ikoniикониHope everybody is scoring out there.
Maybe that day in January with smooth head-high peaks?
Maybe up in NW Washington?
Indian Reservation mysto-reef?
Point after point in mid baja with coyotes on the rampage?
Nahh..
More like that left up north.
Reeling sucking churning funnels.
Scary!
But how about that bachelor party surf-cruise in the Caribbean?
Turquoise aqua marine water.
Glistening, translucent wedge waves.
Breaking into that bay with steep cliffs and lush green mountain backdrop.
Yo surf freaks!
Hope everyone out there is enjoying this splendid surf season.
Today witnessed some Nor-Pac juice alight our shores.
Personally i preferred yesterday’s mellow, glassy, offshore sweetness.
I made a conscious decision to get in the barrel, as conditions
seriously would never be better for this junior varsity surfer to
clock barrel time.
I tried to slow myself on takeoffs..
I grabbed the wall with my hand.. both backside and front.
I really tried to zone into the wave and get under the pitching lip.
But.. sadly… i only managed a few close-out, lip-launching-over moments.
Still super fun though!!
Saw some niceness old-timers BVB and Slayer slashing serious arcs in the water today.
Always humbling to surf with the old-school shredders.
I know some of you out there have been scouring the coast lately.
Scoring those rare birds that only fire with E winds and pumping WNW groundswell.
Someone told me about a little spot north of here.
A rare point-break that only works on NE winds and a really high tide.
He drove up overnight when conditions looked right.
The next morning.. after camping in an Ewok glen of old-growth forest…
dude hiked out to the spot and saw lines wrapping in.
Two old salty-dog longboarders were climbing down the trail… hooting.
They looked at my friend… climbing out of his tent… and said, “Ya picked the right night to camp here!”
He ended up surfing for 3 hours on his pavel fish… until the tide dropped too low and the rocks went
from fin-scraping to board-crunching.
Another guy i know had been waiting on this one spot for a few years.
He’s a techy guy, obsessed with google-earth surf-spot exploration.
He was convinced that a spot not too far from here would fire with the right
SW swell direction and light E winds.
I’d driven by this spot probably 100 times and hadn’t even really given it much thought,
Not because the coastal contour didn’t look promising… but because of the serious tooth presence in this area.
I’m talking “we need a bigger boat!” sharky.
Anyway my boy cruised out there with a friend one particular recent morning.
He said the lefts were, “all-time, bro!”
He said he and his friend surfed 4 sessions in one day.
All at the same spot.
They’d surf for an hour… come in… light one up.
Gaze out at the perfect lines reeling in.. Suit back-up..
and surf again.
Soo.. sessions are happening every day.
Most of us sit in our cubes.. tickling the keys… scrambling for our dawn-patrols or
end of the day city surfs… while others work seasonal jobs… sell their
software companies.. pimp their hos… gigolo in Brazil… sling pizzas all night…
and score righteous pristine autumnal California gold.
Day after day.
forgo the dawnie.
Get to work early.
4:30 start itchin’.
Sprint home on the bike.
Sun lowering in the west.
An idiosyncratic swell morphing through the week.
A few sizeable days.
Melting into fun-lovin’ wed/thurs.
Low-tide suckables.
Dolphins leaping and indicating incoming sets.
Found a groove yesterday.
Waves coming to me.
Rights.
Steep ledge-drops.
Pumping for speed.
Reaching up for the lip.
Carving.
Barrel-dodging.
Smooth all-day smoothness.
Afternoon Delight.
East Coast sojourn.
Family, a friend’s new baby, wedding.
A few days in an old favorite beachy place.
East coast storms brewing.
Tales of 15-foot swells.
Got to the spot a day late.
But still things were pulsing.
Only a few hours of sunlight.
Get to the rental house after 6-hour drive and 1hr ferry.
Everybody wants to sleep but i know my surf window is small.
Sprint down to the ocean to check the scene.
20 minute run through a beautiful forest.
Dirt path.
Wild blueberries.
I can already tell it’s offshore here.
But i’ve been coming to this place my whole life and i know
the best waves are a 20-minute drive.
Not usually waves along this stretch.
But… get to the rocky coast and i see lines.
Feathering lines.
Waves breaking here and there along the reefy patch of coast.
I see one wave that is definitely surfable right out front.
Holeee shitt.. i’m gonna get waves!!!!
Look up the coast.. and see a point up there… with waves peeling.
Run up along the rocks for a closer look.
It’s a nice, steeply-breaking wave.. but too many rocks.
See another possible point-wave in the distance.
run another 15 minutes around the bend for closer inspection..
Hmmmm..
It looks solid!!
Breaking off a huge rock on the outside.
Peeling fast at first and then backing off before dumping into a shallow reef.
Watch it for 15 minutes and see countless rideables come through.
nobody around.
nobody on the beach.
nobody even thinking about it.
Never heard of people surfing this place.. but.. undoubtedly it’s been surfed.
Run like angel wings back down the beach.. down the trail.
back to the house.
Board stashed in a basement a few miles away.
hop in the car and Get it.
It’s all beat up and waterlogged.
Quick solor-rez fix.
aghh no leash and the wave it super rocky…
no surf shop in this place.
Find an old boogie and use that leash.
dig wax out of luggage.
RUN back down there.
Paddle out into the warmish water in an old 3/2.
Water feels tropical.
Surf the tropical-storm groundswell for a few hours.
Ride after ride.
My mom watching on the beach to make sure i don’t wreck myself.
Girlfriend tries to come out on a boogie and takes some whacks and gets
caught inside by the rocks.
I paddle in to try to help but she’s pissed.
She thinks i ignored her and tunnel-visioned the surf.
Argh.
Deal with that later.. must… get.. more… waves… now.
Surfed for a while longer.
Came in and girl didn’t talk to me for 2 days.
Surf went down overnight.
Not much the next day.
Surrrrf.
This morning began with a 5:30am attempt at glassy good times.
By 6:15 i was back in bed… flatness stymying sessionability.
Checked the beach around 10:30.. kinda onshore… some white-caps out there.
A few surfers floating about and duckdiving into infinity… didn’t look that great.
Did some work then decided to surf even though it was shitty.
Took a little labor day ripper.
Got back down to the beach and heyyyy.. it’s shaping up out there.
Glassier now… and the wind is actually calming.
It’s hot on the beach and it looks like Ocean “laguna” beach.
Bikinis in effect. Kids in the water.
Paddled out and got rejected.
Walked down the beach and tried again.. this time a dry-hair paddle-out.. wtf?
2 hour session filled with long, slowish-but-fun rides.
Kept getting glassier throughout the surf.
No drift.. not many people out. beautiful day.
Best ride was a long right.
where I managed an enjoyable, drawn-out cutback - back into the whitewater…
then rebound and pump into another cutback.
Felt nice and balanced.
Got out of the water… came home.. chilled for a bit..
Went for a bike ride down to Kelly’s Cove.
The KCLB representing in the parking lot.
Bronzing and taking it in.
BBQ, pit-bulls, cool personas behind black shades.
Definite peak working up there.
Saw some barrels and airs.. some reverses too.. some solid surfing.
I saw a few drop-ins and was waiting for a confrontation but nothing happened.
I sat up on a rock near the Cliff House.
By now (4:30) the ocean was sheet glass and the prettiest peaks were
cruising toward shore and wedging-up into little A-frames.
Maybe 5 or 6 days a year we get this.
And since when is it windy/frumpy at 10:30am and glassy smooth at 4:30?
Pretty schweeet.
yo surfies.
hope everyone is finding rideables…
whether it be aquatic, concrete, fleshy or otherwise.
I roadtripped last weekend for that little NW swell on the buoys.
Checked my spot thursday - flat.
Checked again Saturday morning - flat.
Of course i heard it was pumping on Friday!! goddamit!!!!
argh!!!
But the california coast is a beautiful place.
Saw some dude get barrelled off his face right in front of me on Sunday.
geez.
Anyhoo.. keep on keepin’ on.
Some cool surf-related reading at stab mag - including a crazy articled about Paul Sargeant being gay. I guess he
pulled some questionable late-night drunken antics with some pro surfer dudes.
Yo surf rats.
Long time no post.
Hope everyone out there has found a few.
The coast has been offering up waves here and there it seems.
nooks, crannies and brief windless moments.
The torch is coming to SF on Wed.
There will be protests in SF tomorrow (4.8.08) and wed (4.9.08).
China invaded Tibet in 1949 and has occupied it ever since.
The political and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama
has lived in exile in Northern India since that day.
The Chinese have perpetrated a long, slow, insidious genocide against the Tibetan people.
Making it illegal to speak Tibetan.
Relocating thousands of Han Chinese into Tibet to change the demographics.
Curtailing freedom to worship.
The recent protests in Tibet bring to light the Tibetans continued struggle for autonomy and freedom.
The Chinese have succeeded to some degree in spreading negative propaganda within China
against the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan monks.
Yesterday the torch was carried through Paris and large protests were heard around the world.
Yesterday protesters in San Francisco hung a large protest banner from the Golden Gate Bridge.
Wednesday the torch comes to San Francisco. The only stop in North America.
Peaceful, highly visible protest will send at least some message to the world and hopefully
the Chinese government that their stance in Tibet is wrong.
Not to mention their support of the brutal regimes in Burma and Sudan.
article from san jose mercury news:
The torch relay will follow a six-mile route, beginning at 1 p.m. at McCovey Cove at AT&T Park,
following the Embarcadero, past Fisherman’s Wharf, and ending at Justin Herman Plaza.
Visit the official torch relay Web site, http://torchrelay.beijing2008.cn/en/
Tibetans and their supporters will hold a rally Tuesday at the United Nations Plaza,
at Market Street and Hyde Street near the Civic Center BART, to protest the Olympic
torch relay and China’s recent crackdown on protesting Tibetans in Lhasa.
Actor Richard Gere and Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu
will be at guest speakers at the rally, which begins at 6 p.m.
There are planned Tibetan protests on the day of the torch relay,
but details have not been released. Visit sfteamtibet.org for more information.
