Winter Vacation

The week before Christmas saw some big winter swells hit the point. Unfortunately, so did the weather. Nonetheless, there were some windows. Monday was big and brown. Tuesday, the surf was pounding and the lineup was still brown, but there were plenty of water bugs on it. The buoy showed it at 15 feet from 260 at 17 seconds. I wasn't moved to go out in the mess. On the first day of winter, the swell dropped to 10 feet from 265 at 14 seconds. I got a call from KB bragging that while the ocean and storms raged here, he was surfing triple-overhead Topanga in CaliSur sun. The second and third days of winter stayed true to their calling. The weather raged, the water stayed shades of brown, but at times the surf was bearable. I saw Anthony DiDario picking off some waves - he always makes it look fun. Still, I didn't like the water color. Finally, I went out on Christmas Eve. The sun came out and the water cleared. The waves were still overhead and fun. I got some fun ones, but my day was cut short when I came up and found a fin sticking straight up out of the top of my deck. The rest of that story is told below. Christmas was fun, but I spent time fixing my board and hanging with family. The week following Christmas saw another significant swell move in - along with weather. Once again KB phoned and described the scene he was witnessing at the Hermosa Beach Breakwater - a few feet overhead, light wind, sunny, and barrel after barrel. Here, the swell topped at 17 feet from 310 at 17 seconds. At one point, the swell period was 20 seconds. Today, the water and weather cleared and there were some fat rollers to be had. I surfed the Hook, Sharks, and even tried Privates. There were some bombs, but there was a lot of paddling and big drops to flat sections. Next Section- A quick note on getting away with it. The Constitution imparts on the executive the power of commander in-chief. This means the executive must have the power to gather intel on the enemy. The Constitution also protects the citizens from an executive power stance by restricting the gathering of domestic intel - the executive must have a warrant. In this way there is a check by the judiciary on the executive assuring the power stance does not stamp on us without cause. In 1978, noting the need for secrecy and quick action, the Congress set up a law that allows use of a special court to get warrants for spying in-house. In fact, the spying can go, and a warrant can be obtained up to 72 hours after the fact. Apparently this court has refused warrants only 5 or so times out of thousands of requests. Given this backdrop, the fearless leader decided he was above the law - he had to protect us - so he did what he wanted and ignored the process. Could any of us, for any reason, ignore the law and get away with it? Would we have legions of followers convincing others we had the right to break the law? Do we need officials interpreting the Constitution for us? Seems pretty clear to me - if you want to spy on us, you must get a warrant - you must have another branch of government checking your authority. The framers of our country's constitution had great vision. Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power. -John Steinbeck, novelist, Nobel laureate (1902-1968)
The picture above is Indicators on 12.21.05 - Now back to my Christmas Eve surf story.

Was the day before Christmas and all through the Hook
The Crew jockeyed for position, but nobody bothered to look.
The sun was bright silver, a few clouds in the air,
In hopes a big set would soon would be there.

The Crew began to paddle, another set loomed
Up the point waves crashed and 38th boomed.
And out on the horizon, just when you thought it had passed,
A bigger set rose, gathered, and massed.

When out of the fray, a nice bowl appeared
I spun my ride around, an opportunity I peered.
I paddled hard and gathered speed,
Soon my board lifted, from the water it was freed.

Down the line I charged, missing this one and that
Off the top I sprayed, my bottom turn was phat.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a backdoor barrel, everything was clear.

With a little adjustment, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment, it must be thick.
The lip just threw, and out I came,
Someone whistled, and called out my name!

Now in the channel, my ride all done
I decided that I needed more than just one.
I turned back towards the waves, pushed through the whitewater
When all of a sudden, I was hit by someone'’s daughter

As I tried to fend off the kook's LB,
I noticed another ripper bearing down on me.
Up to the nexus of third and second bowl,
Shot his board off the lip, he didn't know the toll.

I saw what was coming, and did what I could
I used my arms over my head, just like a hood.
I tumbled in darkness, I hoped for the best
Soon it was over and I came to rest.

I popped up from below in a tangled mess,
And what did I see, it was Nicky no less.
I pulled on my chord to retrieve my board,
And in the deck was a fin, stuck like a sword.

It didn't take long for Nick to see
It was his fin he left for me.
He said he was sorry and I knew it was true
We walked up the beach together, he thought I was blue.

The waves were still pumping, but I couldn't go,
Nicky still wondered, but I said, "its ok bro!"
He checked his twin fin setup, and looked back outside
I said, "go for it"”, and took the stairs up to my ride.  ¶ 10:37 PM 2 comments

 

Economy, Budget, Spying - Fuck it - Surf

Yes, each day brings a whole new pile of shit, and my rant-o-meter is off scale. So I say - surf. I thought the swell was gone last Tuesday, and it would be flat until the weekend swell - but I was stoked to catch the one day swell that showed Wednesday. Got some fun waves at Second Bowl and was moving enough not to get bone-chilled. Goose Brown was there to catch the action, and given the talent, in-coming tide, and great afternoon sun, I'm sure he spliced some nice frames. The swell was significantly smaller the next day - I eeked out some lines at Sharks, but nothing to write about. Friday was smaller, but the weekend swell showed - along with a vigorous storm and victory at sea. Capitola was brown - and the brown streak extended all along the point. Remember - brown equals high turbidity equals high concentrations of pathogens. Sunday saw continued rage and an ever enlarging brown envelope. Today, the storm was behind us, but the ocean continued to heave and brown continued to flow. Nevertheless, some braved it. Late in the afternoon I saw a good crowd out at the Hook - basking in the pathogenic soup. Now - The Economy, Budget, and Spying. The spinsters are touting the great robust economy created by His Worship's tax breaks to the wealthy and large corporations. Jobs are up apparently. Unfortunately, the public doesn't feel so economically graced. Maybe it's the jobs, lack of benefits, or uncertainty regarding retirement compensation - forgotten once you are retired and ready to use the promised compensation (they, corporatepoliticians, call what you worked for a perk). Well, I'm not convinced tax cuts are what is steaming the economy - what about government spending on the war. Yes - fuel, ammo, uniforms, equipment, food, water, advertising, greasing the wheels, no-bid contracts, Halliburton, security, private contractors, planes, ships, nuclear weapons - the list goes on. I read that in the long term economic growth cannot occur via war because: 1) taxes must increase to pay for the war, 2) spending must be decreased in other areas to pay for the war, and 3) increasing the debt will stunt growth. Fascinating. Apparently these factors hold no meaning for the current Fed Crew. Taxes went down - no pressure here to slow the war economy. Spending is up, and the debt is growing without a care. So - the war is not stunting growth - just adding to it. Ronald did the same thing to grow the economy during his stint; however, he also cut spending. One out of three plus star wars and the communist threat did the trick - until it all caught up - war spending + tax cuts + increasing debt. The figures above show the Ronny/GW game -defense spending mixed with gov spending. The budget - how do you get those not in favor of drilling in ANWR to back down? Throw drilling in the same budget that funds the troops. Are you going to deny the troops just to protect some caribou. Please go to www.beingcaribou.com to get more information on what drilling ANWR means. Fund the troops and leave the caribou alone. I've seen the natural gas boom destruction in western Colorado. There is no way drilling can happen without destruction. The problem is, there is no room for error when it comes to life in ANWR. It's all connected and very fragile. Spying - I hear the argument - If you're not doing anything wrong, why worry about it. Here's the deal - the spying is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack - and number one, the gov shouldn't be fucking with my stack. That being said, the more spy intel the gov gets, the more hay is thrown on the stack. The harder it is to find the needle and the easier it is to make a mistake. Next thing - the gov is hassling you by mistake. Maybe you lose your job, maybe you're just harassed. Maybe it blows over until someone finds the mistaken information that was not purged as it should have been, maybe you can't get credit-who the fuck knows! It ends up just like in the water - sorry. What does sorry get you? Bottom line - don't give up your right to privacy.  ¶ 12:29 AM 1 comments

 

Foam at the Mouth

A gang member, murderer, and author of children's books was just murdered by the State; the families of the victims and law enforcement watching the proceedings. I surfed. For some reason it's hard for me to get behind killing. I struggle killing the mouse that strays into my house - I'm almost free when I kill a rat or a gopher. But, I still feel something - sadness, respect - awe at the life and struggle for life I witness. Justice, revenge - I guess it's up to you. Losing someone close is real, not just part of the animal kingdom. It never goes away and touches you when you least expect it. But for me - the experience of killing those involved with killing my loved ones would do nothing but taint everything I remember. I surf. But of course, do the families of the victims, the loved ones, actually experience killing. Do our elected Feds experience the killing war. I heard it said that if the dead could come back there would be no war - maybe no murder either. I surfed. It was small during the week but the infamous weekend swell showed on Saturday. Got some fun waves at low-tide Sharks sitting just outside the shelf that forms the summertime bowl. The swell was 5 feet from 295 at 14 seconds. The swell was still holding Sunday, but had changed direction, coming more from the north-northwest. Surfed Sharks again, both off the shelf and at the boil. I surfed the waning moments of the swell today, catching some waves at Sharks and 1st bowl. It was way cold and I surfed like it. What say the internet swell oracle? Well I'm sure everyone has heard or experienced the loss of foam. Kinda like if OPEC stopped shipping oil. Panic. One supplier shut down and that one supplier provided 80% of the foam to make surfboards. If you could solidify all the foam coming from people's mouths on the subject you could avert the shortage. When the dust settles - we shall see. One thing for certain; increases in board prices will remain. One more rant. In my last visit, I spoke about our Fearless Leader professing Victory in the war. I wanted to know what he meant. Now I know. There is no meaning. Just a word to manipulate SPB into the following mindtrol: I (Fearless Leader) say Victory many times - Victory=Fearless Leader. Anyone else expressing a different view or strategy regarding the war is a defeatist - all other opinions=defeat. It's not about the right path - it's a dig me video. Whatever.  ¶ 12:47 AM 2 comments

 

The Days Are Short

The days are short and don't leave time for everything that needs to get done. So, you leave things undone with the ambition to proceed tomorrow. Tomorrow. Since I last checked in, there have been many days of decent surf sprinkled with some off days and some days made for LBs only. What has been interesting is that most swells have shown on the weekend. The weekend of November 18 was fun with a swell at 4.9 feet from 295 at 14 seconds. I surfed the Hook and Sharks Thursday through Tuesday and had great fun on the true blue quad. I want to remind penguin that the blue on my board is coherently electromagneticly bitchen. I didn't get back into the water until Thanksgiving Day, when I took Big Green out and surfed little noseriders with Farley and a couple of the boyz. The swell pushed back in on Friday the 25th. Got great waves at Second Bowl - the buoy showed the swell at 9.7 feet from 310 at 14 seconds. The swell continued on Saturday and the offshores began blowing strong. I surfed Second Bowl and Sharks. By the end of the session, I could barely get my feet under me - it was fuckin'freezing. Another swell showed on Monday through Wednesday, and on Thursday it was stormy. I surfed Second Bowl and Sharks during the last swell, and went swimming during Thursday's rain. I checked it today, but never went out. It was waist high and it looked gutless and cold. I understand the White Wash is paying for some goodspeak articles regarding the war. I'm up for that - maybe some payolas for an Iraqi surf report. I'll spin swells like the best southern hemi cyclones. Like "Persian Gulf swells pulling up to the Dunes. Peaks up and down the beach and no one out. Went out with some of the local boyz and pulled into some solid head high barrels. Coffee and a spin on the hukka pipe after the surf." What's disappointing is that we are talking about how we are making their country free so they can speak the truth, yet we pay for bullshit to feed them - and they know it. From one propaganda stream to another - we've shown that we're no better. No matter how hard we try to convince them that their life has improved, I can't imagine that they are even slightly relieved from their daily dose of death and destruction, no running water, no electricity, no sanitation, guns, and war. The spin goes on. He says we stay - Victory in Iraq - what does that mean? Free flow of oil and corporate control of the country? Just like here? The power to command frequently causes failure to think. -Barbara Tuchman, author and historian (1912-1989)  ¶ 10:48 PM 1 comments