Tyler Hatzikian at Big El Porto

2009 HT Surfy Year in Review

January:
No surf for the entire calendar month. In all my years surfing, this is the first time this has ever happened. Poor conditions and an insane work schedule were the prime factors. Not a precursor, '09 was the year of the nearby new spot.

February
The Junod showed up at work (during a meeting). Andreini debut in Newport – burp. Why burp? I was completely out of shape and heavy, and the offshore wind was relentless. Windy to he point of needing two people to strap the board on the car roof.

March
Hye Tyde 2009 Jazz Festival. The Junod is a winner, so is the Andreini, but she turns out to be a tricky board to ride. The standout sessions were the snowy creekside adventure on the Andreini, and to Jazz the glass sessions on the Junod

April
Hansen 50-50, yo. The yard sale score. Memorable moment – getting fired from a cannon, not really, it was a huge left at GH on the Mini Zeke. From just to the right of Snack Bars all the way to the creek. Some welcome 90 degree days.

May
Kinda quiet – but it was my first taste of the far North of a NH beach break, which going forward will be known as “The Corner”. This is a beginning of a beautiful friendship.

June
Cold weather, warm water. NH delivers the goods yet again, and I finally solved the “Riddle of the Middle”.

July
New Spot! – Firsties right in my own back yard. No longer is my home town an incoming high tide area.
New Spot! – An often overlooked NH beach break – fun little private peaks – I gotta see this place with some juice.
The Red Anderson John Farberow is back! I bought it in ’05 and sold it after a few months and regretted it. The guy who got it hardly ever used it, so it was basically new. Even swap for the Andreini – I know, I know, but the Andreini is a hull, and a funky set up around here.

August
New Spot! – Legendary Rhode Island longboard spot which boasts arguable the longest left on the East Coast. The Farberow shines!
New Spot! – Legendary Rhode Island Point break. I’ve surfed the spots just down from the point, but never the Point itself.
Hurricane Bill rocked.

September
Hurricane Danny rocked, and there was more RI fun at my new favorite spot. The Hansen 50-50 works nicely on chest high days.

October
Some swells, but a big let down overall. The one exception was that session at The Corner

November
New Spot! - Maine is the main thing. Fabulous beach break, that’s all I’m going to say.
New Spot! – Another spot in my own backyard. No further comment.

December
Mini-Zekeing it at The Corner
New Spot! – Crappy conditions at the hairy localized short board shredders only place. I must say, it’s a good wave even in junk conditions on a noserider.

New Year’s resolution:

I dunno, keep my karma clean and cross step more.

Monday - with great waves as usual

Here's a small sample this mornings reports - to think I could have taken today off.

• 6.2ft SW 5.8kts 10sec


• Waves : Waist to chest high and clean
  
  Wind : Light S becoming harder this afternoon



• Waist-chest plus groundswell lefties,SSW wind. Low tide around 2pm


• Solid chest and clean - hit it!


• Waist to chest high and clean

Musclecar Monday - a request! 1966 Chevelle

The Red
Originally uploaded by vinniesmarkerino

One of the cleanest ever. One sold at Barrett-Jackson last year for $48,000. But for $48k, what would you rather have? A nicely equipped BMW or this? (there is a right answer).

This is most likely a clone, but a clean one!

Send in your requests.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

1st Snowstorm of the Season Brings Cold Surf, Surreal Sunset.

But as always, the full cleanup didn't come until Monday.

The sunset was amazing - no photoshop here.

Some recent black & white.

Film is fun.

Amazing Tyler Pig Template

It’s not that often when Tyler comes up with a new shape, so when he does, it’s always something pretty rad.

This time it’s a pig style board. Pigs go back to the late 50’s early 60’s, and were pioneered by Dale Velzy. Generally speaking, pigs have fuller bellies, and a more pulled-in nose. But the most noticeable characteristic is the wide point of the board is in towards the tail.

Recently they have enjoyed an increase in interest. What Tyler likes to do is re-visit older designs he feels still have room for development, and he tests and tests and tests. His team riders are more like test pilots (that’s what he calls them).

Here’s a first series of his pig design. He’s got the background, he shaped and apprenticed under Hap Jacobs, who shaped with Dale Velzy. So these things are gonna ride the nuts.

I'll take one in orange.

Musclecar Monday - Early early kustom

1940's Customs
Originally uploaded by Farmer1976

Super clean kustom, with tri-power, set up for running on dry slat flats/lake beds.

leave it to me to start the day's outing house shopping and end up firing assault rifles

Photos from a nearby firing range might be interesting was the idea.

Before I knew it I was John Effing Wayne. The folks there offered to let me try their weapons, and were extremely safety conscious.

4 surprises for me:
1: AK-47's are legal in Massachusetts (they are also extremely loud)
2: Folks at the rifle range aren't foaming-at-the-mouth militia types. Rather, country squire types.
3: A pickup in the lot had an Obama sticker on it.
4: As a 1st timer, I'm a crack shot with a handgun (not just any pistol, a .45 cal Colt m1911, thank you very much). Hooooo-ahhh!

Don't worry - I'll stick to lethal longboards.

Musclecar Monday - Wednesday Style

OK - not musclecars - but damn cool cars nonetheless:

Question:

So - it's '62 - '63 and you're making a pile o'dough; are you into a Lincoln or a Caddy?

Sharp Overnight Storm Makes 1st Snow, Waves

Taking the good with the bad – that’s the New England way. What should I expect, it is December after all. But the snowfall was small, so were the waves. Except for the outer points where it was huge. I wonder if anyone has tried these bangers? During the no name (a.k.a. the perfect storm) back in ’91, a super-sized version of one of these basically destroyed the nearby Eden Pines Inn.

Up north again. This place never ceases to amaze me. The Mini Zeke is a blast in smaller waves, so quick turning, but if you want to draw it out, that’s fine too. The green Mini Zeke – it’s fun learning about the most (until now) overlooked board in the quiver.

Always a good time

10:00 a.m. And there are 3 new messages on the cell phone. The only one of any importance was that there was still some fun waves way far up north. Special J convinced me to get off the rock and hit some Maine surf.

There was a lot of water, but with such limited light these days waiting around for the tide to drop wasn’t really an option. The Mini Zeke was the choice today, I just felt like riding it on a small out-of-state beach break. Making it up in good time, I suited up and was in the water. It started to snow just a little. That’s the 1st time for me since 1998 – surfing while there was snow in the air. 40 degrees was the air temp, and the water temp up there was in the mid 40’s.

It as bigger and much better before my arrival, all there was leftover was thigh to waist high clean and fast peelers, but mostly closeouts. I did snag a pretty good batch of pics of Special J in a good northern slider.

Crazy wet snow on the way home, good call on bailing when the bailing as good.

A couple of Polaroids from the other day

Musclecar Monday: the "Milner Coupe"

Cold Wave Action on Film

Just a few more pics.

This old Nikon film camera paired with a 300mm telephoto is fun. It's fully manual, forcing me to think more about apertures & shutter speeds, rusty stuff!

Thanksgiving's tasty leftovers