The Return of Blaze

Blaze is back. He has failed to post on probably 40 sessions. Some good ones too. I'm gonna have to only post when something exceptional happens - don't seem to have the posting drive to write about every session. But - for those who may see this - Blaze is back!!!

Back to the Blog

I forgot my login info for a long time and haven't posted. So here's two sessions from over a month ago that I wrote up and could never post. Whoops! Now that I got my login info back I'm ready to post regularly again.

Session: 20
Date: Wednesday, 6/1/05
Place: HMB Jetty
Time: 5 to 7PM
Waves: Small, Weak, Blah
Stokemeter: 3

I had my Rotella back in action today for the first time in a few weeks. I was excited about that – but the waves didn’t cooperate with me. I went to the Jetty after work and it was pretty small – but on occasion there was what looked like a decent wave to ride coming though. I went ahead and got out there and caught one wave right away and wiped out. Then another wipeout. Then I actually got one and a guy dropped in on me. Then I got another and for some reason I couldn’t get any speed at all. Gonna have to get used to the Rotella again…It might not be as fast as Christina’s Cino board. Anyway I caught 5 or 6 more waves and that was about it. The water was freeeeeezing cold and I wasn’t really feelin’ it so I called it good. Bruddah Nic came and met me around 6 or so, and he surfed to the south of me for a bit. I went over to where he was and caught one wave and then talked him into going north to check out Linda Mar, it was good yesterday afterall. Well, it wasn’t good today. Outta control – it might have been good had I had the energy to fight my way out through all the whitewater – but I was too cold and the last thing I wanted to do was duck dive 50 more times. So I wimped out and called it a day. Nic considered going out at the South end of Linda Mar, but decided against it and instead went back to Jetty and surfed a bit longer with Manabu Tokunaga of the StokeMaster’s group. It probably ended up getting better after I left as it usually does, too bad, I should have just stuck it out at the Jetty. All in all I just wasn’t feeling it today, and the super cold damn water certainly didn’t help. Blah, a 3 on the stokemeter.

Session: 19
Date: Tuesday, 5/31/05
Place: Linda Mar, middle of beach
Time: 6 to 8PM
Waves: Fairly Large, a little overhead
Stokemeter: 8

I watched the waves for a long time today before going out. I was trying to find a good place to paddle outside, somewhere where I wouldn't have to duck-dive 25 times to get past the breakers. I thought I had found somewhere but I was wrong - when I finally put on my sealskin and started paddling out I still had to duck-dive non-stop to get out. Several people on the beach were watching me paddle and for a moment I didn't think I was gonna make it. I even stopped for about 20 seconds at one point and considered riding some whitewater back in. But I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of such a large crowd so I kept at it - they motivated me to keep going. It ended up being worth it, since once I finally got out far enough I could sit and rest for a bit and wait for some real nice waves to roll on in. I was the furthest guy outside, sitting just north of the center of the beach. There were 4 other people out sitting just inside of me and to my right (if I'm facing the beach). Some pretty sizable waves were coming though every now and then, and I saw a couple go by and then a new set came on in and I snagged the first one. It was big but it held up and made a really nice face to carve a little bit on. Fast too. I was on Christina's board again and that is one awesome stick. Holds stable in everything and gets going really quickly. Anyway I probably caught about 8 waves on the day, and it was fun because I was paddling outside of everyone else and picking off the biggest waves of the day. It's always fun to be one of the better surfers in the lineup. It's also fun to have some good sized waves. Today rates a good solid 8 on the stokemeter scale.

Naked Old Men

Session: 18
Date: Sunday, 5/29/05
Place: Grey Whale Cove
Time: It was Sunday, How would I know what time it was
Waves: Very Fun, Head-high
Stokemeter: 8.3

What do naked old men have to do with surfing? Well, not much, unless you happen to be surfing at Grey Whale Cove. You see, GWC is sort of a nude beach, and nude beaches in America tend to be populated by lots of naked old men - and there were plenty at GWC on Sunday. It's the only place I've ever surfed where there's more "hangin' loose" going on on the beach than in the water.

Anyway, saggy old penises aside, it was a wonderful day. The waves were head high, the sun was shining, the wind was minimal, the crowd was small, the water wasn't freezing, there weren't any spooky vibes, and my surfing was pretty solid. Mike was with me and we both had a good time - Mike had some lefts to ride finally - and he still managed to show me some pretty nice wipeouts. He had one particularly good one right in front of me where he took off going right, stood up, and then instantly catapulted his body backwards into the air away from the wave and landed at the bottom on his butt. Good show Mike! He also had some nice rides too though, of course. I had some good ones too - some long rides all the way in, some short ones, some close-outs, a little bit of everything. The place was a great spot to surf on a nice sunny day, but it wouldn't be that inviting on a greyer foggy type of afternoon or early evening. But on Sunday in the middle of the day in the sunshine, it's a very beautiful place to surf.

Aloooooha!

Whale Lovin'

Session: 17
Date: Wednesday, 5/25/05
Places: Montara (South end); Linda Mar (North end)
Time: 5:30PM to 8:30PM
Waves: Not that great, some OK ones
Stokemeter: 4

After work I went straight over to HMB. Jetty wasn’t breaking at all. Montara looked ok, but not that great. Kept going north. Grey Whale Cove looked ok, but I really wasn’t too keen on the idea of being the only guy out. For some reason I was spooked a little today. Ah, yeah, I remember, the reason was because it was humpback whale mating day, and when I was watching at Montara I saw about 4 of them only about 100 yards off shore mating like crazy. They were constantly flipping over and sticking their fins out and moving around – it was pretty remarkable, but it freaked me out a bit when I kept seeing these huge fins coming out of the water – just made me think about what other huge things might be swimming around in the darkness under my feet. So I kept going further. Linda Mar looked OK, but it was crowded. Rockaway looked awful, nobody was surfing it and it wasn’t clean at all. So I turned around. Drove back past Linda Mar. Drove back past Grey Whale Cove. Went to Montara. Went out at the south end of the beach, there were 2 other people down about 100 yards to the north. Waves at the south end were pretty strange – they jacked up pretty fast and were surprisingly powerful. Not to mention the water was FREEZING. I was getting ice-cream headaches on just regular old duckdives. Everytime! After trying to surf for about 30 minutes, I saw the two people go in. Sitting by myself I got pretty freaked out, so I went in too. Just didn’t feel right. I still had some time so I drove back up to Linda Mar. There was certainly a crowd there so I wouldn’t have to worry about feeling alone. I went out at the North end and caught some good rides, but I think I was still a bit messed up and my surfing wasn’t very good. I caught one nice wave and rode it well, but that was about it. I even wiped out on a few good ones that I easily should have had. Some days you just aren’t quite on as much as others, I suppose.

I then drove straight home in my wetsuit because I was cold and didn’t want to have to change outside in the wind. Got in the shower and made it super hot, now that’s a great place to take off your wetsuit.

This weekend could provide some good surfing, if I stay in town. I’ll keep y’all posted. Signing off – Blaze.

Double Overhead On Your Dome

Session: 16
Date: Thursday, 5/19/05
Place: Linda Mar, North End
Time: 6PM to 8:15PM
Waves: Mondo-sized, mostly close-outs
Stokemeter: 7 (Big Drops, Big Close-outs on the Head!)

There is one heck of a late May swell happening right now, and the wind has let up too so it’s on. I’m flyin’ solo on this session, so I took a look at some SF spots. First – I went to the north end of Ocean Beach. It was nuts. The waves break EVERYWHERE and they are really big and getting out would be near impossible. Then, once outside, you’d still have to deal with the shifty peaks and you’d never know when a monster set is right behind that wave about to break on your head and you’re gonna be reeeeealllly screwed. Needless to say I didn’t go out surfing at the North end of OB, and neither did anybody else.

Next I drove south along the great highway to Sloat Avenue. I watched it for 10 minutes and it seemed more promising. Getting out was still going to be a battle, but it looked possible. The outside waves seemed to be breaking in the same spot more or less – but it’s hard to judge that when you’re standing on the shore and your eyes pick up every breaking wave anywhere in the general vicinity of where you plan to be sitting. Nobody was out. But I said screw it it’s time to try OB so I suited up and went out and stood for about 7 minutes up to my knees in the water trying to see if there was ever a chance to get out a ways without having to duck dive about 20 waves – well, there wasn’t. So I just finally decided now was as good as any and started paddling on out. It was a challenge, but I was fresh and I made it without too much difficulty…or at least I thought I had made it. I sat where I thought was gonna be safe – but right when I got comfortable along comes a clean-up set ready to take me back inside. I duck dove the first one and barely made it through. I duck dove the 2nd one and got turned around sideways. The 3rd one broke way outside and I’d had enough, I got way back on the board, let the whitewater swallow me up, and then got tossed back towards the shore. The wave was big enough that even the whitewater had a face to work with so I went ahead and stood up and promptly fell over. I climbed back on my board just in time to get engulfed by the next whitewater wave, and I hopped up again and managed to ride this one all the way in. Some dudes sitting in the parking lot had watched my whole “session” and I walked past them on the way back to my car but they didn’t have anything to say – at least I had balls to go out and try it – their pansy asses just sat there and watched.

So my first attempt to surf OB would have to be considered a failure. I came, I went, and I got sent back to where I came from by an ocean that didn’t seem to want me out there. But I tried, and by paddling out by myself on a big day, I think I’m much more prepared now than I was before to try OB on some of those nice smaller summer days.

Having been denied at Ocean Beach but still craving some waves I kept heading south. I drove down to Pacifica and saw some monsters going off by the pier, still with nobody out and also with some howling onshore winds. Not going out there. Kept driving south. Rockaway – closing out the whole bay. Not gonna work. More driving south. Linda Mar, normally the smallest spot in the area, a beginner break. I pulled into the parking lot, got out, looked around. No wind. 40 people in the middle part of the break. 20 to the South. 1 to the North. I bet you can guess where I was going…Yeah, North side. The reason for only 1 guy being out there I soon saw – the waves were double overhead and comin’ with the Juice. But I watched, and it seemed like if they came from the right angle, they held up and were producing some pretty good fast rights. So I went on out. Getting out wasn’t too hard – had to duck dive quite a few but it wasn’t anything like OB. Sat out there and a set came in right away and I went ahead and took the 2nd wave…Made a monster drop, flew along the face for 2 seconds, then had it close out so I just straightened out and rode it on in. Paddled back out, 1 minute later another set, caught another monster, walled up right in front of me – formed a suicide tube and I just went ahead and jumped into the face of the wave before I got absolutely clobbered. I haven’t perfected that move yet because I ended up getting tossed and went through the spin cycle. Paddled back out and another set came in. Caught the 3rd wave of the set and it held up for a while longer than the others. Got a nice right outta the deal…but ultimately it still closed out on me. Anyway I kept on paddling back out and sets kept on coming and I caught some lefts and some rights and made numerous big drops and had my adrenaline kicking in pretty good. The punishment that the Linda Mar wave dished out wasn’t very big compared to the size of the wave face – so I was perfectly happy with that. The 1 guy out with me was a cool guy so we worked off eachother and were both happy to have the other guy out there. Surfed until it was almost dark and then was gonna get one more but a non-stop set came though as I was trying to get back out, and after 25 duck dives I turned around and rode the whitewater to the shore and called it good. It was fun to get some size today – I’ve been surfing pretty much small stuff for a long while now and this was a good challenge – and I’m happy to say my skills seemed to be just fine.

The swell is still around – but unfortunately so is lots of wind. But maybe soon I’ll get another big day in to go with all these small sessions…we shall see.

Mike – get up here and join me for some of this big stuff. Time for you to start charging again.

Weekend Warriors

Session: 14 and 15
Date: Saturday, 5/14/05; Sunday, 5/15/05
Places: 4-Mile, Steamers, 4-Mile; 4-Mile
Times: 1 to 3, 4:30 - 5:30, 6:15 - 7:30; 4:00 to 7:00
Waves: Very nice, mostly head-high or a bit bigger
Stokemeter: 9 (what a great weekend!)

I've been in need of a good solid surf weekend. The kind of weekend where you have no prior commitments or plans. The kind of weekend where you don't go out 'til 3am drinking and then spend the next 12 hours nursing your hangover. The kind of weekend where you can just grab a board, pick a spot, get out in the water and simply enjoy some waves with your Burropak brothers. Well, this weekend I got what I needed.

Saturday: Woke up in my nice new room on my nice bed on my fantastically nice sheets (I highly recommend getting good sheets, they're awesome - plus i got mine at some little asian discount store for about 80% off) at about 9:15. Wanted to wake up earlier, but hey, I don't get enough sleep during the week. Took my time getting ready, in true Bennett fashion. Took Xtina to Noah's for a bagel, and I got two for myself. Yum. Finally hit the road to Santa Cruz around 11. The drive was enjoyable - I went all the way down Highway 1, along the ocean. It is a spectacular drive, with tons of spots to stop and check out. There is some pretty amazing land between San Francisco and Santa Cruz - cliffs, fields, farms, beaches, forests, hills, creeks, and tons of nice, empty waves just looking for a surfer to come out and enjoy them. It is 77 miles from SF to SC, and you can't really go 70 mph the whole way so it can be a bit of a long drive, about an hour and a half. But if you have the time to cruise and stop to check out the scenery, it's really nice.

Anyway - as I kept going it kept getting later, and that meant the wind kept increasing. By the time I got to 4-mile it was blowing pretty damn good - so I just drove right by after not seeing Nic or Mike there yet to see if they were gonna go somewhere else. Anyway I ended up playing chicken with them on the way to Natural Bridges, and they said it wasn't any good there, so I just turned around and followed 'em back to 4-mile. For those who don't know, 4-mile requires about a 4 minute walk in from the parking area to the beach in order to check the waves, and when I drove by the first time I didn't bother with the hike - but now that I had my crew with me we checked it out and although windy it was still sunny out and the waves looked fun and not too crowded - so we decided to do it. We got out there and paddled to the outside line-up where a few guys were and started surfin'. What was so nice was that I knew I had just dedicated this day and this weekend to surfing - so I wasn't concerned about what time it was, or thinking about what to do that night, or anything. I just got to go out, sit with some friends, and surf. The waves were good and it was fun - even though the wind was pretty bad. 4-mile is nice because it does get sheltered alot from wind, but it was still blowing fairly hard out there. By the way - an wetsuit benefit! - it blocks the wind and you really don't feel it very much. It's not like in Hawaii where the wind would make you cold. Yeah yeah I know the Cali water is about 50 degrees - but I'm just trying to look on the bright side.

I surfed the 7'2" Cino again, and I really love that board. I want to get some new boards but I can't decide what to get. Should I buy like a 6'6" shortboard, and also like a 9'0" longboard, or should I just go down the middle and buy a 7'2" Cino clone? Ahhh if only money were no object - I'd go straight down to Aqua today and have Vernor custom make me that 6'6" and that longboard. And while I'm at it I might as well order a Rotella fish clone and a Cino clone too. $$$$$$!!!

Anyway, back to the surf. It was fun, but windy, so we put in 2 hours and then went in and drove down to SC for some grubbage. We hit Pleasure Pizza, which was a good choice. Delicious pizza in a cool surfer setting - they have a bunch of boards on the ceiling and photos all around. But it was sunny so we just sat outside and worked on our tans and had a slice.

After refueling we figured we'd check out town to see what was happening. We went to Steamers, knowing it'd be the least windy, and it was. Very smooth out there, almost no wind at all. It wasn't crowded when we looked at it so we went ahead and got out there, but after being out about 15 minutes it seemed as if everyone and their grandma came out. There were some damn good surfers too - guys who took off outside of the rock, then surfed within inches of nailing their heads on it! It was pretty nuts. But that was where the wave started, and with it being crowded like it was, that was what you had to do to have inside position on the waves. Anyway, I wasn't feeling up to any life-threatening surfing today, so I stayed further inside. That meant I didn't have many un-claimed waves to catch - I had to wait for either the waves that were coming in a little more to the side (rare) or had to wait for a wave to get by somehow or have someone wipeout (also very rare). I ended up getting 2 ok waves outta the deal and a couple that I caught inside that were ok too. Nic and Mike I don't think were getting much of anything, so we didn't stay very long and went back in and decided that it was a bit later and the wind would be dying so we went back to 4-mile. Good idea! It wasn't very windy anymore, there weren't many people out, and we all had some great rides. Nic is now surfing his longboard again, and that is resulting in him getting alot more waves and getting much longer rides, which is exactly what he needs to improve his skills. Mike is pretty selective in his wave choices, but I saw him get a couple nice ones and he was lookin' pretty sharp. We surfed another hour or two and then were worn out from a triple day. Drove back into town, ate Mexican, and then I drove back on up Highway 1 to SF - feeling real real good.

Sunday: C-Mass had a race to run this morning, so she was up early and I got to sleep in (for once! - normally it's me up at 6am to go to work and she's still in bed all peaceful and cozy and getting to sleep for another 2 or 3 hours) . But today she was up and out and I was laying right there in bed the whole time...ah how sweet it was. The race was Bay-to-Breakers, a huge run in SF where some people run seriously but most just walk behind carting kegs and booze and having a big moving 7-mile long party. I have run enough already in my lifetime so I wasn't down for any racing, but I did get up at about 9 to meet Christina at the finish line and to see what was goin on. Well, there were tons of people, some interesting outfits, and a fun environment, but I didn't see any of the super-boozers because they of course were nowhere near being done yet. I also didn't see any naked old men, of which Christina informed me there were several. I considered taking part in some of the boozing myself, but like I said earlier, I was trying to make this a surfing weekend, not a drinking weekend, so I passed. Instead I decided to take another trip down to Santa Cruz - and once again I had the NorCal Burropak members joining me.

I ended up getting outta SF around 1. Christina and her friend from USF came along with me, hoping to get some nice time on the beach in the sun while I surfed. We drove down 101, then cut over to 17 at Mountain View, and then we were there. Took about the same time as driving HW 1. We parked at 4-mile and hiked on in to the beach and there was Nic, Mike, and Selin loungin' on the sand lookin' nice and relaxed. I ended up sitting in the sand too - and that set back my surfing another half hour because it was just too nice to sit there on the beach with the sun coming down...I couldn't bring myself to put on the wetsuit and get out in the water. But after watching some fun waves go through and a few minutes after Nic and Mike hit it, I followed suit.

The weather today was less windy and sunny in the beginning, but soon a fog came in and it started getting pretty hard to see. Visibility was only maybe a couple hundred yards, but enough that it wasn't hard to make out the waves. The chicas on the beach lost their sunshine and decided to take my car on into town to have some girl-type fun (i.e. shopping) and they took off (bummer, because they were our photogs - I was hoping to score a Surfer Magazine cover shot). It was foggy for an hour or so, then it started burning off and the weather was nice again. The waves were fun - 4-mile is a nice wave, it forms outside and breaks and if it's big enough and walled up enough it really flies right all the way to the inside. I caught quite a few nice rides and I am feeling very confident in my surfing right now. Confidence is highly important in surfing - once you start doubting that you will make it, you're pretty much insuring that you won't. Additionally, without confidence, you won't go sit in the deep spots, which in lots of places is where you have to sit in order to score the best waves. So I'm feeling good and I think my surfing is improving also. I'd love to make a trip back to Hawaii for a decent country swell and see how I do there, just to see if it's me making improvements or if I'm just feeling like I'm better because the waves are easier to surf. Speaking of that, we need a Burropak reunion soon. You Hawaii members (since there are fewer of you) will need to come to Cali. See ya in a bit!

We ended up surfing until around 7 or so I think, then went into town and met the girls and had icecream and then I drove back up to SF on HW 1. On the way up we still had an hour or so of light so I stopped at a few nice looking spots - Waddell Creek stood out - it looked pretty good for surfing, there were several spots breaking very nice with nobody out, and one spot with a group of friends having a good time. It was a nice drive to end a very nice surfing weekend...and I am feeling refreshed and happy about life.

Pau-Hana Rockaway

Session: 13
Date: Thursday, May 5, 2005
Place: Rockaway Beach, Pacifica
Time: After work ‘til 7:30
Waves: Good, fun, up to head high
Stokemeter: 8

After work drove up the coast looking at spots, got all the way to Rockaway and was glad I went that far. 1 guy was out there when I first showed up, sort of. He was a kayaker and he was trying to get out past the shore-break but he just kept on getting hit and washed back up the sand. Anyway he never did make it out to the waves. I went out and the waves were good. Really fun, had decent take-offs and a nice wall going along to my right. Occasionally I rode a wave in a bit too far and got tossed into the sand – hello shore-break. It never got crowded, never more than 2 other guys out with me at a time. Everyone was friendly too, so it was a good session. I was the 7’2” Cino and it is a fun board to ride. If Rockaway can stay this good for the summer then I will have a great place to go surf after work.

Montara, plus BOARD HISTORY!

Session: 12
Date: Sunday, 5/1/05
Place: Montara
Time: Again around 2 or so until around 4 or 5
Waves: Rather Scarce, not very big
Stokemeter: 6 (due to the nice weather)

Again a beautiful day, but this time I didn’t get the same level of cooperation from the ocean. It was nice and sunny and calm and clear again – but just not as many good waves. I bought a new (used) wetsuit today also from Sonlight Surfshop in Pacifica. I for some reason didn’t have access to mine – and wanted to surf – so I just went and got a 3/2 suit. It was only $70 and it will be nice to have in the summer months when the 4/3 suit will simply be too hot. Even now I have had to unzip my 4/3 a little bit to let in some cold water to keep from overheating, on occasion. It is a good quality O’Neill wetsuit and I think a good purchase.

Anyway, as I said, the waves just didn’t work out this time. I met Nic and Mike at Montara and they had already been out for around 30 minutes, but hadn’t gotten many rides to show for their time. Anyway I got out and was immediately greeted by a very long flat spell, the first of many. But the weather was so nice that it didn’t matter. I fortunately put on some sun-screen – Mike didn’t, and I’m not sure about Nic – but I saw Mike later and he was a little crispy. Today I got to ride Christina’s 7’2” Cino board (Thanks Christina!) and it is a very nice board. Thick, so it paddles nicely and catches waves fairly well (but not like Nic’s longboard) and once in the wave it feels responsive and fast. To be honest, I really haven’t ridden that many boards in my surfing career…Let me make a list of boards I have ridden at least a few times (as best I can remember – and the order might be a bit mixed up).

-10’6” or something Classic beater longboard. 2+1 fin setup, I think. A complete battleship of a board. Huge, caught everything, couldn’t turn to save it’s life (but I wasn’t good enough to turn anyway).

-9’0” Wave Riding Vehicles higher performance longboard. Thruster fin set-up. I was allowed to ride this board a little bit until it was taken away from me by crazy woman Lyn. This board was very fun to ride and I enjoyed it. I still wasn’t good enough to do much with it, but it sure turned easier than the 10’6 Classic.

-9’6” Hansen Triple-stringer longboard. 2+1 fin setup. I think this might have been the first board I bought. Got it from Lyn – she liked me I guess at this time because it was a good deal. Anyway I rode it a bit and didn’t initially like it. I found out later that it was partially because I had the fins setup all wrong – with the center fin way forward in the fin box. Buddy helped me move them several months later and it was like it was a whole new board. After the fin move, this was one of my longboards of choice for small Tonggs and neighboring breaks when I was starting to become a more accomplished surfer.

-8’6” Classic longboard. This was a very unique board and has become one of my sentimental favorites. Thruster fin setup. Broken in half and repaired at some point and purchased at a garage sale in Kailua for $75. I rode this a lot and it helped me get much better with general wave skills. Also almost everything I know about board repair I learned on this board. It had so many dings and little problems it was like a floating wreck. It was also very old-school, yellow, and with some cool 80’s or early 90’s inspired designs on it. When Nic came to visit, it was his board to ride, and he rode it alright, rode it into 2 pieces. He broke it in half at Old Man’s when we were surfing there with Mike on about a 2-4 ft Hawaiian south swell. Ahhh what fun that was. Anyway I then made a table out of it and then I moved to Cali and had to leave it behind and then Josh threw it in the dump.

-7’10” FSC funshape. Thruster. Great board. Took my surfing to the next level. Matt and Mike always wanted to ride it but I never let them. I remember when I first went out to Rice Bowls – this board made me feel confident enough to take on that much more advanced break. On this board I could still paddle like on a longboard, but then it was so much more nimble on the wave. It was the perfect board for me at the level I was at – a great way to get on something smaller and more responsive than a long board without the trouble of flailing around on a typical shortboard shape for months on end. I really liked this board and surfed it A LOT while developing my skills.

-7’2” Dick Brewer Mini-Gun. Thruster, pintail. What was I thinking – that I was gonna go surf double-overhead pipe?? This board would have been perfect for that – but for me and my skill level it was fairly useless. The board was an impulse buy, got it for $80 I think from a guy at Hickam AFB. I do remember taking it out a couple times on 3 to 4 ft Hawaii swells and enjoying it – but I really wasn’t a strong enough paddler to make this very thin and very narrow board move much. But, if I could get it into a wave, it felt extremely stable. The pintail made it really hold well. All in all though, not the right board for me or for the surf I was taking on.

-6’10” S. Rotella Stinger-Fish. This has been my board of choice ever since I got it. I remember when I first took it out – Diamond Head, nothing that big. I struggled with it for at least 10 waves, then got a nice one and it was so loose through the wave – I was gliding along and going up and down like I had never done before. I bought it almost new – it was custom shaped for some girl but she didn’t like it for whatever reason – so I got it for I believe $325. It doesn’t really look like it’s 6’10”, but it does float and paddle very well. It is a fish shape, so it is a bit wider through the whole board than a shortboard of the same length would be. It’s about 2 5/8 thick, I think. The tail tapers down to a small swallow-tail with the stingers bringing it in just above the fins. I have surfed everywhere and everything on this board – it has been pretty much my staple board for the last almost what, 2 years? I have used it on waves from maybe 6-8 Hawaiian to ankle high, on soft shoulders, in barrels, North Shore, South Shore, East Side, West Side, Frontside, Backside, Santa Cruz, HMB, Pacifica, soon to be San Francisco too. An excellent board that is starting to show it’s heavy use – I have had to repair the same fin plug twice, have fixed multiple dings, it has numerous pressure dings, and worst of all is suffering from some pretty bad delamination which I am considering trying to repair myself sometime soon. The board has been out of commission for a couple weeks now due to my laziness in repairs, and I am really missing it.

-7’2” Cino funboard/shortboard shape. Thruster. Christina’s board – she named it Jack. I have loved this board too, from the first time I rode it. I got it for Christina to use and she really likes it – but since she doesn’t surf nearly enough I make sure it sees the water every now and then. It’s a very pretty board with the shiny glass job that looks good. It surfs great too – I really like it and if possible I try to use it if available for the bigger stuff. An excellent board – Use it more Christina!! And thanks for letting me use it too.

-6’1” J. Poko Shortboard. Thruster. Wafer Thin, a super small potato chip board. Mike bought it when he was thinking he was Rob Machado, and then he found out that he’s really a 200+ pound chunk of meat who wouldn’t be able to make this thing float in the Dead Sea. So since I’m ~20 lbs. lighter I thought I’d make it work, and I took it off his hands for a good price and have tried to master it. I think that I have found it is too small for me too. I seem to bog it down, even when I get in a good wave. It is super snappy though and still fun to ride, but I think I really need a little bit thicker and longer board. But try riding this for a couple weeks – then go back to your regular board – and your surfing will be so much better it’s pretty amazing! The Poko requires you to do many things right – and due to it’s small size is very unforgiving. When you transfer that over to the larger board it makes surfing it seem very easy.

So that’s the list. There are more, but I’ve only ridden them a couple times so I don’t know enough to really list them. I have lots of learning to do on boards and fins and gear – I will be going into surfshops and talking with the guys more often to get more knowledge.

I'm Back! New Home, New Sessions!

NOTE: I have been busy the last couple weeks with a move to a new home in SF. As a result I have been seriously slacking on my surfblog postings. So seriously slacking that the last few sessions have become a bit jumbled in my memory. But I will do my best to re-create – here goes.

On another note, I finally have a place to call my own. I recommend everyone spend 3 months living out of their car and crashing at friend’s places – only after living the nomad life will one truly appreciate having a real home – with a bed, and places to put things, and some space to spread out, and a door to close for privacy…ah, no more dining room for Joel! The place is nice – for anyone interested in Keyholing it or coming over or anything else - the address is 1243A 14th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122.

Now let’s get out in the water…

Session: 11
Date: Sunday, 4/24/05
Place: Montara
Time: 2 or so, until about 4 or 5 (Beautiful Weather!)
Waves: Pretty good, some around shoulder high maybe
Stokemeter: 8

This was a very beautiful day. No wind, no clouds, nice blue water, a pretty secluded beach, not many people, and pretty good waves. I went to Montara with Nic and Mike, and it was very smooth, calm, and peaceful. We surfed in the middle area, along with no more than a couple other guys. There were a decent amount of waves, and since I was riding Nic’s longboard I was able to gobble up more than my fair share. A couple of them produced very memorable rides, on which I felt good and (according to Nic) looked good too. I once again enjoyed riding the longboard and felt really good on it. I am considering having Vernor custom-shape me something similar. I went into Aqua Surf Shop in SF a bit ago and they quoted me at about $470 – not bad for a brand new custom longboard – especially considering how hard they are to find around here with newbies snapping them up like they’re made of pure gold. I bet I could buy it for $470, surf it for a year and take good care of it, and turn around and sell it on Craigslist for I bet $350 or more. This was a very enjoyable session and a beautiful day – creating the nice high stokemeter of 8. If only the weather (and the waves) would cooperate so much everyday!

A Quickie

Session: 10
Date: Wednesday, 4/19/05
Place: HMB Jetty
Time: After work ‘til dark
Waves: Can hardly remember, really small
Stokemeter: 3? At least there weren’t any raging maniacs

Not too much to report here. Selin came along for this one, she’s a surfer now too! The waves weren’t very good though, and I was on the Poko, and those two things don’t go together very well. I surfed by the rocks a bit, then went over to where Nic and Selin were and tried to get some closeouts on the head but didn’t have much luck. It was fun to have Selin out there though, she caught a few and I think she had fun. I ended up leaving a bit early and driving up to Montara to check it out, but it was outta control and that was that.

4-Mile Madness

Session: 9
Date: Saturday, 4/16/05
Place: 4-Mile (Santa Cruz)
Time: 5:15 to 7:40
Waves: Varying sizes up to head high, 1 overhead wave that I blew
Stokemeter: 6 for waves, -10 for awful people

This was a crazy session. Mike, Nic, and I went to Santa Cruz and headed straight up to 4-mile. There weren’t many people out, good deal. Waves looked smallish so I was happy that I had brought Nic’s longboard (the Rotella is still wounded; the Poko is too much work). We paddled out, past 3 or 4 shortboarders surfing the inside. Sat outside and started catching lots of waves. The longboard glided into ‘em so smooth. At first I thought I was gonna be pearling but it was actually easy not too. Nic has a nice high performance Vernor 8’6” longboard that is fairly narrow with a swallow tail. It’s very responsive and fairly fast for a longboard, and definitely smooth. So I caught a bunch of waves right off the bat and had fun rides, trying to turn a longboard was great fun – I haven’t done it in so long. I did a few nice ones where I stepped way back and really raised it up and whipped it around as much as I could, good stuff. Longboarding is fun. So we were out further than the shorties inside and we were getting waves but then we paddled out a bit further where one lone surfer was sitting. Nic and Mike paddled past the lone surfer and it turned out to be a girl, wearing a hoodie. Mike went by first, and when Nic followed he saw a look of disgust on her face. Being a nice guy Nic said “hi how’s it goin” but she ignored him. So whatever, they went past her. I then followed a bit behind but didn’t notice the girl really at all. So then being the awesome surfers we are we started catching waves galore. I didn’t think we were doing anything wrong but the girl thought otherwise and was apparently getting pretty fed up with us being in the same ocean as she was. So, I was deeper and further out than she was (not because I just snaked her or anything) and a good lookin’ wave came through so I went for it, but she had other ideas. I took a couple strokes, lined it up, and hopped up and was on my way when she decided she wanted to kill me. So she started paddling RIGHT AT ME, moving from the far shoulder of the wave towards the curl, where I was. Now, keep in mind that until this point I didn’t think we had done anything wrong and I really wasn’t aware of her festering anger, so I thought what the heck surely she’s gonna pull out of the way soon, but no, she kept paddling (no intent of getting up it seemed) straight towards me. I yelled “Hey!” to make sure she knew I was there (although it was impossible she didn’t see me) but she ignored me. At this point she was about 2 feet away from me, a little higher on the wave, pointing her board directly at my chest. I had to actually stick out my hand and HOLD BACK the nose of her board to stop her from spearing me. It was crazy. I have never had anyone so blatantly just try to ride right over me. Anyway I fought her off (literally) and I just pulled right out of the wave. She kept going, but I couldn’t see if she ended up standing or not. So I thought, whoa, what the heck, but I’ve surfed in crowded spots before and have certainly been dropped in on before (although not that bad) so I just more or less shrugged it off, figuring I’d ask her what’s up when she paddled back out. So when she got out again I asked, with what I thought was a friendly tone –

“Hey, did you see me on that last wave?”
She answered, without looking at me and with a dirty look on her face “No.”
“Wow, you should open your eyes then because you tried to ride right over me.”
Her reply, sarcastically - “Ok…yeah, I did see you. Sorry.”
Figuring I’d settle for that, I said “Alright, thanks, that’s all I’m asking for, just try to keep your eyes open, there’s plenty of waves for all of us.”
Her reply; “Why do you have to be out here anyway!”
“What? Because it’s where the waves are.”
“Why! Why are you following me everywhere? There’s waves over there! Go over there!”
“Whaaaat! What are you talking about? You don’t own the ocean.”
“Nobody owns the ocean, but I was here first!”
“But you just said nobody owns the ocean.”
“Yeah, but I was here first, all on my own, and then you guys showed up, and I’m not very good, and it makes me nervous, and I’m surfing here, you guys should go over there,” pointing to the inside smaller waves.
“You just said that nobody owns the ocean, now you’re telling us we can’t surf here? You make no sense.”
“Well I was here first, you keep on following me everywhere!”
“I’m just going where the waves are!!”
“I was here first, you are ruining it.”
“What? You’re ruining it for yourself and for everyone else. Please, just keep your mouth shut.”

Then I paddled away. Then Nic started talking to her. Same effect. What a crazy lady. But whatever, we kept surfing there, and she caught her waves and we caught ours and it didn’t seem to be that big of a deal. So then she went in about an hour later, and it was pretty much just Mike, Nic, and me out surfing the outside and about 6 guys inside surfing shortboards. Then all of a sudden, a guys yelling voice booms out over the water,

“Go back to Los Angeles you asshole!!!”

Everyone looks up. There is a guy standing on top of a large rock inside and to the left, fishing, and now yelling at the top of his lungs.

“GET OUT OF HERE! GO HOME!! YOU SUCK!! YEAH, YOU!! GO BACK TO LOS ANGELES HASSELHOFF!!!”

The surfers all look at each other, surprised by this loud barking dog of a human.

I look at the guy. I see a girl in a wetsuit, with a hoodie, standing beside him, a little to the back.

“YOU! YOU SUCK! YOU ASSHOLE! FUCK YOU! GET OUTTA HERE! THE 1 IS RIGHT THERE! GET ON IT, GET OUTTA HERE YOU SHITHEAD! FUCK YOU!!!!”
I am totally blown away. What the hell? Apparently this girl went in and told her boyfriend or whatever what assholes Mike, me, and Nic are, and now he’s screaming at us as loud as he can.

But what can he do? All he can do is yell. Everyone keeps surfing, keeps catching waves. The people in the water are surprised, I don’t think they’ve encountered this before. I’m a little worried, what if these guys inside are the screamer’s friends? I catch a decent wave, ride it past the inside group, and paddle back out. The guy is still yelling, more or less the same stuff over and over. I ask the group, “Do you know that guy?” and they answer, “No, we have no idea who he is, he’s like a barking dog.” That makes me feel better, at least he doesn’t have allies in the water.

So he keeps it up, calling me (I think he must have been talking to me, I was the only longboarder) “Hasselhoff” and telling me to go back to LA. He didn’t stop yelling for a good solid 15 minutes. Even though we were still catching waves and the surf was decent, it sucked to me. I don’t like being repeatedly yelled at. How could someone be that angry? How could someone teach their girlfriend that kind of idea about how surfing works? It was ridiculous, but he did a good job of making my session worse. Why? I don’t know. But – he finally tired out, seeing it wasn’t doing anything at all, and stopped, and it was quiet again. Just like they knew his negative energy was going away, the waves started to really pick up, and Nic’s longboard is a nice ride, so I was catching lots of good waves and the session was showing promise. By that time we had been out a long while though, and Mike caught one and took it all the way in, and then Nic about 10 minutes later, and I was still out waiting for a good one…but it wasn’t coming and it was getting late so I caught the next one and called it good. I got out of the water, not sure if I was gonna have to fight some raging maniac or not, so I got the leash off and tried to be ready to put the board down and get it outta the way, but it all amounted to nothing. The guy never showed his face, never left his spot a couple hundred yards away (I think he was still over there), and Mike came down fully dressed and boardless and ready to brawl (thanks Mike!), and we all just walked back up to the car. Nic and I changed, loaded up, and we were gone. No slashed tires, no broken windows, no fights on the sand. Ultimately, it was just lots of waves for everyone, unfortunately accompanied by the screaming of one enraged lunatic and a very sadly distorted conception of the ways of the water by one beginning female surfer.

The Return of Poko

Session: 8
Date: Wednesday, 4/13/05
Place: HMB Jetty (and in the beachbreak about 400 yards south)
Time: 5:15 to 7:00 or so
Waves: Mostly shoulder to head high close-outs
Stokemeter: 4

You might look at the session summary above and see a stokemeter of 4 and think well that must have been a worthless surf and this must be a worthless posting. 4 out of 10 is an F grade, after all. But the thing is, even a session with a miserable rating of 1 on the stokemeter can still be worthwhile. The reason is that there are so many variables in surfing - the weather, the conditions, the board, the fins, the crowd, the tide (just to name a few) – that in order to make sense of them all you simply have to immerse yourself and learn from experience. In order to become a truly skilled surfer, one has to develop a strong understanding of all these variables, on the stokemeter 4 days as well as those oh so rare days of stokemeter 10 bliss. And that, my friends, is what makes EVERY session so valuable.

As for Wednesday, it was with my brother and a beginning surfer from Google, Dan. I had stayed in SF on Tuesday night, so I didn’t have my board or wetsuit with me, so Nic brought ‘em up and met me at my jobsite. Then all 3 of us drove over to HMB in the yuppie-mobile. Anyway, as mentioned in my Santa Cruz post, I did some major damage to the Rotella over the weekend and haven’t fixed it yet, so I had to break out the potato-chip board – yep, the infamous Poko. The Poko-chip was kinda nervous about meeting the frigid waters of Nor-Cal for the first time, so nervous in fact that she tried to avoid it by playing a nasty trick on me. Here’s how it went down.

When Nic got to my jobsite he said that when he left his place he had looked for the Poko fins at his place but couldn’t find ‘em. I said that’s ok because I got them in my car (which is where I normally keep them). But, of course, when I looked for them this time they were not there. Knowing that she was about to get cold, Poko-chip had made me take my fins into Nic’s a couple days ago and then while I was sleeping had hidden them inside a backpack. So there I was in San Mateo with a fin-less board. But I wasn’t about to let the Poko get out that easy – I decided to stop at a surf-shop on the way and buy a new set.

So we went to the shop and unfortunately fins are a fortune (63 bucks for a set) and I didn’t want to do that. So we all talked to the guy a bit and he said oh, well we do have these used ones, and he pulled out a secret box from below the counter. It was full of a bunch of used FCS fins, so I selected some G-3 side fins but there was no center G-3, so I found the only center fin in the box and it was a little different but I figured why not experiment (I currently know nothing about fins) so I got it. They were 8 bucks each, so that ended up being no too bad. We were then back on our way, and the Poko knew she was about to get cold.

We got to the Jetty and it didn’t look bad. There weren’t many people out, and the waves looked decent, so we went right out. For some reason, it was INCREDIBLY cold. Probably the coldest water I have ever been in. I don’t know what made it so cold but seriously it was almost frozen. So I could instantly barely move my hands and got ice-cream headaches on my duckdives, but after some hard paddling (and a little bit of pee) I warmed up a tad and was still cold, but not frozen. It has been a long time since I rode the Poko so I was a little unsure of how I would do. I was expecting a lot of goofy looking wipeouts when I tried to stand up, but I caught one wave right away and it was easy. I felt well balanced and getting up was smooth. I did notice that I felt really slow though. I’m not sure if it’s the fin setup or if it’s because I’m simply too heavy for the board and I’m burying it underwater. I think it’s more the latter and there’s not too much I can do to change that. But it was still fun to be out on a new board, even though when I sit on it I’m underwater about to my neck. Initially I went over to the spot closer to the rocks and Nic and his Google buddy stayed in the beachbreak stuff. I caught a few waves, but I couldn’t seem to make it past the first closing section and wasn’t getting very good rides. Nic came over too then and he caught some good ones (for him). We both then went over and kept the other guy company and rode some closeouts. I caught one that held up for a decent time and that was a fun ride, although I couldn’t do anything because I couldn’t get any speed. To sum it up – It was fun riding the Poko again but it’s still probably too small, the water was freeeeeezing, it was quite windy, and the waves were mostly closeouts.

On the way back home we ate pizza at Straw Hat, and just like when I ate there with Mike a few weeks ago it provided plenty of entertainment. Suffice it to say that the cashier was a little confused and had some amusing comments. The pizza was good though and we had a feast, with a pitcher of beer to wash it all down. That reminds me, I also drank 2 beers in Nic’s car on the way to HMB, so I was a bit buzzed for the session. When the waves aren’t big, that can make things more fun.

That’s all, sayonara.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Santa Cruz

Session: 7
Date: Sunday, 4/10/05
Place: Steamer’s Lane
Time: 3:30 to 6:30
Waves: Very Good (for 1.5 hrs of the 3), good for the rest
Stokemeter: 8.5

Santa Cruz, what a funky little town. Yeah, there is a bit of a strange vibe to the place, and sure, some parts of town are full of drugged out dudes “fuckin’ sippin’ fuckin’ cold ones, bro”, but on the whole I think it’s a town that I would enjoy living in. It seems to have an interesting mix of people – the previously mentioned surferdude punks, the 420 stoners (lots), the starving artists, the college students, the old hippy longboarder who now owns a coffee-shop, the volleyball players and the girls on the beaches…Santa Cruz has variety and flavor – and a lot seems to be lurking below the surface waiting to be discovered. To be honest, I’m not sure if those discoveries would be good or bad – but based on my initial impression of the place, I’m interested (unlike my initial impression of Salinas, for example).

Another note about Santa Cruz – what’s the deal with the surf gangs? While I have not yet had a bad encounter, I have heard that it is heavily localized. When Mike bought his wetsuit from FSC, we were talking to the girl helping him about surf spots, and when we started talking about the breaks north of town she said “yeah, those spots are neutral territory – nobody has claimed them yet so you shouldn’t get hassled.” Ok then. I’ll never understand the idea of owning a break. Sure, there are spots where I have surfed a lot and I feel like I know like the back of my hand, but that doesn’t mean I get mad at someone else for being there. It’s their ocean too – I’m glad that they are out enjoying it. It is a little bit frightening to think about how crowded some spots might be in 10 years with the explosion in popularity that surfing is going through right now – but that’s for another time. For right now, why can’t we just share? It’s always nice when you are out and people are smiling and sharing and happy – that makes even a bad wave session something truly enjoyable. So take note all you hostile surf gang members – You are not cool.

Alright. Time to get to the session – finally. This Sunday session was with Mike and my bro. We were going to go kind of early (Mike was on it) but Nic and I went out gallivanting on Saturday night so we were rather slow to wake up. So despite Mike’s phone calls every 15 minutes I still managed to lay on my dining room mattress until 11. Then at 11 I asked Selin to make me some pancakes and quite to my surprise, she did. That was fantastic. And not just any plain old pancakes – perfectly flipped fluffy golden brown pancakes (apparently Selin has taught classes on pancake making), with fresh strawberries on top, and real maple syrup. And sausage on the side. And mango slices even. All topped off with a big glass of orange juice. If you don’t have a good day after a breakfast like that, then I’m sorry, but something is wrong with you. (Plus it was free – thanks bro). So after that culinary experience we loaded up Mike’s Ocean Blue Explorer and were off. I did some board repair in the backseat while we were on our way (excellent time management) and managed to get the car all fumy (I was using the resin+hardener mix, no Solar-rez for me) but we made it anyway, without getting too goofy. Based on Nic’s report from his session yesterday, we decided to go first to Pleasure Point, south of town. So we rolled on over there and checked it out – but it wasn’t working. Whether that was due to the tide being very high at the time or whether it was because of the spot, I’m not sure. I think it was more likely the tide. Anyway, after watching the water for a few minutes and listening to some punk surfer dude speak (see 1st paragraph), we took off in search of bluer water (greener pastures?). Note: The punk surfer dudes seem to be much stupider and more annoying on the “east” side than on the “west” side. We decided this must be because the west side seems much richer and therefore the west-side surfer dudes are more likely to be educated and well-mannered. So guess where we headed, yep, the “west” side. Note 2: While locals seem to refer to the sides as “east” and “west”, it seems to make more sense to us outsiders to refer to them as “north” and “south”. However, it might be possible that upon further review of a map, the curve of the bay might lead to a sorta east and sorta west side. Either way, just remember that “east” is “south”, and “west” is “north.” Confused? Anyway, we ended up at Natural Bridges. We drove in and the wind was blowing at what seemed about 40 mph so that spot wasn’t working. We then drove down West Cliff Road (even the road namers think east and west) and checked out the spots along the cliffs, but none of them were working either. So Steamer’s it was. Mike hates it there for some reason, so he was a little whiny about it, but he went so good for him. We pulled into a primo parking spot, got out, and went to check it out. Nothing. There were about 10 people out, but the waves were puny. It was about 2:30 or so though, so it was still pretty high tide and we figured it’d get better. So we considered walking down to the closest surf shop and renting some monster longboards to enjoy the small and slow waves. We walked down the road a few minutes and came to the first shop and checked it out. They had boards, but it was 20 bucks and we’d have to get ‘em back by 5:30, so it wasn’t worth the hassle. But it did make me want to get a longboard soon – sometimes it is fun to just glide along and paddle so easily on a big longboard. I’m also interested in getting a skim board, one of those would be fun to mess around with, so I did a little research at the shop but didn’t make a purchase. We then sauntered over to the volleyball area and did some people watching. Mainly we were watching a couple volleyball games, there were some guys playing on one court who were pretty good and competitive so it was fun to watch. There were also some guys skimboarding down on the water, and given my new interest in purchasing one I watched them for a minute, but they sucked. Anyway, by this time it was getting later and we figured the tide would be down so we walked back up to the break and it was looking a lot better. We grabbed our gear and headed on out. Getting out was easy, and the crowds weren’t too bad. We first went out and sat kind of in the biggest pack of people, who were a ways off the cliff and catching the waves that occasionally came by. The pack was mostly longboards and hybrids and the skill level was average. I watched closer to the cliff for a bit, and saw that it seemed to me to be breaking better and more often, plus it wasn’t crowded at all. Pretty much nobody. There was one guy who was good who was going way out and catching the wave beyond the cliff, then riding it in. He was picking off the best waves, but there were still plenty that weren’t jacked up where he was that ended up forming nicely close to the cliff, so that’s where I went. Since it’s a right, Mike didn’t want to go for it, so I went on my own. It was only about 75 yards or so away from where Mike and Nic were sitting though, so they were able to see if I got any good ones…which I did! 2 waves in particular were very excellent, providing really long rides with a wall that kept on bowling up and making for good turns and stuff. If I was good, they were the kind of waves that just set you up perfect for big airs and 360’s and the like…but since I’m not at that level I settled for a little carving and some rather weak attempts at hitting the lip. But still, I felt like I was surfing better than normal, so I was feelin’ really good and having a great time. It was funny too, because about midway through the session about 7 or 8 little kids showed up and hit the spot, and it was like there were 100 of ‘em out there! They were good little grom rippers, who have probably been surfing since they could walk, and they knew the spot and went for everything (although like most groms they seemed to stay more to the inside and get the smaller stuff). One of them, who was probably the best (he pulled some 360’s – those are crazy looking maneuvers) cut me off so bad on one wave that I had a very ugly looking wipeout because he was right where I needed to go. He then paddled back out and I said “that was a nice drop-in you had” and he said “uh…thanks?” seeming a little confused and then I said “did you even see me going for that” and he said “oh…yeah, I didn’t think you were gonna make it” and then I said “well I was gonna make it but then you were right in the way” and he said “oh, oops, sorry, take this wave” and he gave me the next wave and after that he was a nice little kid. Clearly he was from the “west” side – he was nice and he didn’t say the f-word even one time. Anyway, the groms were swarming all over for about an hour, but then they left and it was fairly empty again. It was also interesting how some surfers chose to enter the lineup. There is maybe a 20 foot cliff at the side of Steamer’s, and it’s right above where the waves break. So some lazy yet brave surfers choose to climb down this cliff (which is damn-near vertical) clinging to the rock with one hand and their board with the other, and then wait for a wave to rise up below them, then they jump – having to get far enough away from the rocks to get into the water without hitting their board or body on any of the very hard, sharp, and mean rocks they were just clinging to. All this to save maybe 2 or 3 minutes of paddling. Anyway, it looked pretty difficult and one guy who jumped didn’t seem to get his board away from the rocks and when it hit it made a very bad sounding “crunch” noise. Not good. But he just paddled out like nothing happened…maybe he was too embarrassed to look for dings. Another interesting thing was that there were 2 Irish guys out in the more advanced part of the lineup – but it was rather clear they were not advanced in their surfing skills. They were flailing around and beating the water with every passing ripple, but not catching anything. Plus, they were talking a lot to eachother – but nobody else could understand anything they were saying. They sounded like the gypsies from the movie “Snatch”. I don’t really know too many true Irish people or any gypsies, so I’m not sure if these accents are similar or not, but that’s just what it seemed like to me – indecipherable. Anyway, along with the two Irishmen, there were also 2 other guys out there who didn’t belong. One of them was really charging. I give him credit for that, but honestly his charging was the type you watch and just wait for a serious accident. At one point, I was sitting next to one good shortboarder and we were watching the outside (very close to the cliff) where all these guys were, and the kamikaze went for a wave waaaaay too late, tried to get up, went plummeting headfirst and backwards over the falls, with the cliff wall about 4 feet in front of him. The guy I was sitting with said “time to call 911” and that about summed it up. Anyway, the guy was miraculously ok and apparently not afraid because he went ahead and did the same thing on the next wave. And the one after that. I never saw him actually make a wave – but he was certainly charging – give him credit for that. Ha.

So we spent 3 hours in the water and I enjoyed every minute of it. The conditions were good, the wind was blocked by the cliff, and the crowd was entertaining. Plus, I always do enjoy surfing where there is a bit of a gallery (which Steamer’s always has) – it makes it more exciting and you feel kind of like you have a fan club wanting you to do something cool. I know that I can’t provide as much entertainment as a 10 year old kid pulling 360’s, but I do try to surf smooth and with a little bit of style. I think that while of course it is pretty incredible to watch someone just tear a wave apart, there is also something nice about a surfer who is relaxed and working with the wave – getting long rides and gliding along, making nice silky turns and linking together sections. Someday I want to have somebody take a camera and get some video of me and Mike and Nic and whoever else on some waves – I think that would be fun to watch – and then I would know how bad I really look! (But at least I know I would look way better than Nic!).

So, we finally were famished and went in – and here comes the only bad part of the day. As I was going in, I rode whitewater a bit too long and my right rear fin nailed a rock. I heard the terrible noise and knew right away that it was a bad one. I turned the board over and lo and behold it ripped the fin out of the front plug and dug it into the back. It was bad enough even that the top end of the rear plug was just barely poking out of the top of the board. Damn. This has happened to that fin before and I fixed it once – it’s not easy. Now I have to do it again. But, on the bright side, at least it was the fin that was already repaired once, not either of the other good fins. Plus, it has given me an idea. I think that San Jose needs a ding repair shop. There has to be lots of surfers in the area, and to my knowledge (and Google’s knowledge) there are no repair shops in San Jose. I gotta work out all the details still (can I fix boards on the rooftop of Nic’s apartment, and can I store them in the dining room?) but the idea has been planted and it might be worth a try. We will see how it works out. Nic will set me up with a google ad-words account he said, so my advertising would be set at least. I would be able to leave my job at 3:30, go to San Jose, and be fixing boards by 4:15 or so…that might be hard but we’ll see. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it happen, but we’ll just have to find out.

Alright, this is a HUGE posting (I’m writing it on Word right now and it’s a full 4 pages) so I’m gonna go ahead and post it. Until next time, keep blazing that surf trail, I gotta do some work!

Badly Belated Blogging

Sessions: 3, 4, 5, 6
Dates: April 1, 2, 3, 5
Places: HMB Jetty, HMB Jetty, Santa Cruz (multiple spots), HMB Jetty
Times: Various
Waves: HMB nothing special, Santa Cruz some good ones
Stokemeter: Average of all 4 sessions - 5.5

So it's been awhile since I posted. I'm just doing some passive marketing for my blog - give people a taste and then hold off, make 'em want more, make 'em ask for more (notice 7 responses to my 1st blog) - and then deliver. So here you all go, 4 sessions at once. Brace yourselves!

Session 1 was a Friday pau-hana surf, which are always better than the other weekdays (you all know why I'm sure - no work tomorrow!) My bro joined me today and that always makes it better too. I can't recall too much else about the surf today, so it must have been pretty average. I vaguely recall Nic doing ok today, I think he's getting better, just needs to get more wave awareness. The only way to do that is to spend time in the water, at different spots and in varying conditions. There is no shortcut for experience. With time, he'll get it. I don't remember any notable rides from today. I need to start trying to take my surfing to the next level, especially on these small days, by trying harder cutbacks, floaters, more turns, etcetera. I will work on more moves in my upcoming sessions - even if it means more wipeouts.

Session 2 was Saturday. I watched some basketball at Nic's in the morning, then we decided to go to the jetty for a little watertime. We got up there and again I don't remember much about the waves, I don't think they were very big. From reading my bro's blog it seems there weren't that many waves to catch. But I do remember going to eat afterwards at the authentic Mexican place down the road a ways. It was pretty good - I got quite a bit of food. It didn't sit too well in my stomach later...but I enjoyed it at first!

Session 3 was on Sunday, with Mike. Since we didn't have baby Nic with us, all breaks were open for our use (Nic can't surf the bigger spots, ha!). So we figured Santa Cruz would be the best. We started by checking out Natural Bridges area. It wasn't looking too good. We drove all the way down the road almost to Steamer's, and saw some ok spots. The best spot was a really small take-off area and it was already packed with 5 or 6 rippers, so we avoided it. We ultimately decided to go North. On the way we decided to check out some spots, so we pulled over at Wilder Ranch and hiked forever to get to this spot where it doesn't really look like you are allowed to go down to the beach to get into the water, since it's a private wildlife reserve or something like that. The waves didn't look that great though, so we didn't harm any salamander habitat in an attempt to get out to it. Then we arrived at 4-mile and figured we'd just hit it no matter what, so we put on the suits and got the boards and walked on down. It looked ok, and there were a fair amount of people out surfing the right, so Mike and I decided to take advantage of some beach-break that was working in the middle of the beach. It was a close-out left that if you caught far enough inside (or if it came from the right direction) would hold up long enough to ride for a few seconds. So we were doing that for an hour or so, maybe a bit more. I was beat after that hour (this was my 5th day in a row, afterall!), so I went and sat on the beach and watched Mike get a few. Then we took off, I refueled with some beef jerky I swiped from my bro, and went back to Natural Bridges. It was even worse now, but we figured why not, and we went out at this one spot that I don't know the name of. Well, it ended up being terrible, and it had a reeeealllly spooky vibe to it, so we got the hell outta there and went to Steamers. The lane was actually working pretty well, but as usual it was pretty crowded too. There was one bomb I wanted to go for, but when I looked down in front of me there were about 8 people wide-eyed just sitting in the way. Too bad. It's pretty hard to take-off on a wave that you might wipe out on when there are that many people in the danger zone. But I did manage to get 2 pretty good sized waves in about 40 minutes or so. Also got one on the inside that was a really fun ride, for the last one of the day. Then it started pouring right as I got outta the water (Mike had already been in for about 15 minutes and had already gotten all warm, the wuss) and I had to take care of all the damn wetsuit shit in the rain. That made me miss Hawaii's 80 degree sunshine everyday just a little bit.

After 5 days in a row, I was beat, so on Monday I rested.

Tuesday my bro picked me up at work. I got to show him my jobsite, including my dirty trailer and my gross porta-pottie. He wasn't too impressed. But he did like the view of hills and flowers and grass out my back window. Anway, we drove together to HMB and went out at the Jetty again. It was really weak today. We screwed around a bit, then I wanted something better and thought maybe Montara would be working so we got out and went up there but of course it wasn't. So we drove back to the Jetty and got in there again, and it was quite a bit better. Seems to always do that. I need to just drive by without even looking the first time, then come back an hour later and it'll be overhead barrels with 2 guys out - no, make that overhead barrels with one person out, a hot chick somehow surfing in a bikini. Aaaah yeah. Anyway, got a couple ok rides and then it got dark. My bro surfed 'til about 8:15 PM, and I had to wait for him for a while at the car, but no problem because he needs the practice.So, that was 4 sessions. Now it's the weekend and I'm looking forward to getting in at least one more session...I'll shoot for two, hopefully I can make that happen. Thanks again for checking the blog and I'll be back soon.

I'm a Blogger

Edited 4/8/05: In order to make this more organized, I will list some pertinent information at the beginning of each post, as follows -

Session(s): 1 & 2
Date: March 30, 31
Place: HMB Jetty
Time: 5 to 7:15 PM
Waves: Session 1 - Headhigh; Session 2 - Shoulder at best
Stokemeter: Session 1 - 9 (Tubular!); Session 2 - 5 (Mediocre)

Blaze the Trail Cat here, posting his first blog ever. I'm gonna copy my brother's idea and post about surfing (as well as whatever else Trail Cats like me are interested in). I'm gonna learn how to put up photos and links and all kinds of cool things like that, in good time. For now, all I'm gonna do is ramble. So, let me start by documenting my last two surf expeditions. The first was yesterday. Finished work at 4:15, took off. Cruized over the hills, into Half Moon Bay, went north, pulled over, did the wetsuit thing, and then was in the water at the HMB Jetty. As usual it was crowded but not too bad. I got dropped in on on my first 3 or 4 waves, but then I guess they accepted that I was gonna get some waves and people were more considerate. There were some good surfers out, some guys were landing aerials and you don't see that too often. I was middle of the pack I suppose, good enough to get waves. I tend to just wait more towards the outside, there might be less waves there but when they do come they're better and I'm in position for 'em. So, I did that. Course that also leads to the drop-ins as mentioned before, but what can ya do. After about an hour and a half it started getting dark and the crowd thinned out, and the waves got better. Wave of the day was my second to last, caught it pretty late so I had a steep drop, but I angled it hard and the wind held up the wave and made it barrel. I tried to stall into it for a bit, and probably could have done a bit better job of that than I did, but still clocked a second or two of little barrel time. Then just as I got out of the first one the wave kept going, making another little barrel. So I tucked into this one too. That was pretty fun, never done that before. Only the second day of my surfing career where I've ever been tubed. So I shoulda gone in after that but I paddled back out and tried to get another, but the set was finished and it was starting to get too dark to see much so I finally just caught some whitewash on in. It was a good day at the Jetty. Good enough in fact that I decided I'd just keep my current job and hit the Jetty (or nearby spots) everyday after work, rather than move to Salinas and work until 6 everyday. I might make less money but everything else I like better. See, surfing can be productive, it helped me to make this very important decision. Maybe it's not the right decision, but I feel good about it so it's gotta be the thing to do.

Ok, finally, on to session two, today. Today I got outta work at 3:30 on the dot, again went to HMB. Today though, when I first went by the Jetty, it looked pretty bad. Really small. So I kept driving on up to Montara to see if it was working. It was definetely bigger, but that place just seems to close out all the time. Nobody was out and I wasn't going out into the fire by myself so I turned back around after watching for a few minutes and headed back south. As I was driving, I saw a few little spots from the road where I could see some waves, so I pulled off in search of the secret spot. 1 spot actually had some potential, but there seemed to be rocks everywhere all over the lineup. Too bad. Maybe another day it will break in a slightly different spot and the rocks won't ruin it. I'll continue to check it out, gotta find somewhere less crowded than the Jetty so that I can go with my bro and get him some more waves (he needs to get as many as possible). So after trying to find a good spot for a bit, I decided might as well go back to the Jetty, so I did. When I pulled up for the second time it actually looked pretty good, so I went out. I went out via the jetty, walked out the path way out past the 14 rock and then jumped in from there. Easy entry! I beat some guys out who had started paddling way before I even started walking. Plus it put me in primo position, and it paid off with maybe my best wave of the day about 30 seconds after getting in the water. So I thought I was in for a good session after that, but then it was time for the drought. No good waves, got dropped in on on a bunch of so-so waves, etc etc. But today wasn't as crowded so that was good. Anyway not too much else of note happened today. Probably got 15 rides or so. Not bad. A few pretty good ones and lots of average ones. But still fun.

So tomorrow maybe I go with my bro, maybe not. I'm pretty beat and I'm getting a cold. But that can't stop the Trail Cat if the surf is good! So I suppose I'll still check it out.

Alright, there ya go, my first post, and it turned into a marathon. I'm outta here, anyone still reading thank you for being such a devoted fan. Until next time, this cat is outta here.