Looks like June in jersey out there this morning. A few of the outer OB bars (Lincoln, Rivera, south of Sloat) initiated some breaking waves but mostly just small/dumpy/crumbly ugliness. Two surfers out at Sloat basically swimming around and air-surfing (like air-guitaring).. It's really small.. probably the smallest it's been this year. If you're a super beginner you could easily paddle out at OB, you might even be complaining about how flat it is. The NW windswell is way down at 1ft 8seconds. There is a SW groundswell in the water (2.6ft 16 seconds). I noticed the SW groundswell during my check this morning but the form of the set waves were getting broken-up and disheveled by the OB underwater topography.. i think that the mellow onshore isn't helping either.. I'd rate today a 2. Maybe those south swell pulses are presenting themselves in SC or up in Marin? dunno.. might be tough to score waves in the bay area today..

yesterday Jake and i took a celestial voyage through the grey morning haze to the barren, uninhabited netherworld of Orshmegma Street. Reveille at 7am after a night of Castro-street Gay-Pride revelry, Jocular Jake and i passed the peace pipe while considering our wave-riding options. Miniscule dribblers and a steel-grey ocean/sky welcomed us with foreboding hues. Nevertheless, a mid-OB sandbar was discovered and we sleuthed our way out to it. Just the two of us for miles and miles in either direction. Bay Area surfers seeminly surfed-out after a week of So-Cal-like sunshine and glassiness. Meatier south swell lines focussing on the bar every 7 minutes or so kept things at least semi-legit. We each fenagled 30 rides or thereabouts.. Jake worked on his backside game and reached up for a little lip dance a few times. Yours truly slanked into a handful of nuggety lefts and enjoyed one resounding lip-bash on a crumbly right. Most of the time we were literally standing (chest-deep water) in the lineup... waiting for some south-swell love or that rare wind-swell pocket.

anyhoooo.. i could write about slurf all day.. but.. alas.. time to get some work done..

BBR is in Chili now.. supposedly they're getting hammered down there.. maybe he's actually in the barrel.. right now!

Tomorrow i'm headed to NYC for a wedding... i'll be back next monday..

Rob Born sent me some eye-pleasing pics.. thanks Rob!!
North Santa Cruz County

Moss landing.. glassy peaks, mellow locals

damn! can you say so sweet super sweet sickly sweet schwweeeeet! (think Cartman).. oh my god.. 3 hours into my session i was still giggling like a little school-girl.

Total Glass
Roaring Barrels
Minimal Duckdiving
Peaks throughout the entire beach
Perfect, delectible, scrumptious carvable faces
GOD DAMN!!! sooo good.. seriously..

definitely still good now.. GO NOW.. GO SURF! seriously

find your own peak.. maybe near santiago.. maybe lawton..

Christian locked into a boxy, long, extendo barrel on his backside... he came out hooting with primal excitement.. maybe 4 or 5 seconds in the tube.

soooo good!!

i'd give it a 9.2

I caught maybe 30 rides. One memorable right where i took off on a double-up set-wave. I had been sitting on the outside so had ample time to stroke into it and get some speed up.. i took off and dropped down the face just as the wave buckled and started throwing out behind me.. A perfectly symmetric quarter-pipe wall extended out in front of me. I came off the bottom with perfect balance and just dragged my hand on the wall as i stood in the soul-gratifying pocket.. then a few pumps and i managed to ride up and smack the lip with everything i had.. damn.. DAMN!!!! seriously y'all.. best morning since winter. no doubt. To keep things *real* for the report.. i also managed quite a few (5?) over-the-falls/caught-in-the-lip/going-down-hard wipe-outs.

also good to see Matt and Bandini last night at the Indo wavefest movie-thon..

good to see HH?? (dude who asked me about pro-tecks) in the water this morning.. i saw you stroke into a few nice ones HH!!! yeah!

also great to watch Anastasia confidently stroke into the pitching waves this morning..

i mean.. almost every wave barrelled this morning.. not death-barrels.. but just glassy summertime windswell barrels..

god damn!!

damn.. it was extremely difficult to paddle in, even after 3 hours.

sorry no photos today.. check out the videos on sbsurf.net

warm balmy weather upon 6am wakeup.
gettin' just a little pumped..
Flags signalling faint offshore flow.
yup yup..
Total, utter, uber-glass stretching out to the horizon.
seein is believin
VFers dealing in minutia.. biggest waves maybe waist high.
go south... aww yeah..
Middle of the beach bigger.
it's on! and on and on and on
Some waves heaving and throwing bulbous, transparent, playful lips.
swing yo booty ovah here.. swang yo booty ovah there..
Sloat looking enjoyable too. Super glass but maybe backing off a bit.
Surfed the middle with Christian and others.
Caught maybe 20 rides in almost 2 hours.
Raced along some canvas-like rights.
Tucked into a few yawning/pitching lefts.
Watched Christian pump and then careen off the lip a few times.
Discussed Bruce Irons getting beat-up in the maldives.
Smiled and gave thanks for the mellow, high-performance, plate-glass conditions.
Sunlight shimmering off impeccable, crystalline waves..
Pelicans, seals, jellyfish, crabs, bodysurfers.
minimal duckdiving..
MINIMAL DUCKDIVING!!!!!!!!

a little vindication after my beat-down yesterday.. thank you OB!

also.. happy belated birthday S.S. Sharkbait!!! looks like OB is giving you some gifts a day late.

redworm and others.. when in the situation of seeing someone take-off real deep and wondering if you should take-off on the same wave and assume the person won't make it. i'd advise ALWAYS giving that person the benefit of the doubt. everytime.. Generally if i even see someone deeper than me initiate movement for a wave, i let them have it. i don't like paddle-battling people or riding on the shoulder until the last minute to see if they'll make it or not.. unless you're at a crowded pointbreak and aren't getting any waves.. in which case.. any way you can scrap into some sections is ok i think.... but.. still give people the benefit every time if they're already up and riding or committed to the take-off. just my 2 cents.

Slates... committed reentry.

keala

elands bay, south africa

flowrider

tostee surf photography

As the wind dissapated at the end of the day yesterday anticipation grew. "Maybe OB will clean up." "My boy told me south-sloat is full of nuggets." "Surfpulse cam is going richter!" "The south wind is blowing offshore on the rights!" etc.. I felt that tingly urge to cruise down and check it after work but ended up chillin like a super-villain on penicillin listenin' to bob dylan. Anyway i knew the sea-surface would be glassy this am.. So i cruised the beach around 5:50 this morning.. Conditions were, in fact, pretty darn glassy.. but the waves suffered from some disorganization and improper breaking technique.. VFWs smaller, middle of the beach looking ok.. peaks at pacheco and near santiago.. then just south of sloat shit looked fairly appetizing.. well-overhead walls.. closing out half the time, seemingly peeling and rifling and barrelling on occasion way on the outside.. but.. the situation wasn't great.. pretty daunting looking and nobody out. This guy walks by with his dog and says to me, "too bad ya weren't here last night, it was much better!"... d'oh. thanks fella. Any of you heads score last night? Anyway i end up stretching and paddling out. about 50 ice-cream-headache-duckdives to get the fuck out there.. made it out and immediately spun around and steeply dropped into a funnelling right.. pumped with all my might but i couldn't get around the close-out wall and ended up turning in toward the beach to avoid destruction.. another 10 waves on the head as i ended up in the bad-zone. sheesh... after a few more waves i realized the duck-dive to ride ratio stood at around 100/1... I then took this large outside macker on the head and it ended up ripping the board from my hands and then snapping my leash.. soo.. i watched as my board bounced and tumbled all the way in to the beach... geez.. soo.. i swam and bodysurfed in.. kinda fun actually.. some of my better rides. Performed a bit of gerry-rigging of leash to plug.. collected my slightly-dizzy, ice-cream-headached head and paddled back out for more. watched as this old dude scored ride after ride while i unsuccessfully chased around peaks for about 30 minutes.. then i took off on a steep left and pulled my hip muscle or some shit! that hurt.. then Lerm paddled out to make it three surfers.. watched the Lerminator take off on some steepees. Kudos to Lermification.. his surfing and confidence are obviously improved. where before he used to be hesitent when paddling into pitching waves.. this morning i saw him aggressively stroking and scratching to get in there.. niice lerm.. I then squirted into this ledging right.. raced along for a spell before it closed out.. 10 or 20 duckdives to try to get back out... probably pushing 500 or so duckdives for the entire session... i turned it around and headed in.. a bit frustrated.. a bit damaged.. a bit worse-for-wear..

soo.. i'm going start rating the surf experience on a scale from 1 to 10.. taking into consideration the overall conditions, the fun-factor, the crowds and also a little bit of personal bias based on how my session went..

this morning at Sloat - 4

just to give some reference..

the morning of the niceness brunch a few saturdays ago - 9

kewl.. hope y'all scored some niceness.. i heard that VFers was better than sloat this morning.. first hand accounts?

Windandsea the other day

So cal this morning

redworm asked me to post this up..

e- I think you should add something to your site - a surf confessional,
for those of us who have committed tresspasses against our fellow
surfer. A sort of karmic release valve, as it were. A little e-chapel
at the side of your main surf page, perhaps, something like this
comment forum but strictly for getting stuff off one's chest and
hopefully off one's cosmic surf-behavior rap sheet. Maybe have people
vote on the degree of transgression (1 to 5 radio-button poll), with
each level having some corresponding atonement, from level 1, something
like "pick up five pieces of beach trash after your next sesh" to level
5 "pay for board repair and medical expenses of your victim."
(Higher-level offenses likely to be handled by the actual court system)

My confession: Sloat, south end of the north lot, @ 2 pm, shoulder/occ.
head-high walls coming in and a loose, well-spaced pack of a half
dozen. Crumbly and not that steep, so late takeoffs required. I get
ready to go on a right-hander, check off the two adjacent guys - 10 yds
to either side - before paddling, spin counter-clockwise (away from the
pit - technical error) and go. Late drop, frontside bottom turn is too
sharp, board angles back up trhe face, pitching me onto my arse in the
trough. As I hit the water, I hear a slight, anguished noise to the
north. I surface and look - I had dropped in on a guy sporting shaggy
hair and black wettie with red stripes on the shoulders. He'd been
ripping pretty well the whole time I was out. I thought, before I
turned the wrong way to paddle, that he was too deep and had passed on
the wave, but he just took off 10 yards deeper, nice sacky late drop,
only to have me a) drop in and b) botch it like a stiff-legged Wilbur
Kookmeyer. I gave him the head-hanging-apology-hand wave, the
international sign for "sorry I burned you, didn't see you there," and
he paddled back out like a sport, without any chatter or attempt at
retribution, which made me feel even worse. I throw myself upon the
mercy of the tribunal...

A bit frumpy, a bit bumpy, a but dumpy... but.. surfable out at the beach this morning. A little cleaner and more organized than yesterday. Shoulder/head-high windswell breaking steeply. I watched many dark, thundering barrels rage along the inside sandbar.. From the side they looked fantastic and gruesome.. but from the inside or when trying to take-off into them, it became obvious that they were mostly closing out. Kaiser, Marco and i paddled out around 6:40. Kaiser was catching rides all over the place.. and i saw Marco whip down the line on a nice right. 30 minutes went by and i still hadn't caught one wave!!! I just couldn't get myself close to any.. wave-repellent! I felt the urge to complain but i suppressed expressing it for as long as possible.. just tried to breath deeply and sync-up with the ocean. After five minutes of that zen approach failing miserably i finally complained to Kaiser, "I'm striking out! not one wave!" He fired back, "Too bad brotha, it's fun out here!".. thanks homie! anyhooo.. i guess that broke my hex because 10 minutes and 5 waves later my smile and stoke had returned. Nothing amazing but i managed to thread a few needles and slank into some racing rights. Felt good to punch a few smaller cutties and just generally feel that glide.. Then i worked a wave far into the inside section.. trying to pump and work it till the end. Next thing i know i'm getting denied on the paddle out.. 15 duckdives in rapid succession found me still standing in chest-deep water. then a wave globbered me out of nowhere and i swallowed some of that OB brine.. end of seshy for me..

soo.. it's surfable.. a bit frustrating.. if you're a ripper you could be stoked.. barrels a-plenty on the inside..

soo.. toxi asked about some guy getting rescued at Grey Whale Cove yesterday by a coast guard helicoptor.. here'e the scoop.. strait from the horses mouth..
(thanks so much for posting Grant!)

Did you guys hear about the rescue yesterday by a Coast Guard helicopter? I thought they said it was Grey Whale Cove...apparently he was stuck on the rocks. I think it was on the local CBS news last night. All they had was shitty film of a guy getting raised in a basket (from the view inside the heli) and then being lowered to the beach where they dropped him back off...no board.

Let me know if you see any story on this.

Posted by: toxi on June 23, 2003 03:49 PM

Ya, that was GWC. The guy they hauled out was me.

There were three people involved, and I think we all split before the news crews came along, hence the lack of details in the report you saw...

I was suited up with my board, walking down the path to the beach, when a guy ran past me and said "a girl just washed through the rocks", and pointed at the south end of the cove. He headed up to make a call for help. I ran down to the beach, took a look, and saw a couple people (w/o wetsuits) climbing around the rocks. I couldn't see anyone in the water. I didn't know at this point if the person who got washed over is in a wetsuit or not. Not finding that out, in retrospect, was a mistake, but I really didn't think to stop and ask. Figuring that anyone without neoprene being tossed among the rocks and the rip would be in a fairly dire situation, I paddle out through/into the rip, duck several small waves, and get out far enough to have a look back. Once I'm out there, I can't see anyone stranded in the rocks, or anyone bobbing around in the water around them. So I figure either they're gone, they climbed out themselves, or they've drifted way south.

I start to paddle sideshore, and in a minute or so I'm in a position where I can maybe catch a foamball in to shore, when another guy (w/ boogieboard) sails past me, in the rip, toward the rocks. A few seconds later he's yelling for help... sooo, I turn around and paddle for him, having no idea why he's yelling, whether its the rip, or a rocks, or a shark, or what.

No dice. The guy vanishes in the rocks and I lose track of him. In about a minute, I'm in the same position he was. A surge comes through and washes me into a churning pit between two sets of big rocks next to a cliff. I get slammed a couple times, ditch the board when the leash snags, and then I crawl up on a small rock, and start waving at the people on the south end of the beach -- which is now maybe 50 to 75 yards away -- trying to indicate that someone else had just washed further south around the point (and that I was now possibly screwed, too).

The tide's coming up and the tidal surges through those rocks are too strong to swim around in without fins. I try it a couple times and get washed back right where I started. So I crawl back up on a rock and wedge myself into a crevice slightly above the water level. That didn't last long. Within a few minutes the tidal surges are coming in over my head. By the time the Coast Guard helicopter showed up, 4-6ft surges were coming in over my position, submerging the crevice I was wedged into. It was a little sketchy. It had been a total of 30-40 minutes on the rocks, and I was about to try and bodysurf a surge back into the rip, when the CG helicopter showed up and hauled me out of there.

As it turns out the first person to get washed over was a surfer in a fullsuit. Had I known that, I would not have paddled out right into the thick of it. The boogieboarder was ok too -- he and the girl both managed to keep moving south and washed up on the next beach down -- maybe a 1/2 mile -- as did my board, with a nice new tail ding.

Support your local coast guard. ;-)

speaking of Samoa

Steep Drop

Old Man's - san onofre

Things are starting to get painful for bay-area surfers. The summer doldrums are here, in full force. With the exception of the illustrious Cron in the AM??, bay-area beaches have been bombarded with and brutalized by constant, spirit-draining onshore wind... for weeks!! OB and Pollutica throwing up hacked, regurgitated nasties this morning. I stood at Sloat for a few minutes, watching as one wave out of ten offered up an immaculate, high-performance section.. the other nine out of ten crumbling or closing or just disintigrating into nothingness.. Maybe if you have the right mindset and gumption you could mastermind a session at OB.. but.. the duckdive to ride ratio will be tilted heavily to the side of duckdives. Down at the P. Jetty things looked more promising.. the jetty itself blocking the pesky NW wind from blowing things out.. too bad the biggest waves were about 9 inches tall.. seriously. Maybe the tide was just too high when i checked it at 6:50? dunno.. maybe things are a little better now? or will be after 1:08 when the tide begins to push back in? No surf for me..

Saturday i took the SF-SC challenge.. woke up at 4am.. "Nightmares on Wax" establishing the groove on my 80mph drive down. Running down the trail to a santa-cruz-county pointbreak at 5:15. still dark.. Eastern sky *just* starting to lighten. wind isn't too bad and i can barely see the telltale signs of white-water peeling along. Sampled a bit of the sensi before paddling out solo in the dark. Immediately i'm stroking in to head-high pointbreak niceness.. nobody around.. barely light enough to see, not really light enough to gaze out toward the horizon to watch for incoming sets.. As the light increases two more wave-riders paddle out.. and the south swell makes itself known. Every 7 minutes or so 4 or 5 thick/juicy south swell lines voyaged in and cracked and peeled along the reef. Because of their steep angle (210 degrees) they would often wall up severely, sectioning and barrelling down the line. My best wave of the session i took off from really deep on one of these south-swell bombies. I kind-of got caught up in the kelp while paddling for it but the momentum of the wave just before it broke ripped me through the kelp.. then i just stood up and elevator-dropped down the face.. bottom turned and held my line for a second as the overhead wave rifled along, giving me a fantastic view.. then it began to slow down and i carved a big fat turn into the face, back into the whitewater... then another bottom turn and suddenly the wave was jacking back up and reforming on the inside bowl.. i just stood there, holding my position right in the pocket. foamball behind me, svelte conical cylinder ahead of me.. i pumped along and then traced another cutty.. then jumped off my board right near the beach.. exhilerated. I probably caught almost 30 waves during the session (2.5 hours).. 15 or so during the solo and then three-man super-dawnie. Getting in the water at 5:20 is a sure way to beef up your wave count. no doubt. then i got home at 11 and slept until 2! Felt like i had a mini day in between friday and saturday.

Yesterday i had a super-frustrating session North of town.. not too many waves coming in and all of those taken by the "crew." Oh well.. take the good with the bad..

soo.. there is a chance that Kaiser caught waves at Mandalay bay.. any report on that?

also.. word on the street is that Robme and Lerm enjoyed an exploratory Grey Whale Cove session yesterday.. Details gentlemen?

andy irons won yet another ASP contest.. geez..

umm.. yeah..

Gary sent me a few great OB shots.. check em'..

Can you say, "DUuuuudge!"

Bagel painted this for me.. i look at it before i leave my apartment and it gets me pumped up for barrelage..

If you like that cold, crisp biting feeling on your face then you'll love conditions this morning.. if you like when your ears get all numb and throbbing then by all means get yourself out there. Brutal onshore winds plaguing the bay area again this morning. This week has been a tough one for all bay area wave-riding-enthusiasts. Unless you work at home or are on the dole and picking and choosing and driving and dealing it proved rough to score a few moments of glide this week. OB pretty much completely hacked this morning. Second-lot-sloat showing the most promise as it flirted with some potential sections.. but.. not really.. Over the hill into P-town and the flags are freaking out.. trying to leap from their poles.. strait west wind rampaging and relentless. One orange-helmuted kayaker making his way through the 5 or 6 rows of whitewater at the 'Mar. no surfers.. in all fairness i actually saw a few rideable waves.. but.. you'd have to work for them.. taking waves on the head and grimacing at the eye-tearing, head-freezing onshore wind.. i kept driving.. then sucked it up and paddled out at the jetty for about an hour (30 minutes solo, 30 minutes with others). If you pulled up and sat there for 5 minutes you might turn around satisfied that the surf was completely flat. But every 6 minutes or so one or two wedges would form up and offer a short burst of fun.. i nabbed 4 or 5 before a few others paddled out and made the already slim-pickins even slimmer.. It was good to see Marco on his shiny-new blue bomber Pearson Arrow... looked like he slanked into a few inside micro grinders. My last wave was probably my best.. an authentic Jetty wedge formed up and i was luckily in pole-position within the little 4-man pack.. 1 or 2 paddles and i'm in.. bottom drops out as i stand and turn and dig my hand into the face.. shoulder-high glassy section ahead of me.. a few pumps around a closing slab.. then skim up high for a moment.. then down and back up and try to throw my fins out on the closeout.. sort-of do it but then don't recover and wipe-out into about 4 inches of water. pretty fun wave!!.. enough to satiate the spirit-pulsing jones that's developed after three days out of the water.

sooo... the south swell is supposed to come in tonight and peak in the late afternoon tomorrow.. it's gonna be windy.. maybe offshore up in stinson/bolinas? hmmm... or up in Doran??

the ASP Japan contest is on..

two more pics of the southshore of oahu yesterday

whattup y'all.. sorry about absence of a report yesterday. I felt pretty ill upon wakeup and called in sick. I think it was just a case of being run-down after staying up until 1 most nights and getting up at 6. anyway.. looks like OB is still junky, though i didn't check it. The brutal, relentless onshores we've experienced over the last few days abated a bit, but i guess there is still a sligh NW wind flow. The SF buoy is still lingering at 8ft 8sec though it looks like some south swell is headed our way for the weekend. It might be a good time to visit your grandma in Encinitas or your hippy cousin in Davenport. "goodmorning" posted last night about the south side of Oahu going off. Check it...
"6-8 ft. - head high + to 3 ft. overhead with occasional 10 ft. and good conditions.

Current SSW Swell is BIG and building. Watch out for some macking sets that are closing out the channels. Choked lineups at the standout spots."

sooo... if you're surfing Ala Moana or Kaisers or Rockpiles right now.. you be psyched.. Even "the wall" along Diamond Head is probably going off.. and Sandy Beach! that place is nutty. I'm thinking of warm/turquoise water, throaty/funnelling reef-break walls. 72 degree water. palm trees gently wafting in the breeze. Sky-piercing, vertical, lusciously green mountains erupting out of the earth. Barrels thundering and beckoning. Ahhh.. hawaii.. Truly a wonderous place. Tracing its arc of islands across the tectonic plate.. a deep hot spot of volcanic activity spitting up lava and mana as the world turns above. Encompassed entirely by the mighty pacific. Open to swells on all sides.. Gruesome, tireless North and West swells in the fall and winter lighting up the dry/western spots like Makaha, Banyons, Honolua, Hanalei.. stirring up north shore craziness.. dribbling over and around to the jungly, windward eastside mysto spots. The islands south shores lie dormant most of the fall and winter.. but.. come spring and summer, the south swells start parading up through the south pacific. Spawned by storms and wind raging across the roaring 40s and up past the bottom of New Zealand.. then waves propagate thousands of miles, across the whole ocean.. Penquins on the south island of NZ bob past the same wave that washes a coconut onto the beach in the Pitcairns, past the cook island and samoa. radiating outward in concentric circles like a macro version of ripples created in a pond when a rock strikes the surface. The same waves blow past the whole of the south pacific... frech polynesia, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Tonga, Fiji, Soloman Islands, Samoa, Kiribati, mysto reef-passes peeling and barreling with nare a wave-rider for miles and miles.. then the waves voyage further north and east.. they mature and coalesce into more refined, definitive groundswell lines as they travel greater and greater distances. Finally they spot the luscious green oasis of the hawaiin islands.. they laugh and smile as their amassed energy, meandering 2000 miles from their point of origin south of Bells Beach.. gropes and begins to feel the severe shelfing of the steep island of Oahu.. Without much time to slow down.. they finally gulp and rise up in response to the sudden reef at "Bowls".. Luckily "goodmorning" is there to welcome them.. and the wave engulfs goodmorning in it's womb.. caressing and soothing as he careens through the liquid chamber.. Finally the wave exhausts itself on the inside section and goodmorning paddles out to ride and cavort with some of the waves brothers and sisters.. spawned from the friction between wind and water surface deep down in the antartic south pacific.. But some of that south swell juice doens't die a spiritual, barrelling death in the garden isles.. some of it continues its fluid undulation across the sea... encountering absolutely no land for another few thousand miles.. then some of the waves spot santa cruz and bless that land with thick, peeling perfection.. other sections of the family of propagated arcing energy spot the windmills of OB and decide to get all jumbly and disorganized, after 5000 miles of groomed perfection.. they decide to dismantle into chaotic displeasure and fizz and sputtle into hacked, disorderly mayhem on the shores of our golden ville.. oh well.. fall's coming soon...

Ummm... yeah..

I surfed this wave.. though it was about 1/3 this size. still barrelly though

Burning Man..

the swell is down... SF buoy at 8ft 9sec. OB crumbly and disorganized. maybe with a bit more tide it could be fun but it's just kinda dumpy and uninspired this morning. As the tide swung around at 8am maybe the push improved conditions? Your favorite wind-swell flow-tide reef or crag might be the call this morning... if you have such a place.. If you're absolutely bursting at the seams and in dire, desperate need of waves.. you could find some enjoyment at the beach.. it's not really blown out.. if you peruse the whole stretch with a fine-toothed comb you could probably uncover a little inside bar or something.. hopefully it will clean up as the day progresses..

my body is pleading for yoga.. i'm going to jump back on that train today after work.. getting psyched up for it.. after 3 or 4 weeks of surfing 5+ days a week my back and hamstrings start getting noticeably tighter.. 3 or 4 yoga sessions loosens me up just right.. My only gripe is that i often get headaches from the inverted postures like the headstand. i usually sit that one out. It's cool to expereince the deep breathing and focussed attention on the body demanded by yoga. When you start a regular yoga practice you develop a heightened awareness of your body. strait up.. you become more attuned to when your body is at ease and when it's stressed or unbalanced.. i'm feelin that stress and unbalance now.. yoga me please..

OB shot from Blakestah's site (photo by don harris)

Happy monday!! Got up at the butt-crack again to meet Tom and Christian for some waves.. Happy birthday Christian! Flatness spoiled our plans and i drove around for a bit searching.. finally found a few small fun ones and shared the lineup with Da Blakestah, this mellow kneelo guy and a few others. The kneeboarder had cut up one of those Ridge Rest camping mats and glued it onto his board for grip/padding.. pretty weird looking. anyway a few blips cruised in and offered a face or two in some shallow water. I managed to nab two or three shoulder-high set waves that refilled my stoke tanks for the long work day ahead. Nothing amazing but at least some waves.. i was surfing this old flourescent yellow 80's board that i bought used when i was 15 yrs old. It has channels and some good vibes radiating off it.. thus it's name, "Mellow Yellow"... It felt sluggish and unwieldy compared to my modern mini-gun/shortboard but on this one section i managed to balance myself and whip it around on a backside bottom turn.. then i kind-of threw it as high up on the lip as i could and it snapped around just fine.. the extra bulk and size actually felt solid through the turn.. pretty cool to surf weird/various boards. I've actually never tried a single fin.. anybody out there ride them regularly?

yesterday witnessed a compete zoo at a certain local point/reef. probably 30 or 40 people in the lineup.. i rolled up around 6:45 and at first glance thought there was no way i would paddle out in that crowd.. But.. conditions were really unusual and windswelly... enough waves to go around! seriously.. wave-machine status out there.. nothing big or perfect.. but.. glassy and peeling.. little nuggety barrels and corners and sections.. they just kept rolling in and peeling along.. super sunny and glassy.. HOWEVER! I witnessed two fights in the water!! and much much non-niceness yelling and barking and chest-pounding.. I have to admit that one of the altercations was *almost* morally sound. this one guy who i had never seen around kept purposefully dropping in on people. he would actually look down the line, see someone already on the wave.. and then deliberately burn them. I was poking and slanking around the inside, picking off scraps and inside wrappers along with this dark-skinned local yokel.. a guy who rips seriouse shiat and also isn't afraid to "throw-down".. anyway.. both of us were paddling back out and we watched this newcomer guy burn yet another guy (one of those mellow japanese heads that are cruisy and are always around).. anyway the burner and the japanese guy actually collide and wipe-out right near the dark-skinned local and myself.. when the burner surfaces the dark-skinned local paddles over and gives him a few quick, violent slaps and blows to the face and says, "GO HOME!" I couldn't really believe it but at the same time i understood where the local was coming from. sort-of.. i don't think the physical contact was necessary at all or called for.. but the firm, serious, "GO HOME" was totally deserved.. not that i'd ever do something like that.. but.. i think it's the first case of semi-justified localism i've ever witnessed. hard-core though.. I was kind-of stony so the violence and anger were just absolulely foreign to my frame-of-mind.. anyway.. the cop/surfer that wears the white helmet and is always tossing around horrible vibes also got into a scrap with this longboarder who for some reason just wouldn't back down.. at that point i removed myself entirely from the main concentration of surfers and continued to poach scraps and nuglets on the inside.. I ended up surfing for about 3 hours and really achieved some progress on my backside bottom-turn top-turn combo (no pigdog).. it was really fun to try to take steep-drops without pigdogging.. it sets you up for an immediate high-speed bottom-turn so much better.. (still ya have-to pigdog dat shite when barrels are in the midst)... I also pulled off one of the first legit?? roundhouse cutties i've ever done.. bottom turn.. then pivot and turned all the way around.. still somehow had speed and i then turned up and banked off the whitewater.. I tried to aggressively thrust my board up and then through the white-water on the rebound and i think that confidence and aggression helped me power through it successfully.. then recovered and turned back down the line.. felt pretty cool! but.. just to keep things *real* i also succumbed to a few atrocious over-the-falls wipe-outs and then was dragged into the rocks on the inside.. repeatedly.. i have this pseudo-technique of making my body all limp and spongy when i know i might wash across some rocks.. anyway.. some good surfing went down as well and it was fun to watch.

looks like the beeeatch is funked and warbled right now.. i guess it was surfable this morning.. supposedly kind-of mushy with peaks and relative mellowness.. anybody rip it up?

Hungington Beach

Yes!!!

Woke up early and drove for a while.. found this semi-protected little wave that showed the dwindling remnants of south-swell energy. Nobody out when i first walked down and checked it.. Was about to assume it flat when a fun-looking 3 wave set marched through and peeled along. huh! Donned the seal-suit and paddled out. Out in the lineup by myself.. paddling into fun shoulder-high peelers. mostly lefts but a few rights too.. I really enjoy surfing by myself. You can sit wherever you want in the lineup.. take any wave you want.. pass on waves if you think there might be a better one behind it, work on random parts of your surfing technique, kick-back and take in your surroundings without any mental energy expended toward crowd dynamics. Thoughts of the "the landlord" had me spooked a few times and stopped me from ye ol' wetsuit piss. But.. waves just kept meandering through and i couldn't really believe nobody else had paddled out.. About 20 rides into my session i sat up on my board and deeply, seriously gave praise to mother ocean and the surf gods for blessing me with these empty waves. I gave thanks to my family/friends/life for giving me the knowledge and health to be able to enjoy this rare bounty. and.. i continued catching waves and trying to smash the lip and carve around.. A few waves later another surfer paddles out.. kinda out-of nowhere.. He positioned himself way on the inside. I caught a wave and rode past him and then paddled by him on my way back out. He was super smiley and enthusiastic. Stellar vibes right away.. i waved and he waved back and said, "I just wanted to catch a few waves, my name is Kevin, Hello." He shot me the biggest smile. I said that my name is Ethan and that i'd be psyched to share a few with him. I caught the first wave of the next set then watched as he caught the second wave.. i gave him a hoot as he was paddling into it.. Next thing i know he's getting out of the water.. After only one wave! He saw me looking and gave a wave and a thumbs up.. just so i wouldn't think he was hurt or anything.. crazy! but.. as i was sitting out there, solo again.. i had this weird vision that Kevin somehow represented the manifestation of the surf gods.. As i had been sitting out in the water, thankful and downright shocked at my luck this morning.. the surf gods descended down upon me in the form of this happy/smily/good-viby surfer and just shared a few moments with me. Kind-of a quick, personalized spiritual high-five. I feel really relaxed, centered and blessed right now. I feel really thankful to be healthy and alive. Just lucky and thankful. I think about all the angry people out there.. all the people who really struggle and fight and don't feel happy.. or at least happiness some of the time. I feel really lucky.

Speaking of angry people and feeling compassion for those less fortunate. I think about the Dwayniac. I admit i don't know him or what makes him tick.. but i feel bad for the guy. When he's doing his spazzy, maniacal 4-mile-psycho barking.. he's just radiating the most negative/vile/repulsive energy. He's showering those around him with anger and hatred, bile and darkness. People don't like him.. and those that might appreciate his successful lineup clearing only tolerate his excesses. He's sinking himself down into a karmic pit of dispair everytime he goes crazy on someone that doesn't deserve it. The negative energy he puts out immediately comes back to him in the way he gets treated by others. I hope that the Dwayniac can one day find some happiness and just enjoy himself in the water, enjoy his talented surfing and enjoy the amazingly wave-rich area in which he lives. The same karmic lesson will invariably be felt by all local lineup thugs. It seems to be the way the world works. The energy and vibrations you radiate out toward others reflects back to you. like a mirror.

t-poo

Looks like i picked a great morning to sleep in. OB showcasing its best "don't even think about paddling out" mood. NW winds having their way with things. Also pretty damn chilly out near the beach. Made me contemplate the sack of wintertime east-coast surfers who fearlessly, brazenly (idiotically) charge out in sub-zero temps... those cats are loony! It looks like the wind is blowing out of the NW at OB and Lindy, but out of the SW at the Jetty! perfect for strait onshore conditions everywhere!!! yay!! umm.. I'm still reveling in recollections of the vibrant, high-performance, glorious waves of yesterday.. It's funny how a few fleeting moments (probably less than a minute of total wave-riding time!) can relax and soothe the psyche. Those same few fleeting moments of wave-riding act to stimulate hours/days/months/years/lifetimes of uncompromising pursuit for the next ride. Taking a step back, it's kinda hard to believe that such a small amount of actual surfing time (standing and riding) leads to oft life-changing decisions about jobs, homes, significant others and ourselves. I mean... it's just a few moments of gliding and carving and pulling in. A pragmatist might suggest that we're crazy for sacrificing so much for such a tempermental reward. A reward that comes and goes quickly, leaving but a hazy taste of momentary glory. But.. there's just something inarticulable about the surfing experience that can't be related to those that haven't experienced it. The only things in life i've found that even approach that same feeling are inspired freestyle musical jams, "guiltless" footbag-freestyle rampaging (all 3-add moves and above) and making love with someone you love. All great things... each offering sensations and meaning unique to themselves... but.. now that i think about it.. none of them provide the same complete spectrum of experiencial wonderment as does dropping into a well-overhead, ledging, offshore-groomed wave.. erupting with speed off the drop.. then just carving and firing down the line.. no thoughts of the past or future.. only a pure, unabashed total existence in the now.... ripping..

umm..

some pics of 4-mile yesterday..

OB last saturday

I took the challenge this morning!!!!.. thanks in part to the encouragement of jake and christian.. thanks homies! woke up at 4.. sprinted out of Seymore's house.. on the road.. back to pick up Seymore.. on the road again... dark misty drive down 280/92/1.. started getting light just as we approached Waddell.. things looking small but glassy at Waddell.. miniscule at Scotts... i was beginning to worry but i knew that the south swell would be showing at the more southern-exposure spots.. Davenport left kind-of working.. 5:34 pulled into the 4-mile lot.. one other car there with two dudes checking it.. one of whom i'm freinds with.. feverishly sprinted down the trail to check the conditions.. i was amping ridiculously hard.. got to the train tracks just as a macking, glassy overhead++ set funnelled and peeled down the point.. nobody out. laser-beamed back to my car. morphed into my wetty.. Seymore cruised into town for coffee.. me salivating and just running as fast as possible down the trail.. literally frothing.. didn't even consider stretching.. jump into the water and paddle out.. experience the profound exhileration of watching empty, unridden glassy point-break waves peel-off in front of me.. like some dream.. pass on a smaller wave... keep paddling way to the outside peak knowing that as soon as the crowd arrives i'll be relegated to the inside. Immediately a big set approaches.. thank you momma ocean. first wave peaks up and i begin to paddle into it but realize i'm too deep.. next wave i'm too deep again but i take-off anyway.. thinking there is an outside chance i'll make it.. NOPE.. huge wipe-out.. held down for a while.. come to the surface slightly rattled but unfazed in terms of wave-hunger.. two others are paddling out.. I recover and catch one of the last waves of the set... make the drop.. subtle repositioning of feet.. pump along the wall.. bottom turn.. snap up into the inviting face.. back down.. a few more pumps.. God damn.. POINTBREAKS!!!! Back to the main peak on the outside... catch a few 'tweener peaky waves.. glassy... long rides, cutties.. pumping and racing.. back to the outside.. still just three of us out. the two others take waves.. i'm furthest out.. chilling and waiting for a minute.. a big phatty looms on the horizon.. my heart flutters.. my brain locks in.. i paddle furiously toward the oncoming wave.. the thing is ledging but i think i can schnag it.. spin around using my little inner-thigh board-pivoting trick.. power paddle like a mo-fo and i'm looking down into this near-vertical 8-foot drop.. push myself over the ledge, hug the wall and shimmy/slide-slip my way down the face... and FUCK YEAH.. huge, roping wall spanned out in front of me.. race around a section (could have pulled in??).. approaching mach speed.. ride high up along a pitching section.. a little air-drop at the end.. race race.. the wave slows between the outer bowl and the "chicken" bowl.. allowing time for a little cutty.. then this big thick set wave that i'm riding rears up on the chicken bowl and i'm again racing like speedy gonzolas.. maybe could have stalled and pulled in here too but i was just drunk with the speed.. rode it almost to the beach.. best ride of the sesh for me.. best wave i've caught in the last few months. then the people start trickling in.. 5 peeps, 9 peeps, finally about 15 people in the water.. my wave count inversely correllating to the amount of people in the water... No sign of the 4-mile psycho.. pretty good vibes in the water overall.. lulls between sets but usually 5 or 6 waves per set.. Not brain-explodingly epic but real fun. beautiful ride home made even better by stimulating discussion with Sassafrass..

in the water at 5:41.. out of the water at 7:15.. in the office by 9... funk yizzeah!

sorry to rub it in if some of y'all didn't score sickies this morning.. i try not to be "that guy"... you know, the "it was soo good yesterday" guy.. if it makes you feel any better.. it got pretty crowded by about 6:20.. it also wasn't that sunny.. and.. some of the waves only allowed for one or two solid cutties rather than the 4 or 5 that we're used to at Lindy..

Seymore took some pics so hopefully i'll get them up tomorrow.

very cool to see Joe's hawaii blog.. i haven't really checked it out in depth but sweet to see.. the colors and fonts we both use are one of the default configurations that come with the Moveable Type blogger software... good on ya joe! can't wait to read about some hawaii slurf.

word..

any bay area waves this morning?

i heard that santa cruz town was a few feet bigger than 4-mile on the sets.. but that the S wind mucked it up a bit yesterday during the day?

anyhoo.. santa cruz... blessed..

last night pondering pre-dawn 4-mile mission.
thoughts of chunkified glassy point-break walls.
Maybe a few take-off barrels... long rides... speed.
planned to leave my house at 3:45, in the water around 5:30..
audi at 7:30 as the Dwayniac and posse overtakes the scene..
Perfect..

However... the deep, warm comfort of bed holds persuasive power.
on the road at 6:04.. OB narsty, fugly, wack.
Again south swell showing at Sloat... but.. SW wind reaking havoc.
back down to lindy.. repeat of yesterday but with twice as many people!?
chill vibes though.. just.. alot of bodies.
a few peaks and sections here and there. some reform inside sandbars offering the occasional opportunity.

pod of seals barking and riding waves..

1 wave sets.

LINDY!!!!

proof that i should have taken the SF-SC challenge..
santa cruz yesterday... skinny at the lane... stinkeye's pic

So cal craziness.. Swamis

So cal mellowness... so the sexy's pic

It's currently 4.7ft 17sec at the SF buoy! South swell in da house. Too bad the local SW wind isn't cooperating. VFers looks junky and unapproachable.. not big or anything.. just ugly.. Down at Sloat and Second-lot-Sloat the south swell is definitively showing. Clearly defined head-high lines marched in from a southerly direction and did their best to peel and provide tasty lefts. The fun-loving, gentle south swell was like some super hero from the Hall of Justice being thwarted by the cackling, mischievous super-villain Southwest wind from the Legion of Doom.. Sooo.. onward to Pathetica.. over the hill and you could see clearly the south wind acting more favorably to the sea-surface in our favorite little red-necky coastal burg. Rockaway flat but enjoying a glass-like sea-surface.. Over that last hill into the enchancted valley of Schmlindy!! and.. offshore winds.. a few dribbler waves on offer.. 4 or 5 somewhat distinct peaks offering mostly mellow shoulder high peelers. Some fantastic longoarding going down on one of the northern-most peaks.. guys doing drop-knee bottom turns then walking to the nose... riding all the way into the sand on their 10-foot monster logs. I have to admit that the water seemed pretty clean too!! cleaner than OB on friday or saturday.. but.. who knows if the visable cloudiness and "dirtiness" so often seen at OB and lindy is actually land-based-waste or rather oceanic/organic process'? Anyway.. surfed with Marco for a bit and also saw S.S. sharkbait in the lot. It's a PERFECT day for beginners out at lindy.. i mean.. it really doesn't get much better if you're only surfed a handful of times and are looking to get wet.. that might change with the 1:30 1ft low tide?? dunno..

Saturday ushered in some of the best waves seen in the bay area in months and months... and months!! Lerm and i pulled up to VFers around 8:30 to the sight of flawless, perfect head-high glassy A-frames breaking and peeling all over the place. The dismal, grey skies seemed to keep people away from the beach so it wasn't even that crowded.. The surface like a huge miniscus.. just utter, total glass. No paddle-out issues, as waves broke on the first sandbar in 3 or 4 feet of water. Steep, sometimes-barrelling waves strode in and offered up unbelievable ramps and playthings and smooth faces. Ya want to try a few lip-bashes, go ahead!! rather just trim and enjoy the fresh serenity of nature's undulating energy outlet.. no problem. Tuck into a few small barrels.. then rage out, bottom turn and pivot up into the pocket for a power-snap.. go for it.. airs, floaters, chillin.. soo good!!! I got one nice in-and-out barrel (mouth of barrel at least) and managed to stuff myself into a throaty, gurgling one too before getting eaten up.. but i enjoyed the brief, momentary vision of being encapsulated in that oh-so-heavenly-chamber..

the niceness brunch was super fun too.. thanks everybody for coming out!!! great to meet and kick-it with ss sharkbait, eightwest, noah, J, bagel, seymore sassafrass, rebekah, Tom, bojon, Robme, Lerm, Kaiser, Christian, Cloude and others that i'm surely forgetting in my hazy monday morning post-lindy afterglow.. Thanks to Robme and Meg for hosting and hookin' up the tasty bagels and Palenta and fruit bowl and coffee.. Thanks to E and Lerm for bringing to donuts!! yeah!!

kewl..

e

Griffin Barrel

Griffin sequence

J sent this in.. Swamis purple haze...

A light SSW breeze blowing at the beach. SF buoy reading 3ft 14seconds.. Conditions overall mini and dumping.. but.. stretched along our beloved 3-mile playa were several workable peaks. Kaiser, Cloude, another blond-haired cruiser and I traded waves at this relatively delicious peak for about 1.5 hours. Thoughts of visualization and pushing my edge worked through my mind after yesterday's dialogue on the message board. The workable, non-intimidating easy-but-still-punchy, small A-frames provided perfect canvas' for reaching out slightly beyond the cusp of my personal surfing abilities. Nothing spectacular to report other than a few backside topturns that went a little more vertical than my norm thanks to the lack of pigdogging on take-off.. Also i managed a fluid, sharp, fast snap on my frontside that felt good.. When you're perfectly balanced and standing on the sweet-spot of your board maneuvers become so much easier. Kaiser started to work the pigdog a little bit.. i watched him grab-rail on this pitching close-out.. He had it flowing for a second before the wave crunched down from above.

the christmas island buoy is way up at 6ft 20seconds!! that's way down south of hawaii.. but.. maybe a phatty SW swell headed our way!? hmm...

anyone have any good barrel stories?

anyone ever successfully landed an air?

also..
niceness post-surf brunch this saturday (tomorrow) at chez robme.. should be mellow.. come-on by.. probably a session at VFWs beforehand.. based on conditions this morning.. it looks probable..
10 - noon
4424 Cabrillo St (yellow house)
SF, CA
btwn 45th & 46th

Some John Severson artwork... he started surfer magazine..

Maybe the smallest day of 2003 so far. From the great highway conditions looked borderline unsurfable. Lake-like OB with little shin-slappers and playful nothings. A few sandbars up and down the beach catalyzed the formation of mini-bowls and peeling wedges here and there. I noticed one near Rivera and then one at Sloat. I jumped in at Sliz and stroked into about 10 or 12 micro-dumpers. 3 rides into the session my hair was still dry so i duckdove just so it wouldn't blow in my face anymore. i'm talking uber-mellow!! But.. leave it to OB to produce waves even on the smallest itty-bitty days of the year.. and.. sure enough.. a set of three or four waist/shoulder-high waves funnelled through every 5 minutes or so. It was refreshing and calming to have more rides than duckdives at OB. doesn't happen that often.. After watching video of my backside surfing yesterday i realize that i suffer from "over-pigdogging".. i basically pigdog (grabbing outside rail when going backside) when i don't need to. When a wave nears pitching or when negotiating a vertical take-off, pigdogging is the answer. But on a nice steep face, for instance, pigdogging can limit your range of motion and keep you from being able to make turns. So today i tried to minimize my use of the pigdog. On a few fuzzy/mellow/squirty lefts i took off, consciously didn't pigdog.. and noticed an improvement in my ability to bottom-turn and get back up to the lip quick. On smaller, bullshitty days like today i just try to focus on getting back up to the lip.. On my frontside, because most of the waves closed out quickly, getting back to the lip entailed a precise/immediate take off followed by a speed-generating projection down-the-line as i stood up.. kind-of thrusting myself forward while standing up... then basically one-pump and a leap up to the lip as the wave closed. By thinking this way (get back to the lip, whatever you do) i managed to often will myself back up there and in the process refined my take-off to bottom-turn timing. i also managed a few wimpy floaters and slow-motion lip bashes..

anyway.. just some thoughts.

matt sent me an inspiring email last night.. i hope he doesn't mind if i post an excerpt of it here..
"A couple years back a friend - who surfs as good as Slater..seriously, taught me that it all comes down to one thing...YOU GOTTA BELIEVE-it really is that
simple, you gotta believe you can pull that sick pit, floater, mad bash, or
just cruise with style (my personal choice) - a good lession for life in
general as well."

There is a lot to be said about the power of pre-cognition, visualization and confidence. If you see yourself air-dropping into a thick OB freightrain.. then turning hard off the bottom.. then snapping up underneath the lip, dragging your arm and sinking back into the barrel. if you think it and see it and know it and feel it and work and work on your surfing so your really know what those maneuvers mean and feel like... you can do it. just knowing you can do it is more than half the battle in a confidence game such as surfing. I remember learning to thrust myself over the ledge on steep drops and discovering that success directly corresponding to my confidence (or lack-of) as i paddled into the wave..

Commitment. Confidence. Humility. Style.

niceness post-surf brunch this saturday at chez robme.. should be mellow.. come-on by..
10 - noon
4424 Cabrillo St (yellow house)
SF, CA
btwn 45th & 46th

Salsipuedes

Rob Gilley photography..

wouldn't mind being here right about now..

hong kong!

i opted for snugglification this morning. The surf at OB looks smaller than yesterday.. wind is out of the south and there are people getting rides at the beach right now (surfpulse cam).. Kaiser is going to grimace when i say this but a certain san mateo county wave produced offshore-groomed, tapering lines last night. Some of the better waves i've seen there in a while.. not necessarily earth-shattering or universe-vibrating.. but.. enjoyable. As i approached from the road after work i noticed a darker-than-normal blue-green color to the water. Over the years i've recognized this as the tell-tale signs of a stiff offshore breeze. Many waves backed off or closed out but a few opened up and peeled along beautifully... mist and foam whipping back from the pit. Looking out from the beach an optimistic surfer might anticipate long, multi-turn voyages down feathering, consciousness-hugging faces.. The pessimist might notice a ubiquity of closeouts and mushburgers.. the reality rested somewhere in between.. I eeked into a handful of walled, racing sections but also took off on 10 or 12 closeouts. The conditions were ideal for refining your take-off/bottom-turn/back-to-the-lip-as-quickly-as-possible combinations.

Cold-Ass water!!

might be a repeat today but the buoys are down.. wind is super light at 3mph at OB.. huh.. might be an OB day.. if you're relaxin' in your pjs at home reading this.. debating a surf.. head out to ob and get a couple on the inside..

shout out to Marco - thanks for those CDs!! i've been rocking out to them hard!

shout out to Mike - thanks for the vids!! i'm psyched to see them but also a bit embarrassed about my lackluster surfing steez.. (Mike sent some videos taken of me surfing... let's just say it can be a humbling experience!!)

caveman sent me this pic.. yet another rediculous t-poo macker

Laniakea

well.. the fearful, double-overhead minions of pain have vanished from the OB lineup this morning. Smaller, dumpier, uninspired head-high wind-swell has taken over. Looking out at VFers i contemplated paddling out. If you haven't surfed in a while, if you're famished and starved for a few drops and maybe more.. you can find it at OB. A chilly SW wind whipped up the beach.. not quite blowing things out.. but reminding all beach-goers and potential surfers that this is, in fact, NorCal.. and we're not supposed to experience anything like "summer" in these parts. To be fair to OB i watched a few shreddable shoulders peel along.. If you're an airealist you might be psyched on the slight onshore, as it will help to push your air-born-arse back onto the wave rather than off the back.

also.. i just want to remind all you fellas... give your girlfriends/wives love and kindness. Let them know how special they are.

Yesterday afternoon witnessed some surfable conditions at OB... soo maybe we'll have a repeat of that today? i wouldn't mind a little post-work jimmy jam.. hmmm...

andy irons won the cloudbreak event.. beating cory lopez in the final... Slater was a no-show! he was tied for the ratings lead going into it. anybody know the story?

shout outs to Josh Klein! keepin' it real in Europa..

shout out to Bo' Rowe - soon to be a dad!! aww yeah! congratulations my bruddah!

shout out to Seymore Buttsycles for giving the best vibes ever!

matt "sky" walker sent me an email from Kauai.. this is a bit of what he had to say..
"we're having a rad time here in Kauai. Staying
in a sick cottage right on the beach. Surfed Hanalei Pier
yesterday. Bodysurfed and snorkeled today. Tonya's ripping
it up on the boogie board. Scoped a few spots for the
morning surf tomorrow. This place is great..."

also.. i'm kinda hesitant to repost this.. but Ian posted this shark story last night.. beware the tooth!!!!

"Sharks.. Montara.. 2 Summers ago some friends and I were out, just came back from Oahu, were out at the North/Middle end, sunset. I was looking out towards the horizon when all of a sudden a fin about a foot and a half rose about about 30 feet in front of me. It swam directly between my friend Kevin and I. Kevin was about 10-15 ft away from me. I turned around as quickly as possible and rode one in on my belly. As I was coming in, I noticed at least 15 other surfers on the beach watching us. Word was the shark was combing the beach back and forth for the past hour. Someone up on the bluffs filmed it, and other spectators claimed i to be 15+ ft. There was a small article written up about in the San Mateo Daily. The way I see it, my shark sighting card has been used up, I hope I don't go through it again.. The reason I think it just cruised past us, is maybe because it was so big it was an adult, and it may have known the difference between surfers and food? "

also.. here's a really cool quote from John muir..

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow
into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own
freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off
like autumn leaves.

-John Muir, 1901

cory lopez monster cutty

bells beach.. looking fun

dane reynolds is one of my favorite american young guns

Don't ask why.. but Robme and i, and later Christian paddled out at Sloat this morning. A raucous, angry, violent ocean awaited us way way way way way on the outside. I'd say some waves approached double-overhead status. The vibe out there was thickly spooky and serious.. though there were no "vibers" per se.. it was the motha fuckin' ocean vibin' us... HARD!! After about 3875 duckdives we made it out.. then Robme got caught by a sneaker set and basically had to start all over. About 25 minutes went by, once out, before we caught anything.. the waves cruising in, all lumpy and thick and menacing.. not breaking until they ledged up, telescoping skyward, then unloaded with fierce menace... sometimes peeling but usually just exploding and crushing and tearing and rending. I finally worked myself into this huge left.. somehow willed my way into the drop.. pigdogged and preyed.. and made it.. exhilerated.. relieved.. then a huge frontside wipeout on a massive right that just wouldn't let me in to the final final moment, at which point i somersaulted end over end down the face. not a big deal though.. later i furiously paddled into this big, bulbous left that again wouldn't let me in.. kept paddling, scratching.. then the bottom of the world dropped out on me and i literally free-fell for a long time.. then the world reappeared on top of me in the form of a gargantuan mass of pissed-off water.. i got fucking drilled down.. Far down.. held down.. scared. frightened.. then i popped up.. involuntarily shaking with fear and surprise.. paddled in immediately with my tail between my legs..

jesus.. OB is fucking serious shit..

i saw christian get a nice, chunky, foamy left and watched him hit the lip a few times..

another guy scored a bunch of nice rides (longer board, hood, older dude).. if you're reading this cheers to you fella!!

Lerm checked Pallutica and the Jetty and reported that they were crap..

ahhh.. nothing like a thorough OB pounding to start off the week..

cool pic of the lane

the hook

Ian took this of OB.. wish it looked like this this morning..

Larry Bertleman

damn..

this is what i felt like this morning