So Far, So Good

OK - I'm lagging, but for good reason. The summer surf has been relatively good, so far. I have managed to surf waist to head high waves on consecutive days - consecutive weeks. Sharks, Second Bowl - even - gasp - Second Peak. Surf sessions have included all the accoutrements - surf schools, kooks, butt jacking, wave jacking, and just plain jacking. Pros, standouts, the crew, the boyz, the masses, the idiots - the maggots. I'm pretty sure we all had fun. Swell size has ranged between 1.5 and 4 feet from 180 to 200 with a period of about 14 seconds. The southern hemisphere has been on fire. Check the RipCurl "somewhere in Mexico" contest clips - unfucking real. The last four evenings have provided fun surf at Tiburones and the Steps, and its been great to see the crew out after work and getting the real payoff. KB stayed with me and raced in the Jay Memorial Paddle. I guess he had fun, but I think the surf sessions we had provided more stoke. DYSM was challenged by the rotation, but I think some meditation and a helping of Hot Dog soothed his hype. Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously, but our bros usually know how to reset the balance. Thanks. Rant: What can I say. The hurricane is all around us - too much. I'm just frustrated with what's going on with my contribution - the money I throw into the pot. What about you? Would you pay for half of this shit if you had a say? Drug war - in Afghanistan? War on Terror - terror is a method - not a country, not a people. Immigration or nuclear weapons? Corporate tax breaks and incentives - what is our return? Without the tonic of surf, family, and friends, frustration would turn black. Watched a doc on Tibet and was saddened that land grab continues to ruin those closest to the earth and culture of their land. There was, and is, a great awareness and sensitivity to the plight of Jews - virtually nothing on the eradication of Tibetians, their culture, religion, and land. Right now. I do not believe history teaches. We cherry-pick what works for us, continue to be self-interested, self-engaged, and let myths fill in the cracks. I'd like to see my tax dollars work at home - not for contractors and corporations that are self-interested and self-engaged, but for humanity - people. Same with dollars spent around the world - replace drug eradication with education. Butter - not guns. Pic: more SciFi surf from the island continent.

The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant. -Salvador Dali, painter (1904-1989)  ¶ 11:37 PM 1 comments

 

Easy

I am easing into summer, catching some fun days at the Steps and Tiburones. Days have been split between SB windows and LB glides. Swell has been mostly from the steep south, but there were a couple of northwest ground/wind swell days. It seems the cycle of weekend south swells is again the norm. With the great weather and south showing on Saturday last, I resorted to the LB glide at Terry's Bowl in order to stay grooved. It was packed at the Bowl - I wanted to SB, but the fun factor balanced with the mass factor steered me to the LB. Even though I was fixing on the SB session, I had a great time. Ralph and his wife were out scoring Terry's with me and it made it a fun time. I even got to try a Morey Swizzle - wild. Sunday, I couldn't stand it and charged with the SB in the late afternoon. Always fun. During the week, it was glide with some intermittent SB sessions. The Flytrap has been great, along with the rest of the crew, in making Gio's beach summer memorable. Thanks guys. This Saturday, a couple of the boyz caught me groveling on the SB at the Steps - Penguin made sure I knew he was watching - Hey, what can I say? - I love to surf. It's those days when I'm groveling in knee high wind-blown surf that reminds me of being a grom. It didn't matter too much how the surf was. Fact was, you were being pushed along by an ocean wave, the wind was clean, saltwater, sand, sun, scarfing wildly, and an afterglow before passing out. It's still the same. The beltway bobbleheads continue to spew, and this line from the bobblehead with the biggest wobble was typical. On the subject of immigrants, W commented, "..they must learn the values and history of America". Of course many in our USA walk to their own beat and know nothing of history, but that said, let's look deeper. What are "American Values"? Are these the values exemplified by the current government? Mislead, lie, steal, civilian killing or "wrong place and wrong time", revenge, land grab, war, preemptive war, fear, spying, constitutional ignorance and manipulation, corporate dominance over mankind and nature, bad religion, bigotry, homophobia, with me or against me, poor getting poorer, dumb getting dumber, control, spin, money, more money. The list is long, but most folks I know are simple with love in their hearts - a universal value. I'm not sure about American Values - but I know what my parents taught me; the same thing I teach my children, and the same thing that folks in most parts of the world believe in - regardless of religion. I'm sure most immigrants have impeccable values. American History? You can't believe everything you read or hear - especially with American History - or myth in many cases. For those entering the country - pass the test. Then, start learning - that's what is great about USA. If you work at it, you can learn something close to the truth, and fill in the blanks on you own. No blanks regarding the picture - KB sent it in from a friend in eastern OZ. I'm thinking about a surf caste system - here are the stratified levels of society: international pros, pros, standouts, the boyz, the crew, the masses, kooks, idiots, and - lest we forget - maggots. Where do you fall? Anybody heard anything about caveporn.com yet? I need a fix - where are those pics? Oh yea - did you hear the Congress is thinking of raising the minimum wage? they haven't done so for a decade - but they aren't thinking of raising their wages - they did raise their wages for the 7th time in the last decade.

There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in. Leonard Cohen, musician (1934- )  ¶ 11:06 PM 0 comments

 

Lazy Days

Yes - it has been awhile since my last entry. Just chalk it up to lazy days. I continued to strive for an 06 record of surf days in a row, and found rides every day between the 20th and 25th. Mostly at Tiburones with fun south early in the week, turning to wind swell mix at Second Bowl. Average waist to chest high with some head high and over head sets. Some memorable days with the boyz - The A-list remained stocked with the usual suspects, and graig - thanks for letting me cup your ass - I've got strong feelings sometimes. The Surf-a-whatever at Tiburones went off Monday, and I saw some great team surfing, ate good food, watched the paddle race, and witnessed a lot of groove. I was bummed to see that the paddle race was modified by removing the beer guzzling pitstops - the point is to get buzzed - not win a paddle race. Anyway - I guess it ended as it should - glasses filled many times. Good job to those who supported this year's effort, and take time to remember how it started. Surfed small waves most of this week - seems summer is really kicking in. Did the LB glide and rode the twin at knee high. The weather has been fine and today was no exception. Great beach day, the boyz having fun, and we even got to see a photo-shoot. The waves were real small - I took the SB out and I only stood-up once. No worries - still had a beautiful day. Of course, I went for a swim to get some real exercise. Hey - www.caveporn.com hasn't posted yet - so keep on checking. Within days we should see a new web site with Sharks Cave as the setting for some terrific shots of some beach beauties scantily clad. Flytrap tried to get into the action, but I think the girls were intimidated - thought they might get entangled in the velcro. All right. After the FBI broke into another scummy senator's office to get the goods on him, the congress finally woke up and got pissed. The executive is pissing all over us, they cried. Gee, since when. The repub leader, Fristing himself, says, "I think there's allegations of criminal activity, and the American people need to have the law enforced." Are you kidding - NSA program and Bush lying about it, signing statements that excuse the executive from the law, torture, kidnapping, holding people without process, leaks, intimidation, propaganda - the list goes on and on. How can anyone take these guys seriously, except when they're talking about nuking people. Check it out. The latest is that phone companies are giving info to Big Brother. But, BB and the corps are denying it - here's the twist. Contracting. Just like in the war zones, contractors are hired to do the middleman work. Good for corporations, maintains small government and big business, and keeps party donations coming. In the case of data - your information - probably more than you think - private firms are the cattlemen, rounding up the data - yea - cowboys - databoys. The data is then sold for a tidy profit to BB. BB can claim they didn't collect it, and the corps can claim they didn't give it to BB. The corps sell it to the corps who sell it to BB. The main player - check out ChoicePoint. It's all sold out. Stay connected with the small things, simple things - your family, friends, surf - everything else is sold out - we are as transparent as we wish our government was. Same for many around the globe. We may be trapped behind a wall, but we have our dreams.

I fear nothing, I hope for nothing, I am free. -Nikos Kazantzakis, poet and novelist (1883-1957)  ¶ 12:50 AM 0 comments