Paddling and Surfing with the Boga Boys and Gals (in the land of the great white toothy guy)

Got a chance to snag a few bumpy ones with the Boga crew up in Nor Cal. We've been having our own white shark problems here in Southern San Diego- these guys live with it on a day-to-day basis. The spot we paddled felt sharky (oh, that's right there've been confirmed shark attacks there) but that didn't stop the gnarly water filmer from hopping right in and swimming around in that living pot of seafood stew. Anyways, I am amazed at the what the put together here- I mean I really dig the vibe of this clip. Pretty rad what real pro video guys can do- damn cool. Check it out:

Ummm- whoa.

Check out what my friend Jeff Wallis photographed yesterday:

Jeff snapped this guy lurking right outside the break at my home beach... a few local guys in the water saw it too.

This was posted on the beach today... made me think twice about paddling out. Did anybody hear the dinner bell ring?

Kelly Kraus King of the Cobbles

Poached this shot of Kelly Kraus- northern Baja spot we call Cobbles...

It's cold...

I live in San Diego, land of palm trees, golden sand beaches and girls in bikinis. Well, not lately. Yesterday, I got into my truck, 5:30am, frickin' sheet of ice on the windshield. I hit the wipers and they just shushhed and grated across the thing. WTF- am in Fargo for god's sake? There's good surf in the winter but it ain't easy.

That J.O.B....

Anybody else get the Solspot So-Cal short range forecast for tomorrow (Friday, 13th)? I'm getting the feeling that it's going to be FIRING at the beach... sounds like a crossed up swell, the right tide, low wind... hmmmm.... sometimes you just get that feeling.

Solspot's a great, free, surf forecast site... check it out.

Problem is always the J.O.B., fortunately I live and work about four blocks from the beach so when I've got a little sneak away time I always make a run down to the beach to check it out. Yesterday, I scored four super fun, head high, beach break grinders... had to wait a bit for a corner among all the closed out walls coming through but I got those waves and that made my day a winner. I think it's going to happen tomorrow- if you've got a little window of opportunity to sneak away... do it and don't tell me how it was, I don't want to know!

All is not quite lost... (but most of it is!)

First of all, thank you everybody for the tips, offers of help and sympathetic thoughts about my hard drive disaster. Yep- I'm the bonehead who will now go right out and buy a back up drive for everything on the thing once I get it back. Promise. 

But in the spirit of the New Year (you know, a fresh start and all...) I'm just gonna get over it and move on. On the bright side, I did find that I had a couple of photos still on SD cards that I hadn't downloaded yet. And, I'm going to take my GoPro SD card and see if they can pull any of the clips off of it. I mounted up the good ol' paddle cam (remember that from way back when?) and shot some cool clips of the wave at the Point. You'd laugh at how long of a ride that wave offers up. So we'll keep fingers crossed and see what happens. 

A lonely left and right. We actually bypassed this spot on our way to the main event peak (this is a mainland Mex wave)- in retrospect, I think we should have charged it. Damn, that wave looks fun.

On the paddle surfing side of things: Damn, did everybody score waves these last ten days? My email and phone were popping with reports of giant bluebird swoopers all up and down the coast. At our own  big wave spot, I was told that Kelly Kraus was killing it on his custom Rusty stand up paddle gun. Local boys Kiwi and Stuki reported that Kelly was waaaay out the back hunting down the biggest, nasty ones and then legitimately tearing them apart with surgical slices and gashes, Hannibal Lecter style. Steve King had his fingers humming, texting me like a madman about how good the Cliffs have been and with reports of all the phantom, Northern Baja reefs coming to life. That was a good run- can't wait for a bit more... anybody got their crystal ball warmed up?

Ah! Meltdown... !

Well it happened- lost all of my photos (and some damn cool writing projects I had partially completed) to a hard drive melt down on my MacBook Pro. Thing just stopped working- now all I get is the little, spinning thing with a prohibited sign above it on start up. SUCKS! I ran the diagnostics/start up disc that came with it and it says there's a hardware problem so I'm off to an appointment at the local Apple store to see what can be done (it's not even a year old). 

Really hope I don't lose everything off the drive. What? Of course not. Who backs things up these days? Oh, yeah... everybody does. Someday I'll learn. Some great stuff could be lost: photos, go-pro footage and a play-by-play guide I'd been working on for surfing mainland Mex. We'll see what happens- keep your fingers crossed for me.

On the plus side, I found my new favorite fin set up for head high and under surf: Nectar Thruster set from Futures. It's in their 2012 line and I'm fired up on it. As you know each board and each wave has their own set of demands- for the 8'4 I'm on now in fun, little waves- this set is it. More to come. I hope.

Merry Christmas... 2011!

Go to the beach, surf, boogey board, body surf or just build sand castles...

Christmas Morning

Fun surf today

Check it out:

Long, long rides...

Surf holding in the waist/chest high range... waiting for more

Nothing spectacular today but still damn fun. There's surf- nothing over chest high but it's just been so glassy and nice. This is a different time of year for me to be here, typically I'm down in summer or spring this is my first winter trip. The water's mellower- not as stormy/crazy as the summer and the evenings are comfortably cooler. Different weather but same mosquitoes!

Surf spot up the road... fun but a little too high tide. We'll try it again later in the week.

It's kind of like coming home...

I love coming down here. I've been down enough times that I've made friends with some of the local people and I have to tell you, it makes a huge difference. When you pull up and you see a familiar smiling face and you're greeted with, "I was wondering when you'd be back... Merry Christmas!", it just feels good. The wave may not be the greatest but when you can come back to a place that you feel good about- when you see people that truly make you feel happy- it's worth it. I love this place.

It doesn't hurt when there's waves... first day, fun lefts and super, super glassy.

Always the same... the night before is a pain in the ass!

I'm always up way too late the night before a trip. No matter how much I plan and coordinate there's always a million things to be done and the list doesn't seem to get shorter. Here's a big one- fins. When you know you're going to ride lots of waves (for long distances) you start getting ideas. You decide you're finally going to try out all the different fin combos you've been holding all year. 

At least that's me- I have all these beautiful fins I've been dying to let run and damn if I'm going to leave any of 'em at home. So a biggy on the list is to narrow down the fin quiver- I really, really can't bring them all (my bags too heavy already). Check the shot below, that's my short list- tell me who you'd cut. You see it's a pain in the ass- it really is (BTW: thank you Future Fins for making this conundrum possible): 

Okay- remember this is the short list so who gets the cut from these guys? The Laird Thruster set? The Nectars? The tried and true Gerry set, the Jamie Mitchell quads, the one-of-a-kind buttery smooth G10 keels or the crazy hatchet, the Albacore or the 6 and 7" surf fins... Give me you best shot and I'll tell you who I really did leave behind.

Christmas Break? Go south...

Every year it's the same thing here in Southern California: The surf get's good but everything else get's cold. I know we're soft compared to you guys who are paddling and surfing in the ice and snow, dodging mini icebergs and cracking icicles off your nose hairs but, shoot, cold is cold and when it's 40 degrees on the beach here in San Diego, the best thing to do is head south. 

Does it look warm, fun and inviting? That's what happens if you go far enough down...

We're fortunate to have a couple escape valves. The biggest one is our southern neighbor. For me, Baja is just three exits down the freeway, cross the border and you are basically on another planet. The rules are different, the language is different and everything is just a touch more wild- I actually feel a little more free down there than I do here in our good old United States of America (don't get me wrong I love this country and would never trade residency. I'm just saying that all the rules, regulations, codes, paddling zones, lawsuits, nanny-state bureaucratic nonsense has really taken away some freedom from us. You don't know that until you hit a spot like deep Baja where the thinking is that if you're dumb enough to try riding a motorcycle drunker than a skunk and you run into a cow and kill yourself- it's your own damn fault. Don't even consider trying to sue the rancher.... wow, I think I just got off on a little rant). The feeling of loading up the 4x4 for a three week surf mission down past the Tropic of Cancer never get's old for me. The surf gets cleaner, the water gets clearer and, almost magically, you're back into an average daily temperature somewhere in the mid-seventies. Warm is good, and you get that in southern Baja. 

This year, I'm trying something a little different. I'm heading even further south down into mainland Mexico to my little surf hidey hole. The spot is one I've written about before- it's basically a goofy foot fantasy land. The wave isn't exactly a high performance dredger but it's such a long, fun ride that you don't exactly care if you're battling grannies on long boards for a couple runners. I've surfed it Spring, Summer and Fall but not in December so I'm excited to see how it looks this time of the year. The only thing cold down there are the margaritas other that it's a big, warm surf playground a few quick hours (by jet) to the south.

I don't know how you guys and gals in the really cold regions stay sane- maybe you just dream and plan for the summer. For me, I look forward to Christmas Break and when that last Friday bell rings, I know what I do, I head south- maybe you should too.

La Ventana Classic: Candice Appleby/Anthony Vela scheduled to compete!

Last year, Tim Hatler's La Ventana Classic pulled in close to 18k dollars for the Southern Baja community of La Ventana/El Sargento. The money (click here for more info on where the money goes) funded projects like extra bathroom facilities for the elementary school, a shade structure for another primary school, air conditioning for the students as well as new infrastructure for the local clinic, trees and paint for a local playground and a foundation for the new police station. This year, Tim's shooting for even more money- hoping to bring improvements to even more parts of this Sea of Cortez fishing community. 

Here's the website for the Classic- want more information? Click here.

If you've got the opportunity and you'd like to race your stand up board in a beautiful setting for a great cause (and get in some kite or windsurfing) you've got to get down there for the Classic! This year the 11 mile Isla Cerralvo to La Ventana Crossing- the main event for the contest- is drawing some serious competitors. There's rumors of a Vela/Appleby two pronged attack- which will undoubtedly present a major problem for the three time crossing champion, Mark Field (aka Kiwi) of Imperial Beach. Click here for specifics about the races.

Too much of a skin flint to help out the kids and want everything free, eh? Well get oot and aboot and do this free race... part of the classic... the Chop Hop!

Regardless of the level of competion, there's always loads of fun planned for the whole three day event. This year Tim told me he's going to bring back the Lucha Libre wrestlers with an appearance by the small people wrestlers... what??? There will also be reggae bands, high level kiteboarding competitions, food, dance presentations, sunshine, sand... and plenty of cold beer. Sign me up.

There are still secrets out there...

And I'm going to make it my job to figure them out. On moto, stand up board or 4x4- one way or another I'm going to get there. Here's a couple shots to fire you up too:

Nope- not Tahoe. No reservations required, no campsites... in fact, nobody around. Hoping to paddle this one in the Spring or early summer.

More hidden flatwater... wave spots too. Gathering data, preparing gear- getting ready for a Spring time combo trip.

Offshore, cold and clean... California winter paddle surf wonderland

Woke up this morning to clear skies and cold water. The wind was out of the north east which means it's offshore- pretty typical for us here in the winter time. Offshore winds clean up the surf and usually make it hollow- so if you're a tube rider, you get fired up on these kind of days. I'm a little out of commission with a screwed up left hand but that didn't stop me from checking out the clean surf at the end of the road. It looked so fun- too bad I had to head home, tail between my legs and roll out the lawnmower. Next time.

Parking lot journal

You know it's good when all the usual faces start showing up.

Surf trips, Motorcycles, shark infested waters and a gruesome injury!

Wow! Lot of things going on with me lately- sorry to have neglected posting for such a long time. I'm gonna have to warn you- don't scroll down to the last pic if you've got a problem with looking at finger joints bending in an unnatural fashion. 

Other than that, things have been kind of hectic around here. To start off I made a killer road trip up to Northern California and hooked up with Team Boga for a photo shoot at a spot that sketches me out- Davenport landing. Davenport is the site of at least two confirmed white shark attacks, the water's cold and it just feels... out there (yes, San Diego surfers are wussys when it comes to this type of stuff- we've definitely got it easier down here). Check it out: 

The Team Boga fun machine...

I really didn't want to be in the water that much (and the surf looked really small) so I grabbed the biggest board the boys had on the rack- that's me with Boga's 12' plus El Rey heading out to the feeding grounds...

I was impressed with that Boga- it paddled great and it was actually really fun to surf.

While I was up north, I got a chance to visit my brother Mike who lives in Santa Cruz- and the Ramble Machine was curious about Stanford so we stopped by to see if we could see Chelsea Clinton- guess we missed her by a few years. Trees were rad though.

I think I'm gonna start another blog called "Mid-life moto Idiot"... as you can see, I'm know kind of hooked on motorcycles. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't most people get dirt bikes out of their systems by the time they're thirteen? Guess I missed out- I am messed up on these things... in a positive way. Anyway, here I am at my dirt bike class at the Honda Rider Education Center in Colton, Ca. so much fun! You know- I think I'm really going to start that other blog... I've got a lot to tell you about what I'm learning with motos!

I had such a fun Thanksgiving break- two weeks of road tripping up and down the coast and then a couple days of dirt bike riding. I did have one mishap that happened the last day of my vacation- on my third dirtbike trip. Kind of nasty- but I messed up while riding and dislocated my finger. If you've never done it, you're not missing anything. It's nasty. Especially when you look down and see your finger bending the wrong way. Like this: 

No, that's not my finger- but I did look down and see my digit bent like that. It freaked me out. And it hurt like hell.

So now I'm sitting here typing in an awkward fashion (fingers taped together) wondering when I'll be able to grip my paddle enough to go for a surf (the Becky Stuart Memorial Race this weekend is out). The weekend surf report is looking promising so I know I'll figure something out... and I just HAVE to fire up my bike and go for another ride- finger be damned!

Black Friday surf session...

Decided to bypass half off toasters at WallMart for a low tide stando session at Patch. Got cans of chili, turkey dogs and the Kraken (google it)... Glassy and looking fun think I'm not the only one with Patch plans:

San Diego Outrigger Club Race: Kiwi takes 2nd place in tough conditions

Just heard that my good buddy charged to a second place finish in open stock class stand up paddle board! Stoked for him. Kiwi told me that conditions at the race were the toughest of any race he's been in with lots of nasty cross chop and big, six foot open ocean swells. Kiwi borrowed my 30" wide Stamps Poison Arrow, paddling it for the very first time ever. According to Kiwi the board's stability was a huge plus in the mixed and stormy seas. Kiwi also went with one of Future Fins new race fins from the soon to be released 2012 line- these things are radical blending speed with weed free performance. Oh yeah, the two new Laird boards that were there got smoked!