Rusty

Halstead, Geiselman and Dunphy put in the hours in San Diego. Video: PK

Our very own Jake Halstead takes second in the boys 16 and under division at the recent Surfing America Prime in Oceanside! Check out the full story and a slideshow, featuring Rusty groms Jay Christenson and Breyden Taylor, on Surfline.com...

Jake going fins free...

Jake and Trevor Thornton

Jay Christenson's aerial attack...

Breyden Taylor

Photos By: Jack McDaniel

Let me introduce you to my little friend. This is my Rusty 5'4" Dwart. It's full dimensions are 5'4" x 19.85 x 2.05. It has four fins, and it likes to fly.

"I didn't always like quads. I thought they were fast, but for some reason I didn't like the way they felt when hitting lip. I used to think a solid off the top on a quad didn't feel like it had the same satisfying *smack* that I would get from a thruster. Now that i've gotten used to the feeling of the quad, the speed and looseness has more than made up for anything I used to think was lacking. It's a perfect small wave board, but lately I've been riding it in hollow waves too. The short little board can take off so late and just drop straight into the tube."

-Holly Beck

Photos: Chris Grant at Jetty Girl

Rusty team rider and Point Loma Nazarene Team Captain, Hunter Lysaught, clenched a third place finish as an individual and his points bumped his team into third place over all at the recent NSSA State Championships. Click here for all the details from the event...

Hunter bringing home the cheddar. Photo: Brody

Hunter going vertical. Photo: Garcia

NSSA event #8 2010 from Rick Takahashi on Vimeo.

Photo: AJ Neste

Check out Matt Beacham's all new website where you can keep tabs on his latest shenanigans across the globe. Plus, check some nice photos and entertaining video clips. Enjoy...

Head on over to mattbeacham.com!

Check out Holly Beck's most recent adventure.... filming a music video for her favorite band, "The Mother Hips"

"Over the last few months, The Mother Hips have provided the soundtrack to all my adventures. Rock scrambling, shark diving, well-pumping, waterfall sliding, mountain bike riding, desert camping, California surfboard and skateboard riding.  Even between the peaks in the action, my adrenaline levels have been kept high with an incessant loop of Mother Hips tunes either played through headphones or sung out loud in the shower, in between duck dives, and while washing dishes. Over a career spanning 18 years, the Hips have recorded so many amazing tracks that there's plenty of variety to be able to listen constantly for months and still not get burnt out."

- Holly

Here's one more music video set to a Hips tune. This one I made myself with the help of my GoPro camera.

One guy mentioned he was confused about wings and fuselage and how that relates to surfboards. I used wing shape as an analogy so one can get a feeling for how shape affects aspect ratio from familiar airplane wings.

There were a few requests for a diagram. This is very simplified but should shed some light on the discussion. It is important to keep in mind that as the speed changes the wetted area changes. The slower you go the more area is needed to plane/support the weight. As the area increases or decreases with speed, the wetted area aspect ratio changes as well.

I think it is almost impossible to know what the wetted area is at any given time. It might be possible to get a reasonably accurate estimate of the wetted area/aspect ratio if you knew the speed at any given moment. Add to that the directional changes of the flow which changes the span value and you get some pretty serious variables that are way over my ability to understand.

This is math emulating art so there is a lot of room for discussion about the nuance of the influence of aspect ratio on surfboard performance. Given the vagaries of wetted area size and shape it is probably best to stick with the known outline area if you want to use aspect ratio as a data point for surfboard design. However shapers have been doing a pretty damn good job for a long time without worrying about all this crap. Another consideration is the fact that it is very likely that one aspect ratio might be perfect for one guy and a total dud for another.

Jay Davies conducting a bit of R&D. Photo: Brody

Probably the only way to get a handle on if aspect ratio is a valid data point would be to do a study of one rider's boards (good and bad) to see if there are trends that can be used effectively to predict how aspect ratio affects performance.

In the end aspect ratio is simply a description. We might find that aspect ratio is as relevant as "blue boards go faster than red boards". Until all of the design factors within a surfboard can be quantified this will remain an intellectual discussion. If that discussion reveals that aspect ratio is valid or not as a design data point we will have learned something. Hopefully it will be justifiable ignore all the math and just go surfing.

Perfect conditions greeted competitors in the official Trial Event for the 2010 Drug Aware Pro held today at Surfers’ Point Margaret River.

Light offshore winds and a solid 2m swell led to consistent 4-6 foot sets. Some very competitive surfing culminated in former Margs Champ Jake Paterson winning through to the main event. The 1998 Winner will be joined by 2009 WA State Champion Dave Delroy-Carr in the field of 128 who will take to the line-up tomorrow. The two locals won their semi-finals over stand out surfers Matt Mahogan (USA) and Anthony Walsh (Lennox Head, NSW).

In further news leading in to the start of the event tomorrow, two replacement Wildcard entrants were named today. Local young gun Jay Davies has been forced to withdraw from the event due to a severe ankle injury. His Wildcard entry will now be filled by fellow Rusty team rider Jayke Sharp (Coffs Harbour, NSW). Also added to the field is local Tom Innes who will replace Mark Occhilupo who has been delayed on the east coast due to personal reasons. Occhilupo is expected to head West later in the week to fulfil commentating duties for Fuel TV at the event.

With more great conditions forecast for the week ahead the Men’s Round of 128 will commence this morning. Two Hawaiian’s at the opposite ends of their professional careers are likely to surf today, 2000 ASP World Champion Sunny Garcia and 2009 ASP Junior World Champion Kai Barger. Competitors in the Women’s Round of 60 have also been placed on standby for this afternoon.

Check out the live stream by clicking here!

Dustin Fiero is coming to the end of his first boatman stint on Tavarua, one of the most sought after gigs in the industry, so we decided to check in with him and see how it went...

Age: 21
Home Town: San Diego
Travels: Tavarua, Mexico, Hawaii
Sponsors: Rusty, DC, Watermans, DaKine, Dragon, Futures, Uni Butter

How do  you spend a typical day as a Tavarua boatman?

I wake up at 5:30am, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, take a surf boat out to Cloudbreak, eat again, hang out at the boat shed and make sure all is well, clean the boats, eat again, fillet fish, and do it again the next day...

How did you the land the coveted gig as "boatman"?

I cam out to Tavarua for the first time with Bird when I was 16.  I expressed interest in becoming a boatman and found out what I had to do to make it happen.  Over the course of the next five years I obtained my EMT certification, Ocean Life guarding certification, PWC certification and I was super persistent in following through with the management.

What was your scariest moment on Tavarua?

Just the other day a guest was surfing Restaurants and his board nailed him in the back.  He couldn't walk when he got to the beach and he was screaming in pain.  We had pulled him onto a stretcher and took him to the infirmary for evaluation.  It turns out he broke a vertebrae.

What is your most fond memory on Tavarua?

Hanging out with the staff and the other boatmen is great.  We laugh a lot and have a great camaraderie between us.

What are you future plans?

I am going to keep life guarding in San Diego and, hopefully, return as a boatman to Tavarua on a regular basis.

What boards did you bring on your first boatman's stint?

6'6" Traveler round tail

6'2" Redline round tail

5'11" GTR round tail quad

5'11" GTR round tail thruster

5'9" Hipster quad

What board do you find yourself riding the most?

The 5'11" GTR quad shaped by Hamon works so good! It's fast, responsive, and rides the barrel really good!

What other activities do you do on the island?

I spend most of my time fishing, free diving, and training.

Photos and Interview: Brody