2011 O'Neill Mutant

When it comes to comfort and warmth in cold water, few wetsuits have performed like the O’Neill Mutant. It’s no wonder the Mutant is back again, and even better. FluidFlex is the key this year, light weight and warm. Good combination.

The Mutant is now only available in the 4/3 (#3647) and a 5/4 (#3648). The 3/2 Mutant has been replaced by the Psycho RG8, the thinking being that if you’re wearing a 3/2 you’re probably not going to be wearing a hood anyway. But back to the Mutant.

You still have the firewall to keep you toasty and there’s still the smooth skin chest to help keep out the wind, but there’s a few little things that are going to add up to big differences. The plasma seals on the suit are better than last season. The plasma seal is now broken into two unconnected seals. There’s also an additional plasma seal on the body where the neck piece connects with the body. This is a serious cold water suit. Good job O’Neill.

The Mutant 4/3 is a cold water suit that’s going to handle almost anything. Good for water temps into the mid to low 40s and maybe even lower. With the hood attachment, you’re going to be warm, even in the coldest of days. This suit should be fine for almost the entire US Pacific coast, even on the coldest days.

The Mutant 5/4 was made with the really cold stuff in mind. We’re talking serious warmth with this suit. This should cover most of the NE, even on the coldest of days. Having the hood be a part of the wetsuit, rather than an addition keep more water out and that keeps more warm inside, where you need it. Should be good for most of the US NE. For protection beyond what the Mutant 5/4 will give you, you will need to be visiting Maine in early February.

The 2011 O’Neill Mutant, the same, but better. And the velcro piece that holds the zipper is now a snap close. That keeps the velcro from piquing the materials. Enjoy your Mutants!

Available online:

The 2011 O’Neill Mutant 4/3 #3647

The 2001 O’Neill Mutant 5/4 #3648

O'Neill RG8 wetsuit entry system

I’m pretty interested to see exactly how this zipper entry will work. As you can see in the picture, this O’Neill wetsuit uses a chest zip entry where the zipper is always attached. That many help eliminate on of the things that made the O’Neill Mutant hard to get into sometimes. If you’ve worn the Mutant, you know that when the zipper came undone, which you had to do to get into the wetsuit, it’s sometimes difficult to get the zipper back together. It didn’t help that the zipper was right below your chin and it was like trying to look at your neck. Well, the Psycho RG8 should eliminate that problem. THe zipper will always be attached and all you’ll never again have to try and line them up, just get in and zipppp! Nice.

However, this awesome RG8 zipper system isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. For people with wide shoulders, getting into and out of the Psycho RG8 could be hard. It’s not going to have as much room to enter the suit as the O’Neill Mutant wetsuits. That could end up being a pretty big deal for some people. If you have problems getting into your Mutant, then you will want to try on an RG8 before gettting one to make sure it’s the right fit for you. If you wear Rip Curl chest zip wetsuits, you’ll have no problem getting into RG8 and you’ll notice a lot of similarities.

As for comfort, you’ll love the Psycho RG8. It’s going to be made with O’Neill’s new neoprene. Usually, a first year wetsuit is something you might want to avoid, but this is an O’Neill wetsuit and the rules are different. O’Neill is making this their flagship wetsuit and replacing the Mutant 3/2 with the RG8 3/2. There is a lot of expectation behind this suit and you better believe O’Neill is going to make sure their first year RG8 wetsuits are the best. Don’t let this rookie year suit hold you back, I’m willing to bet it’s going to be the wetsuit of the year, probably for many years to come.

There are a few sites prebook selling the O’Neill Psycho RG8 wetsuits. Some of them have a pretty good deal too. For 10% off the O’Neill RG8 wetsuit, check out Hostel Board Company, they’re about one of the only sites I’ve seen with any information about the new O’Neill wetsuits.The O’Neill Psycho RG8 is going to come in a 3/2 and a 4/3 version.

For those of you who haven’t owned a pair of the O’Neill HyperFreaks, here’s the skinny: they’re the best boardshort ever and the 2.0 Hyper Freak boardshorts are the best. They’re light, fast drying, lots of stretch, excellent style and no seams. The ‘seams’ are welded, so while there are seams, the seams aren’t sewn together, you get no rub burns.

But before you buy these, you need to know, these shorts are thin! They’re not going to take a lot of abuse and that’s going to have a limited audience for these. If you’re use to the thicker nylon or polysuede boardshorts, you’re going to notice these are much thinner. That’s not a bad thing, unless you’re planning on spending more time sitting on the sand that on your board. These aren’t really lounging, hanging-out boardshorts, these are function boardshorts and while they do look great, dry fast and feel wonderful, they’re not the best option for a day on the beach drinking cold beverages.

The O’Neill HyperFreak 2.0 boardshort is a core boardshort and really not intended for much more than surfing.

Also, don’t ever put them in the dryer! The neoprene (O’Neill’s HYperprene) is going to be destroyed by putting them in the dryer. This same materiel is very stretch but will melt if you get petroleum based insect repellents on them! Yes, I found that out the hard way. Maybe you don’t play gold in your boardshorts, but I do.

If you’re looking for something that’s not quite as expensive, you might want to try out the regular O’Neill HyperFreak boardshorts. They do have sewn seams, there’s no expensive HyperPrene neoprene and they have some really great styles and colors already available. More colors will be showing up in the following months.

UPDATE: O’Neill HyperFreak 2.0 for 2011

O'Neill HyperFreak 2.0 for 2011

That Hyperprene material is gone from the 2011 O’Neill HyperFreak 2.0 and I couldn’t be happier!  For more details, check out the new O’Neill HyperFreak 2.0 boardshorts.

Surfboard Repair 101

You did it, you broke it didn’t you? You got a ding in your board and now, you need to fix it. So, you’re asking yourself, how do I repair a surfboard – my board!

If you have sustained a major ding, like a board broken into two pieces, delaminating or peeling larger than the size of a CD, take it to a professional

Before you try to fix anything on your surfboard, you need to know what kind of board you have. Not a Channel Islands, Lost or JS, but what manufacturing materials. What is your board made of? Is it polyester (PU) or epoxy? If you don’t know, find out. Using the wrong materials to fix your surfboard can turn it into a puddle of sticky goo and that’s no fun at all. Use the right materials and you’ll avoid potentially ruining your surfboard.

Do your repairs in the late afternoon. Surfboards expand and contract with the temperature. The primary ingredient in a surfboard is air. Per volume at sea level, your surfboard is mostly just air. Air expands and contracts quickly and so does your surfboard. If it expands enough, it rips the glass from the deck and causes delamination. Many newer boards have plugs just for gas expansion. For this reason, you should do your repair in the evening hours. The air inside won’t be expanding and pop out your repair.

Emergency Repairs: I know you’re not always going to wait to get your ding fixed. The waves are all time and it’s just a small ding. I know, I’ve been there and done that. Here are a few things to help minimize damage since you can’t get your board repaired right away.

• DO NOT use duct tape. Duct tape is porous and leaves a sticky-filmy residue on the surfboard. It’s hard to clean and it’s going to let in water anyway.
• DO NOT use wax. I know, it seems like cramming a piece of wax into the hole will help, but it won’t and it’s going to make future repairs more difficult and less likely to adhere. I’ve used wax before myself, I know how tempting it can be. You’re going to have to cut out a larger piece of foam when you repair it if you used wax. Resin doesn’t adhere to wax.
• DO NOT use super glue. This is going to really destroy the foam on an EPS and probably doesn’t do much good for a polyester board either. I’ve used wax, but thankfully, I saw what super glue does and have never been tempted.
• DO USE epoxy puddy. For epoxy boards. It’s a two part epoxy product (usually green with a white core) and it’s inexpensive. Mix it, form it, and shove it into the ding. It dries strong, fast(ish) and water tight. Put a piece of this into your ding and cover it with a sticker and you have the best temporary repair there is.
• DO USE stickers. Yes, those plastic surf stickers you have all around your car, room and office are actually pretty good for temporary repairs. A lot of boardshorts and other surf gear come with a little pack of sticker designed for ding covering. They really work and keep the water out, if you got a good seal. Get a really good seal and you can wait a few days for the real repair.

Epoxy board need epoxy repairs. The resins, catalysts and thinners used must be epoxy friendly. Epoxy surfboards are made with styrene foams, the same type of foam so popular with coffee cups and cheap coolers. If you put a Polyester or Vinyl ester product on a styrene product, it melts. It may be a fast reaction and it may be a slow reaction. Don’t “test” a chemical and expect it to be OK, because you’re not seeing a reaction. Some of the reactions are slow, but infinite. Be very careful what you use on your epoxy surfboard. If you’re not sure, don’t use it. Epoxy putty, sometimes called “ding stick”, works very well for filling small holes and cracks in your board. It’s also very inexpensive, easy to work with and forms a good bond with your board, if you prepare the surface properly. You can keep a tube in your vehicle for a long time and it should be good to go when you need it. I have one in my board bag. For clear finishes, you will need an epoxy resin. You can order these online or through your local surf shop. Most shops don’t carry the epoxy liquid resins, but as more and more boards are epoxy, this may change. Use the same cloth as PU board repair.

Polyester board repair is nice, because there are several methods and some are fast and easy. You can also use the same resins and catalysts that you will find at a boating and marine store, but be warned, these resins usually dry yellowish or with a tinge of blue. Using resin specifically made for surfboards will result in a clearer finish and a more professional looking repair. You can buy surfboard resin at your local surf shop or at a few dealers online. A quart should last you a long, long time. Fiberglass cloth and catalysts can be purchased in the same location. Sun Cure or Suncure is a really ‘neat’ product for surfboard repairs and serves a good need.

SunCure warning: The catalyst is solar radiation, so there’s no mixing needed. However, Suncure suffer’s in that it has to be used in sunlight and direct sunlight will cause your board to warm, expand and potentially compromise the repair.

Preparation for Repair: The Golden Rules

Follow the directions
Read the directions of the repair material you are using. Then, read them again. You’re going to be working with some powerful chemicals. Polyester surfboard repair chemicals can be very dangerous, explosive and flammable. Treat them with extreme caution and don’t ever leave them in direct sunlight. Polyester catalyst, in particular, is the nastiest of the chemicals you’re going to be using. It’s sold in small one ounce containers, which for some reason, are shaped like a Visine bottle. You do not want that stuff in your eye.

Remember: Once you start, don’t stop
Do not walk away from your resins. This is rule 1. You’ll mix the resins, have everything done and it’s looking like nothing is really happening. Don’t walk away! Once the reactions start to occur and the resins become workable, the reactions can occur VERY quickly and remember, these are one way reactions. Once that resin hardens, the only way to remove it is sanding. Your patience will be tested. Generally, the warmer it is, the faster the reaction. Follow the

Dry the surfboard.
I don’t just mean take a towel and dry it off, I mean let the board drain. Before making a permanent repair, you want to make sure all the moisture is out of the board. Hang the board so the ding is the lowest spot on the board and let gravity do its thing. The water will drain out, but it can take a long time. If you’re in a very humid environment, your board can actually absorb moisture from the air, so do you repairs and prep in as dry an area as possible. There are a few methods to speed up the process such as vacuum bagging. Vacuum bagging creates a vacuum in the board and helps pull out the water. I’ve never used this method, but I hear it works miracles and can also be used in advanced repair techniques.

Clean the wound.
Your doctor wouldn’t stitch you up without cleaning out the wound and the same is true for surfboard repair. Remove all loose debris and materials. If you’ve crushed a rail, cut away the area that was crushed including the inside “good foam”. You want your repair to adhere to a good surface and crushed foam is not a good surface. It’s hard to take a knife and cut away at your already damaged board, but repairs built on the proper foundation will last.

Assemble the materials and safety equipment
Get the proper resins, catalysts, fiberglass cloth, mixing cups, masking tape, scissors, utility knife, saw, disposable brushes and whatever else you may need. I know a lot of people want to wear glove and they’re probably needed, but get the wrong gloves, for the resin you’re using, and you can melt the gloves to your skin – ouch. Ask which kind of glove you need for the type of materials you’re using. Safety glasses are mandatory. You’re going to have little pieces of shattered fiberglass and some really nasty sticky chemicals once you begin working with the resins and catalyst. Safety glasses are not something you should skip. Get a mask.

Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) is some nasty stuff. Yes, I did mention this earlier and it’s worth revisiting the subject. That picture on the side that shows someone’s finger being dissolved, that could be your lungs. It’s also explosive. Highly explosive. In its undiluted state, if you dropped it, it could potentially explode. Thankfully, the MEKP you’re likely to see is diluted and much more stable. However, it’s still a very volatile and dangerous chemical. Use per directions!

Prepare your materials
Get everything in one place. Once you start mixing resins and applying them to the surfboard you can’t walk away to go find something you might have forgotten. You need everything within easy reach. If you need to use fiberglass cloth for your repair, cut it before you begin. What are you going to use to clean your tools and yourself? Have it ready and not behind a door knob.

Ask for help.
If you know someone who has repaired a surfboard, ask for their help and assistance. Try to watch someone make a repair and drink in everything you see. There’s a lot more going on than you would think.

Now, go fix it!
Repairing your surfboard is part science and part art. The more you work with and understand the process, the more comfortable you will become and the better your results will be. Start slow and be patient.

Finding Professional Surfboard Repair

Weight and balance are critical components of surfboard repair. Professionals in the surfboard repair industry know how to keep the weight down, the strength up and still make it look good. Yes, there are dedicated professionals who repair surfboards. These people have perfected the art and science of surfboard repair.

High value collectable surfboards should always be shipped to a repair artist. These professionals understand both the science and the art of surfboard repair. They can make your surfboard look brand new. These people stand out in their field and are sought after for restorations and challenging projects. Their prices are generally very reasonable, but the shipping can be expensive. The Board Lady, located in California, can make miracles happen to damaged boards. She specializes is epoxy reconstruction and repair of surfboards, wind surfers and any project where the final result is museum quality.

Your local surf shop probably has an employee who does surfboard repairs. Surf shop repairs are usually very good to excellent. The turnaround is usually very fast, unless a big swell has sent in a lot of boards. They do good work and they’re convenient. For most people, this is your best option for finding someone to repair your surfboard for you. You’re at the beach anyway, why not just drop it off?

Friends are another great resource. Having an extra set of hands available and the eyes of experience will always help when you have questions about surfboard repairs.

It happens to everyone and to some, it happens way more often than others. Here are a few of the absolute basics you need to know and also some very advanced techniques for those in the know.

O’Neill PsychoFreak – Model 3347

O'Neill 2010 PsychoFreak - All new and redesigned. Click for Larger Image

Last year, we saw the introduction of the O’Neill PsychoFreak wetsuit. In the first year, the PsychoFreak was the wetsuit of the year. It is warmer, lighter and more flexible than any other O’Neill Wetsuit. The golfball like dimples kept in the warmth and kept out the cold. The PsychoFreak wetsuit was particularly popular in Northern California, the Mid Atlantic and New England states. Why? Because it’s a warm wetsuit that’s super flexible, thinner, lighter and is the best wetsuit for when the water gets cold.

The new PsychoFreak 3347 was redesigned, upgraded and now comes in a different thickness than the 2009 models. New lighter foam, a lighter more flexible firewall and a smooth front panel for the thinner suits. The 2010 O’Neill PsychoFreak comes in a 2.5/3.5 mm wetsuit that is going to be a perfect replacement for your old 4/3. If you’re looking to get the new PsychoFreak you’re going to be happy with your choice. It’s lighter than the same size 3/2 and as felxible as any wetsuit you’ll ever own.

To take full advantage of the O’Neill PychoFreak, you’re living somewhere the water gets cold and so does the air. The PsychoFreak isn’t for Florida winters and is really going to show it’s good side when the water is in mid to upper 40s. If you’re getting into water colder than that, you’ll want to go with the PsychoFreak 3.5/4.5

Folly Beach SC Live Surf Cam at the Washout

Folly Beach SC has a new live surf camera that has a great view of the surf at the Washout on Folly Beach. For now, it’s only an image that refreshes, but the plan is to change over to streaming video once all the kinks have been worked out. There’s even a scaled down image size for mobile devices so you can see the surf from your iPhone or other web enabled mobile device.

Folly Beach surf cam for mobile devices

The new Folly Beach surf camera has a really great image quality, the image is large and easy to see.  The picture is big and clear and that makes checking out the surf around Charleston that much easier.

I wanted a clear image that was reliable, easy to see and could handle hundreds of visitors at the same time. A lot of the cams on Folly Beach are really very nice, but they get congested with visitors and not everyone can see all the cams. You don’t need Quicktime or Flash or any ActiveX plugins, if you can see pictures in your browser, you can see our cam. We had over 1,800 visitors to the cam in the first day, which I wasn’t expecting, but it looks like everyone is able to see the image without any problems. As long as you have a browser, you can see the live images.

Special thanks to the people who made the Follywaves live surf cam happen: Phi Nicholson (HBCSurf.com and Follywaves.com), Scott McClain (Liquid Shredder), Tim Askins (ESA Co-Director), Nancy Hussey (ESA Co-Director and Follywaves.com), Pete Burbagge (Camera Technician and ESA Volunteer)  and the wonderful techs at AT&T. Without their help, this cam would have never happened.

Tmobile 3G is not like AT&T 3G. One of the big differences in Tmobile 3G is the radio frequency. Tmobile 3G operates in the 1700MHz band. No other 3G in the world uses the 1700MHz band, so unless you have a Tmobile device or one that uses the 1700MHz band, you probably* won’t be able to use Tmobile 3G. On the positive side, Tmobile’s 3G will be capable of 7.2Mbps downloads and that’s fast!

So what does this have to do with surfing? For one, this means getting forecasts and surf cam images** will be a lot faster. Also, Tmobile has excellent reception on Folly Beach, much better than AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. Imagine, sitting at the beach, waiting for the tide while tethered with your Tmobile 3G phone on your laptop doing “work”. I’ll trade my office for a beach chair any day!

Tmobile isn’t giving out any dates for 3G going live in Charleston, SC right now, but it should happen sometime in Q3 2009 (July – September). By Octeober 1, 2009, Charleston, SC should be enjoying Tmobile 3G. Since I don’t have a 3G phone, I won’t know for sure when it gets here, but I will let you know as soon as I know.

*There are rumours that hacked firmwares of the iPhone can enable the iPhone to work on Tmobile 1700MHz AWS. You would have to REALLY know what you’re doing to get 3G on the iPhone and supposedly, only certain iPhone have a chip capable of using Tmobile 3G. Tmobile is even supporting iPhone on their EDGE networks for Tmobile customers (amazing). You can find out more about this on the Tmobile forums.

** OTESurf is going to have a nice announcement in the next few days… stay tuned.

On your phone, visit http://www.otesurf.com/go that will take you to an index page with links to all of the currently available reports. Entering the url into a phone is a pain and the new navigation home page for phones will make it easier.

I’ve also made the pages to work on some of the older phones that were having a problem with inline styles. The pages are still really small. Edisto 41004 now comes in at a minuscule 0.88KB – wow!

And for those with free bandwidth, I’ll have something a little more robust coming in a few days. Wave maps, water temps, long range forecast and for those who have a GPS enabled devices… something really-really cool

Here’s what the reports will look like on your cell phone and iPhone
www.otesurf.com/go

I do too and that’s why I made a few new web pages, specifically with mobile devices in mind. I wanted to be able to access the buoy data I needed on my cell phone. It needed to be fast loading, easy to navigate, formatted to work on nearly any mobile device and as small a download as possible. I think I did it.

Reports are updated every 20 minutes, even though some data sources update hourly. Certain locations have more variables, like swell direction, while others do not. I will be adding more locations soon.

So, here are the links, I know you’re getting anxious and ready to see ‘em already. One link will take you to the webpage (which won’t look like much on a 1024 x 768 monitor).

The Send to Phone link, (not working right now) will allow you to send the link to your cellphone via email and make it super easy for you to get the URL into your cell phone. I haven’t gotten this totally figured out, so for now, you’ll have to manually enter the URL into your phone. Sorry.

Navigation on most web sites using a cell phone isn’t fun. The pages are too wide, too tall and its hard to find the one spot you need. I boiled down the data to the least amount of information I needed. You can see my phone’s screen is 176×220 and that’s a small screen. As you can see, there’s almost no need to scroll the page and everything you need is right there: tide, wind, water temperature, air temperature, wave height, wave period and a link to Hostel Board Company, a co sponsor in this endeavor.

The pages are very lite with most coming in under 2KB. That’s important because my cell phone company charges me 1 cent per KB. That may not seem like much, but considering how many web pages are 40-150KB, that penny per KB adds up. There was no way I was going to pay a $1 a day just to use my phone to check the buoys. So, I consolidated the data all into one easy to read page that’s uses 99% less bandwidth than I was using getting the same information from multiple locations. The Folly Pier comes in at a tiny 1.46KB, which means less than $0.02 per visit. I can live with that.

Obviously, you don’t even have to have an iPhone, any web enabled mobile device, can now get the latest buoy reports in an easy to read and easy to use method when you’re away from your computer.

I hope you find this useful. If you want to see other locations, drop by the forum and leave a message. I’ll see what I can do.