4.26.2006
Started LB and Quickly Turned SB
Checked the waves in the morning and it looked real small. Figured once the tide dropped a little, some LB glides would be available. So - later I paddled out to Second Bowl on the green plank, but noticed the waves were starting to pick up. First wave to the nose, leaned into the wave face and slipped. The plank rode to the beach and I went in searching for a wax fix. Got the wax, paddled back out, and hooked into some more waves. The waves kept breaking a little farther out, and they were more than I wanted for the LB. After three or four waves I made a command decision and got my SB. Good move. Surfed fun second bowl. Not big, but lined up. Word was Tiburones was good too - Rick, Paul, Penguin, and Terry were on it. Paul came up to Second Bowl to inform me of the pleasures down the line, but I figured he was just trying to spook me. I ended my session at Tiburones and he was right. As I was leaving, Terry, Rick, and I watched some hooded demon collide with Kneeboarder Roy. Late news indicates Roy's board was damaged. The same demon almost killed me as I tried to race down the line and make a section. Terry's got a real nice new board he tried today - he looked like he was hooked in and I must say the board is beautiful. Roy, I only hope the guy didn't say sorry, but instead handed over the cash. Rant: gasoline prices are high and it's the environmentalists fault. They won't let drilling in ANWR go on and they keep the oil companies from building new refineries and upgrading old refineries. I'll start with the oil companies. What ever the cost, it's passed on to us. So, if new refineries or upgrades cost, we would be paying - that's not stopping them. Environmental compliance is all about cost, and remember we pay. Instead, it's likely the oil companies don't build new refineries or upgrade because they are motivated by supply and demand consequences. Why build more refineries when that will only increase supply and drive down the price of gasoline at a fixed demand. Bottle-neck the supply of gasoline and the price will go up; meanwhile, the oil corps and their political allies can blame the environmentalists. Next-up ANWR. Drilling there will do nothing but cost an environment we can't replace. Dominion is a joke. Here's what some of the thinkers say:
On Drilling in ANWR
The argument that this is just going to affect 2,000 acres -- I am sorry -- having flown over this area, having seen what happens, I know and the Department of Interior knows it isn't just about the pad where you drill. It is about roads and airstrips and pipelines and water and gravel sources and base camps and construction camps, storage pads, power lines, power plants, support facilities, coastal marine facilities -- it is a huge undertaking. You may see that postage stamp[-sized plot] of drilling [on a map presented by Domenici], but there is a lot more in support of it that is going to have an impact on this environment. Senator Durbin responding to Repub notion that only a small footprint would be impacted in ANWR
Furthermore, the oil industry estimates no oil would be flowing from the refuge for at least a decade and full production would not be reached for 20 years. Even then, crude oil from the refuge would make up only 0.8 percent of world production, which is meaningless at current rates of consumption. Oil prices are set on the world market. The tiny estimated production from the Arctic refuge would have little or no impact on prices, according to the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy... "The United States invented the national park. Have we so lost our way a century later that we are prepared to sacrifice a one-of-a-kind wilderness for a shot at a small and temporary supply of oil? Similarly, are we so desperate for a fast buck that the other natural treasures in Alaska are for sale to the highest bidder?"
Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot defend themselves or run away. And few destroyers of trees ever plant any; nor can planting avail much toward restoring our grand aboriginal giants. It took more than three thousand years to make some of the oldest of the Sequoias, trees that are still standing in perfect strength and beauty, waving and singing in the mighty forests of the Sierra. -John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer (1838-1914)