The Ocean Dragons: June 23rd: International Surfing Day (ISD)

Every year since 2004 the International Surfing Day (ISD) is celebrated all around the world by the surfer community coinciding with the Summer Solstice (or near).

Everybody who loves the ocean,

the wild and free lifestyle,

every soul who stand up for the sustainability of ocean resources,

have an appointment at some beach

the next June 23rd .

What are you going to do?

Here, you could find your nearest event location:

http://www.surfing-day.com/es/program.aspx

That day, THOD will be at the beach.

These pics were taken weeks ago in some early spring surfing sessions, as you will see, in different spots.

Metallic ocean

"The crew feel they are the only people in the universe

No noisE

Ozone poweR

Salt in the moutH

Hippy mermaids play electric banjos under our KEEL"

Xose gets ready for a new looping.

You don´t need a big wave but you have to catch it in the right moment: when it´s going to break.

In a small wave you will need to be on the top to "fall" from there.

Notice how the bow begins to dive.

Now, the young dragon is going to push the footrest with his feet swinging his torso forward.

The kayak will dive until the cockpit like an arrow, taking vertical position a cause of the propulsion of the wave.

When this pressure goes down, the boat will be launched to the sky like a russian rocket !!!

In this pic, Berto is performing a backward looping.

A beautifull and sprayed view from the Xose´s cockpit

Roberto playing a forward inverted one (stern in the air)

You have to capsize when the kayak begins to dive.

Practice, practice and practice is the only way to mastered it.

The beauty of the waves is magical over and under the surface, like subtle steamrollers, like white wild horses

Sometimes you´d like to stay head down contemplating how the waves roll over you once and again,

once and again,

once and again...

The blades of the paddles we use are wider that conventional greenland ones.

Wood laminated paddles with reinforced faces and edges

The new design we are developing for surfing and rockgardening is wider , shorter and with more aggressive shape.

A super-reinforced white water greenland paddle.

Beach sweet beach

UFO over Xose.

We are learning to film each time as close as possible ones to the others to get nice shots.

It´s very exciting to turn seakayaking into a contact sport....

With the high tide, the waves break furiously on the shore of this beach.
Roberto has to leave the ride in the last moment, just when the wave is going to break.

The window to the water world

Focus the energy and try to concentrate your schizophrENic mind before launching.

It´s a good exercise to reach your goals.

As well as makes laugh people on the beach.

In this way sometimes we get some coins, so we can feed our families that day and it makes us fell happy.

Ride waves with seakayaks and straight on it´s very easy, but we think that all the fun is in the curves.

Most of the traditional seakayaks are not designed for surfing playfully

but this sport has evolved so much in the last years.

Nowadays, different manufacturers offer new designs, much more capables to play hard.

Anyway, a comfortable torso rotation, powerfull rudder, a very good edging technique and strong legs are a must to maneuver long boats in the surf zone.

A seakayak with a tall and heavy tripod in the bow, turns clumsy and slow to maneuver.

If you are going to use it in the surf zone and most of all, in rockgardens, you must be sure you are not going to capsize and you are not going to be free to play hard.

In exchange, you can obtain nice shots like these

You are right, the model is hot !!!

Some advices for tall tripods users:

1.- If the wind is blowing think twice to use this devil´s toy.

2.- If the wind is blowing and you are in a rockgarden, think three times to use this f***** devil´s toy.

3.- Secure it with resistant rope tied from the cam to a strong bungee cord at your disposal. You have to be able to recover by yourself the tripod when it breaks.

4.- Use elastic fastening to anchor the tripod to the boat. The deck and the tripod will suffer less stress when you capsize.

Follow the "Be water my friend" way and don´t try to be stronger than the ocean.

5.- Practice to roll with and do it

v e r y s l o w......

Do you remember "Battlestar Galactica"?

The science fiction serie of the 70´s narrates THE WAR in a distant part of our galaxy between the human civilization and the Cylons, a cybernetic race.