Monday, October 28, 2013

Fix with balsa.








The surf hasn't been happening for a couple weeks now, so it's a good time to do some board repairs.  A few weeks ago I paddled out.  The waves were about 2' and closing out for the most part.  The swell was crossed up.  If you waited long enough a decent set wave would come thru that wasn't a close out.  Anyways, I was a bit impatient that day.  A good looking wall came in and I was on it.  It closed out and put me and my board in the washing machine.  It's usually no big deal.  This time however I was surprised when I didn't feel that tug on my leash.  There was my board floating toward the beach.  I was out on the outer sandbar, so I had to swim for it.  When I finally caught up with my board I saw that the leash plug had torn off and it took a large chunk of foam with it.  That's not good.

Yesterday, I got around to cutting the ripped out section and epoxied in a piece of balsa.  Today I shaped it which didn't take long at all.  It's real nice working with balsa compared to foam.  It'll all get glassed in with a new leash plug in a few days.  Just in time for a swell and some off shore winds expected later in the week.