Warning Wind swell has kept some of us occupied, but others have been busy while we're out enjoying the water. Rick, recently known for his wave hogging ability, came out of the water to find his red ride missing from the lot. His first thought was of his good friends that he owes after his recent feast at the table of the first south of the season. But soon he realized his ride was stolen from the lot. Later, his ride was found on 37th - wallet and money gone, but his band of love left behind. Then, early today the rip-offs were using his card for coffee and gas - right here in town. Warning - rip-offs watch you leave your car to surf - paying special attention to where you stash your key. They take your car to a nearby location, rip-off any valuables - wallets, money, sun-glasses, boards, and wetsuits, and go party. The fact that this happened to rick - after being sooo generous the other day by letting great south sets go through to the shortboard crew, is unbelievable. I mean this is the guy who sits out and takes photos of his bros instead of ripping the lineup - here's one of his great shots.

  ¶ 11:49 PM 0 comments

  R&D The storm track continues to thrash the east side. The surf out front has been sketchy and the water has that clay-brown look. One of the parameters that most effects the quality of drinking water is turbidity (water clarity). The idea is that turbidity represents the presence of suspended material - silt, organic matter, dirt. The suspended materials are the equivalent of motor homes loaded with bacteria, viruses, and cysts. The higher the turbidity, the higher the population of bacteria, viruses, and cysts. Clay-brown water draining from the local watershed carries a butt-load of fecal matter and suspended material chalk-full of bacteria, viruses, and cysts. And these fuckers can live through a lot of trashing. Chlorination only deactivates the lot - it doesn't necessarily kill'em. Anyway - boil untreated water at least 10 minutes before drinking and good luck surfing in it. Meanwhile - examination of the buoys shows that the storm surf is masking what would be a nice south swell - 2.6 feet at 14 seconds from 180. These early south swells are righteous! Now to the title - research and development - R&D. Companies developing new products spend tons of dough on R&D. The military industrial complex chews up R&D funds like the neighborhood trash dog goes through garbage. The pharmaceutical industry does the same. What about the surf industry? It's true boards have changed over the years, but what is the investment in change. Fin design is changing, but I suspect more is invested in advertising than in the design. Well, I found that in some parts of the globe surfboard R&D is flourishing with some out-of-the-box thinking. Check out the work being done by this fellow-

  ¶ 10:53 PM 1 comments

  Spin Sharks and south swell have more than S in common - they put together a great lineup. The only thing they have in common with spin is the S. Wednesday saw a fading south swell hit sharks, good enough for overhead sets. Surf was great, and still had enough power to stretch my cord across the rail of my plastic fantastic board for a slash in my rail. At the time, the buoy read 5 feet at 14 seconds from 290 and 2.6 feet at 14 seconds from 200. Thursday the juice was winding down, but there were still some fun ones before the storm pattern set up. It's been victory at sea since then - along with the surf contest takeover of the hook. Now about the $ in spin. It was interesting to hear the fedicrats have spent $254 million on providing news spin to the TV masses. I'm not sure where I was, I haven't seen a thing, but apparently they're out there spinning on the ether. What have they been reporting on? The benefits of war? The needlessness of funding education? The promises of a nuclear arms race? So many topics and so little funding. How about getting rid of the filibuster. It seems after approving nearly 200 of W's judicial nominations, those feisty Dems are trying to waylay appointment of 10. According to the Dems, 10 of the most far-right (read as fright). Guys who think we can justify torture, keep prisoners without due process, and cherish security over liberty. By talking until the next glacial age, the Demos are trying to wield their minority power to thwart a majority vote approving the fright-10. Not to worry. The we-are-right-icans are trying to push new legislation to undermine the filibuster. That's right - if it doesn't work for you, change the rules. The we-are-right-icans are changing lots of rules - like the rules regarding representatives under criminal investigation. See Tom De-lay-them down. Spin this -

  ¶ 11:03 PM 0 comments

  SSS The three Ssss - sharks, summer, south swell. Well, it's not summer but a south swell was hitting sharks today. The buoy showed two swells and they combined to provide some great surf. One was 3 feet at 14 seconds from 200 and the other was 6 feet at 14 seconds from 295. The boyz and girlz were surfed out - rubber arms. But wait - look at that set - there's only a couple guys out. We charged it again, even though the energy pool was drained. Nothing like sharks on a south swell. Now the real news of the day - the social security diversion. What about this idea of personal accounts? Couple things I've noticed. One, my own personal 401K account is struggling to break even after the turndown three years ago. I imagine a similar fate awaits when one is ready to retire. Oh well, keeping working until the market turns around and makes the gains necessary to break even. Years later you're even, but your even money has lost value due to inflation. sound planning. While your account was lip launched, your trusted financial handler was still making money off fees. It doesn't matter how the accounts are performing, and don't wait for a call suggesting a change of strategy, just pay. It seems to me the financial community can't wait for this government dump into their black holes. Two, I was told that one should not barrow money to invest in the market - the risk and consequences are too great. And yet, isn't that what Bush is proposing - borrowing money to set up these accounts. I've heard many other ideas about keeping social security solvent that don't line wall street's pockets - what about it? Back to surf - Rick was king today - bailed on the short board (7' something) and went back for the big gun. Once equipped with the heavy machinery, he came out and grabbed some nuggets. Leaving the shortboarders in his wake, he turned to answer their calls for justice "what do you expect me to do, sit there?" The bird questioned his use of the heavy machinery, but Rick was unmoved. All right Rick! - and thanks for the photo.

  ¶ 11:03 PM 0 comments

  Circus Last time I checked in, the swell was pushing up. Surfed sharks on Tuesday and the swell was building. Rumor had it that the biggest swell of the year was on its way. I've heard the rumors before, but as I came down 38th on Wednesday, I knew the circus was on. The traffic was heavy and so was the mist off the ocean. It was booming. The cliff above the hook was packed with spectators watching the few that were willing to provide entertainment. The swell was big enough to change the local seascape. Normal reef set ups were gone making the whole scene look like a beachbreak with peaks and walls all over the place. It was a great time to identify outer reef structures for summer fishing. It seemed only the top of the point was holding shape. Of course, we were provided with a near death ship wreck imitation as someone tried to land onshore at the hook at high tide. Board and body trashed. Later in the day the swell cleaned up as the tide dropped. New Brighton was the spot, and the traffic above the beach was testimony. The whole thing was a circus - I didn't surf. The buoy showed 14.9 feet at 17 seconds from 285. The next day, Thursday, the circus continued. The word was out in every conceivable media outlet and the masses fell like rain. The swell was 9.5 feet at 14 seconds from 300. As the numbers indicate, the swell dropped a little and the direction lessened the impact on the eastside. I surfed sharks - very kelpy as the tide dropped and the waves broke further out on the reef. By Friday the swell and masses had subsided and I got fun 2nd bowl. Tried my luck on silly Saturday and had a fun time again at 2nd bowl; however, on my first wave one of the more inexperienced members of the cast bailed as I was moving down the line and shot his board out on the wave face. The nose of this kooks board impaled the bottom of my precious and left a gash that almost penetrated the deck of my board. In addition, about 10 inches of glass was peeled off the bottom. I kept surfing anyway - got a fun little 3rd bowl tube and split. The board's in rehab now. What's next? Any rumors? How about summer---


  ¶ 11:03 PM 0 comments

  It's Like Summer The fog is in early and burns off to a beautiful sunny day. The evening brings the east fog wind and a chill to the air - it's just like summer. The calendar indicates it's still winter, but the native buckeye tree in my yard says it's spring. Sunday - sharks was fun at the low tide boil, Monday - logging at privates with the Mayor, Tuesday - kelp riding the low tide boil at sharks - the swell keeps marching on. Payback for the dismal summer/fall/early winter. Tonight the buoys read 8 feet from 295 at 14 seconds - sounds good. Hope everyone is getting their fill. I was speaking about Iraq with a young guy I've known since he was a boy. He was home getting his fill of plain old life. Seeing his family, eating - helping us with baseball. We spoke about war - it was a very short conversation. What do you say? Are you glad to be back? - duh. He told me about killing another person. He said that once there, he learned to refer to all the native folk as Hasim. Hasim has a rocket launcher - you kill him. You're there to kill the bad guys. The young man I know is a great guy, and I know no matter how he constructs things in his mind to get by - like lumping all into good or bad, Hasim or savior - the fact that he killed another person strikes at the core of his being. He said he has nightmares about it, but doesn't relive fighting. Instead, he sees Hasim's mother wailing at the loss of her son. He'll get by with the help of his family - I hope. What's with war, and the young folks giving their lives and mind for a cause like - land grab. Yes - throughout history - it's mostly been about land grab. Hidden in good causes like spreading freedom, security, protecting the down trodden - land grab. When you have an opportunity to speak with someone touched by war - visualize - look into their eyes, watch their face - it's hard to justify. Hasim's mother sees no justice and my young friend lost some of his. I am thankful for our summer-like day, the surf - even the crowd - it's easy for me after distantly touching war. Let's grab waves instead.
  ¶ 12:30 AM 0 comments

  Crowd Control Wednesday held some solid west swell out in front. Luckily, penguin got me to change my plans and go out - thanks. Got some great waves at the hook and left stuffed. Thursday did not hold the overhead juice, but still got some fun surf at sharks. I skipped Friday, but through the rain I saw some fun waist to head high surf at second bowl. That brings me to Saturday. I sneaked in between shifts and got some fun waves at the hook and sharks. The crowd got thick and the talent level was high - but it was worth just seeing the rippers. Regarding crowds, I saw an interesting crowd control method out of down under. Forty surfers on forty boards means no wave is left untouched. Its like a conveyor belt of surfers paddling into waves, riding waves, and paddling back out for more waves. The Aussie solution - put the forty guys on one surfboard. Now, there's one board in the lineup with forty guys waiting for a set instead of forty guys on forty boards working the ocean like ants on a carcass. The forty guys grab a wave on one board and leave plenty for the rest of the crew. Those Aussies are known for innovation. Check it out.

  ¶ 11:38 PM 1 comments

  Reverse Retirement Surfed last week at 2nd bowl and had a good time on some chest to head high sliders - wrapped it up on Saturday with a logging session. Sunday was stormy, but the surf was macking on Monday; a little sloppy, but I heard it was good - unfortunately, I had to engage in that heinous act of making money by going to work. Today, the ocean was cleaner than the last few days, but the swell dropped - again, I was caught working. Lately, I've tried to make a habit of working less; nevertheless, I have failed. The whole thing was put in perspective by a friend. He reminded me of reverse retirement - a concept we discussed frequently, but never fully implemented. It's like playing when the weather's good and working when it's stormy - or putting off work until the evening so that a beautiful day can be dutifully utilized to its' fullest extent. Reverse retirement is the concept of beginning the first half of your working life in retirement and then coming out of retirement to work the latter part of your life. Just like you don't want to waste that sunny day, why use the best years in toil only to retire when you can do the least amount of damage. It just doesn't make sense. Just think about how reverse retirement would effect social security. Those 50 years and older would be working and paying taxes to support those between 18 and 50. Since the population of those 50 and over is growing faster than the younger crew, there would be more than enough tax revenue to support retirement for the 18 to 50 crowd. The work force would be more mature and less likely to ditch work to surf. Putting the 50 and older crew to work would keep them out of the doctors office and off prescription drugs - they wouldn't have the time. The benefits to medicare are apparent. Of course, it would be difficult to come out of retirement at age 50. However, I only feel this way because I've been working the 18 to 50 shift. I'm not sure I would feel the same way if I was just coming out of retirement at 50. Just a thought. This guy's doing the 50 and over shift, he's not retired, and he's still ripping.

  ¶ 8:25 PM 2 comments