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Board Review: Slyde Handboards

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There are so many ways to ride waves these days! Our entire niche industry is obsessed with the perfect ride–we spend hours, days, months, years crafting the perfect tool to score the best wave. In the past, 18 foot wave sliders designed for Hawaiian kings have since evolved to logs with D fins or Stand Up Paddleboards to cruise point breaks. Maybe you were a connoisseur of lunch trays–Del Taco was your favorite–it had just the right type of slick bottom to glide along the face of the wave. What was once a tray evolved to a plane and now a proper board…swallow tail, carbon fiber with plenty of room for your specifics.

Enter Slyde Handboards.

Innovation and style meets a handboard perfectly crafted for riding all types of waves with minimal spray.

Let’s get one thing straight: these are actually boards…not trays, nor hand planes–BOARDS…for your hand.

I met with Slyde Handboard Owners, Steve and Angela Watts at Salt Creek and the waves were anything but playful for my board demo–full swell, overhead with a dropping tide.

“After a whole year of  R&R, we are just now releasing every shape and are excited,” said Angela. “These wedge shape boards are great for  the every day person because they can use it in big or small waves.”

Waves poured in from all angles at Creek and it seemed The Point or Gravels were the places to be.

Let the body-slamming begin!

After easing into a few insiders, I was hooked. It’s compacted fun, I thought, as one sandy wedge dredged through the inside–ones I conveniently avoided and Steve wholeheartedly plunged into.

“The Wedge boards are designed specifically to ride a wave as far as you can,” said Steve. “I’ve ridden waves all the way from out the back to the inside…you can do cutbacks with this and it sticks you to the face of the wave really well.”

My favorite thing? I can take this anywhere! Airport excess baggage fee instantly gone.

So–does it torture you to watch that perfectly peeling hollow shore break go un-ridden? Try out The Bula. Want a good starter board for all wave types? Check out The Wedge. Customize at will!

One thing I can’t promise–the places the seaweed and sand sneak into.

Pictured are The Wedge, The Wedge featuring a carbon fiber deck and The Bula

The Return of the Evening Session

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Strands Point evening session.

Strands Point evening session.

Evening surf sessions are back and in full-throttle for this surfer girl and I couldn’t be more stoked. However, I still wait for the day when I can sprint to Trestles and surf my beloved points and walls and catch up with my local friends.

But I’ve realized: Sometimes you don’t need to sprint to the good times and good friends. Sometimes the good times, waves and friends come to directly to you.

Random surfer goes a sweet evening cruise.

Random surfer goes for a sweet evening cruise.

I CONFESS: I’ve been scoring at this pictured spot lately. It challenges me while allotting a certain amount of forgiveness, albeit not much, but a little slack is there. Before I know it, I’ll be back to parts unknown again and as masochistic as this may sound, I want a good ass-whopping. I need to be freaked out, kept in check because I’ve been getting a lot of fun days. And if you believe in that whole ‘checks and balances’ system, I’m over-due for a checkmate.

There was a nice south swell in the water and most of the big sets were walled with a few smaller corners to pick off on the inside. Aside from spying Humpback Whales peaking their humongous heads and spouting outside the kelp beds, I wasn’t too impressed with the conditions. After a few waves, I decided to go in. While walking down the beach contemplating dinner, I spied two of my best surf buds strolling the opposite direction in seach for a better peak. A Grinch smile spread ear-to-ear across my face, as the last time I saw these guys was almost a year ago.

Three amigos: Dave, Jackie and Chav share good times, good drinks and good waves.

Three amigos: Dave, Jackie and Chav share good times, good drinks and good waves.

Dave and Brian (a.k.a. ‘Chav’) have traveled all over the world in search of good waves and good times and they are, by far, some of the most fun guys to surf, drink and have a good laugh with. Whenever either one of these travel junkies bounce to parts unknown, they always come back with tales of epic proportions. They inspire me to travel and have fun, to let go of inhibitions and just go.

The two did not hesitate to convince me to get back in the nippy water and catch a few. But I really didn’t need too much coaxing. Suddenly, the conditions weren’t so bad with my good amigos around. We shared wedgey peaks off the point, dropped in on eachother and hopped from peak-to-peak laughing and playing catch-up.

Chav is off to the Philippines and Cloud 9 and who knows where Dave’s next stop will be, although there were talks of mainland Mexico and the infamous Mexican Pipeline Puerto Escondido floated throughout our convos. Dave seems to emobdy a vagabond spirit with Hunter S. Thompson’s post-hangover perspective. With his crazy wit, salty humor and knack for dropping in on his best pals, I’ve often though he is secretly an Aussie and won’t come out of the closet…just yet.

Sandpipers hunt for dinner.

Sandpipers hunt for dinner.

So here’s to random awesome sea creatures, much needed checkmates and serendipitous run-ins with old friends!

The Cars have an excellent song that is so often imitated but not too often duplicated: Let the Good Times Roll!