whattup all y'all heads.. To all my brothers and sisters cranking away at their cubicles every day... attached via fiberoptics to the ever-growing lattice of human industry and commerce... soldiers in the capitalistic battle-ground of non-need-based societal enterprise... Have heart! When in doubt just remember the soft smile of your lover. Remember the scrumptious divinity of breyer's mint chocolate chip ice-cream. Remember the seemingly limitless freedom of a friday-afternoon monster-jam.. but.. most importantly, remember that last soul-gratifying wave.. the one where you were balanced and pushed your limits and wish you had on video. Remember the tranquility of your last quiet dawn patrol with a few buddies. Remember that time when you took off late and made the drop.. Remember the glide my friends.. being pushed along by that anomalous, mystical, harmonious natural expression of wave-form energy. yup..

sooo.. I found waves once again somewhere south of the golden gate. at around 6:07 i pulled up to Sloat and thought at first that i'd just jump in there.. surface didn't look too bad, small waves peeling and beckoning.. Upon closer inspection, however, conditions looked small and dumpy.. i think i noticed a few south swell lines.. but.. not sure.. there were plento-o-sections out there.. especially for the longboard folks.. probably waist/shoulder high.. mostly mushburgers though... I also noticed a particular stank to the air.. you know.. that death stank.. and, sure enough, a huge, dead seal lie on the beach at around the mid-tide line.. I didn't investigate for bite marks.. but.. combined with the bite-marked seal that washed up two days ago and Wilber the dead Whale at Kirkham i felt the presence of the tooth.. the landlord.. the man in grey.. whitey.. Jonny Jaw... i was audi.. back down to our favorite san mateo secret spot.. expecting throngs and hords of frothing wave-riders in response to the discussion yesterday i was pleasantly surprised to be the first one in the lot! One other guy pulled up as i was changing. I ran down to try and capture a few rides before the onslaught began.. but.. to my surprise and amusement.. this one other guy was the only other to paddle out in the next hour... he cruised out about 200 yards north of me.. then there was a small crew of 5 or 6 at the south end. All 8 or 9 of us totally spread out, each at his own peak.. If you were out there this morning i thank and commend everyone for not needlessly condensing into a pack. The waves were few and far between but glassy and well-formed when the did come through.. i caught some of my best rides of the week on this bulbous, chunky right that repeatedly looked like it would close out but instead offered a high-speed, racy, smooth, pitching section. Most of my rides on this right consisted of a calculated last-second take-off, then just pumping like a mad-man to make the sections.. then a final lip-dance or gaff or kooky wipeout as it closed out. lots of waiting today.. but.. the beauty of the beach and mountains, the comfy chill in the air, the hovering pelicans and a friendly seal made the waits tolerable and even interesting..

soo.. that's that.. record number of posts yesterday (69)... nice number huh! umm.. so many of you are articulate and good-viby and stoked and thoughtful and talented.. aww yeah!

here are some of my faves from yesterday..

from Jimmy:
traffic, lineups, supermarket checkouts, cities...although we are for the most part an individualistic society, the subconscious undercurrents state otherwise. fortunately, we as humans have the capacity to think. we can either get pissed off that EVERYBODY seems to be in the supermarket at the same time as us, or we can stand back, relax and enjoy those steamy tabloids we've been itching to read for weeks. in other words, each of us has the choice to be happy or mad. when put into perspective, is the issue of territory really paramount? global warming, starvation, oppression...are these not the issues to concern ourselves with? the territory we call ours could, by the power of nature, be stripped in a moments time leaving us with nothing but our memories. do we do life justice with memories of anger and aggression? would the time we have now not be best spent in enjoyment and celebration of all that we call "ours"?

from J:
all you joe hardcore stinkeyes out there, FUN! holy shit, people surf because it's FUN??? say it ain't so

from Grant:
flying groms and pearling logs and wedgey sucky peaks over boils.

from pixel pete:
I have to surf Kron, and theres no report for that shit hole

from beagle:
on another note i heard if you get attacked by a shark your supposed to punch it in the gills or poke it in the eyes..i prefer to carry a knife on my ankle when im surfing like the guy in point break

from blakestah:
Sean Collins who is selling out every surf hood on the California Coast for personal profit

from caveman:
keep the niceness flowing

from jdz:
FUCK THE SHARKS!!!!

from kaiser:
I follow, I lead, I sleep and I eat at various times of the day.

from bagel:
mmuhuhuhuuahahahaahaa

from dano:
I really don't like surfing with 10 gillion other people.

from blakestah:
i scoff at your driving

from mwsf:
Had one of the best seshies of my life

angry jeff:
"It's that goddamned Internet!"

Ireland

Bagel heads

Betho's chill painting

Lerm reports that OB looks a tad larger than yesterday.. but kinda crumbly and funkadelic. We made a plan to meet at another beach and i bee-lined it down there. Sometimes the natural elements meld and overlap is such a way as to take your breath away. A gentle offshore breeze feathered and shellacked the ocean surface. Pure, coarse large grains of sand crunched underfoot as we made our way to the water's edge. Lerm and i paddled out to an empty lineup. A heavy morning mist enshrouded the coastal mountains. Wind, fog and shadow. Kenetic energy in the air, in our lungs, circulating through the valley. Lerm takes off and cruises backside down the line. Bright, tan sand under 3 feet of crystalline turquoise water. Offshore-licked shoulder-high beach-break peaks. Lots of waiting but enough waves to keep us satisfied. A dude paddles out and kind-of follows us around the lineup a bit.. a little frustrating at first since there are plenty of peaks and nobody out.. he uses his longboard-abilities to get into waves early and takes a few away from the Lerminator. no biggy though.. we keep trying to paddle away into our own space. The Lerm and said longboarder are inside when a chunkified left calls my name.. a few strokes, then a precipitous pig-dog/hang-on takeoff and i'm missiling down the line for a moment or two until i get squashed on the inside right in front of said dude. He then busts me for being "E". ends up being a nice fella from Jersey.. the fog begins to lift. rays of sunshine warm our skin and reflect spectral brilliance off wind-whipped wave-mist. more and more people paddle out. a few more tantalizing waves mix with long minutes of nothing coming through.. We finish up and can't believe how many surfers are parked in the lot and preparing to hit the water. We bemoan the crowd for a minute and momentarily question the value of this here report.. question its effect of crowd dynamics and the double-edged sword of inspiring surf enthusiasm.. I reflect on how unfortunate it is that the whole world can't share in the stoke of surfing because of its inherently limited resources. If everyone were sharing in it, nobody would be stoked.. I reflect back on my days as a footbagger, on how "the more the merrier" was the utter, total, absolute philosophy of the game. just thoughts..

e

this looks like norcal (not sure though).. anybody know the spot?

more t-poo shots

"i was looking back to see if you were looking back at me to see me looking back at you."

OB still small and piddly this morning.. though definitely surfable. I watched a waist/shoulder-high set of rights mellowly peel along between first and second-lot sloat. The wind wasn't raising too much of a ruckus. We thought about it for a few moments but the crew i was rolling with (Lerm, DanK) felt that a little exploration was in order. Past a dismal, flat Rockaway and Lindy. Into the thick, eery fog along Devil's Slide. Grey Whale looking lake-like.. then... bam.. Montara looking super glassy.. not big.. but.. languid, sleek waist/shoulder-high plate-glass peaks blipping, squirting and meandering throughout the beach. Periods of total flatness alternated with minutes of constant windswell peaks to keep things interesting. A few guys surfing at the far south end.. though i'm not sure why as conditions looked bigger and better toward the middle.. Jersey-charger Dan K stepped out of the car, smelled the air, took in the surroundings, and said "It feels damn good here!" We suited up, sauntered down the trail, stretched, and paddled out in the middle of the beach, just the three of us. The girth-challenged stature of the waves kept you wanted more but offered just enough to keep you satisfied. Lerm slanked into a bunch of shoulder-high nuggies. On one wave he took off, turned off the bottom, then kicked out over the back as Dan K was approaching down the line from the other direction. We were tripping out on how CLEAN the water was.. We celebrated the novelty of seeing our feet while sitting on our boards!! OB and P-town are just filthy in comparison.. I think it's time that i/we come to terms that OB really is a dirty-ass surfbreak. sucks. We could also see rocks on the bottom. Light shone through the breaking waves with a vibrant turquoise hue. incredibly beautiful. i was freaking! Surfwise i managed a few fun little pumping niceties during the session.. pulled one backside off-the-top.. then on my last wave i lucked into a steep head-high takeoff on a right that was obviously lining up schweetly. I pounced to my feet and kind-of gripped the wall with my right hand and enjoyed a steep/pitching take-off.. then i was pumping like crazy for a few seconds.. then the wave slowed down for a second and i ripped a little feel-good cuttie.. then the wave began to wall up again and i pumped and cruised all the way to the beach.. a great way to end the session.. On the way back up the trail our olfactory pallates enjoyed the muslix of wildflower blooms and scents. so nice..

Kaiser.. sorry i didn't call yo arse.. when we first pulled up it really didn't look that much better than OB.. just glassier..

hope y'all score..

8west.. thanks for the slater info.. very interesting.. much respect for that guy. the interview with him in the last Water magazine is great reading..

I opted out this morning.. almost 20 surf days in a row combined with some heavy hoopage yesterday has my back requesting some chillification. Conditions look to be weak and piddly this morning. SF buoy at 1.4ft 8seconds. Combine that with a compromising 8mph SW wind and you have the makings of some sloppy, slimy, gutless waves. awww yeah! Looks like shit should improve through the week.. though nothing to get your panties all wet about.. The NW windswell should pick up again (tonight) and hopefully offer up some scrumptious OB nuglets for the dawnies this week.. A few small southern hemis are also due to arrive in the next few days.. the biggest one coming in on thursday and most likely lasting through the weekend.. Both of the southern hemis are approaching from around 210 degrees.. soo.. i'm not sure if that's within our window?? also note that neither of these Southern-hemi pulses are that huge.. the second one is supposed to top-out at 2ft 17seconds..

Thanks to SS sharkbait and OB for combining to create a great brunch on saturday morning.. OB rocked steady throughout the late-morning/early-afternoon hours... offering glide-stoked revelers shoulder-high chunky faces and a placid/glassy shoulder or two or three or eight. niceness reggies Christian, JDZ, Ian, CK, SS, Welle, Anastasia, Caveman and others could be seen gouging immense chunks of unsuspecting OB waves with their fiberglass wave-weapons. I watched Ian take off on a ledging thumper. Caveman rocked out to the lineup fresh off a super-late night of SF bar-hopping debauchery. Still loose and rubbery, various intoxicants churning and swilling within, Caveman harnessed the power of the hangover to throw down some late frontside air-droppy takeoffs right in front of yours truly. Basically a fun seshy was had by all..

yesterday the swell dropped but i took an east coast friend of mine for his inaugural surf at OB. We paddled out at our own peak around Taraval.. there looked to be a huge posse at Pacheco and Sloat.. but nare a soul in between.. A few enjoyable rollers rolled through.. and we were properly primed for a healthy helping of SF's finest pancakes at Art's cafe at 9th and Judah..

anyway.. cross your fingers for a little size-increase tonight.

someone said that this is the 'Squan in Joysee.. what do you heads think?

this is the model for "surf city texas." there is supposed to be 4 waves in this huge wave-pool.. Rick Kane texas style..

panama lineup

Pancho tearing into one

what would you do next? crank off the top? stall and pull in? pump for speed? coil up for a big air? dig a rail and tank it?

Ross-Clark Jones burying rail... looks kind-of like a regular-footed Kaiser at Lindy.

Dave Kalama small wave foiling

arty lefts

Lerm checked the whole stretch (OB to Montara) and found nada.. looks like the swell is down, though my fave buoy site hasn't updated since yesterday morning.. what sites do you cats use for buoys and wind? Anyway.. i think you're best bet this morning might be the 'Mar. I drove for a while a found a few waves.. long waits but a handful of rides under my belt on this friday morn. Hopefully tomorrow will clean up a bit. I don't think there is any significant swell in the immediate future, though this meager wind-swell is supposed to hold for the next few days.. The surfpulse forecast calls for 2 Southern-hemisphere swells originating near New Zealand to arrive next week and another storm in the eastern south pacific to maybe stir up some wave action for next week too.. though i think that waves originating from storms in the eastern south pacific approach from too steep an angle to get into the bay area.. santa cruz, of course, usually enjoys the brunt of it. Keep an eye on these swells and maybe the SF-SC challenge will manifest again in the near future. maybe Matt's new favorite secret spot will light up.. hmmm.. shhhhh..

anybody find waves this morning?

and i think that SS. sharkbait is hosting a little kick-back brunch at her beautiful, legendary great highway bungalow tomorrow morning. Her place is pretty ridiculous. There is a large mural of OB painted along the wall in the living room... plus you can deeply chill in the front room and gaze out the window on the waves at OB.

can anyone guess this country?

shark bait at Kirkham... rest in peace big guy

nothing sickeningly risickulous.. but.. surfable waves at most local beaches this morning. SF buoy holding steady at 5ft 10seconds. Whale Stank Beach looking approachable. About 3 out of 10 waves providing a tapering slope of watery acceleration. biggest waves probably head-high.. breaking steeply on the inside, mushy on the outside. I watched Sloat for a bit too and came very close to giving it a go.. but.. the sea-surface was a bit warbled even with the absence of wind. It also looked morbidly grey, lonely and exposed out in the water. Like.. if you were sitting out there alone.. you'd catch little mysterious glimpses of robed spirits floating in the mist.. Out of the corner of your eye you'd see dark masses lurking under the brackish water. Maybe a bird's cry would shift just enough in the hazy fog to sound like a distant scream of distress. i don't know.. it just felt real spooky out there in the early morning still.

sooo.. onward down to the butt of bay-area board-riding bemusement. Super-Dogg glassy all throughout P-town... You're favorite little Pacifica secret beach, corner, sandbar, cove or reef will probably be working today. But.. like the lamewad, non-exploratory, cookie-cutter i can be.. i ended up at Schmlindy.. but.. the ol' gurl was lookin' mighty purdy this morning i have to admit.. super glass.. shoulder-high waves.. 80% closeout walls.. 20% steep walls of surprising niceness.. Surfed with the Lerminator for a while.. watched that kid snag a long left and then a long right as his last ride... watched him make a decent backside top-turn on the right. I personally only had one real moment of passion the whole sesh.. I took off on a sizeable set wave.. it looked like it might closeout but i was going anyway.. at the last second a little section formed for me.. i quickly pounced to my feet, gained speed while dropping down the face.. then i turned off the bottom and aimed myself vertically up toward the lip, traveling back up the face of the wave.. with a bit of luck, determination and speed i reached up and extended my board skyward to meet the crashing lip.. a fairly-explosive impact ensued and i felt the wave resolutely push back against the bottom of my board.. the impact redirected my whole flow and the next thing i know i'm recovering in the white water.. standing back up and riding it out. I gave myself a little personal "whoo hoo" and then paddled back out for more. The more i attempt maneuvers off the lip the more i realize that it's all about speed, balance and timing.

anyway.. still no wind out there... go get some..

random right.. looks nice

winkipop... the land down under

i'm in an all-day meeting.. no surf for me this morning.. i think that Kaiser has the scoop.. soo.. we'll leave it to the South Shore Swashbuckler today..

12 consecutive days for me.. feels good..

watch out for artichoke-hummus.. i've been trying to hide my farts all morning!!! d'oh!!!

cheers..

e

The epic battle of Freddie Kruger vs. Jason Vorhees taints the air as i pull into the sloat parking lot. Their demonic likenesses imprinted in my mind as the Muni-bus advertising them pulls out. Thoughts of the nightmare-dwelling, black-and-red-sweater-wearing, nail-scraping-childhood-demon haunts the dark, foggy morning-mist at the beach.. eerily i gaze out into the lineup.. umm.. what the hell am i writing..

Sloat looking more doable than yesterday.. the morning fog hung low and thick at the beach but truth be told it wasn't too scary out in the water. Long waits between rides but every 10 minutes a delicious head-high A-frame would rise up and offer a semi-glassy/racy left. I watched for about 15 minutes.. locked into an indecisive paralysis. As soon as i'd start to pull out on my way to P-town i'd notice something that looked tasty or inviting.. then i'd repark the car, start to get my wetty out.. take another long look at the ocean.. not see anything rideable for a good 7 minutes.. get back in the car.. start to pull out.. see something interesting.. repark the car... etc.. pretty ridiculous actually.. BUT!!! i finally made the decision to hit the 'Mar again.. Much smaller than yesterday down at our favorite toxic lagoon. But.. soooo fricken glassy and mellow and calm and idyllic.. If you're a longboarder get your arse down to Lindy immediately.. the loggers were ruling the roost today on the two "peaks" near the middle of the cove. I saw guys cross-steppin' to the nose.. hanging five and getting into the little waist high waves ridiculously early.. There are some size-challenged nuggets on offer for the shortboard crew too.. but.. i'd recommend OB if you're looking to throw some buckets and carve hard.. If you're a beginner or longboarder.. lindy is/was absolute perfection this morning.. Or if you're looking for a kick-back, relaxed, So-Cal-esque, mellow, groovy, stony? surf experience P-town might be the ticket..

deep pig-dog

boogies going crazy

lots to report on this beautiful monday morning. The surf today was fun, peaceful and forgiving down in P-town. OB is doable.. a bit larger than yesterday, but.. the surface is suffering from some rough and tumble jumbled bumbling.. Some wedgy faces and glassy sections on offer but the majority of waves either backing off or breaking funky or just ugly.. Thanks to Lerm and mwsf for recommending a Lindy-check because otherwise i would have paddled out at Sloat. Over the hill into Pasweetica and it's immediately obvious that the sea-surface is much smoother and more groomed than in the city.. Both Sharp Park and Rockaway showing their best face.. I watched a beautiful/glassy head-high set seductively peel, riderless, at the south end of Rockaway.. but.. Lindy-bound i was! saw Cloude in the parking lot.. good to see that Marin charger punching the clock at the 'Mar.. Lindy looking fantastic (for lindy) with an oil-like, glassy surface and consistent shoulder/head-high walls funnelling in. I couldn't really believe it and literally sprinted as fast as i could from my car to the lineup.. A few sandbars kept waves from closing out. I snagged about 10 good rides.. and a handful of random ones.. during my hour long session.. The last few sessions i've FINALLY started to really actualize my forehand snaps off-the-closeout.. For the last few months (years?) i've successfully been able to pump down the line on my forehand and then push my board up and over the lip as it's about to closeout.. but what usually happens is that i don't have enough speed or wherewithal to turn/snap up and around and continue toward shore in the whitewater. BUT!!! lately i've had more control of my speed and positioning and have started to really get the front of my board up and out of the water as the wave closes out.. then i've been able to continue the turn, land the snap, and ride it out in the whitewater.. I did about 4 good ones today.. and it almost feels like landing a little snowboarding air or something.. because you feel a little weightless for a moment.. and then "land" back in the whitewater and ride it out.. I'm really not trying to toot my own horn or anything.. just wanted to mention that, yes.. if you do try something hundreds of times.. you will eventually accomplish it! Next step is to get the fins out!! and then get it all out!!! maybe 5 years from now!!

ok.. soo.. in other news.. a huge whale washed up on the beach at OB yesterday near Kirkham.. Niceness investigative reporter Lerm was on the scene and paddled in from his solo session to investigate the masticated blubber.. yes.. i said masticated!!! Turns out there were tons of shark-bites all over the deceased whale!!! Supposedly there were a bunch of Great White sitings around OB yesterday as the whale was floating in. Soo.. watch yourself.. the tooth is out there... Yours truly was surfing at about that time in the middle of the beach when i saw a huge dorsal fin coming right at me!!! no fucking shit!!!! luckily for me it turned out to be a friendly dolphin!! a whole pod of them!! for the next 15 minutes about 4 or 5 dolphins swam/jumped/snorted/surfed and played all around me. It was magical and spiritual and just made my day! I literally saw dolphins riding down the line right in front of me!

cool.. hope y'all scored big fat crunching pits of divine glory all weekend!

stories?

Slates won the J-bay contest. He's close to Andy Irons for the ratings lead.. Andy lost early to a south african wildcard. Taj lost in the semis because he thought he saw a shark fin and paddled in immediately.. his opponent stayed in the water and won.

another morning of pleasurable, soul-enriching surf in our little coastal burg. Shoulder/head-high windswell waves mellowly peeling along semi-shallow sandbars. If yesterday was a 7.5.. today was a 6. Waves had a similar shape and consistency.. but lacked a certain magic and oomph that was present yesterday morning. but.. that perspective could be the product of my subjective experience. I hit up Sliz without checking the rest of the beach. The situation looked so glassy and inviting from the lot at 6:40 that i couldn't restrain myself and just jumped in. I managed a few lip-flicks and a resounding gouge or two. i also somehow took off into a barrelly wave without my board!! i don't know what happened.. but i ended up bodysurfing down the face and then getting pummelled.. dragging my board by its leash the whole time. I tried a few of those light-footed frontside 360s but never really got past 200. There were quite a few close-outs out there.. but also a healthy helping of bowly, peeling shore-dumpers. not too crowded either. I want to give props to the little asian girl out there just north of sloat on her longboard. i watched as wave after wave erupted on her head and just tried to pound her into oblivion.. but.. with much pluck and determination she made it outside.. minutes later i see her confidently stand up and take off into a sizeable wave.. only to get a short ride and then get pounded again by the rest of the set.. but 10 minutes later she was back outside.. smiling even!! nice work lady charger!!

what else? A girl-surfer friend of mine went to court yesterday for an incident that happened last winter at the VFWs parking lot. I guess she was just chilling near her car.. watching the waves and contemplating a session.. when this dude pulls up next to her in his car... he whips his thing out and starts masterbating right in her view.. looking at her the whole time!!!! fucking nasty right! He doesn't stop there though.. he then gets out of his car and continues to get down with himself right in front of my friend... My friend starts screaming at him and just screaming in general but the guy doesn't stop for a while.. just keeps going for it and staring her down... she finally raises enough of a ruckus to scare him off. he gets back in his car and drives away.. but not before she memorizes his plate number.. she reported him to the police and i guess she finally went to court about it yesterday. She says that she always sees dudes masterbating in the VFers parking lot!!! which.. i thought a little weird.. i've never seen that. have any of you? weird, eh? sketchy SF dealings!

also.. there is a surfrider club beach cleanup this weekend!!! cruise down and help Adam and company pick up the beer-bottles, cardboard, rusty nails, glass, secret decoder rings, pirate treasure maps, mermaid scales and the like from our beloved beach:

It's on sunday the 20th at OB and Judah, from 10-12am, people
can stop by at any time in between.

SLO county

some unexpected niceness this morning at our beloved though oft-cursed beach break. Picked up my freshly-repaired (though still teetering on the edge of disintigration... denaminated/creased/cracked/etc.) green-machine from ding-master and underground ripper Alex Martins at 6:30 and then pulled into the Sloat parking lot. Just a faint sideshore wind blowing out of the south.. but the sea-surface looked pretty groomed and scalloped. The 6ft 8sec windswell pulsed in with awesome consistency.. wave after wave after wave. In some spots the faces were mushy and backing off.. but in others shit was pitching and throwing and gurgling and goin' real good.. fur realz.. I surfed with Judith the bodysurfer for most of the sesh and watched as she repeatedly stuffed herself into barrel after barrel. I myself flirted with the barrel on a few elevator-drop rights.. but.. never truly experienced the canopy of water envelop and enclose around me. But damn.. it was super fun out there.. glassy walls.. little pitching inside pits... rampy closeout sections.. only a handful of people.. I'm sooo glad that people often assume OB to be giant/treacherous/blown-out/narsty craziness.. because.. it keeps the crowds at bay.. BUT... in all fairness to the dungeon-master that is OB.. My shit got pummelled by waves a few times today.. after a long ride you'd have to get through the shallow/barrely inside section and i took a couple sledgehammers right on the back.. I lost my earplug on one. It's probably still going right now.. i didn't even check the rest of the beach.. soo?

Also.. B.A.S.E. mag is making headway!.. I'm amassing content and pics as we speak.. also working through some layouts. If anyone wants to place an ad in the mag or knows of anyone who might want to please email me at cranial_bulge@yahoo.com. Also.. i'm on the lookout for quality bay area surf pics! Especially from guys like Dano, Friend#1, Nep, Bertrand, mwsf and many others that i'm forgetting who have sent super-solid pics to me in the past. Matt sent me a sweet shot that i'll hopefully be able to use. shots of Cron, OB, points, Stinson, P-town, HMB, Mavs. I don't think i'll be able to pay for contributions in this first issue.. but hopefully next issue i'll kick-down some funds for the killah photos. also.. if anyone has any sick Lindy shots that would be helpful... and also if anyone has a shot of dirty water rushing out of the pumphouse at Lindy??

cool.. i don't want to reveal too much about the mag yet.. i'm getting so stoked about it though..

anyhoo... surf's up!!! i'd give this morning a 7.5!

e

couple shots of dozza

Do ya ever doze off to sleep at night fantasizing and psyching on the morro's morning session? Last night i closed my eyes and imagined a chiseled, glassy wave-face stretching out in front of me. I imagined pumping, gliding and speeding along the smooth, unbroken liquid quarter-pipe. just amping..

woke up this morning at raced down to the beach.. Winds tolerable out of the South.. Extreme low-tide causing some slop and mish-mashing on the inside but decent waves breaking on the outside. Met "the Originator" Senor Bojon in the parking lot and ended up sharing a peak with the legend himself for a solid 1.5 hours. Shifty/peaky/semi-glassy head-high waves breaking fast and steep on a relatively shallow sandbar. Some high-performance opportunities on offer if you could milk the uber-quick drop for speed and then quickly unleash that speed onto the unsuspecting shoulder. maybe even a cover-up or two possible for the light-of-foot. Bojon and I experienced some "close encounters of the pinniped kind" as these two harbor seals? frolicked and cavorted all around us. At one point one of the playful little guys wanted a little stare-down contest with Bojon from about 4 feet away. They were literally swimming all around us for most of the session and seemed to particularly enjoy popping up 2 feet away and scaring the living bejesus out of us.

anyway.. fun waves out there.. a bit challenging on the takeoffs.. but.. not too much duckdiving... go get some..

e

Kiwi niceness

Cojo point? Drakes?

Morroco

weird left

South African secret spot

not much to get super jazzed about this morning.. OB looking blowy and churned. If you're in uber-jones mode you could probably score a few out at VFers, or maybe Sliz.. It's not too big, just disorganized and ugly. SF buoy is up a bit from yesterday at 8.2ft 8seconds. I ended up road-trippin' for a while with a small niceness crew of Christian, Kaiser and da Blakestah.. eventually we found a placid little stretch of coast and slanked into a few waves each. Christian enjoyed a brief head-bob-cover-up, as did blakestah.. Christian, as usual, humbled us and reminded me of what a newbie/kooky/bobbly/lame-wad i am on a surfboard.. the dude is just polished and smooth in a way that only comes from a lifetime of surfing. good on ya christian. Look for an in-depth interview with the man himself on E's surf report soon! We all traded boards a few times and got to test out Blakestah's novel innovation.. definitely unusual/bizarre.. surprisingly fun to surf! He wants to keep in on the down-low until he gets that patent confirmed... soo.. we'll let him spill the beans when he's good and ready.

Soo.. response about the magazine idea has been super positive.. i think that i actually already have content ideas to fill the first two issues. The tentative name right now is B.A.S.E (Bay Area Surf Experience)... soo.. once again if you have high-quality photos or stories (story ideas) feel free to send them in or just email me to talk about them.

the J-Bay contest is going right now.. check out www.aspworldtour.com

Bagel shot (empty OB A-frame)

stylized cutty

indo madness

Warm and calm at the beach this morning. SF buoy at 6.2ft 8sec. VFers small but surfable around 6:40. Nobody out. There looked to be a sandbar churning out tasty lefts just north of Lincoln. The middle of the beach feelin' more topsy-turvy. I watched some violent close-outs and general mayhem. Sloat looked appetizing... hmm.. really appetizing.. glassy, head-high mini-bombs breaking pretty far out. Tons of waves. A constant barrage of waves. Only one guy out when i reached the lineup. Many waves on the mushy side but many peaking and peeling and steepening and offering scrumptious race-track walls. It was a good day to build your confidence attempting things that you might shy away from during our typical thumping NW groundswells. The manner in which this morning's waves started mushy and then pitched up on the inside allowed for some backdoor takeoffs and last second "spin around and go" maneuvers. I managed three off-the-tops on one wave today, which is extremely rare for me. I surfed my ol' SF board that i'm thinking of selling ot Be.. After surfing it today i'm feelin' a little seller's remorse. The board's a little pig-like.. but she goes good! I'd give today a 7.. Lots of waves, nobody out. sunshine, steep sections, a few barrels, no wind, not too punishing.. looks like the wind is holding off (9:47) soo.. if you're sitting at home now it might still be enjoyable?

Surfed Grey Whale Cove yesterday for a few hours. Absolutely gorgeous beach and water down there at the foot of Devil's Slide. Transparent, crystalline, frigid water. Peaky, windswell beach-break fun. Spooky, eery, foggy mystery. Sitting out there by myself for a while and i really felt the landlord getting ready to demand some rent.

I've been using "Hearos" ear-plugs lately. They're the best IMHO..

also.. i'm putting together a little "Bay Area Surf Mag"... Probably 10 or 12 color pages.. some stories and photos and random shit.. If you have stories or photos you'd like to submit.. email them to me at cranial_bulge@yahoo.com.. i'm looking to hopefully get it out in the fall.. You'll be able to get it via this web site and i'll probably give it away for free at SF surfshop and Aqua..

Have a good one!

e

Bali last week

So Cal beach-break barrel

Fire at Moss Landing last week

the ol' "when in doubt, paddle out" philosophy came into play this morning. A dismal OB check with the Blakestah around 6:40 came up fruitless. A bit too much wind on it. However, The swell is up!! Currently 6ft. 10seconds at the SF buoy. Did the southerly exodus down to P-town.. Rockaway messy and unsurfable. Upon first, second and third glance Schmlindy looked the same. A few surfers scattered about, doing their best to maximize the crumbly, disheveled situation in the lineup. The slight upturn in swell presented resulted in 3 or 4 wave sets every 5 minutes or so. Nothing extraordinary but at least they weren't closing out. biggest waves maybe head-high.. most waves in the shoulder-high range.. With the cold wind in my face and a Sassafrass-cooked-breaky at home.. i actually got back in my car and started to drive away.. but.. right before exiting the lot.. i turned around and quickly changed into my wetty before reconsidering.. Out in the water conditions and fun-factor proved much better than they looked from the parking lot. I found a little glassy area just south of the pumphouse. Caught about 10 or 12 down-the-line jaunts. Actually
smacked the lip a few times too!! Well... maybe not a smack.. but.. more like a blip.. or blap.. or something thereabouts..

anyway.. not amazing.. not mind-melding.. but.. surfable.. if you can find a wind-protected spot you might actually score a decent session. California buoy is at 6ft 11seconds soo.. this little windswell should at least take us into tomorrow's dawnie..

The Surfstyle expo last night was loads of fun. Great to see PaulB, SS Sharkbait, J, EightWest, Caveman, Nep, Bandini, Marcus Saunders, Daily Dale Wavestar, Herbie Fletcher, Tommy Guerrero, Bagel, the Malloy brothers, Sam, BBiggs, Judith (of orange-cap body-surfing fame), Alex from Aqua and plenty of others. Some inspired artwork and huggingly chilly-chill vibes from pretty much everyone.. I actually had a long chat with Dan Malloy and he's a mellow, unassuming dude... Living the good life!

some shots of surfstyle from last night

caveman and 8west

nice boobies

Herbie Fletcher boards

beautiful painting that my flash slightly messed up

black and white

kenetic oceanic movement

Who's down with a little Indian Ocean sojourn? How would you feel if i said that i just won 7 roundtrip tickets to a private atoll in the maldives.. All-expenses paid. 3 weeks. A right and a left peeling on either side of the reef pass. Simply walk out the front door of the little wooden sleeping/chilling/cooking shelter on the beach, jump into the deep blue channel and paddle right out to the lineup. A local women from a neighboring island cruises over on her canoe daily to cook up the tasty veggies/fish/rice. The reef isn't too sharp, more of a soft spongy deal.. the right is super consistent.. with predominant offshore winds. easy takeoff with a nice walled initial section.. then it steepens up on an inside bowl and offers little barrels if you can stall yourself back into them.. otherwise you can just pump and carve and pump and carve for a few hundred yards before the wave finally peeters far on the inside. The left is shorter but much more serious. An upturned crag in the reef causes waves to buckle and barrel right at the takeoff.. Make the drop and you're immediately pitted. Enveloped within a gyrating kaleidoscope of turquoise translucence. The barrel relaxes after a spell and you're left with a scorching ball of speed and a huge glassy wall to ejaculate all over... if you're so inclined. the wave then closes out onto dry reef so it's best to kick out the back after a few turns. Sooo.. if you're down let me know.. i think i'm leaving at around 4:30 today..

the left

PSYCHE!!! i wish!!!

conditions at bay area beaches are abysmal this morning.. i mean.. really bad.. OB even more blowy and nasty than yesterday.. i was in and out of the parking lot after about 1 millisecond... Lindy just depressing.. a bunch of log-riders were out there.. picking off gutless little dribbles.. the wind was hacking it some.. though less than at OB.. Rockaway maybe the best of the three beaches i checked.. the south corner sheltered somewhat from the SW wind.. Little semi-glassy windswell nothings peeled along miserably every 4 minutes or so. nobody out.... i almost went out.. maybe should have.. but.. t'is ugly... sounds like the central coast enjoyed some afternoon offshore winds yesterday.. lucky dogs! hopefully this south swell will get up to us this weekend.... we're also supposed to experience a little increase in the size of the NW windswell.. soo.. we could see some action this weekend.. please please please!

The opening of Surfstyle is tonight and tomorrow night at 111 minna.. The Far Shore is showing tonight.. which is this cool 70s movie about two guys exploring uncharted surf destinations.. I'm pretty sure they were some of the first guys to surf Las Libertad in El Salvador and also explored much of the west coast of africa. they'll be there tonight to answer questions and such.. I guess that surfer magazine paid for the their photos and stories all through the seventies.. they would send pics and words from far flung places like sri lanka, the andamans and nicaragua and hope that surfer would send them a check... which they usually did.. lucky dogs!!

speaking of which.. I've been discussing a possible job opportunity for myself in Indonesia next summer!! My friend's step-dad just moved to Jakarta and is in charge of this huge international non-profit public health program.. there is a possiblity that he'll pay me to travel around Java, Lombak, Roti and Sumba to make connections with local doctors and schoolteachers and put them in contact with this huge non-profit... which wants to distrubute free services/medicine/info about malaria/aids/dengue-fever/etc... I'd be stoked.. i'll let you know as this develops.. hmmmm...

ALSO!!! The green pickle fund has been utilized!! i just got off the phone with Geoff Raushe and ordered myself up a new shortboard!!! 6'4" 19.5, 2.5!! Brown!!! It'll be dubbed "Professor Brown" or "Brownie" or "The Brown Turd" or "the Brown Mound of Rebound" or.. something else depending on it's actual vibe upon completion.. it's going to take 6 weeks.. which kinda sucks... but i guess the Geoff just got out of the hospital with a shoulder injury so is all backed up with his shaping orders. Other than the 6 week wait i highly recommend Geoff as a shaper (M10). He actually remembered me from when i stopped in a year ago to order my last board.. he remembered that i surf OB and what my board looked like.. He's super on top of shit and also willing and interested to listen to what kind of surfing/waves/spots you're into. Definitely one of those geeky/techy/styly/engaged/stony/shreddy/authentic individuals. I wanted to support a more local shaper but don't know of any.. anyone out there know of a quality SF shaper who also surfs good? I think that John from SF surfshop shapes quality boards. I like the lines of the board he shaped me but i think it's a bit heavy on the glass... something that i specifically requested... soo.. that's my fault.. any SF surfboard testimonials out there? blakestah?

who out there loves their shaper?

anyhooo.. sorry for the long post..

write in if you found some waves today..

e

Dark, brooding fog enshrouds the western edge of town
Anticipatory excitement blows away with the SW breeze
Wind-swell waves struggle and grope toward peelification...
but.. sorrowfully fall far short of that ideal.
VFWs stumbly, crumbly, up-chucky..
The resolute, bull-headed middle of the beach looking better.
My eyes and heart alight at the sight of a bright respite of peaky delight near the legendary Rivera street..
hmmm...
Thoughts of a wind-sheltered Lindy challenge decision-making ease..
Notice a lone surfer beyond second-lot.
He nonchalantly sleuths down the line on some shoulder-high lefts.
Very interesting..
Seems the beach replenishing work has left a little high-tide sandbar..
Slightly jarbled nuglets rear up every 3 minutes or so..
Quick stretch and i'm swimming in the sweet nectar of mother ocean.
Sure enough the lefts keep coming..
nothing great... but... waves with rideable/carveable faces.
Fall into the deeply satistying rhythm of the surfing session..
looking for waves.. micro-positioning... taking off.. riding down the line.. turning up the face... paddling back out.. chilling.. lining up with a landmark on the beach... contemplating a peak north or south.. thoughts of that show lastnight (Brokeback)... thoughts of seymore... hmm.. maybe that's rideable.. nope.. paddle inside a bit.. that's a weird gurgle.. duckdive a cleanup wave... ooohh... maybe!... paddle hard.. bottom starts dropping out of the wave... stand up and jettison to the bottom.. turn back up and carve off the top.. then squat and work the wave to the inside.. paddle back out.. duckdive a few.. worry about surfers ear.. check the pelican... notice that red ribbon floating.. check the fishermen doing their own dawn patrol.. think about what to write on the surf report.. gaze into the horizon.. hoping for a phatty.. willing it to appear... try to be patient.. paddle around in circles for a bit.. maybe a quick piss to add a little spice to the waiting..

surf!

A few glimpses of my mom's embroidery

Here's a pic of the old green lantern... potentially be's new board!
(thanks to psychonaut for modeling)

painful out there this morning. the wind wasn't/isn't that bad at 5mph out of the SW but the conditions just aren't cooperating. No obvious signs of the 2ft 14sec south swell (207 degrees) in the water. I watched a few sections happening just south of the beach chalet. probably 1 in 10 waves offering an itty-bitty section. the rest of the beach just junky and ugly and spineless. Cruised down to the 'Mar just to make sure it wasn't firin' and.. sure enough.. it wasn't... 6 longboarders huddled around each other in front of the pumphouse. getting some slow but potentially satisfying rides every once in a while. Conditions were ridiculously teeny. Soo.. tough one out there today

yesterday after work i sauntered down to Pa'sweet'ica for a post-work jam and ended up scoring some fun little waist-high shore-grinders. Probably 50 people in the water.. mostly centered around two distinct peaks. I patrolled the far inside section (chest-high water) and snagged a handful of ledging dumpers. On one right i backdoored the peak and then cruised along as this little thigh-high barrel broke into my shoulder (i was squatting).. then i enjoyed a few pumps before jumping off mellow-yellow into ankle deep water. A fantastic day for beginners as the south wind groomed the surface and the waves were as welcoming and measly as they get around here. be on the lookout today

Some strange antics went down on the beach during my session.. sitting maybe 20 yards from the shore, i could easily see and hear people on the beach. Some of the P-town locals groms and wahines had a fire going. I guess that the guy who lives in the Linda Mar parking lot in his truck (leathery-tan-face, old wooden longboards strapped to the roof, beat-up old truck) got into a fight with one of the bigger groms (i didn't see it but Seymore saw the tail end)... i heard the commotion and turned around to see the very end of the tussle. Then this chubby, verbose, tight-jean-wearing, high-haired P-town lassie starts charging at the guy who lives at Lindy.. She's cussin' and swearin' and yelling and going bananas at him.. then the guy who lives at Lindy throws something into the fire (unopened beer?).. 5 seconds later this huge explosion occurs in the fire and almost burns the chubby yelling girl. She goes ballistic and tries to get to the lindy liver.. but.. she's restrained by her friends. crazy.. i surfed for a few more waves.. then seymore and i walked up to the top of the headland between lindy and rockaway for the beautiful sunset.. when we returned to the lindy parking lot there were cops on the scene..

anyway!

here's blakestah's buoy interpretations..

The 14 sec energy at SF and California buoys is that south that woulda hit Saturday if'n the winds hadn't killed it. Could be as much as 2 ft left this morning for the 4 ft high tide at dawn.

Christmas Island is showing a small swell - could be a 2-3 footer in 5-6 days. The direction is Ok - 200 or so at the buoy (the buoy is 230 degrees from us). It is JUST hitting there now, so figure Saturday or so the wind should be killing it here.

There's a nice lil 190 deg swell about 9 days out...south swells in norcal though - winds are your worst enemy. September countdown - T-56 days and counting.

couple of Ranch pics... off limits but for the uber-wealthy, connected or super-stealth.

fanning at J-bay.. check out his body language and drive..

indo

whassup all y'all! Got back around 1:30 last night.. Robme woke me up with the 6am "no go" call on the surf this morning. Things look blowy and raucous, mish-mashed and disheveled.. 15mph onshore winds already raging at the beeeatch.. geeez... so much for the open-armed OB welcome.. i was anticipating some glassy/punchy windswell sections.. drooling over some Western Australia images in the surf mag on the plane last night i had my sights set on some conical funnels.. but.. thass cool.. looks like the south pacific buoys are down.. but this weak NW windswell (6ft 7sec on the SF buoy) should continue for the next few days.. soo.. use your little bedside voodoo wind-doll to pacify the local winds and keep those demons calm for our dawn-patrols this week..

umm.. geez.. my cheeks are all rosy and i'm mighty embarrassed and awed and squirmy and in disbelief that you cats are collecting money for a new slippery green pickle for me.. You REALLY REALLY didn't/don't need to do that. but.. damn.. that's soo fricken cool! thanks soooooooo much.. I'm going to get a new green machine shaped by Geoff Raushe (sp?)... probably a 6'4" fishy shortboard. the niceness board. I'm also in the process of getting niceness t-shirts made.. the plan is to use bagel's image of that wacky guy getting barrelled on the front and then just a small "niceness" lettering on the back. My mom does silk-screening so we're working out the details right now..

but.. thanks people!! you guys are the true core of the community here.. it's grown way past the days of Robme, Lerm and i talking about our sessions. You all bring the kindest vibe and i just want to thank everybody for doing so!!

shiiit.. surf!! sounds like a few of you scored waves over the weekend..

bbr's chili report:
report from chile:
first two days were overhead to double overhead in a town that I wasn{t even expecting waves. major niceness at a lefthand reefbreak with a couple of barreling sections. locals were insanely nice and helpful. i was seriously sketching on a few of the sets.

we have since moved on to another more wave-drenched town. an insane but crowded right was firing yesterday, but we decided the 4 of us wouldn{t be welcome so we surfed another smaller gnarly reef instead. super fun tubes all captured by a vid camera with water housing.... stoked! today was smaller but still super fun at a random left reef. this town is like a santa cruz or the north shore. there are a ton of rock reef breaks all packed into a 2 mile long stretch. the swell is currently down, but supposed to pick back up tomorrow afternoon and then get REALLY big this weekend. there{s another swell scheduled after that. insanely stoked. pictures to come.... hope OB has been treating you all well.

Posted by: bbr on July 3, 2003 03:28 PM

paul b's so cal report:
never gave you folks the so-cal report from last weekend...friday, caught the residual leftovers of the last south (windansea) ... certainly not looking like the photo e posted a while back...small, but a few nuggets here and there. saturday even smaller, with windansea surf club "goofy vs regular" contest happening - peter king, joel tudor, etc...band on the beach, kegger...witnessed a few tudor magic moments on little microsurf. passed on the surf and swam at the cove. sunday the swell picked up a bit, got a couple good sessions in, and by monday a new south was going. windan again in the morning, then drove up to trestles to hoard neoprene at the rip curl outlet, surfed lowers for an hour +. head high, maybe a bit over on sets, and CLEAN. what an amazing wave! unfortunately i'm not the only one who thinks so - about 40 at lowers, 40 at uppers (on a monday!), etc...and the level of surfing there is so insane! 1/2 the guys out there seem on a pro level - one guy in particular was just going absolutely nuts, fins out on every turn, upside down lippers etc. anyways i managed to hold my own and get a dozen + lefts, with some nice ones among them.

a couple of Aaron Chang shots
Jeffrey's Bay

Witches Rock

Indo

Woke up this morning hoping for a little send-off jam before leaving for the east coast for 5 days.. but.. the mighty pacific wasn't cooperating. Pretty much a carbon copy of yesterday.. Piddly knee-high dumpers. three guys out at Sloat getting nothing. Fairly strong SW onshore wind. I watched two dolphins smoothly glide and arc at VFWs. After a few positive jetty reports from yesterday i considered checking it but i figured the super low-tide this morning would be killing it. The South swell looks to be still in the water.. soo.. maybe Santa Cruz or the beaches just south of there? (Dano's domain).

Remember to keep surf on the mind during these flat/nasty stretches. I was reading an interview in an old '89 Surfer Magazine last night with some legendary hawaiin surfer (can't remember who) and he was talking about just "staying in tune" at all times. Staying in tune with the ocean and staying in tune with your body. Even when it's flat he kept the ocean on his mind, practiced meditative visualization, snorkeling, swimming and also gazing and watching it. He kept his body in tune by listening to it and being sensitive to various imbalances or strengths. Running, stretching, biking, hiking, building things, tennis, deep breathing, relaxing, etc. to work his body, recycle energies, and to "stay in tune". I think it's a great metaphor for physical and spiritual fitness and well-being. When your musical instrument is perfectly "in tune" a plethora of subtle but powerful harmonics and resonances awaken and complement whatever melody or harmony you're playing. Everything sounds tight, rich and symmetric... shit hums. Same is true with your body and mind. when you can keep your body "in tune" you practically vibrate with potential energy.. your body at once pouncy and flexible, powerful yet malleable.

soo.. on that note.. i'll try to keep my shit "in tune" while consuming copious libations and staying up all night at my friend's wedding.

hope you headies score waves while i'm audi... well... as long as they're not resickulously epic! ha ha!

e

in honor of the east coast (culled from newyorksurf.com)

Rockaway beach, Brooklyn

mwsf sent me this classic pic