Well Hello There!

Well hello there 2010.

Seal Beach

Kev and Joe. Kev's out popping up on his Merrick like a mad man.

Joe's put in serious paddling to quickly get out in the deeper end.

Kev and I agreed on taking the mental challenge of surfing next to the pier with the higher skilled surfers. That's one way to push your spirit!

On the way in, a vet said, "Get in there next to the pump.....". Kev asked, "What'd he say". I said, "Something about a pump and I'm not sure of the rest", which translates to, "I can't hear anything cause my brain is saying oh sh*t do you know where you're going?!".

Picked up a new XCEL full suit and it kicks ass. Purchasing it was an embarrassing, but true story - I went in asking for a ML, then ended up walking out with a XL. Yup, 4 sizes up.

On the plus side, scored a tip:

Friend at Jacks: When you're trying to get into your wetsuit, turn the shoulders inside out a bit before you get in. It will give you more room to get in your suit.

We're fortunate to have moved a bit closer to the beach for the summer - sounds like fun, god willing.

Catch Up Surf Reports

Make up time. It's been a while since my last post. Work pulled the plug on accessing blogs. I will have to look back at these one day and hope that I remember these days. They were all fun.

Bolsa Chica - Friday.....

Han Solo. I nearly drowned today. I hate going alone.

RAT Beach - Saturday....

Ryan, Kev, and I finally made it to the infamous RAT Beach. It was amazing. First day on Randy's short board for me. Ryan had a kick ass day. Kev was out trying to go off the lip all day.

Bolsa Chica - Sunday....

Randy. Randy to out his new used shortboard the Webber Fatburner out. He had a lot of fun and had a near drowing experience. Good thing we talked about how it happened to me a few weeks prior. Randy used the same thought process of, "Don't panic, let the wave go over you, and then float". Good job bro.

Trestles - Sunday

No ear plugs. Kev and I met up in the morning and had a fun time. I went out a second time with Jeric! Jeric and I had a near accident and decided to call it a day.

Jeric I have your hanger and box.

Sunset - Monday

Kuya John, Randy, Ryan, and Jon-Aye. One hell of a day at Sunset. Kuya John showed us how to rip it up on a shortboard. The man has skills. Randy had fun out on his shortboard, still getting winded.

Ryan was using the Al Merrick and showing us a good show as always! Jonathan's out there paddling strong and getting the hang of the Al Merrick quickly!

This was a good day. The only bad thing was that my ear infection started to kick in.

Ah, never mind, double bogey. I broke my center fin and plug again riding the board back into the beach.

Bolsa Chica - Saturday

Dex. Dex is back in the water. He had gone the weekend before with Kev and crew. Dex picked up 2 boards from a friend in San Clemente. We were out in the water for 3 hours today. Dex was able to get strong paddling on the new magical board. The new board is about the size of the Blaster. Dex was able to catch some waves out there today and had plenty of time to practice.

I had to use Randy's Fatburner. Bad news again, triple bogey, I broke Randy's center fin.

Not to worry though. I got my longboard fixed and picked up replacement fins for both my and Randy's boards. Cost me $55 at Becker. The team at Becker in Hermosa Beach are the best. I appreciate Becker fixing my board twice.

My ear infection has not healed I have had it since Memorial Weekend. Took it to my trip to Vegas and Florida. Going this past weekend to Bolsa Chica made it worse. Was it worth it? When I was surfing Yes. When I went back to work, no. I was out 3 days this week and now am paying for it by being placed on lock down by J.

Love hurts.

Surf Report

May 7, 2009 - El Porto, CA

Interesting day.

I was honestly pumped to see overhead waves today at El Porto. The waves were out there, but still out of reach right, for now.

What Jon said is true, the excitement of being out there fills you up and you paddle your hardest for 5 minutes, but the power of the ocean gets you. Getting to the line is a dream, for now.

We were stuck at the fight to the line.

I thought I was the only one that realized that we were all fighting it though. But the other guys saw it too.

When you're out in the water at El Porto, there's the implied saying, "Get the F out of El Porto", that rings in the back of your mind. You keep pushing though, watching the ocean for pockets, fighting the current, ducking under waves, trying to fight it. You make progress and paddle yourself out a few feet, and the ocean pushes you back a few yards. You take breaks and sit on the beach to catch your breath. From where your sitting, you watch the other guys fight, and edcuate yourself - trying to find what works and how to make your approach. You're thinking to yourself, how are we going to beat this. Naturally, frustration sets in.

But then, you get called to go out one more time.

This time, as you fight foward, you look to your left and right and you see the other guys fighting just as hard. We're all eager to get out there to the line and stand up.

It was cool to know that we all had the same goal. And then surfing is fun again. Awesome.

He has a plan.

Surf Report

Friday, May 1, 2009 - Bolsa Chica, CA

All alone and nothing good to report. Life is no fun when you do not share it.

Surf Report

April 29,2009 El Porto,CA

Ryan

Classic Porto, but better than most evenings.

Caught up with Ryan on the way to Porto. When we arrived we started out on the rip-tide side. 2 hours of non stop paddling and surf today.

Opening wave goes to Ryan. Today is officially, "Ryan's popping up like a pro on his 5 foot fish Day". I was yelling like a mad man when Ryan dropped in on the opening wave:

Ryan lined up with an oncoming wave at the peak, he paddled to match up with the wave, caught it, did a push up with his right shoulder down...

At this point I'm in awe because I knew that his shoulder dropped because he was picking when and where to go down the line.

..Ryan looks to the right, and the wave begins to break on his left, Ryan comples his push up turning the board easily to the right, and here's the best part,

Ryan's pop up was completed at the top of the face, just ahead of the breaking corner.

Yours truly, stood witness (yeah I'm still having trouble paddling out) to 4 of these pop-ups and yelled out in excitement.

The lifeguards at the beach were looking for a drowning girl because I was screaming so much.

No seriously, Ryan's upped the game and has left the curve, errr curl.

Seriously it's always good to have a motley crew out there with you to pump your day up.

Bonus: Confirmation earlier this week that Jeric's ready and Dex is looking for his new board.

I caught a few. My best drop in fell short, because when I began my turn I almost hit a friendly red bearded neighbor. We both said sorry to each other, how cute.

Ryan's tip: Make the last two strokes count. Paddle hard, then complete a push up (a.k.a the vinyasa) putting most of the weight on the side you want to turn. Eventually you'll be able to coast with the wave and pick out the side you want to drop in.

I trust that tip cause Ryan's on a 5'10" board, and even more so, I witnessed the technique first hand. Growth indeed.

Ryan and I both agree, it was a good day at Porto.

Surf Repot

April 16,2009 El Porto,CA

Kev and Jon

Great surprises welcomed. Kev and I were happy to have Jon come out to surf with us today. Jon’s putting in hard hours at work. Today Jon drove to and from San Diego for work, as a thank you they let him off early for the day.

Jon sent a text message straight from a fortune cookie, “I am down for surf”.

Today’s motley crew headed out for another classic day at El Porto:

Chop, slop, and as Ryan calls it “Mush Burgers”.

As always, conditions do not matter since growing boys are hungry.

Despite the horrible conditions there was a high school, Red Bull, competition today. While suiting up, a passerby says to me, “Is that a competition? What a shitty day to hold a competition!”. Yeah, sure is and we were about to go surf in it.

Naturally, we agreed to pick a spot far from spectators, and cameras. We started out on the right side of the beach, close to the historic rip tide side. Kev and I deem it historic after we almost lost Kev in it last year.

Later in the day we moved further south because the current drifted us to the competition area.

Kev and Jon had no problem paddling out on their boards. Jon’s planning out his entry, carefully picking out pockets and lulls to easily pass into. I was on the beach and watched Kev and Jon easily move out to the line. Patience pays off here.

Jon is looking confident paddling out on his board. We need to take him to a better beach at a good time so he can conquer Al. Kevin’s out paddling out on his Al as well. Life is good if you can say you can confidently paddle out on a classic El Porto day.

Jon Aye's Tip: My coworker told me that he waits 45 minutes before he goes in. He watches the ocean to find pockets to paddle through and waits for set of waves to die out before going in.
The next thing to keep in mind is the movement of the Sun and Moon determine the best tides.

Jon's tip to find pockets truly worked, I watched Jon and Kev find pockets today and paddle out to the line fast. I hope the boys are going to start looking to understanding the relationship of tides and interpreting the surf reports.

Bonus: Jon met the creator of Surfline. Funny thing is the surfline guy got into an accident. What happened you ask? Well, Surfline creator was driving on the freeway, and was following behind a truck with a surfboard in the back. The surfboard flew out of the truck and through surfline guy's window. Cheers to irony.

Yours truly, confidently sat on the beach, not a good day.

Surf Report

Easter Sunday Bolsa Chica,CA

Randy

I held out on surf and fun to observe the most important weekend of my faith. Sunday truly was a good day.

"Put me in coach" is what a Bolsa Chica regular yelled out to his friend. I was thinking the same thing, put me in Coach and let me out there. He did.

Randy's out on his body board with the surfers, literally on the line. I was somewhere in the back where the waves break, a.k.a soup, a.k.a. wash, a.k.a no waves.

I got some confidence later and paddled out towards the actual waves and caught a few....tiny ones.

Randy put down his body board and tried surfing on the board a bit. He is now in the market for a shorter board than mine.

I watch a family from Australia or South Africa tear it up. The Dad was over 350 lbs. and was carving on his board, it was insane to watch that level of skill. His son had to be at least 12, and was carving all over my wash. Get off my wash man, leave us kooks alone. The wife was yelling at me to get out of the water. Not true.

Observed tip: I observed a old surfer paddling technique, as he passed me. haha. Well, pretty much he doesn't lift his arms overhead like a swimmer, his arms extend out and parallel to the top of the ocean.

I tried doing it and failed.

After one hour of fun, we were both out of breath or as Randy calls it, "gassed", and called it a day. On the way back up we were greeted by a lady with a bull dog.

ZJ's Surfshop

Off the lip