Another raining day here in paradise! I tried to motivate yesterday and get a session in before the winds whipped up and got out of control with the pending storm. Meager swell, knee slappers at best, onshore winds and dirty rain water told me it was a bad idea. Days like this make me yern for some surf. The office is slow and not very busy, I have way too much time on my hands and need to get in the water to mellow out. Perfect for some mid day surf at the beach or just chillin in the sun. But, that is not the case this week. Instead, a nice cup of rain and a poo donut....

It also looks like the rain is going to stick around for a bit as well. Weather reports last night mentioned a 10-14 day pattern similar to what we have now. They called it the "pineapple express", pulling warmer air from areas near Hawaii and bringing them northward to collide with cooler air from the north. And of course this is all centered right on top of us. Sweet! Stoked!

Outside, the current conditions look like this:
local wind - 12 mph WSW
sf bouy - 9.2 @ 8 sec.
bouy wind - WSW - SW about 10 knots
rain - likely
poo - highly likely

In world news, there is more on the Tsumani's in Asia. Last night, there was another tsunami warning issued for the coastline of southeastern India. The result of an aftershock within the region. Death toll is well over 120,000 now and it will continue to climb. There are also some pretty horrific home videos showing the wave action as well as the resulting floods which took a lot of lives.

Here are some messages I found off SurferMag:

Aceh Northern Sumatra has been devastated by the Tsunami. TV images are starting to come in from helicopters.... no-one has set foot in the area since the quake. Monster waves demolished everything up to 2 Km inland. The destruction looks more like a Hiroshima than the shocking images we have all seen so far from other areas - No green trees standing, no bright colors anywhere, just mud and destruction. 17 towns on the mainland had populations of over 35,000, but communications are down, no word yet from survivors. The offshore islands had a combined population of maybe 10,000. The entire SW Aceh region has maybe 1 million residents all up and a large proportion live along the coast.

The Indonesian Vice President fears over 25,000 have been killed, with hundreds of thousands homeless.
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"The latest news i got from the local TV in Indonesia is what the people need in Aceh are Volunteers and body bags. I heard in Lhokseumawe 80% of the population has passed away. So tragic. Aceh really-really is totally damaged."
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This is one of the sadest pictures I have seen:

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Check out this shot!

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Sri Lanka

Bummer! I wrote a really long post this morning and the site timed out trying to post it... Sucks...

Anyway, I caught up on a bunch of news relating the earthquake in Asia. There have been some pretty good reports from other news agencies outside of the US (go figure!). All in all, I don't think we will ever know the devastation first hand. Our US news has a flare for the "hardest hit, most populated, etc." where other news agencies usually report more factual information as opposed to the most dramatic. I would rather get first or second or third had accounts from those which witnesses it. So, here is a little round up of some news if you are interested:

Message on the Mentawai's:
"To give everyone the best update possible - the northern area of the Mentawai Islands off the south end of Siberut did not experience any dramatic problems. I spoke with a good friend of mine who is living on an island over there and he told me firsthand, where he was, the water level got extremely high, then low, high, then low in the course of an hour but that was the extent of it. He didn't know how other areas fared but Padang and its surrounding area including all of the surf charter boats harbored there were not impacted at all.

As far as Bali goes, it's nowhere near the epicenter and was not in harms way for this. I have heard that the north tip of Nias suffered some flooding but if you've been to this area of the world you know how close the people live in proximity to the ocean and when something like this occurs it can be disastrous."

Surf Aid Site Message:
"SurfAid International would like to express our deepest condolences and heartfelt wishes for everyone affected by this tragedy. Initial reports have stated that the Mentawai Islands were not directly impacted by the full brunt of the tsunami that hit other areas throughout SE Asia and that everything appears to be fine overall. News from Padang is equally optimistic with no reports of damaging tides or extreme tidal influences affecting the city or local harbors."

Sumatra:
Allegedly, the quake shoved the entire island of Sumatra about 100 feet to the southwest. - Crazy shit! Mother Nature has a way of sending a pretty strong message.

Reports of over 50,000 casulties thus far. Can only imagine what the final number will be....

In local news, our rains have stopped for the time being. Winds have shifted overnight and now are running NE/E today. The swell has also composed itself and if you just looked at the bouys and the wind, we should be getting some seriously good surf. But, the storm mucked things. I am sure the discharge/runoff was pretty heavy yesterday and into last night. All the OB monitoring stations had the beach posted from yesterday morning. All San Mateo beaches haven't been updated since 12/22 so be careful if you paddle out down there. I will keep ya posted on the comments side if I see any different. I might head out later if my back feels good and the water isn't too smelly.....

Post Christmas blues this morning in more ways then one!

The rain is mucking things up out there in a big way. Not much traffic to contend with this morning but plenty of overflowing gutters, bad drivers and overall crappy conditions. Rain spattering my windshield as I cruised thru the city on my way to work. The bouys are up, SF Bouy reading 11.2 @ 15 sec right now and the winds are somewhat variable but the rain water will turn you into an alien for sure. Be careful if you head out in the next 24-72 hours. Watch out for little green (or brown) floaties.

Also bummed out that this weather system has crushed our good run of offshores. Christmas Day served me up one of my favorite sessions of the year. If anyone was out before 2:00 p.m., you know what I am talking about. I only wish I had arrived at the beach 30 minutes before I did. What a great day of surf! One to remember that is for sure. Now back to some sad news....

Probably the biggest bummer of today is the results of the earthquake/tsunami that occured in Southeast Asia/Indonesia over the weekend. Reports have the death toll between 12,000 and 20,000 right now but I am sure it is more like 50,000 to 75,000. That might be aggressive but if you have ever traveled to any of these places, you know the type of ramshackle places many of the inhabitants live in. Being dependent upon what the ocean provides them, most of these people live near the water line as a means of subsistance. Lack of unified building codes, lack of natural resources, lack of money; all contribute to the devastation.

Some pics I found of an actual tidal surge/tidal wave:

Gooooooooood Morning....

Fresh off my Christmas Eve breakfast at Art's Cafe this morning! I haven't checked the surf yet this morning but given the conditions yesterday afternoon, I am sure there will be some fun out there at certain times today. The last few days have been fairly fun, uncrowded and really pleasant. Let's hope for more of the same over the next few days as well! I hear there is some rain in the forecast for early next week. Right now, we still have those pesky offshore winds and that crappy long period stuff....I can only assume it is about 2 ft and really crummy out there right now........Hmmmm.

No need to type anything more, there is surf to be had so I am heading out.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you still checking the site. If you head out for a surf, bring a smile and share some waves!

Looks like some of that pre-forecasted 20 sec. energy is showing its face already today. Conditions were below par to me this morning but I got a little pre-holiday surf in with my cell phone friend. We made the most of it but nothing to write home about or even share. The sunrise was nice I guess.

I am feeling a bit uninspired today so have at it on the booger-blog.

Here are a couple of public service announcements which you might be interested in:

NORTH SHORE, OAHU, Hawaii – The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing is set to broadcast six original, one-hour shows from the famed North Shore of Oahu. All the exciting drama ranging from the Triple Crown’s historic showdowns and legendary players to the crowning of the prestigious 2004 series championship will air on Fox Sports Net (FSN) at 3:00 p.m. regionally on 12/21, 12/23, 12/28, 12/30, 1/12/05 and 1/19/05.

Fuel TV:
Surf Adventures (Friday, Dec. 31 @ 9:00pm ET/PT) - A documentary about Brazil's best surfers, surfing at some of the best beaches in Hawaii, Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa and California. The surfers also talk about their professional and personal experiences, each describing the places they visit.

WCT Qualifiers for next year:
http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Number=640369

A couple of sic shots from Mexi: (hope you don't mind Mexi)

Hello all! Hope you don't mind a little curveball this morning as E is gonzo until after New Years I think so I am going to try and keep the blog rolling.

I headed out for my daily DP check this morning and was quite surprised to see such an absence of others. Heading down towards the beach, the sun was rising with a clear absence of fog or anything else which typically prohibits surf. The water was looking really clean and fun. Sure, the tide was making it phatty but whatever, I wanted some waves. I am not sure if any of you have been struggling the same way I have with these short days. Makes the DP short, makes the afternoon run to the beach almost impossible, basically shortens my window for possible surf each and every day. Combine that with the cold air and the never-really-dry wetsuit, not pleasant. First light at 7:00 or so, last light just before 5:00. Winter Solstice they call it and thankfully, today, is the shortest day of the year:

Winter Solstice:
In astronomy, the solstice is either of the two times a year when the Sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator, the great circle on the celestial sphere that is on the same plane as the earth's equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice occurs either December 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Capricorn; the summer solstice occurs either June 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Cancer. In the Southern Hemisphere, the winter and summer solstices are reversed. The winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The sun appears at its lowest point in the sky, and its noontime elevation appears to be the same for several days before and after the solstice. Hence the origin of the word solstice, which comes from Latin solstitium, from sol, "sun" and -stitium, "a stoppage." Following the winter solstice, the days begin to grow longer and the nights shorter.

So, despite the "short" morning window, I jumped in for some waves. Surfed by myself in front of one of the parking lots for a good solid hour. I only saw 4 other heads bobbing in the water. Where was everyone? Too cold? Too early? On vacation? Sign of things to come? I hope so... The tide made some of the drops pretty bumpy and as a result, I had some feable attempts at getting to my feet. When you got into a good one, the rides were pretty fun if you got a good wall. Overall, good fun sitting by myself as the sun rose up.

Its out there and with the dropping tide you might find some good ones! Shorter period then we have been seeing lately but still worth the effort.

I was watching Surfing Hollow Days the other night as I feel asleep and was inspired by some of the old surfing characters. So, tomorrow I might roll out a little ditty on this guy:

Fun, empty waves this morning. A few chunky, voluminous grinders in the mix. Get changed in your heated car because it’s farking FREEZING out there. Nobody around through most of the beach. Find a sandbar and commune with the waves all by your lonesome.

Yesterday, however, more people than I’ve ever seen along our local stretch. Every person in the bay area that could get their hands on a surfboard made it out. Maybe 1000 surfers between dawn and noon? Probably more. Gentle, fun, offshore-groomed head-high peaks. I watched literally 12 people paddle into the same ledging closeout. It was ridiculously crowded… And I was part of the crowd! Nevertheless there were plenty to go around. Good to see Steamwand out there.

Saturday saw some bombs at local spots. All day the swell pumped and unloaded. Heaving, double-overhead, top-to-bottom pounders cascaded in from 2000 miles away. I paddled out on Goodmorning’s old 7’6” minigun. (Goodmorning you rule!) After some board-ditching and salt-water inhalation and general inside mayhem I made it out and waited for a wave. My boy Brett took off on the first wave of the next set, a large, overhead++ left that he worked down the line. A second wave wafted toward me and I saw that it was really A-framing and bowling up. Without much time for reflection I started paddling and fading into the deeper part of the wave. The bowl began to suck and cavern and suddenly the offshores were blinding me and I was pointing near strait down.. A few more paddles and I was over the ledge and pigdogging the gun into oblivion. Elevator-drop-style. I barely held my line but made it down and through the drop, with a fantastic view of the large, thick, groundswell wall reaching out to my left. I was still in a critical part of the wave, with foam and gurgles all around.. I could feel the barrel behind me and see the large, oval shape of the wave reach up over my left shoulder. Fucking speeed too!! Daamn!! Big waves rule! A great session with some other rides that I’ll remember for a while. One good over-the-falls wipeout too!

Thursday night I got a call from Jocular that he was set up with a house off Bonny Doon road, near Davenport. With the new swell supposed to peak Friday morning I packed up Goodmorning’s gun and drove down to Santa Cruz County. Jocular and I ended up surfing large, girthy, mega-juice pointbreak rights for 2.5 hours with only two other dudes. For some reason there weren’t many people out looking for surf as the swell raged in Santa Cruz County. Even the Lane wasn’t that crowded?? Dunno why. But.. God damn, pointbreaks on a big swell with little crowd can’t be beat!! Some long rides were had. Maybe longest rides ever for me? Goodmorning, that board fucking rawks!! Sick! One of the dudes out there with us broke his leash and his board floated all the way into to the beach. It was getting bashed on some rocks pretty good. He tried to swim into the beach (a little pocket beach) to recover it and ended up getting sucked the wrong way by the brisk current. Next thing he knows he’s getting thrashed against a sea-stack. Bang! Bang! Worked! We didn’t even notice but his other friend luckily took a wave all the way in and saw his friend in trouble and helped him out of the bind. Crazy! A good lesson to have an escape plan if you loose your board and have to swim in. This guy didn’t play it right and ended up with gashes on his face and body!

Anyhoo! I’m out for two weeks! I think that Kaiser Sose will be updating the reports.

Thanks for reading and have a rippy holiday!

a few pipe shots
settin' up for the pit

pigdog pull-up

glassy cavern

another pigdog fan

settin' it up

is pigdogging just a passing trend?

soon to be pitted

E is absent from school today!

Enjoy the day, enjoy the sunshine, enjoy the RipCurl Pro at Pipe, enjoy smoking the pipe, enjoy the food you eat today, enjoy your weekend, enjoy sitting behind your computer at work, enjoy the 15 minute paddle out, enjoy the pause before dropping in, enjoy the wind whipping in your face, enjoy Bruce's pics from this morning, enjoy watching from the lot, enjoy the music you are listening to, smile......

A stiff NE wind howled through the city this morning. Garbage pails knocked over. Feisty raccoons rummaging through the strewn refuse. Big, “Gnarles in Charge” widow-makers loomed in from the deep. Currently 7ft 19seconds on the SF buoy. A few local spots offered respite from the angry ministrations of the recently awakened Pacific. One ride stood out within an otherwise frustration session. See an overhead A-frame approaching. Paddle out to meet it. I’m closer to the left but can probably navigate a backdoorish takeoff on the right. Spin and power-paddle as wave starts to jack. Soft pounce to feet and immediately hug the wall and slide-slip down the face. Wave barrels behind me but I can’t slow down enough to get in there. Whip down the line for a moment and then set inside rail and carve hard, arcing back around into the whitewater. Bounce off and finish ride on niggly remainder of open face. Fun wave. Also witnessed some incredibly beautiful barrels. Offshore-whipped, gaping, spine-cracking, hypnotic oval cylinders. Churning along the sandbars. Didn’t see anyone get any. Last 30 minutes I caught 0 waves and couldn’t escape the crowd. Then, while poaching on the inside, got caught inside by a set and had my wetsuit ripped open and water completely flushed through my still shivering nakedness! Then coming in I was riding the whitewater on my belly and the wave kind-of doubled up and somehow I ended up pearling and whipping end over end in the shallows, getting flushed again then drug along the bottom and enjoying that sand deep-in-every-crevice feeling! Yay!!! Then I saw Loon coming out of the water and he was like, “What’s wrong homie?”

Soo.. it’s out there.. Middle of the beach for the hell-boys. Other spots for the whimpies.

shit is gonna hit the proverbial fizzan tomorrow!! papa buoy at 17ft 17seconds. Winter is here!

Dogger sent this photo of the Lane a few days back

A few Loon shots from a mysto wave south of P-town

Rocky photo from somewhere in LA County (it goes off down there!)

Honolua Bay yesterday. Cripes!!!

Party wave at the Eddie (Bruce Irons won it... now.. can he also requalify for hte CT? He lost his first round heat and has to get to the Quarters i think. It's all on the line for Brucey)

sick Eddie shots from Kaginba!!

Gorgeous, macking, poorly-shaped outer bar dumpers. Spectacular morning. Sunny, 65 degrees, light offshores. One guy way way way out the back. I didn’t see him paddle for any during the 10 minutes I watched. The paddle out actually didn’t look tooo bad. Most waves were big and burgery. The right place at the right time could find you slingshotting down the face of Norpac groundswell behemoth. But for the most part conditions were mushy and inconsistent.... and big. Not much of a low tide until after dark so the options get pretty slim. If you’ve got your favorite higher tide big swell spot go hit it and don’t tell anyone about it... except me if ya want! ha.

Supposedly they’re running the The Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau at Waimea Bay today. Anyone know if there’s a live webcast?

Pipeline was so fun to watch yesterday. It was cool to observe all the lineup jockeying and pre-wave positioning of the ASP guys. Jamie O’Brian seemed to bully Taj off the main peak. People faking like they’re going left just so another guy can’t go (interference call) and then going right. People taking off SOOO DEEEP at Backdoor and just plugging themselves into brutal, cavernous pits. Ledging drops. That wave is awesome!!!

Got a call from Jocular Jake that he’s back in California and maybe living in Santa Cruz for the next few weeks. Anybody out there work for a santa-cruz-based Bioinformatics company and want a bright young spark to join the ranks?

SUuurrff!!

Slates at Backdoor

backhand gauge but the Naughty one

artist named Poch

Pleasurable, punchy head-high peaks. Prototypical grey, chilly foreboding weather. Plenty of action throughout Bay Area beaches. Lerm and I found our own peak but then ended up surfing with Lewis and a few of his ripper friends. One friend was exploding off the lip. Taking no mercy on the pitchy, high-performance walls. Saw him arc a beautiful, full-speed roundhouse cutback and then rebound off the whitewater and link two more heavy turns and then a rotating air attempt off the closeout at the end of the ride. Shreddding. Lots of opportunities for big moves and even some cover-ups if you’re of the barrel-hound ilk. SF buoy at 4.2 ft 14seconds and there are a lot of waves coming through. Outer buoys are jumping (California buoy at 17ft 15seconds) so get it now “for tomorrow we die.”

Killer rides this morning. Thank you Huey!!! Steep and deep.

remember that local 415 and BVB and Sally Bendover and many others are all Bad Vibe Bob, possibly the most effective troll of all time. Don't let him ruffle your feathers.

have fun.

ripper chicks

Surrfff!! Damn.. it’s been happenin’ around here lately. Saturday was just risickulous out at the local beachie. The kind-of day where grizzled, seasoned veterans of OB creep out of the woodwork with their trusty 8 foot rhino-chaser and gnarled, hooded wetsuit. Extra-large, seductively perfect, horridly punishing freight-train barrels roared and fired as the tide sucked out toward the end of the day. I’m sure many honorable charger sacked up and scored epic rides. Good on ya! I ended up jumping in the back seat of my friend’s truck and adventuring south in search of sculpted point or reef. Ended up surfing a new spot, an overhead, suckout, character-rich reefbreak. Good times.

This morning saw a serious decrease in oceanic energy. Lerm picked me up and we wondered around for a spell. Lerm spun yarns of his recent East-Asian sojourn. The blackened, hyper-polluted river in Humen,China. The Bladerunner-esque super-modernity of Taipei, Taiwan. The fun, surprisingly powerful surf. The ridiculous traffic scenes. Tallest building on earth. Magical dragon sculptures adorning ancient Buddhist temples. Amazing food. Strikingly beautiful women with a penchant for white men!! Hmmmm… Anyway… we eventually suited up and paddled out at a never-before-surfed-by-us San Mateo county steep-beach spot. What looked to be mellow from afar ended up being surprisingly daunting and gnarly in the water. Thick, open-ocean swells rolled in and either backed-off until exploding in the shore-pound or hammered and rifled along, sometimes offering fast, high-performance sections… sometimes… We had a good time all by our lonesome. There is so much local coastline that rarely gets surfed. If you’re bumming about the crowds at VFWs or Rockaway or the points, get out there and poke your head around corners that you’ve considered but never explored.

Surrfff!

interesting non-surf-related blog about political blogging

off the wall a few days back

mavs

Rocky sent a few photos in

local tow-in

Howdy.
Woke up early and drove for a while looking for waves.
Assumed total skunkage but then pulled in for a quick session at cesspool point.
Traded waves with a grisled old-timer.
A few ill-shaped-but-peeling rights offered themselves.
Good vibes in the water.
Bad smells in the water!
Enjoyed the glide on a few.
Pumped on a few.
Kooked on a few.

Massive waves still in the ocean.
Corduroy out to the horizon.
Offshores.

Local beach looking awesome for the hell-chargers.
Doable with nobody out.
Great day for outer-bar stand-up barrels.
Take the 7’6” streamlined semi-gun for a spin… if you like that stuff.
I saw a few gruesome, bombing, peeling leviathans.

If you like big, serious, accessible, uncrowded Nor-Cal power today’s your day.
Don't worry about the kooky crowds because we won't be gettin' out!

Photos from wavescape.co.za

pipeline pics from Sargesdailysurf.com

Barrelled

Ho daddy!! Massive waves pounding the coast right now. California buoy at 18ft 17seconds!!! Large! All the “Do not swim it’s polluted here” signs were up along the beach last night. Maybe take your 10ft log out at Norismegma for a leisurely paddle. PSYCHE!! Man.. a few spots from Big Sur to the Russian River will be firing on all cylinders today. If you’re blessed with the ability and lack-of-work, have a great time, get shacked, enjoy it. If you’re underskilled, maybe just watch and soak it in from afar. No joke winter-in-norcal kinda day.

But.. sorrowfully.. like most of y’all, I made my way to the 9-5 this morning. Rode my bike through the damp, muddy park and then past Alamo Square. An uncanny succession of events earlier in the morning made me irritable and angry. I spilled my milk and cereal all over my couch after tripping on a juggling ball. My bike tire was flat and I had to walk to the gas station to pump it up. I forgot my keys and had to call my landlord to let me back in. A huge dollop of water splashed down on me as I slammed my door in frustration. It seemed that one thing after another went against me. The angrier I got, the more things seemed to plot to irritate. I started sprinting down the street and my chain ripped off. ARrggh!! I dismounted to fix the chain and in my aggressive movements cut my calf on the exposed crank!! Arggh!! So.. that’s how my morning progressed as I rode to work. Fuming with anger, I could feel my breathing grow heavy and deliberate. My muscles felt taught and enraged. A huge glob of phlegm built up in my nose as I rode my bike. I blew a snot-rocket and proceeded to smear it all over my arm!! ARGGGh!! Now I was really pissed. My other nostril was also chock-full of juice so I heaved another snot-rocket toward the ground. To my utter amazement the snot-rocket propelled from my nostril with vehement force and shattered the asphalt with a violent explosion! What the fuck!! Quickly I felt as if some inner demon took over my person and I soon started blowing snot-rockets in every direction. I shot one at a car and the thing exploded right next to me and went whirling through the air. I snot-rocketed this pigeon up in a tree and the whole tree exploded and sailed off into the distance. Suddenly I felt like some psychodelic Incredible Hulk as my body grew and bulged into this heaving, blood-red, muscular mutant. Only rags remained and my teeth grew into these wicked fangs. Soon I was downtown, ravaging the populous with my snot-rocket explosives. City Hall demolished. I was stomping and tearing and crushing and pummeling. Roaring with excessive rage!!! Arrgggh!!!! I picked this huge booger and hurled it down Market street. The thing exploded and huge crater was left in its wake. Arggh!!! Death!! Destruction!!!! Arggghhgh!! Soon much of downtown was ruined. Nothing but rubble and blood, dust and whimpering. But then the skies opened up and this beautiful, elegant pink flamingo came flying down and landed on my shoulder. It had some calming effect on me and I shrank back down to my normal self. Snot still oozed from my nose but now it just stung as I sniveled and wiped. I looked around me and took in the destruction meted out by my own hands. Total annihilation. I kept sniveling and soon began to cry. All this rage and violence. All this injustice and cruelty. From my own hands. I started to cry. I started to wail. My tears began streaming down. After a while I opened my eyes and was awestruck at what happened before me. As each of my tears hit the ground the destruction was rectified. Each tear seemed to return the ground/buildings/people around it back to their former shape. I continued crying, now both with sadness and happiness. I ran around the city, balling my eyes out, returning each block to its former self.

Then I went to work.

SURRRRFF!!

Neal photos from Pipe yesterday - www.hisurfadvisory.com

RIP Dimebag Darrell

surfing rules
talking about surfing is fun but frowned upon by many
If it's crowded try to find your own peak
Hold onto your board at all costs
Project good vibes if possible
Give a wave

didn't check it this morning. i'm out of the loop. Pouring rain and wind all night but this morning seemed calmer out at the beach. Foggy but kinda balmy. Might be possible for the brave and stoutly immune.

Pipeline contest is on! Check out triplecrownofsurfing.com for the full scoop

reading through some of the old posts last night i cringed at how ego-centric and arrogant i sound at times. sorry about that. Someone has been grilling me for it the last few weeks and that person has a point. i suck!

A few photos of the Caribean (shot by Liquid)

Lerm just returned from two weeks in Taiwan and China.. here are a few snaps.

Out of the loop this morning. Opted to sleep in. A cursory glance at the ocean showed wild, wind-whipped sea-sickness. However, there is no wind right now and the buoys look promising. (10ft 11sec at the sf buoy). With the 2pm low tide some of you with more flexible work-schedules may be able to finagle a few gliders here or there.

Here’s something written by the J.O.C. for the last issue of Niceness the Mag. Hopefully we’ll hear more from this talented scribe in the next issue of Niceness, due out after New Years. The assignment of this piece was to explore the relationship between music and surfing. Enjoy.

---------

When considering the dual analogies for life of surfing and music, I always thought that as a surfer, my energy would be like that of a jamming guitar. It turns out I was wrong. For surfing, there is the action of the surfer and the movement of the wave. For music, there is the steady rhythm and a freely shaped melody. And surfer is beat and wave is melody. Like I said, I always wanted my surfing to be a beautiful guitar solo, but the wave gets that honor. It is the wave’s shape, like the melody, which controls my emotions. Happy, light soaring, or heavy, thumping darkness. Mellow, or critical? We, surfers, are rhythm. All the moves are in frequency with the speed at which you are traveling. “Curren drops a good beat.” A pattern fit together, to fit a wave or fit a song. Bouncing techno, smash through the beat with your heels, be a raging ripping machine. Or feel the infinity of a single note, no rhythm needed, hold still and balance inside the sustained barrel.

Surfing makes you better at music, and music makes you better at surfing. After all, each is a type of self progression where you learn from the experience, and the experience of each is an interaction with a flow of energy. So one can help the other. Grab a pair of bongo drums, and practice laying down your cutbacks, gauges, and snaps in a rhythmic link. Visualize acoustically. Or grab an electric guitar, hit a long, wailing note, and be the best screaming barrel you can be.

I think Flamenco is the most stylish surfing. Soulful, certainly. Something in that deep song matches the passion of the ocean. And the incredibly paced energetic picking of the classical guitar conjures an image of a never-ending point break on a lush tropical coastline with set after roping set. Dance your feet to the flowing melody, as the wave speeds you along in perfectly morphing form. Garcia Lorca would have been an excellent surfer. Surfers are aesthetic poets.

Most importantly, perhaps we can project these experiences with energy onto the experience of life. Feel the highway rushing underneath your car, Time, and let the road roll up behind you and throw a barrel of the Universe over your head. Carve, sculpt your life, with enthusiasm.

Feel the beauty of floating in your favorite jam of music, “you can feel good about Hood,” and the joy of floating in the sea as groomed peaks flow from the horizon, and bring this Love into your life. Burst with it.
Rejoice. Know the Energy.

J.O.C.
-----

Typical crowds at our favorite spot (photo by Teeple)

Teeple shot of a some brutality

Walker submitted a few cool pics of a big day somewhere north of Point Conception

Largish wind-blown power lines out there today. Not for the faint-of-heart. Nobody out through the north end around 7am. A few voodoo outside bombs on offer for those gifted in the ways of positioning, duckdiving and paddling. Maybe best on a tow-in foil board to avoid the knee-quaking chop. Winds blowing pretty strong out of the SSW. Yesterday saw some offshore-whipped Nor-Cal winter juice. A few takers made a go, including Elias, who supposedly garnered a few hoots from the beach with some polished, sack-filled drops. Suuurrrfff!!

Nothing like the feeling of paddling into one of your larger waves of the year.. The kind when you have to literally paddle down the face a few strokes before standing up. The kind when you see it on the horizon and get a few butterflies in your stomach while putting yourself directly in harms way, under the rising ledge. Offshore wind and spray clouding your vision, hoots emanating from the channel, wave growing and steepening… threatening. Pop up to your feet low and steady, accelerate down the face, board chattering, wall growing and inviting.. thigh-melting bottom turn as you point down the line. Big waves rule.

This morning I rode my bike to work. Passing Hastings Law School near the civic center I noticed a police car stop abruptly up ahead. I noticed a man and a women tussling against a building. The cops ran out of their car and began yelling at the fighters. Just then I stopped my bike to observe the melee. It looked to be a pimp and his ho duking it out in the Tenderloin. Probably some Monday morning money squabble. The cops asked what was going on and both responded, “nothin’.” The women had long gold extensions in her hair and some scratches and cuts on her face. She wore tight, skanky, “Loin-chic” jeans and tanktop. The dude looked native American, or mixed race. He wore a villainous, dastardly expression and had the standard grubby, G-Unit “Loin-chic” jumpsuit. They continued yelling at each other, even as the cops stepped in.. “Bitch, where’s my money!” “I ain’t got no money!” etc.. The cops had to hold them at bay and began to take out the handcuffs.. Just then I noticed a strange look cross the faces of the pimp and ho. They seemed to stare at each other with fixed attention. I then noticed that the women’s eyes began to bug-out, and then actually pop out of her head! Slimy, dripping, fleshy snake-like tentacles reached out of each eye-socket, with her eye still gazing and staring at the end of the elongated coil. The pimp's eyes did the same thing at the same time and the cops just stood there in amazement. The four eyes grooved and meandered at the end of their stalks and started to form into this complicated arrangement. A wet, gargling sound gurgled out of their heads as the tendrils grew and moved. The snake-like tentacles formed into this grotesque, bloody, dripping Celtic configuration and then froze as the geometry became perfectly symmetric. Just then a dark, seething red laser jettisoned from the center of the Celtic pattern and vaporized the two cops. The eyes then quickly receded into each of their heads. The pimp and ho then turned to me and gave me a hard stare. I saw each of their eyes toggle and snap back into place. They each smiled and walked off.

Crazy times in the Tenderloin!

Celtic pattern formed by the eye tentacles

This morning at a local beach

Cen Cal Camping scene

Cen Cal lines

Local crab

Wave from "Beautiful Losers" show

also a shoutout to sierra club volunteer Kelly from Wisconsin.. who fulfilled one of her "life missions" this weekend of seeing a wave break in the Pacific Ocean.
She saw it at good ol' Linda Mar beach on sunday. Niiiice!!

surrrrf

judge not lest ye be judged.

don't get your panties in a tizzy.

push to shred

express yourself

remember who you are

recognize those with skill

strive toward mastery

take criticism

wipe out!!

when in doubt paddle out

No worries if you missed it this morning. The wind started raging onshore at around 6:45am. The swell was small and lackluster, with not much in the way of power or clean faces. Mostly wee little dribblers. A farking cruise ship ventured toward shore and dumped a steaming bulk of raw sewage right into the lineup! Ryan and Simon and the rest of the Ft. Point heavies were strewn throughout the beach dishing out beat-downs and verbal tirades. Definitely a huge let-down this morning as Blakestah and many other forecasters were predicting magnificent succulence. I imagined dropping into squeaky-clean, overhead mini-bombs, chattering down the face, powering off the bottom and then attacking the lip.. but.. those were just idle fantasies. Also in my dreamscape I’d be chatting and smiling with a scant handful of cheery folk out for the immaculate dawn-patrol, sun shining down, glassy, offshore-groomed, lickable texture to the water, plenty of room. But of course, in reality there were hundreds of stinkeye-throwing, surf-website-bashing meanies out there vibing and jockeying and charging and frowning. For some reason the seagulls and pelicans hovered around the surfers this morning and just shat vile streams of stinky, putrid bird turd on everyone’s head. Also this huge 18-wheeler backed down the beach where I surfed and inexplicably started shooting what looked and smelled like raw sewage into the lineup!!! WTF?? Between the cruise-ship and the birds and the 18-wheeler and the agro ruffians the lineup was getting pretty shitty. Then I closed my eyes and imagined a slate-clean, overhead++ A-frame coming my way. I imagined stroking into the suck-out left and throwing myself over the ledge. I imagined elevator-dropping down the shaft and seeing the conical form of the wave wrap and bend around me. Large, smooth and rounded. Then pigdogging off the bottom and up into the pocket, moving at mach 8. Letting go of the pigdog and then smiling as the wave walled and lipped and formed up into an impeccable groundswell racetrack. A few backside pumps.. then bottom turn and click off the lip.. then another bottom turn and another click.. but.. too high of a line on the second top turn and the wave peels away without me. But.. of course… that was just the fantasy of an SF dreamer, wishing for better days amidst the shit, rage and stink of our fair, lovely city.

No surf today.. More enjoyment could probably be found paying your bills or waiting in line at the DMV or cleaning out your gutters.

Yup.

Dreamscape (Wrestler photo)

Tom sent in this photo of Christian (taken by Anastasia)

a few more east-coast pics from nybodyboard.com

clean, large and shapely
sit outside waiting for sets
don't worry wave come

east coast photos by JAY KUBELLE