Yeap, it can't be 80 degrees and sunny every day. Or can it? Today, we revert back to what we would typically consider a "good" late Spring/early Summer day. Light winds out of the SW, some minor S swell still in the water, mixed with some NW windswell. All in all, today would "typically" be like a 6-7 on my spring/summer meter. But, as we all know, this has not been your typical year in regards to weather. Nope, not typical at all. Still fairly surfable out there but I still passed today. I have to check out early today and head up to the capital of computer operating systems and coffee beans so I bagged it. Got up with full intentions of getting in somewhere south of OB but the guilt blanket ran thick and I went to work instead.

Surf wise, here is what is out there:
Nearshore Wind: 5-10 mph from the SW
Bouy Wind: 3-7 mph from the SSW
Swell: 3.3 - 3.6 ft. @ 15 sec.
Weather: foggy and moist (that is a great word...), should reach up to 70 or so today.

So, I am sure some peeps got wet this morning and I am sure there are some windows of opportunity to do so later in the day today. Anyone get on it today???

Enjoy the weekend, get some waves, don't drop in on your neighbor (unless they drop in on you first!)

Chirp, chirp. Chirp, chirp. Chirp, chirp. Freakin birds! Who gives them the right to sing at 5:45 in the morning as they watch the beautiful sunrise? Why do they have to call out to their other chirping friends and invite them to sing along? Who gives them the right to....

Ok, ok. Birds are local and they're pretty cool so we can cut them some slack eh? Their chirping in unison thing might be worse then all of us punk-ass OB surfers calling one another from the beach but I found them to be fairly delightful this morning.

The beaches were pretty empty today even though the the winds were blowing pretty hard offshore/sideshore this a.m. A few peeps out in the north end, middle OR south end of the beach giving it a go. I found a little area out in Mom Ocean today to my liking. Got several really fun rides, mostly lefts. 2 waves were really memorable in that I rode them for ever. They just kept going and going and going. Not great shape where you can pull a few cutties or the like but still really good for my liking. Shared the lineup with a few others but volume was really light. I suppose the harsh winds yesterday had a lot to do with it. Its out there, just gotta find 'em.....

Ok, sorry for the late report. I just got out of a 2.5 hour meeting. Fun stuff there. I actually starting writing at 9:00. Just finished at Noon! Solid work!

Good banter out of everyone yesterday. New record of 120 posts! Not bad. Some came in today though.

As usual, here are some pics, enjoy!
Big Louie Style:

This guy is badass...

I think I see Christian down there...

No sub 6:00 a.m. alarm blarring some crap-ass, half-static, motown jam in my ear. No "night before" nervous anticipation of the morning surf. No packing preparation needed to make sure I have gear for work. Just a calm, mellowness coupled with dull, sore shoulders and back muscles. First time in a very long time that I can recall having sore legs from surfing. Mentally and physically it is great to feel sore and satisfied from the surfing perspective.

After surfing 8 sessions in the last 5 days, I forced myself to take a day off today. For me, I find it nice to seperate and distance myself from surfing sometimes. Recharge. Rejuvenate. Refuel. Then Relapse..... Ha.... Always love to relapse! Totally appropriate word there. Because it is a drug, an addiction of sorts. If it gets you, it gets you good. If you understand this, you know what I am talking about.

Surf Report: Alright, enough of that, here is the deal out there today and some things to think about:
Bodega Bay Bouy wind: 25 kts from the NW
SF Bouy wind: 15 kts from the NW
HMB Bouy wind: 10 kts from the NNW
(you get the idea.......)
Swell still solid and in fact it built overnight to 7-8 ft. @ 15-17 sec. Should stick around for a few days as it decays. Head south, clog up some lineups, drop in on your brother (or sister), put a smile on your face, enjoy the sunshine! Definitely some good surf out there but it appears to be a little farther drive today, that's all.

Last thought: I was watching a program on KQED last night about Weather Underground. For those not familiar, WU was established in the same vein as the Black Panther movement and the like in the 60's. Many of these movements were in direct response to the war in Vietnam and the unsettled nature here at home at the time. A really good, educational, thought provoking program. I wasn't alive yet, so I didn't live with the turmoil of this time. Any thoughts from those more knowledgable...... Correlations to the cyclical nature of things and where we are today within this cycle........

What film is this from?

Well, the swell is here for sure because the bouys say so. SF Bouy says 4.6 @ 19 sec right now. The winds are about 5 mph from about 100 degrees. It is really glassy and beautiful out there this morning. Plenty of people on the prowl looking for that magical spot. Its one of those days where it would be nice to hang at a SC reef and surf all day long with no worries as this south swell builds. The Weather Guru predicts increased winds through out the day today and likely fairly strong tomorrow. So make sure you get your fix in for the next few days. The good news is that it should be in the 70's and 80's in the city until early next week so we should have many surfable days ahead. Not sure what to expect in terms of swell but I am sure we will get some kind of update from those in the "know".

Don't deliberate too long. Just jump in, enjoy the sunshine, soak up some rays. And PLEASE, don't forget your ZINKA!!!!!

For those that got in today, I am reserving my views for now. Instead, let's hear from you.....

I am almost speechless this morning! I am not sure where to go with this here report soooooooo......

It FREAKIN good out there! Clean, crisp, offshore. South swell is clearly here or at least the forerunners are. Looked like we had some south in the water for the most part of the weekend which was nice.

My arms were exhausted this morning as I made my way down to the beach. I checked the SF bouy and saw 3.9 @ 11 sec. Almost headed back to the sack. Speaking of sack, SACK CHECK!!! Ok, glad to clear that up, grabbed the gear, out the door. At first sight, it looked glassy and fun with little shoulder high peelers. Nothing to write home about. Oh wait, whats that? Oh, that was nuggety.... Oh what's this.... Damn, its disgusting down there.... Damn, I gotta get on it! My perma-wet wettie crawled on ME at this point. I accomodated.

Enough. Did I say it is good out there? Its not. Its better. Its freakin April people. APRIL. Its offshore. Its April, its offshore, we have swell. Its almost May.

I am confused. I can't work. I can't focus. Its warm. I am done.

Oh yeah, E checked it with a little ditty about his trip thus far:
"what up niceness crew! not much time here... but... a little recap..

full-on nicaragua. Dusty, dirty, impoverished, friendly, ancient, primitive and exilerating. lerm and i have scored a might bounty of waves thus far. freezing cold water greeted us for the first few days. coldest i've ever been while surfing... no joke.. blue-lipped, jaw-chattering ice-water. crazy offshores causing some serious upwelling.. but the waves.. damn!! We've been blessed with consistent groundswell the entire time.. averaging 3 sessions a day (5 sessions 2 days ago). A-frame, lowers-like reefbreak with only 2 others for about 10 sessions.. then a punchy, A-framing, pocket-beach break for a few seshies, then a boat-trip to a deep-water mysto-reef with just 4 people.. loads of waves..

but.. wow.. the culture here.. the way of life, the flow of the people. eye-opening.. jaw-dropping.. mesmerizing.. life-affirming..

we are lucky.. most of the world lives VERY differently than we. ramshackle, agrarian, stone-age village life.. amazing..

surf!!

playa yankee tomorrow for the macking south swell.. then madera.. then el salvadorian right points for 2 weeks with jocular jake!!

peace"

Ah yeah! Like a nice cup of coffee, its a great morning brewing out there in the biggitty-bay today! Sun shining, birds flying, wind chillin, swell rolling... Rapped with Bug last night about the possibility of a DP sesh. The monster-mush swell on the way day, giving way to more local windswell. Winds properly in line throughout the night. Rolled down to the beach and was greeted with nice, glassy conditions. Waves looking pretty small but shoulders all over the place. Saw Bug in the lot and we ventured down the beach a bit to a less visible area which just happened to be serving up this left time and time again. Wave count just kept building throughout the session. Rights, lefts, just nuggets all over the place. It was one of those sessions where you would just keep looking down the line a ways and see these unreal nuggets spin and churn. If only you could teleport to its shoulder. When you were in the right place, pure butter....

Anyway, I got a few really fun rides on my fish. Bug got a nice little barrelling cover-up on his second wave. We were joined by an OB regular just totally stoked on this particular morning. Saw him snag some solid ones. A few others were in the mix. All in all, just an utterly beautiful April morning with some solid surf and good vibe.

Happy Friday to all. Looks like this good weather should be here all weekend providing some surfing opportunities out there. Getting some solid S juice next week. Get on it.....

Throw that shizzzzzz

CJ here

Oregon Reef Magic - Go find it....

Winds were blowing pretty hard last night out of the NNW, up to around 30 kts at the SF Bouy, making the surf complete junk this morning. I was planning to get up and drive around a bit, maybe down the coast into HMB or even Disneyland (otherwise known as SC County) but decided against it. Glad I did. Seeing the reports this morning, it doesn't look promising. At least the weather is clear and the sun is out though.

Hopefully things clean up a bit as we head into the weekend. All going to depend upon the winds.

Couple of random points of news, notes, etc.
- Train wreck in N. Korea kills over 3,000. Loaded with fuel, could be suspicious.
- The dirtiest thing in a hotel room: the remote control! Never cleaned.
- Its Earth Day

One last note, there is another surf film coming up at the Balboa on May 4th featuring Jack McCoy's new release, Blue Horizon. This event is being put on by Wise this time. I would say get out and support it but I am not sure if I would mean that. I pledge allegiance..... Either way, check out the film sometime as I heard it is really good.

Some perspective of the reef @ Cloudbreak

A view from the other side

Knowing the bouys were off the charts, I arose at 5:45 in anticipation of the sauce on our shores. Stumbling through my house, out the back door to get the wettie, my wind chime was going nuts. Wind, the evil villian. Right then and there I thought about crawling back in bed and I had this thought....

Thought: Imagine dealing like back in the 1950's. What would guys like Sean Collins, Blakestah, etc. be doing back then to calculate the exact golden moments when the swell and weather converged giving us those epic conditions? Relying on your wind sock/wind chime, measuring barometric pressure on your back porch, "honey, go to the kitchen and read me the dew point"..... No internet reports, no fax machines, just a national weather service radio and some home gadgetry. Blakestah calling up "the special ones" on his rotary phone, spinning the dial until his fingers were numb. "Dude, looks like we might have some offshores in about 12 hours, get your 8'6'' ready and meet me at the beach...."

Ok, sorry about that. We live in internet land now so I did the logical thing and grabbed my wettie, hit my computer and checked the wind. SF Bouy saying light SW winds. Game plan! Headed out to my one of my favorite southerly-wind-is-favorable spots in hopes of some waves. Got out with only one other dude braving the mist and fog. It was actually a welcoming sight to see another surfer out to be honest. Just a dreary ass morning for sure. Nothing special for me besides my first wave. A super nice left that didn't look like it would develop into much. I was a little out of position but snagged it anyway. Rolled down the face on my drop as the thing jacked up nicely. Laid down what felt like a super, leg-compressing bottom turn, just coiling up with speed and power. As I released it, I shot back up to the top of the wave face, made a decent top frontside turn, back down to the flats, another compressed bottom turn and one more time back to the peeling lip. Ahhhh, nice ride for me. But, in typical fashion, my frontside top turn is just weak as all hell.

I find that I am really struggling with both my frontside top turn and my backside bottom turn or at least these are two areas I recognize I need to work on right now. In reality, these are the same turns and motions, just in different spots on a wave. Over the last 2.5 months, I have surfed a ton of lefts as I have been trying to work on this frontside top turn thing. I just keep tinkering with things: burying my back arm back in the wave face, pulling my head around back to the wave, rotating the shoulders, pushing harder on the tail, compressing the legs a bit more.... Any thoughts out there? Anybody have similar issues with parts of "your game"? I think I need a coach. Christian, where you at?

On my way back home, checked OB. 1 guy giving it hell at Sloat in the pea soup, 2 others sporting their superhero suits in the lot. No one I could see mid beach. Likewise, silent at VFW's. Big, knarly, brutal, shifty, punishing. That sounds about right.

Anybody get some this morning?

Now for some chicks ripping:

I love this one....

No need to turn here, how boring....

Oye!

Yeah, no surf dreams for me last night, no "mouth of this unreal barrel, getting spit into the flats, laying a GIGANTIC cutty back into the whitewater as 2 babes stare in awe..." 2 babes, I could talk about that forever, we will come back to this... Instead, when that alarm went off at 5:55 a.m., my alarm never took a worse beating. Kinda like one of those days when you go through the spin cycle several times on a solid outer bar day. You never really find that "groove" and it is just pure punishment. You know, the type of beat-down that causes the post-surf-nasal-drip-thingy for like 3 hours. Drips right on your shirt when you are ordering up your nonfat chai latte mocha with extra nonfat whipped cream at Starbucks post session. Well, the alarm ended up on the floor, right on top of my Surfer Mag, splattered on Kelly Slater's new signature line of boardshorts. Nice shorts by the way.

Sooo, I didn't have the mojo to check it this morning. I know, I suck. But the bouys didn't look all that great and the fog/rain/cold made me really comfy in bed so I just chilled there. So, if someone's got something, bring it and let us know what the real deal was out there. Looks like we are expecting some new swell today before the return of the mack comes in tomorrow (J, insert any rap line here...). Oh yeah, let's give a shout out to JDZ who is looking to add surfer #2 to his family quiver at any time!

I did tear away from Cube-Land last evening around 6:00 p.m. to get an hour or so in down in P-Town. Tiny at first but had a really good sesh. 2 guys out near me when I got out, about 10 when I left after my 20th little dribbler. A couple of lovelies in the lineup made it even nicer.

Alright, let's not forget that today is April 20th. 5 days after taxes are due just in case you forgot to do those. 10 days before the start of May. 41 Days before the start of June. Too many days to count until those October winds blow gently offshore. So, roll a phatty, back it tight (*but not too tight), and pass it around with some friends..............

OUCH!

Backside top-turn for me please...

Yeah, that works too!

These are my friends that I am spending 4/20 with... Don't be jealous!

Bouy: 4.3 ft @ 15 sec...

Wind: 3 mph from the SE

Tide: Low

Surf Prediction: Extremely promising from our dot bombie gadgetry reports!

The Real Deal: Gloomy, small, gutless, pointless, dribbling-little nothings. At least the wind was good. Made the drive down the beach twice hoping that I would see some of that 4.3 @ 15 somewhere along our 3 miles of bliss but it was clearly just a myth this morning. Out of all honesty, the only reason I got wet this morning was to validate this here report. I always feel that you gotta get wet to have a real opinion. Well, after 45 minutes in the water, my opinion is that it is small out there. Got a few waves but nothing of interest. Only about 6 guys out. Of course I was glad to get in and rinse off all the clorination I got from the Stubbies Pro '04 held in Phoenix, AZ this weekend. On my way back last night, I was taken back by page 40 of United's inflight mag with a full page spread of one of our hidden treasures: an SF point break, only 4 guys on it.... EXPOSED!

Anyway, looks like a new big wave world record was set with Pete Cabrinha of Hawaii picking off a 70 footer at Jaws to win the Billabong XXL. Going left of course..... Check the pic below.

Also, congrats to Zach Wormhoudt for winning the paddle contest. Good to see that Mavs represented again this year with the biggest paddle wave of the year. HOWEVER, I mean no disrespect, but you vote and tell me which one of these waves looks bigger to you (maybe I was just hoping Alex would get the nod):

Zach's wave:

70 ft. Left @ Jaws: Billabong Winner!

Another exquisite morning in the valley of paradise that is P-town. Surfed one beach north of utopia cove and segued into maybe 9 or 10 half-decent little squirty rights. Both Smoke-a-Jay and Schmlindorific looked tranquil and glassy, with occasional shoulder/head-high waves meandering toward shore. Only a few poeple out at each spot.. mellow mood... mellow morning.. I saw one longboarder out at Sloat, probably Kdalle, friend #1 or doof? It looked kinda nice out there as well. the surface was relative glass but the swell wasn't sure whether to break on the inner or mid bars. kinda funky. highly doable if you dont' feel like driving though..

soo.. not a spectacular morning or waves but sufficient to stave off the surf-jones for another 24 hours or so.

soo.. this might be the last report by yours truly until around May 17. Hopefully the reigns will be handed over to Kaiser (Kaiser, i'll send you email with info/instructions today) and all you heads can continue to discuss/banter/extoll/vilify/bemuse/swath/love amongst yourselves. Lerm and i are leaving tomorrow for Nicaragua. I'll be there for a month.. psyched!! The current plan is to meet up with Jocular Jake on this volcanic island in the middle of a giant lake around May 1. Other than that the days will be filled with surf, cruising around towns, hangin' with the kids, trying to pick up some spanish, more surf, chilling, surviving and laughing about crazy 3rd-world societal looseness, gaining perspective on the neurotic/live-to-work/walled/provincial/insular/cold/hyper-fast/over-consumptive/extravagant/angry reality of present-day american society, more surf, relaxing in hammocks, sweating, swatting flies, getting barrelled, smacking lips, and hopefully finding some little, low-key fishing village with a small guesthouse and a high-quality beach-break and maybe 2 hilarious aussie surfers and their girlfriends and then two Brazilian boogieboarding ladies who can drink us under the table.

soo.. anybody out there have a mozzie net they don't need for the next month? also.. if anyone out there knows about the nicaraguan fishing village of which I speak.. kick me an email at cranial_bulge@yahoo.com

enjoy the typically splendorous springtime bay-area surf scene.. when you're sitting out there at big, burly, hacked, onshore OB, freezing from the upwelling and worrying about whitey. Think about your central-american-sojourning brethren down in the tropics, sitting in 82 degree water at some low-key reef break with only two other surfers. palm trees wafting, sun beaming down, monkeys yelping, beers, fish tacos and a nap awaiting our sunburned, post-session selves.

enjoy!

rights to infinity

it's out there

high-line

(photos from allaboutsurf.com)

Stepped deep into the AM last night and then woke up early this morning but still snuck a session in before work. A beautiful morning to be outside. Minimal wind, a soothing, radiant pure blue sky, warm temperature. I drove around for a while scoping the scene and then paddled out to a semi-consistent peak with a handful of other surfers. It didn't look great from the lot, but every few minutes a family of waves would march in and peel and mush along. The shape was sub-par but i still eeked into 5 or 6 longish, down-the-line excursions. The highlight of the session was this one particular set that came in... like a gift from king neptune or something. 3 of us were sitting there picking our noses waiting for something when the tell-tale blips appeared on the horizon and we started scratching for the outside. the first wave was all warbly and gurgly.. maybe overhead and a half.. none of us took it.. then the second wave looked better.. it had that tapering character which promises peelification... so.. i spun and dug in and then the wave just scooped out and the next thing i know i'm pointed nearly strait down, taking off into a ledging, sucking bowl. Luckily the forces aligned for me and i made the drop and then shuffled down the line. After kicking out at the end of the ride i turned around to watch this immaculate, heaving, barrelling, gnarlesburg, tapering, mouth-watering wave spit and reel and churn down the line. nobody on it. gorgeous. Then the ocean went flat for 10 minutes and we all just looked at each other like, "what the fuck was that!" and.. "can we have some more please!"

soo.. the swell looks real nice.. cordoroy. Second Lot Sloat was showing it's game face, for anyone interested in a little solitary challenge.

some ponderous, circumspect articulations in yesterday's comments.. here are some highlights.

"O.K. that's IT! I'm beginning to sound like a pretentious asshole even to my OWN ears."
- jimmie

"there's more to life than just breathing, but there's also more to life than the One Singular Moment. "
- friendly

"Grubbin on some lau-lau's."
- Ian

"Curren is a total stoner."
- BVB

"Spotted a gray whale on the drive home this afternoon"
- jhmb

"My day is filled with crack addicts, gunshot wounds, screaming kids, you name it."
- welle

"ssshhhhiiieeeeetttt"
- 3to5

"dude, you've got a fuckin daaart in yoooouurrr neeeeecckkkkk"
- j

"I even have been out on days when KOOKS are getting shacked while I scrap like a crack fiend on 16th st "
- pez

"down the line, many lips to hit, tube sections."
- barney

"bunch of meat heads complaining to each other about the "Aliens" in the lineup."
- alien

"Fuck Bush!!"
- mexisurf

"inhale...exhale..i just got an ounce in the mail.."
- bagel

"Mindful breathing reminds us that WE ARE NOT OUR SITUATION. We are OURSELVES"
- jimmie

"shhhweetness!"

"glad to be of non-assistance!"
- ben

"I did plenty of trips without swell forecast planning, and mostly we sat around really bored swatting flies."
- baja expert

"Well, surf and art vocabulary are a never ending quest, but I DO know that one can have prodigious wipeouts without the practice! Some things come easy. "
- sharkbait

"gone surfing"
- tom

"Anthony's Disco"
- eric

"It is good luck that I get to take this walk, I am thankful for it. I savor it."
- lurker

"you slave away at your instrument, you learn the scales, the theory...and then you forget everything you ever learned and just play."
- charlie parker (via eg pimp)

"Try to stay sane inna de office babylon."
- luke

"When urinating, take care not to drip urine on your work pants."
- cube dweller

"brother in the lime green transworld tube be feeling some "love" - big time"
- over the falls

"Don't allow the frustrations of the inevitable plateaus of progression bog you down into a state of ennui."
- e

"Still worth checking the site despite what is setting up to be a WINDsurf spring. Already making contingency plans."
- banjo

nice wave

all i need are some tasty waves and a cool buzz..

bells... on fire!

shred

After a healthy 5-day surf run and a 4.5 hour behemoth jimmy-jam last night i treated myself to a little morning sleep-in. Damn.. it felt strange and deviant to actually sleep past 6:30. I felt like i was skipping class or something. But.. Lerm voyaged down to Pacifilus and reported cleaner conditions down there so it sounds like a dawn-patrol surf mission is/was possible. Looking at the ridiculously crystal-clear new surfpulse cam it appears that an OB session would be within range too? It looks almost clean out there.. but.. as many of us know the camera can be deceiving. Wouldn't it be cool if someone hijacked the surfpulse cam and installed it at Lake Merced... or maybe behind the counter at the Sea Biscuit... or maybe in the dressing room at Victoria's Secret?? other ideas? hmmm...

soo.. between jams last night we discussed black sabbath lyrics, the meaning of life, women, vietnam, and linguistics among other things. We also pondered the language of music, and how before you can speak the language you have to develop a vocabulary and understand the grammatical rules that come into play. We all waxed philosophic about how each of us felt that after years and years of playing we were only barely beginning to scratch the surface of a working musical vocabulary (scales, theory, fretboard knowledge, listening, rhythmic awareness, communication, harmony, phrasing, etc.). Real, unadulterated, unfiltered personal expression can only truly flow once the rudiments of the language of music are internalized. That made me think about surfing, and how the same idea of a linguistic-like structure applies. Until the foundational grammatical constructs of wave-knowledge, paddling ability, intuitive take-offs, balance, and flow-with-the-ocean are achieved; inspired, expressive, beautiful surfing cannot happen. Of course the language of surfing is never truly mastered. Every surfer from Slates to sharkbait is somewhere along the never-ending learning curve of surfing linguistics. As the various rudiments of surfing become second-nature, personal expression increases and shines stronger and stronger. As the fundementals grow deeper and become more instinctive, the personal style of each surfer comes more and more to the fore.

soo.. keep progressing everyone! The psychological and physical rewards continue as you continue to improve and develop. Dividends are paid to those who make efforts and push themselves further and further. Don't allow the frustrations of the inevitable plateaus of progression bog you down into a state of ennui. Just keep pushing forward.. relentlessly.. passionalely... with love.

photo from transworld surf

After some enjoyable waves yesterday I decided to suit up and trot down to the beach this morning without checking the conditions beforehand. The wind seemed light but onshore on my way down. The atmosphere in the outer sunset was decidedly gray and chilly. Over the dunes and i was psyching.. Visions of empty, glassy, shoulder-high niceness wafted through my mind's eye. But.. the reality proved far from that. As i crested the dunes i was instead met by a vision of small, dumpy, hacked weak windswell.. But.. at least it was empty! Ha! But.. as i was already in my wetsuit and down at the beach, i might as well have a little surf. Occasionally when conditions look horrendous from the beach, you'll get out there and end up having a blast. But.. i'm sorry to say that today wasn't really one of those days. I caught maybe 5 or 6 little crumbly wavelets along with one character-rich left that actually carried me pretty far toward shore. But.. alot of sitting out there in the topsy-turvy, punch-drunk, frigid ocean for just a few down-the-line excursions.. Was it worth it? definitely. Was it re-sweetulous ri-dankulosity? not exactly.

those little circular jellyfish with the sails have begun their annual pilgrammage (death-march) to our Nor-Cal shores. For a good time during an otherwise lackluster session, try placing one of these little jelly-fish on each of your fingers.. then go up to your friend and shake his hand. Or.. have a contest with your buddy and see how many you can fit in your mouth. If you're hungry just chow-em down.. mmmm... gummy!

bells

carving

off-the-top

jungle cutty

big fat cutback

curren - full-on

curren - yup

curren - feelin' it

curren - gauge

curren - rocking

slates - defining

Got up early again and found some waves. Nothing killer but I sneaked into a cadre of satisfying sections. The swell seems noticeably smaller than yesterday. The bigger set waves weren't as intimidating or crunching. It was also kind-of a bummer that the long waits between good waves made the crowd dynamic slightly tense. No arse-hole vibings or lame chicanery or anything of that sort.. just everyone justifiably desirous of the limited nuggies rolling in. There just weren't that many rideable waves coming through. Luckily i was out there on the early tip and achieved minimal satisfaction levels (read: 3 good ones) before the crowd descended. One turn in particular is pleasant to reflect on.. Just a run-of-the-mill head-high wave that gulped out as i took off and then offered a fresh, flirtatious lip.. all puckered and begging to be smizzacked. Soo.. i did the honors and dutifully crouched low on my bottom turn and then pushed all my energy and speed into banking as high as possible off the lip. It felt good to pivot tightly and take a chunk out of the top of the wave.. or.. so i remember it.. to see it on video would most certainly be a rude awakening.. hmm..

soo.. yeah.. then the beach.. i talked briefly with Judith the bodysurfer who said that the beach was glassy and she was headed over there for a session! I checked it on my way back and it looked pretty nasty and daunting. maybe down near sloat it's a bit cleaner?

cool.. good luck out there.

dr.j-would! thanks for posting about baja and san diego! keep us in the loop about san diego sweetness and any scripps institute oceanographic advancements.

gefilte fish, horseradish and matzah for me this weekend.. for anyone that doesn't know the story of passover (when god "passed over" the Jewish homes in Egypt while killing the first born of all Egyptians as a punishment to the Pharoah after mis-treating and enslaving the Jewish people).. it's a classic, gnarly old-testiment saga. Plagues, murder, miracles, frogs, vengeance, pestulence, destruction, death, hail, unleavened bread. All that good shit.

smooth turn

how fun does this wave look!

what's up to all the interweb surf-jockeys!
Man. the swell is here. 12ft 17sec. on the SF buoy.. mostly from around 295 degrees. Kaiser and i woke up deep into the murky depths of the inner inner butt crack of dawn. kinda slimy and chewy up in there, if ya know what i mean. We started driving past all the dingleberries and nasty tape-worm remnants, up through the sticky, scatalogical caverns of the pre-dawn hours. Past putrid, dangling stalactites of dripping, hanging effluence. We rubbed our noses right in that shit. driving.. psyching... hadn't surfed since tuesday so it felt like forever. Finally arrived at the prospective spot.. it's just just getting light and already 6 or 7 cars in the pull-out. people frantically suiting up.. I walk down and check the waves.. every few minutes 2 or 3 come in..but.. nothing amazing.. plus.. there will be insta-crowd in about 10 minutes out there... soo.. we keep going.. To the next spot.. nobody around in the parking area. We pull up and scamper down for a check.. fuck.. nobody out. waves peeling in. not great, but.. glassy, semi-solid, empty. Dash into the suits and paddle out. First wave for me i see that it's going to suck-out and throw. I commit and then hold the pigdog as i kind-of free-fall down the face.. make it to the bottom and i'm fucking holding on as the wave grinds and tries to buck me off.. my back foot slips off but i'm still holding on to the pigdog with my one hand and my front foot.. just.. barely.. fucking.. hanging.. on.. but.. then i get annihilated.. ahh.. first wave under the belt. Kaiser takes off on a solid one. yeah.. More waves cruise in. Not huge like you'd think from the buoy readings. but every 20 minutes or so a few sizeable waves would come through and catch us inside. I don't really surf this spot so much so it was interesting to note little idiosyncrasies in how the waves morph and break. It also felt really rural and primitive out-there. mountains, hillsides, dark towering trees, big-sky, huge sea-lions, birds swooping, etc. Anyway.. the waves weren't fantabulous or anything.. but.. geez.. i probably caught about 15 or 20 rides and did my best to wreak havoc on any lip that presented itself to me. I also caught this one really steep wave that felt really good.. I saw it forming up to the outside and knew it was going to suck-up and be kinda gnarly. I got into the "I'm fucking committed to this wave and i'm gonna make it" mentality... which really helps and sometimes is the difference between getting in successfully or going over the falls.. anyway.. i saw the little take-off ramp present itself, then thrust myself over the ledge and down said ramp.. and then got jettisoned along this funnel-like section.. really fast.. felt good.. To keep it honest on this report i also went over the falls a few times!! yeah! But.. something about the session this morning just calmed me down, chilled me out and set me right for the day. Even though i had a great jam last night i was still kinda antsy and anxious due to lack of quality waves these last few days. Now i'm all chillin' here at work.. relaxed.

soo.. i'm sure other places in santa cruz county were sweetness this morning? On my way home i saw OB and it looked wild and large.. It wasn't really organized all that well into distinct, crazy-huge peaks or anything.. but it was crazy to see cloudbreak bombies peeling and happening way way way way the fuck out there.. like, way out there. in fact i'm not sure if i've ever seen waves break so far out.. craziness..

soo.. yeah.. anybody else score some?

Hans Blix and the Inspectors rocked the proverbial house last night.. 4 hour monster jam. Our first album will be entitled "Weapons of Mass Destruction"
sooo.. look out.. we might be playing in this battle of the bands metal/rock show this summer.. hmmmm...

peace

northcoast barrel (from surfpulse.com)

kauai

looks fun

bali

i've posted this before.. but.. it's inspiring

not sure where this is..

yeah babe.. i got so shacked on this super-gnar wave this morning

No wind at day-break. Diminutive swell barely breaking along the beach. I drove around but never got inspired to suit up and hit it... waves would weakly filter in.. and then generally close-out in one big whoomp. I noticed a workable shoulder here and there. Definitely surfable. In fact well within surfable range.. enjoyable even.. in fact.. why the fuck didn't i paddle out?? .. but.. i wanted to get home to finish up this little project i've been working on. I saw a few niceness heads in the parking lot (bird, lewis) suiting up.. Maybe they have some more encouraging words to say about the morning's surf?

tomorrow should be a whole different scene at the beach.. 18ft 17seconds at the papa buoy right now. deeeamn.. Mavs anyone? north county santa cruz should be en fuego. hmmm... we'll see what happens.. kind-of a bummer that the recent daylight savings shift cuts an hour out of the dawn-patrol.. who needs the extra daylight in the friggin windy afternoons?? I'm all for a year-long daylight savings. no switch-back. dawn patrollers, ya feel me?

shit.. i guess that's about all i have to say this morning.. I was re-reading some of the old surf reports and felt embarrassed about the flowery, unnecessary, overly descriptive language used by yours truly. Geez.. i literally cringed.. so bad.. but.. so many times I'll be talking with someone and they will mention the surf report and remark that their favorite part is the comments section. I'll be all curious about whether they like my writing, and they'll respond, "yeah, whatever, i usually skip it. What i really like are all the comments and the conversation/arguments that happen within the community." Or maybe they'll be like, "you use too many big words, just stick to the pictures and the strait surf report, and let the commenters have they're way." Again and again people seem to enjoy and take pleasure in the multiple-perspectives and personalities on display. Everybody's always like, "yeah, Kaiser is so funny." .. or "it's cool when one of the women chimes in with a female perspective." or "Why is blakestah so cocky." or "aren't you scared of BVB?"

soo.. just wanted to pass that on.

Albert Reyes street drawing (from fecalface.com)

bigfoot

tiffany bozic drawing

jeremy fish - stylie!

Another windy morning in April. Spring has sprung i guess. Ugly and sloppy at the beach.. but.. maybe just barely within surfable range? dunno.. depends on your state of mind. SF buoy 6ft 11sec. Papa buoy (about 24 hours away for NW swells) down to 11ft 8sec. So.. the swell is going to diminish before the new blakestah-predicted groundswell arrives. We'll see what happens. Thursday or friday might be a good time to take off work and cruise down to Santa Crowded. My friend Kus is in San Diego and had this to say about the surfing experience yesterday,

"checked the reefs in la jolla today a lot, but Blacks had the juice. got in a nice sesh there tonight - dolphin all swimming around me, seal duckin' under my board, about 10 steep and grabby lefts and a few mellow workable rights ----and I actually saw and chatted up with two dudes who i have seen in bay head, nj surfing... the one dude moved out here in october and the other i saw surfing only a few weeks ago at my favorite jetty in nj. dude who lives in san diego now rips, saw him LAND a 180 grab and land on the face, then slide a 180 back to going frontside...he is sick. blacks is nice, just too many bodies."

also our boy Bagel returned triumphantly from a seemingly stellar week in Namotu. He sent some pics so i'll post em' up.

I really wish i had some type of babelfish device that sits in your inner-ear and automatically translates what people of various languages are saying. that would be sweet.

ahh.. work beckons!

Bagel's Fijian Sojourn

good morning.
Onshores blew all night, bringing some ruckus and general dishevelment out there. I didn't actually check it this morning but i saw the ocean surface from 4 blocks away and it didn't look great, though it didn't look abysmally horrible either. With a positive outlook and some deep-seeded surf-jones you might score a session somewhere?

This weekend ushered in some playful, well-shaped oceanic undulations. Surfed OB early saturday morning and had a good time with the Lerm in some bigger, racy, performance waves.. then i drove down to Montara in the afternoon for a hike and noticed with bemused pleasure glassy, welcoming waves along Devil's slide. A gaggle of wave-riders worked the right-breaking peak at the north end of the ol' nude beach. Looked fun. We then hiked up Montara mountain (this time i didn't notice any faces in the rocks or communicative swarms of gnats) and got to see the aireal perspective of Linda Mar from way up high. cool.

Soo.. then yesterday ended up a total P-town day for me. North end of lindy with the entire population of bay-area surfers (maybe 150 people out at Linda Mar Sunday morning?).. good waves though. long rides on a few distinct peaks. I got blatently dropped in on during a sweet left and the guy refused to kick out even after i gave him a few friendly "woo woos" (bruce actually caught the transgression on film.. soo.. if you know the guy be sure to give him a hard time!) I don't want to make fun of anyone's surfing style but i've never seen anyone pump more aggressively than this guy.. he was a fairly decent surfer.. but.. he would exagerate his pumps and maneuvers to such a degree that it was a bit perplexing and weird looking. tossin' pizzas or something.

ANYway.. enough of being critical.. god knows my own surfing suffers horribly from kookiness and unbalanced stylings.. soo.. then after an early afternoon of jamming, skating, chilling, lunching.. it felt time for another surf.. so i cruised back to P-town and hit "the rock". just a few of us milking the squirty, sometimes-lined-up rights amidst the cacophony of mucked choppiness. Nice not to have to duckdive. Ended up catching maybe 10 or 15 quick rides.. nothing fantastic but a momentary clean face on almost all of 'em as the waves sucked up on a shallow sandbar and cleaned themselves up as they broke. can't complain. Pretty windy out there but i've found that wearing earplugs makes you less sensitive to the vagaries of annoyingly blustery wind.

sweet.. hope y'all scored some juice this weekend. any stories?

Bruce pics from friday at Ocean Beach, SF (surfhumor.com)

random action shots of a niceness fan (also shot by Bruce)

drop-in

Brutal this morning out at the beach. Lerm and I charged it near the middle and i just got my ass whooped and spanked and molested... and not in a good way! ermm. i mean.. uhh.. It was as if OB prepared this exquisite feast for me.. cooked it up all night.. then presented to me this shining, brilliant silver platter filled with fruit cake and gravy and trimmings but with my ass plastered right in the middle. yup.. got my ass handed to me on a silver platter. fuuck. From the great highway there looked to be some makeable sections on the outside and maybe only 3 or 4 rows of meandering white-water to punch through to get out. ha ha ha ha!! Can you say rejected! yup.. I really didn't even get close to the outside this morning.. After getting sucked south 4 blocks in 10 minutes and making very little headway.. Maybe 25 duckdives to the wind with maybe 50 more to get outside.. my head felt like it would freeze and then shatter into millions of pieces.. kinda like the bad-guy in Terminator 2 when they pour the liquid nitrogen on him. god damn.. worst ice-cream headache of my life.. even worse than from the south philly italian water ices i used to snarf down too quickly as a kid. I mean. i was literally grasping my head with my hands in an effort to warm up. off my board just floating.. doing everything possible to keep my head above water. I think it's time for a hood. for sure.. The other thing making the paddle out tough was the fact that the destination, the outside lineup, looked anything but inviting. Overhead++ chunky mounds of destruction looked like some type of hell's watery chamber of death.. they spit, raged, pounded, closed-out, and just snarled with this menacing, "don't fuck with me you cretin surfer!" look to them.. soo.. it wasn't like there were perfect waves beckoning at the end of the rainbow to make the multi-multi-duckdive paddle-out worth it. I felt bad for Lerm because he was actually making some progress but i lost the spirit for it early and just kinda floated there, dejected but relieved at not having to suffer through more ice-cream headache.. I think that my giving up effected his own drive.. but.. just before arriving at the last little push before making it outside.. Lerm got nailed by a larger set and ended up floating in...

one of the worst sessions of my life. but still kinda fun.

soo. upwelling? why is it so cold?

god.. SC county might be good-times later with the lower tide.. all y'all wally-work-at-homers and umberto-unemployeds and freddy-flexible-schedule and terrence-trustafarian and inglebert-internet-millionaire get yo arse down there and get some o dat.

bruce took some solid photos from yesterday at OB (www.surfhumor.com)

Lewis with a mellow turn

some scroungy lame-wad tranny kook looking for the pit

yet another newbie wannabee stink-buggin' ugly-arse desperato tryin' to throw some spray

geez - not this guy again!

professor clueless about to run over lewis

Arose early in preparation for probable driving for surf. Instead ended up 6 blocks from my house. Crisp offshore flow barely tickled the back of my neck. Disheveled, thick, munching, overhead nasties rose and thwumped on the outer bars. It didn't look obviously doable from the lot, but there were slight lulls between detonating sets and the surface seemed to be borderline glassy even. Knowing how dismal conditions would most likely be south of the city?? i opted to just jump in and "see what happens." Nobody out as i started paddling.. but.. then out of nowhere farking speed-demon Lewis blew right by me. Before i knew it he had barely squeaked under an approaching set just as the first wave exploded right in my face.. I tried to duckdive but my board got ripped from my hands.. Just as i surfaced i see Lewis take off on a sizeable, chunky left.. he flies by and then the wave just crushes me. I think i could actually hear the wave giggling as it reared up to annihilate my insignificant measly little human arse. This occured after about 10 minutes of paddling-out and maybe 20 duckdives so the ice-cream headache was throbbing and forcing me to just float and hold my head with my hands in a vain attempt to warm up... Shit.. i considered for one moment just calling it a sesh and paddling in.. but.. I let the lesson in humility wash over and just hopped back on my board and continued paddling and duck-diving.. grimacing through the ice-cream headaches.. fark... but.. finally i'm out and the session is on. End up catching about 9 or 10 solid, racy waves. Didn't have perfect balance for a few so kinda kooked on some sections with a high-potential for rippage. I found my way into the mouth-of-the-barrel on a few rights. Steep, ledgy drops that opened into some smooth, conical, quarter-pipe-like play-zones. Lots of waves. constant waves.

soo.. the SF buoy is actually down to 7ft 7seconds.. but.. conditions felt bigger than that, for sure. The winds are still light.. 4mph out of the west. It's probably still on for all y'all 10am heads. Who knows what will happen later with the low tide. With this nice windswell with lots of waves north santa cruz county might be enjoyable. Even if it's crowded, as long as there are loads of waves for eveybody.. everybody's happy.

for all the Serena Brooke fans

t-poo
(www.tostee.com)

rochelle

keala - charging

Rick Kane modern style