super fun Linda Mar

 
 
 
No time to write, but LM has been really fun the past couple of days. Sets are lining up nice all the way to the inside, making for some rippable walls and racy sections. Swell is building into tomorrow, surfline is saying 9-12, so I'm stoked, and gonna make sure I actually make it to the beach by 6:30 (as opposed to 7:45) to maximize my wave count. More pics here:
yesterday: http://picasaweb.google.com/cbogart/LindaMarFog?feat=directlink
this am: http://picasaweb.google.com/cbogart/CinquoDeMaioLM?feat=directlink

south swell, lost keys & longboarding

 
 
 
 
This weekend a solid south hit, and Santa Cruz lit up. Took the motorcycle down to the Hook for a fun dawn patrol with Nic and Ryan K, shot some photos but unfortunately the ones of Ryan and Nic came out pretty blurry. Some decent shots of randoms though ripping some set waves. After work the same day I headed back down to surf with Ramin and Ryan north of town a bit. It was mostly closed out, but a few makeable corners here and there. Ramin and Ryan were both charging some pretty heavy closeouts. I was the last one out of the water just before 8pm, and scrambled to grab my clothes and my boardbag and hike back to the parking lot. After getting back to my bike I realized that I had dropped my keys somewhere along the beach, and it was too dark to bother going looking for them. Everything was locked in my bike, my wallet, phone, ring, latop, etc, so I was pretty screwed. Ramin is awesome though and let me borrow his car to get back to the city, and also treated me a burrito and modelo at Taqeueria Vallarta. We made a fool-proof plan to meet up the next day so I could return his car and get my bike after bringing the spare key from home. Saturday AM I headed down south around noon, running late as usual. Got to the lot, but didn't see Nic's car, so I grabbed my phone and wallet out of the bike and sent a quick text message to Ramin just before my phone died. I drove down the coast checking every spot for Nic's car, eventually making it to Lazy Town and leaving a note on the door and some wax with Horace. At that point I figured I'd head back up north to the lot and just leave the car there for Ramin to pick up later, and I would call either from a payphone or when I got home to a charger. After more driving, I finally got back to where my bike was, only to find a note on the seat anchored by a few rocks saying that they were there but headed back to Lazy Town. We must've just missed each other, so I turned around and headed back to Lazy Town. After 4.5 hours on the road, I finally got back to Lazy Town and found Nic, Joel, and Ramin suiting up for a longboarding session at 38th. I was relieved they were there, and glad to get out of the car. Nic generously lent me a 8'6" longboard to ride, and we all paddled out. There were long lulls between sets, but some solid sets rolling through, and we were all in good position to snag a wave practically every set for the beginning of the session. The waves were remarkably good, walling up all the way to the inside for some long, fast rides. Having very little longboarding experience, it was a lot of fun gliding and trimming down the line and running the nose for some cheater fives. Definitely a lot more fun than trying to wrestle a 10' longboard out at OB. I'm looking forward to another mellow longboarding session at 38th in the near future. After a couple hours, Ramin dropped me off at my bike and I drove back up the coast in the dark, battling the crosswinds and the fog all the way home to SF. It was an exhausting and crazy weekend, a bit of a farce, but I'm grateful to have such generous and reliable friends keeping me stoked through the whole ordeal. The rest of the pics are here:

south swell

dolphins, barrels & beach cleanups

Shit. It's been a while, I'm behind quite a few sessions, and I've lost count anyways. My new job is robbing me of quality blogging time, dernitt! Anyway, to sum things up:

Last friday it was small but clean and some fun rides, plus there were a few pods of dolphins in the lineup and I got a pic of one.

dolphin dawn patrol

The heat wave rolled in, but Saturday was foggy on the coast. I got up early for a dawn patrol, snagged a few nice shoulder high waves before eventually getting caught in a rip and drifting down to Noriega, paddling for like 40 minutes straight without making it back out. Lame. At least I caught a handful of rights before getting shut down on the inside.

Sunday I had a quick sesh with Ramin & Karl at K st. It was fun, waves were pumping, but I only had maybe an hour in the water before I had to scramble to set up for the beach cleanup at Kelly's Cove. In typical Bogart fashion, I showed up to the beach cleanup with just a few minutes to spare, and there was already a crowd of people eager to get their hands dirty. The cleanup was a success, 76 people came out, not counting all of the kiddies. Joanie was a huge help giving instructions, feeding people, etc. A decent crew of guys were at the cleanup too, including a few Googlers that I've yet to actually surf with. One day. The waves were pumping though, barrels up and down the beach, and some guys ripping hard at Kelly's. Ramin, Taylor and Josh paddled out in front, and I got to watch Taylor catch a few solid waves, ripping cutbacks down the line. Good shit, and easy to spot cause of the headgear. The cleanup was over at 12, but I didnt get all the equipment put away until like 1. The beach was mobbed and parking was a biatch, so I headed back home to picnic and surf out in front of Kirkham. Unfortunately by the time I was back to the beach around 3, the wind picked up and it was not so good. Chilled with friends and fam, ate some sammies, and took a nap in the sun. Woke up at 5, and the wind had backed off a bit, so I paddled out. Ended up having a great session despite the chop, and surfed until almost 8.

Monday morning I knew the swell was coming down, but it was still supposed to be offshore and HOT. I headed to the beach at 6:30, and was pleasantly greeted by reeling a-frames up and down the beach in the 3-5 range, with + sets rolling through every 10 minutes or so. Sets were walling nice, clean and getting more hollow with the dropping tide. After pulling into some sick barrels and almost making them, I resolved to surf until I made it out of one. I caught a ton of waves, and it was the perfect conditions where the waves are big enough to get in the barrel, steep and fast enough to hack and hit the lip, but not so big that you get smashed too bad if you take off too deep or get stuck inside. I landed a few decent little floaters and a lot of clean top turns and cutbacks, but my 9am I still didnt stick any barrels. I ran home, booted up the laptop and notified work of my unfortunate absence, ate a muffin leftover from the beach cleanup, and headed back to the beach (without my booties).

Paddled back out, and was drifting south but tide was still backing out and the tubes were rolling through consistently. I finally caught a little right that walled up and I was able to stall into the barrel, getting a faceful of spray before riding out hitting a few more turns before kicking out. At that point I was stoked, and getting more confident too. The very next wave was a super clean head high wedge. I turned, thinking I could stick the late drop and backdoor it, but ended up too deep and getting tossed over the falls. OB always keeps me in check. I while later I did a little pigdog ass-drag into a meaty left that pretty much closed on me, but I help on and rode out of it. Not the cleanest barrel, but good enough for me. I caught a lot of good rights, and eventually drifted to the outside bar just north of Noriega. There was a pack of guys a bit further south and inside. I caught a bomb outside set wave, positioned myself deep and raced down the line. It jacked up and I pulled into one of the deepest, longest barrels I've ever been in. I almost made it, but got pinched and fell face first into the wave. It was a sick wave though, definitely one of those wipeouts that's ingrained in my memory. Would have been the best barrel of my life if I actually made it out. I kept surfing, kept drifting, and caught some great waves on the outer bar by Rivera. Barrel #3 was the best, a walled up shoulder high wave that I backdoored right off the takeoff. I thought I was going to fall, but I kept a high line and crouched real low and got spit out to the sound of hooting and cheering by a few other surfers sitting nearby. It's always nice confirmation to have random surfers hooting you out of a wave. Eventually, I drifted all the way down to Sloat, and it was packed in. Still got a few great rides, but had to navigate through the throngs of surfers in the water while going down the line. I ended up getting out south of sloat, in front of the zoo. By this time it was like 12:30, and I logged a solid 4.5 hours of surfing and got countless good rides. Best sick day ever!

Weather is not so hot anymore, and it's onshore at OB. Santa Cruz on the other hand is pumping, with some good south swell in the water. I'm stoked for a dawn patrol with Nic and the guys at the Hook tomorrow, and then some more action after work tomorrow. Also, this weekend I'm meeting a guy who I might have shape me a custom fish in Santa Cruz. I'm gonna check out what he's got goin on, and maybe pick up a blank this weekend too so I can whittle my own one of these days.

Session 113 - Saturday at OB

Ryan and I paddled out at K street and caught a ton of really nice waves. There were some characters in the lineup, including one Japanese kid who was furiously trying to paddle around everyone and take off as deep as possible. He generally would take off deep, call you off the wave, and wipe out. Ry dropped in on him and just milked the wave. Good man. Joanie snapped a few shots from the dunes, check the slideshow for more pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/joanpranata/KirkhamSurf1262008#

Session 97 - HMB Jetty desperation

Addicted to Fort Point after 1 session, I jumped out of bed at 6:14 this morning hoping to score again. Shoved my wetsuit and booties into my wetbag, grabbed my ear plugs, camera and wax, and down to the garage to load up the bike. Decided to bring out the 6'1" Rusty, shoved it into the board bag and strapped it down to the bike. iPod pumping inside my helmet, I sped down Park Presidio and over to Fort Point. I made the left down the hill past the bridge, and as I caught my first glimpse my heart sunk. Small, choppy, and barely rideable.

At that point I had to get wet somewhere, but not there. I rode through the Marina and took Van Ness through Downtown, hopped on the freeway and headed towards Pacifica. I was hoping Rockaway or Whale Cove would be working, but no such luck. Everywhere was blown to pieces, so I kept riding. Eventually, I got to the Jetty and it was fairly clean. At least relative to everywhere else at the moment. It was tiny though, with an occasional 3 foot set wave doubling up and rolling through, usually closing out after a few feet. It was better than nothing though, and at least surfing the Jetty is a welcome break from the marathon paddle that is OB. It was already 8 by this point though, so I didn't have much time. I caught 11 tiny waves in 40 minutes, snapped 3 pics before my camera died, and then headed to the office.

Only 3 more sessions until the big centum! It looks like the swell is supposed to pick up a bit, so hopefully I'll get there by the weekend. If session 100 happens to fall on the weekend, I just might have to attempt the 100 wave day...maybe the Jetty would be a good venue for a marathon session since the paddling is minimal. But I'd feel weird not having such a momentus day in my surfing career happen at K street. We shall see!

Indo Surf pics

I'll post more commentary on the individual spots later, but for now here are some quick pics:





Session 72: Playgrounds
After snorkeling, Jon and I took the boat over to Playgrounds, which was a small and mellow left breaking relatively close to shore. Beautiful clear water and live coral, tropical fish swimming around. Small waves though, and oddly chilly water.

Session 73: Lacerations
Session 74: Sanur
Session 75: Sanur dawn patrol
Session 76-78: Gili Trawangan
Session 79: Balangan
Session 80: Padang Padang
Session 81: Bingin
Session 82: Dreamland

Sessions 59 & 60

Sunday OB, small but fun surf. Slept in today, made some eggs. House is a mess. Dog toys everywhere, Lady takes them all out. Ry came over, and we took Gus for a walk down to the surf shop. Checked out some long sleeve wetsuit shirts, perfect for bouncing off of shallow reefs, but way too $$. Went with Mark over to beach burrito for some grub, even though I just had eggs. Paddled out after that, first time with the Doc' Pro Plugs. The left one came out twice, good thing I left the leash thing in. Caught some fun ones, but I should've listened to Mark and brought the log. Went in after about an hour and a half. Joan still getting her haircut.

Sat around and procrastinated more, then Gilbo called and wanted to paddle out at 6:30. I was hungry and knew Joanie wanted to eat too, but I caved and agreed to go again. Can't get enough. Gilbo is getting good, she caught maybe 5 waves, popping up and making the drop on all of them, starting to learn how to turn and go down the line. I'll have to take her to Santa Cruz one of these days so she can get some longer rides to experiment with turns. Proud of her though.

Sessions 53 -54 - Scuba & Surfing Monterey

From Scuba Cert & Surfing 9/8/08 8:21 AM

This weekend we did our open water scuba certification in Monterey Bay. We camped out Friday night at Fremont Peak, which has really beautiful views of the bay, although it's a little remote and run down. We dove by the breakwater in Monterey, just north of Cannery Row. There was a lot of wildlife, dolphins jumping and playing, sea lions, seals, fish, starfish, and lots of kelp. We dove as deep as 33 feet and got to navigate with a compass through the kelp forest. Visibility was only maybe 10 feet, and my underwater camera didn't pick up much unless it was really close-up. Hopefully I'll get better scuba pics in Bali.

After diving on Saturday we drove to Asilomar beach in Monterey. The waves were 2-4 and it was crowded, but nice. The beach there is pretty, white sand and clear water. There was a wedding going on while we were surfing too.

Next day we dove in the AM, and finished up before noon. We headed to the bar to fill out our dive logs and receive our temporary certification cards. After that, we headed up the coast in search of waves. Stopped at Steamers, but the tide was high and not much to work with. Checked a few more spots, ending up at Waddell Beach. The wind was on it a bit, but there were a few solid head high sets rolling through and it was fun. I was riding my 5'10" Rusty, which took some getting used to after surfing so consistently on my 6'5". Eventually the wind picked up, and the conditions became more favorable for the kit surfers. Headed home to hop in the shower before the charity dinner at Prestino's, which was delicious. Crab ravioli, steak, homemade bread....that boy is talented in the kitchen.

Session 31- Swami's & San Elijo

This weekend we went down to Orange County to attend the Indonesian wedding celebration held for Brian & Cintya at the Lakeview Senior Center. It was a good time, lots of chicken dancing and hokey pokeying the night away. We even made a concerted effort to recycle all of the plastic and glass bottles after the party, since the cleaning crew was just going to throw them in the regular trash. The next morning, we took the train down to Solana Beach, to visit Darrius, Shannon, & baby Emilia who live in Cardiff by the Sea. The weather was beautiful, and we spend our Saturday at the zoo.

The next morning Darrius was generous enough to lend me his surfboard, a 5'10" twin fin retro fish. I took a nice 15 minute walk from the house down to Sawmi's. The waves were small, but the shape was good, weather nice, and water was warm. I caught a few fun rides there, took some pics and video, and then rode one to the beach after 40 minutes. I walked a but further south to San Elijo, where the waves were a bit steeper and more spread out. There were a few little groms out there ripping, and a lot of people just enjoying the mellow surf and beautiful day. I got one pretty fun little beachbreak barrel that I couldnt resist dunking my head into before kicking out of. After that, I left the board on the beach and swam around a bit, snapping a few more photos before heading back to the house. It was a lot of fun, and I could totally see Joanie and I living by the beach in San Diego someday. It was a good weekend and it was nice to get to know Shannon & Darrius better, I'm looking forward to hanging out with them more in the future. I'll upload some pics as soon as I get home...

Session 29 - OB dawn patrol

This morning the wind was calmer, surf in the 2-3 range and weak but at least a bit more organized than last night. I caught a few decent rights, pumping for speed down the line and doing the best I know how with the mushy closeout section. Also, I did some troubleshooting with the GoPro camera and figured out that the batteries are dead already. Only 3 sessions and they're dead! These are the AAA lithium batteries that came with the camera, but in the manual it says the nickel cadmium batteries will last 4-5 times longer, especially when exposed to cold temperatures. Der. Gotta go and buy some rechargeable batteries, I don't feel like buying new ones every 3 sessions.

After surfing for 45 minutes I decided to head home in time to shower, hop on my bike, and catch the shuttle from Lake Merced to work. On my way up Sloat towards the lake, I noticed that Java Beach is opening a new location, right where the Doggy Diner used to be. I had just been telling Joanie that Sloat would be a good location for the surfer cafe that I've always wanted to open! Bastards beat me to it...but best of luck to em, I'm a fan of Java Beach (although Trouble Coffee is where it's at on Judah).

Session 28 - OB sunset with Cory & Joan

Cory drove over to paddle out with Joanie and I after work today. The waves were small and the onshore wind was blowing, mixing the surf up pretty good. I took the camera out for a test run, and snapped a few nice photos of the sunset over the water. There's still something wrong with the camera though, the last 13 pictures that I took didn't come out for some reason and got corrupted. I really hope this camera doesn't turn out to be a waste of $140...

Session 25- testing the GoPro camera

Before settling on that 6'7" JC I decided it would be prudent to check the local shops for used boards and see what was out there. Joanie and I went over to the SF Surf shop on Noriega first, next to the taqueria. They had some decent used boards in the size range I was looking for, but the cheaper ones were all severely damaged and since repaired. I'm on a budget, but it still doesnt make sense to me to spend $175 on a board that has been snapped in half and patched together, especially for a Bali trip. After that, we stopped at Mollusk. I love the shop, love the artsy boards, but just can't afford any of them. One day when I get a bonus or a raise maybe I'll drop $750 on a beautiful little fishie, but today is not that day...Finally, we headed over to Wise, the biggest shop with the biggest selection and the best view. I generally like to support the small guys, but Wise is still a god shop with a much better selection and the staff there has always been good to me. They had a lot of really nice used boards, but none that I'd consider for $450, if I can get this JC for $300.

Even though I didn't find a board, I realized there was a bunch of other crap I needed/wanted, all of which they had in stock at Wise. I picked up a tail pad for my 6'1" rusty, a noseguard for my semi-gun, and a digital GoPro water camera. Attached are some pics from my first session with the camera. The waves sucked but it was nice out and the lighting was decent, so check it out. I look forward to taking lots and lots more photos, especially after I get a 2 gig SD card in this thing.