A new addiction was born at Surf Sistas HQ last week when Demi Taylor at Westering offered to lend us a couple of handplanes to play with on our White to Green Course in Cornwall! Demi lovingly hand crafts each hand plane from reclaimed FSC certified redwood, oils them with 3 coats of linseed and then air dries them in the rafters of her cornish cottage .. she scoops up the colourful offcuts from our friends at Neon Wetsuits to make adjustable straps that will work for your tanned and naked summer hand and also its frosty and gloved winter sista.
I think I probably got 2 waves that felt like I was actually doing the right thing .. if you knew how long it took me to even stand up on a surfboard you will understand why I am pretty chuffed with that .. my hand planing career is already on a speedier trajectory than my surfing one!
I had some questions as I experimented in the ocean; when do you stop kicking, what do you do with the arm and hand not attached to the hand plane, why is that guy on the short board dropping in on my every wave, why didn't I even watch a youtube video before I got in, and why didn't I pay more attention when I watched Come Hell or High Water?
Back on dry land I have been doing some online research to find out more about the art of hand-planing and try and see what I was doing right or wrong .. I found this useful explanation from Slyde Handboards, worth a look just for the demo photo on the skateboard with a human wave.. and it answered my arm question, seems like you can let it freestyle aerodynamically behind you or plonk it on top of your leading hand, I tried the latter with good effect so maybe thats my style!
More on this new journey is surely to come but in the meantime to spread the stoke here's a little wave backlit with gold & hand planed by Cyrus Sutton:
Cyrus filming for "Stoked and Broke" from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.
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