The Solstice Approaches

It's the middle of December, and I'm looking forward to the solstice. The days are getting shorter- but soon the days will be getting longer. The winter swells have come and gone with no single swell lingering more than a few days. Some of the best have started out over-head from the west-northwest and finished chest-high as the swell direction shifted to the north. When conditions allow, I surf the Steps - a good take-off, fun down the line, and a blast at the finish - Tres Bol. Tiburones continues to work pretty good while the west in the northwest shows, but as the north takes over, the quality falls. Even so, sometimes it has to do. For me, the combination of local pros, kids, and the masses hanging at the fringes makes the wave at the Steps a remote possibility at times. No problem - a few bottom turns at Tiburones and I'm good until the next time. Well - actually more easily said than done.

The day before yesterday, the view from the cliff looked good, but the Steps was already holding saturation at 1:00 pm. It didn't look like many guys, but the crew was skilled and there weren't many waves getting through. I looked down toward Tiburones and saw possibilities. Meager, but possibilities. I suited up and paddled out. With Poncho on the outside, I decided to hang on the edge of the reef and catch the little walls that hugged the reef while moving down into the cove. I caught a few, looked around, and discovered there were over fifteen guys out. There were definitely not enough waves to support the hungry crew - and no chance of feeding the multitude by miracle. I found myself getting grumpy about the situation - foolish.
To save my stoke, I got out and sat on the beach to watch. Soon I was back in the groove of sun and surf. I don't often make the right choice, but this time I left the beach happy.

Yesterday the swell dropped a bit, so I tried the inside at First Peak. Got some fun waves, but the waves were long on shoulder and short on wall. Today, the swell picked up from the north-northwest, and while Segundo Bol was saturated, Tiburones offered some fun bowls. I surfed until dark and followed up with a long hot shower. One thing for sure, over the last couple of weeks the water temperature has been very chilly.

The comments from the last post suggest we have some brainiacs out there ready to opine on the Red Tide. While I tried to hit an emotional nerve, the marine scientists brought reason into the discussion. Indeed, the Red Tide had been swirling around the Bay for months. And it's true that runoff from agriculture and other human endeavors probably provides the nutrients necessary to build the Red Tide bloom. But attacking a point source versus a non-point source is so much more satisfying. You can only point a finger in a single direction. For example, it's much easier for the public to be coerced into hating Arabs or "Terrorists". A single finger pointed in a single direction. No confusion. So much simpler than having to educate people about culture, history, language, social dynamics - and allowing them to come to their own educated conclusions. I'm sure you can come up with your own examples.

Speaking of education - If you can, find and watch "Battle of Algiers", 1965. The story involves the "terrorists" (Algerian Freedom Fighters) battling to push the French colonialists out of Algeria. It's uncanny how the movie mirrors the news of the day concerning Iraq. The movie is done with actors, but it seems like you are watching a documentary - from the terrorists point of view. The story - down to the scenes of the French torturing captured Algerians - could have been depicting our present situation. The movie provides special insight into the whole dynamic, and should be required watching for the whole of Corpgov and the Whitewash. There would be no question about motivations, what constitutes occupation, and what defines torture.

Just a note on government – Size of government - Military Spending

Category; 2006 (in billions of dollars); 2006 percent of federal funds budget
Current Military Spending; 571.6; 28%
Cost of Past Wars; 263.5; 13%
Total military percent - 41%

Health Research & Services; 393.5; 19%
Responses to Poverty; 241.0; 12%
Interest on Non-Military Share of Federal Debt; 211.5; 10%
General Government; 84.6; 4%
Community & Economic Development; 112.1; 5%
Social Programs; 97.7; 5%
Science, Energy, & Environment; 50.8; 2%
Non-Military International Programs; 29.8; 1%

So while the prezcans espouse how they will decrease the size of government in one breath, and go on to state that they intend to increase the size of the military in the other, ask yourself, "what the heck are they talking about?" - "Religion?"

The picture shows the Ranch during the Big December swell. Merry Christmas.

Last Word
Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right. -Laurens van der Post, explorer and writer (1906-1996)  ¶ 8:00 PM 0 comments

 

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 3 comments