WildCoast Surf Contest: Stand Up Division!

Come on down to Imperial Beach this Sunday Oct. 7th and check out WildCoast's surf contest, The Dempsey. I was at the WildCoast office just today and got a peek at a couple of the raffle prizes. We're not talking a tee shirt and sticker give away- there were two cool retro style surfboards destined for somebody's living room wall - cool planks well worth the price of a couple of raffle tickets. See you there!

The Boards they are a shrinkin'! Stamps 8'0

It's not fat, it's "differently skinny"

Check out this little fun mobile and tell me you wouldn't be curious to give it a spin. That's eight chunky, but lovable, feet of foam and fabric.

I'll post more info about this little beauty from Tim at Stamps Surfboards as it becomes available. You may have noticed that this guy isn't afraid of experimentation.

Keep your fingers crossed maybe I can get one down here sometime for us all to check out.

SUP Dog 2: Keep them coming!

Life is better with a dog on board!

Check out Chris and Magic at Dogpatch in San Onofre- Magic posted up, sniffing out the tube section!










Erik and Lily, east coast styling in Rhode Island- is that a martini in Lily's paw? Now that's classy.






I'm digging this- and it's pretty flat right now- so keep 'em coming! Who's got the best dog on paddle board photo?

SUP Dog?

You've seen Zoey and Scott- now here's two more:

Craig Kirstner and Blue- Paddling a California Lake, day dreaming about South Swells and warm water.







Tim Stamps and Cowboy: Cowboy checking the tail rocker on that freshy in the back of the Stamps mobile.

Send me "SUP Dog?" photos and I'll post 'em- let's see some good ones!

A short video clip by Capt. Shakey Hand

I don't think I'm getting any better at this video thing but here's something to look at from Saturday's event. Squint really hard and you might be able to make out the following surfers: Matt D., Bryce from La Jolla, Werner Paddle dude, Mike P. and Craig K. on my surfboard. If you've got some tips for me, let me know!

Been a while!

Jobs get in the way. I'm sure we'd all agree on that basic postulate.

As much as I'd love to be able to spend all of my time chasing down rumors of new stand up designs, talking with shapers and poaching forbidden waves- I've had to come to grip with the reality of my situation: I've actually got a gig that pays the bills and every September it's time to face the music. I know I'm preaching to the choir here. So that's my weak excuse for not writing much lately, and yes, to those of you out there who sent me email reminding me that it was my duty to update the site, yes, you were justified; thank you. Happily, I do have some news to report.

A new board in the house. As you can see, I've got a new ride. Tim Stamps calls it the Mahi. As in the fish- not so much for the design (although the tail and gut of this board is wide, kind of like a fish) but more for the paint job- which I'm digging more and more everyday.

This is my first full custom stand up board and it's everything I wanted for the waves I'm surfing here in Imperial Beach. The board is really fast. Best of all, and almost unbelievably, the board paddles better then most twelve footers out there (honestly).

Tim calls this shape the Commander (Check it out at his site)- and after a couple of sessions on it down here in our thumpy surf- I'm starting to understand the reason for it's name. The board takes command of the situation; from sucking out beach break to rivermouth power wedge the board just handles it. This is the stand up board that the Sultan of Speed, Terry Fitzgerald, would ride if he was hanging in California. Remember the power arcs he threw down in Five Summer Stories? That's were this board likes to be, banking high in the pocket like an Indy car swooping into the hip of a banked turn.
This is a ten footer for us thick guys. I've been on many of the smaller molded boards and although they seem to ride well they are a handful in almost any kind of chop. I wanted a legit ten footer that I didn't have to think about every time the wind came up- undoubtedly this board is it. If you are what MichaelF (what's up Michael!) likes to call "tuna class", that's 200lbs and up - this is your short board. If you run into me out in the water- don't hesitate to jump on it.

Tim Stamps: www.surfboardsbystamps.com

Check Back: I've got a little story of Fins that I want to run by you.

Coming Soon: Video from the International Waterman Paddle and Surf Event at La Jolla Shores.

Hot Off the Press: Events and Something New!

I'm pledged to secrecy on this one but I will give you this: You'll soon be seeing a lot of these 10'ers in the water! I'll pass along more info on these when I can- believe me once you know the mastermind behind this shape you'll want one- the guy is major.

In case you missed it, there are two events you need to be aware of, especially if you live in San Diego.

September 22, The International Waterman will host it's 1st annual Paddlesurf Event, follow the link for more information. There will be some boards available to test ride and evidently there are prizes too! It seems to be a low key event, with bring your own beverages and bbq items, the entry fee is fifteen bucks which gets you an event t-shirt as well as a water bottle.

October 7th, WildCoast will be running its 4th Annual Dempsey Holder Ocean Festival check the sidebar to your right for Dempsey Contest Info. This year we convinced Serge Dedina that there'd be enough interest in paddlesurfing to run a heat. Let's show up in full force to support all the good work that WildCoast does for us surfers, notably protecting all those lonely Baja point breaks we love so much. Each event costs $25.

Dempsey Online Contest Registration Info. and Waiver

Update: Contact Info. for Custom Board Racks

There's been quite a bit of interest in the custom paddle board racks that I posted a couple of days ago. The man you want to contact is Tom Huber at Metal Trends in San Diego (metaltrends@sbcglobal.net).

Tom's been busy lately building racks for surf shops in the area- he's become somewhat of a surf board rack specialist. Additionally, Tom's a surfer so he understands our special needs.

If you're interested in checking out his work, head down to The Surf Hut in Imperial Beach (710 Seacoast Drive). Tom was able to reconfigure the shop's board room; the room used to hold 40 boards, he's tripled that capacity to 120! Go check it out, you won't believe it.

Here's a couple of more photos of his work:

Top Photo: A Mickey Munoz UltraGlide at The Surf Hut. Jesus (the owner) needed to get the twelve footers up off the floor, here's Tom's solution.

Middle: A little detail of the "Sky Racks", check out the wide arms on those babies, perfect for our big boards- nice pads too.

Bottom: These are my racks, they are freestanding and can hold my stand up boards and four of my surfboards. The cool thing is since they're custom made you can have Tom make them to fit your needs.























Coming Up: There are some cool stand up paddle surfing events just around the corner- check back for information about two of them: The 1st Annual International-Waterman Stand Up Paddle and Surf Event (September 22, 2007) and the 4th Annual WildCoast Dempsey Holder Ocean Festival (October 7, 2007) which will include a stand up paddle surfing heat for the first time in its history.

Summer's End

If you live in California, like me, summer's over. I don't mean over as an official designation- but informally, the kids heading back to school after Labor Day signal an end to the long days of easy living . It's simple enough to figure out, just go shopping. Shorts are going on sale, Hawaiian shirts have been stacked on the clearance tables; every surfer knows it's prime time to buy a springsuit. This summer's done, that we know for sure.

Now, this wasn't the greatest summer for surf, off the top of my head I can recall maybe four decent little swells- nothing much over head high, a few surprise wind swells and too many flat days. I guess if you assigned value to this summer by counting only the number of surfable days, you'd conclude that it was pretty much a failure. Fortunately, I think we're a little more multi-dimensional then that. In fact, the more I examine what was done these last few months, the more I'm certain that this summer will be one that I'll ruminate on for many years. To me, this summer was like a dream.

Ultimately, this was the summer of the stand up board. I could not have imagined the places it would take me. For starters, my June trip down the Baja peninsula struck a spark in me. I rode the paddle board the whole time (well, almost the whole time, I did surf once at low tide on my Fish at Cerritos), not as a consolation choice but as a primary board. It was on that trip that I began to realize that this may be what I was meant to surf, this was my glass slipper- it fit (call me Cinderella though and we might have a problem). The trip was magic, not just for the surfing but for the time I was able to spend with my brother, one of the best people on Earth. I got to see him get excited about paddling too, that's something I'll never forget; the birth of his sickness, and it's all my fault. At our age, with our responsibilities, it is a rare thing to be able to pull off a trip of that length- it's one I'll never forget.

Without a doubt, this was a summer of sharing. I can honestly say that in the last twelve weeks, I've put at least thirty people onto my Big Red stand up board (I should be in sales). Some were people I knew, many were complete strangers, some were gnarly locals finally admitting that deep down they too wanted a shot at the fun, one was a grandma, another easing into his first summer of retirement (what's up Jim!), one was my cousin (yes Vinh, in the outside shower you may...) and to be honest, some were just hot girls in bikinis. Different as they were, they all had one thing in common- they were smitten! I know of at least six who've since went out and purchased boards. Sharing is a priceless act, you can't put a dollar amount on the smile spread across a friends face as he paddles back from his first wave on the big board (yup, I saw that wave Steve). My most satisfying "sharing" moment; putting my wife onto a board and watching her figure out that she is an absolute natural at paddling- how cool is that? In terms of spreading the paddle surfing love, this summer was a winner.

This was the summer I discovered that I like to write about, well, stuff. It was in early summer that this paddle surfing blog was born. Talk about taking me to strange and wonderful places! I didn't know that I was conducting my first legitimate interview until I was in the middle of it, and for the record, totally unprepared (sorry Stu, yes it is easier if I ask you the questions- would've been better if I had actually prepared some questions). The needs of the blog allowed me to spend the day watching surfboards being born, enabled me to poach forbidden waves and ride and review equipment that I could never afford (although, upon further study I've found that my reviews fall under the heading of "never met a paddle surf product that I didn't like", got to work on that). The needs of the blog also kept me up way into the morning writing and rewriting articles about such things as rolls of carbon fiber. The late nights were worth it though because this summer I learned that my writing was useful (albeit to a small number of people, but still...); thank you for the useful, constructive and encouraging responses. This summer there was even controversy and intrigue, but that will have to wait for another day, another blog.

As a farewell gift, summer gave us one last nice south swell. The wind and tide decided to work out their differences and gave us a shot at our local spot. We surfed it through the tide change, one good friend (you killed it today Chad) and me. The waves were fun, head high, a little sectiony, some just giving up and closing out- but, to us, out there in the sunshine, the day was a total success. Exactly like this summer.

Top Photo: Another chance to share with a good friend; his first time on the Big Red- the smile says it all, let the games begin!

Zoey crankin' a lipper with human on board!

Denis Poroy sent me this photo of Scott Chandler surfing with Zoey the Jack Russell terrier.

Hey Zoey, too bad that dude's on the back or you would've gone fins out on that turn!

Check out the drops of water coming off of Scott's paddle blade; Poroy's a pro and has a gnarly camera (kind of like Spicolli's Dad who had a "gnarly set of tools"). I think that's what is known in the trade as "tack sharp".

Keep sending them Denis!

Watch Out: We may be going live!

I was only going to post one thing tonight but I got so excited about figuring out how to put up video (I'm not the techy that I might seem to be- small leaps get me excited)that I had to post this short video. It's me surfing my home beach, small waves that day but... fall and winter are right around the corner!

Got something bitchin'

It's been a pretty lackluster summer for surf here on the California coast; the dry spell gave me enough idle time to realize the board shack in the backyard was a total mess. Take a peek, there's thousands of dollars worth of gear stacked on the floor or on saw horses just gathering land dings.

So I went out and got something bitchin': custom made metal surfboard racks. Check these babies out, they're freestanding, fully welded, steel racks. I'm able to get almost all of my boards into them including two paddleboards and a crazy hollow, all wood surfboard made entirely of Home Depot items and cast off redwood fencing (this board is worthy of its own blog).

Tom Huber, the owner of Metal Trends, specializes in custom fabrication. He does a ton of work for local surf shops and would be more then happy to fabricate any type of surfboard rack that you can dream up. In my situation, I didn't want to bother with lagging the racks to a cinder block wall so I had him make the racks freestanding and extra deep to hold paddleboards. I've got Tom's card stashed away somewhere- check back and I'll post contact information and more pictures of Tom's work.

Also: Can anybody identify the guy laminated to the blue 7'0" leaning on the back wall?

There's no surf there- how can it be fun?

Lopez Lake was a great place to set up our paddle surf base camp. The lake's campground is huge. There are 354 campsites which range from primitive tent only sites to full hookup RV pads.

One of the best things about the campground was the distance between sites. In California many campgrounds look like a Wal-Mart parking lot, you're packed in like a New Dehli streetcar. We were camped in a section called Bandtail (I suggest sites 2 - 7), the sites were comfortably distant from each other under leafy shade trees. Other sites in the campground may be closer together but in Bandtail, we were far enough apart that I was sure our nightly Deadwood double feature wasn't going to add any "color" to the neighbor kid's vocabulary.

Speaking of kids and families, this would be an excellent family vacation. There are tons of things to do other then paddling. Kids could fish, swim (there's a dedicated swim area with a lifeguard on duty) or spend half the day at the lake's waterslide park. Additionally, there's plenty of hiking and wildlife walking around to keep all but the most No-Friend-O, I mean Nintendo, addicted kid amused.

You'll have to get up early to paddle Lake Lopez; in the summer time it gets windy enough by the afternoon to make paddling a "Laird" activity. Get up early, though, and you've got the lake to yourself. We only paddled a couple of the arms of the lake, there is much more to explore.

It's really amazing the distances that can be easily covered with these boards. Most appealing to me is the tranquility of the activity. The only noise is the lapping of the water on the board and the dipping of the paddle, it's quiet enough to easily slip up on cool birds and other creatures.

The campground is close to the coast, it's a twenty minute ride from your campsite to the sand of Pismo State Beach. One morning I paddled an arm of the lake, had a ridiculous breakfast in the BreadBox (that's what I call my trailer), took a nap and finished off the day with a nice paddle from the Pismo Pier to the headlands to the north. A great day of paddling. Oh yeah, five minutes down the road from the campground is the tasting room for Talley Vineyards; wasn't a bad year for the cabernet.

There really is a special magic to this type of paddling. Flat water fitness and exploration paddling are going to be huge growth areas for this sport. It's almost too fun to be a work out and yet the fitness benefits are huge- this thing is going to catch on anywhere there is water- watch out Minnesota!

Lopez Lake Campground: http://www.slocountyparks.com/activities/lopez.htm

Also: Drive into San Luis Obispo (20 minutes from campground) and have a Pulled Pork Sandwhich at Mo's BBQ (http://www.mosbbq.com/)- imagine savory barbecued pork covered with coleslaw on a perfect roll- it's killing me even thinking about it!

And: Check out William Randolph Hearst Memorial State Beach (approximately an hour and a half from campground) for an afternoon paddle- an absolutely beautiful spot.

Lost the Contest: But had fun anyway.

I'm taking a break from finishing the San Luis Obispo piece. I just found out that I lost my first creative writing contest. Global Surf Industries' contest asked surfers to explain in five hundred words, "Why surfing makes my life better". Here's my response, I call it "Misery":


The swap meet guy took my money and gave me two things: a key and a lament, "Lo siento, amigo".

Inside, it smelled like Cheetos, farts and beef jerky. Everything behind the driver's seat was gone. The Mexican had replaced it with gold shag carpet, a battalion of fleas and the nasty fluff of some long dead Chihuahua. The windows were spray painted black. None of them opened. We named her "Misery".

The tranny was sketchy, it popped out of fourth gear. A bent coat hanger fastened to the passenger's seat and looped around the gear shift solved that problem. When the wire broke, Ralph redefined the meaning of "manual" transmission by holding it in gear for five hundred Baja miles. The VW ate gas and oil at the same rate and the starter jammed so often there was a hammer taped to it to whack it free. The fuel gauge was consistent, it always said "Full". There were no wipers and only one headlight but there was a hole in the floor with a funnel and tube. And that was a plus because we weren't stopping until we hit Scorpion Bay.

At Guerrero Negro an empty beer bottle flying out of an approaching truck detonated the passenger side windscreen like a frickin' grenade. On the East road in, Ralph blew a front tire on someone's cast off fender. A drunken llantero fixed it for twenty bucks, eight beers and five precious hours of daylight. Deep into the cervezas, I drank ice melt in the cooler thinking it looked nice and cold; I was right about the cold. We hit the point at 2 am. Ralph slept in the dirt. I squatted in Misery like some disgusting circus freak, my knees jittering as I hovered over two plastic garbage bags simultaneously blowing from both ends. Mercifully, only the fleas stuck around for my grand finale.

But, ask me what I really remember and I'll tell you this: I remember an empty Baja point firing like an overripe habanero, I recall laughing endlessly with a life-long friend and I'll never forget my first bad ass, Baja rig.

Surfing makes your life better- it eases the Misery.

I don't know, maybe a little too dark for the prompt; what do you think? I had fun writing the piece, it reminded me of some fun times. I think most of us have been there.

Getting Out of Town: Up the coast to San Luis Obispo

Every so often I feel the need to get on the road and live out of my travel trailer. This is probably the result of building forts out of cardboard or making tree houses or digging tunnels into embankments; it's an undeniable urge to nestle in. I like shacking up in that aluminum shoe box.

Luckily, my wife Kathy feels the same way- and now that we've got the paddleboards, our trips up the coast have become thematic: paddle every thing that is do-able. Each body of water that dots the map is a possible adventure; why not poach it?

It was early on Sunday morning when we hooked the trailer up to the truck and pulled out of Imperial Beach. Our Westie, Lilly, snoozed in her crate on the back seat while I eased the rig (you get to call it a "rig" when you're pulling something) up the Silver Strand, over the Coronado Bridge and onto I5 heading north.

The trailer's propane fridge was fired up and loaded with Pacificos, bratwursts and bacon. The green astroturf was rolled and stowed- the only thing we were missing were the pink flamingos and the Pinto on cinderblocks out front. We were off to Lopez Lake, our homebase for the next five days.

Top Photo: Center of Operations at Lopez Lake Campground.
Bottom Photo: Turkey's are smarter then we think- safely cruising the campground in gangs of 5 to 10 birds protected from a 12 gauge reality check. Lilly, amused by the bird's cockiness.

On the road: Central California and Cabo- Let me catch my breath.

Been on the road. In the last couple of weeks I've wandered through Central California and scouted out some coastal runs near Cabo San Lucas. That's a lot of traveling for a guy who gets excited by a twenty minute drive up the coast to La Jolla Shores. I've got pieces in the works for those trips but right now I'm beat. Give me a chance to catch my breath and I'll get those stories up soon. Here's a photo of my girl paddling in the Lake Lopez thule zone.

Stu's Stand Up Routine: There's been a reasonable amount of interest in the Stu Kenson article- particularly the board he calls the Alligator. So here's a couple more photos of the thing. It's 11'6" by 29", a really forgiving board that paddles responsively and surfs beautifully. This is a board that would suit the first steps of a beginner yet still satisfy an expert paddler/surfer. I don't think anyone will outgrow this board in three months of use- there's just too much performance built into it.














The Alligator: Don't get bit! By the way, the color matched tape on the paddle was pure coincidence- really.


















Stu Kenson: Yep- he builds them and he surfs them. In and early at the Imperial Beach Pier.

You can't have them... easily.

Nobody is making stand up boards like Stu Kenson.

I've done my homework on this and no one else is wrapping full custom, EPS handshapes with carbon fiber and epoxy resin. This is not only decadent, given the square footage we're talking about, it's crazy. Which is perfectly fine because according to Stu, its the only way to do it right. And to Stu Kenson, getting it right is important.

We all deserve boards made this way. Strong, light and resonant, carbon fiber is magical stuff. Boards made with it don't break down like conventional fiberglass boards, they retain their "memory"- they stay "alive". Come to my beach and you'll see proof of these qualities, we've been prone surfing Stu's carbon boards for years- they're unreal.

But now we have a real problem; Stu's been stand up surfing and he's hatching some boards that look pretty damn good. It's just that you can't have them... easily. And, believe me, if you crave perfection, you'll want one of these boards. Here's a couple of the bumps in the road to satisfaction:

1. A Material Problem: Take a look at the roll of carbon fiber that Stu's holding in the photo above, the price tag on that roll is six thousand dollars. Setting aside the prohibitive cost of the stuff, it's extremely difficult to locate cloth of the dimensions required for laminating stand up boards. Our boards are wide, strangely wide. Strangely wide means "special order". Special order means cross all fingers and toes and maybe you'll have the carbon next week. Or the week after.... (repeat).

Second Material Problem: The paint job. Stu tells me that not only does the spray look good, it plays a structural role. The paint is baked on automotive paint, the stuff is tough and the idea is that it forms a second protective layer on the board. The guys that do this are hot rod paint artists. Artists require time; see where this is going?

2. Workmanship: In Stu's words "These boards have to be perfect". Each set of hands that moves the board to completion has to be on-board with this ideal or the board building process comes to a halt, which in the world of a perfectionist- isn't necessarily a bad thing.

3. Stu Kenson: The man is self-limiting. Stu is one third master shaper (forty years behind the planer), one third materials mad scientist (if you think EPS wrapped in carbon fiber is the terminus of his ideas- wait 'til you see what's coming next) and one third just plain surfboard design weirdo. Want a beak nosed, single wing, swallow tail, five fin wrapped in tin foil? No problem, and if Stu makes it, you'll surf better because of it (For the record: wait 'til you see the "Beaver's return"... you'll want one, I do.). Stu's also the shaper behind the Kane Garden tag, designing and producing the label's highly refined fish. Eclectic San Diegans love his boards, to the point where an extra set of arms just might bring him to dead even with the demands of his day job. Tough to mow throw a full day's stack of orders and then start on a ten foot paddle board even if it is what you'd rather be cutting.

Where does that leave us?

Can you have one of Stu's creations? Undoubtedly. But like all good things it will require patience and a well developed appreciation for delayed gratification. After all, this is a board for those of us who appreciate an idea perfectly executed. A board done right.

Contact: Stu Kenson at www.stukensonsurfboards.com

Coming Soon: Boards that you want... but can't have!

This is Stu Kenson. In his hand is a 5'8" epoxy fish made of EPS foam with a vacuum bag lamination of carbon fiber and epoxy resin; basically indestructible. Now blow this board up to, say, 11'0" repeat the exotic layup, throw in a high end hot rod spray job and what have you got? A board that you want- but can't have. Check back for the full story!

Northern Baja Paddle Surfing: It's just going to get better!

Note: Like the lyric from the song, "Letter from Hawaii" by the Surf Punks: "The names of the spots have been changed to protect the locals". I'm a big believer in adventure- so get out from behind that keyboard and go do it for yourself! And, I've dropped enough clues for you to figure out where I'm talking about anyway- if you think you know, email me at paddlesurfbaja@gmail.com.

There's a couple of spots I've always wanted to surf in Northern Baja- one in particular has been completely walled in. The place has become a gringo fortress and unless you've got the know how to get in, you'll never get the chance to see the perfect little right hand point that's locked inside. And that sucks.

So I decided to do something about it. On short notice I was able to round up two good friends, three stand up boards and a cooler full of beer for a southbound paddle surf invasion. It'd be a stealth mission and like Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore, we were "taking the point".

Thirty minutes past the border put us at our launching spot. I paid my five dollar parking fee and pulled onto a dirt cliff overlooking a mushy right point . The small waves at "Mush Point" looked fun but I knew that somewhere to the north there was a wave that was arguably one of the top three points in the Northern Baja border region; I'll call it the Jewel. So we set off paddling north- not knowing how far we had to go or what the kind of welcome we could expect once we arrived.

The paddle turned out to be an easy 20 minute run up the coast. At the time, there were rumors of a southern hemisphere south swell heading our way, unfortunately the swell was turning out to be a phantom. We made due with small one to two foot waves. But, boy was the potential obvious on that paddle up the coast. I think that with a solid ground swell there'd be at least four or five fun paddle surf spots between Mush Point and the Jewel.

There were three other surfers in the water at the Jewel- the set up was pretty darn sweet- even though the waves were small, they broke pretty flawlessly across a rock shelf. The spot's main event is definitely the clean right but on this particular day, there was a really fun left breaking just north of the main take off spot. As we paddled up the three surfers were definitely not outgoing but they weren't hostile either- it was just a cool reception. I'm always amused by the attitude of gringos in the water at Mexican breaks- I pretty much laugh off any hint of localism by any gringo (expat or tourist) in Mexican waters, their fantasy of possession in a country in which they themselves are foreign is, to me, openly funny. I do, however, respect the claim of Mexican locals for their spots- their country, their spot, nothing more to be said really.

The right was good but since the surfers were on it first, I just passed it by for the overlooked left breaking unmolested in clear, 70 degree water. It was a poach-fest! The three of us paddled and surfed in a continuous cycle of fun. The theme of these stories is becoming repetitive: paddle up on SUB, grab overlooked, vacant wave, surf with just your friends, wonder how this can be happening... repeat.

To be certain, the surf was very small. I am dying to see what that little stretch of rock reef and point will look like with even just a four foot swell- it can really only get better. Additionally, we had just scratched the surface of paddlesurfing in this area- there are many other name spots in the region that host fun waves and their associated non-spots. Undoubtedly, I'll be back for another shot at the Jewel- are you in?

Coming Soon: Poaching in Northern Baja

Just got back from a great day of paddle surfing in Mexico. The walls are coming down for some spots just over the border... check back for the full story.