E's Surf Report: small but effective

OB looking frumpy but not painfully out of range. Probably your best local bet for a high-performance section or two. I voyaged southbound in an attempt to ingratiate the wind into my surf experience. Checked a few spots and then decided i was "over it" and headed for a chai and bagel. Read the paper and learned about scientologists in california public schools teaching faulty science to our youngsters in regard to illicit substances. Read about the 9/11 commission reiterating the total absence of any link between Al Qaeda and Iraq. Much of the same disturbing news and broohaha geared to titillate and sell papers and generally make a sensitive, moderate, peace-loving man dispair. Soo.. then it's 7:10 and i decide to park and trot over the dunes and just go surfing without a second check of conditions. People in Bagdad are suffering to get their life back in order. Their kid's school doesn't have electricity, they can't go visit their friends after dark for fear of being shot by Marine snipers, their cousin is in the hospital with his leg all torn up from a car bomb that exploded as he was playing soccer with his friends in the street. In Kabul the same shit. people struggling amidst adversity.. peace-loving people entangled and strangled by the power-plays of politics. Same in Liberia, Sudan, North Korea. And now in Saudi Arabia.. westerners getting shot and killed for the color of their skin. Jihad warriors justifying murder and death because of a slight varience in religious dogma. intolerance. hate. poverty of the soul. lack of knowledge. lack of understanding. the will of man.

Soo.. for all of those people unlucky enough to have their communities and lives ravaged and fucked by war... it was time to surf. In the face of absurdity... surf. The cove was near-lake-like as i approached. the SW wind blew side/offshore.. the swell looked to be dying a raspy, pitiful death. Great conditions for the loggers and beginners. Real gentle and groomed and tiny. However!! i found a few sensi nugs in the mix and succeeded in pumping down the line on a few and even smacked the lip on this one little pitchy left. The water felt brisk but the sunshine combatted the chillyness and i was left comfy and warm in my rubbery cacoon. My last ride was a slow, peeling left that let me trim and glide along. I shuffled my feet forward to maintain trim and just stood there, caught in the unfurling of time.

Occy knows what's up

VFW's was fun this morning, uncrowded and junky, but fun. not for the overly picky. water is all churned up and brown. just clearing up now.

OB is still trashed. Why arent they down there slapping fines on these trash dumpers?? where is gavin newsome?

I saw an aircraft carrier heading out to sea too.

Lates.....

Posted by: jacob at June 17, 2004 10:50 AM

from a buddy up north who surfed post-rainstorm (he's thinking the crap in the water led to the infection):

"The second week of May, I contracted a pair of the worst viral ear infections my doctor had ever seen. The virus left me so weak that walking up stairs was nearly an impossible physical endeavor."

and the yin to markus' yang, a bright side, a different surf experience:

"Maldives was very nice....I was there during the longest flat spell in 20 years...still had some nice waves and an adventure though...I saw 5 mantas in the lineup on the final day...Got seriously checked out by a black tip reef shark...I also saw some giant clams, two feet long, sea turtles, tons of fish....I only surfed for 5 days...I got completely dialed into the place....That final surf session, I basically take off, ride the long left, kick out near the end, paddle 4 strokes toward the channel and then hold on to my board as the rip takes me right back into the lineup...I surfed 4 hours straight while trunking it on that final big
day....Got a pressure sore from my helmet because I was surfing for so long....At the end of that session, the boatman picked me up, gave me a couple of coconuts to drink and eat during the ride back. What could have been better?

"Vera faca boru raru, vera faca korumbu!" Excellent big wave. Excellent coconut!"

Anyways, where's that teleport machine...

Posted by: j at June 17, 2004 10:56 AM

E: one of your finest posts. "In the face of absurdity...surf" True indeed. So much is going so wrong now, our world is becoming an absurd tragedy. I don't mean to sugest we should sit idly and watch this happen, but at some fundamental level i feel a massive oppression upon my mind, weighed down by the seemingly insurmountable nature of the world's ills. What can one do, but paddle out and look to a deeper truth in the beauty and wonder of the natural world?

Posted by: luke at June 17, 2004 11:01 AM

OB: strong onshores, foggy w/sun peekaboo, whitecaps juuust announcing themselves, seabirds cruising. Knee to booty high mushy crunchy schtuff , springtime slop but could be fun on something like Jocular's 8' Stewart - hey Jake I have that exact same board too! Also bought slightly used, it's a blast in teeny stuff. Uh, I digress...no one out but a handful of takers throughout the day. Come on, wouldn't paddling out be better than sitting at a desk? Or paying bills or cleaning the house? Embrace the absurdity! Living well is a serious responsibility too [ hoo boy what a great excuse to slack off ] Cheers,

Posted by: s.s. sharkbait at June 17, 2004 11:13 AM

i wonder how many of us realize how lucky we are to only be dodging dog turds on the beach and not landmines. at the same time, we have an amazing refuge in surfing. somehow when i'm in the water, all the strife in the world and my life melts away and i can find peace, even if it's only for a few moments before the next set comes through and crushes me...

on a somewhat opposite note, from one of my other favorite blogs, i am repulsed and yet strangely fascinated by this...

Posted by: big g at June 17, 2004 11:20 AM

Snizzle my nizzle, how fun was the surf the last night? Ah, I don't even want to begin... Loon, Marco, Uskay, some of the usual suspects know what is up. Good surfing w/ you guys.

Today, tiny??? Damn, I had some decent expectations to at least get a few "rollers" today. Still thinking lunch seshy could be working in the south-wind groomed conditions out there.

Shout out to Occy who turned 39 today. 39 years old and still killing it!

Ain't news a bummer? E, way to brush it off and find solace. It is important to do that sometimes.

Posted by: Kaiser at June 17, 2004 11:25 AM

it was bound to happen sooner or later..

Posted by: e at June 17, 2004 11:26 AM

I am in total and unequivocal agreement with the nude surfing statement.

Posted by: cadaver at June 17, 2004 11:28 AM

and better yet... now we can read e's report in the line-up.
good god.

Posted by: cdub at June 17, 2004 11:30 AM

work K-dogg.. i heart that certain spots were feelin the love yesterday afternoon.. Some old fogie gave me the ol' "ya should've been here yesterday" speech in the lot this morning.. I vow to NEVER EVER EVER say that to someone.

Posted by: e at June 17, 2004 11:35 AM

averyone please adjust your watches to Baja time and envison empty endless pointbreaks in warm water and cold beverages awaiting your arrival

viva los olas!!

Posted by: glide at June 17, 2004 11:42 AM

ahhhh....nugs all around!! sweet!

i missed out on slurf last night as i opted for a kickin' mtb ride that left my legs quivering and a smile on my face as i enjoyed a well-earned beer. i tried to rally for the dawnie, but the ride and a late night turned me into a piece of iron and my bed a supermagnet. now i'm at werk and jonesin'! please...please...please, Mother Ocean, nurture these rollers a little longer so that we can enjoy a little summer spell without raging onshores.

e...i hear ya on the overwhelming nature of the news. it's so tragic and there doesn't seem to be even a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. i guess we just have to hold on to hope, embody nicenss, and heed luke's wise advice to seek solace through the natural world.

peace.

Posted by: ck at June 17, 2004 11:56 AM

we just got rss incorporated into our email at work, and now I can read E's surf report, and my boss thinks I just responding email. sick.
"http://www.niceness.org/new_surf/index.rdf"

Posted by: anonymous at June 17, 2004 11:58 AM

Happy Bday Occy!

everyone get niceness nuggets and soak it in
live it love it surf it!

peas

Posted by: single fin yellow at June 17, 2004 12:02 PM

nice one anonymous.. rss rocks..

Posted by: e at June 17, 2004 12:13 PM

Hey all...
I took mwsf's advice yesterday and uploaded the New Yorker article to yousendit.com. Below are links if you want to download them. I split it into three parts for easier downloading. Still, be aware that each pdf is between 3 and 6 mb. These links expire after 7 days. Reading them onscreen can be a little tough on the eyes so printing them might make sense. Anyhow, here are the links:

http://s11.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=BA3DEE947739AE00C4FBBBEDB91BB485

http://s2.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=4695D899F8630431967E4BE3001B731A

http://s2.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=B30F616FFB39B8E39741D6169AEC888F

Posted by: kdalle at June 17, 2004 12:24 PM

kdalle...sweet!! many thanks to you, e, and, of course, the head who provided the original (though i can't, unfortunately, remember who that was). i look forward to what i'm sure will be a killah read! hasta.

Posted by: ck at June 17, 2004 12:37 PM

Right on, kdalle!! Got 'em and printed 'em already. Now I'm off to the private reading room at work......

Posted by: limevoodoo at June 17, 2004 12:42 PM

way to take the initiative kdalle.. sorry i dropped the ball on dem files..

I think that J can permenently host them.. J.. if you end up downloading them and hosting them.. send me the links and i'll add it to the nav.

Posted by: e at June 17, 2004 12:51 PM

hmmm....YouSendIt won't let me download the second link despite the fact that i downloaded the first and third link fine. is anyone else having this issue? any advice?

Posted by: ck at June 17, 2004 12:53 PM

kdalle i owe you a beer for providing me some good summer reading! That thing is a book- i printed it out, got it bound (gotta love the office resources) and its about 1/2 an inch thick.

wow, what a great use of company time.

You guys will have to indulge me in a moment of technological fascination: think about this, a few days ago someone brought up this topic, lots of us said "gee, i'd love to read that" and with the help of a few alturistic souls, we all now have access to it. Damn, the internet is cool. Lets all toast Al Gore tonight *wink wink*

Posted by: luke at June 17, 2004 12:53 PM

hmm...can't get to the files?

"Due to overwhelming load, YouSendIt has temporarily disabled unlimited sharing of all files less than 10MB."

Posted by: j at June 17, 2004 12:55 PM

name a spot and the crowd show's up....

Posted by: tom at June 17, 2004 01:01 PM

tom.. who's namin' spots?

Posted by: e at June 17, 2004 01:05 PM

yousendit is a spot on the internet.....it's now crowded. "overwhelming" demand.

been wanting to read that article for 10 years.....so close yet so far away.

Posted by: tom at June 17, 2004 01:07 PM

too funny tom.

Posted by: 3to5setsof7 at June 17, 2004 01:13 PM

the news...tough reading all that crap sometimes. Can't ignore it though. Amazing the amount of information at one's fingertips (luke I marvel at it daily) bad or good. It's prolly out there somewhere.

Nice work for all those getting wet. Soon I hope.

In anticipation of days back in the water I ordered a Steve Brom fish. Spoke with him yesterday. Super cool, helpul and interesting guy. I can't wait to get this board. Yearning for something besides the vanilla 3 fin. I will give a full report when I get the thing. If you want to check out his site go here...

Posted by: jdz at June 17, 2004 01:15 PM

Arr this old dinosaur computer can't accept the files. Love to read the article...anyone willing to print/photocopy and trade off for beer of choice?

OB correction: LOOKS booty high at most but in the water some peakish waves sucked up to Klooless Kook height plus some. Rideable for certain, amazingly annoying paddle!

Posted by: s.s.sharkbait at June 17, 2004 01:16 PM

an enjoying paddle at OB? ....dorthy were not in Kansas anymore

Posted by: glide at June 17, 2004 01:26 PM

Kaiser-there's a great cartoon aimed at you in the 3rd set of the NYer article. Superman trying to check into a hotel--might be worth a spot on your refrigerator.

Posted by: no one at June 17, 2004 01:30 PM

Damn, I knew I shoulda got to ******.com sooner! Freakin locals blocked me out.

CK, might have to have you fax me a copy as soon as we rally up the 2nd part.

Enjoying some low fat Wendy's right now post nooner sessions. Winds be kicking up, swell be dying, surf still be rolling but power be gonzo.

Hold on, I dropped my Zinka on my double fat bacon burger.....

Posted by: Kaiser at June 17, 2004 01:30 PM

Bummer.. can't download the article either.. same bandwidth problem. If you send me copies, I can post it on my server for a little while.

Posted by: bagus at June 17, 2004 01:33 PM

http://www.surfline.com/mag/features/baja/page5.html

check it baja bound niceness folks, mouth watering stuff......cervaca anyone?

Posted by: dusty at June 17, 2004 01:34 PM

Whom ever can fax me a copy the soonest to 650-616-8558 gets a free "Superman is my friend" bumper stick....

No cover sheet needed.

Posted by: Kaiser at June 17, 2004 01:36 PM

Alright -- I've posted them on my site since I got' em early. Go to www.limevoodoo.com/ob. You'll see a directory listing of the three pdfs. Have at 'em......

Posted by: limevoodoo at June 17, 2004 01:37 PM

deeeaaammm, limevoodoo....that's some killah fast download transfer rate! nice. many thanks.

Posted by: ck at June 17, 2004 02:07 PM

now that is eloquent writing. i can't wait to get off work and go curl up and read them. "stutter-stepped down the bank at the foot of Sloat Boulevard." ahhhh. the evocation is almost visceral. and now i'm using unnecessarily large words. i wanna go surfing. thanks limevoodoo.

Posted by: steamwand at June 17, 2004 02:07 PM

Looks like Mr. Voodoo picked up the ball and ran with it. As a backup I re-uploaded it to new addresses at yousendit.com:

http://s11.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=7D2C2AB13C6A24214F2FD92DC38888F3

http://s2.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=F728F16E9D6C656CEDA492E2330768E5

BTW, don't believe everything you read.

http://s11.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=763CC65ADEB67C9BAE9596F29D746A22

Posted by: kdalle at June 17, 2004 02:09 PM

Reality Check. My Dad (Old Time Surfer) used to take me down to Baja as a kid. We even went down to bottom most of the sisters in '76 on the old road when I was a hellbent grom. I've been a surfing basket case since...
My boring history aside, I won't free camp anywhere north of Punta Baja. If I stop before El Rosario it is at one of the fenced camps. The stretch of beach around El Socorro and San Quintin has had at least three confirmed bad incidents.
I wouldn't ask you to name place names, especially in Baja, but I was curious if the impact of population growth, drug movement and the truck farms has spread further south of El Rosario?

Posted by: searoom at June 17, 2004 02:15 PM

Worth the trouble of what you peeps are doing w/the "Doc's Game's" piece, good to see more will be able to appreciate it.. seems a shame Finnegan doesn't write about surfing more often, a really missed opportunity. He lifts surf writing to a higher place than say Hynd or Parmenter could ever go.

Posted by: cadaver at June 17, 2004 02:15 PM

Thanks to limevoodoo, kdalle and all the other links in the chain!

Here's what OB WASN'T like this a.m.: "take off, ride the long left, kick out near the end, paddle 4 strokes toward the channel and then hold on to my board as the rip takes me right back into the lineup". But fun waves were there for the taking, somewhere out past the bump and grind.

Posted by: Klooless Kook at June 17, 2004 02:18 PM

Hey, my thanks to everyone else who did the hard work of getting the scans and pdfs together...... I'm looking forward to some good reading myself tonight.

I'll leave the files up there through the weekend.

Posted by: limevoodoo at June 17, 2004 02:25 PM

DAMMIT!! if only i could read....damn this illiteracy...

Posted by: j at June 17, 2004 02:33 PM

wow, thanks for the post of the PDFs... killer article. doc rules

btw, if any of you niceness cats are looking for something to do saturday night, i'm putting on a reggae party in north beach after the north beach festival.

2 groovin' bands with surf vids running the whole time on the big screen.

gig will be held at broadway studios on broadway @ montgomery.

you can check out more details at: www.bojon.com/shindig

bojon

Posted by: bojon at June 17, 2004 02:35 PM

great insight searoom, id love to know more before my trip down there and where to avoid and where to enjoy. Jetting down to cabo would be fun for i week but the crowds have got me inspired to do some exploring.

thoughts, ruminations all?

Posted by: sea ray at June 17, 2004 02:35 PM

can the sricle be hosted somewhere on the internet or do you have to download the acrobat (which crashed/es on me)

Posted by: at June 17, 2004 02:38 PM

yes please

Posted by: e at June 17, 2004 02:50 PM

indo

Posted by: e at June 17, 2004 02:53 PM

Posted by: e at June 17, 2004 02:54 PM

baja!! who's driving?

Posted by: e at June 17, 2004 03:18 PM

Here's a Baja story for all of ya

Surfing one of the more famous spots between Rosarito and Ensenada.

Surf was pretty meager so took a little stroll while waiting for the crew.

Noticed a large trail of ants in the road by the car. Follwed the trail of ants to....

A severed finger- just chillin in the middle of the road being grubbed on by about 1000 ants

I always wondered what the story was behind the finger....
Maybe one of you know a four fingered surfer- anyways it was a pretty nasty sight.

A year later a friend had his truck ripped off from the same spot.

Caution is always the key down there- and reliable transportation/ insurance!

Posted by: at June 17, 2004 03:25 PM

bojon shindin 2003

looks like my boy bojon knows how to party

Posted by: snake at June 17, 2004 03:39 PM

lots-o-ladies at those bojon shindigs.. mostly all lusting after the bojon himself.

Posted by: e at June 17, 2004 03:44 PM

yeah baja stories..

i surfed naked in quatros casas one time and we were the only ones parked at one of the points. a van pulls up half way through my naked session and im embarrased, no prob though. for the rest of the 2 day trip us and the crew in the van pretty much took turns on the point. it turned out to be the volcom crew, this was like '92, they were cool and were killing it. we all started getting crazy with naked surfing..one of those guys would go out naked with a beenie on and i would go out naked again with a flourescent rash gaurd or something. gay? maybe. moral of the story? if you surf naked you better put sunblock on your ass if you want to sit down anywhere for the few days after..that was a good trip and we scored really good waves..

Posted by: bagel at June 17, 2004 03:49 PM

anyone know if the girl with the blue dress will be there this time around?

Posted by: at June 17, 2004 03:55 PM

Yeah Baja.
Forget about driving e, fuel up the Cessena!
All the info is there for the novice travel-fellah. All the online swell info is there as well.
As far as getting info out of anyone who goes and knows, I'll put it this way: Years ago my friend Lam used to live in the East Cape region. On a banzi fly-in tip-trip during a raging s. swell last year I called Lam at his current home in Australia for info on a spot tucked up in the Sea of C. that he had alluded to in the past. His response--nada. He said it was ..."a matter of pride and hard work in Baja to get to know the spots. You can read a map, just poke your nose around...". And that from a long time friend! That is all I can pass along and still feel good in the morning. Even the worst trip when my VW Bus burned (we pulled the boards out)was a great trip.
It's just getting from Hwy 1 to the surf that is almost always different, and almost always produces the BEST stories. Except the time Turtle, Grandpa, Lam and I were chased out of a 6-8 ft. empty pointbreak then severly heckeled as we walked back up the beach to camp by the nastiest bull elephant seal I've ever met. The brute wouldn't let us surf 'his' point that afternoon or the next morning either. Damned Local, we split for the next spot.

Posted by: searoom at June 17, 2004 03:55 PM

Posted by: Kaiser at June 17, 2004 04:19 PM

Posted by: Kaiser at June 17, 2004 04:21 PM

great pics....thats why when it's on, ya deal with the crowds and just hope for the one with the huge red exit light comes your way.

Posted by: crowd hater at June 17, 2004 04:25 PM

holy guacamole..effing santa cruz

Posted by: bagel at June 17, 2004 04:57 PM

If anyone else is having trouble with limevoodoo's site:

part 1
part 2
part 3

Posted by: Klooless Kook at June 17, 2004 05:52 PM

bagel -- Your baja stories had me laughing out loud. Good stuff...

Huge thanks to kdalle for posting the classic New Yorker article!

Posted by: mwsf at June 17, 2004 05:56 PM

gut busting baja tales bagel, keep them coming. Bojon's Beauties too. Reaggae after North Beach fair sounds tight, is there a linup?
Thanks for the santa cruz reminder Kaiser, it does still get siiiiick here in NorCal, but i must vote Baja for the crowd factor

viva las olas!

Posted by: flavor at June 17, 2004 08:56 PM

bagel....i hope you kneepaddled...

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