tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11052687544667656622024-03-04T22:35:34.752-08:00Stand Up Paddle SurfingNews, Reviews- everything about stand up paddle surfing... get out and poach some!John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.comBlogger1264125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-11415917170362078962016-10-08T17:37:00.001-07:002016-10-08T17:37:22.553-07:00Luigi's Pizza: Imperial BeachNot much to look at - but good pizza. Give "the Sports Bar" or "the Frenchy" a shot. After surf eat rating? #%*# (out of five) minus points for never having the pies ready on time- add 15 mins to their estimate.John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-19179047632312783242016-09-05T17:45:00.000-07:002016-09-05T17:45:30.684-07:00Brazos Rule (but Spanish sounds so much nicer than Portugese). I like the way this guy surfs the stando. I'm not a huge fan of the airs and reverses but I will admit it is radical. Two things I really like about this guys style: 1. No stabbing/paddling while going down the line and 2. the switch hand, paddle inside, on the cutbacks- I've always thought that was such a cleaner way to wrap 'em.
Let's see if I can get this flick to post up here:
John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-78487059111346355812016-05-30T11:01:00.002-07:002016-05-30T11:01:31.788-07:00Lilly the Surf Dog: Memorial Day Surf CheckMemorial Day 2016: Lilly the surf dog wonders if the left hander is working off Admiralty street. A surf check request is submitted. Response? 10-4 Lilly, surf check ops commence.
First, convince humans to load up. Please bring plastic bag just in case I sniff something that triggers me to do some organic fertilization.
Let's walk down to the berm for a better look at that sand bar to John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-369716726680660462016-01-12T04:39:00.000-08:002016-01-12T04:39:00.286-08:00When it all comes together... We scored. Sometimes you get lucky, we had some good info about swell and wind direction and we acted on it- the decision paid off. All things considered, the five days spent camped out at this spot were the most satisfying surf days I've had in Baja. Check it out:
An out of season south swell and a really mellow wind pattern produced some very fun surf.
Lots of wide open waves- sinceJohn Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-59360877178379461092016-01-01T08:57:00.001-08:002016-01-01T08:57:13.244-08:00Happy New Year 2016! We're going to be heading into a "zona secreto" tomorrow in search of some solitary waves, there's a swell forecasted to hit in the next few days so we may be scoring. The problem is that this spot will have no wifi so there will be an information blackout for a few days coming up.
Wild horses- couldn't drag me away. Saw these guys clip-clopping through the center of town.
Surf is buildingJohn Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-84855238507166935362015-12-30T19:18:00.000-08:002015-12-30T22:54:58.236-08:00Home sweet, southern Baja, home. Three hours from Punta Conejo is the Peanut. The Peanut is our home down here in southern Baja and after a couple days of roughing it in the Conejo sand we decided it was time to head for our home base. At the Peanut, life is pretty good, we've got shade, a clean place to cook, a sink with running water. Best of all, we've now got a brand new bathroom with a flushing toilet! All carved out of a John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-50823577709858751952015-12-29T05:40:00.002-08:002015-12-29T05:42:50.678-08:00The Path to Conejo. Driving up and out of the Sea of Cortez is one the best parts of the trip. There's the sapphire blue of the water over your left shoulder and, as you drive past Loreto, the craggy mountains just to your right. This area tends to get a lot of rain in the summer so those jagged peaks are always specked with giant green cardon cactuses, thick trunked elephant trees and other cool desert plants. It'sJohn Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-23831489663324706682015-12-28T16:31:00.003-08:002015-12-28T16:33:14.706-08:00Sea of Cortez Campsite
Leaving Shell Beach we zoomed up the coast to Guerrero Negro, the border town between the Mexican state of Baja Norte and Baja Sur. We try to mix up our driving days alternating really long days with days that may only require three or four hours. Yesterday we were on the road for almost ten hours so today would be a shorter, "easy" day. Our goal was a small beach on the Sea of Cortez that has John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-16103570178794518332015-12-28T08:23:00.001-08:002015-12-28T08:23:29.101-08:00And then there was surf! Words later, surf now.
The wind has been a little off. Blowing down the coast it's created fun waves for goofing around but nothing really to get too excited about. And then it switched offshore. Talk to you later... I'm out there!
John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-84255627571736667912015-12-27T07:35:00.002-08:002015-12-27T14:31:46.389-08:00Day 3: A little bit of night driving- never a good idea.
After scoring our tourist visas we hit the pay road towards
Mexicali. We’d eventually take the cutoff for San Felipe, Puertecitos and out
to Laguna Chapalla. At Laguna Chapalla the road would reconnect with the main
north to south highway in Baja, Mex 1. We prefer this longer but more scenic
route because it allows you to avoid the dreary agricultural region between
Rosarito and San Quentin, we John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-66076055885411977832015-12-26T07:28:00.003-08:002015-12-26T07:28:58.459-08:00Tecate: Visas and Borders
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mso-font-format:John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-75135714144363666062015-12-18T16:38:00.002-08:002015-12-18T16:51:13.727-08:00Crossed and double crossed. Crossing the border is easy, blink your eye and next thing you know you're in Mexico. That's the easy part. Getting our FMM (Tourist Card Visa) is usually easy too. Typically I pick them up at the San Ysidro crossing, you pull over once you cross the border and the Immigration office is right there. Supposedly (thanks Matt), it should have been just as easy at the Otay crossing.
Made it! CON John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-81928201112138619782015-12-17T21:23:00.001-08:002015-12-17T21:24:39.867-08:00Baja Ready.
Full fuel tank. Full propane, PowerTank, water. Tires at 80psi, airbags
up to 70psi. ARB freezer powered up, camera batteries charged. A couple
thousand bucks changed into pesos, PB&J, coffee, granola, surf wax
(warm water), five sets of fins.
The new moto mount. Super sweet but driving at night is definitely not going to be an option. The headlight beams do make it through the bike toJohn Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-25868595818437461652015-12-16T20:16:00.002-08:002015-12-16T20:41:48.619-08:00Let's wrap this up.
Was it really a year ago?
Yep. Okay- let's tie up some loose ends. We'll start with the ending to last year's Baja story. Here it is:
The "asshole" is an expat dick who lives at Alejandro's, which is one of the most beautiful little coves in Baja- made a million times better by the super fun right hand waves that peel off it's northern rocky point. The place is sweet, fun waves, great John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-23831163072026857352015-03-11T12:28:00.002-07:002015-03-11T12:31:12.864-07:00Sorry about the delay- the FLU (in caps) kicked me in the nuts. First time in my life that I didn't like the taste of food.
It starts like this: Kid comes into my classroom and hands me a note, "Stephanie had a fever last night, it broke early this morning so I think she's okay for school.". I had a bad feeling about that- next thing I know, I've got blankets stacked over my shivering, sweaty body and fluids are running through me, north to south, like John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-15622841496955733132015-02-04T23:43:00.001-08:002015-02-05T08:34:49.334-08:00Southern Baja: Part 11Matt told me that he once ran across a friend with a killer, abalone detailed belt buckle. The belt buckle was made by the inmates of the Mulege prison. The prison is a concrete box set just enough back from the coast to ensure that no cooling ocean breezes ever makes it through the prison's barred windows. I can only imagine that in the summer time, the guys inside slowly stew in their own body John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-19569231224980802882015-01-30T10:27:00.002-08:002015-02-04T22:00:22.597-08:00Southern Baja: Part 10
The decision was made to leave with enough time for us to surf on the way back north. We also wanted to have enough days to break up the long drive. So we settled on a three day run which makes for an easy first day, a longer second day and a hell-day for the third and final part of the journey. Admittedly, the trip is faster and easier if you take the western route but I can't stand the stretchJohn Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-35401190732147503922015-01-27T08:28:00.002-08:002015-02-04T20:58:08.323-08:00Southern Baja: Part 9
And then everything kind of just slowed down, and blended together into weeks of surfing, swimming, reading, snorkeling, riding, drinking, eating and laughing. We'd sleep at the Peanut, cook breakfast at the beach, set out the solar panel, deploy the awning, go for a paddle or maybe read a little bit, take a nice warm water swim and hang out. The surf was tiny for about five days and I John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-87710149683110613942015-01-25T09:59:00.003-08:002015-02-04T20:59:40.938-08:00Southern Baja: Part 8
We drove away from the big left charged up for even warmer water down the peninsula. In addition, the girls were feeling that homing instinct, they knew our home base was close and they were ready to set up a permanent camp. So after a great Christmas day surf session, we wrapped up CON KSO's camping gear and pointed the rig back toward the Baja highway, slow and low (air pressure that is) was John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-11664817092048274162015-01-22T07:47:00.003-08:002015-02-04T21:00:15.440-08:00Southern Baja: Part 7Evidently, I had been a good boy- the surf was chest to head high, the wind was offshore and the water was crystal clear. At daybreak, I was out there!
Merry Christmas!
For a couple of early hours, it was just me and these two guys. The two buddies were camping out of a Toyota Previa fan, surfing weird boards, playing guitar and basically establishing themselves as the kings of their world.John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-86155480253003420182015-01-21T08:47:00.002-08:002015-02-04T21:00:54.914-08:00Southern Baja: Part 6
We stayed at that beautiful right point for two days before we decided to make a run for some warmer water. CON KSO packs up quickly so we broke camp and made a dash south. At Bahia Concepcion, on the Sea of Cortez, we ran out of steam and daylight. I'm not a fan of running the Baja highway at night, when shadows in the road might actually be a thousand pounds of steer flesh, a living tope (John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-55711178475166077802015-01-17T09:00:00.003-08:002015-02-04T21:01:36.529-08:00Southern Baja: Part 5
Surf! Finally. After creeping through the beautiful, yet tortuous Baja 4x4 track we popped out into a clearing right next to the paved Baja highway. I hooked up CON KSO's CO2 air up system and blasted some carbon dioxide into the 33" BFGs that the old girl sports. I also filled up Matt's tires and when all was ready, we carefully merged onto the highway and, once again, beat feet for the next John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-20417514658750365812015-01-15T08:52:00.002-08:002015-02-04T21:02:25.079-08:00Southern Baja: Part 4
The road out of Coco's corner was the roughest one I've ever driven over in Baja. Forget about bringing your fancy pants, RockStar, matching paint job and suspension, wash and wax weekly, bad boy truck... it's just gonna get scratched all to hell. We call it Baja pinstripping- the clear coat penetrating rubs and streaks that come from forging the way through narrow Baja brush.
"That'll buff John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-25672548675379211662015-01-13T08:33:00.003-08:002015-02-04T21:03:03.597-08:00Southern Baja: Part 3
We camped that night just past a bend in the road known as Coco's Corner. Coco is well known to offroad racers, dirtbike riders and travelers running down the peninsula. Coco's got no legs below his knees, he lost them to diabetes. He gets around on a beat up quad with special footpegs and when he's not on the machine he just walks around on his stumps. Coco has developed his little spot into a John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1105268754466765662.post-28695483310922052602015-01-12T08:43:00.001-08:002015-02-04T21:03:44.308-08:00Southern Baja: Part 2
Note: Blogs post things in reverse chronological order (google it) so if you want to read these chapters in order, scroll down and read from Part 1.
During the down year, I'd taken the off year and used it to prepare my truck, CON KSO. So not only was I primed to wring every ounce of fun out of old Mexico, I was also physically prepared for the challenge. Undoubtedly, there are some John Ashleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084007903603599065noreply@blogger.com0