charge charging chargeables
waves. I basically got skunked again. Lewis and others found a few kernals of decency. I sat and watched people get rides while twiddling my thumbs or sticking my thumb up my arse or thumbing convention or thumb thumb thumbthing (some dumb something). A smattering of solidity for the skilled and patient. Cool to meet sideburned self-shaper who i previously met in Capitola. I saw you get some nice ones on your yellow board.
surfing is frustrating.. but fun.. but frustrating.
It's humbling to realize that i'll never be a ripper.
Rip
Shred
Careen
Vault
Smear
Launch
Gauge
Whack
Burn
Crush
Divot
Vex
Blush
meeting now.. peace out.
Goodmorning's top ten sessions of 2004
I was asked to write a ten best of '04 thing for a friend's magazine/ website and thought athat you all would appreciate it more than any who read H2so4. If it is too long, get rid of it. If not, enjoy.
Top ten surfs- 2004
1. Coal Oil Point, first winter swell in Ventura county's '04-'05 season. Overhead lined up point break with ultimately unmakeable tube sections. For a while I was the only one at the pier on a longboard. Like everyone, I was obliterated trying to hang on in the barrel longer than I ought. As someone paddling out said as I collected my board (and lumps) after a longish barrel, "Piping!"
2. Maria's, Puerto Rico. Second week of Feb. What more might be said of head and a half reef break in warm water on a new board made just for the trip? Oh yeah, baby. Baby! Ahhhh.
3. Unnamed point break, Puerto Rico. Pre "Swell of the Trip" and a harbinger. Only one out, trunks, so what if it lasted only a half hour before the tide wrecked it? So what if the reef was full of vana on the inside? So what if it was cloudy? Score!
4. Unnamed reef break, Puerto Rico. Again alone, entering the water by light of the setting full moon to find the ocean warmer than the already balmy air. The paddle to the break was maybe three-quarters of a mile and the view to the shore was of empty tropical coastline, no buildings, the road kept close by foliage. The surf a powerful seven foot, lefts and rights, glassy as an oil spill. So what if I had to answer the call of the "traveler�s malady" in the line up? The tide was outbound and there were more waves on the way for me!
5. Little Maria's, Puerto Rico. Tiny surf, no one out but me and the lady half, essentially alone. She didn't stand but bounced in prone on quite a few. Until I hit her board on a "family wave" on the way in, a perfect session.
6. Montara, San Mateo County. Out on a day at Montara's maximum ridable height with Pete. Just like we were in high school again except cold and grey. The fist day that justified breaking out the short board in some time- I had forgotten how fun the chip is. Then that damned shark investigated us- so we took off. But not as fast as you would think, close-out barrels are magnetic to human flesh....
7. Pescadero, San Mateo County, two and a half hour bodysurfing session with Pete. I had forgotten how much fun bodysurfing was! I had forgotten how much salt water a sinus cavity holds! So much fun, reminiscent of Sandy Beach with close-out tubes that kept open inside for a while, taking drops that were obviously going to be Phyrric in their accomplishment as sand and kelp shreds forced their way into facial orifices with the force of suburban rioters at the Gotcha Pro. Yes!
8. Ocean Beach, fist swell of the '04-'05 season. New mini-gun, fast as hell. Easy paddle out. Pushing double overhead on sets. Met someone in the line up who had long been a familiar face. Stayed out long past the conditions' deterioration just because.
9. & 10. Ocean Beach October & November madness. Surfed a couple strings of day after day and just beat. Exceptionally fun and hollow head high surf, off shore winds, relatively light crowds and one wave that stands out in memory; it sucked up and went perfectly vertical while the shoulder ahead of me suddenly went perpendicular to the wave face!? I ended on a flying kick out, landing flat on my back from such a height that I wondered as I fell why I hadn't hit the water yet. Subsequently I was recognized in the parking lot as the flying guy by a nice older gentleman watching the wave orgy. Go figure. Surfed many days alone and with Pete, Jeff, Dave and Peter.
11. Impossibly long longboard left-hand barrel (squatting, all 6'2"), San Mateo County. Sometimes local spots surprise even after years of a relationship that might generously be called "codependent". Leashless trim, glassy, barefeet, if only the rest of the damned rubber could be taken from the equation.
MARS art show on January 8th.. check out fecal face.com for details
Surfed out front with Doof, then the Navy showed up on an aircraft carrier. Whoops, its only Kdalle.
Inconsistent hard to find peaks, except when you are stuck inside.
After two weeks off, it was good to finally get the feel back on my last wave, that turned into three.
Posted by: friend #1 at January 5, 2005 10:41 AMSpent my holiday in Hawaii...
Posted by: AS at January 5, 2005 10:41 AM"Inconsistent hard to find peaks"---exactly. One blown take-off and a quick ride on an inside reform were all I managed in an hour. I suck!
Posted by: kloo at January 5, 2005 10:49 AMe- it may be humbling to realize that you'll never be a ripper. i feel like i'll never be a good surfer since i learned after 30 but hey, it's not about comparing yourself to others - it's about the joy of being part of mother ocean's beauty. keep the faith!
Posted by: eclaire at January 5, 2005 11:00 AMe ive seen you smack some lips im my day..dont trip
Posted by: bagel at January 5, 2005 11:03 AMReading some of the late posts yesterday about informing peeps of ocean conditions is a great idea. BUT people rarely listen. I've rescued 4 different people 5 times. 4 where in the surf one in river rapids. One woman I rescued on 2 seperate occassions.
I cautioned all but one of these people about the conditions and possible scenarios they where about to encounter. Each of the situations are unique but the common thread in 3 of the 4 surf rescues was that once they had lost there board, they freaked out as they were not comfortable swimming in what they where surfing. This loss of control lead to accelerated breathing, gulping water and the "bobbing 1,2,3, drowning count" we've seen in cartoons. Witnessing the death bob in real life as your fighting the freaked out person trying to get ahold of them is something I will never forget. Pretty please with organic raw sugar on top; "If you can't swim it, don't surf it."
e, i've seen you surf. stop with the self dis. you do fine and you got some style. if i recall your history you started as an adult. ob is a tough place to surf, even if you grew up grom. chill on the comparables to the joneses.
Posted by: 3to5setsof7 at January 5, 2005 11:36 AMi saw e thwack a section at fort pretty nice.
Posted by: bbr at January 5, 2005 11:54 AMYO!
Wanted to give a BIG THANKS to all you that posted your wishes yesterday. Marco gave about as accurate a report as could have been given. I thought the smack down from a DOH+ wave at Sloat was tough....
Well, I guess that is all relative yet again!
The little dude is chillin at home and I think we got an O'Neill rep rolling this way to get him custom fitted in some 4/3 for spring time. Watch out for the new grom on the 3'6'' Ward Coffey. One question: Does he get instant local status since he was born here? Nah, just kidding.
Thanks again everyone! Beers on me to celebrate post sesh one of these days soon.
Waves look like they could be tasty today! Hope you all get some before the rains hit us yet again tomorrow.
Posted by: Kaiser at January 5, 2005 12:00 PMI guess the list wasn't too long. It was nice to write that and remember as I continue to battle this crappy low grade flu. Trying to make the call to shuck work and take my flu surfing....
The drowning is terrible but not a suprise- so many have no idea how powerful the ocean is or can be. I remember all the drownings and near drownings of tourists in Hawaii- somewhat recently had another at a family friend's bed & breakfast on the North Shore.
E. find a consistant point break on your preferred hand before you write off your surfing abilities- OB is a stern task mistress.
Posted by: goodmorning at January 5, 2005 12:05 PMKloo - so THERE you are! Lost you in the whitewater treadmill.
Re: treacherous ocean conditions, is it just me or have the channels and rips cleaned out and powered up? Wintertime trend, I assume. Got stuck into INSIDE rips now twice in a row, despite paddling diagonally, etc... it took waaay waaay too long to hit the beach. Those things personally spook me more than breaking a leash or getting pounded. Not proud of the head space I got to, unpleasant. Thinking about that Montara swimmer and other comments about beachgoers. Strong stuff now, even the innocuous looking sections. Seeking surf, not "Fear Factor"!
Cheers...
Posted by: s.s. sharkbait at January 5, 2005 12:21 PMe, no comparing to lewis.. what can you do? imho, you made the most of your wave on the way out, not shabby at all..
Posted by: bird at January 5, 2005 12:22 PMpeace and happy 2005. welcome back.
e's just going through one of those "shake the rust off" periods, it'll come. It didn't help that Lewis and about 3 others were bringing the house down at the same spot.
Posted by: blakestah at January 5, 2005 12:23 PMI have a hard timing being at popular tourist beaches this time of year because the kids running at the waters edge makes me so nervous. I was on the Russian River Mouth a few weeks ago on a solid DOH day. The beach is steep and its all shore pound. Parents and kids walking at the waters edge ignoring the life guard. Tide was sucking out, one wave and they are all gone. Don't think any lifeguard could have gotten to them in time with all the white water and cold. He was already in full wetsuit, worried and yelling at everybody. Soon as he turned around they are right back out there. A lot of people just don't know any better. Gnarly.
Posted by: tucker at January 5, 2005 12:29 PMhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2005/01/05/gree.DTL
"It lies beneath the waves in odious company: almost 50,000 drums of radioactive waste are scattered on the seafloor just 25 miles out from the Golden Gate. Ten times larger than the City, this is the largest offshore nuclear dump in the United States, yet it's not clear exactly what is in the drums, or who precisely put them all there. In the 1990s, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey found that the drums are leaking radioactivity into the ocean. Some may have been spilling from the start -- sailors involved in dumping operations have reported shooting floating drums with rifles to make them sink -- and, as the rest age, they are falling apart."
Posted by: at January 5, 2005 12:30 PMit's probably not any of you guys but someone left an sf longboard next to my car in the lot at pacifica this morning sometime between 930 and 1130. i rescued it! if it's yours or you know who it belongs to email me at rchampa13 at aol. i'll contact the shop also.
Posted by: rusch at January 5, 2005 12:50 PMrusch
Posted by: snake at January 5, 2005 01:02 PMreminds me of the time i left my board on the ground at the jetty and drove all the way to 280 before turning around to rerieve it ...absent minded stoke going on
Uhhh, that's my longboard you found. It's got fins on one end and a rounded nose on the other with an SF logo on it, right? I don't know how it ended up at LM - I haven't surfed there in years. But you know, those longboards sometimes have a mind of their own....
Posted by: 650 local at January 5, 2005 01:53 PMi don't think this one's yours 650. it's got fins on both ends, a special linda mar model.
Posted by: rusch at January 5, 2005 02:11 PMe - good seeing this morning as well. i have a few other new boards that i'll be debuting hopefully sooner than later.
goodmorning - i'm back in town, although not for long. give me a call. also, the poor chap that drowned and i have similar names. freaky.
Posted by: dave t at January 5, 2005 02:35 PMRescue 707.
Yeah, it happens. Like the time I was belly boarding in after a sesh up north from SF and a little kid on a boogie board in a giant wetsuit with no fins is getting sucked outwards and into a whirlpool on a 3-4 ft. day, but with big bottomless holes below.
Wide eyed an shivering(the kid, not me) I dragged the grom to the beach and his sister ran down to greet him, she also in a giant, flow-through (read cold and sink-ems style) wetsuit.
"Where are your parents?", I ask.
"Over there" the little nibbler replies.
Meanwhile little 'Johnny' starts barfing.
I approach Dad and interrupt his beer swilling.
Posted by: searoom at January 5, 2005 02:42 PM"hey is that your kid with the boogie board?"
"Yeah" he replies without cheer.
"I just dragged him in, he's frozen and scared"
"Well, he's got to learn not to be afraid of the ocean"
I couldn't even think of anything snappy to say to such a freakn' moron.
Keep your eyes peeled and try not to punch the moronic parents...
Russian rivermouth is heavy with solid swell, especially the current from the river mixing with the shorepound giving huge whirlpools. Seems more dangerous than OB.
Also, I think you're supposed to stay about 8 ft. away from a drowning person waiting for them to give up before grabbing them. You can always do mouth to mouth on shore but you can be dragged down too if you go near them while flailing.
The ocean is harsh and we're never in charge of it. We can only respect it and use caution when possible.
Posted by: Nate at January 5, 2005 02:52 PMI can empathize with your comments here as i got skunked yesterday as well and i'm still pissed. i was out a little after blake.
the sets were spaced and the crowd kept getting bigger, i repeatedly was getting caught inside on the sets. one ripped off my hood and i had to take 3 more on the head before i could retrieve it. ended up only getting 1 wave in 1.5 hours and it was a closeout.
btw -i shot some video around noon there and by zoo 1st pl.will post a link when i've done something with it.
Posted by: lp at January 5, 2005 03:20 PMalso, i just put up a new video from mavs on 12/16/04 - use the url link if interested.
lp
thanks for the sentiments doods!
i still know that i suck!!! ha!!! but that's cool.. it's fun as all hell..
surrrf!!
Posted by: e at January 5, 2005 03:21 PMsucking is all relative anyway... i suck, but damn if i'm not good at it
Posted by: cronk at January 5, 2005 03:28 PM-"I couldn't even think of anything snappy to say to such a freakn' moron.
Keep your eyes peeled and try not to punch the moronic parents.."-
you say to yourself... "NATURAL SELECTION AT WORK"
Posted by: cronk at January 5, 2005 03:31 PMlp - fix the page - no link to the vid. I guessed the URL and downloaded it, looks like a good fun day! Excellent video shooting, as usual.
Posted by: blakestah at January 5, 2005 03:36 PMnice reality check. thanks for telling us.
Posted by: e at January 5, 2005 03:37 PM
Posted by: e at January 5, 2005 03:44 PMken mcnight images from allaboutsurf
Posted by: e at January 5, 2005 03:48 PMCaught sloat yesterday in the early afternoon. Glassy, 6-8 foot and fun.
Posted by: onthebus at January 5, 2005 03:58 PMi've seen e noodle some notes on his geetar!
Posted by: caveman at January 5, 2005 04:19 PMThose stalker-type shots of women on the beach are kinda creepy.
Posted by: amigoism at January 5, 2005 04:27 PMMars makes dope art.
Posted by: seth s. at January 5, 2005 04:53 PMI bet her friend took that pic.
Posted by: tucker at January 5, 2005 05:04 PMbruce quiver
pipeline people
Posted by: e at January 5, 2005 05:13 PMNo only will I admit to surfing Poo-cifica this past weekend, I also took a dump at the Taco Bell, which I swear I saw floating by 10 minutes later. I was teaching a friend to surf, so I was mostly neck-deep while treading water in untreated sewerage. There was a mom on the beach watching two 10-year old kids splash around. It's scary that she didn't seem to care they were essentially playing in a toilet bowl.
In other news, I'm offically a sissy-boy with my nancy-pansy hood. But it's got a collar, so it keeps the water out on the body-surfing. My main complaints are that 1) doesn't quite sit right, and the wussy visor drifts down into my eyes ever few minutes 2) will fill with poo-water between chin and neck. But it greatly allays my fears of surfer's ear and avoids the ice-cream headache with the associated hopping and screaming, "cold, cold, cold, cold."
Posted by: Andrew on 57th at January 5, 2005 05:27 PM
Posted by: cadaver at January 5, 2005 05:48 PMJessica Dunne
Andrew, cut the visor off, its too little to shade the sun, what the hell is it for anyway? E, shut up and surf, we all have different skill levels, I quit surfing during the day, because I could never cut or tear as good as anyone else it seems, making my rides seem less worthy, so I graduated to night surfing where I am king, scoring waves that millions are fighting for during the day. Makes me feel like a ripper. Of course it helps to be competent at making waves and not crashing too much to be surfing in the dark
Posted by: at January 5, 2005 06:16 PMthe link on the mavs video is fixed. lp
btw - not sure if g posted the link, but he was shooting still pics next to me as i shot video. his stills are at:
http://scsurfers.com/pics/20050104/
lp
Posted by: lp at January 5, 2005 06:25 PMI think the visor is to keep the drip out of your eyes?
Thanks for the Jessica Dunne pix, cadaver! I really like those night-time ones. I googled her:
Posted by: kloo at January 5, 2005 06:50 PMSome dumb kook
Posted by: blakestah at January 5, 2005 08:47 PMfinally got back in the water today, fisrt time since just before Xmas. Was in the Yucatan, didn't take a board and there ended up being really fun surf. Having anxiety attacks before I surf OB lately, always think there is something lurking on the outside. I got one fun one today. Welcome back to reality...
Posted by: mexi at January 5, 2005 09:02 PMrusch, you should try posting something on the norcal surf group's yahoo page:
Posted by: asi at January 5, 2005 09:45 PMhttp://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/norcalsurfing/
Posted by: bagel at January 5, 2005 11:18 PMeric tiemens
Posted by: bagel at January 5, 2005 11:23 PMcraig mullins
alex kanevsky
yay
Posted by: bagel at January 5, 2005 11:31 PMtaht craig mullins painting is amaaazing
Posted by: bbr at January 6, 2005 08:43 AMya hes the best..all photoshop and painter i think
www.goodbrush.com
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