Hawaii Update

It was passed on to me that Gmac was picking the board and fin up, and would insert the fin in himself..
and I guess surf from there, hopefully some news on the next swell.

Here's the latest from Haleiwa Bill:

( email a week ago )

Hey Roy, as always things move at a certain pace here (Hawaiian time as they call it....lol). As previously mentioned I picked the board from Garrett last week and its now with guy who is doing the fin. I am scheduled to pick it on Monday afternoon. Thankfully we have not missed any quality days Pipe, plus Gmac is still out of town anyway. But he called again and said he is looking forward to riding it when he returns. Wave wise we have not missed anything because yesterday was the only Pipe was big enough, but they ran the HIC Pipe contest so he could not have surfed that day anyway. The next swell is due mid week and then another a few days after that.

My game plan (unless you have other plans?) is to focus on Gmac riding the board at big Pipe asap. He is stoked to do so, but like us he is crazy busy. So its like I have to be "on call" and just be ready at moments notice for when he wants to ride it. Based on the upcoming swells and schedules I feel confident we can accomplish this within the new two weeks.

Take care and talk to you, Aloha................Bill

fin still to go in

Update is that the fin has been in Hawaii for nearly two weeks but isn't attached to the board yet. Garrett still has the board, minus fin. Fin is due to go in SOON, we hope. ~ Roy

New Fin on its way to Hawaii

Unfortunately the board lost the fin, which had been cracked at the base for several months, and repaired. We have been working full time to make a new fin ( with more robust glassing ) it is nearly ready and will be sent on the express courier two days from now. Bill Ward from Haleiwa has generously offered to arrange for the new fin to be installed, thanks Bill.

Here's the new fin under construction today, it's identical to the original fin except that we are using stronger cloth and have improved the wood layup.



Ready after 3 days and nights of intense work. This one is definitely not going to snap, it's very strongly built. The new Black Patu fin was picked up by NZ Post Express courier at 1:06 PM today, a fateful moment in the history of surfing. The parcel with the new fin is on its way via Express courier, eta 2 to 4 days. . . we hope it's two days as there's a big swell due soon ~ Roy Stewart

Garrett surfs Pipe

All images within this post on video of Garrett and the Olo are covered by international copyright to photographer Sean Davey, permission granted for single use on this blog at www.13footofwood.blogspot.com only, images and video are not to be screen shotted, copied, distributed or uploaded to any other websites/forums or magazines.

words by Sean Davey: Garrett McNamara called me up today and told me to meet him down and Pipe because he had a very special surfboard that needed to be documented. He rocks up with this 13 foot wooden creation with a fin that was as big as a mans head and it had so much rocker in it, it looked a little like it belonged to Dr Seusse. A New Zealand shaper by the name of Roy Stewart crafted this amazing board and apparently, before it made it to Hawaii, the board spent a year traveling (and surfing) through New Zealand, on behalf of the community there.

Certainly Garrett had no problem making the board work out at 6 foot Backdoor and Pipe. Till the fin broke off anyway. I reckon he should paddled it back out and seen how it would go finless as well.

Garrett McNamara at Pipe

The game plan ... Garrett McNamara has stepped up to the plate to ride the 13foot of wood first at Alii (Haleiwa) tonight, and then tomorrow at Pipe.

Today the swell is filling in nicely and will be decent but not huge for his first go out. Then tomorrow Pipe should be a solid 6-8 feet (maybe bigger?) and give the board its first REAL pipe challenge.
The next swell is already hitting the bouy's (7 ft @ 17 sec)

closer to the water

A couple of Images missed in Neal Miyake's post

new caretaker

Mr. Bill Ward of Haleiwa is the next caretaker of the 13 foot of wood. He is at the beach every single morning, and is not too busy to be an effective caretaker.

Pipe someday, but surf everyday, is the new direction... keep watching this space for updates on sessions in the future.

(pic above, Surfscab from Dunedin, Marchl 08)
just to wet the current 'in-water' picture drought

Waimea was not big enough

Hootski 29Nov08 12noon ... and the hightide at dawn was not helping, so D.D. asked me to meet him at Pipeline to scope the conditions for a possible 13 footer attack on Pipe.

When we arrived only three bodyboarders doing the pre-dawn dealio, then Sponge, Layne Davey and others started showing, before we could go get the board from Randy's 20 guys out and D.D. decides to take his trusty pipe slayer out. I tried to convince others to give it a go, no takers.
Outer reefs are popping and Pipe was rather unforgiving with the meaty high tide and light, "cold" sideshores.
Contest is on at Sunset so I went up there to snap a few after snagging some gems at Pipe. Sunset was even less perfect.
So I'm home, eating, and waiting for the phone to ring so we can get the FP in the water today. I do not have the skills or balls needed.
Hello, where are all the stunt men when you need them? Oh, ripping on they're proven equipment just like their sponsors pay them to do.

Randy Rarick

I had a chance to take the board out to Sunset today. It was about 3-4' Sunset Point, really clean and a couple 5-6' sets came thru. I got about a half a dozen waves and made every one. Betty Depolito shot video and I haven't seen it, but she will pass it on to me later. Here is my report:

"We called off the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing and the Roxy Pro at Sunset Beach, due to inconsistent, small surf. With a big swell predicted for end of the week we figured, we'd wait for bigger surf to get the contests rolling. I figured this would be a great day to try the 13 footer Hawaii Challenge Board. The conditions were ideal, with light easterly offshore winds and fun 3-4' surf, with the occasional 5-6' set. After shooting a couple set shots at the contest site, I loaded up the board and was getting ready to go home and get ready to head on out to Sunset Point to try the board. Betty Depolito of "Wahine Blue" TV show, saw me with the board and asked if she could shoot it in action. I said, by all means and she tagged along as I headed back to my house to get the board ready for a test spin. We did a little preliminary intro shots and then down to the beach to wax up and head on out.

I was pleasantly surprised on how well the board paddled and while it wasn't over buoyant, it carried my weight well. I weigh in at around 210 lbs. (95 Kg) and am 6 '1", so it was an easy paddler, although the extra nose rocker did push a bit of water. When you hit an on coming wave, it tended to bounce and buckle a bit, but nothing too extreme. Upon reaching the line-up, I got stares and the usual "What is That!?" comments from everyone and luckily I knew most of the crew out there and the rest of the crowd were surfers practicing for the comp, so being the Triple Crown Director, they weren't going to give me any grief! First thing I noticed, is that you had to time yourself to swing the board around and begin paddling. It took me a couple waves and missed take-offs, to realize you have to plan your swing and go a bit earlier than normal to get it going. Once you started to paddle for a wave, the inertia of the wood construction would kick in and after a few initial attempts to get up to speed, once you were going you were fine.

My first wave was a small one to just feel it out and I got a nice drop and moved forward and the whole thing bogged down and almost came to a standstill. I realized right off the bat, you had to stay aft of center and try keep the rocker up. There is a planning spot about a third up from the tail that you had to stay in, because as mentioned if you moved forward it bogged and if you move aft on the tail, it would stall out. The extreme rocker felt just that, way extreme. I then proceeded to get a few mid-size set waves and found if you dropped in there was no way to get any projection out of the turns. You had to angle in and just pull the angle tighter, as there was no way to actually "turn" the board. The fin seemed to act more as a "rudder" than a projection tool and it seemed for how pulled the tail was, it would seem a high aspect ratio fin would of been a better choice than the one with so much area.

Once I got the feel of the board and the limitations of the turning potential, I concentrated on getting a couple set waves where I would set my line, try to stall into the sections and let the wave push me out. Few stuck behind the section attempts and then I finally got it. Made a couple fun ones including one with a bit of a tubular section to it and I'm sure the still shots were prettier than the video!

After about half an hour I felt I had it as wired as I was going to get on my first session and contentedly paddled over to Val's Reef and got a left all the way to the beach. All in all it was a fun session.

My impressions: Gorgeous board and awesome construction technique. Everyone who saw the board loved it. As for the shape, as a shaper myself, I think Roy did a great job, although I personally would of changed some aspects of the design. For Hawaii, you don't need that much rocker. Maybe some nose lift to keep from pearling, but the extreme rocker didn't fit in the curve of the wave and just seemed to slow it down. While the soft rails in the nose are very forgiving, to extend it all the way to the tail makes if feel like an old '60's tanker. I would add some rovings and build up an edge in the tail so that you get some release off the tail. As of now, with the soft rolled rail in the tail, the water wraps over the rail and that combined with the extreme tail lift, just makes it slow down. There is simply no release in the tail. The fin as mentioned above is more area than necessary for the tail width and just tends to create additional drag. Template wise, I would of moved the wide point forward to allow more tail rail, which would of improved the "run" aspect of the board, as now with the curve in the back, it just cuts down what "turning" radius there is. The rocker is way too extreme and you could cut off two feet of nose and it would not hamper the performance of the board in any way.

Over all summation: What a fun board! I love trying new stuff and my hat is off to Roy Stewart for making such a unique and interesting board. I have a number of wood boards and the feel of inertia and the glide of wood is so much nicer than foam. If you look at other guys playing with wood, such as Tom Wegener and his alaia's, Rastovich and his varied quiver, and a number of others experimenting with organic and wood construction,it is so cool that guys are willing to spend the time to come up with various craft. This particular board, as mentioned was fun to ride. The only problem is that I had to make it work. It didn't make it easy for me. I doubt I would want to take it out in anything much hollower than what I had it in, since as I mentioned above, there was no way I could get any drive off the bottom. On a big facy wave it would be fun, but the idea of taking this out to Pipeline would be a scary thought in my opinion. But, I'm a Sunset rider and not a Pipe guy, so we'll see if we can find someone who is game to give it a go. Maybe someone like Garrett McNamara would be a willing subject?
To sum it up, I will pass this on to others to experience another aspect of riding unique equipment and while they may not like it, or may not think it is the ultimate ride, if they at least have fun giving it a go like I did, then Roy Stewart has accomplished his mission.

Aloha from the North Shore
Randy Rarick
Executive Director of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, surfer, shaper, traveler, producer of the Hawaiian Islands Vintage Surf Auction and all around surfing entrepreneur

Randy Rarick Sunset Beach

It made it to Sunset Beach yesterday...

Hootski 27Nov08
Randy Rarick wants to ride the 13 footer at Sunset Beach tomorrow morning, Thanksgiving...
My camera is ready for some dawn patrol action.
I may have to give it go as well.
Word is we will be going leash-less, but we might have PWC back-up?

Hootski 27Nov08 2.27pm
he surfed Sunset Point, scoring a bunch of fun waves, including one tube ride.
His report to me included the fact he asked Mark Healey to ride it at Pipe. "Only over 10 feet, when I can get in early and build up a head of steam", was the madman's reply.
The 13 footer may ride Waimea Saturday. I'm not naming names yet, but you would not believe me anyhow, so we will just wait and see.
Hawaiian time is slow, but when it happens, it REALLY happens. Let's make some history, shall we?
Banzai Betty video will be forthcoming.

Sunset Beach action?

Hootski 25Nov08 10am - Waves got bigger and better than expected on the north shore today.
Never had any time to check on the 13 footer. Has it been delivered to Randy for possible Sunset Beach action?
Looks like the big (20 foot) swell this weekend will have rainy, kona weather. So north shore probably not so hot.
Eastside likely epic with big wrap?

paddle out at Laniakea

Bud808 22Nov08
Neal 'sponge' Miyake picked up the board at Hawaiian's place, 'borrowed' a leash off another board and is about to paddle out at Laniakea. Pretty heavy weather all night into this morning, flash flood watch, blazing wind & rain.... the surf out at Lanis is overhead but very mixed up & stormy. The fact that it's a Saturday morning with swell on the buoys, and no one is out at Lanis, says a lot.

sponge 22Nov08
Gotta run, but took it out at Lani's. It was ok.
To recap: New Zealand renegade shaper Roy Stewart has boasted that his “Future Primitive 13” longboard design would do exceptionally well at Pipeline.” Lots of animated discussion was thrown out first on the Swaylocks.com (surfboard design) message board, spilling over into the Surfermag.com (general surf babble) message board. Stewart did not endear himself with the online community (or for some of the offline community for that matter). However, he created a board he calls Olo Hikoi that is truly unique if nothing else. It has been making rounds throughout New Zealand, and now has been shipped to Hawaii to be surfed, possibly at the Pipeline. Where it will go after this is anybody’s guess.
Early on, I dismissed the board as hype. Stewart had disparaging remarks in many of his responses on the various message boards (he even called me a booger--the nerve!). Yeah, I took it a little personal, but the reality is I took the whole thing way too seriously (after all, it’s only the Internet for goodness sake). So I decided to just fark it and see for myself.
The first order of the day was to locate the darned board. I flew back from San Diego on a Friday night and decided to just do something already and ride it the very next day (11/22/08). I knew “Hawaiian” (David Kalama) had it, so I had to go to the Haleiwa contest (Rip Curl Pro) to find him. Incessant rain, side-onshores, and overcast skies didn’t make it the prettiest of days, but at least there was a little bit of chaotic size in the water. Waves were overhead.

Hootski (aka Scott “Hooter” Hartvigson) told me that Hawaiian usually hangs around by the blue tent. I was like, “What blue tent?” Of course when I got there, there was a tent that was emblazoned in large letters “BLUE TENT CREW.” Lol! Hawaiian was actually working security at the contest at the time, and when I found him he didn’t have the board. But he generously let me go to his place to borrow it.

When I first saw the board bag, I had to chuckle to myself. Not so much the size of the bag that had to accommodate the 13 feet of wood, but the color was a blood red, just like some pictures of shaper Stewart’s wetsuit.
The bag had all kinds of messages scrawled over it, with board riders providing their experiences with the board. Truly, this board had some history. Also included were “Helpful Hints” for riding the board, even identifying the infamous sweet spot location.

I “borrowed” a leash from one of Hawaiian’s other boards, then somehow shoved the board in my little mini-SUV, with a third of the board sticking out the back. Headed off through the rain to Laniakea, hopefully for a bit of fun.

Pulling the board out of the bag was pretty exciting. It was so fricken long; it just kept coming and coming out. When the entire board was revealed, I gasped openly. The wood craftsmanship was amazing, with diagonal strips of wood making up the deck and bottom and incredible detail on the rails. Roy said he spent around 200 hours to create the board, using approximately 400 pieces of bandsawn wood.

As for the shape, well here are my honest opinions. The wide point seemed to be far back on the board, which I found surprising. The board tapered into a sharp tail that looked like it could skewer an unfortunate rider. The fin was like a full boat rudder, and the rocker was extreme to say the least. The rails were rounded all the way around the board--no down turned rails near the tail. Looked like turning the board was going to be a bitch.

Waxing the board was an endeavor in itself. I like lots of wax on my board, but 13 feet is “choke” surface area to cover. Left the last two feet unwaxed--figured I wouldn’t be doing any noseriding on it (Stewart said it wasn’t designed for noseriding).

As I was prepping to jump in, the board definitely drew some attention even in the sparsely populated parking lot and beach. One guy asked if it was a paddleboard. Others marveled at the wood detail. I just wanted to get it in the water and ride it.

But even walking it to the water took quite a physical effort. Think the board weighs around 40 pounds. I’m used to my light fish and bodyboard. Felt pretty wide too (maybe 24 inches?), so hefting it under one arm was difficult.

The board paddled surprisingly well. You could really feel the board flex as it negotiated the choppy conditions. Because of the extreme rocker, I think it paddled better sitting further back of center, letting that rocker bounce through the waves.

Finding that sweet spot to paddle was difficult. I’m just used to visualizing a certain amount of board real estate in front of me, and riding a board that was so extremely long took time to get used to.

Admittedly, I was very tentative in taking off on the board. The waves were sort of chaotic, so it was difficult lining up the waves. I didn’t want to get caught inside with so much wood, so I sat further out than I normally would, hoping to catch some peaks that swung wide.

One huge challenge for me was simply turning around to paddle for a wave. We do this without thinking even with a standard longboard. But with this behemoth, it took a lot of effort and technique. The wave period was relatively short at around 11 seconds, and I found that once going over one wave in the set, I didn’t have enough time to 180 the board towards shore and start paddling. By then the next wave was right under me.
Disappointingly, I only caught a handful of waves. Most were lucked into after missing one wave and having my board already in position. As for the rides, well, the board design style hearkens back to boards of the past. And to me, the board rode like a board from the 60’s. The really neat thing was that the momentum that the board built up could really be used advantageously. And once you set a line, the board truly flies; maybe not 37.5 mph, but fast nonetheless.

Agree with Roy’s suggested sweet spot for riding the board. It seemed to work better while standing towards the back of the board. I tried running to the nose once, and it felt like the board bogged down, possibly due to the extreme rocker (Stewart stated that the board wasn’t meant for noseriding).

The board actually turned better than I expected. It won’t turn on a dime like some of my old Aipa longboards, but I didn’t expect it to. I really didn’t put it through its paces when it comes to extreme bottom turns and carves. Someone with better surfing prowess can better check this out.

I had one “wipeout” that was pretty amusing. Took off on a jack-up that stood up on me (must’ve been a combo swell peak). I planted my feet pretty well on the deck, angling down the wave face. But as I headed down, I felt a little off kilter--must've hit some chop or something. I bailed earlier than I should have, then took the tumble. I totally relaxed, knowing that the leashed board would soon be pulling. Sure enough, I got dragged many yards underwater as the wave took the board towards shore. Lucky thing I didn’t break Hawaiian’s leash!

The current was pretty strong, so I found myself paddling back in and towards Kahuku all the time. There was one other guy riding at the main peak, while I sat at the second peak. A few others came and left, but for the most part it was a nice, lonely session. In the end, I caught way fewer waves than I wanted to, but still had fun. I admit that this was a novelty session.

Coming out of the water, someone actually honed in on me, driving straight at me in the parking lot, asking about the board and stating that he read the Surfermag BB. I later surmised he probably read Bud808’s post a couple hours prior (I told Buddy my intentions just before jumping in) and the guy may have stopped by Lani’s to observe the impending “train wreck.” Even Hootski stopped by (unbeknownst to me at the time) to watch a few of my rides. Ah, the power of the Coconut Wireless.

I have talked to a couple of others who have ridden the board, and suffice to say they had their own opinions on the board.

Would I ride it at Pipeline? Well, although I haven’t surfed the place too much, I’ve bodyboarded and taken water photography out there for many years. I know Pipeline very well. The board could probably manage out there, but I don’t think it would perform there in waves of consequence. I definitely wouldn't do it at size (edited). Just saying.

Does the board have any special mana (power)? Internet babble and personality clashes aside, the passing around of this surfboard is pretty cool. It would be very interesting to chronicle the board’s continued journey. I’ve laid down my little chapter here, and also left my own message on the board bag. Ride it and read it for yourself.

Aloha Roy for your generosity. In the same breath, chill out and let your work speak for itself. Thanks also to Hawaiian for your generosity in being the unintended caretaker of the board. Looking forward to hearing about more exploits of the Olo Hikoi from others.

Aloha!
Neal “sponge/neosponge/neo” Miyake

P.S. I admit I dinged the tail! Didn't get a chance to fix it. Hootski, if you can patch it, I'd be stoked.

Thirsty Thursday

Hootski 20nov08
The 13 footer will be ridden on north shore several times today...Thirsty Thursday
PeterPopeKahapea 20nov08
I bet Bassy is going to HAVE TO DO an article on the Olo, just because ... it's stirr'd up so much
interest by YOU , folks.
- UPDATE, the board was not ridden today due to the weather and surf conditions.

First Surf - Charlie

I was the first person to ride the 13 foot board in Hawaii. I got mixed up in this project through a friend but mostly just picked up and delivered the board to the North shore. Randy Rarick received the board, took some pics and I got a cool tee shirt to boot. He was super busy with running the triple crown and I wasn't really able to explain all the hype about the board or any details on why it is even here. An intercontinental argument I think.

I actually never planned on riding the board at all because I didn't want to mess with the packing crate. But when I picked it up at the loading dock on  nov 13th, a fork lift with a pallet and a board bag on top was placed  beside my truck. My first thought was the board is going to be damaged from the trip. I placed the board in my truck and took a peek. Unzipped the board bag and an enormous fin was staring me down and it was in one piece. Got the board home and took it out of it's travel bag. The thing was beautiful, like nothing I had ever seen. It had so much rocker in it I though it possibly did get damaged in flight with faulty stacking. Everything looked good though, it even had a small thin layer of fresh wax on the deck. The board bag it came in had some helpful riding directions and vent use on it that actually helped.  It also had comments from its world travels with the positive and negative experiences encountered.

So I closed the deck vent and took it out in small glassy surf. I would have taken it to the outside reef about a mile out but the board paddled inefficiently. I weigh 225lbs and I have never been so emerged in water while paddling before. Instinctively I moved forward to make the board paddle better but it got worse. Remembering the direction on the board bag, I moved back to where I found the efficient paddling position. I was still pretty submerged while paddling and my feet were at the tail of the board. 
I scratched the outer reef idea and just caught the inside reef waves about 100 yards off shore. It was heavy, hard to turn in the water to catch the wave. I played with it for 20-30 minutes and had fun. I think I was too heavy for this board. I understand surfboard design and unusual construction methods and the wood construction is something to behold. I can really appreciate the beauty and durability. It is jaw dropping nice.  The design totally confuses me though. I have reviewed the 13 foot blog and still can't pretend to fully understand the design. I will be looking forward to the feedback from the others riding it in big waves. I got to sign the bag, meet some new people and ride a very unique surfboard. I think I made out more on this deal more than Roy did from any of my help.
Aloha,
Charlie
Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

posted by Roy in SurferBB - I just got some pictures in my email box of a good looking fellow with the 13 footer at the triple crown venue. Charles Price, who is the man responsible for negotiating with US customs at Honolulu and paying the hefty import duty bill.
Many thanks to Charles, it was and is an incredibly generous contribution, for which we will be eternally grateful. Cheers mate !