Man.. it sounds like Sliz-oat was *all time* yesterday afternoon... (instead of saying "afternoon", aussies often say, "arvo").. i'm bummed that i missed it. I cruised out there this morning hoping for traces of yesterday's low-tide glory.. but met with disapointing conditions. A marvelously groomed sea-surface, a solid, mid-range groundswell and a rising tide somehow didn't combine into nice surf. A few of the set waves would break and then mush on the outer bar, but most waves closed-out violently on the inside sandbar.. hmm.. so i headed south.. right to good ol' Schmlindy!!! gotta love it! Still pretty dark when i pulled into the lot at 6:45, but a few people already out.. Glassy, mellow, easy atmosphere at the Mar.. offshores flowing nicely, holding up the shoulder/head-high sets that cruised through here and there.. first half of my sesh north of the showers, north of the big group that invariably gathers in front of the showers.. I caught a bunch of fun, racy little rides.. one in particular where i furiously pumped and ducked and raced.. *kind-of* tucking into this little cover-up along the way. Then i saw the long-haired asian guy that pretty much rules it at Lindy catch this siiiick right at the far far north of the beach.. hmm... i hate to be the guy that paddles over to where someone else is catching good ones.. but i couldn't resist and paddled over.. immediately i stroked into this solid right, a ledgy take off and then a tapering, defined, meaty shoulder!!! fuck yeah!! i pumped, then bottom turned, then cranked as hard as i could off the top, came down, pumped a few more times.. then dug in and exhaled through a cuttie back into the white-water.. what!! this is lindy??!! but i wasn't complaining.. caught about 4 or 5 more of those.. just trading off with the asian guy.. We were laughing at each-other. i couldn't believe that nobody from the huge group just south of us paddled over!!! weird.. but.. who knows why?? then i finally, reluctantly, had to get out and go to work.. Believe it or not the parking lot was almost full at this point!! at fricking 8:30 on a weekday!! the water was packed with surfers and boogies and kayaks and longboarders and blue-crush-wannabes and shredders and grisled old carp dudes and little groms and shreddy girls and granny and dogs and just about everything else you can think of. The south and middle of lindy were probably the best beginner conditions i've ever seen there.. just totally mellow, but rideable..

anyway.. it was fun..

can anyone guess this spot?

hint.. it's between santa barbara and monterey

also.. check out these two waves in the channel islands

e

the niceness crew was on it early this morning.. Robme, Lerm and I paddled out near Lincoln.. Conditions appeared relatively inviting from the beach.. semi-glassy peaks breaking on the outside, little bit of messiness on the inside. However, it randomly took us forever to paddle out.. It felt like paddling along a conveyer belt of water.. We finally made it out and things quickly heated up, as a set cruised through. A thick, lumpy double-up flowed in for Robme and he took off on the bomb of the day.. the pitching, grunting head-high beast sucked him down the face and then rocketed him down the line. I then saw a fan of spray kick off the back of the wave.. yeeahh.. i also heard him hooting during his drop, which is highly unusual for the normally stoic Robme.. He was psyched.. Soon after i dropped into an uber-clean, lined-up right that walled up for a while.. steep drop into a few pumps, then i road up high and almost airdropped back down to the bottom.. then i had a lot of speed and threw myself into a feel-good off-the-top.. For once i was actually balanced well.. and the motion felt smooth and easy.. which, i think is generally the case when you have a lot of speed.. soo.. then we see this tanned, smiling guy paddle out toward us.. and it's the Brazilian Bomber, Christian!! Sweet! Christian is definitely a charger.. I was caught inside at one point and i had a perfect view of Christian trying to maneuver his way into this overhead, ugly, lumpy, barrelling wave.. he finally willed himself into it but got jettisoned down the face and basically air-dropped 4 or 5 feet down.. he landed it for a second but then got engulfed by the crashing lip.. I was stoked that he went for it!!

anyway.. sounds like Sloat was the place yesterday arvo.. nice work getting waves tom.. christian likewise told me that it was "on" there.

sounds like a bunch of y'all got waves yesterday.. word!!

anyway.. back to work for me..

also.. i'm moving soon!! i'm on the lookout for a one-bedroom or studio in the sunset/inner sunset or richmond.. I'd also be down with moving in with cool people if there is a room available.. anyway.. let me know if you know of something..

eeeee

things looked small from the great highway this morning as the sun came up.. The swell is definitely the smallest it's been in days (weeks?) SF buoy is at 6ft 14seconds right now, which, actually isn't that small! The Papa buoy is back up to 10ft 17seconds.. for NW swells, the papa buoy usually represents conditions that are 24 hours away.. soo... it looks like tomorrow morning we'll start seeing some more long-period action.

anyway.. the surf this morning at OB was really good! Steep, challenging, overhead, offshore-whipped walls lurched up and buckled over the outside sandbar. Without the offshores conditions would have been dumpy and messy.. but, with the NE wind whipping tendrils of water-vapor off the backs of waves, the pits were opening up and the sections were hanging open. Only 2 or 3 other takers along the whole stretch of VFWs. I caught about 7 rides in total... almost all of 'em were serious. I took off on a left, grabbed rail, accelerated briskly down the wall.. then compressed and angled my way back up off the bottom. I then held a tight, high line in the pig-dog. the wave kept getting hollower and hollower until i was hedging and preparing for the forthcoming barrel.. then the lip threw over my head but i got clamshelled and the barrel didn't let me out. that felt good though. seriously!! I caught a few really steep rights too.. made some drops that were right on the cusp of my abilities. drops that i probably would have missed a few months back, so.. that felt good too.. I had one really big wipeout too.. i took off on a pitching right.. barely made the drop.. then turned off the bottom and started pumping.. but the whole wave was sucking up and about to closeout.. i tried to race up and over the top.. but i didn't make it and got sucked backwards over the falls, with my board right underneath me.. i experienced that weightless feeling for what seemed like a while.. and then just got slammed down with the crashing lip.. luckily i didn't hit my board or anything..

on those super-steep/barrelly drops i still have trouble hitting the bottom turn right away and then harnessing all my speed into the top-turn for a resounding lip-bash.. I tend to lose my balance ever-so-slightly when i make those drops.. you see the pros just come off the bottom with a bucketload of speed.. that's what i want..

anyhoo.. go get some.. should be interesting with the super low tide this arvo.. send a report in if you check it..

Lerm sent me this nice pic of Santa Cruz from last friday

also this pic of the peace rally in SF on saturday

e

what up heads! I sat at Sloat this morning for 10 minutes, waiting for sky to lighten enough for me to see the situtation.. it looked pretty surfable in the dark.. but as it got light i realized how jumbled and fugly it really was.. soo.. headed south.. I'm thinking, "hmm.. the swell looks a bit smaller than yesterday, let me check Sharp Park." soo.. i pull in and things look interesting.. the north wind groomed the thick, head-high walls as they came in and either peeled or closed out fairly close to shore.. Hmmmmm... got out of the car and really took a hard look.. nobody out.. hmmmm.. some serious, barrelly sections roaring along, then a giant closeout, then flatness for a minute or two.. hmmm... suited up.. hit the beach, stretched.. started out into the water.. and... and.. realized that the shorepound was much more treacherous than it looked from the road.. soo.. hmm.. and the waves suddenly don't look that rideable now that i'm right at the water's edge.. just big, gnarly pits of death mostly.. hmmm.. fuuuckk.. back to the car.. drive to lindy in my wetty.. run to the north end of the beach.. catch 4 or 5 fun ones.. did a clean snap on one right and pulled into a closeout barrel on a left.. late for work.. farkk.. getting my wetty off this good-natured dude pulls up to me and says, "are you e?"... turns out it was Kaiser! He just had a "conference call" in the lindy parking lot after his sesh!
crazy!

anyway.. thanks for the encouragement SH and bagel.

SH.. i didn't slurf lindy during the superbowl.. i was surfing in SF.. but i'm sure that i've been close to you out there.. in fact.. aren't you the guy who all those cute girls were screaming at during that shreddy ride you had at OB a few weeks back.. yeah.. and then you got out of the water and they all threw themselves at you and started to strip you down and pleasure you right there on the beach! yeah.. i saw that from the water and was like, "that dude know how to live!".. those ladies where hot! nice work..

word.. wish i had all day to surf. need more surf!!!

here's a pic of our boy BBR in the mouth of a nice barrel

would you believe that this is the gulf coast!! Believe it!

check out this sick right.. i'm not sure where it is? anyone know?

OB big but probably surfable this morning when i checked it at 6:45.. kinda junky at sloat but 2nd-lot-sloat a little cleaner. 6.5ft high tide around 7am.. After surfing some serious waves this weekend i was on the lookout for some mellowness.. and with the super high tide... why not cruise down to Lindy!.. so i did.. If i had more time i would have checked Sharp Park and Gazebos.. i saw some promising glimpses from the highway. but.. Onward to Schmlindy.. pretty flat for the most part, with a three wave set every few minutes.. a pack of 8 or 10 sat right in front of the showers, as a right flirted with working along the sandbar there.. i paddled out a little further north.. would rather have my own space then battle for something *maybe* a little better. I made a few steep drops on set-wave closeouts and enjoyed one long right, where i made the close-out drop, but then cruised in the white-water for a second, then pumped and worked the wave into the inside reform, where i was able to maneuver a few turns.

i got slammed by the shorebreak on my way in.. i still have sand in my ears and in my hair..

anyway.. wind is blowing offshore now but i heard that it's supposed to come from the NW later today!! that would suck.. we haven't seen onshores around here in months! (knock on wood)... think May and imagine saying that.. I love it in May and June when you can barely remember a day without howling NW onshores.. ugg..

kewl.. hope y'all got some.. anyone have crazy weekend tales?

e

here's an email my friend Dan sent me about a session he had at Mavericks the other day.. enjoy!

Hey guys, it's been a while since you got one of these. Mav's hasn't broke clean that much this year. I missed jan 5th cause low tide was in the afternoon, and i had to work (I didn't call in sick cause i knew it was going to break again a couple days later). Then the next day, I got the flu and was like 50 percent when it broke again on the 7th.
Anyway, finally i got another day today. Really clean, fun size. 10 guys out early then almost 20 by the time i went in. I saw some new faces in the lineup today, and talked to the guy who is riding Ludwig's first gun shaped for mavs. He's from malibu, but has driven up here twice this year for mavs days.
The period was pretty long today, steep drops, and the barrel was fully
working - see through windows. I got two waves early on before it got crowded. One of them was a macker. On the way back out from the inside
channel, i got swatted by a really wide swinging set. Couldn't believe it.
Score 2-1. My leash got stretched another five feet or so.

Highlights/Drama:
-Saw a guy go down hard, then get sucked up and over the falls, and lost his board.
-Saw a goofy-footer take off way back in the bowl on a bomb. Board
side-ways near the bottom, lip pouring over, fins sliding out, about to go
down for the count. 3 of us started cheering the crash when some how he
pulled it!!! We were like yeeaahhh!!! Ohhhhh, How the #$%# did he
make that? Unbelievable!!!! It would have been the highlight of any mav
video. Guess the movies don't get everything.
-Saw a japanese guy that i've never seen before get nothing for like 2
hours, scratch anytime a wave game in even though he didn't need to. then
finally take off on a medium one, and ate it. As i was going over the next
wave looking back, i could still see his board tombstoning. Two wave hold down.
-Biggest set of the day came in. Full scratch, no takers, i barely made it over. After the spray cleared two broken boards, and two guys swimming. A $1,000 dollar wave. Guess who was one of them, that same asian guy! That sucks!!! Here is how his session went ... paddle out, sit for 2 hours, finally get a wave, eat it, 2 wave hold down, paddle back out, break his board, swim in. Can't get worse than that without getting injured!
-Mav's claimed 3 boards that i know of while i was out.

Anyway, i missed two other really good bombs cause someone paddled for them, and pulled back just after i needed to fully commit. Could have gone
really late, but i didn't want to end up like the japanese guy. Got another wave
after a little while and rode it all the way in. Final score 3-1, although the one point scored by mavs was like half a point. It was on the third section on the inside. Great session, beautiful day, wish i could've gotten more waves, but i had to get to work.

snuck in a few uncrowded waves during the superbowl... small, barrelly point break waves coming in here and there.. when we first checked the spot it was maxed out with 20+ surfers. Jockeying and yelling and dropping in. The "crew" ruled the roost once again. Stylish off-the-lips and frequent barrels were the norm. One standout youngster landed three or four airdrop-into-gaping barrel takeoffs.. then proceeded to bash the lip good down the line... BUT.. as three oclock approached many of the jock-like surfers just paddled in and left the goods to the 6 or 7 heads left in the water.. I actually ended up sitting furthest up the point for a good hour and caught some serious rides. I skidded down the face on one particular takeoff while this elliptical envelopment roared encroachingly from behind.. It was a thick set wave and i was stoked but i just couldn't pull up on my outside rail enough and ended up eating it as the barrel threw over..

One big negative about the sesh was that this one guy dropped in on me twice, once on a set wave, once on a smaller wave.. then, on another wave.. i had just made the drop and he was inside.. instead of paddling back into the white water to get out of my way, he paddled toward the face and i had to turn around him.. i then ended up missing the next section.. By the end of the sesh it was just me and him in the water and he was super unfriendly and icy and still paddle-battling me for waves. with just two of us out there!!! That guy sucked!! I'm not usually a negative person nor do i have that many definitively negative experiences in the water.. I don't mind beginners or people making mistakes.. But this guy's whole "way" was just weak. Poor showing on his part..

BUT!! it didn't ruin my sesh and i caught some thicky set waves and did my first legit snap at this locale..

anyhoo.. tomorrow morning (monday) doesn't look that great to surf as of now..

peace..

e

some tough decision making this morning.. where to surf? where to surf?? I decided to go with the points.. pulled up to FPers as the tide was close to low and it was big and blown-out a bit, with strange rips and ripples of current flowing through the lineup.. ehh.. didn't look that appetizing as most of the waves broke huge at first but then mushed out and died.. not too many peeling walls.. but a few.. not too big a crowd either.. but.. overall pretty shitty.. soo.. then i cruised to the other point and the whole "crew" was about to paddle out.. about 6 or 7 of the local yokels were suiting up and gallivanting around the lot.. already about 15 people out and good, though mostly smallish, waves cruising through with some consistency... ehh... hmmm.. i contemplated the jetty.. hmmm.. far... probably not epic.. maybe bolinas? or muir beach? or north side of stinson?? hmm... or further north?? hmmm... but.. i ended up going back to FPers simply because the crowd factor was low and i didn't feel like driving.. soo.. paddle out.. only 3 others out.. sit on the peak, near the big rock... really good waves breaking way out under the bridge but some into the rocks and some sweetly... I caught a bunch of wedgy drops and quick down-the-line bursts.. managed a handful of cutties and overall had fun.. A few people caught some purdy rides but for the most part it was shite..

soo.. manana.. hmmmmm..... superbowl?? hmmm??

e

Big at OB.. big and messy.. Pacifica looking real clean.. a thick, chunky right working in the middle of the beach at Rockaway and the left at the southern edge almost working too.. maybe with the lower tide right now (11:17) that left will be cooking?? Lindy looking pretty small and closing out on the set waves.. maybe as the tide starts rising in the arvo conditions will improve there.. Starting in Pacifica, the swell is looking really clean and groomed, with long, mature, lined-up waves stacked up to the horizon... Sharp park was on fire.. with some incredible sections and daunting barrels.. but.. i ended up continuing south.. Montara big and scary.. Mavs breaking!... then the jetty. Waves breaking pretty far out, past the "14" marker on one of the jetty rocks. I actually surfed for 1.5 hours all by myself.. totally solo jetty session for me this morning.. i caught only 5 waves but three of them delivered fulfilling rides.. The wedge was happening in the northern corner of the surf-zone and i just sat on it and waited for waves.. All my rides were rights and many of them lasted two or three moves.. On my first ride i took off, bottom turned, then pumped, then cutback into the whitewater, then road down the face, pumped a few times to get around the section, then raced along a wall for a bit, then turned up the face and angled off the close-out section.. landing in the foam and almost pulling it off but instead getting tumbled.

it was a fun session.. and i really like surfing alone once in a while.. it's a challenge to find the right spot to sit when you have no-one else to go by. Thoughts of "the tooth" also tend to swarm the brain when surfing alone, but i try to suppress them as much as possible..

a bunch of people were suiting up as i exited the water.. soo.. people are probably surfing the jetty right now..

Lerm is playing hooky today and trying to score waves in northern Santa Cruz county.. he's a biatch!

bojon! i saw you heading down toward pacifica in your subaru! hope you scored some waves.

Dan Jones sent me a few pics of San Diego County going off.. i think that two of the spots are Cardiff and Swamis.. the other maybe a spot called Moonlight? Beautiful waves.

also.. it seems that somebody lost there dog down at Ft. Funston.. supposedly this dog has been wandering around Taraval, near the beach.. please email me at cranial_bulge@yahoo.com if you have seen her.. her name is Ali

this morning was so weird.. Lerm and i pulled up to Sloat before the sun peeked out and it looked junky out there, but kind-of peaceful.. the SF buoy read 9ft 14sec this morning but to our groggy eyes it didn't look that huge or menacing.. We contemplated checking Rockaway/Lindy but then decided to just surf the Beach.. We drove north in the misty/dark/morbid morning and suited up at the south end of VFWs. It still was still pretty dark.. and the conditions looked decidedly uninviting.. but we saw what we thought was an outside peak working. We stretched a bit on the beach... then started paddling... and paddling... and paddling... and duckdiving... and duckdiving.. and paddling.. fuuuck! ... and paddling.. and paddling... and groaning.. and duckdiving.. and getting ripped from my board mid-duck-dive... and paddling... almost out to the lineup and the waves were just exploding and pounding and swirling and acting like god's washing machine... "man, this kinda sucks" i though.. but i just kept paddling because i wanted to make it outside.. After about 25 minutes of paddling i just happened to look back over my shoulder and i realized we were in line with that big green mountain/hill where the old sutro mansion was.. past the sea-wall.. fuck.. WE'RE PAST THE SEAWALL!! and we were pretty far out.. and not outside yet.. and getting sucked toward seal rock FAST! At that point i knew it was time to abort the mission. i just had to somehow get Lerm's attention, because i wasn't sure if he realized we were so far north.. I yelled at him for a while and finally signalled to him.. meanwhile i'm getting pounded by wave after wave and i'm treading water, off my board, with a ringing ice-cream headache.. but.. i flagged him down and we came in.. i caught a little bullshit ride on my way in just to stand up one time.. Lerm came in all wild-eyed.. he though i had seen a shark and gone in. he didn't even realize that we were almost on top of seal rock.. He was like, "Fuuuuck" when it dawned on him.. It was pretty scary.. we really could have been sucked around this morning.. What's strange is that the tide was falling.. soo.. under normal circumstances the current at OB would be flowing south.. right?? but this morning we got whipped north.. soo.. if we had gotten pulled past seal rock, i don't think we would have been sucked toward the bay, as the tide was going out.. we might have been pushed out to sea with the rest of the bay water?? out toward potato patch?? i don't know... but.. when we got back to the car the sky had lightened a bit a we could finally see the conditions for what they were.. Big, uber-messy, jumbled and thick.. with bumps and grooves of swell extending out toward the horizon.. there is no way we would have paddled out in that had we known what it really looked like..

anyway.. that's the deal.. big and messy at OB.. not really surfable..

check out this barrel sequence from Rivera st. on sunday!! i can't believe i was snowboarding while THIS was going down!!! i SUCK!!!

check this out for more of Paul's sick photos from sunday

if you use your imagination there is another spot that is probably working quite well right about now (9:40)...

peace y'all.

Kelly's local Brian Biggs attempted to scale and then snowboard down the sourthermost 14,000 ft. peak in the lower 48.. check it out..

also.. read this interview with the head of "wildcoast"... it looks like all those threatened point breaks in baja mights be saved!!

e

You can all flame me but i kinda bailed on the surf check this morning.. It looked pretty inviting from my house 20 blocks away.. sea surface calm and just a trace south wind blowing. but now that i'm looking at the cams it looks junky and nasty out at OB. The weather is real balmy and warm in the sunset.. soo.. it would probably be enjoyable to just get wet.. A friend of mine from Maui was in last night so we ended up kicking it a bit late. She has a sweet setup on Maui.. she's a dive instructor and also works on this whale-watching boat.. out on the boat she points out to tourists the different whale characteristics and behaviors.. she told me how recently there was this big pod of 10 or 15 humpback whales swimming along.. with all these dolphins playing and swimming around the whales! She was raving about the surf at Honalua bay too.. that place is classic.

anway.. thanks for those water quality sites Dano.. i'm going to put them up in the links section..

tom.. i heard about Craig Kelly.. that sucks.. he definitely had the smooth style. I always liked the way he rode because he liked to do big carving turns that looked like surfing..

I've been such a slacker on the surf this last month.. i feel pretty shitty about it.. but.. i think it's about time to re-commit to the full-time push.. shiiiit..

surfing haiku:
big waves come, oh yeah
given birth by distant storms
ride em' if you can

e

stalker.. that was me at Katz! you totally saw me.. who be you?

what up y'all.. i cruised out to Sloat this morning.. thinking i might get wet... and looking back i probably should have jumped in for a few... but.. conditions were pretty abysmal.. For the most part funky, jarbled waves mushily broke on the outside.. then reformed and closed-out on the inside.. Every 5 or 10 minutes a somewhat attractive section would appear and tempt me to suit up.. but.. to be honest i randomly had to take a shite and i also was salivating over this oat-maple muffin that i had at home! I didn't see anybody out at OB, though it's surfable out there if you're Daily Dale Wavestar or somebody.. (he's the guy who has surfed 10,000 days in a row at this point! seriously! he lives up in Bodega Bay. His name is Dale Webster.. you've probably heard of him.. A friend of mine cruised up there a few weeks ago to have a surf with Dale.. it was 7:30 in the morning on this cold, rainy, ugly day in December.. They rolled out to Dillan, or Doran, or something, because Salmon Creek was too big.. the waves were stormy and ugly.. but.. of course, Dale hasn't missed a day in TWENTY FIVE YEARS!!! soo.. i guess that Dale whips out this doober and they proceed to have a sesh at 7:30 in the morning and then surf in the slop for an hour and a half.. It's good to hear shit like that.. Makes me feel like a fair-weather surfer for not going out this morning..

anyway.. i bet Rockaway was good this morning?? anyone check it?
Swell is supposed to grow today.. it was supposed to be here this morning solidly but waves weren't much bigger than head high at Sloat.. soo?? we're supposed to get another macker swell this weekend.. be prepared!!

anyway.. check out this shot of our boy Christian charging a meaty right at OB..

check out this beautiful picture of Mavs taken by my friend Dan Jones

also.. check this..

DOCUMENTED GREAT WHITE SHARK ATTACKS IN CALIFORNIA

               Total     Fatal    Last 

County        Attacks   Attacks   Fatality

Marin            12        0          

San Mateo         9        1       1984 

San Diego         1        1       1959 

Santa Barbara(x)  7        1       1994 

Monterey          9        2       1981 

Humboldt          8        0 

Sonoma            9        0 

San Francisco(y)  7        1       1959 

Los Angeles       1        1       1989 

Santa Cruz        4        0  

Mendocino         4        0 

San Luis Obispo   3        1       1957 

Del Norte         1        0 

California       75        8       1994

   (x) Includes San Miguel Island

   (y) Includes Farallon Islands 

   Sources: Robert Lea, California Department of Fish and Game; John McCosker, 

California Academy of Sciences; Monterey Bay Aquarium

I did a brief report last night that described the killer sesh Jerm and i had at Ortega on saturday.. so.. keep scrolling down if you want to do some more reading..

peace y'all..

e

just back from the 'ho.. tahoe that is.. boarded at Kirkwood and loved it.. weather sunny and warm with no wind, basically spring conditions. Kirkwood is filled with these gullies/ravines that are like huge, 1000-foot long half-pipes.. so fun for cruising around on and trying top-turns and "off-the-lips".

I'm sure that i missed great OB conditions on sunday and today simply by the fact that i wasn't here.. I surfed and saw some ridiculous waves at Ortega on saturday morning though... Lerm and i got on it around 7:30 and it was on fire. head-high+. Chilly NE wind whipping through at a nice clip.. not too many peeps in the water. I caught some nice, long rides in the beginning of the sesh. One right that i worked along for a combination of moves.. Most of the waves broke pretty mushy, with maybe a little barrel created by the strong offshores.. where we were sitting, about 50% of the set waves cruised in as double-ups. Here or there one of these double-ups would just jack up and barrel and grind along the sandbar.. In the back of my head i was on the lookout for that type of situation.. The session wore on, a few waves were had, mostly waiting and hunting for sections.. While paddling over toward Lerm, a thick double-up left rose up right at me. A couple positioning paddles, then three or four power paddles into it and the thing just sucked out underneath me. I quickly grabbed my outside rail (pigdog), angled my way down and to the left, then pulled up on my outside rail, skimming and willing my way into the wave, dropping down the face. I landed toward the bottom and held a tight line against the wall.. the wave was big and conical and i was in the mouth of a throaty barrel. I remember the smooth, rounded wall of the wave looping up and over the top and behind me.. i remember being thrust along mightily. when i came over the back of the wave at the end of the ride i experienced such a rush of emotion and elation.. my heart was pounding and my mind racing and screaming. I had noticed Lerm looking over at me from the top-edge of the wave as i raced underneath. He looked at me with a "holy shit!" expression. Man.. that wave made my month! seriously! The little defeats and disapointments or whatever i'd been feeling about myself and my life and my abilities and my productive output just suddenly took a back seat to this decidedly more significant experience. Riding this wave sent a shot of vitality to the core of my being. Raw significance. Profundity. Solace. Terror. Abstraction.

e

OB has picked up some size since yesterday.. for sure! nothing along the beach looked that appetizing, though, except for some potentially tasty lefts south of second lot sloat.. also some juice on the outer bars that might be fun.. if you can get out there. Robme in the car behind.. soo.. too late to turn around to investigate the 2nd-lot-sloat situation.. probably would have been difficult goings, though.. soo.. over the hump on route 35 and into pacifica and you could see groomed lines and rows of cordoroy stretched out to the horizon.. offshores raging.. saw some serious meat barrelling and spitting near sharp park.. hmm.. but my wimpy arse was pushing onward to that holy grail of surfing mediocrity... LINDY!!!! Past Smoke-a-Jay and then up over that final rise and... thar she is.. basically looking flat and pathetic, compared to OB, but.. upon closer inspection, actually had some offshore-whipped set waves with a few corners and sections to work with.. Robme and i paddled out pretty far north.. took a few on the head.. caught a few fun ones.. took more on the head.. then robme went in.. i caught a little left.. then.... 10 duck dives.. 20 duck dives... guh??... look back to see that i'm about 10 ft from the beach!! guh!! this is Lindy gahd dammit! but.. nevertheless.. 10 more duckdives.. 5 more.. FUCK! FUCK YOU LINDY!!! off my board letting myself float with the ocean, wherever she wants to take me.. finally paddle south parallel to the beach for about 15 minutes then out to sea.. another 2 sets on the head.. then i'm finally out.. waiting.. waiting.. no waves.. shiiiit.. i'm late for work.. waiting.. waiting.. come on!!.. waiting.. there's a wave.. paddle paddle.. shit.. it buckles over and dumps on the back of my head before i have a chance to deal.. shit.. paddle back out.. waiting... waiting.. a little wave comes.. i barely get to my feet.. the whole thing heaves over in classic lindy fashion.. wipe out.. grr.. fuck it.. i'm audi..

anyhooo.. the beginning of the sesh was fun.. the end wasn't so much..

super beautiful out there though.. i mean.. REALLY beautiful..

Tom.. thanks for the OB report from yesterday arvo.. sounds sick!

e

what up Doggs!!! yup.. cruised down to Old Biatch this morn and immediately saw that it was mellow and inviting and blowing offshore and breaking on the inner sandbar.. suited up before the sun arose and was the first dude out.. the waves were only about shoulder high, but every once in a while they would double up or hit the sandbar just right and, with the help of the offshores, they would lurch and suck up and barrel and spit and peel.. and then mellow out.. I stuffed myself back into one little barrel/cover-up on my backside and almost got into another. The waves were really playful.. perfect for pumping and trying moves off the lip. It was also extremely crisp and beautiful out.. You could distinguish all the micro-contours of the marin "heady-lands" and could see the golden gate sticking up above the city to the NE. The mist blowing off the backs of waves from the offshores was infused with a spectrum of reflective colors and the water surface had that groomed, scalloped look.. There was also a few families of mellow, friendly-looking black birds that just floated around, fishing and chilling.

man.. surfing is so schweeet!

e

tom.. 3 tripods on the beach at a Pacifica locale?? damn.. were people shralping super hard?

check out this video of Flea getting a glorious barrel on Jan 7, 2003 at Mavericks..

I performed the classic surfer tragedy this morning of driving all around, contemplating a bunch of spots (some twice) and then realizing that it's too late to surf!! Yup! i suck.. first i checked Sloat.. it looked more surfable than it's been for a long time.. to the point of being almost fun.. It was still doing that thing where it almost breaks nicely on the outer bar, but instead is mostly mushy and then reforms on the inner sandbar where it breaks hard and mostly closed out.. in hindsite i would have paddled out at Sloat and caught some of the sections on the outer sandbar.. I had so much fun at Sharp Park yesterday that i convinced myself to cruise down there.. pull in and it's almost as good as yesterday, but not quite.. more closeouts and not as many waves breaking on the outside.. there was a *solid* left just north of the pier that i looked at for a while.. but there were about 3 closeouts for every section, and the sections were occurring all over the place, instead of in one localized spot.. hmmm.. soo.. i cruised south and saw a few at rockaway.. in the middle.. but pretty flat.. then about 10 people scattered around Lindy.. with weak waves coming in every once in a while.. but mostly flat.. so.. i cruised back to Sharp park and took another long look.. got my wetty out.. took another look.. saw that it was 7:45.. GRRR!!! packed up my shit, went home and ran around the resevoir a few times before work.. the middle of OB looked pretty good from that vantage.. offshore breeze and peeling/mushy waves on the outside..

i imagine that when the tide drops conditions will shift and change, probably for the better.. i wish that i wasn't working all day.. but.. that's the case..

dano.. that's crazy that you watched some guy get barrelled riding switch! jeez!

Benjamin Grant sent me some photos of a left point break in mainland mex called Rio Nexpa.. hmmmm... I'm down!!

nexpa shorepound

we sat at Sloat in the pre-dawn trying to decipher if those lines of whitewater were surfable or mushy or what.. OB definitely looking smaller than it's been in probably a month.. we thought about heading up to VFWers, but then decided to give Lindy another chance because it hooked us yesterday.. Couldn't really see the ocean from the road on the way down due to a morning misty marine layer.. Saw the left that Tom has been mentioning working at Rockaway.. hmm.. Over the hill and then see that lindy is pretty much flat, but more glassy than i have ever seen it.. Lights from the pedro point neighborhood were reflecting in the mirror-like surface. too flat though.. we checked rockaway again, about head-high on the sets with a couple dudes paddling out through the channel near the northern parking lot.. hmm.. "let's check Sharp Park".. soo.. we did.. it looked fabulous from the beach.. thick, slightly overhead walls peeling and closing and barreling and beckoning.. with rest periods between sets that made it look inviting.. serious shore-pound though! Lerm basically got knocked over while we were stretching! After about 10 duckdives through harrowing shore-pound closeouts i realized i was about 5 feet from the sand! getting sucked backwards! but.. the waves finally let up and let us out.. meaty meaty waves cruising in, often offering up bountiful sections.. Once out there, it definitely seemed that more waves closed out than peeled.. This one left cruised through that reminded me of a thick Indo left like Uluwatu or something.. it just reeled along, barrelling and spitting and going crazy.... i caught a few nice ones, Lerm caught a phatty, we caught two waves right after each other then were stuck on the inside again.. after about 20 duckdives i realized, again, that i was about 5 feet from shore and so let the shorepound drag me in and called it a sesh..

first sharp park session ever for me!

fun!

e

Lerm and i checked Slizoat in the dark this morning.. thought about it for a second.. but didn't really see any signs (via tapering whitewater) of peelification.. soo.. knowing that it was hightide we slanked down to Pacifica and checked the scene down there.. Smoke-a-jay was basically flat, with a little action at the north end.. and then Lindy appeared, looking relatively inviting.. small.. with peaky sets now and again.. groomed smooth from the SE wind.. nobody out.. we paddled out pretty far north of the showers.. chest high waves were on hand.. sometimes offering a racy, semi-walled section, other times closing out.. other times mushing out. About 4 or 5 guys were hanging out at the extreme north end of Lindy.. it looked like a little left was working along a sand bar up there.. all in all it was a fun session..

it looks like the swell is down at the SF buoy (9ft 13sec) but the papa buoy is back up a little (13ft 14sec).. there is a .5low tide around 2:30 this afternoon.. I probably shouldn't say anything.. but i actually scored uncrowded F-Pers yesterday afternoon for about 2 hours.. When i pulled up there were actually zero people in the lineup.. and only 2 others during my entire session.. i ended up scoring about 10 rides, 4 or 5 of which where solid.. I took off on one particularly memorable wrapper that hooked me.. i was pretty far on the inside and this one wave wrapped around and angled pretty steeply toward the rocks.. but still big enough to be surfable.. it really wedged up significantly and i was jazzed in anticipation of the meaty face to come.. I took off on the inside.. pushed my way over the ledge, then muscled my way into the section and grabbed rail.. almost barrelage but not quite.. then rode up along the lip a second.. came down.. bottom turn.. then a sort-of snap before the wave mushed out.. i was psyched.. it was one of those rides were you kind of hoot yourself under your breath afterwards.. it started to get crowded at that point so i got out..

anyhoo.. that's the report..

also apologies to sandy clam.. who i mistakingly referred to as "salty clam".. hah!!

Caveman just sent me a link to this vid of Swami's in San Diego absolutely ON FIRE!!!!! check it..

check out this pic that brian biggs sent me of giant OB from last week.. sheesh!

Hey y'all.. woke up this morning and i'm still sick.. GRRRRR!!! Brain thinking, "Must... go.. surfing..." but body countering with, "How about some of this lightheadedness!.. yeah.. take some of this phlegmy goo!" but.. at least it's not absolutely going off or anything.. OB looks approachable as the swell has decreased to just slightly overhead.. but the SSE wind and generally jumbled conditions aren't cooperating totally... i bet you could score some rides out there.. Our favorite Pacifica spots are probably enjoying the south wind and not-too-huge swell.. soo.. take a peak at "Smoke-a-jay" or "Schmlindy" and you might be psyched.. though.. the rain last night will bring yet another infusion of turd-laced water into the surf zone.. thanks to Pathetica's horribly antiquated and inadequate sewage system.. grrr.. looks like a new WNW swell will fill in tonight and tomorrow morning and then fade into Monday.. next week might actually be a bit smaller (less than double overhead!!) soo.. hopefully we'll all be out at OB again..

three words... "BEING SICK SUCKS!!!"

Salty Clam.. i've slacked so hard on getting those great pics you sent me up.. sorry about that.. look for them to be highlighted soooon!

anyhoo.. here are three fabulous pics from Friend#1

looks like it's surfable at OB.. though the swell is slightly junky.. I'm still feeling dizzy/low-energy/achy/phlegmy so didn't cruise out this morning.. i'm hoping to get back on it tomorrow (fingers crossed).. Sounds like Tom and Kaiser scored some waves yesterday. nice work fellas! Also seems that our man Bojon "rode the curl" a bit at good ol' Schmlindy.. I had a pretty weird surf-related dream last night.. I was surfing at Fort Point with a bunch of other people in the water.. but there weren't any waves coming through.. so we paddled across the bay to the other side, where it was all jungly and pouring rain.. we got out and ran down this trail to this dune-filled area at the end.. the rain was pouring down directly on some guy's head.. then we looked over the top of the dunes and saw this beach with crystal-blue, perfectly clean water and some junky waves.. i noticed a dorsal fin floating near the shoreline.. I then realized the dorsal fin was attached to a dead porpoise.. i then realized there were hundreds, thousands of dead dolphins floating just off the shore all up and down the beach.. then i woke up!! weird, eh?

anyway.. check out this pic of OB yesterday taken by Marcus (thanks to MWSF for sending it to me

also check this pic of Bayhead NJ (the legendary Kus' homebreak) from a few days back.. 2 days after i checked the exact spot and it was flat as a fricken pancake!

fucking dirty lindy! phlegm gurgles up as i contemplate a surf check this morning at 6:30.. "Maybe i could catch a few at VFWs if the swell came down a bit overnight" i think as that weird sicky lightheadedness races through my consciousness.. grr.. back to sleep as the classic, "I'm probably missing insane surf" guilty feeling rages through my mind.. I'm kind-of a mental basketcase when it comes to surf.. if i've been surfing a ton, or have recently surfed well, i can't get enough surf talk, surf thinking, surf vids, mags, dreams, etc.. but.. if i'm sick or injured or landlocked or surfing shitty.. i kinda don't want to hear anything about slurfing.. i'm sure most of you know what i'm talking about..

anyway.. it looks like OB is actually approachable this morning.. maybe double overhead instead of triple.. and the north santa cruz county spots will probably be schweet.. the tides don't fluctuate too much during daylight hours today... soo the points won't be an option..

I slacked again on getting those pics up that i promised.. I had band practice that went late... i drugged myself up good on sudafed and exedrine migraine.. not a bad little combo actually! soo.. hopefully i'll get them up for your visual perusal tonight..

peace out all you headies.. get some waves and let us know the dealie!!

e

sinus and head cold.. hopefully not from Lindy.. but.. probably contracted while surfing at Lindy the other day.. be careful out there!! It disgusts me to imagine that some micro piece of turd from some fat old Pacifica dude ended up getting rammed up my nostril while duck-diving some wave.. then worked its way into my bloodstream.. poisoning me and causing my immune system to kick into gear.. grrr...

anyhoo.. looks like conditions are gigantor at OB again today.. i could see waves from my house as i walked to work... the wind is again whipping ferociously from the NE... Sounds like Tom, Dano and Kaiser have more of a read on what's going down right now in terms of surfable spots.. hopefully one of those lads will fill us in on what's going on..

it looks like were going to get yet another WNW swell on friday... soo.. that might necessitate more driving for us mortal OB heads.. it also looks like Mavs was going off yesterday and probably will do so again today.. don't know if Christian and Alex have been surfin' it?

also.. thanks to whoever thought i was a cutie.. don't know if that was a joke or what?? but ya made me feel good for a second!

ok.. here is a sneak peak at some pics that Dano sent me from NZ and OZ.. i'll have the rest of the pics up soon.. along with some pics submitted by RB (RB - i forget the screen-name you wanted to go by! let me know what it is otherwise i'll just use "RB")

bondi going off - pic by Dano

tamarindo - pic by Dano

gail force NW winds right now in the sunset. gusts up to 30mph! Because the swell has been so big i kind-of assumed that OB wouldn't be surfable and took a run around the big water reservoir on ortega.. From that vantage the waves at OB looked beautiful.. big feathering overhead bombs peeling and inviting from 20 blocks away.. It looked like VFWs might even be doable for mere mortals? Perfectly shaped ginormous A-frames were cruising in all over the place.. the raging offshores might necessitate a gun to get into the beasts..

dano and tom.. great to here that you two scored in Santa Cruz! nice work gentlemen! Tom.. your 220 days stands as the number to beat for 2002.. i ended up with 211 days and 237 sessions.. Dano.. definitely send those pics over.. i'll craft a little "Dano's surf pics" page for ya!

Mark.. i noticed that Jersey picked up right as i was leaving.. grr.. hope that you get some..

i went to the craziest "B-boy battle" at Ashkenaz in Berkeley last night.. I've loved breakdancing for years and jumped at the chance to see some live breakin' .. Basically, it was "off the hook!"... a huge circle of a few hundred people watched as B-boys and B-girls from all over the bay area battled it out while this sweet live hip-hop group performed on stage.. there was soo much positive, beat-oriented energy pulsing through the place... and the breakdancers were going crazy!!! huge tweaked flips and insane inverted windmills and back-crunching freezes.. i was completely blown away.. Such athleticism and acrobatics combined with utter improvisation and freestylin'!

here are some pics of rockaway from yesterday..

the dude behind the desk..

huge and unsurfable this morning around the bay area.. Lindy witnessing overhead beach-wide closeouts even though the tide is high and the wind is offshore.. beautiful, picturesque lines of cordoroy stretching out to the horizon.. maybe some surf down in HMB or the points as the tide drops this afternoon.. or most likely santa cruz north county spots on fire with a little less tide.. 6.2ft high tide at around 1pm today.. then it drops off steeply..

papa buoy currently 29.2ft and 17 seconds.. jeez!

e

Lerm and i enjoyed a 3 hour session this morning at Schmlindy.. Conditions were dirty but peeling.. We flew by Pacifica at first.. thinking that we would score down south.. but then decided to turn around upon seeing that Kelly Ave. was shite.. Soo.. we sauntered back to good ol' Lindy, pulled up to the lot, and.. low and behold.. fun little mellow waves were peaking up and peeling along all over the place.. there were about 3000 people in the water but people were getting rides all over the place and the waves were so gentle and mellow that it wasn't that dangerous.. i just hope that i don't get sick! On a Lindy scale from 1 to 10 i give today a 9... without a doubt one of the best days i've had there.. not fabulous.. but very fun..

ahh.. and the blue sky, absence of wind and warm temps make almost any surfing conditions that much more enjoyable!! ahh! it feels great to be back in california! yeah!!!

e

hey everybody.. looks like you're all getting blasted with great waves and a nice offshore flow in SF... i'm jealous.. we've attempted to surf 3 or 4 times here in jersey and have been denied every time.. too much wind (40mph offshore, flat, flat and then... flat.).. soo.. i haven't surfed in almost two weeks and i'm basically beyond jonesing.. i'll be back in town tomorrow (friday) soo look for the surf reports to kick in again at this weekend..

peeeaacce!!!