Anytime you want to purchase something from Amazon.com, instead of going directly to Amazon, visit www.5percentblue.com and then click the link to shop on Amazon.

First Impressions

The FA player is pretty small and lightweight, but not as small as many other players of similar storage. There are 4 waterproof buttons that are big and easy to access yet a little Frankenstein looking. There is an LED light that tells you info on charging, uploading, and playing which does the job well. There is no screen, it works like the iPod Shuffle, but there is no shuffle.

We used a PC, and without installing any software the player showed up as a drive, where adding and removing tracks is a breeze. The USB cable also allows the player to charge (it takes 2.5 hours to charge which is said to last 35 hours of play time). The USB cable plugs into the same port as the headphones and this allows the player to have only one input where water could get in. If a cable isn’t plugged in all the way, it knows and will shut down. It’s a smart idea but you’ll have to carry the special USB cable around with you if you ever want to update your collection at a friends house.

Dry Run

We first took it for a spin on land by going on a jog. We used the land headphones and were not impressed. It is hard to fault a player for bad headphones, since everyone has their idea on what headphones feel good. That said, these headphones stunk. Good news here is that you can use any pair of headphones you’d like when used on land (in water you need the special waterproof ones). The armband works cool and the player is easy to navigate on the run. However the buttons are aligned across from each other, and you need some force to push them. So sometimes you try to increase the volume and you’ll end hitting the opposite button, thus skipping a track. Besides that the player worked great.

While Swimming

We gave the player to Kyle who went swimming at the UCSB pool with it. He said the headphones didn’t sound too good either underwater or above water. He was a trooper for showing up in his speedos and headphones though.

Surfing With Music

Alright, we’ll admit it. We never got out in the water with it. We just couldn’t overcome the cool factor. I mean, we’d have to go all the way down to County Line to surf somewhere we wouldn’t be seen surfing with this. We stammered for a few weeks trying to get the nerve to surf with it, and then Freestyle wanted it back to give to the next reviewer. However it’s performance on land and while swimming gave us enough of a clue to know that Freestyle has some work to do still.

What You Get

• Audio Player with built in battery
• Normal headphones
• Waterproof headphones
• USB cable that doubles as the charger
• User Manual
• Armband
• Installation Disc

Where to Buy:

• Wetsand: 256Mb, 512Mb, 1Gb
• FreestyleAudio.com

Surf Drops Science Claims

• Maintains optimal environment for nasal passage hair to flourish and filter.
• Dilutes thick stuff and shrink membranes for better drainage.
• Flushes out moisture and bacteria to prevent post nasal drip and infection.

The Testing

We’ve had our fair share of sinus problems related to surfing. Whether this is related to contaminated water or just too much time in the water, we don’t know. What we do know is after many sessions in a row, our sinus’s would get pretty bad for a few days. Would Surf Drops fix this? We aimed to find out.

We tried Surf Drops in January and February during some dawn and dusk sessions in cool water/air with average wave heights. Not one to enjoying putting drops in my eyes, ears, or nose, it was a little funny at first sticking some drops in the nostrils after surfing. However, there was no question these drops work their way in your sinus’s passages. As soon as you drop them in you can feel them trace a salty path all the way down into your throat. Somehow, that alone is a good feeling, just getting the confirmation things are flowing nicely in there.

It is tough to review if these will keep you more healthy when surfing because it isn’t as if we did a very scientific study. We did however notice that our sinus’s were not clogging when logging in multi-session days multiple days in a row. Previously, if a good swell came in that had us surfing 5 sessions in 3 days, our own mom wouldn’t recognize us on the phone because of our stuffed up sinus’s. Surf Drops seems to prevent that. We didn’t get sick during any of our testing and the annoying post-nasal-drip, “I think I’m getting a sore throat” feeling never came up either. Based on that, we’re keeping Surf Drops as part of the post-surf ritual. If we can pull all the way through winter and still claim the above, we’re pretty sure we’ll be thanking the Surf Drops creators for a long time to come.

Where To Buy

• Your local surf shop
• Wetsand.com ($5.95 + tax/shipping)
• Amazon.com ($5.95 + tax/shipping)
• Surfdrops.com ($5.98 +tax/shipping)

More info at www.surfdrops.com

The review is on the left, and a link to buy at Wetsand is on the right. Wetsand was the cheapest place online for all of these products, they ship right here out of Santa Barbara County, and no we don’t get any kickbacks. Check out your local surf shop to see if they have any of these products and stoke your local surf community.

Go Pro Hero 35mm $15.00
The Review or To Buy

Surf Stronger DVD $29.95
The Review or To Buy

Go Pro Digital Hero $79.00
The Review or To Buy

HangAir Wetsuit Drying System $69.95
The Review or To Buy

A little background on the reviewer here. Over a year ago I tweaked something in my back while surfing. After a few months of on and off re-injury, I worked with a Physical Therapist to first work out the kinks and then do specific exercises to strengthen the muscles one uses during surfing. One year and $500 later my core is strengthened to both prevent injury from happening again and to allow new surfing maneuvers. My goal in reviewing this DVD was to decide if going on the Surf Stronger program would of prevented my injury and improved my surfing, along with saving me $500.

The simple answer is yes. We think the Surf Stronger DVD will teach you some simple stretches you can do to prevent injury as well as a slew of strengthening exercises to build up your core muscles you use during surfing. First, a warning. If you’ve already have some pain from surfing (especially if it is nerve related) you ought to consult a physical therapist if you have any pain while doing this program.

Surf Stronger is broken up into several sections:

0. Tips and Instructions. A little music video introduciton with the Mother Hips providing the soundtrack followed by some quick tips.

1. Warmup. A “dynamic warm up” you can do on the beach before surfing or before you do the workout.

2. Workout. A series of exercises focused on your surfing muscles. Most of these exercises use a set of dumbbells and/or the fitness ball to work your key muscles. This section has two groups, group 1 for beginners and group 2 for advanced. Starting with Group 1 is a smart way to start on your first workout to get an idea of what is in store.

3. Cool Down. A yoga type time to calm the inner shredder.

What We Thought
It’s a good gig. Even if you are one that thinks video workouts are a little too reminensecnt of Jazzercise, you’d benefit by watching this a few times and memorizing the key workouts you find help your surfing. The workouts do move a little fast, which makes it a bit rushed when running through the whole video. The benefit of this though is since it’s a DVD you can easily skip around and pause with your remote. This is handy if you’d like do as many reps as you want, skip the ones you think you don’t need, and build your own custom workout.

Bummers
It wouldn’t be a Santa Barbara Surfing review if we didn’t dig up some bummers thrown in here, but they were few.

Weights. Would be nice to have a few tips on what size weights one should start out with and what the goal should be to work up to, if there is any at all. Could be said the same on the reps.

Cheat Sheet. Not really a bummer, but a feature request. Would be nice to have an included print out sheet which has the names of the exercises written down for easy access. This would be nice for when traveling or when trying to do some of the exercises away from the TV.

Summary:
We like the Surf Stronger DVD. It is worth the price to learn some tools to improve ones surfing and ones ability to still surf without injury.

Where To Buy
Wetsand.com
SurfStronger.com

The short answer is yes, the Hangair works as advertised, and in the “high” mode can cut a wetsuits drying time to a 1/3.

The Test
We experimented with the Hangair in a controlled environment with both a 3/2 wetsuit, and a 4/3 wetsuit with the fleece “Fireskin” lining. The hangair has both a low and a high setting. The low setting is when you’d like to speed your drying time yet not have the loud noise of a fan going. This setting we found almost not worth it, because it didn’t dry the suit incredibly faster and yet the noise was enough to be bothersome. The high mode, however, is a no holds barred suit drying machine. This mode is pretty loud however, you’d want to put the this in your garage or patio as I could hear the Hangair from 30 feet away in this mode. However the results were impressive. It managed in 8 hours what would of taken 24 hours without the Hangair. The aforementioned 4/3 with the fleece lining used to take 24 hours to get dry on the outside, then flipping it inside out for another 12-24 hours before it was like putting on a dry suit. However with the Hangair, the suit was bone dry within an 8 hour work day. The 3/2 Elasto was even quicker obviously and the Hangair could easily dry your suit out between a dawn patrol and an evening glass off. The manufacturer claims that if you can keep it in the shade outside with a bit of breeze your drying times will be even quicker, drying a fullsuit in 2 hours. We weren’t able to test it outdoors so we can’t confirm that but we did try placing a box fan a few away from the wetsuit while it was drying. The results were even more impressive with our 4/3 that we wore for a dawn patrol getting dry by lunchtime.

Note on Safety
At first we thought the unit had 120V straight into the Hangair and were worried about the implications of someone getting shocked if they got a little too friendly with water. We contacted the manufacturer with these safety concerns and they corrected our mistaken impressions. The wall plug is actually a DC adapter meaning anything after the plug is running at 12V DC, so you are safe from getting some high voltage AC running through you. The manufacturer also provided details on their safety testings (which, without going in details, involved lots of water) which completely alleviated our concerns. However, remember to always approach any electrical device with a good deal of respect.

Bummers
Did we mention noise? It’s loud. There is no way around that though, it’s principle is drawing as much air through your suit as possible. If you don’t have a room or garage you can put this in and close the door, I wouldn’t recommend it. This is not for apartment dwellers. However if you have a garage, 2nd bathroom, or outdoor space, it is a non-issue.

Summary
We give the Hangair a thumbs up. It is well engineered and does the job it is supposed to do. If you can find a good place to set this up where the noise isn’t an issue, you’ll soon find yourself in a nice rhythm of surfing, rinsing, running the Hangair, and surfing again.

Where To Buy
Hangairs.com ($63 after tax and shipping) - price updated 11/07/2007
Wetsand.com ($81 after tax and shipping) - out of stock on 11/07/2007

The camera does have its drawbacks which we’ve noted below in the “Bummers” section. Expect about 25% of your shots to work and the rest to go in the trash can. The good news is that since it is digital you can fire off as many shots as you’d like hoping you get a few gems. However we found our gems fewer than expected.

Modes/Features:
Photo Mode: 640 X 480 Pixels. (260 photos @ 100Kb file size)
Video Mode: 320 X 240, 10fps, 12 second max (32 @ max)
Self Timer Mode: 10 second self timer

Accessories:
Surfer Ring Clasp (for water)
Ski Glove Clasp (for slopes)
USB Cable
Battery included
Instructions

Photo Management:
Camera comes included with a USB cable. No need to install drivers, your computer will install the camera as if it is a hard drive. Drag and drop photos. When using the camera solo, the only photo management you can do is delete the last photo or all photos. There is no review function on the camera, but a text based display. This is a bit of a bummer for those used to the instant gratification of digital cameras, but it makes the camera simple and robust.

Battery Life
Camera takes 1 AAA battery. The manufacturer recommends Li-ion batteries, especially in cold weather/water. I used a rechargeable Ni-MiH Energizer that was rated at 850MaH. I never ran out of battery but I did recharge between sessions just in case.

Depth Test
Although no formal depth tests were undergone, the camera did work at depths of 20 feet underwater without a problem. GoPro claims it is good to 30 feet and we believe them, the housing O-Ring seems quite robust.

Bummers:
LED: The LED in the viewfinder is not bright enough. The LED tells you when the camera is powered on, when the shot is taken, and blinks when taking video. In daylight out on the water, and especially underwater, the LED is too faint to really see. Not a deal killer, but let’s hope Go Pro improves this on future models.

Resolution: 640X480 resolution makes photos on par with a camera phone. Granted, that is leaps and bounds over anything else in this price range we’ve seen to take water shots. However it leaves the user hungry for more resolution for better shots. With the speed things are moving in electronics I’m sure Go Pro will bump up the resolution of these cams in the times ahead.

Speed: You have to hold the camera quite still when shooting. If you don’t, you’ll see streaking in your shots. This, coupled with the ‘zoom’ below, makes getting shots while surfing behind someone difficult, and was much easier with the 35mm version.

Shutter Delay: The first photos you take after you power up the camera will have a delay of 1 second. The subsquent photos will take much quicker. However, since the camera automatically powers off after 30 seconds of no use, you’ll find yourself with this 1 second delay more often than not.

Zoom: This is more of a trade-off than a bummer. This camera is set with a 70mm lens, as opposed to a typical 35mm lens. This is good for water shots because seldom can you get as close to your subject as you’d like. However what you lose is the ability to take “hip-shots” or other shots where you don’t have time to look thru the view finder. Whereas the 35mm camera would get some aspect of the shot, the Digital version often misses it.

Summary:
We like the Go Pro Digital Hero camera and have a good time taking it out in the water and sharing the photos. However we still think it isn’t 100% “there” yet, and needs a few improvements to be a solid part of a surfers aresenal. For only $79 it’s a pretty quick way to get into taking surfing shots in the water, as long as you are patient and don’t expect Scott Aichner quality.

Where To Buy:

Go Pro
Wetsand

Or search with Froogle

“It’s not a surf movie, it’s a documentary about surf movies” claimed stand-in host Peter Townend at the premier of Ira Opper (producer) and Matt Warshaw’s (writer) Ultimate Sessions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla.

Brad Gerlach is an incredible surfer, but I wasn’t entirely disappointed he wasn’t able to host because he wasn’t feeling well (evidently the water quality on his recent trip to El Salvador was akin to Baja Malibu after a fall rain) when I heard who was filling in. “PT” told some entertaining stories which illustrated key segments in this entertaining series of clips from classic surf films, commencing with 1969’s Cosmic Children and ending with Jack Johnson’s September Sessions.

Having only surfed for a decade, this documentary definitely helped me gain a better understanding of the history and progression of the sport since the leash and shortboard were discovered. And the viewer may develop a new respect for the pioneers of big wave surfing after examining the boards they were riding, with their ridiculous width and thickness, and lack of rocker and leash. Every session included was entirely relevant, most including cinematography that gives a peek into the style of film making of that era. No vertical snaps, airs, or flap jacks, this film has elegance that transcends decades with grace.

Perhaps the mood was set by the consistent solstice surf that’s been in place in San Diego for several days, maybe the old timers were simply enjoying the films that were the rage when they were grommets, but the stoke was alive during this screening as barrel after barrel incited cheers from the crowds unlike your average surf film premiere. Omitting gratuitous commentary, this documentary had a perfectly appropriate soundtrack that matched the mood of the session perfectly, If you’re interested in the history of surfing, or surf films, I recommend attending a showing of Ultimate Sessions. And don’t forget to enter the raffle to benefit the Surfrider Foundation because you may win a new Surftech.

“Ultimate Sessions is an anthology of the evolution of both the surf film and surfing itself,” said Opper. “I would like the audience to leave the theater experiencing the sports most incredible sessions from the shortboard revolution to the end of the 20th Century.”

www.ultimatesessions.com

Screw:
10-24 x 5/16″ Cup Point Set Screw, Stainless Steel, $0.13

Tool:
3/32″ Hex Head Allen Wrench

Specialty Tool and Bolt: 108 Aero Camino # A, Goleta (805) 968-3581)

Chief Firewater surfboard cleaner and wax remover is (the) best known surfboard cleaner since 1987. Chief Firewater surfboard cleaner is a wax, tar and adhesive remover optimized for cleaning surfboards and is the best and safest way to keep your surfboard clean.

We’ve tried the Chief a few times now, most recently to clean it up our Fish after a visit to the ding repair guy. Ding repair guys are pretty messy, and the Fish was a mess, wax on top and bottom of the board as well as fiberglass dust and all kinds of bad gunk. We completely stripped the board of wax in the sun using a wax comb and then started to clean away with the Chief.

The chief, used in conjunction with some elbow grease, does a great job of removing wax and tar on your board. It seems to work better and be safer than the gasoline we were using prior to trying the Chief. So as far as performance, we’re giving the Chief a Thumbs Up. It was quick, didn’t require too much, and we got everything off the board we wanted to.

The only downfall of the chief is that it smelled just like Goo Gone. We don’t think this is Goo Gone because it’s clear and the Chief’s website claims it was exclusively invented by the Chief in 1987. However, one might have just as much luck cleaning their surfboard with something more readily available like Goo Gone. However, if you’re at your surf shop buying your wax and traction pads, it might be easier to get the Chief while your there. It works as advertised.

Here is how to get the Chief online:

Brave New World
Hansen Surf