Surf Talk Guru

Congratulations to Dan and Ollie for getting the props they deserve in charging the local big wave reef that produces the Monster Slab! A few Santa Cruz heavyweights went out with these local chargers who showed them how tow surfing is done at this little-known Oregon hot spot.

All their years of hard work, putting in the money and effort are finally paying off. Way to represent! Check out these links to TransWorld Surf for pics and YouTube for the video.

Tow surfing season is here! The fall swells have been monstrous and the weather’s been sweet. Since tow surfing is an up-and-coming sport, not a lot of people have experience with it. Before you go out, take a lesson from your local shop. It will be worth the price because this is your life we’re talking about. Before you go out on your own, make sure you have all the equipment necessary to ensure the safe return and good time of you and your partner. Here is a checklist of equipment and other items needed for tow-in surfing:

jet ski/personal water craft

hatch and seat straps

rescue sled

quick release tow rope with handle

bow tow rope

tow board

tow fins

foot straps

tool kit for PWC with spare parts in case of breakdown

marine radio or cell phone

wetsuit

booties

life jackets (PFDs)

gloves

helmet or hood, depending on conditions

Photo by Dexter Phoenix, Salem-News.com

From all accounts the 2009 Nelscott Reef Tow In Classic went well, with good weather and 30 foot waves. Adam Replogle and Alistair Craft, the Santa Cruz tow surfing team sponsored by Billabong, won 1st place for the third straight year. Ross Clarke-Jones of Australia and Ian Walsh of Hawaii took second. Ikaika Kalama and Kainoa Havanid of Hawaii were third. Jeff Kafka and Travis Payne of California were fourth.

Anthony Tashnick, a Maverick’s regular and another Santa Cruz resident, won the paddle-in competion. Ross Clarke -Jones of Australia came away with the Kingfish title, with high scores in the towing and paddling in competitions. He wore his PS+ Cypher Heat Vest to stay warm on the long ski rides.

The day for the Nelscott Reef Tow In Classic and Big Wave Paddle-In has been set in (sand)stone for Thursday, October 22, 2009. The report is for up to 17 foot swells at 15 second intervals. That’s gonna be big! Participants might want to bring their Quiksilver Electric Heat Vest to wear under their suits because the air temp is going to be in the 40’s and it gets cold riding those skis.

The repeat winning team for 2007 and 2008 of Adam Replogle and Alistair Craft is interestingly not on the list of confirmed participants in this year’s event. Neither are Jeff and Josiah Schmucker, the Aussie father and son team whose debut performance earned second place in 2008. That could have something to do with the $1000 entry fee and the small amount of prize money. It looks like so far, the only local surfers competing this year are Jeremy Rasmussen and Tom Miller for Nelscott Reef Surf Shop. Big name pros coming to Lincoln City are Tom Carroll, Brad Gerlach, and Mike Parsons. Garrett McNamara, a participant in years past, is injured.

Big wave tow-in surfing is the epitomy of extreme surfing, but it’s not your only option. Thanks to improved technologies, you can surf in the coldest parts of the globe, varying your exposure to new waves in new places during different seasons. Xcel wetsuits of at least 5/4mm and Quiksilver Heat Vests will keep you warm if you’re looking to access new waves this winter.

The main advantage to going for colder waters is the lack of crowds. Unlike Hawaii or California, cold water peaks don’t attract just any Joe Schmo who wants to crowd the lineup for easy surfing without a wetsuit. They attract dedicated surfers who are willing to go to the extreme to find the best waves.

Typhoon Choi-Wan’s gift of long interval groundswell and huge waves this weekend on our coast is a real treat for those of us who’ve been biding our time on longboards all summer. The waves are going to get big. Local tow surfers are stoked up about this coming El Nino winter and there are plenty more of these big wave weekends coming up, all the way from this fall to next spring.

There are only a handful of tow-in surfers in Oregon. If you’ve always wanted to try towing in and riding the big ones, but don’t know anyone who does it, you should take a lesson in tow-in surfing. A tow-in surfing lesson would give you the basics and let you practice all the skills: driving the jet ski in the surf, dropping off, picking up, and of course, riding huge waves. You’d be able to find out if you love it, or if it’s not for you. But either way, it would be the experience of a lifetime.

When most people think of tow in surfing they think of giant waves and the worlds most hard core big wave riders searching for the biggest wave ever ridden. This is only one face of the exciting sport of towin surfing. Another aspect of tow surfing that I think often gets overlooked is small wave tow surfing.

By using a waverunner to pull a surfer into a wave you gain a significant advantage over paddling in with your arms. The waverunner allows you to catch waves over a much greater area, get into the wave earlier and ride more waves during a surf session. However, learning to drive a waverunner in the surf is a skill in and of itself. In order to get the basics and set yourself up to be succesful, a tow in surfing lesson where you are taught to drive the waverunner is a must.

As the winter weather kicks up the action in the Pacific Nortwest, the surf scene takes on a different look as well. Beginners, tourists and longboards are seen less and big wave surfers, tow in surfers and waverunners begin to appear.

Regardless of how strong of a paddler you are, it is just not possible to make it outside when the swell is much more than 10ft. This can leave you standing on the beach with perfect conditions and nowhere to surf. If you find yourself wishing you could make outside to those larger waves, consider a tow in surfing lesson.

I often get asked about installing foot straps on a surfboard. In order to turn a surfboard into a tow surfing board you must use foot strap insert boxes, these boxes run about $5 each and you either need 3 if you want to set the tow board up to go only one stance (goofy or regular) or 4 if you want the tow board to be set up both stances stances (goofy and regular) .

This is because the front foot needs 2 insert boxes since the foot strap is set up at an angle straddling the stringer. The back foot only needs one insert because the foot strap is set up parallel to the stringer.