Nishii, who is currently in California, was greeted with a beautiful sunny morning after last night's heavy rain, and today he went to Redondo Beach with Chris Ward.
Chris called me late last night, so I decided to get up early tomorrow and head north, bringing along young photographer Justen for a video and photo session. The weather, waves, and light were all perfect, and we were able to take photos of Chris and his new 6'3" RNF board that could be on the cover of a surf magazine.
The waves were so powerful that the shore break sandbar was shallow.
The board was breaking into pieces.
Chris started out riding a 5'11" F1-STUB.
After a few rides, the boat emerges from the sea.
Chris is riding a whopping 6'3" new signature model RNF board.
We quickly headed out to sea again, and decided that the wave conditions were perfect to test the effectiveness of the improved nose lift to deal with the hollowed-out waves.
He was barrel riding repeatedly. With a length of 6'3" and a round nose, it felt like he was riding long waves even with such deep waves.
Chris also seemed to enjoy the quick design.
Chris Ward's style is to check all the videos and photos he takes immediately.
Today, boards were breaking here and there, so I suggested that they try making and selling signature model RNF boards using as strong a material as possible.
This is Chris' daughter, Maria, who accompanied us. I showed Maria the Surfing Life magazine I brought from Japan that we were featured in, and told her that her name was listed in the photo credits. She said, "I'm 14 years old, Chris's daughter, and when I looked closely at her face, I thought she looked just like her dad, so I asked her to tell that to people in Japan."
