The new Howard Special Mini

The new Takayama Howard Special Mini.

Over at Mitchs they've got a few new versions of what looks like the Flow Egg, called the Howard Special mini. This board looks super fun. 6'10" to 7'6" with a sanded gloss and tweaked v in the tail as well with Jack Jenson tuned side fins and Larry Allison tuned center fin. Can you say speed?

Church, SANO, and 38th St

Paddled out at Church yesterday, one of the first south swells of the summer and got absolutely hammered on the paddle out by consecutive waves on the head. Usually, when Church is firing, you can paddle out to the peak from the side. Yesterday the waves were closing out at the shorebreak, and there was no real "channel" to paddle out to get to the peak. I was seriously going to give up trying to make it outside when I finally made it out. Exhausted, the sets were well overhead, walled and ugly. Kevin caught a good right that held up, and he took it to the beach. I got the next one which was a semi close out. Dropped in, got a few pumps down the line then it closed out. We then went to Sano

San was more of the same. The shorepound was unforgiving, and we met up with Trace and Austin. I finally made it out, but the waves were shifty. I spent the entire two hours chasing ghosts, and caught just five waves. Kevin was on fire, with his wave count into the double digits. I had a bad day with the Red Scorpion. The waves were essentially gutless big gobs of mush, but the Scorp spun out on the first wave I took, the fins for whatever reason didn't hold. On the second wave, I stepped on my leash (Big days, I wear a cord), third and fourth waves, I didn't even feel comfortable on the board. It felt like a whole different board than what I was used to. Just a crappy session. It wasn't any fun at all. I did talk to Liz, she is one of the Takayama riders, not sure if she is a team rider but she is pretty cool anyway.

38th St. Newport
Now I haven't surfed any jetties in Newport for a long time, at least since Paul moved to Hawaii. Today, I went down and found a parking spot, and paddled out at 38th st. First shift consisted of the groms, going for a session before school. Second shift could've well been the groms dads. Waves were definitely better than Sano yesterday. Hollow, with an occasional overhead barrel. I had a blast on the Red Scorpion. The lefts were coming in pretty consistently for the first hour and I scored several hollw lefts, placing my arm in the barrell (and filling the armsuit with water in the process) just for fun. I got maybe 8 or nine solid fun waves, and a host of smaller fun waves. I love Red Scorpion again.

Donald Takayama Scorpion 5'6" Quad at Lowers

Kassia Meador and Donald Takayama at the retail store

My Favorite surfer

Takayama Scorpion Surftechs

Help me win a Takayama Scorpion Surftech!

Hey all Facebook users, Please vote for me and Frog House to win the West wetsuit contest. If I win, I get to spend $500 at TK's Froghouse, and get a new West suit! and help Frog House in the process.

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If I win, I can get a scorpion surftech and give you my unvarnished opinion on how it rides!


Surftech and Hawaiian Pro Designs will ship Takayama Scorpion Surftech models this summer in 5'10, 6'4" and 6'8 sizes in single, twin, 2+1 and quad fin configurations. Yup the board is going to support all those fin setups. Now my Scorpion is a 9'0 and it is really a great board. I am excited to see how these Scorpion Surftechs sell, and am eager to try one out. I hope to try one this summer if I can get my friend Michael to take me to his uncle's shop where I am sure a loaner model will be. If they work good, and I can't imagine that they wouldn't, I'd like to get my hands on a 6'8" model, hopefully in yellow or red. We'll see. I can always get a traditional foam board planed on the computer and finished shaped, but I am really interested in the Surftech model, after all, its the surfer and not the board.



There is a certain stink regarding Surftechs in California, the so-called purists don't like them and call them garbage yada yada yada. There is one particular craigslist surfboard salesman who really doesn't like them. Screw those idiots. Its a surfboard, and I don't care what people think regarding what kind of board I ride. I personally have only ridden two, an In the Pink and an Al Merrick Water Hog. I've ridden the ITP surftech at overhead Blackies as well as super fun Diamond Head. I could care less about the water hog.

Sano in Slomo

Kevin and I surfed Sano today. Drove the turbo benzo for the first time in a month. We were initially going to surf Church, but the Point looked good enough, so we paddled out. I rode the last longboard that I have, the Takayama Scorpion (aka Erki Sommer model). The waves were a bit on the soft side, typically for Sano, but there were waves from the South West that is in the water. We surfed for about two hours and it was pretty fun. The cool thing about Sano, especially when it is slow, is you can take off with four or so other people and not get in anyone's way. Kevin rode the Scorpion for the first time, he got several super long rights, and I think he enjoyed riding it. Water is warming up, around 62 degrees or so. And it was super clear, at least on the reef before the paddle out. A few hotties were in the water, including Tammy, an Indo friend of Mona. Also talked to the Buy my Bikes owner, he's had the shop for 32 years, which is a dang long time. No pics today.

Church

Trace and I surfed Church today. Kevin and I looked at the usual spots and they were not picking up the swells, though the cliffs had good size if a bit walled. Kevin couldn't go down south so I picked up Trace and we headed to Sano. Sano was a bit mushy when we got there so we walked to Church. Church was firing, not perfect, but it had size, with the sets going overhead. Dano was out on a shortboard. Most of the surfers were riding thrusters. Trace, me, and maybe three or four others were the only ones with longboards. I had a blast dropping in, cutting back and then just hitting the turbo benzo button. It was really pretty fun. The rights were pretty long, and if you caught the first of the set, you got pounded going back out. I then saw Dano drop in on another guy, full on snake drop, and the guy was spazzing at Dano for dropping in, and Dano finally pulled out of the wave. My last wave, a guy on a longboard dropped in on me, and while he got stuck on the top of the wave, I just started pumping up and down, up and down. I gained some speed but couldn't catch the guy, and I then headed it in. It was actually a pretty fun day. Got home around 12:30.