty. perhaps i'll start with a story:
Dan Forte of Dano surfboards told me that back in the day Dale Velzy went through a 2 year period where he didn't pay for any of the wood he used to make his boards. Velzy was going to the Long Beach harbor and plucking the discarded Balsa Wood they used for packaging material out of the water and then letting it dry out. Stop signs in the beach cities were made with redwood post around this time. Allegedly Velzy would use the wood from the stop signs as stringers for some of his boards.
well, i don't know if this board is from the wood in that story, nor does this board have a stringer. i do know this... this board is AMAZING. Gene Cooper found the board at a swap meet. He called me and told me I NEEDED this board. It was at a time where I couldn't have scrounged up money for something like this no matter how many couch cushions i lifted up. there was a twinkle in his voice that had me CONCERNED. he ended up buying it. time passes, and he brings the board to my Jazz the Glass premier at Hurley. I wouldn't go near it. I didn't even want to touch it. I NEVER thought i'd have the opportunity to call something like this mine...much less have this be the board i ride. time passes, my wife buys the board off gene as a present to me. WHAT??? i can't thank her and Gene enough. the board was in great shape, considering. it only has 4 pieces of wood. it is INSANELY light. it seems about the same weight as my usual boards. it was solid when i acquired it from gene. however, it needed a little freshening up. gene said i should just grab some isotalic resin and get her done myself. he mentioned he would help me. time passes, he is super busy with various art shows and shaping sprees. i get impatient. enter john cherry. well, not only was i impatient...but not in a million years did i believe i could EVER honor this board. i do NOT have the skills required to freshen up such a significant board. yet, I know john cherry does. my buddy introduces me to John, the rest is here. I am going to be sliding this board at sliders for a while.
glass cancer removal
tail prep. tail detail a jig John had to build to precisely remove a horrendous ill-repaired ding.
please don't let a meteorite fall from the sky and hit me.
