13 foot of Wood: July 2008

Hello everybody,

Well the Olo has finally made it to welly. On Sunday morning Blunt kindly drove over the hill and met me at Lyall Bay.
I had initially intended to head over to Titahi bay where it was a nice clean three foot, but as there were some perfect one footers at Lyall bay I decided to save us the drive and head there. As it turned out conditions were perfect for a first attempt at riding the Olo.

After Blunt handed over the board I headed out for a surf. It was waist height at best but it was clean and there was nobody else out.
The first thing I noticed was that the board paddles well. It feels very much at home in the ocean. I had no problem finding the sweet spot, which is always a good sign with an unfamiliar board. The next thing I noticed was how much the board flexes when you go over a wave. It was slightly alarming at first but I quickly got used to this phenomenon.
Anyway within thirty seconds of paddling out a nice little one footer came my way and after a bit of difficulty turning the board I was up and riding. I really didn't know what to expect as I haven't ridden even a mini mal for twenty years, but the board seemed to want to be ridden so I just stood up, trimmed and let it do the rest. Stoked

Feeling good about life at this stage I paddled over to second peak and caught a beautiful 1.5 footer. The board trimmed sweetly and next thing I knew I was moving about twice as fast as would be possible on my shortboard on the same wave. I decided to adopt the "Duke" stance and stand upright with my arms hanging loosely.
The board just needed the slightest change in weight to change trim and I managed to make it right across to the other bank and all the way to the beach.
I caught a few more waves in the same fashion until my friend Mads paddled out. Mads had a go on the board using more of a Roy style, which my girlfriend reckons was more functional than the "Duke". I guess it makes sense since Roy made the board.

Today I split from work at lunch and went back down to Lyall bay with the board. The swell was more like one to two foot today and it seemed to handle the conditions well.
A guy called Karl who makes timber boards had a go. Karl employed a bit of a Roy style as well so there must be something in it. As for myself I caught one 2.5 footer and the board seemed to hit a real sweet spot and started to glide beautifully. I managed to achieve this on a couple of other waves and it was a great feeling. I couldn't help but think about what it would be like in something a bit bigger.

Some thoughts regarding the board.

1/ I reckon that given a bit of practice it would be possible to ride the board in some pretty big waves. With the pin tail, all it's rocker and big fin I reckon it could take on just about anything. However I wouldn't want to be wearing a legrope if I wiped out. It would probably rip your leg off. No leggie was fine in 1-2 foot but in 8 foot a leggie would be necessary and that would be downright dangerous. The other consideration is the danger to other surfers. Once again it was fine in 1-2 foot, but a stray board in a crowded lineup could kill somebody. I'm guessing that Roy has a solution to this. My solution today was not to let go of the board, which worked well, but I surf without a leggie all the time so it wasn't that difficult for me.

2/ The thing paddles so well that there was no need to duck-dive. It simply crashes through the waves. I reckon I'd happily paddle across Cook Strait on it. Catching waves was easy as it was almost possible to paddle as fast as the wave was moving in!

3/ You need to plan ahead when you go to catch a wave. The old swing round and one paddle take off under the lip would seem to be impossible. Lyall bay is great since the waves are well defined and give you lots of time to sus them out. To turn the board round too catch a wave it is necessary to sit right on the tail and lift the entire length out of the water. probably just comes down to practice this one.

4/ The board has heaps of momentum but is not very agile. Forget about stalling it. I'd imagine in really hollow waves you'd just end up racing infront of the barrel. Maybe it's calling is somewhere where stalling isn't necessary like... Teahupoo!

5/ The wind was a bit of a problem. With so much of the nose poking out of the water the offshore was slowing the board down a bit at times. However, in saying this once it was trimming pretty much nothing was stopping it!

6/ Transporting and storing such a long and heavy board is a pain. In summer I like to run down the bush track to Houghton bay and go surfing. This would be impossible with the olo. It's either live right on the beach or use the car. The board wont fit in the car so you have to put it on the roof which is an exercise in itself. The board takes up the entire length of my lounge. I have to do a three point turn to get it through the front door!

7/ The board is truely a work of art. The craftmanship is without fault. I felt honoured to be riding it. I particularly like the sound it makes when you open the bung after a surf.

In conclusion riding the olo is pretty much a completely different activity to what most people consider surfing to be. It requires a complete re-think, and a new set of skills. I am a firm believer that with a bit of practice it would be possible to do practically anything with any board. In the case of the olo I reckon it would handle somewhere like Pipe. You'd just need to be very skilled and figure out how not to lose the board. There probably is a way to stall it, and there probably is a way to take off late. The problem for me is that my philosophy has always been to surf the shortest board possible on any give day, so basically I'm coming from completely the opposite end of the surfing spectrum than the olo!

I reckon some of those North Shore water men would be all over it at somewhere like Sunset. That's something I'd love to see. I'd be happy to take on some of the mad spots round here but I reckon Roy wouldn't be too happy about the inevitable demolition job on the rocks!

Anyway I'm well stoked with my experience and I'd like to take the oppertunity to thank Roy for being such a good sport and allowing me to have a crack. I hope Roy understands that my criticisms are more due to my lack of skill rather than any deficiency in the board. Like I said, with a bit of practice anything's possible.