My first surfboard repair - (WIP)

[IanCaio]

Hey Billie, how are you doing man?

Well, there are certainly some things I would do different now, but the board worked fine! No problems related to the fin position, or delamination, except for a side fin on the picture, but nothing major.
One thing I did wrong: I "overfixed" the board, and it got quite heavy because of that. There were some "spiderweb" cracks, that didn't let water in, but for some reason I wanted to make sure it was reenforced, and I made sort of a gloss coat. Looking today I don't think those cracks needed attention, and this board is quite heavy compared to others. Didn't affect much how it glidded on waves, but probably made paddling way more exaustive.

Now I'm actually surfing another board I got from a friend. Had to make some small repairs on it, but it's wider and thicker than my previous one, which is still with me, but with lots of repairs to do again..
Since they are both in my ants house, and she wants to kill me everytime I use the resin on her garage (she is really sensible to the smell for some reason) the older board is currently retired for an unknown period .

Best luck with your boards fixing mate! Keeps us posted about it

The delam on the side fin. This one wasn't broken, so no problem besides it looking bad

My current board

My current board

[billie_morini]

hi Ian,
I'm enjoying life! Finally healthy enough to return to surfing this Summer, too. Got back into the sea with BANZ and my grom nephew. Hopefully, you saw BANZ' diary about 5his in our forum.

I know what you mean about "over-fixing" it. It happens. Your new board looks sweet.

We on Tsunami watch right now due to the 8+ Richtor quake today in Chile.

billie

[IanCaio]

Hey Billie, I just read the diary, sounds like it was a fun surf trip!
Glad to hear you are health and back to the water!

Thanks man, I'm enjoying how this board feels on water too. Despite being a little harder to duck dive deeper, it's much more stable when I'm up

I heard people could feel this earthquake here in Brazil! Hope this tsunami is just an false alarm. Where are you, in Cali? Stay safe bro!

[billie_morini]

Ian,
My home is in Santa Barbara, California. It's a wonderful place with magnificent beaches and mountains. The only bummer is we do not have much surf during the Summer. The five Channel Islands located 30 to 50 miles offshore block the Pacific Ocean waves in Summer.

The tsunami was barely noticed. It was a lot of hype. I do not know if this happens in your country, but the meteorologists and media over-hype any negative weather and quake related information. My buddy and I were hoping for surf. We didn't get it.
billie

[IanCaio]

Didn't know summer was weak on waves in California! But I bet when it's on you have lots of good options there. Mushy waves, hollow waves, point breaks, big surf, just name it! And the vibe there, I don't know. Maybe I'm just watching too much movies about Cali!
I'm still working my way to get to live somewhere on the coast after college. Is it that crazy that while people are usually worried about the payment they will get or how big the companies they'll work on are, I'm usually thinking about how good the waves are around?
I mean, I'm not going to earn a living from surfing, but I want to make it part of my life, you know? Tough life decisions being made, but I guess we all get to those at some point. Enough deep talk for today!

I couldn't notice if summer had worse waves than winter, but I guess the waves on winter here were a little bigger more frequently. There's also an island offshore, but it doesn't block a specific swell direction, and its effect on surf gets smaller the farther you go away on the coast.

Well, the media loves to make some sensacionalism, but I'm not sure if I would be that excited to surf waves coming from a tsunami anyways

[billie_morini]

Ian,
it's not crazy to relocate near surf following Uni. The almighty dollar (or Real) rules many people, but not all. Some guys go to the mountains to be close to skiing following Uni. Some move to the desert for more motorcycle riding. Others move to the wide open space so they can have horses. A small percentage of students that complete their degrees in Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz decide to stay. There are not many jobs and careers are not so good. But, they remain for the intangible things related to living and life quality. We moved to Santa Barbara to be near surf. It has crimped my career, but I do not care. When we decided to move from NorCAL to be closer to surf, I only looked for a job in San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. Santa Barbara offered a job first. So, we are here.

Most of California receives Summer waves. It's just here that our waves are blocked by the Channel Islands. In Summer, we drive 30 to 90 miles to find surf to the south or north. The surf near the northern California border in Humboldt County is always cold and fierce. While most of us in California look for waves large enough to surf on, the guys in Humboldt County look for waves small enough to surf. When these guys go to Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Orange County and San Diego, it is like a picnic for them.
billie

[IanCaio]

Thanks Billie,
It's a little rare, but always reassuring, to see other people that think the way I do. Makes me feel less like I'm making a mistake, since I'm kinda going against the flow. Maybe it's part of the mentality of most people that start studying enginnering, but usually my friends are thinking about growing, getting more money. I just feel my life will be a little empty if I let myself be reallocated to wherever a company thinks is best, when the place I want to be is at my reach. Less career opportunities, but I don't know, it just feels worth trying on my mind. I'm about to do a public tender for working at the docks, earning a enginner intern salary (maybe even a little less), but getting a start point you know?
Good to know I'm not alone on my line of thinking!

I believe Cali is cold already, can only imagine how much colder Humboldt County is!
Here there are mostly breaks that work at S/SE swells and breaks that works better at E swells. I usually surf the ones that take S/SE swells because they are closer (sometimes I get to go a little further, like 20 miles, when the closest breaks are too weak). The ones that takes E swells are more constant (open sea breaks) but quite far or across some crazy trails (about 4h by foot, 1:30h by motorcycle + a sore arm, and chances you might fall on the dirt).
So Humboldt County folks are running from the big waves and you Cali guys are running towards them?
Never been to the states, but if I go (and that seems a little more possible now, since my sister just moved there after she earned a scholarship) California seems like a "must go" place to visit. Someday, who knows?