3.27.2006
The Way Back Machine
Starting back on the 15th, got a fun evening surf at Tiburones. Kinda wind swell, bumpy, glassy, and doubled-up on the inside. The next couple days were stormy with windows of bumpy, wind-hacked surf - but I went out anyway. They were not memorable sessions. The swell picked up and cleaned up on Saturday, but the masses, boyz, would-be pros, and pros were all over it. I waited for the wind to hack it up a bit, and paddled out to Second Bowl. I was hoping the wind would chase some of the masses home, but no. Even though the surf was less than special, it was packed. Sharks was no better. The storm trend continued with lack-luster surf until Wednesday and Thursday. Then, the ocean cleaned up and a small but firm south showed. Surfed both days at Tiburones with just the boyz (and a couple of decoys). It was great fun, the bowl was working, it lined up into the cove, and the mantra of Chuck Norris was discussed between sets. The weekend passed with less than stellar surf, but again, I went out anyway. As I write, another storm is beating the coast. One of the bros suggested that either I didn't know how to count, or I was surfing some obscure spot right here on the Point. What is 49 Steps? He counted the number of steps at the Hook, and well, it didn't seem to add up. I noticed that given the level of sand at the base of the stairs, three or four steps could appear and then disappear. Also, I noticed that depending on my mood going up or down the stairs, the count would change. Sometimes I skipped steps or counted one step twice. Maybe it's the number of steps I count from the stairs to the boil at Terry's Bowl. I'm probably just full of shit. Anyway, 49 Steps sounds good. Some bad news - I heard Lance and Penguin are moving. Shared some great times with both - they will be missed. Once again, the ding magnet (azul fish) is in storage awaiting a fix job for some bad pressure dings that occurred Thursday. I was flying down the line at Mach 5, squared a turn, and slammed the lip. I was promptly launched, but unlike Mr. Air, I panicked, got parallel with my board, and landed hard. It's not as easy as the boyz make it look. Final call - There is much talk about illegals taking work, but not much mention of the corp"o"rats who are really undermining jobs. Here is an excerpt from a editorial that lays it out for SPB. "But for my friend "Mary," the whole issue looks different. She cleans houses and baby-sits for a living. Her son paints houses. In both cases, they are competing directly with a new flood of immigrants who don't mind living doubled or quadrupled up (changing the character of neighborhoods) and for whom $10 bucks an hour is a premium wage." I hear what is said, but lets take a look right here. My neighbor works at the cement plant. They got new corporate ownership and guess what. They got rid of the existing management and shipped in all new guys. When guys quit or retire, they bring in hourly contract workers: no union, no union wage, no union benefits, and no experience. Also, no day-shift foremen, don't need them. Safety? And the government changed the specification for making cement so that they can mix raw material with kiln material. My neighbor says they are selling it as fast as they are making it, but he wouldn't use it on his house. You need to be competitive in business, whether cleaning houses or making cement. But, is there a balance between profit and collateral damage in the community. In the case of the cement plant, we're not talking about immigrants, unless you believe that corporations based in Texas are foreigners. I do.
I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center. –Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., writer (1922- )