The British Championships: Utter crap can be so much better then excellent…

The British championships were on, finally, this weekend (18th June). And, as expected, the God of surf didn't play us a good hand. Howling 28mph wind and small, rubbish surf. Giving us the best contest ever. Confused? Well, it's a bit like a Chuck Norris movie. They are utter crap, just awful. You wouldn't watch one on your own. But if you had a group of mates over, and a few beers, you'd all watch it and laugh your asses off.

8am - there were waves out there. Miles out there

The howling wind, had everyone hunched under the tent and everyone just goofed, told tales and laughed. My abs are killing me and I don't know if it's from trying to paddle out countless times or from laughing. Pete Kane was on form. We all laughed at his tale of not remembering the location of the secret hiding please for the key to his brothers house. So they all had to sleep in their vans… But at 4am Pete woke up and remembered where it was!. We all laughed as I skewered my thumb trying to fix a quad belt. I laughed too as I tried to stem the bleeding. We even laughed as I found out it wasn't rain that made my jacket wet, Sam Jone's Jack Russell had pissed on it.

You see, when the surf is good, people get competitive. Isolate themselves from the group, put headphones on and get into 'heat' mode. Groups of people who know each other break off into little splinter groups and it can feel team vs team. Sort of South vs North vs Wales. Performances begin to matter. Saturday, we all just hung out and it was brilliant. Spending time and enjoying the company of people you realise you've only facebooked with, Such as Shaun Holmes. What a first rate dude.

Aside from the good company, there was a lot to be proud of. The quality of the ski's was brilliant. I know it sounds snobby, but in years gone by, contests were held with only a handful turning up, and often tatty old ski's that looked like it could have been Jesus's first ski. If anyone happened to turn up from TV, sports council or even the ASP, we'd be able to puff our chests out with pride. Jem's Ski's with intricate artwork as beautiful as ever. Pete's uber-cool Barbarit RTM. Stunning finished Pro-designs and a flete of spectacular weapons from the Scientist, James Hawker at future Waveski's. So many different shapes, rockers, widths, designs. No one could say we were the poor cousin of any sport.

Quality and quantity

As for the performance. It was savage out there. Beatings a plenty. For the first time in 30 years of waveski surfing, I actually got flipped… by the wind! Not a wave - the wind just flipped me over. The good thing was, we all got into the spirit. Taking the piss, laughing at each other. I even said to James Hawker that if he managed to get out the back I'd eat a shit. As in a dog shit. Now, I was supposed to bring 2 or 3 ski's with me. As my car was broken, the rental the garage gave me I could only fit one ski in. I had agreed to bring the big wave ski as it'd be easy to paddle out on, and James wanted to use it if it was windy. Was it windy… yes. Did I bring it? No. I brought a tiny 19" wide ski. James had his tiny 19" wide ski. Much to my utter disappointment, james did make it out the back, and after his heat, Elaine told me he was off to find a shit for me to eat!

James struggling to get back 6kg ski vs 28mph wind. This just before he searched for my shit-snack!

As for the contest itself. It was a bit of a shame we couldn't show up and blow up. The waves were rubbish. I thought, from the early rounds the gold was going to go to Mark Trise, but he was more unlucky than the rest with the waves. Last time I saw him on his wavemaster was a year ago, and he looked a bit awkward on it - he still had the 'new ski wobble' but he was looking mighty in the contest. Twice I saw him take off, finding loads of speed, wind a big bottom turn and the wave just faded. Had it held up, he'd have smashed it. Also, Steve Tickle. He does this thing we now call 'the Tickle-turn'. He paddles for a wave way too far out on the shoulder. You think he's going to blow it or do a softie, but he does this weird semi cut back into the pocket, to a bottom turn that looks really cool. I watched him do the same thing on a biggish day at a South Coast secret spot. It looks so stylish.

Sam Jones - with quad, and a bastard of a paddle to come

I managed to watch Jem catch probably the wave of the day in our final, but I was so exhausted, I just sat and watched. Then the wind caught my paddle and smashed it into my face. Jem took much delight at that. I could see him laughing as he surfed past. The usual suspects were as talented as expected, but conditions didn't allow the show we all wanted. Kieron Davies looked like his new ski and him would be spectacular. KD's not much of one too talk up is talent, he lets his surfing do that. So if he excited about the new ride - expect something big!

The Legands.

There were four guys, who with out doubt are total legends. These are as follows:

Pete O'kane: Judged the whole contest, battered by the wind and rain. Ran the length of the beach to update the boards. Apologised time and time again for the waves and was too busy to see everyone was loving it.  Never stopped providing the laughs and the scoring. A solid gold dude.

Steve Chivers: Steve did so much too keep all happy. Don't let Steve fool you, he may have a casual way about him, but he is super competitive. He loves to win. Yet, he gave up his time to check everyone was ok, enjoying themselves. Even getting into the water late for his heat as he'd run around to get food for us all. Now, a special thanks to Steve and Pete. Pasties were on the menu, me being a veggie, I only mentioned that I'd not eat one. Would have been easy for Pete and Steve to think 'Tough - go with out' but no, they tuned up with Pizza's. Not one, but two, as they overheard that Denzil too was a veggie. He even provided coupons for a couple of free beers each. That is going the extra mile. That is why it was such a great day - cos they cared. Chiv's is a legend for good reason.


Chris Skardon: Keeping it running, keeping us informed. All the emails. The judging, he never stopped running over to who's lost/won/updates... back to judge. We'd not have been together if not for Skarsy.

Thirdly Denzil: Epic fella. Turned up, just to help and judge. Out in the wind rain, sorting scoring etc. None of us offered to judge as much as we could have, issued preferring the shelter of the tent, the food and the good times. Denzil explained the judging to some, to others who and why they were scoring, and was excellent company. His contest in September will be epic, and this is one dude who deserves for it to be well attended.

Dreadding the paddle!!

Regrets.

I only have two regrets. firstly missing faces. Rudi was sorely missed. He does so much for the sport and is such an epic dude. You'd not have been bummed so much at the lack of surf had Rudi been there. He seems to bring sunshine and good moods with him. He'd laugh and go out no matter how shit. It did seem as though something was missing without him. The other, Adrian 'Thorny' Thorn. He'd not believe how much he was spoken about in his absence. I was looking forward to the 'Copp and Thorn' show. A very sarcastic dude, and he's have made some legendary remarks had he'd been there. Conversations like 'Thorn called it right', I could see him having it empty and offshore at home. Not a fan of contests, but is presence even if not competing is needed. Him and Pete Copp are one of the things you look forward too. Seeing their little squabbles and fights. We've even considered getting a sticker made up, a bit like the Christians W.W.G.D (What would God Do) with W.W.T.D (What would Thorny Do). Thorny has become the unofficial barometer as to if to go out n surf!

Secondly, that it was only one day. As shit as the surf was, the time I had was epic. I'd do it every weekend. I was in such a shitty mood on the way home as I had to go to a  wedding and would rather have stayed and gone for drinks, the company was so good. It's just solid - a group of true dudes. I even had one of my famous 'Hulk' angry episodes as the surf was so bad, nobody gave a shit or judged me. South Coaters know I'm angry white trash - the rest of you might have thought I was nuts. Seems most you all knew about my shouty-ness. 

So back to my Chuck Norris film analogy. It's not the film that's good, you laugh cos of who you watched it with. Maybe if the film was good you'd all sit in silence and watch. Maybe if the surf was epic it wouldn't have been as much fun? Sometimes, shit can be better than good. You can look up who won. But as far as I'm concerned, we were all winners. For those of you who didn't or couldn't go. You don't know what your missing.

Next time - show up n blow up!

Mr. Complex... James Hawker

 

Autistic? Mult-personality disorder? There is something going on with James Hawker. Spend some time with him, and I mean  'time' with him, get past that smiley, appearance, and you soon realise there is a lot going on in that head of his. First time I got a hint of this, the mayhem boys had rocked up at a fave spot of mine. From the cliff looking down it was a solid 5 foot, offshore and cranking. Grinding lefts, firing off a shallow bank. I'm jumping up and down and clapping, like the kid from the 'Make a Wish Foundation' at Disneyland. All excited. James however, was silently looking down on the bank. He had tuned out  'Rage Against the Machine' blaring from my car's stereo, and was observing, assessing and downloading data. Next thing, he is suited up and heading down the path first. His focus as such that he doesn't mean to be anti-social, just that his brain has 'locked on' like a heat seeking missile, to the job in hand.

Between sets, we all have a laugh and a chat. James switches personalities between 'chatty mate' to 'wave assassin' and back. It being spring tides, the waves pushed over the bank, getting fuller and less rippable. Those who know me will tell you, I have only two emotions, angry or idiot. And as soon as the waves stopped being perfect, I just wanted to reach up and tear the sky apart I was so pissed off. The only guy having fun was James. This is what he had assessed from the cliff. Like the bit in the Matrix where Neo downloads skill sets, James turns off,' Top to bottom waveski attack, and turns on 'Old-school, big carve' style. Gone is the 'off the bottom-to invert air', now there is the 'gun it down the line, and pull long drawn out gouges'. You would swear it was two different people surfing, so contrasting was the styles. It gets more frustrating. When the waves get too full and we get out, James goes up to his van and gets out the weirdest looking Kayak I have ever seen, and continues to carve it up for a further two hours, as we all sat and watched from the cliff. Proof enough that his approach to technology, materials and design are a marriage between intelligence and raw talent. That and the fact he drove us, so all we could to was watch... and vandalize his van.

We are hanging out at 'Boneyards' The not so secret loading bay area at the back of the Future Factory, where James leaves odd projects, ideas and all number of strange stuff. We are working on Project X, an idea for a shape I have had for over 10 years. I have discussed this with many a shaper, surfboard and Ski maker alike, and have met the same resistance, head scratching and a "Well, why don't you just go narrower or more V?" James came back with, and I kid you not, "It can be done if we shift 12% more volume to the tail and spread the surface area at the rails by 8% allowing the X shape..." percentages? This guy wasn't guessing, he had concrete answers, and diagrams for evidence. The backbone being a revolutionary lightweight construction method, that to date, is still a research project!

I love this place - the 'Boneyard' at the back of the shaping bays, lamination units, the lab is the loading bay - full of some of the most important DNA of waveski surfing - Go-Fast Gee boards, Christo's Smashed up Future's - custom Kayaks.

James is like that drawer in your kitchen that is full to overflowing with stuff. All useful, any thing you need is there. The longer you delve into this drawer and pull out bits and look at them, the clearer the picture becomes. See, James isn't just a talented surfer (Ranked No. 4 in the world at the time of writing) . James is also a professional composites engineer, and works with advanced composites every day . He has a fascination with design and attention to detail, that can only be called Autistic. Yet, seeing him in the shaping bay, you are convinced he is a craftsman. Each ski hand cut from a solid block, . ". According to James, it's not till you are working with the shape, watching it take shape in your hands, that you can make the subtle adjustments and improvements that can't be done without hands on finishing. I watched him spend over an hour sanding barely noticeable tweaks into the rails of my board. Each ski is organic in it's construction, and every single one is  unique. Templates are refined for each and every ski- no “standard” shapes here. James stresses how much tiny changes affect performance. He must have 20 different templates on the bench from which he takes measurements and combines ideas. You wouldn't believe how long he takes to shape. Just when you get bristly and do the 'Hurry up visit' - you see your creation and it all makes sense. But this behavior contradicts the scientist James. Who labors over materials, new developments, even developing totally new construction techniques like the ASCC system. So you can have a pro-light ski, with near the strength of a standard ski (mine weighs a little over 4kg!). He cannot settle on the fact that pro-light has to be delicate and far less durable than standard. It doesn't make sense to him and he will not let it rest till he has the answer. Everything from his engineering background pushes the design.

A little sneak image into top-secret land. One of the Shaping bays. Here James is making another custom Kayak for some guy in the USA - a pin-tail rocket ship.

A workaholic - enjoying his vice

 I asked him for a brief explanantion of the ASCC system and as usual James lost me in the detailed explanation within seconds mumbling something about ballistics research...quasi-static loads...dynamic effects... in-plane properties...through thickness properties...flexural modulus...Thanks James, and in English? I finally managed to get a layman's explanation out of him- “think snow shoes, the ASCC is the snow shoe and the foam blank is the soft, crumbly snow- the ASCC spreads the impact pressure over a larger area and doesn't crush the foam. The clever part is doing this  whilst keeping weight to a minimum”

Pete contemplates the un-breakable? James illustrating the Pro-light and ASCC, a sub 4kg ski - he picks it up from the nose and swings it like a bat!

So, do these multiple personalities clash. Yes. Thankfully Elaine is on hand to keep the many James from Fighting. But it does still happen. I have seen a Ski, almost finished, smashed up, because he felt it could be better, his factory is littered with ideas that he won't sell because he has already thought of a way of improving them further, I have had calls at close to 3am, as he is still in his factory, working on a new idea that will make a ski lighter,faster,have flex, more buoyant and thus shorter. He takes calls from respected surfboard makers on developments, and from engineers across the world. He will sit for hours looking at a finished shape, you think he is analyzing it, but he is just enjoying it. Most think this is all new, but he has been shaping and making for over 10 years. Then you see him take off late, on a big closeout death wave, launch off the top, on a never-gonna-make-it move. You then have to wonder where the crazy James fits with the craftsman James, the Scientist James and the Curren-esque thoughtful James. All I know is, he is exceptionally talented at all that he does. In a spooky kinda way.

It is interesting to get an insight into the science being applied to James' skis- hence the 'weapons grade waveski' I just hope to hell he isn't snapped up to develop weapons that aren't for surfing. Because they would be VERY good! Does explain why the company is called Future though!

Surfing essentials - top turns

Top turns along with the bottom turn are the foundations of surfing. After the bottom turn, it is the next move you need to master. The top turn is the move that allows you set up turns, store or release speed, but more importantly, it lets to link up the pockets of power along a wave. Helping yo to make mushy sections, ride a wave for longer and perform bigger moves. The top turn is also where you start to build on your moves, getting more radical. However, top turns seem to be the number one cause of snapped noses and folded ski's and kayaks. As a result, we've had a lot of requests for the next move on the blog being top turns.

Firstly, a top turn is a turn on the face of the wave, the nose doesn't extend out over the top of the wave, if it does, it becomes a re-entry or an off-the-lip.

Lets look at a traditional top turn:

 

1.You have dropped in on a wave, you can see a steeper wall ahead. A perfect area to set up some speed, for a bigger move further along the wave...

 

2. Perform a bottom a bottom turn, with your weight forward and your inside rail buried. You can see I am looking up at the walling section that will catapult me forward...

 

  3. As you approach the spot, keep your eye on the spot, but start to release your inside rail to a flat plane. Start moving your weight to the centre of the ski (rather than the front) to allow the fins to do their job. The idea is you will have all youe speed and are ready to engage the outside rail...

4. As you hit the spot, start your turn early so that you can keep the speed you have gained. Lean over toward the outside rail. You will be using the outside edge of the rail as rocker, so start to insert this rail and use only a little bit of paddle...

5. Your outside rail inserted, start trowing your weight over your feet. Your aim here is to keep your momentum. At this point, you should have spotted where your next turn will be, often a spot for another bottom turn, top turn combination. As soon as your nose comes around in the turn, get ready to engage your inside rail again...

6. Turn completed, you should have lots of speed and well set up for your next move, and ready to blast off the bottom again.

Here is another example of a top turn on a crap wave. 

You can see that the wave fattens out so it backs-off and gets slow. You can see the same as described above, using the outside rail and a small use of paddle to keep the speed, setting up moves further down the wave:

Putting style in it...

Top turns in contests are what can turn a 6.5 wave into a 7.5. A couple of well placed turns add points, and shows you know where the power pockets are. You could take off, go down the line and wait till the lip presents itself, but that ain't surfing! You can make a top turn into quite a cool move.

Take a look at this little video of some top turns (sorry the quality is crap - but you don't usually film top turns!)

 

First one - blowing out the tail: You can turn later and insert too much outside rail. As long as you have speed, this will break your tail out off the top of the wave while still allowing you to set your inside rail. You can see I am looking at where I want to be next, so this has set up a move nicely.

Second - top turn into a cut-back. Here you can see there is a very small pocket of speed. A nice drop soon opens out to a slow fat face. Yet, you can see further down the wave it walls up again allowing a close out move. So here the top turn is performed with even more outside rail, snapping the nose around by pulling hard on your feet while forcing your ass into your seat, turning you 180 degrees. The idea being to set you up in the power pocket when you need it, to connect with the inside. Big snaps will stall the ski for a split second, allowing you to set up your next turn.

Third - set up and 'exclamation mark' move. Here is probably the worst footage yet the best example of using top turns. Lets face it the wave is crap, slow an short area of speed, and if you do make the section, the wave is going to close out. OK its not very exciting, but is functional, the first top turn sets up the next move as described earlier. An exclamation mark move is the one you do at the end of a wave. Usually a big air in the close out, or a massive re-entry. On slow, close out crappy waves you can add some style. You can perform your top turn, but instead of trying to use it for speed to set up a move, it is your move. Here I set way too much outside rail, with my weight over the tail (rather than over my feet). Similar to blowing out the tail, but as it's a close out, you can over extend the turn, letting the tail slide. This can be a fun way to end a crap wave, but in doing so you need to sink the nose to throw the tail, as the tail spins it will release the nose.

That all seems easy enough - where does the damage come from?

The danger comes from where the turn is done, and not committing to the move. Before you perform your turn, you need to be sure, is it functional? Is this turn to set up another turn, or is it the final move itself? Top turns are at the steepest part of the wave. If you are using your top turn as a set up, don't over extend your turn. Remember to release your inside rail early and get into a neutral plane (no.3) and be ready to throw your weight forward while inserting your front inside rail. You want to let the ski do the work and it's inside rail act as the rocker. You need the confidence the ski will do it's job. If you turn and don't re-engage the inside rail, the volume of the ski means the tail can drift up the face, the nose can dive... right in the steepest, most powerful part of the wave. Turning too far on a set up turn can do the same thing - drive your nose into the beach.

If a exclamation move, make sure you pull your nose in hard and keep your weight over the tail. Keeping your weight over the tail will ensure you release the outside rail while releasing the nose. You will slightly invert, so that when you pull up on your feet, the tail will slide, its momentum will sink the nose, but it's momentum will release the nose again so that the tail and inside rail do the work. Naturally, as you complete the move your weight will be over the nose again.

Here is another little video. Again, sorry its crap, but it is an enlargement to show weight position and rail placement. Oh, and it is a off the lip rather than a top-turn but the technique is the same!