Winter is Here

After a checkerboard of surf days - some days on, other off, we had the first macking December swell. The inshore buoy showed 17 to 20 feet at 20 seconds from the west-northwest (280) - from the cliff, it looked like a GIANT wind swell. More later. Leading up to the big event, we had a late fall south swell - probably better than anything we saw all summer. I got some fun waves as the south filled in and the masses were caught off guard. Tiburones was firing with the swell at 4.6 feet from 210 at 17 seconds - in the middle of November. As the south peaked, all the boyz converged on the bowl. Fortunately, many of the LB crew sat outside waiting for the big ones, leaving many fine waves reeling off the bowl and down the line. I did my best not to let the leftovers go to the trash. Amazingly, I made it through the south without any damage. Maybe I'm learning. Many off days and small days followed, and Hot Dog earned a Blue Ribbon. Now back to winter.

We were warned about the big swell, so I went out on Monday for a warm up. It was the first time I had been out since the weekend before, when a fun northwest at Segundo Bol was off-limits due to a contest. I got a few during the contest by combing shoulders that pushed into Three Palms. Anyway, Monday had a little size, but was wind-swell thrashed. Surfed the Steps, steep and fat with the tide dropping fast. Figured it was enough to be prepared for "The Big One". I heard the swell loud and clear on Monday night, and showed up on the cliff Tuesday morning to watch the festivities. As usual, the heavies turned out to battle the big surf. Mostly, I watched guys try to paddle out while moving down the beach in a current that equaled any high-flow river gorge. The Point was messy with mounds of water showing here and there as untouched reefs were brushed by the bottoms of large swells. Elsewhere, many deep water spots were holding. Ed showed me some pictures of Ghost Trees from the water that were unbelievable. Several tow teams were working the point - 30, 40, 50-foot wave faces? The guys riding the waves looked like fleas. Anyway - I understand pictures have filtered out through the WWW - so, check it out - don't take my word for it. I also heard the Sand Pit (SB Harbor) was going off and it was pro-central with Slater taking his pick.

I waited to surf until Wednesday, and went out at Segundo Bol and SB. I had fun, grabbed a couple bombs, and made it back to the beach unscathed. The ocean was more manageable, and conditions at the point were good. I saw many of the crew checking in - Butterscotch, Hot Dog, the up n' comers, DYSM, RasMike, Rick, the Owner, Lance is back, Mrs. Robinson, the Kid - Fly Trap had a bad back. By Thursday the swell had backed down and I got a few low-tide fun ones at the Steps. Today, the swell popped back up, but the swell direction had more north in it, thereby providing open walls, and the period - 10 seconds - kept the water moving. I surfed the Steps and SB as the tide fell out.

Now the rant -
It's amazing that the election sideshow has picked up so much momentum. Our society can barely pay attention for 10 minutes - how can we expect people to make a proper decision after being bombarded for 16 months. No wonder there is no interest on the first Tuesday of November. The population is over it. Anyway, they're just about all saying the same thing - except Paul and Kacunich - two guys the Corpgov Media Machine have ignored, labeled, and dismissed. I'm for anybody who, among other things, thinks the Peace Corps - not the Marine Corps - should be expanded, and who is ready to abolish nuclear weapons.

A new low - I mean another low - torture tapes made by the CIA destroyed before disclosure - to protect the torturers - I understand the CIA protecting their own, except when married to a diplomat who calls out the Whitewash for lying. And the intelligence that we trusted in our sprint to war with Iraq, is being labeled as suspect because it doesn't square with the Whitewash version of "Iranians must die". Oh, by the way, I just watched a football game between an Aussie team and a team from Iran - the goal scorer on the Iranian side was from Iraq - along with several of his team mates. So much for the "US vision of the Middle East".

Bob Marley recognized that the fear mongering power play has happened before and will happen again. His warning in 1976 -
  ¶ 9:21 PM