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Thursday, May 15, 2014

5.14.14 One Fin Fun, then None, at Pier

The scenario looked incredible.  Tide was right, winds were perfect, midweek (fewer crowds), and City of Oceanside had decided to pump pristine sand right onto the beach for the upcoming tourist season.

All we were missing was swell, only the most important part of the equation.  Without swell no one surfs.

With this in mind I decided to get cute and do something I've thought about doing since the inception of this blog: take out all but one fin and work on tail releases.

Granted, it would be an uphill battle given the lack of classic tapering rail on my board.  In its place is a WIDE tail with canyons for a channel. Not only that, but the middle fin, the last fin standing, was a TINY trailer fin that was stuck and I couldn't remove.

I continued on my mental path, headstrong.  This would be a way to inject some fun in the tiny conditions that awaited me.

My first glance revealed a soothing sight.  The waves were tiny, barely surfable.  This would be a good day to surf with one fin.

After paddling out and trying to get going on waves, I realized just how crucial the correct fin setup was.  After wiggling the tail to pump on several lefts, I couldn't get going.

I did manage a weak floater/bonk on one left though.

On a right, I was able to make it past the foam thanks to my initial speed.  As the wave predictably petered
out, I decided to jam on the tail and BAM, I slid out instantaneously and came up laughing.


I began to long for my fins.

A macker three-footer appeared and I was too inside of it.  I two-paddled for it and caught it really late, then gingerly made my way around the initial section.  I was slow on the bottom turn and leaned WAY back and took the top off the wave with exactly zero chance of making it.


I reached my time limit for the day and as soon as I got home, I screwed my fins back in.

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