The BIA is Coming to Town

The BIA will be making a stop at Manhattan Beach this Saturday next Sunday. Come down and support the BIA and bodyboarding.

Here's the entry form (thanks to Bran):

Branline

Since I had a late start this morning, I didn't have much time to decide what spots I was going to check. Luckily, Bran was on it from the early hours of the morning and provided me with the surf report for most of the local spots via text messaging. His up-to-the-minute surf texts made Surfline's reports look like yesterday's news (Hey, Bran, this could be a possible business venture!). Based on Bran's surf texts, I decided to skip most of the local spots altogether and head elsewhere.

The one local spot I did check had its moments. Unfortunately, they were few and far between.

Marineland Reduxed

The last time I saw as much marine life as I saw this morning, I was at the Aquarium of the Pacific. I saw a bunch of dolphins and even a whale. The marine life added a nice touch to an already beautiful California morning.

Decent surf (especially before the high tide), offshore winds, relatively uncrowded for a holiday, and beautiful weather were all in the hand that Socal dealt this morning. I'm pretty stoked all in all.


I wonder what kind of footage JY got on his GoPro cam from this point of view

Dirty and Stinky

If I were to blindfold you, take you to the spot that I checked out this afternoon, and then ask you to guess where you were, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if you said a trash dump site. Disturbingly, you'd be somewhat correct. If you know what spot I'm talking about, you know what I mean.

Anyway, after checking Sal's blog this afternoon, I decided to check out this spot since it rarely breaks and when it does there's usually a nice little side wave that develops (what can I say, I have a soft place in my heart for side waves). The waves weren't as nice as they were when Sal was on them, but I was delighted nonetheless to see the side wave working (refer to the soft-place-in-my-heart comment above).


A small, and I do mean small, a-framer

If this side wave had a little more kick, you'd have a nice little launch pad

Eternal High Tide

Is it just my imagination or has the morning tide been super high every Saturday for the past few months? If it's not my imagination, you'd be hard-pressed to convince me, as the high tide was again in full effect this morning swamping out what would have been pretty decent surf.

Flashback: So You Want a Good Chuckle?

If you want a good chuckle, check out the following bodyboarding gear from the '90s:

A hard bodyboard. Think surfboard in the shape of a bodyboard. It consisted of a polyurethane foam core covered with a high-density foam outer shell, which was coated in a clear automotive polyurethane paint. Sounds more like materials you would use on a space shuttle than you would on a boogie board.


Do you really need a strap to carry your board from the beach's parking lot to the beach? Really? With board bags already available, I can't really think how this strap would be functional, especially since it's designed to fit around only one shoulder.


And you thought I was joking about florescent-colored wetsuits.


Basically channels that you stuck on the bottom of your board like a sticker.


No explanation needed for this product; just sit back and chuckle.

Flashback

Who doesn't enjoy taking a look back? Who doesn't enjoy laughing at the singularity of a bygone era (i.e. florescent-colored wetsuits). Who doesn't marvel at how things have changed? Who doesn't marvel at how things haven't changed? In short, who doesn't enjoy a little bit of nostalgia? I know I enjoy a flashback every now and then.

Uncrowded

When you're on your board, you want the line-up to be uncrowded so that there are more available waves. On the other hand, when you're behind the camera, you want the line-up to be crowded so that you have more picture taking opportunities. Based on that logic, I should have been on my board instead of behind my camera since there weren't a lot of people out in the line-up. Oh well, I was happy being behind the cam today.

As far as the surf: Decent size, lefts, rights, a corner here and there, a barrel more often than not. All in all, it looked pretty fun.

Gear Review: Churchill Makapuu Fins

Touted as the original swimfins, Churchill Makapuu fins, or simply Churchills, have been around since the 1930s. Can a swim fin that was designed almost 50 years before bodyboarding was even conceived match up with the modern designs of today's fins?

Yes and no. If you're looking for one of the most comfortable bodyboarding fins, yes. If you're looking for one of the most powerful bodyboarding fins, specifically in terms of thrust, no.

For me personally, the biggest pro of Churchills is their comfort. Due mainly to their super soft foot pocket, these fins are hands down the most comfortable fins that I have ever used. Other pros include good thrust, light weight, a design that works well for drop knee, and a great price point (they're one of the lowest priced bodyboarding fins on the market).

The only con that I found with Churchills is their drainage system. The drainage hole is located in the middle of the underside of the foot pocket. This design doesn't drain sand and pebbles as well as drainage systems that have their drainage holes at the bottom of the foot pocket. I mentioned earlier that Churchills aren't the most powerful fins. That's not necessarily a con though, since they do provide enough thrust to get the job done.

Although not the most powerful bodyboarding fins on the market, Churchills' pros make them solid bodyboarding fins that I definitely recommend.

Of note, but not necessarily part of the review, Churchills primarily come in a blue and yellow colorway. However, for about the past five years, Churchills have been released in limited edition colorways, with one new colorway being released each year. So far, all-green, all-black, black and orange, grey and blue, and black and lime-green colorways have been released. Additionally, other colorways are available in other parts of the world, namely Australia.

Also of note, Hubb edition Churchills are set to be released this year. From the initial photos I've seen, they feature built-in foot padding, ankle padding and fin tethers. I've also heard that the fin blade is stiffer than the original Churchills.



Churchills feature an asymmetrical "dolphfin design" which, according to their manufacturer, "gives you optimum power and acceleration for catching waves". It also features two types of rubber - a soft rubber for the foot pocket and a stiff rubber for the fin blade.


The only con I found with Churchills is the drainage system. With the drainage hole located in the middle of the underside of the foot pocket, sand and pebbles don't drain out as well as other drainage systems.

Gear Review

I'm a huge bodyboarding gear head. In fact, I love bodyboading gear almost as much as I love actually bodyboarding. I have more bodyboarding gear than I really need - which only reminds me that I don't have quite enough. Having bodyboarding gear in itself gets me stoked; actually using it is like, well, an added bonus. Furthermore, I'll analyze, reanalyze, and then re-reanalyze specs, only stopping once I know the specs like I know the back of my hand. Compulsive? I prefer passionate, actually.

I thoroughly enjoy blogging about my bodyboarding sessions. Unfortunately, however, I'm not able to bodyboard and then blog about it as often as I would like to due to other commitments. Since I can't blog as often as I'd like to about my bodyboarding sessions, I've decided to blog about bodyboarding gear in the form of gear reviews.

While blogging about bodyboarding gear will help me get my blogging fix, I'm also hoping it will provide a useful reference to those of you who are planning on buying the gear that I review.

In addition to reviewing bodyboarding gear, I'll also review other gear - like cameras - as they relate to bodyboarding.

While my reviews will be far from scientific and somewhat subjective as per my personal preferences, I'll try to be as consistent as possible with my criteria so that you can accurately gauge how my reviews relate to your personal preferences.