poppys 

Confessions of a Novice Surfer - Surf Blog - surf experiences of a Los Angeles area surfer

Confessions of a Novice Surfer - Surf Blog - surf experiences of a Los Angeles area surfer

pretty good blog on surfing LA

anarcho syndicalist??? 0021

today was incredible, a full day i'd say. the alarm woke me up around 6 and a few snoozes later i was up and carrying 2 boards out to the car. by the time i got to the creek the sun was bright and all the north sc county spots were looking pretty good. I was thinking about the dudes walking out into nothing to psuedo secret spots. One of these days i'll pull over and take a walk down a random ravine like these dudes and find myself a gem.

the wind was blowing when i got out of the car and I was getting a bit discouraged. the creek is notorious for fucked wind blowing out the waves but there was one other guy out catching some nice ones. A couple people were also suiting up so i figured it couldnt be too bad. paddling out was pretty easy through the channel and it was really chill out in the line up. the view from the water is amazing, looking towards the beach is big basin state park, to the north is ano nuevo island. this place is supposedly shark fucking central but you'd never know it. the surfers seem to all cluster around each other here. I dont know if its cuz of the peaks or if its out of fear. I think a person became a shark snack out here once or twice. The waves were a little blown at first. the wind was offshore and the waves were small so so it was a bitch to catch anything, but pretty quickly it died down and things got good. mostly chest to shoulder high stuff.the wave is great cuz it peels and changes. it has some juice so you can really enjoy the ride and rip. I was out for 2 hours and i caught countless waves. the last wave i caught was the kind of wave that makes you remember why you started surfing. I caught it just right and i popped up with out the use of the gimp. altho the popup was gimpish the whole bitch is finally coming together. i caught the thing right in the pocket and i was able to turn and get going pretty quickly, i got some decent slow carves and even tried to a cutback. but my dumb ass was riding the pig that day and pig has other ideas when it comes to cutbacks or even just a simple carve. but the ride was long, the pig put a smile on my face and i had had enough.

the afternoon was the anarchist bookfair. I really enjoyed this, more than i thought i would. It was good to see so many like minded fuckers but discouraging at the same time. there seems to be this unwritten rule that bieng an anarchist somehow also means you dont shower and you smell like a high school wrestlers jock strap. bieng an anarchist should be a point of pride. bieng proud that you can think for yourself and are a socially responsible. but a lot of these animals are in it like a social clique. They go to marches i imagine but do nothing. They claim that they want liberation and break down the system but they dont even know what the system is. they dont work and dont contribute to society or their community in any way. the isolate and marginaize themselves and they do this in the name of "anarchism" I'd like to see older people there, people my age, who work and who know what bieng a corporate slave is. Anarchist movements have only really worked when its come from the working class. not uneducated high school misfits. i was looking forward to seeing the apoc table but i didnt see shit. maybe we're just happy with system. We heard bary patemen speak and the guy was fantastic,i dont know if he reached many people but he spoke on getting normal worker bee folk to not so much get involved but rather know what anarchism really is, we're not gonna burn down their houses (well, maybe just the monsanto headquarters, or united defense). but it would be nice if there were more everyday people who sympathized with the cause. Shit all we're asking is that you realize that we're getting a raw deal. in any case his speach was great, all he asks is that we talk to people. After he spoke i thought a bit about the idea of anarchism in everyday life. trying to stay away from eating gmo foods, patronizing companies that are bit more socially responsible, minimizing dependence on oil, and things like corporate media, simple shit like watching an independent movie rather something retarted like "miss fucking congeniality". Worker owned corps are great too. corps like mondragon and other worker owned business. I know i'd give more of a shit about my job if i had a piece of it. not like a stock option that i still have to buy but rather a legitimate piece of the pie allocated to me. anyways, it was fun, a good experience.

After the book fair Seana and i went to Flax and delisio, which was incredible. the food was delicious and the chocolate cake outstanding. Its a chill place. i enjoy it alot, its nice to relax have a decent meal with Seana and shoot the breeze. Its the kind of place that makes you want to open i'll buy a vineyard and make wine. It can even be worker owned run, especially since Seana and I will be the workers.

side note, try sculpting soapstone.

waddell 4.25@15sec+2-3ft&280deg

0020

4.3@10sec:310deg;+1.5feet
LM
shitty, dumpy, a few rides

south side waddell 

barry pateman - anarchist, revolutionary 

shoulder high 

anarchist bookfair 

more waddell 

waddell creek 

adventure and no surfing 0019

so i'm in need of adventure. the more dangerous the better however it seems tougher these days to have a legitimate old school adventure. i'm sure its possible. fuck its totally possible who am i kidding. the truth is its raining outside and i'm too much of a puss to do anything about it. I just read there is some crazy ass bat cave at pinnacles national monument. i've never been there and i'm thinking i should check that shit out, http://www.nps.gov/pinn/visit/bgstatus.htm maybe next weekend. i'm hoping next week will bring decent surf and sunny days but as the homey josh says. "mother earth is a cruel bitch" making it rain on weekends. its horrible, calculated and cold blooded. we should all punch the face of god for making it rain on the weekend. not sure tho. i should perhaps go for a drive up north, true northern california for the weekend and see how those fuckers do. i've been up once and i remember it bieng wierd.

little men with shields 0018

5.7@14sec:300deg;+3ft

LM on a small wierd swell. At times the water was calm, no wind, then a funky swell would come up and smalls and waves would double up. it was a bit strange. I got there around 4 and was in the water pretty fast. I've got suiting up and suiting down as instint. no thought involved i walk up, suit and boots are on instantly. I took the merrick today which was a good choice. i'm telling you, my surfing skills are getting really good, even able to get decent rides on small assed waves. but the pop up is truely destroying me. Waves were about 3 feet to 5 feet max. PWR was right on the money with their call 3-5 and fair. its a fucking first for me. What was nice is a lot of the waves peeled for a few yards so you got a few seconds of green water before the curtain dropped on you. Also there was some juice left in the swell so you could cruise and swirve your way back to the beach.

I picked up milton's paradise lost. another book i can check off my incredibly long list of books i gotta read.

Just reading about 50's and Games troubles in paradise. Game is from Compton, good rapper, good record, good publicity stunt. Shit, had me reading and frothing at the mouth. lol. i love a good rap beef.

I also picked up the new rolling stone magazine with HST on the cover. theres a page or two on how rock music is dying on the radio... good, the shit they play on the radio sucks, all of it. how someone can listen to corporate pop(if its on the radio its pop)is beyond me. Punk is going back underground and it makes me happy. A lot of good bands coming out. pretty exciting shit.

Rain in the forcast. sucks.

i can't eat that! 0017

the big swell was dying and the closeouts were fewer than usual. Caught plenty of waves, and actually got some good rides. the problem was my fucking front knee. i would pop up, get my back foot on the board and kind of sit back on my front leg with my knee bent underneath me. I look like a gimp when i try to pop up. Its horrible, when i;m up i'm ruling and doing really well. I've been broken and will take a lesson asap.the nice thing about this last weekend is i got way more out of my rides. they were longer with more puss carves, going right, then left, then right.
8ft@12.5sec+5ft:305deg

The next day was really good. the swell was about the same maybe a 1/2 foot smaller than the day before. it was fairly clean tho, there were no serious closeouts. after catchin loads of rides on the south end i went out to crespi and paddled out. it was a pain. the paddle is farther and the set was killing me. i needed a bigger board and i have to remember that next time i go out there. once out a fucking loan 5 footer was breaking on the outside. everyone groaned like they just saw some sick kid with boogers running down to his mouth and paddled for the outside. like the sick kid, we all ate it. cleaned up. i caught one wave in and gimped out, got all squirrely and fell off. i caught a few more of the reforms on the inside and got some insanely fun juicy rides. then had enough. caught a few more on the south end exhausted and ready for pizza.
6.5ft@13sec+4.5ft:305deg

on call on the ball 0016

The weekend surf, was definately good, bad and ugly. The jetty saturday morning was nutty. there was so much was so much water moving around it was tough to stay in position. I paddled out just after Manabu on the 6'1" and was bieng tossed around in all directions. The swell was fairly large and had mavericks breaking. The jetty is usually fun since the swell is big enough to wrap around the monstrous point and break at the jetty. this was happening but you can tell the effects of the dropping tide. there were plenty of close outs and i was left catching the inside stuff. There were some really good surfers out catching some great racy peelers. however these guys were obviously experienced. The jetty, even in clean conditions, jacks up in nanoseconds. I only caught 2 waves in the hour i was out w/the 6'1" then Manabu offered to switch. He has a 7'5" j.c. equalizer. its an awesome board. wide, thick, plenty of rocker, a truely perfect board for all conditions. I caught loads of waves in 10 minutes and got a few compliments on my skill. LOL, 15 minutes earlier i was the kook of HMB and now i was a halfway decent wannabe ripper. I'm definately considering picking one up.

swH:12@15 sec;tide+3ft

next day 3/6 went to cowells with the lady. I'm not a fan of the place but i seem to get some great sessions here when i least expect it. I caught the longest ride of my life that day. cruising, at times racing down the face, carving left and racing down the opposite direction, when that died i'd turn and go back. there was a guy about 10 yards s of me that had the same idea. Seana did well too turning and really getting the most out of her waves. My hybrid is a spectacular board. It is too fast for cowells tho. I'd like to start taking it out on smaller days at montara or san gregorio, i think larger shoulder & head high waves are where that board will really work well.

swH:11.2@14.3 sec;tide-.6

I picked up a couple of pretty decent books recently. One is an anthology of Oscar Acosta, very "introspective" i guess is the word i'm looking for. Its interesting to read his letters and really see what kind of person he was. pretty inspirational actually. most Mexican writers dwell on ones "Mexicaness" and only stick to that. but he wrote about problems that face us as people, and his writings are very multicultural. Involving whites, browns, blacks. its fundamentally different than the usual shit. I'm tired of mexican characters bieng mexican characitures, i want a good story where the characters happen to be mex. I also picked up the preacher, an odd story about a broken, drunk preacher in texas who gets nailed by a fucking comet. amazing, a fucking comet with the face of a baby. if this was a movie i'd call bullshit but since its a comic, all is forgiven. so far, its good.

end of the century

today's the day all hack writers and bloggers get the bright idea that we should perhaps take the time from our meaningless daily lives and write. see, last night hunter thompson shot himself in the head. amazing, terrible, tragic, but how else was the dude supposed to go out? He wasnt gonna conveniently die in his sleep or of old age of "natural causes", (natural causes usually meaning you wake up in the middle of the night in sheer panic asfixiated or having a massive coronary) Nope, it had to be like this. Like all the greats, except perhaps for bukowski who preferred the slow torture of destroying your liver (personally i'm a fan of the liver destruction, which i will resume after work with a bottle of whaler's rum and whole foods cola). But i'll miss reading HST's columns. Tonight the drinks are for the good doctor.

On the train this morning there were three thoughts i had going, one was that I did not surf at all this weekend or this last week. The second was that it was a beautiful morning and i was fool for getting on the train to go to work in the first place. The last was the bullet that when through HST's head. But it was a beautiful morning, sunny, with clouds whizzing above. and still no surf. see, i'm moving next week, which means my weekends are spent packing up my material possesions (which for some reason seems to be a lot, however mostly packing books and trying to figure out what to do with my writings and prints). This has taken an incredible amount of time. Instead of surfing i decided i'd go out, get drunk with my lady and shake my ass a bit. We headed to bigfoot lodge in the city. i had a delicious captian and coke then went to see ffs spin at 330 ritch. fun nights, plenty of drink and still no surf. this will change, i will surf and i will kick your ass while i do it.

the jetty killed. 0014

I was standing at the caltrain station this morning, one hand holding my bike and the other holding a really crappy capuccino from starbucks, then i say outloud, "the waves this morning were fucking great!".

Right after i said that i looked around, worried someone might think i was cracking up but luckily i was all alone.

But damn! this morning's session was the best in a long time. The jetty had small right hand peaks, up to chest high and breaking clean. If you took off at an angle you could really rip. the water was incredibly glassy and smooth. there was just enough south to give you the sickest little peaks.

I was joined out there at the same time by another peninsula surfer from MP. This guy was riding a 6'2 t&c and tearing it up on his popsicle stick. he got nice 2 second barrel and some lay back slasher carves on one wave then busted a wicked frontside air rail grab on othe next.

the jetty killed.

north:6.1@11 sec@300
south:0.5@17sec@237

waddells fisherman 0013

surfed waddell today for the first time. I've been wanting to check it out for a really long time but just never did. partly because its far and partly because its sharky but it was totally worth it. the place is great. really mellow break actually. way better than linda mar, that's for sure loads of rights and lefts that can be speedy and fun.i surfed the south end and could sense the swell coming from both directions. the lefts quick and speedy from the south swell and the rights which had a bit more juice and gave me a sense of closing out when the norths would hit. I cautght one wave inparticular which was nice and smooth, went right and caught up with the smaller wave in front which offered a cool launch. definately made me interested in trying for some air. On the drive up i checked out the far north end of pescadero and i must say it looked awesome. i must surf there soon. there was a great peak providing a mushy longboard right and killer shortboard left. i'm hoping for similiar conditions next weekend.

With the time changing it's really affecting my surfing. i can only go out on weekends and i can feel myself kinda losing the skills. At the end of the summer i was getting really good and pulling some carves. but now i'm starting to feel all kooky again. not good

NS 3.5/3.9ft@10sec@325
SS @2ft@14@205

the tide was around 3 feet and rising

san g for me

this past saturday, i hit up san gregorio with a guy from the board. we checked out the waves and it looked promising but decided to check out pomponio as well. there didnt appear to be a whole lot there but there were a lot of people pulling up. we went back to san g and suited up. once we got to the shore i was freaking out. i had never surfed anything like it before and i was bit scared. the shore break was a bit more than i was used to and this was the main cause for concern.

the paddle out was fast and furious and once i got to the line up i was pretty much safe. the waves were large and mushy. it was sooooo much fun tho. the occasional 5 or 6 footer would come around and i'd take off on it. I was slow to get on my feet but once up it was great. just a nice wall of water and me. i definately want to head back when its similiar conditions.

4.5 feet@11sec@305degrees

2.5.14seconds 180degrees=no good at jetty

2.5.14seconds 180degrees=no good at jetty

labor day for the workers 0010

9/5/2004
great day for surfing, shitty day for surf

it was hot today, really hot, damn hot, too hot. I decided to head out to linda mar first hoping that the conditions might have gotten a little better. but it was crummy. crummy is the best way to describe the surf. it was big, would close out and the white water would take over all the way to the shore. then headed south to GWC and Montara, and there was nobody out. loads of people on the beach and hardly any surfers in the water. continued on and got in at the jetty. there were too many people in the too shitty take off zones. but it was incredibly fun. I caught loads of closed out knee high waves that i was even able to get a carve or two on. It was a total beginners spot today. everyone waiting for the larger sets that would jack up to about waist high and toss the whole lot over. classic. hilarious. I cought a couple of these and got some decent rides. This is soooooo much different than the perfect waves i was catching two weeks ago in hawaii.

9/6/2004
great day for surfing, pretty damn good day for surf

I didnt surf today but damn! i saw some great surfing!! I was so jealous. I headed down the coast for a little wine drinking and stopped at a couple spots to check out the surf. San gregorio looked really good today, gentle lefts and rights that still had some juice. I have to remember to look for 3-5 feet swells at around 9 or 10 seconds from about 320 degrees. this seems to produce good waves all along south san mateo county. Pomponio had the most amazing barrels. one out of ever 10 barrells was beautiful, picture perfect, at the end of the ride, the barrell would totally spit, it was like watching a video. Waddel creek was ruling as well. short boarders and longboarders all over catching some great rides, the wave breaking really cleanly. too bad, no board.

shall i or should i shoot the policman 0009

So tomorrow is thursday, i havent surfed since sunday and i could use some time in the water. pacwaverider is predicting 4-7 feet at LM and i really really doubt that'll happen. there is a small south hitting us kinda sorta. i'm hoping to catch some of the love at the jetty. souths there are sweet. only shitty thing is the tide may be too low to really enjoy it. I may take the skimboard in case it sucks ass.

this last trip to hawaii had a bigger impact on me than i originally thought. i really dont like norcal, which is no secret, but i really need a change of scenery. a new break, a new swell direction and perhaps a thinner wetsuit. or a thicker one? i've been thinking about carrying a camera with me everywhere, but i;m such a bonehead that i keep forgetting. also got a book on midgets i need to read.... more later.

canoes, jockoe's and i'll never surf sandy beach 0008

from that south that i wrote about a while back i ended up ditching work later in the week to surf it at the jetty. what a site. perfect head high peelers that broke hard and steep. i could barely surf them but i was still having a killer time. the south was coming at about 2 feet 15 seconds and it really hit the jetty hard. it was beautiful. just beautiful.

surfed lm countless times and went out with mark for a super sweet session as well. did the morning dawn patrol and hit the jetty by 630 and was there for about 3 hours. the waves on the north end were big and occasionally closing out. mark took a few good ones that spooked him a bit so we moved down south where it was pretty lonely. just us two and some small 2 footers. but these two footers had us stoked for a long time. the were breaking clean and you really got some excellent rides out of them. there were also 2 shark sightings out at LM that week. not enough to scare me off but enough to make me look out at the ocean a bit more carefully.

hawaii was also in the cards this month. i surfed canoes and queens for 5 days straight. i had an unbelievably good time. i had the best luck with a 7'8" fun board with a rounded pin tail. i was going down the line, carving hard, and pumping great. i was sad to leave hawaii. but amazed at the progress i had made since the first time i started surfing.

there's that south swell 0007

saturday morning surfed the rising tide in the morning there was still a bit of west swell at about 1.something at around 10 seconds and the south swell was supposed to be mixed in but it was not really present. the sea was confused, swells crossing each other, canceling each other out. it was not very pretty but occasionally got to ride some nice waves.

Sunday, the south swell was in full effect. 2 feet about 20 seconds from about 205 degrees would produce big over head closeouts on the south end of montara. I went to about the condos to where the shoulders were a little more forgiving by i wasnt having too much success. the shoulders were steep as well. lots of boards flying everywhere.

2-3 fair 0006

"no fucking way" i said to myself as i drove through the saddle in the hills. the cemetery to my right and clear skys as far as i could see. sure it was a little hazy, but still really nice. I arrived at the jetty still half asleep and wishing i had filled up my thermos with prime kona but it was too late. the water was calm, the only disturbance bieng made by birds diving head first for their morning meal. I got out of the car and watched. Knowing linda mar would be even worse i figured i'd wait a bit here to see if a set would come through and then i can make a decision. Another guy i see out every now and then was also parked on the side of the road, but he took off pretty quick, I didnt blame him.After a few minutes a nice set rolled in. tiny 2 footers, and that was enough to convince me to jump in. Having been out of the water since Sunday I was itching to get wet or at least float around and hope that something ridable might come.

Aside from the sea lion hangin out in the water i was all alone. I stared out into the bay, and waited for something and luckily i didnt have to wait that long. The waves came, small, i laughed as i paddled for them, knowing that on most days i wouldnt dream of paddling for something this tiny. Up on my feet, i enjoyed a ride that lasted all of 4 seconds, till my fins dragged on the sand inches below me. I walked back in (since the tide was so low there was no need to paddle). The water was incredibly glassy and clear, no wind what so ever and as i floated i could see the sand below. The sea lion came back for a visit and then split, obviously not impressed with my surfing skills. A few more tiny breakers and it was time to head back home.

bike, train, bike, work ...etc.

wait 0005

today i didnt go to the beach. Its flat, no surf, and for some reason i feel guilty for not going. for not getting wet, for not checking just to make sure. lately my surfing is been improving. and i mean really improving! dropping in late, going down the line with a wall of green water beside me, carving, the whole nine. its been great. a total feel of accomplishment and happiness all at once. I've taken serious beatings for it lately as well. been held down a couple times by big waves and poor judgement.on my birthday i caught a wave. the last one. not very clean but i made it work. carving, going up and down the face of the wave, smoooooth riding. the glide i guess. at that point i was done for the day. i've been getting smiles by strangers at the end of my rides, compliments even. amazing. i was never a great skateboarder but with surfing i've connected somehow. taken advantage of riding pure energy. just before it crashes and takes another form.

now i wait, no surf, no energy to be ridden. waiting for the south swell to bring swells that have traveled thousands of miles. swells produced by a big ass storm deep in the south pacific. wait.