The Brown Fish Handplane Project

If you haven't seen it...see it... then try what you've seen.

In the same vein as the movie "Single Fin: Yellow", Brownfish Handplanes is looking to send one of their vessels around the world with a gopro camera attached.. 22 bodysurfers - 22 short films.. should be good!

The Brown Fish Handplane Project

Jason Hall from Daily Bread has organised a great little project. A keen bodysurfer, Jason is sending a Brown Fish Handplane, fitted with a GoPro Camera, on a round the world bodysurfing journey. Over the next year the handplane will make 22 stops across the globe, and 22 bodysurfers will create 22 short films of the waves they ride.

I've put my hand up to be one of the Australian filmers, as have four other fellas - g'day Peter, Lachlan, Duncan and Mateo!

The handplane will begin it's journey soon and you can keep track of it, and also view the incoming footage, on Daily Bread or here at Swellnet.//STUART NETTLE

reposted from: http://www.swellnet.com.au/news/643-the-brown-fish-handplane-project

Testing of the rig down at the Wedge.. ... we dig the low emersed perspective..

reposted from http://harakabaraka.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/bodysurfing-with-a-hand-plane/

nice little blog... loved this little wrap up of the pros and the cons.. we can relate.

This past summer my wife and I drove across country to my home state of Delaware. One of the many positives to come out of that trip is that while I was home, I grabbed a pair of Churchill swim fins that I have owned for probably 15 years to bring back to San Francisco. The subsequent result has been a personal revolution of the wave-riding experience.

I first bodysurfed Ocean Beach in August on a mid-sized, funky day. I hadn’t bodysurfed in quite some time, but had an absolute blast. There is something profoundly different about riding a wave without a board, and I loved it. Since then I’ve probably bodysurfed about a dozen times at Ocean Beach, and have became so enamorate with it that I put a hand plane, specifically one made by SF surfboard shaper Danny Hess, on my Christmas list. I got what I wanted.

I’ve been posting about my bodysurfing experiences on Stoke Report, and have gotten a lot of questions, so I thought I’d address them here in more depth…why I like bodysurfing, some of the differences between bodysurfing and surfing, gear, you name it.

First off, a few disclaimers. Bodysurfing is no joke. I love it, but I also speak as a guy who grew up swimming competitively, and I still coach swimming and water polo. Surfing at Ocean Beach is an exhausting experience; bodysurfing at Ocean Beach ratchets the physical demands up a notch. The fins certainly help, especially when duckdiving. When a wave comes through, you just swim down to the bottom and wait it out. However, you are constantly swimming. There is no board to sit on or rest on, and so it’s tough. The rip tides don’t disappear when you’re bodysurfing, so if you want to give it a shot, make sure you are comfortable with your swimming ability. This addresses a point someone asked me about getting cold. You’re fully in the water the whole session, but since you’re moving the whole time, you stay just as warm as you would while surfing, if not more so.

Pro’s of Bodysurfing
-I like that it’s a little bit more demanding physically than surfing. I get a more complete work-out, and I like the feeling of having to drag yourself out of the water from being so surfed-out.
-Surfing is extremely fun, especially when the waves peel and offer long rides. However, there are often times conditions when surfing isn’t that fun. For example, when waves close-out (meaning, the whole wave breaks at once), there’s not much to do when you surf, and often times you can break your board in these circumstances. Bodysurfing was made for close-outs. Without having a big board attached to your leg by a leash, you don’t have to worry about getting smacked by your board or breaking it when you pull into thumping close-outs. As a result, pretty much every wave that you ride turns into a barrel. Most of them close-out, but they’re still barrels, and there’s nothing sweeter than looking into a barrel. Believe me. Nothing sweeter.
-It’s beautiful to glide down the face of the wave more-or-less face first. The whole experience seems amplified. So much of my body is on the face of the wave, it seems like a more intimate experience with the wave’s energy.
-Hand plane bodysurfing adds a whole new dimension. My first half dozen sessions were naked–not literally naked, but it was just me, my wetsuit, and fins. A typical ride, especially on big days, was to skip down the face of the wave, tuck into the barrel once I hit bottom, and enjoy the view as the wave ate me for lunch. A hand plane makes waves much more manageable. When you bodysurf, your body creates a tremendous amount of drag, and so it’s hard to get a lot of speed…hence getting crushed in the barrel so regularly. However, with a hand plane, the plane of your hand becomes 3 times as big, and you find yourself pushing your body up out of the water, and creating a ton more speed. Your speed becomes almost the exact same as that of the peeling wave, and as such, you stay slotted in the barrel for a while. Surfers have to stall to get into the barrel; while hand planing, you just go, and you’re in, and can often come out. I am surprised by how long my rides have been since I’m hand-planing, sometimes lining all the way up into the inside. Just as long as on a surfboard. So with a handplane, not only do you get epic barrels, but you can actually get some long rides too.
[A note about hand planes: you can experiment with many different objects as hand planes. As a kid, I saw a guy who rounded out the nose of a broken surfboard as his hand plane. I've used flip-flops before, and I've definitely seen cafeteria trays used. The DIY nature of hand planes is totally epic, but I must also say, wave riding with a beautiful wooden hand plane crafted by a masterful carpenter like Danny Hess is also pretty epic.]
-The wave count is higher. I think it’s almost a 1:2 ratio. For every one ride I get in a typical surfing session, I get two rides in a bodysurfing session.

Con’s of Bodysurfing
-The other afternoon I was out on a fairly crowded day, and it’s pretty clear that bodysurfers get treated like 2nd-rate citizens in the line-up. I got dropped in on, a lot. It was my wave, I was making the drop, and just ahead of me a surfer who thought I wasn’t going to make it looks me right in the face as he drops in to snake it. So it goes. I still got a ton of waves–mostly medium-sized waves that guys paddle for and just barely miss. And towards the end of the session, as people would notice that my rides were legitimate and weren’t just quick close-outs, I ended up getting a bit more respect. But I know I’ll get snaked again.
-The poundings can be downright dirty. As a thrill-junky, I don’t mind getting rattled, I think that’s half the fun, but holy crap can you get hammered. It’s all about the take-off, and the problem is two-fold. If you make the drop and take it too vertically, and don’t angle it enough to stay with the wave, you end up getting ahead of the lip. One of two things will happen. The first is that the lip will land directly on you, usually somewhere in your lower back, and the wave will violently try to rip you in half. The second thing that can happen is that you actually get fully in front of the lip, and it breaks immediately behind you. When this happens, you often times get fully launched out of the air….like, end up flopping your arms and legs around while you are airborne, as the wave throws you at its mercy. On one particularly memorable wipe-out I literally got water pushed under my eyelids while getting dragged under water. How’s that for the power of the ocean.
-I think a testament to the last statement is the fact that you get a ton more sand in your ass when you bodysurf. You just do.

As it says on Danny Hess’ website in his hand plane section, “I’ve occasionally had a bad time surfing, but I’ve never had a bad time body surfing.”

If you are considering giving it a go, I say do it. It’s incredibly fun. Fins aren’t too expensive, all the brands are pretty good. I’ve always used Churchills, for the almost two decades I’ve been bodysurfing, mostly because when I was a kid I saw Pointbreak and I thought the scene where the guy goes skydiving with Churchills was awesome. There are little mini-leashes that you can attach to your fins so that if they slip off your feet, they are still dangling around your ankle, which I think are a good idea. I’ve definitely had my fins ripped off my feet during some poundings.

Hope to see many of you out in the water, especially if you give bodysurfing a shot.

Now go check out the blog

http://harakabaraka.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/bodysurfing-with-a-hand-plane/

© 2010 within waves | photography by nick allen
...and in other news...introducing the ...Handplane Flexspoon

My new favourite blog...have a look...starting here...

http://lo--tech.blogspot.com/

Photographer Mark Tipple speaks about the Underwater Project:

"I've always been intrigued by what happens below the surface, like what's happening where we can't see." While watching the slide-show on Mark's laptop I'm amazed at the detail of this 'other world' that's portrayed with his selection.

As an accomplished documentary photographer, in the past Mark has used the ocean as an escape for some solace away from his projects. Lately, while between projects he's been "hanging out" below the surface trying to capture what happens while swimming on a slow summer's day.

"Coming from a surfing background I used to wonder what happens when we're duck-diving, like, what it looks like from a different angle than what we can see. Kinda hard to explain but it has always been on my mind. I used to surf with a small video camera and housing attached to my helmet, (pauses) it worked surprisingly well but my neck couldn't take the impact and stress while trying to duck-dive and capture the right angle. Even tried to turn it back on myself to see what happens clearer but that, uh, sucked (laughs). I looked for a new approach to capture what I was seeking, which basically meant getting off the surfboard."

Great little article on UDT Fins

A cracking video of some beautiful bodysurfing in tasty waves, complete with a few barrels and even a nice dolphin takeoff.. about 5 minutes worth

Bodysurfing in Taiwan

All credit to http://www.theboardwok.com

check it out!

She is also a kick ass longboarder..queensland girl Belinda Baggs

Source: The Surfers Path

This looks like too much fun..I'm guessing california somewhere..

When is someone going to do a grade A professional surf video for bodysurfers?!

Until then, here is a little collection of bodysurfing videos from the web...

..........consider this one a motivational read...get out there..........

Click----> Night Riding at Pipeline

Killer footage from inside the tube, shot from a lipstick camera mounted on a handboard

>>See the full list of bodysurfing videos here<<

.....To see more on handboards or handplanes, click here.....

great description of the craft..

Body Surfing at Steamers Lane

"I have always thought that rodeo bull riders were just a bit nuts. You must have a really drastic need for fun if you hop on something that powerful and that mad. Well, Here I was, about 150 yards from shore at Middle Peak, Steamers Lane, trying my own version of that fun. I guess I just got real lucky. It was the beginning of a set and there was this monster coming. I could see it rising more than 200 yards past where I was and all I could do is wait and hope I was positioned well enough. These are too big to chase around after much.

At the time, I didn't know how hard it is to catch one of these big waves while bodysurfing. You have to take off really late as the wave is fully starting to break. I took off using a feet together dolphin kick and both my arms. I didn't know at the time that you don't ride Middle Peak towards the cliff. I certainly was learning. It is too fast. I was flying and water was spraying everywhere. You have to hold your breath all the time for the inevitable moment when the waves tires of you and puts you in the cold water spin cycle. In waves like this, you are just a rag doll. Amazingly though, I had successfully caught it and was riding it tubed inside the wave. There was nothing to see. It was just darkness and splashing water. Every 10 seconds or so, you blow out your air and suck in another breath to hold and keep blasting along. When in a wave like this, you intimately feel its power and well know that to it you are just another small spray of foam. It died out calmly. The end of the ride was not near catastrophic as I had expected. Then as I turned around some, I bumped into a rock. In a fraction of a second I realized without accepting, that the only rock out here was near the cliff, more than 150 yards from where I had started. I had been tubed for the whole ride. This was the first time I had ever tried bodysurfing at the Lane...."

Keep reading "Bodysurfing at Steamer Lane"...

I can't begin to tell you how nuts this is....

‘Bombie’ impulse makes David’s day
From the Manly Daily Newspaper

24 Apr 09 @ 02:29pm by JASON AVEDISSIAN

David Day bodysurfed the Queenscliff Bombie last weekend. Picture: SIMON DEAN

AN outrageous desire to bodysurf Queenscliff’s famous Bombora has been pulled off by a Mosman 60-year-old.

David Day was celebrating his birthday last weekend with family and friends when a spur of the moment decision to surf the famous break finally came to fruition.

With his brother Mark and nephew Ed, the trio swam about 700m to the deep-ocean spot in heavy surf last Sunday.

Do you have any crazy surf stories of your own? Let us know below.

Regular surfers need the break to reach at least 3m before they can take it on, and many of those generally reach the hidden beast after being towed-in.

“Bombie” was peaking that afternoon, reaching at least 4m by the time Day and his brave group nailed it.

“The heart was pumping like hell,” he recalled this week.

“When we got out there, it was like ... wow ... how good is this?

“We were miles away from anything. But once we got on a couple, your confidence just soars.”

Unfortunately, the group did not capture their moment with any video or camera footage.

Many within the northern beaches surfing community believe “Bombie” has rarely, if ever, been body-surfed.

But witnesses on shore are convinced the bodysurfers swam to the break before taking it on.

“They were surfing the Bommie,” North Steyne Surf Life Saving Club deputy president Geoff Cooper confirmed.

“I saw one or two of them catching a wave and thought; ‘that’s terrific’.

In fact, it was incredible.

Day, director of development at Redlands in Cremorne, had spoken to two-time world surfing champion Tom Carroll about taming the highly dangerous break.

Carroll had his doubts.

“Tom’s view was that there was no way and it was difficult enough just to be towed in on a board,” David’s Adelaide-based brother, Mark, said.

Carroll yesterday said he was stunned they pulled it off.

“It’s pretty crazy,” he said.

“If they got a wave, that’s great. It’s pretty risky stuff ... it’s a high sea. The ocean is such a wild and unpredictable place.”

To help you appreicate the madness of what they did, this is the queenscliff bombie on another day...

Underwater fin surfing...

Some years ago i was sitting on a beach in northern N.S.W. Australia after a swim with my monofin. It was a beautifull sunny summer morning with a small but clean swell rolling through. As i was relaxing i saw what i had only seen once in a photo before. A pob of dolphins approached from offshore and proceeded to catch a wave and surf it as it peeled along the shore. These creatures are the planets most ancient surfers and probably this image is what inspired the ancient polynesians to start riding waves. To see with what style, fluidity, and grace they playfully rode that wave is something imposible to describe. This was really a situation of "you had to see it to really understand it".
All i could do was admire, in awe. When the first wave of emotions had disipated and the dolphins gone (probably to breakfast, hungry from the session) the only thing i could think about was if such a thing could be done by a human. Here i was in the land where surfing is a national sport and millions of waves get ridden around the country all year, yet to my knowledge, no other human had ever tried to imitate what i had just seen the dolphins do. So stood up and decided that it was time to wet my mono again and this time in a way i had never imagined. I finned to the lineup (for non surfers; the point where waves start to break) and waited for my first wave. Needless to say that my first attempts resulted in getting tumbled around with no result. But as i started to figure out the timming in diving at the right moment, finning and catching the wave as it broke, i magicly caught my first wave swimming underwater, just like they did. When you ride a wave in this manner you actually only kick to get some monentum, then when the wave comes above you it pulls you along with it's own energy without needing you to kick anymore. You suddenly find yourself in another dimension where you are inisde the wave, it's energy is all around you and you glide through the water propelled by it as it breaks down the line. You almost ARE the wave. When i exited the water from that first attempt i seriously felt as if i had seen the light, something in me had changed, maybe everything. As time passed i continued to practice whenever i got a chance and after some months figured out how to actually follow the wave. In the beginning i could only catch it and go in a straight line in front of it as it broke. This meant that my ride was very short as i didn't really follow the wave for much of it's breaking distance. So when i first followed the wave underwater as it was breaking along, without exiting from its inertia was again a ground breaking moment. This time i was starting to really surf it like the dolphins do. Of course i still could not manouver around underwater like they do with quick direction changes, out of the water leaps and so forth but i was on my way. One of the last times i surfed was in front of my old house in Bronte Sydney, where i was given the gift of catching my first tube ride. I was glidding fast under this wave when it started to tube and i kept on speeding right below the surface of a breaking liquid cylinder, WOW. Nevertheless, life having some odd twists and turns i was led away from my beloved waves and back to my familiar and flat mediteranean shores . It's been a year and a half since that last wave but not so long anymore until my next one. This winter i'm planning to see how far i can take this concept and to do so i will go where the best go, in the meca of surfing. Hawaii of course. Updates will follow. What i now want to know is...is there anybody else out there doing this. I really think that there must be, it's imposible that no one else has thought of this and tried it. If you are out there i want to know, i want to communicate, this is too fun to not share, and if i'm still alone it just a matter of time...
Delphicly,
Noa

reposted from : http://forums.deeperblue.com/general-freediving/53588-underwater-fin-surfing.html

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

A Brokedown Melody