Heading West.

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Word from Mark Rogers who has been kind enough to offer board and lodgings to Phileas over Christmas. Alas it seems the poor fella hasn't been too lucky:

Happy new year to you.  

I'm gearing up to send Phileas west to San Diego tomorrow, so that it can try its luck with the Pacific El Nino wave season.  

The surf variables looked iffy yesterday, but I pulled the trigger & left pre-dawn with a couple of inches of snow on the ground to see if I could scrounge up a few waves.  A lumpy, building windswell, super high tide, fog, and sideshore winds apparently had other plans.  I checked & re-checked several spots, but it just wasn't in the cards, and honestly the fog was so thick that I didn't even get a decent picture of Phileas out at the point. 

Sometime you win some, sometimes you lose, but I'm bummed that I didn't get any decent waves on Phileas during its New England leg this winter.   

Thanks so much for the opportunity to host Phileas for a while.

The next contact that you gave me is:
Ken McKnight 

That's right... The name is Ken McKnight. Phileas is heading out to the Wild West.

ain_t_that_just_plain_beautiful__by_wild_west_nightfury-d7axehx.jpg

I believe the modern surf parlance is to say that "I'm frothing" over the next leg of the journey.

Cheers

G

A Quick CT Scan

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News from New England as Phileas shacks up with Mark Roger in Connecticut. Mark has been pretty under the weather of late but has found his fitness at just the right time it would seem:

"I'm feeling good and eyeing the surf forecast like a hawk for some rideable swell.  Can't wait & really looking forward to getting Phileas in the water soon!  

Attached are some photos that I took this weekend of Phileas with my wave sliding quiver of surfshapes.  I've had a great time for the last couple of years exploring these alternative crafts here at home in New England, as well as on my international travels to more exotic (& warmer!) waves.  

Wave sliding quiver (clockwise from Phileas):

Phileas - Needs no introduction

4th Gear Flyer Surf Mat - From Paul Gross in CA.  Noticeable weight difference between this mat & Phileas (Phileas being lighter).

Paulownia Paipo Board - Handmade (by me!) under the watchful eye of master craftsman Jon Wegener & the Grain Surfboards crew in Maine this year

Bodysurfing Handplane - Handmade by Tyler, a great travel board.

Brownfish Bodysurfing Handplane - From Brownfish in SD County, CA.  I've had this thing for years & years.....if this board could talk.....

Hawaiian Paipo Designs - Paipo board from Paul Lindbergh.  I can't even begin to describe how fast these things go.  Plenty of exploring left to do with this bad boy.

Handboard Sport V Model - Solid wood handboard from Kailua, HI

Hooking up with the Grain Surfboards crew and working with Jon Wegener in his wooden Paipo building class this fall has to be one of the highlights of my year.  What an incredible group of folks to learn from and enjoy some Maine waves & hospitality.  

Anyway, I hope that you're having a good week on the other side of the pond.  I hope to have some surf photos of Phileas for you soon.  

Mark"

Needs no introduction...

All we need now is the North Atlantic to play ball then. She’s done alright so far this winter so I’m hopeful.

Cheers

G

Goodbye from Jeremy

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So, it's with a heavy heart that Phileas moves on from her adventures in Montauk with Jeremy Grosvenor.  Some strange things have happened around there...

Not least, the formation of the Cult of Phileas.

Don't be at all surprised if you see Shamanic figures floating around the US East Coast wearing inflatable head dresses and chanting about "pelican glides". Jeremy assures me that these people are harmless.

Not all of what I just said then was true. Here's what Jeremy really had to say:

"Waves this 2014 A.D . U.S. Gratitude day.

The Mattress is great. The grop is A plus and no aroma.

The weight is perfect. The valve was hard to open with Lobster claw mitts on. Mattress very good dropping in and getting ahead of sections. Can stall and re gain speed fast.

After having my Voits fins since  2003 the heel straps broke on the first and second episode on the the Phileas mattress. So the first session one fin snap and disappeared in the sea and the second session other fin snapped. Rode 1st session one finned and rode second session oddly finned. Rode with the broken fin sandwiched between my body and the mattress. 

Since I like to hang out on prone paddle boards. Paddling take off is A OK with no fins. As long as getting outside is easy. Yesterday session hard to get outside with short blade fins.

Walking back on the beach with one broken fin and one substitute bodyboarding fin in hand. Bingo I step on the other lost fin on the beach. That was a mile where I originally lost it.

The voits reunited.

Here are the Voits preparing for a fish session in chasing days" 

[See "fish" is pictured!]

Jeremy's Fish

So another great episode of this errant surfmat comes to an end and Phileas hits the road again. 

Next stop Mark Rogers in Connecticut for the final stop of the US East Coast leg. 

Stay tuned....

G

PS. See more from Jeremy at http://malolocanoesurf.com/

Phileas in NYC

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Well New Yorker, Tim Darwish tried his best but the US East Coast is a fickle lover (or so I'm told).  Here's what Tim had to say:

"My first try with Phileas was the windy day, I thought it was 25mph when I got home the weather report had the gusts at 45 mph, I wouldn't have taken one on my Neu's out in that wind! I got a couple great waves and wished it was on Phileas.

My second go went better but not well. I got to the beach and it was waist high at best but I got a couple nice waves and Phileas went really nice! Got one long ride and the mat really holds and lets you drift into a high line nicely, had that same feeling on three different waves. Jeremy [Grosvenor] and I were trying to meet up but I think the lack of waves didn't warrant a 2 hour drive for either of us. 

I wish that NYC had treated Phileas better, I just emailed Justin Valdez to see if he wants to take it out in the next couple days and then I'm going to send it off to Jeremy, I'm too busy right now to get out in the next week and then I'll be traveling so my time with Phileas is coming to an end.  I did take a couple photos today of my trip to Rockaway Beach on the subway and then I ran up to my roof and got as good a photo of #50 with the Empire State Building in the background.

 I really wish I had some good waves to get Phileas into, poor mat went from perfect tropical waves and water to cold, not too dirty NYC water."

Phileas sees the sights

So something of a blowout but at least Phileas got in the water at Rockaway, even if it wasn't photogenically worthy.

We checked with Justin but he's just to busy being Justin so Phileas now goes on to Jeremy Grosvenor. Tim is going to try to get hooked up so we may see some footage of him yet!

Thanks a lot Tim!

Cheers

G