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our little groundswell is gone

The sneaky little groundswell that blessed our shores yesterday is now gone. I hope you found some waves in the last 24 hours because fuglyness pervades the scene right now. The localized SW onshore is mucking up the beaches and the measly short-period windswell isn't getting around any coastal corners into protected spots.. though maybe somewhere down in santa cruz county is feelin' some love? How cool would it be to dial up coordinates on some teleportation computer software.. then instantaneously be transported anywhere in the world. We wouldn't need cars or bikes or planes. The most popular, beautiful spots would be teeming with people all the time. Huh.. maybe that wouldn't be so cool.. ok.. the teleportation software is only for you and your family/friends. So.. if i had that software.. i would've woken up around 5:30 this morning.. teleported over to some islands off sumatra for the early. checked spot to spot until i found the perfect overhead reef-break.. preferably a right. nobody around 'cept lerm or robme or kaiser or kus or jake.. or all of em'. We'd score plate-glass barrelling groundswell for a few hours.. then around 8 i'd teleport to some small town in Bhutan for a tranquil breakfast of chai-tea and fruit overlooking gigantic, grandiose Himalayan peaks. Then around 9 i'd teleport to work. At lunch i'd teleport to the Maldives or Tamarin Bay or somewhere warm and tropical with headhigh+ groundswell, slack winds and no crowd. Surf for about 45 minutes then teleport to Bangkok or somewhere like it for an inexpensive but muscle-relaxing Thai massage (of the real massage variety!!).. Then teleport back to work.. then after work teleport to Boston for a post-work monster jam with my boy Xaq, but not before the two of us teleported over to the Damkringk coffeeshop in Amsterdam for a fat spliff of the Jack Herer. We probably wouldn't jam in Boston.. but rather teleport over to the Joshua Tree area for an open-air, balls-to-the-wall, generator-powered, epic desert-jam. then over to Paris to hang with my head DMD. Maybe then down to Aix-en-provence for a romantic stroll around town.. then to Varanasi for some Naan and veggies and a yoga session with an old-school guru. Then teleport into the second set of some concert i want to check.. then right into bed... wake up at 6 the next morning for a repeat..

someday??

only a teleport away

dreamwave
neon barrel

east coast niceness

lego wave (this may have been posted here already?)
lego wave

Dungeons wipe-out

Good morning all...

e-I have the New Yorker article scanned as well as pdfs. I've split them into several stuffit files and 3-pdf files because their quite large about 4mg each, even at 72 dpi.

Where do you want me to email them?

Surf content...I was an annoyance at Sewer Peak (that's well-known enough to ne=ame isn't it?) yesterday. Chest to head high, very clean, a little mushy, very fun.

Posted by: kdalle at June 16, 2004 09:59 AM

e...that's one sic day of teleporting!! you have now completely destroyed any chances for werk productivity as you have me dreaming about my own globe-trotting day (upon day....upon day...) of waves, niceness, friends, beauty, culture, pleasure, and adventure. ahhh.....

Posted by: ck at June 16, 2004 10:19 AM

sounds good kdalle.. 4mb each is still pretty large.. that will grind MWSF's connection to a halt. i'll try to compress further but if not we'll see what mwsf has to say.

send them to cranial_bulge@yahoo.com

Posted by: e at June 16, 2004 10:19 AM

6:30 am, north santa cruz county, light offshores from the canyon, head high windswell ticking in like clockwork, decent shape on the low tide...

7:30 am, strong southwest onshores blowing fog, hacked junky swell, strong sharky vibe...

One short hour of happiness.

Posted by: hrothbart at June 16, 2004 10:22 AM

baja question: last time i went down there it was soon after 9/11 and we wanted to do everything by the book just in case, so we got that tourist card in ensenada before driving further. i'm wondering if people have an opinion as to whether or not it's really necessary? also, does anyone happen to have contact info/knowledge about the "hostel" at (how do i say this, hmmmm?), the spot of even numbered things that are ridiculously expensive in the bay area. if so, and you would be willing to share, hit me. i'm going to be camping there anyway, just thought a shower and mattress might be nice one of the nights. i had some fun in the ocean this morning at a pretty popular spot which i always check but actually hadn't surfed since easter sunday 1995. it was rideable and within 1/2 hour drive, which is about the most you can ask for these days. looking forward to reading that new yorker article. thanks, kdalle.

Posted by: steamwand at June 16, 2004 10:27 AM

kdalle - you can email them to nitsuj@gmail.com and i can post for everyone if ethan's server goes bonk.

Posted by: j at June 16, 2004 10:28 AM

That teleport deal would be sweet. Kinda like Star Trek. We could just call Scotty and have him drop us where ever we wanted to go. I would invest for sure.

What up with all this new "surf park" talk that has been going on? Supposedly Ron Jon in Florida is working on one with this new technology from a PhD dude in New Zealand. Sounds cool but still not sold I guess.

Tom, tell me it didn't happen! I need to know.

Posted by: Kaiser at June 16, 2004 10:35 AM

Was up early in the morning dressed in black.
Do you need to ask why?
Let's just say I wasn't in suit and tie.

There was a swell that I wanted to rule with.
Damn that North West wind ain't shit to fool with.

So instead I surfed a pool that I'm cool with.
And NW wind aint got nothing to do with.

-Sung to the music of Ice Cube's Dead Homiez-

Kaiser I poured some beer on the curb for ya....

Posted by: tom at June 16, 2004 10:53 AM

Hey, I've been meaning to ask if anyone has had any experience surfing in Thailand. I realize it's a far cry from nearby Indo, but I hear there are still a few waves to be had. I'm heading there in a week. Thanks for any info!

Posted by: adam at June 16, 2004 10:58 AM

Yeah, cheers to Kdalle for the new yorker. J- how'd you get a gmail account? anybody have any thoughts on gmail? i know there are a lot of tech-heads on this board, gmail looks pretty sweet (a gig of storage- schweet!) but kinda creepy with those content-specific ads and all. Any thoughts anyone?

Posted by: luke at June 16, 2004 11:09 AM

yeah Kaiser the high tech NZ'er has apparently developed the perfect peeling reef break in a tank. A good article on it in last month's Wired mag.

Posted by: snake at June 16, 2004 11:15 AM

adam... i've spent some time in Thailand. there are occasional waves but it's pretty iffy.. I enjoyed some fun bodysurfing sessions on Koh Chang, which is right next to Cambodia. Unless there is a local storm in the gulf of thailand you're pretty bummin, wave-wise.. I guess that the Koh Pha-Ngan/Koh Samui/Koa Tao islands are a bit more exposed.. but.. they're pretty crowded and touristy.. Maybe some indian ocean waves get through the indonesian islands and hit Phuket occasionally??

good luck and.. with low expectations you might end up pleasantly surprised..

Posted by: e at June 16, 2004 11:17 AM

I have a gmail account. I think it is pretty tight and I am fairly scrutinizing of these things as I am a web developer myself. The UI is interesting and a little confusing at first but once you get the hang of it, it is very intuitive.

Haven't dealt with the targeted ads much yet, although my wife and I did some back and forth with different words to see what came up. It works well once it starts to really grab the correct words and parse them. I am a huge proponent of google adwords so I think it is a great way to do advertising that isn't banners or pop ups. Also all free email services scan your emails, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. So that is really nothing new at all, not sure why there was such a big stink about it. Although usually the other services are scanning for spam and not for words to target ads with.

I have an extra invite if someone wants it. All you have to do is get the winds (northwest, southwest, whateva) to stop and it is all yours.

Posted by: barney at June 16, 2004 11:19 AM

Kerry Black from Raglan --go here for the story
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.05/surfing.html

Posted by: snake at June 16, 2004 11:19 AM

I read that article in Wired but I was a little taken back by what seems like the "I can change the world with this" attitude. I think surf parks are cool but you want to talk about a negative impact on surfing.

Imagine showing up at OB/Lindy/HMB/Disneyland (SC)/Rincon on one of those glorious days when the tide/wind/swell is just right. To your left you have Johnny Swimming Pool who is an "epic" tuberider from Sacramento. Problem is, he has never paddled out into a real ocean before.

Talk about ruining a sport. Like this site or Blakestah's site would have even the slightest impact as a wave pool.

Cool idea but not sure I would really like to embrace it. But if I had one in my backyard, y'all would be welcome as long as I saw you in the lineup one time or another at OB on a head high + day. And of course I would have "on-call" Reef Girls....

Tom, thanks for pouring some down for me. My over active mind can now rest.

Posted by: Kaiser at June 16, 2004 11:28 AM

Christian, thanks to you and your team of Physicians for looking after my sick one! I know it is in good hands.

I'll say hello on the return trip.

Posted by: Kaiser at June 16, 2004 11:30 AM

good seeing you too, christian. catching up a bit was a pleasant surprise. great to hear that you're kickin' a** and having fun! very cool. too bad we couldn't save the "patient", but that's how it goes sometimes. i'll definitely take you up on your kind offer and drop by again soon. enjoy your week in SF. peace.

Posted by: ck at June 16, 2004 11:31 AM

Steamwand: I drove down to Mulege a couple of months ago. We got the cards at Ensenada. You definitely need 'em if you go past Gurrero Negro (about 1/2 way down) as there's a government checkpoint there. Also, if you're taking any 'floral products' make sure thay're packed in something that's packed in something that's packed in something.. You'll get searched by army kids but they're only looking for guns, so it's a fairly cursory search but it's good to stay safe.
If you're going through Santa Rosalia do NOT get gas there, they will rip you off, it's known as the worst gas station in Baja. When you do get gas make sure you get out of the car and watch the gauge, it's the most common rip off down there. I tipped them a couple of dollars each time hoping that it might enourage them to be honest.
Above all have fun. The roads are great (actually, better than New Zealand's South Island!) and the people are too.

Posted by: New Zealand Swell at June 16, 2004 11:34 AM

thanks nz swell, we'll pick up the cards and keep an eye out at the gas stations/continue your rewarding for honesty plan. are gas prices as out of control as they are up here?
i think we'll leave the flowers at home. i prefer tequila anyway. not relaxing enough to me to be worth the worry it would cause.

Posted by: steamwand at June 16, 2004 11:49 AM

More frivolous Kiwi inventions: http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_national_story_skin/430761?format=html

Steamwand the gas when we went was about the same as here.
There's a gap of about 220 miles between El Rosario and Gurrero Negro without reliable gas stations. Catavina can pump you some from a drum, but I didn't trust it, too easy to clog the fuel filter. I guess a strainer of some sort might work.
If you go to Puerto Nuevo stay away from the $1 margaritas, they almost killed me.

Posted by: New Zealand Swell at June 16, 2004 11:57 AM

adam, i've gotten some good waves in thailand on a few occasions. obviously it's not world class, but thailand is such a great place that getting surf is just icing on the cake. phuket gets waves more often than anywhere else amd there are even some surf shops there that rent boards. and sometimes you'll get some waves around ko samui or ko phangan. if you look hard enough in samui maybe you'll find an ancient twinzer stashed in a beach palapa restaurant...it treated me right...

also, here's a website with some more info:
http://www.phuket-saltwater-dreaming.netfirms.com/

enjoy your trip!!

Posted by: rza at June 16, 2004 11:58 AM

Btw the border crossing at Otay Mesa is only opn 6am-10pm but is heaps faster to get through, if you can find it. It's behind the airport and reasonably well signposted.

Posted by: New Zealand Swell at June 16, 2004 11:59 AM

barney- i'll give you offshore breezes in exchcange for the gmail account. Delivery of wind TBA, probably around mid-late october. I'll even through in some northwest groundswell for good measure.

Posted by: luke at June 16, 2004 12:15 PM

OB going off today. not small, and the paddle is not easy, but good and overhead. Kellys -> Sloat. Bring on summer, then FALL!!!

hey, Yahoo mail now gives you 100MB of free email.
why not use it?

Lates,
-jake

Posted by: jacob at June 16, 2004 01:09 PM

Sweet! more surfing TV to inspire the masses
(North Shore)

And now coming to a mall near you

http://www.surfparks.com/

Posted by: at June 16, 2004 01:22 PM

YEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAW!! Sorry too hyper for OB lunch report, [ or morning work ] ran elsewhere to surf instead. OB very odd combo of NW swell and STRONG sw wind.

I'm gonna bust Klooless Kook : most talented knack for charging into numerous waves and yet totally staying out of the way of the hordes. Best crowd maintanence I've ever seen. Truly uncanny...way to go KK!

Semantics question: If you careen over a little edge [ with a yell because you think you're about to EAT SHIT ], yet miraculously your board catches and planes the face, you can't see a damn thing because you're surrounded 360 degrees by whitewater, then a microsecond later emerge into sunlight, still standing, and a man entering the water waves his arms [ no was not running over him ] is that called a Half Assed Wannabe Accidental Barrel, or is that called Surviving the Damned Closeout? Or WTF? My money's on Surviving but it was literally one of the best waves I've ever had. Excuse long post but farking yipee whoopdeedoo hooray!!

Posted by: s.s. sharkbait at June 16, 2004 01:29 PM

nice one 'bait!! might be pushin' it to call it a barrel?? but.. i didn't see it. usually i call the grey-area barrel-experiences "cover-ups" or "mouth-of-the-barrel-experiences" or "head-dips" or "not-sure-if-i-got-barrelled-but"

nice work SS!! congrats on the stoke-filled wave.

Posted by: e at June 16, 2004 01:40 PM

steamwand,
steamwand-
have been to the place of which you speak. you can camp out front for a few bucks a night and make a deal to use their showers have them feed you all pretty cheap. am not sure about staying inside. interesting guy runs the place, american who married a local. pretty quiet, tough looking, one of the may have left the states under less than auspicious circumstances type. fun right.

Posted by: bird at June 16, 2004 01:45 PM

e: good points, I'm thinking end-of-the-closeout experience...always nice not to get smacked down!

Posted by: s.s. sharkbait at June 16, 2004 02:12 PM

Luke, shoot me an email and I'll send out the invite.

Posted by: barney at June 16, 2004 02:13 PM

ss - who cares about semantics, i'd just call it a damn fun wave!

Posted by: j at June 16, 2004 02:18 PM

I saw sharkbait shoot the curl! Or something! Whatever it was, it was the Play of the Day.

Fun session! But it was weird out there (won't say where)---really strong OFFshores putting all kinds of spray in your face as you try to paddle into a wave; can't see crap, so you stand up by feel and then see what's going on (once: oops, I'd dropped in on someone; so I endured the kind of lecture that starts "in surfing, we ..."; but I think I was adequately self-flagellating about it not to have left him too angry). :-)

The waves themselves were knee-to-shoulder, nothing like yesterday, but still some oomph to play with. After sharky left the conditions improved and there were lots of fun four-foot waves with good shape.

And sharkbait, is that a nice way of saying "wave-hog"? There's definitely some truth to that! I try to stay far enough away from packs that I can charge everything I might be able to catch, stopping if I see I'd be in someone's way. What you kindly didn't point out is that I catch maybe one of ten.

Posted by: Klooless Kook at June 16, 2004 02:20 PM

Steamwand,
get all of the documents. You'll get checked and stopped at least 3 times on the way down (depnedign on how far you go, and half a dozen time on the wayback. Any excuse you give them they will search you so if you are all square on the tourist visa then its one less thing. They are really quick and the place in ensenada that we got ours at had a good taco stand next to it.

Also, how do we get that new yorker artical?
danks a lot

Posted by: V70T5 at June 16, 2004 02:37 PM

whoa lotsa reading to day ---nobody but e throwing up the visuals ...way to go kk and bait ( glad you got some) here's one for da girls

Posted by: old man at June 16, 2004 02:51 PM

after three diehard years of shortboarding only, yesterday was my first session ever longboarding. i am an idiot! why didn't i start sooner?? i found a used 8'0 Stewart for a good price, and am glad to have finally opened my mind to all sides of this sport. it was also perfect for the 4ft@6second gutless windswell gracing the jersey shore yesterday. i would not have paddled out to shortboard, and it was a non stop wavefest on my new big ole beast! so if you're making the same mistake i was, complement your quiver for the summer and go glide!

also saw Midnite for the first time last night... listen reggae music! so sweet, so much Love, a solid rhythmic flow... my mind and body throbbed with beats... teleportation into that timeless arena of the Ever Now...

nice day tripping e... wonderful adventures all from your home base of SF... it's good that your home is so nice you'd return to it each night, even if you didn't have to... Oh, I also wanted to talk to you about the Dune books... I'm on the third one and it's Rad, I'm going to encourage you to explore the rest of the series of one of your favorite books... word... peace out! Gone phishin'...

Posted by: jocular in jersey at June 16, 2004 03:14 PM

The bad news: there is no key to the universe.
The good news: it was never locked.

Posted by: Swami Beyondananda at June 16, 2004 03:19 PM

word jocular.. i'll give you a call.. will you have your phone while on tour? I'm listening to a little Runaway Jim (Runaway Jam) right now in your (and Phish's) honor. gotta lurve the phishy succulence. them boyz can improvise! I hope you get many extendo Tweezers and maybe an ethereal Reba and maybe a seering Icculus.. maybe a whole gamehenge set... that would be tasty. Hopefully you'll get a First Tube too and the surf vibe will permeate. Damn homie.. i have many memories from phish shows in the past.. enjoy that shit and carry the torch high and proud!

Posted by: e at June 16, 2004 03:32 PM

Sorry e/kdalle, hosting 4MB files will destroy my connection. Maybe try posting them at http://www.yousendit.com/ and post the links that it generates here?

Posted by: mwsf at June 16, 2004 03:34 PM

thanks mwers..
J said he'd host them..
J.. i'll forward you the files.. just post em' up and send me the link(s) and i'll add them to the nav.

Posted by: e at June 16, 2004 03:37 PM

I have a server that can probably handle it. If you want me to host the pages (I won't do it indefinitely for copyright reasons, but a couple of weeks should do it, right?), email me above with your email address, and I'll email you my top-secret regular email address to which you can send the page scans.

Posted by: Klooless Kook at June 16, 2004 03:39 PM

thought you guys might like this:
sweet

Posted by: kyle at June 16, 2004 03:48 PM

A Breakthrough In Teleportation

Today's News

We may be closer than you think

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&ncid=753&e=1&u=/nm/20040616/sc_nm/science_teleportation_dc

Posted by: at June 16, 2004 04:03 PM

Did we poll the Scott/Laci Peterson case?

I say guilty and he fries for it.

Posted by: at June 16, 2004 04:14 PM

Did someone ask for more pictures?


Posted by: Kaiser at June 16, 2004 04:17 PM

kaiser comes thru in the clutch!

Posted by: j at June 16, 2004 04:44 PM

oh yeah, send 'em on and i'll host 'em.

Posted by: j at June 16, 2004 04:45 PM

Posted by: hottie hound at June 16, 2004 05:10 PM

calling all phishers: anyone going to the simul-cast concert in emeryville tomorrow? i am, i'm down to meet up with any niceness heads, burn one for da crew... I'm not sure what to expect: phish is playing a concert in vermont (i think) and broadcasting a simul-cast to movie theaters throughout the country. Its sold out. i really do no know how a concert will be from a movie seat..should be interesting. Well, it will be my last show, *sniff sniff*

Posted by: luke at June 16, 2004 05:28 PM

those girls are pretty..

Posted by: bagel at June 16, 2004 06:32 PM

pretty girls those are

Posted by: flavor at June 16, 2004 07:30 PM

Just wanted to announce the date(s) for stacy peraltas new film "Riding Giants"

july 16th at Embarcadero Center Cinema

the riding giants website is pretty cool if ya wanna check it

www.sonyclassics.com/ridinggiants

Posted by: flavor at June 16, 2004 07:35 PM

Good eye Kaiser, way to keep your eye on the prize

definately alot more visually appealing than the beach today. How many more days till Octoberfest?

Posted by: davenada at June 16, 2004 07:37 PM

kdalle- you are so cool for sharing the literature. If the first two offers don't work, email the files to me and I'll find a way to share them.

E- at some point you have to share your background. So you just got back from CentAm and today you tell us that you spent time in Thailand. Cough it up, man. This blog is turning into a giant niceness group hug so don't fight the trend.

kyle- that is a classic photo that cuts through the stuff about women as art vs. women as objects vs. gee aren't women great and don't we love them in a zillion different ways.

Sharkey- Go girl. . er woman. That was a friggin' tube! Had that experience where you think you're there, others see you there, but the only way to confirm is a good photo or being so deep that you probably won't make it.

Old photo:



Posted by: Bruce at June 16, 2004 07:53 PM

Thanks for the tunnel update. I know even if Caltrans starts it on schedule, by the time they finish it i will be living on a deserted tropcial pointbreak daydreaming about those epic jetty days

the girl in the black and white pic was at Kellys
this morning

Posted by: Tunnel of Love at June 16, 2004 08:08 PM

Taken on a trip before I started surfing:


Posted by: Klooless Kook at June 16, 2004 08:37 PM

10:32PM and fucking winds are howling...

Bitter.

Posted by: caveman at June 16, 2004 10:32 PM

But they are howling out of the south.....

That ain't so bad!

Posted by: Kaiser at June 16, 2004 10:44 PM

mining the a-frames
for a nugget of green
first morning light
spring Ocean Beach
don't look like much
ragged uninviting
into the realm
perspective changing
waxes my head
almost every time
a fair morning's surf
for what it's worth

Posted by: banjo at June 16, 2004 11:38 PM

Steamwand: yeah it's a good idea to get the card if you're going south of Guerro Negro. One trip the person I was travelling with didn't get one, and on our way back north we got asked for our cards at the nor/sur border crossing (Guerro Negro). Since he didn't have one the guy had us follow him into a shed where he stood behind a desk with his official uniform on and explained that we could either wait until morning to go to the bank and buy one there for 240 pesos (about $24) or we could give him 200 pesos now and pass.

That's the thing about Mexican bribes that I love: you never get hit up for one until you fuck up, and then they're a very easy way out. One guy who was pumping gas for us said "I like America, but it's too complicated up there. Down here there's nothing $20 won't fix."

Agreed the gas stations can be sketchy, but personally I don't think it's worth worrying too much about. I see lots of gringos treating every gas station attendant like a criminal, which is totally unnecessary. Just keep half an eye out is all.

And about the guy selling gas out of a drum on that 240 mile stretch: I've gotten gas from him both ways on every one of my trips down there (probably 8 times) and never had a problem. But then again my van takes 87 octane anyway.


Posted by: wrybread at June 18, 2004 10:54 AM

news

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