All Whales go to Heaven

sunset session

2011-11-09T00:15:00.000-08:00

racy low tide peaks at sunset. caught a handful of workable lefts as well as some decent rights that afforded a few clean cutbacks and one respectable floater. have lots of pics to upload from the rip curl pro too, another post another time. work to finish...

flying fish

2011-07-30T21:47:00.000-07:00

been riding the 5'6" fish setup as a thruster for my last few sessions and it's been really fun. not quite as fast but a lot more control than the quad setup when linking turns, less slipping and sliding through cutbacks. had a really fun session this morning, waves were small but punchy and lined up. i was catching a lot of long rides and in a pretty good rhythm. my last wave of the session was a beaut, took off behind the peak and bottom turned around the first section, hit a snappy turn off the top and then a smooth cutback. it continued to wall up pretty steep and i raced down the line towards the closeout and popped a clean frontside air and actually tweaked it out a little, landing in the flats before falling. i wouldn't say i stomped it, i definitely didn't ride out clean, but nonetheless it was a really good ride for me. fingers crossed for some more launch ramps at OB tomorrow morning.

one day i'll be able to boost like this....riiiight

daycare dawn patrol

2011-07-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

We've had a fun few days of weather and small but fun waves at OB, so today for the first time I surfed after dropping Kirra off at daycare. Daycare is conveniently located at 48th and Rivera, just a block from the beach and a quality sandbar serving up some shoulder high peaks. I was the only one out for the first half hour before 2 other guys joined the lineup. By that point it started getting a little textured, so I rode one in to the beach and headed to work. It was a short session, but I had 4 or 5 decent rides and it's just nice to be out in the water getting some exercise.

new years eve @OB

2011-01-02T00:44:00.000-08:00

playful surf to cap off good year - soft peaks and easy drops with the occasional head high wall to carve, and some fun crossed up sections on the inside.

baby Kirra & paternity leave sessions

2010-12-07T22:27:00.000-08:00

Kirra Elise Bogart was born on Nov 23rd at 4:23 am, and needless to day I am super stoked to be a dad. She's absolutely beautiful and Joanie and I are a ridiculously happy little family.
It's been as tiring as everyone said it would be, with constant feedings, changing diapers, and housekeeping stuff. Although my life priorities have completely shifted, I've been able to sneak out to OB twice so far this month for some solid waves. On most of the other days when I can't make time to surf, I've been running with Gus down to Sloat and back, trying to stay active. Life is good- and having a baby really gives me so much to look forward to, taking care of her and watching her grow and eventually teaching her things. I can't wait to get her out in the water as soon as she is able to walk, maybe down at Cowell's or the HMB jetty - it will probably be a while until she's out in the lineup at OB. Not until she's at least 3...

This shot is from my first post-partum session, on Dec 1st. The waves and weather were beautiful, but it was a mob scene in the water. People dropping in left and right too, but still scored some really good lefts.

These shots were from today, there were some nice barrels to be had, although I didn't make it out of any. Lots of pulling in and getting pounded, but the paddle wasn't too bad.

obdp 101310

2010-10-13T23:53:00.000-07:00

good waves on tap this morning, I paddled out north of Judah and surfed for a solid hour. I surfed like crap though, wiped out hard a few times trying to take off too deep. Made a few solid ones though. Hopefully more glassy nuggets tomorrow AM...

5'6" convertible fishing

2010-10-12T00:30:00.000-07:00

This past weekend offered extremely varied conditions to test out my new shape, which came out well, although the sanding job isn't quite as clean as on my first board. I definitely burned through a couple spots and had to touch it up with some sanding resin to make sure it's all watertight. On saturday the waves were small and weak, so i rode it as a quad. the fins are fairly far forward, the tail is thick with generous vee, and my Stretch quad fins are pretty small, so it's super loose. the first time i tried to do a cutback the tail almost immediately broke loose into a snap. fun when you expect it, but definitely takes some getting used to. it's really fast and fun to work down the line, at least in small surf like this, which it's designed for. I want to test drive some larger keel fins and try running it as a twin, or just a more stable quad. Once I get it dialed in with the right fins I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

Sunday the swell was forecast to come up a bit, so I pulled out the trailing fins and used one as a center fin. So basically a thruster configuration, except using my quad fins, so it would still be really loose, but have slightly more control and centering. It was foggy and hard to see, but the surf was pumping. The inside bar was relentless closeouts and it kicked my ass. I got shut down a couple times, but eventually was able to punch through. Took me 20 minutes to make it to the outside bar. Sets were head high+ and pitching, with some fast and steep sections to navigate. I was definitely undergunned, but managed to catch a few screamers and make a couple big drops on my new board. It's really fast down the line so I was able to catapult myself pretty high out of a few, although I didn't manage to keep my board under my feet. I tried a few turns at speed, but the board felt way too loose still and would just slide the moment I threw my weight into a turn or tried to force the board to track up a really steep fast section. Again, I think I'll be able to reign it in a bit with the right fins, I need to find the sweet spot for this board between speed and looseness and control. On most days though I'll gladly trade a little control for a bunch more speed.

As usual, thanks to Joanie for taking some pics and hanging out on the beach. She was able to capture some of the dolphins frolicking around in the surf too, which always makes a session that much more special.

quick dawn patrol

2010-10-07T12:51:00.000-07:00

got up kindof late this morning but snuck in a 45 minute session. OB was fun, head high and glassy. Would've been perfect for my new fish, but I still haven't sanded it...hopefully the conditions will hold through the weekend

dead whale at K st

2010-09-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

big whale washed up at the beach right at kirkham, so i ran back to the house to get my camera. figured it wouldn't be a brilliant idea to surf, despite not sighting any dorsal fins cruising the area. i could see the headlines now - "expectant father eaten by sharks while surfing next to dead whale". i don't want to win any Darwin awards...

south swell nugs

2010-09-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

saturday was bigger than sunday, but the head high+ combo swell made for some short, fast rides at OB. ALSO, Joanie and I finally finished preparing the baby room, complete with ocean theme mural. Pics of the mural to follow...

first barrel of the fall

2010-09-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

chest - shoulder high sets, peaky and glassy at 7am. my first session back on the WU quad and i was loving it. lots of speed, lots of wipeouts, but a few really fun rides and one little cover up to start the day

finally some waves at home

2010-09-07T23:27:00.000-07:00

it's been a pretty poor summer here as far as surf goes, even by san francisco summer standards. to kick off the beginning of fall the weather cleared up for a few days and the surf kicked up to shoulder high. I had a fun session with Nic and another with Karl the other day, as well as a few solo sessions. Felt good to be out paddling, catching waves and taking some pictures. I'm looking forward to some nw swell and east winds, and I'm optimistic that OB will deliver this fall to make up for such a dismal summer of surf.

Oluwalu longboarding

2010-08-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

had to return the board at 10am, so we hopped in our sweet Chevy Malibu and drove down the coast for an early morning session down at Oluwalu. I wanted to try a different spot, but everything else was small to the point of being unrideable. I was all by my lonesome for almost the entire session, which is the best part about surfing when there's harldy any swell in a wave rich area like this. Reminded me of a few fun sessions I've had at Steamer Lane when it was too small for anyone else to bother.

maui wauwi

2010-08-28T10:58:00.000-07:00

practically skunked as far as surf goes, but i managed to get a few small wave sessions in. i rented a 6'4" NSP fishy thing from Local Motion in Lahaina. The people at the shop are super nice. I drove the coast and ended up surfing a little left called Oluwalu. It was teeny, so most rides I was focused on just getting enough speed to stay afloat. The swell dropped even more, so after my session I traded in the 6'4" for a 8'6".

dolphins

2010-08-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrSvxedzKjw
this is from a session last week, the morning after watching the Cove. If you haven't seen it yet, check out the film and the website: http://www.takepart.com/thecove

what is this...a barrel for ANTS!?!

2010-07-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

ankle biters on tap this AM, but it was relatively nice out and i just got a new sony tx5 camera that i've been dying to test out, along with a new wrist shot strap from a cool local company called Golden Hour. i'll post a more thorough review when i'm able to test the setup in more serious surf for a longer session, but so far so good. the 10mp resolution is 2x better than that of the GoPro cam, and I'm a sucker for the 10fps burst mode. perfect for capturing those critical moments. it also does a lot better in low light, has a 4x zoom, touch screen display, panorama, etc. basically it's a fully featured slim little point and shoot that also happens to be waterproof to 10ft and shockproof too. my only gripe so far is that the touch screen is too sensitive in the water for my fat fingers, i end up pressing things and get stuck in the menu by mistake. It's probably something I can disable in the settings, I need to play with it some more. The new wrist strap from Golden Hour worked well so far, although like I said, the waves were tiny and I was only in the water for half an hour, so I can't really give it an accurate assessment yet. It appears to be a well made peice though, and the velcro is strong so I expect it will hold up well. Stay posted for a full review soon, and pray for surf...

the dawning of a new era

2010-07-19T05:13:00.000-07:00

i haven't been blogging much lately, although I've still been surfing a few times a week. part of the reason for the neglect of w2h is that i've been super busy, both at work and at home. another reason is that the waterproof housing on my GoPro is busted (actually I broke 2 of them...) so I haven't been taking as many photos, which is usually the main reason I post to w2h. but really, I've mostly dropped off the radar because I'm gonna be a dad -a baby girl on the way, due in late November. so obviously priorities have shifted, and dawn patrolling every day has been replaced with things like shopping for cribs and painting the baby room.

in any case, I've actually had a few memorable surf sessions in the last month. for a few sessions when the waves were small, I pulled the 2 rear fins out of my Wu Wallace quad and surfed it as a twin fin. It was super fast and super loose, a lot of fun going frontside, but really out of control going backside. I rode it like that for a while, and then one morning the swell came up significantly, and I found myself paddling into 6-7 footers. The speed is ridiculous, and turns are a lot harder to get a feel for, but it was a lot of fun. One good wave I caught that session I was flying down the line while some dude on the inside was throwing shakas and hooting. Overall though it was not enough control, so I put the other fins back and rode it as a quad for my next couple sessions.

In one of my next sessions, there was some tiny but fun little combo swell in the water. I was out trading waves with maybe 5 or 6 other guys, and as I bottom turned into a left, an older guy on a hybrid ditched his board right in front of me. I clipped the back of his board with my right side rail and two huge chunks got taken out. So unfortunately my favorite small wave board is currently out of commission. It's repairable, but it's not going to be pretty. As a replacement, I'm currently 80% done shaping a 5'6" fish, the template based off of a Shane Stoneman fish that Matias rides. My goal is to finish it before the summer is over.

In the meantime, I've been riding my own 6'4" as my everyday board, and starting to really get it dialed. I've had some solid head high days on it now, so have gotten used to the way it handles at speed, and I'm quite pleased with the performance. I've made some really late drops on it, pulled into some nice barrels (although haven't made it out of a clean one yet) and have even landed a couple of small airs on it. If anything, I would say that I could've put more concave into the tail, to make it a little looser and easer to snap the tail around. Going fast it seems harder to slide the tail than some of my other boards.

Lastly, I just ordered a new Sony TX5 waterproof camera. Coupled with the new WristShot universal strap that I bought today from a really cool local company, Golden Hour I think it will make an awesome surf camera. The ability to zoom, shoot 10fps bursts at 10mp, and shoot HD video should make for some quality surf pics. I just hope the camera will stand up to the abuse. As soon as my new camera arrives I'll post a review of it, along with the wrist strap too. I'm really stoked to be moving up in terms of image quality for my water shots, without having to sacrifice the convenience of a wrist cam.

monday dawn patrol

2010-06-14T08:23:00.001-07:00

rolled out of bed at 5:30, made some coffee and suited up. hit the water just before 6. south winds blowing, but not too hard. surf was jumbled on the inside, but the outer bars were actually a lot of fun. shoulder to head high sets rolling through regularly, and nobody else out except for a few sea lions patrolling. mostly rights, but a few really clean lefts as well. the new board feels good - stuck a few late drops, worked on milking as much speed as i could out of my bottom turn, and was able to find a few nice walled up sections to do some turns and hit a couple of floaters. for a while i got stuck on the inside paddling through a rip, and the current pulled me 2 blocks south. a healthy jog home after a solid 1.5 hour dawn patrol to kick off the week.

cStar maiden voyage

2010-06-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

finished sanding my first board last night and took it for a spin today in some choppy sloppy waves at OB. on my first wave i was able to pump down the line and hit a little floater - stoked! really happy with the board so far, it feels intuitive dropping in and bottom turning, pumping down the line, and cutting back. it pretty much goes where I want it to without bogging or pearling, which is all i could really ask for out of my first board. i'm looking forward to testing it out on some punchier waves and longer pointbreaks so i can really get some solid turns in. already looking forward to finishing my next board, which will be more designed for small gutless summer waves.

more pics:

C-Star 1 maiden voyage

week after memorial day surf n' bbq

2010-06-06T22:07:00.000-07:00

fun glassy session at OB with my bro in laws Ruben and Brian, followed up by a yummy bbq in my recently poop and weed-free yard. baby back ribs and korean style tacos mmmm

dredgie wedgie

2010-06-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

not as clean as yesterday but good size, lots of fun rides. pulled into a few, but they closed out and i punched through the back. met up with karl and we paddled a little further north to a sandbar that was dredging.

noriega pumping

2010-06-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

it was definitely a workout, but some really good waves this morning down at Noriega. Ryan and I both caught a handful of waves, and both had some memorable wipeouts too. The 5'9" quad was definitely not the right board for sticking air drops this AM...tomorrow I'll be on it again with something more practical ;)

memorial day weekend ocean beach

2010-05-31T10:19:00.000-07:00

fun, sun, cheez-its and hulu hoops. what more could you ask for?

crabby OB

2010-05-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

pretty crappy, really short period, but i mustve caught at least 20 waves, so it was a lot of fun. forecast isnt promising for this weekend, but at least it's sunny and beautiful out

first board glassed!

2010-05-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday under the tutelage of the illustrious Wu Wallace, I glassed my first board. It's a 6'4", based loosely off of the dims of my 6'5" JC SD3 step-up which I've come to know and love, but is pretty beat. It took all day to glass, but was actually really fun. Definitely a good learning experience, and I'm looking forward to glassing my next shape sooner than later.

souperfun!

2010-04-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

lil' tubers, floaties, shallow bars, and good vibes in the water. ran into dave and mark in the lineup, and saw josh getting in as i was getting out. hoping for more of the same fun in the sun tomorrow

supermoto school at Infineon

2010-04-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

my buddy chris and i took a day off from work on Tuesday to go up to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma and learn some supermoto riding techniques. it was 8 guys and 2 groups, so 4 people plus an instructor on the track at one time. they ran it on the go kart track, and we did 4 different configurations of the track to keep things interesting.

after a couple sessions to get warmed up and some classroom training and drills, my group got moving pretty good. one guy brought his own bike, a KTM 450 SM, so he would routinely blow past everyone on the straights. it was an absolute blast, and almost the complete opposite of sportbike/street riding in terms of body position for cornering. balls on the tank, ass hanging slightly off the outside of the seat, foot sticking out on the inside, and outside elbow pointed way up. we also had some wet and dirty apexes to deal with, which made things interesting, you could feel the front end push, and using your foot to help keep it connected started to make sense.

as my confidence grew, my corner entries got faster and faster and i was trail braking hard on both brakes, sliding the rear end a bit, and scraping pegs through every turn. eventually i railed through a right hander with the bike decked out, and lost the front. the bike spun out in front of me and flipped off the track into the grass. i hopped to my feet and ran to pick the bike up, its wheels still spinning in 2nd gear (these things are near impossible to stall). the instructor was behind me, and pulled over to make sure i was OK. i was expecting him to tell me to head to the pits and sit the rest of the session out, but instead he offered me his bike, and i was on my way. needless to say i took it easy for the next couple sessions, focusing on weighting the outside peg and pushing the bike under me while keeping my body upright and as much weight as possible over the front tire. finished the day without any more drama, and learned a hell of a lot, especially about traction and using that rear brake.

i rigged up a helmet cam for the last session of the day. no fancy editing, just ~2 minutes of me chasing my friend Chris around the track. if you crank up the audio you can hear me banging off the rev limiter - we kept rotating bikes, and some were geared taller than others, some had slicks, some had dual sport tires, so it kept things very interesting.

anyway, it was a really great experience, with such underpowered bikes it definitely felt like the go kart racing equivalent of motorcycling.

fort pt dawn patrol

2010-04-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

it was good this morning, solid head high with some + sets, minimal friendly crowd. lots of peaky waves, but the ones that walled up through the inside were really fun to carve around on. that guy frank was out there shredding on his longboard, catching all the biggest set waves.

east side SC last weekend

2010-04-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

a few screengrabs from a session in capitola with nic and joel last weekend. some fun rides, despite the angry guy in the lineup swearing and throwing kelp all over the place.

kookvid: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/zncdM0eKMx8R2vxVUrfNpA?feat=directlink

damn traffic

2010-04-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

despite getting out of mountain view at 5:15 i didn't make it to fort point until 7:05. i knew traffic would suck, but i figured i'd make it by 6:30ish. i'd barely have time to catch one wave before having to get out, so I reluctantly didn't surf and just took a picture of a decent set wave, then went to grub on some Noriega Pizza and delicious wings. A bit of a consolation for not making it in time to get wet. Tomorrow AM should be fun though, low tide in the morning. Swell is dropping a bit, but should still be working with that low of a low. Hopefully I'll have some water pics tomorrow.

saturday evening session at the lane

2010-03-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

had a busy day on saturday. went up to marin to watch jon run a 20k trail run in the morning, and totally goofed and didn't bring a board because i thought the waves would be small but the southern energy in the water filled in nicely up there. i'll post a few pics later, but for now i want to get up some pics of my evening session at Steamer Lane. It was surprisingly uncrowded, only a handful of guys fighting for waves at the slot, and then a few loggers milking the softer middle peak sets. I only had an hour to surf, so tried to maximize my wave count by sitting on the inside of the slot, catching whatever leftovers came through and the odd wave that would swing wide and run through to indicators. Got a couple of nice longish rides, but more often than not I ended up scratching into the closeouts that nobody else was going for. The backwash off of the cliff made the drops steep and bouncy, so I pearled a few times too, which is always fun in front of all the hecklers on the cliff. joanie graciously took some pics, even though I knew she was cold. I kept the session pretty brief and we headed to New Brighton to set up camp before it got too dark.

when the waves suck

2010-03-21T23:24:00.000-07:00

i'll be carving turns on this...

this morning

2010-03-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

one wave session

2010-02-26T15:20:00.000-08:00

this morning sucked. was hoping for some calm before the storm, but that wasn't the case at all. really strong south wind, whitecaps, and chaotic head high sets. nobody else out, super high tide, lots of crap washed up on the beach. paddle out was not fun, lots of whitewater to battle through, and current pulling hard north. thought i was on the outside when a big set wave detonated right in front of me. tried to duckdive and was able to hold onto my board for the initial impact, but when the wave picked me up and flipped me onto my back it blasted the board out of my hands and drove me down to the bottom. i tombstoned for a few seconds and climbed my leash back to the surface. luckily that was the last wave of the set, and I scratched my way all the way out after the hold-down. sat and waited and waited, but really just shit waves. eventually i stroked into a head high right and was able to get in a few clean turns and work it through to the inside closeout. ending my session rather than paddling back out and waiting for more slop was not a tough decision. at least i got some exercise. took zero pictures, not even a pelican portrait ;(

here's some pics from a couple of previous lackluster sessions. one of those days was actually glassy and offshore, but mostly closed out.

smart dolphins

2010-02-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

Jon sent me this video, pretty amazing...

glassy pron

2010-02-01T23:00:00.001-08:00

still jetlagged woke up at 4am today. paddled out near judhah at 7. shoulder high peaks really clean and fun but not epic. nice to have some mellow conditions though. first day back at work and slammed. worked till 930. beat. wonder if I'll have the energy to do it all again tomorrow...

rock rock rockaway beach

2010-01-31T23:02:00.000-08:00

fun late afternoon session with karl dave scott and joel. i missed nic, he mustve been asleep in the yaris. that's dedication...
surfed the north end of the beach for a while, it was pretty relentless with lots of closeout sets, so we hoofed it down to the south end and got a bunch of rides as the sun set. nice to be back home in chilly water. thanks mark for shooting some pics.

Playgrounds

2010-01-21T22:37:00.000-08:00

Haven't gotten much surf time this trip, but was lucky enough to score some fun little waves at Playgrounds in Nusa Lembongan. The reef there is so pristine, amazing snorkeling too. One of the pics below is the view from our villa in Lembongan, overlooking the seaweed farms and the reef. I'd love to go back in the dry season to score some bigger surf at Lembongan. Today is my last day in Bali, and although I'm staying on the west side of the island where it's onshore, I'm trying to figure out a way to rent a board and maybe a scooter to get some waves at Serangan or Nusa Dua where it should be fun cross-offshore and head high. Time is running out, tomorrow we're headed to Yogya for a few days, then Jakarta, and then back home.

shack float carve

2009-12-28T18:27:00.000-08:00

Scoured the coast with Ramin yesterday in search of some clean waves, since OB was maxed out and looking unsurfable without jet-ski assist. Ended up on the west side of SC, and scored some really good waves at low tide north of the Lane. Waves were head high with some + sets, fast and hollow with a good barrel section and lots of room to carve turns. My wave of the day was a head high set wave, I faded out the bottom turn anticipating hitting the lip, but pulled up, stalled, and got a clean little shack, even looked up as it was cascading over me. Came out of the barrel, pumped, hit a floater past a section, then grabbed my rail into a big cutback and worked the rest of the wave through to the inside. Was uber stoked, paddled back out with a ridiculous grin on my face, just in time to see Ramin drop into a sick one on his new Las Olas board, absolutely flying down the line. Was a great session, made me hungry for more point break waves. So much easier to surf them well compared the the chaos at OB. I'm getting really pumped for my Indo trip in January, although I'll be with family, so will have to restrain myself from surfing the entire day away.

oh bee ur sooo smooth

2009-12-18T10:26:00.000-08:00

Gotta take a ride, just recline in the faraway
Got to take some time to realize
That my friends they come
And the lines they go by

...to avoid having Puff the Magic Dragon playing on infinite loop in my head today, i listened to some Interpol while suiting up this morning.

solitary bombs, broken semi-gun

2009-12-17T11:44:00.000-08:00

i paddled out at Judah around 7:30 this morning. didn't see anyone else out. to be honest, i was scared. paddle out took ~20 minutes, got worked hard a few times and almost ran out of breath. just barely ducked under a couple of mean looking back to back 2x OH set waves breaking top to bottom. I drifted north quickly, snagged one massive right and rode it pretty far before kicking out to avoid the closeout section, and then got sucked too far out and spent the majority of my time trying to paddle into better position. ended up getting caught inside at Kelly's Cove, got smashed a few times, and broke the tail off of my board. Oddly I had the 'Puff the Magic Dragon' song stuck in my head the whole session. That one bomb was worth it, probably one of the largest and most powerful waves I've ever caught. Nothing like some survival surfing to start the work day...

shred the gnar

2009-12-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

Ramin's goin away

2009-12-13T10:47:00.000-08:00

Rainy and dreary, but some punchy little waves to be had. Ramin and I paddle out around 9:15 at Kirkham and got a few good ones. Ran into Joel walking back to the car, and then headed to the house for some gourmet frozen pizza and watched the Pipemasters competition. Good times, and happy for Ramin, doing good things with Blue Energy in Nicaragua. I'm sure I'll get to sneak a few more sessions with Ramin before he leaves. Tuesday looks like it will be offshore again...

friday 10 am OB

2009-12-04T12:37:00.000-08:00

took the day off, picked up some glassing supplies in Paifica, then paddled out at K St with Ramin. Pretty heavy, lots of water moving around, and 1.5x overhead sets, occasionally some bigger ones. we each snagged a good amount of fun waves, i got a realllly long right, and a handful of great drops. now we're headed up to Pt Reyes for some backpacking with Jon. Life is tough, aint it?

k st paparazzi

2009-12-03T09:18:00.000-08:00

shot from the dunes this morning for 10 minutes before heading to work. some really clean waves, looked fun. ramin had to rub it in by pulling into some deep barrels and busting some floaters...get to work slacker!

small but fun judah

2009-12-02T09:04:00.000-08:00

was a lot more fun than it looked initially from the beach. paddled out with ramin and ryan v just before 7. rights holding up nicely, and some glassy ones on the north end of the beach. my best ride was a super long walled up right, hit a few cutbacks, a snap and then my lame attempt at a layback into the closeout. got some funky pics, the one of ramin at the bottom looks like maybe his soul is already in Nicaragua...spooky

overgunned and underfed

2009-12-01T08:26:00.000-08:00

k street not doing it this AM, too fat and weak. waxed up the semi-gun expecting a challenging paddle and offshore 8-10 footers, but i was waaaaay off. would've been a better day for a fishy. caught a few rides that actually connected through, but nothing exciting, mostly peaky drops and fat mushy shoulders. i imagine it was working better elsewhere, but wrong time wrong place for me this morning. ran into Nic after i got out of the water, hopefully he fares better than i.

leo carillo & c-street

2009-11-30T23:09:00.000-08:00

camped at leo carillo north of malibu on saturday night. pretty beach, and nice campsites. will definitely go back. waves were pretty small, so i decided to venture further up the coast, ending up at c-street in ventura. some long rides, but it was pretty gutless. place must be really fun when it's big and powerful, reminded me a bit of trestles with all of the cobblestones. looking forward to an OB dawn patrol tomorrow, which will be far from gutless, offshore 10 footers and a bitch of a paddleout.

OB earlier this week

2009-11-27T13:34:00.000-08:00

thanks Ramin for taking pics...

works in progress

2009-11-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

hope to finish and glass my first 2 boards by the end of the year. 2010 will be the year of bogging MY OWN hand shaped rails!

black friday Huntington pier

2009-11-27T12:59:00.000-08:00

goddamn it's been a long time since i've posted to my blog. and it's not because i haven't been surfing, if anything it's because i've scored so many good sessions and have just had so little time to post anything. i've resorted to quickly uploading and emailing out picasa pics, but i'm gonna try and revive the blog. to catch up i'll probably be posting some real short posts just to share my favorite pics from my last month of epic surf trips, everything from humboldt to hanalei bay, including some recent epic sessions at home.

for now, here are some pics that Joanie snapped from the beach at Huntington. I awoke from my Thanksgiving food coma around 6:30 this AM, but didn't hit the road till 8:30. Paddled out at the south side of the pier around 9ish, and got my fair share of waves despite the crowds. My first wave out there was really fun actually, I busted a super long floater but came unstuck on the landing. I don't think Joanie even had the camera out yet though. After battling the current for a while, I decided to get out and run back up the the pier. These pics are screen grabs from my 2nd wave off of the pier, and nice walled up right that I pulled into before it closed out on me. The waves this AM were steep little things, and after pearling a couple of times I was wishing I had brought a shorter board.

norcal backpacking surf trip

2009-11-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

a few weeks behind on blogging and i've scored lots of waves in lots of places since my last post. on october 22nd Jon and I headed up north for an epic hiking and surfing adventure. my pack was loaded with camping gear, clothes, a bear can with enough grub for 4 nights in the backcountry, and my 6'5" and wetsuit strapped to the back of my stuffed 85L pack. damn thing was heavy. the trip didn't quite go as planned, as just minutes into starting our hike the freaklishly high tide and 18ft swell flooded the beach trailhead, soaking our boots and sending us running back to the parking lot with our tails between our legs. I'll never forget screaming like a little girl as i turned and ran back towards the parking lot, tromping through ankle deep water in the moonlight.

since the beach was flooded we decided to car camp a few miles east, and figure out what to do in the AM. We found a trail map and decided to take the mountain trail that winded down to the spot. more miles and 4000 feet of elevation to deal with, but no freak tides or flooding to worry about. the hike was brutal, lots of sketchy log crossings and rock hopping, not to mention countless branches and rocks that i had to duck under or climb over with my surfboard on my back (and Jon with his pole). we finally made it to the beach as the sun was setting, and had just enough light left to pick a spot to setup and head to the creek to wash off and filter some water. saw lots of wildlife, including a few big bucks, a curious fox, skunks, and even stumbled across the scattered remains of a recently devoured buck. we mounted the antlers up on our driftwood shelter to ward off evil spirits or something like that...

the next few days I scored solid surf with minimal crowds. got really comfortable weaving through the exposed rocks on the inside, and on certain tides was even doing floaters and cutbacks right over one of the big flat rocks. i heard my fins scrape a few times though, which seemed like a good time to end the session and chill with jon on the beach. we feasted on freshly picked mussels with some instant noodles, peanut butter and apples, and some decent dehydrated Mountain House dinners.

since we had to climb back up 4000 ft back to the car, we decided to split it into two days. however, once we got going, it was hard to stop. had a few sketchy moments on top of the ridge while the wind was whipping and i had to crawl on all fours to avoid getting blown off the cliff. a few miles of really steep and narrow switchbacks in the dark also had me second guessing our decision to forge on, but ultimately we made it back to the car by 10:30ish. by that point we were starving, but nothing was open, and we ended up eating at some sketchy diner in Ukiah, where the waitress was paying off some bail bond people in between serving us. It was nice to finally make it home after that and take a long hot shower and snuggle up next to my wife and dog in my cozy bed. Nothing makes you appreciate the comforts of home like a few days in rugged, cold wilderness. That being said, I'm already looking forward to my next backpacking/surfing trip up there, it never fails to be epic.

tuesday clean head high

2009-10-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

only a few other guys out and some clean, peaky waves. lowish tide, relatively long paddle. drifted north 4 blocks but scored some fun waves along the way. punted a little air on my last wave but fell trying to land in the whitewash. this might be my last session at OB before heading waaaaay north to score some empty waves, then I'm off to Kauai to trunk it for the first time in over a year.

knee to face

2009-10-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

this morning was pretty clean and head high at OB. only a couple of guys out early. a little soft on the outside, but some pitching waves on the inside, and occasionally a section would hold up really well. got a bunch of decent rides, but on one late takeoff completely blew it, went over the falls and somehow managed to smash my knee into my cheekbone. I have a little shiner, but my eye isn't bloody or anything. Looking forward to scoring some clean surf again tomorrow AM, probably will head south and go hiking afterwards.

small waves, blue angels, gus

2009-10-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

small crappy waves, a brief blue angels showing, and Gus trying to catch a cookie off of his nose and blowing it. aside from an epic game of Surfing Monopoly, that was my weekend.

new superzoom test run

2009-10-07T18:24:00.000-07:00

got my new superzoom camera yesterday, so snapped a few surf shots and a panorama at Sloat on my way to work this AM. Happy with the way the pics came out, and looking forward to shooting some of my friends. more pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/CityStoke/NewCamTesting100709?feat=directlink

another junky dawn patrol

2009-10-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

we all hoped it would be better...at least there were some fun drops, but hard to be in the right spot for workable waves this morning. dissapointing, since yesterday evening was so fun. forecast not looking too hot for this weekend either. bah!

sunset shredfest

2009-10-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

the best after work session in recent memory, for sure. paddled out down near moraga with ramin. tosh was out there too. sandbar working well, waves were holding up making for fast and fairly long rides. one wave i managed to catch without even paddling, it just pushed me and i hopped to my feet. the camera batteries were dead so i didn't get too many shots, but i got a good little sequence of ramin on a right.

choi wan!

2009-09-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a really good day of overhead, filthy brown waves at OB. Super typhoon Choi Wan delivered. I surfed around 9:45 with Ramin and Joel, and the tide was making it a bit fat at K st, which made for a relatively easy paddle. Current was pulling south, and after catching a few I got caught inside, paddled through a rip for 15 minutes, and ended up down at Noriega. I was beat, but it was all worth it, because it was firing and hollow at Noriega. I sat on the outside and caught my breath, watching some heavy waves come barreling through. I waited patiently for one that looked makeable, not wanting to get caught inside again, and paddled into a heaving right that was maybe a foot or 2 overhead. Initially I was gonna go left, but as I stroked into it I saw that the right was holding up and pitching, so I went for the backdoor. I thought I'd get obliterated, but I set my rail and stuck my hand in the wave and the whole big brown mess just folded right over me. I got blasted with spray and spit right out of the section. At that point the rest of the wave was closing out, so I straightened out, hollered, and bailed. It was short but sweet, the biggest barrel I've made in a long time, and I'm jonesing for more now.

Despite the bright sunlight washing out most of the images, I managed to snap a few decent shots. Ramin caught a massive walled up left early in the session. Another memorable wave was a left that plowed through, taking 2 guys over the falls really hard as Ramin and I sat watching from the shoulder. One big left I tried to take off deep on and pigdog, but as I was about to get to my feet I saw a guy with a green board right at the bottom of the wave where I was pointed. It was too late to back off, so I ended up trying to bail and still hold onto my board, basically crashing right over the guy. I didn't feel any contact though, so it was OK. Too bad though, I think I could've made that one. Good waves, good times, and now we just gotta wait for the wind to back off again and a new swell to fill in. I love fall in SF!

sunset session with Ramin & Joel

2009-09-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

took out the board cam rig and caught a few fun waves. sets a few feet overhead, pretty clean still, pretty and backlit. looking forward to a glassy morning session tomorrow, hopefully i'll be able to log more water time and get some good shots. should i board cam it or wrist cam it...hmm decisions decisions

...

2009-09-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

sunday OB 11am

2009-09-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

Not enough time to venture south for sunnier skies and smoother surf, so I decided to wait and see if it would get sunny. Started burning through around 10:30, and Ryan and I paddled out around 11. Sets looked about head high, and breaking pretty far out on the sandbar. We paddled. And we paddled. And paddled some more. On my way out some dude on a retro looking pink board was shredding, hitting a nice floater to connect a long ride. Finally made it out, and caught a few pitching rights. Made a couple of really late drops, and the quad would slide into the pocket before slabilizing and connecting the inside rail. I had fun pushing the tail around on my turns today, the waves were fast enough that I could really lean into my top turn and slide the tail around a few feet. I'm gonna enjoy pushing the limits of that thing this fall in bigger waves. Anyways, tomorrow the forecast is calling for glass, so I might try and wake Joan up early to take a stroll to the beach...

not 5 stars OB

2009-09-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

practically no wind, but choppy, fat waves nonetheless. lots of annoying currents too, so non-stop paddling. caught a few good waves though, ended up sitting on a peak near lincoln with Will and Tosh, and some guy who drove in from Berkeley. Sets were head high+, but pretty fat and mushy, making them tough to position for. Hopefully this weekend will be cleaner and it will improve as the tide changes, or else I'll probably be venturing south looking for surf. Here's a couple pics of Will making a weird warbly drop.

messy kelly's cove dp

2009-09-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

more fun than it looked. Ramin and I paddled out at Kirkham and quickly drifted north, ending up at Kelly's Cove an hour later. Choppy and messy, but some fun waves to race down the line and launch off of. Lots of sea life too, a dolphin jumped really high out the back of a wave. Got some decent shots of Ramin on a left. Swell should be up slightly and wind should be down slightly for tomorrow AM, so I'm guessing it'll be fun.

tuesday foggy head high OB

2009-09-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

jogged a few miles this AM before paddling out at Judah. Swell has dropped, but still some head high sets. Tried to pull into a few and got denied, but the minor beatings were worth a peek in the barrel.

monday dp

2009-09-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

paddled out around 7:15. cleaner conditions, down slightly, but still a lot of paddling and duckdiving. got smashed more than a few times, but once I made it out there were plenty of clean faces, sets in the 6-8 range, with some plus waves rolling through now and again. compared to yesterday's chop, the semi-clean faces made it much easier to make smooth bottom turns and cutbacks. I got some really good rides, linking together turns and staying as close to the pocket as I could. did a clean grab rail cutback on a solid 8 footer too, was hooting for myself after that one. for some reason i was the only one out there as far as i could see, despite the conditions being fair and big. i guess everyone is too taxed from this weekend of powerful surf. i didn't really get any good pictures because i forgot to charge the batteries in my camera. duh.

Sunday Kelly's Cove

2009-09-13T23:33:00.000-07:00

By 10am Ocean Beach was big but blustery and onshore, so Ramin and Josh swung by and we decided to head up to Bolinas. Turned out to be a bust, as Bobo was super small and blown to pieces. Ended up driving back to OB and paddling out at Kirkham. The paddle out was brutal, I duckdove 39 walls of whitewater before finally making it outside, in just under 10 minutes (yes, I counted). Ramin and I somehow managed to stay together, but by the time we made it out we had already drifted up to Lincoln. Josh on the other hand ended up getting out way south of where we were. Waves were mushy but big, definitely some 1.5x overhead sets. Right out of the gate I caught a few decent ones. Got a few bombs that I didn't think I was going to make, but was able to stick the drop and bottom turn, airing out the back and landing precariously on the front of my board on one of them. Some kid on a purple board was going for broke, and took a pretty good beating. After his wipeout in the pics below I'm pretty sure he paddled in to the beach. I don't blame him... Ramin was charging as always, taking off late and getting worked on a few, but making a few good ones as well. Snapped a neat speed blur photo of his bottom turn on one of the smaller waves. We weren't able to find Josh in the lineup, depite his day-glo board, but after Ram and I paddled in Josh waved to us from the water. Got a pic of his last ride, and then we made the long trek back to the car, all three of us famished. We headed over to La Playa Taqueria and capped off a memorable session with some burritos. Good times, but still jonesing for some offshore wind to ring in the fall surf season.

Friday evening OB

2009-09-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

Paddled out with Josh around 6pm and swell had come up significantly since early afternoon. Made the mistake of bringing my 5'9" quad, so I was definitely undergunned, but still managed to scratch into a few sizeable waves. My first wave I pumped down the line and boosted out that back, catching maybe 4 or 5 feet of air. Catching waves was tough though, and the conditions were deteriorating. Too bad it wasn't offshore...Anyway, I got a few decent pics of this random guy charging into a good sized set wave.

friday k st shoulder high

2009-09-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

not as ridiculously glassy as yesterday, but some solid should high sets and plenty of lips to float and closeout sections to snap or try to air out of. ryan's last wave was a left that afforded him multiple hits, finishing with a nice air out the back of the wave. seemed to be building throughout the session, so it's looking promising for this weekend. More photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/CityStoke/FridayAMKSt?feat=directlink

thursday glass

2009-09-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

the cleanest day in recent memory, too bad the waves were so small. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will stay clean and hollow as the swell builds through the weekend. sunday is looking like it's gonna be macking. time to break out the board cam? hah

Labor Day @ OB

2009-09-09T08:48:00.000-07:00

Another delayed post, gotta get back on it. Haven't been surfing enough lately, pager duty hasn't helped my motivation. In any case, scored some fun surf on a beautiful sunny labor day with Ramin & Ryan V. Maybe 'fun' isn't the right word actually, considering the 1.5x overhead mushbombs, rip currents, and brutal paddle out. Tricky conditions and it was somewhat heavy for sure, but we all caught our fair share of good rides in our ~2 hour session, and got a hell of a workout too. My best wave was a meaty right that walled up for me and I was right in the pocket, hit a few snappy turns and kicked out to avoid getting caught inside for the rest of the set. Ramin saw me from the shoulder and made a circle gesture over his head. I thought he was trying to tell me that he got barreled, but I guess it looked like I just did. I was definitely in the pocket but should've stalled instead of pumping for a top turn, then maybe Ramin's little arm gesture would've been accurate. My worst wipeout was a wave that sectioned and I attempted to backdoor, got inside but then shut down hard. Ass over teakettle, bounced off the sand, gulped a mouthful of water thinking I had surfaced, and then hit my head on my board. Smooth... Meanwhile Ramin and Ryan were both charging, catching tons of waves. I vividly remember Ramin taking a late drop and trying to pull in, just getting immediately clipped and bouncing down the face of the wave. Nothing better than seeing your friends charge and get pummeled ;) Ryan caught a really good one that walled up nicely, and Ramin and I were watching silently from the back to see if he would make the section. After a few seconds we saw Ryan rip a top turn, throwing spray out the back and Ramin and I started hooting. Good times. Hopefully we'll start getting some more sizeable waves, I really enjoyed having some powerful surf despite the choppy conditions and challenging paddle.

Ramin was kind enough not to skeg me on his bottom turn

That's Ryan's head peeking over the back of this wave

Dolphins dolphins and more dolphins. No whale sightings today though.

crappy tuesday

2009-09-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

i guess it's not actually fall yet...

monday dp

2009-08-31T14:10:00.000-07:00

onshore mushburgers this AM. caught 2 rights that held up, and one really fun left, but for the most part it wasn't worth it. brought my board with me up to Salt Point, but nothing working up there on Sunday at all. I still need to upload pics from friday, as well as last weekend! contributing to stokereport has kept me busy, I've actually broken 100 in 'karma point' which I think is a good thing...

Wednesday AM OB

2009-08-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

South swell delivering some peaks at Judah this AM. Ramin was charging on his new board, so hard that he dinged the rail pretty bad. Slideshow here: http://picasaweb.google.com/CityStoke/Ob082609#

Monday morning OB

2009-08-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

Still some swell showing, although the onshore winds are beating it up. A few fun little racy ones on the inside though, hopefully the wind will back off this week. This weekend was awesome, and I scored some pumping Steamer Lane, I'll post those up later when I have more time.

tiny, shallow & barely rideable OB

2009-08-20T18:07:00.000-07:00

these little waves were doubling up and breaking in literally inches of water. it was tough to find a shoulder, but I caught a few before work today. lots of sea lions in the water barking at me too. they don't seem very nice.

small glassy Montara

2009-08-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

bailtown! Nic and Ramin got more sleep than I did, but I got more waves muahahaah!!! Honestly, if you didn't surf this AM you didn't miss much. OB was looking smaller but marginally cleaner than the last few days, while LM was teeny tiny, and Rockaway looking weak too. GWC looked aight, but I decided to drive over the hill and check Montara. It was definitely a fun session, only 3 other guys out around 6:30, and some punchy clean little waves. Sets were chest high, with some shoulder high standouts on occasion. A few memorable waves, a decent ride generally consisted of fading out the bottom turn to get as much speed as possible, one cutback, and then racing down the line to hit a little floater or snap into the shorebreak closout section. On one wave I stomped a little frontside air, I love the sound it makes when the board lands back on the water, kindof a thwaaap!!!

shaping bay progress

2009-08-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

stoked to have finally made some real headway, the walls are all painted, carpet pulled up, shoddy shaping rack constructed with crooked 2x4s and framing nails, and roughing out a blank recycled from an old broken board. also snapped some shots from the beach on Saturday, although I didn't surf, thinking Sunday AM would be cleaner. It wasn't. Joanie shot some video using an old dv camcorder, but i need to install iMovie before I can upload any of the clips. Nothing great anyhow.

mendo caves (failed post from last weekend, 8/13)

2009-08-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

overdue for a post, and i've actually snuck in a few windslop sessions in the last week and a half. last weekend we went up to mendo with iku & cory to kayak through these incredible little caves and natural tunnels. it was really cool, except i felt like the tour was a bit short. next time i'll paddle in on my surfboard and stay as long as i want. as for surfing, it's been pretty quiet this week. monday was a fun solid dawn patrol with ramin and ryan v, but since then, nothing really. it looks like this weekend will be serving up some bigger short period chop, i'm hoping for the best.

thursday AM judah

2009-08-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

small and weak but a few fun inside ones. nice sunny day

chop slop drop hop pop

2009-08-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

the clean conditions from earlier today decided not to wait for me to get home from work. hopefully tomorrow AM will be glassy. still, a few fun head highish pitching mushbangers, and a pretty sunset. lots of sea lions jumping around too.

nice clean day at OB, board cam test run

2009-08-04T09:08:00.000-07:00

The non-fisheye board cam actually captured more than i thought it would mounted to the front of my 6'5" JC. I anticipated having pictures of just my knees and below, but with the right angle and crouch I can get most of my body in the frame, and a little bit of the wave in the margins. I still prefer the wrist cam setup, because I'd rather have pictures of waves than my ugly mug paddling, but I'll have to try this again on an overhead hollow day this fall.

Pleasure Pt & Sharks summer south swell, crappy BoBo

2009-07-27T13:46:00.000-07:00

South swell mania. 2nd peak Pleasure Point, population: Thrashtown. Later hit up the Hook & Sharks with Karl as the tide filled in. Crowds, aggression, snaking, but still plently of memorable rides. Found a little cover on my 2nd wave at 38th, popped a teeny little air on my last wave in at Sharks, fun stuff. Took the family to BoBo on Sunday, but it was disappointingly small and gutless. My left arm has been feeling wonky too, carpal tunnel? Hope not. OB looked fun this AM but I had to get to work. Maybe tomorrow...

thursday evening and friday AM dawn patrol

2009-07-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

south swell hype = too many people at the hook despite the tepid conditions thursday night. i hit the water around 6:20 and watched people snake each other left and right, resulting in a few heated verbal exchanges over waist high waves. however, it was slowly building and the sets, while still few and far between, were pretty fun. it was walled up so you had to race down the line, not too much room for cutting back on the larger set waves. a lot of fun floater sections though, i landed what was perhaps the longest, cleanest floater in recent memory, which made my session.

went to see a Entrance show at the Crepe Place on Soquel, and then crashed at Ryan's buddy Cory's place. coffee and a blueberry muffin at Emily's, then headed to west cliff around 6:30. Cowell's was a mob scene already, foam boards as far as the eye can see. the Lane looked fickle and had a small crowd, and we drove further up and paddled out at a little cove with 3 guys on it. Some good fast waves, but sectioning and closing out quick, so I only had a few longer rides. Fun drops and pumping down the line though. Paddling back out after one I caught a lip to the back of the head, and smashed my face into my board in a lame attempt to duckdive a pitching set wave. No blood though ;) It was fun but didn't live up to the hype, I'm not sure exactly where to paddle out tomorrow now...

Some pics of Ryan charging in the slideshow, unfortunately one of the better barrel shots I would've had didn't come out clearly. Damn GoPro camera!

Sunday dp @ Kirkham

2009-07-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

Hit the water at 9:15 after checking Stokereport.com and hearing it was 'fair'. It was - a bit of paddling to get through the messy inside section, but once you're out there it was pretty clean, and the waves had plenty of juice. Only one other guy out on the north end of the beach, I guess everyone else was sleeping or headed south for sunnier skies. In any case, I caught a few seriously fast rides, hitting the lip pretty hard and keeping my speed. One solid backside hack off the top that felt great, and one closeout barrel that I got super deep into before getting smashed into the sandbar. I'm getting more consistent with pulling off rail-grab cutbacks too without burying my board, the peaky fast drops gave me ample opportunity to practice. I wiped out plenty too, the waves were steep and if I take off too deep the inside rail of my quad seems to lose its grip pretty easily. I'd love to try a thruster setup on a board with similar dimensions, I bet it would rip in more powerful conditions. If I ever get around to finishing the shaping bay I'll have to experiment with that idea...

Saturday @ WC

2009-07-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

Checking out of the hostel took longer than I anticipated, so I was late meeting up with Nic, Josh and Ramin, but Joanie spotted their cars on the side of the road. As I suited up I watched the crew catch a good amount of little crumblers, and saw Ramin piggydoggy a little closeout. Good stuff. By the time I made it down to the water the peak they were sitting on wasn't working well, so they had moved south. However, the peak just north of where I was looked good, and only 1 guy on it, so I opted for a few waves to myself. Joanie found a nice little ledge to perch herself on and busted out the Jetboil to make some hot breakfast and coffee. Waves were pretty poor, as the onshore winds were beating it up, but I still managed a few decent rides. When I got out of the water Joanie welcomed me with a cup of hot chocolate, which was a real treat. I'm a pretty lucky surfer, having a wonderful wife shooting pics and making me cocoa!

Friday @ the Lane

2009-07-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

After playing some volleyball and watching the seals breach at Manresa, we headed to Santa Cruz to stroll downtown and catch some waves. While we were checking Steamers some guy lost his hat in the water, and I rescued it for him. That was my good deed of the day, and I was rewarded later on with some fun waves wrapping all the way from the Slot down through Indicators. The lulls were really long, so I sat and chatted with an older guy who ripped, and we took turns picking off the best set waves, which were shoulder high and fast. Joanie caught some decent rides on the inside as well, but eventually the creeping tide washed it out and we called it a day. We drove north and stayed at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel, which has an awesome jacuzzi overlooking the ocean.

Thursday @ the Hook

2009-07-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

South swell didn't fill in as well as Ramin promised me it would, but I still caught some fun little log rides on Ruben's 8'0" at the Hook on Thursday night. Followed that up with burritos at Taqueria Vallarta with some friends, and then headed to Manresa SB for camping. Not a bad way to spend a Thursday night.

cheater 5!

2009-07-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

new GoPro camera

2009-07-14T23:12:00.000-07:00

cause 5 megapixels is better than 3. and it's not like I don't use it enough. I also splurged and bought a whole bunch of extra mounting devices so I can take the camera mountain biking or motorcycling with me. even got the board mount thingy, although I don't have the wide angle camera, so unless I mount it on a log it will probably result in a lot of pictures of my legs. there's also the dilemna of what board to mount it on. I don't want to put it on my quad because I sometimes like to run the nose, so having a baseplate wouldn't be cool, not to mention the board is only 5'9". maybe i'll put it on my 6'5" JC and take it barrel hunting this winter, I'd love a picture of my legs getting a sick barrel. I want to experiment with facing the camera forward too, since I'd rather have a picture of the wave when I pull into a closeout than a picture of myself getting closed out on.

anyway, this morning the waves were a little bigger than yesterday, but a little junkier too. a few fun little drainers, but mostly out there just enjoying the sun and the water. i'm hoping this south swell fills in so I score some waves this Thursday and Friday down in Santa Cruz.

gutless but glassy

2009-07-13T08:40:00.000-07:00

low tide dawn patrol at the hook

2009-07-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

fun. kelpy. easy floaters and hittable lips. waves for all, crowd not too bad. no time to blog, must work!

backpacking 4th of july

2009-07-06T00:18:00.000-07:00

pics from Joanie's camera, i'll upload the rest from hers tomorrow, need to sleep!

Slideshow from Joan's camera:

4th of July backpacking

2009-07-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

Had an amazing 4th of July weekend backpacking and surfing with Joanie and Gus. I'm sore and tired and still exhilirated from the trip. Such amazing sweeping vistas, empty waves, and wildlife. Sadly lots of starving seals, as well as dead octopi washing up into the rocks. No bear encounters, just racoons at night, and Gus did a good job scaring them off.

Waves weren't big or hollow really, but it was still a lot of fun, especially being the only one in the lineup for the most part. When we arrived the only other waveriders camped on it were a surfer and a bodyboarder who were only in the water when I first got there. The rest of the weekend I surfed alone, save for one guy who paddled out the last day. He was there on a bachelor party, he and his friends arrived on a boat that day with a ton of beer. I was envious of their beer situation, only having packed a Nalgene flask of vodka in Gus' backpack. Anyway, yeah the waves, I took a lot of pics in the water but it's tough to get a sense of scale with nobody out there. Joanie's pics do a better job of that, but still some pretty water shots.

We had an adventure on our last night, as we underestimated how high and fast the tide was rising, and ended up having to scramble to high ground in a little cove and wait for numerous hours until the tide dropped enough for us to pass the next section without getting smashed into the cliff by the roaring surf. We made the best of it though, Joanie is a real trooper and Gus was zonked out through most of the ordeal. After the tide dropped enough, we setup camp at the mouth of a really beautiful creek and got a few hours of sleep before making the trek back to the car in the morning.

This was our second trip up there, and despite the surf not pumping as good as last fall, it was an incredible adventure and one of my most memorable 4th of July's to date. Hope to make this at least an annual pilgrimage, I know Joanie does too. Gus might be having reservations, as he's still nursing his tender paws, but I think he'll be game for another trip next year.

North Coast Backpacking 2009 -water cam

Monday morning, K st

2009-06-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

shoulder - head high waves, warbly and closing out but some rippable walls if you're in the right place at the right time. not much time to surf because I have jury duty this week, had to be at the court by 9. looks like it's building into tomorrow possibly, so I'll probably opt for more lonely dawn patrolling around 6am if anyone is hungry for waves...

K St Sunday

2009-06-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

Some fun waves on tap yesterday, the inside was dredging and waves were steep and fast. Good corners to snag and plenty of opportunities to hit the lip. Surfed with Ramin, Ryan and Josh, and Joanie shot some pics from the beach as well. Ramin had a ding sucking water on his trusty fish, so he had to run back to my house to borrow my 6'3" squash (which later had a leash failure...and then Ramin locked his keys in his car, but I'll let him recount that story). Surfed for ~2 hours and we all caught plenty of rides. I landed a few nice top turns, one sort of floater where I dropped from the lip down to the flats and rode it out nicely, and a couple of air attempts but nothing landed clean. One little backside air too, but I landed out the back. It felt nice though to have enough control and speed backside to boost off the lip with authority. I shot some videos from the water too, if you're bored check em out.

Off the top

From Joaniecam OB/Ft Funston 6.28.09

Ramin ripping

From drained out kirkham

Slideshows here:

drained out kirkham

And slideshow from Joanie shooting from the beach here:

Joaniecam OB/Ft Funston 6.28.09

BoBo longboarding

2009-06-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

Mellow day with Joanie at Bolinas, small longboard waves and fun with the dogs playing in the water. Joanie caught a handful of waves while I played with Gus, and then I took the log out for a few. Had dinner at the Coast Cafe, some of the best fish and chips I've ever had, and Joanie had a glass of wine big enough to swim in. Love BoBo, gotta go back sooner than later for a log riding session.

Bravo is back

2009-06-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

Slideshow here:

Bravo is back

Linda Mar Saturday, Steamers Sunday

2009-06-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

Nic, Ramin, Ryan, Joanie and I headed to Linda Mar on Saturday, International Surfing Day, in a noble effort to raise awareness of the fine art of waveriding and spread our filthy stoke all over the place. It went pretty well. Joanie took some great photos from the beach. Some of my faves are posted here, the rest are in the Picasa album along with some pics from a playful Sunday at Steamer Lane. No time to blog all of the details, but Steamers was tiny but fun, highlights were the spastic guy who was pumping like he was having a seizure and then doing front flips off of his board right in the good part of the wave, and then there was the rabid seal who charged Ramin and also bit this other guy's board. Wild. Never a dull moment at 'the Steamers' as Ramin likes to call it. Anyways, all of these words are making my eyes hurt, here are some pretty pictures to stare at:

The Lane

2009-06-17T23:18:00.000-07:00

Steamers was pumping, it was well worth waking up at 4am for the drive down there with Ramin. We scored solid head high+ sets and caught more than our share of long rides, many waves connecting all the way from the slot or middle peak into indicators. It was classic Steamers too, guys holding it down at the slot taking off super late and pumping past the cliff, one guy misjudged it and his board flew up into the cliff, snapping his nose. It was one of the best dawn patrols of the year so far, and definitely of the summer. I had residual stoke throughout the entire day, just replaying set waves in my head. Can't wait to do it again...maybe the jetty tomorrow though, we'll see.