Dear surfing gods,

I have been so uninspired lately. Yes, you have sent the swell, but forgot one crucial element: shape. sandbars. a point. anything? And as I sit on the beach watching said swell, I can't help but think "What fun is having a house (oh, ok, a small shack) exploding around you?" My point: I haven't been amped.

Well that's all changed today. I went surfing today and as I paddled through 2'-3' surf, the wobble in my feeble arms and gasping from my haggard lungs has inspired me. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun session. It was sunny & the water was clear and a pale green color; the waves weren't big, but had some power behind them; and the tide was a little high, so there were some shoulders. There were rights even! (thankyouthankyouthankyou)

But back to my inspiration. The plan for now is to: I will take advantage of the fact that I live a block from the beach! (it might not be that much longer) I will work out! (yes that includes strength stuff too) I will stop eating cheesy poofs for dinner! (see here)

Just thought you should know. Incase that's you that's ensuring a 30 minute lull just as I announce that I'm freezing and going to head in.

Sincerely,

JK

Inspiration for the day / year / life: Sofia Mulanovich

I've always been one of those girls who looks up to the boys; wants to do stuff because her guy friends are doing it. But then I was thinking the other day, as I was getting chapped that some skinny wimp was out-paddling me. Why am I looking up to guys like Dane Reynolds & Mick Fanning (yeah, I know - 'cause they're awesome) instead of the many many girls out there who rip harder than I ever will? So in the interests of fairness, I will now compare myself to said plethora of she-rippers. Here we go...

Comparison #1: Sofia Mulanovich

I do nasty cutbacks like this daily (yep, Pillow Point is good to me):

Every now and then I get barreled (see above parenthetical):

But I will never do this:

I'm peeing my pants (wetsuit) when it's 6' out there; dropping into something that size takes balls.

There's one last thing to compare: she's from Peru and the tiny piece of me that thinks I'm Bolivian is screaming "SOUTH AMERICAN PRIDE!" Of course, that part - roughly the size of my pinky toe at this point - is at odds with the Thai / Indo / Santa Cruz connection. Oh identity crisis, you sure make life interesting.

Al Merrick / Channel Islands Demo at El Porto

Today Channel Islands had their demo day at El Porto, so B & I sauntered down to check it out. One thing I love about living at El Porto: not having to plan a surf. As I was saying, we went down to check it out. Here is the CI van that they were working out of:

I tried the Biscuit, measurements: 5'4" x 19 7/8' x 2 3/4" (orange).

CI's description:

" A short and stubby try-fin: the biscuit design was developed with Rob Machado. Like Rob, the Biscuit rides free and easy in the smallest surf and catches waves like boards a foot longer... Everyone should ride this board at least twice."

B tried the Pod, measurements 5'10" x 20 1/4" x 2 1/2" (maroon).

" A requirement in Dane's and Kelly's board bags, the Pod is built to fly, it will position itself into the smallest ramp and allow for a technical launch. Deep concaves with a foiled nose and a swallow tail keep the Pod lively and maintains its high performance. The "snub" nose puts volume forward, allowing for maximum planing and wave catching."

Frankly, I was a way bigger fan of the Pod. It's not like I am doing any of the cool things CI suggests you do with the Pod, but a girl can dream, right? They were both fun boards, but the Biscuit is just so far off from what I normally ride that I'm not sure I can hang. And honestly, I had a really hard time throwing turns on it without losing all my momentum and sinking. The Pod is super fast and really easy to whip around all quickly. They weren't kidding when they said it would fly. If I were to get one (again, a girl can dream) I would go for something way smaller than a 5'10" but it was still really fun to ride.

Also on the plus side: it was a really nice day. Didn't even start out cloudy like it usually does. Look: the rando with the funboard can attest to that.

Ran into a homie from my Santa Cruz days in the lineup. He happens to live down the street.

Finally, I am shamelessly going to post one of my crappy surf pics. My subject will remain anonymous as they will be chapped if they find this. To his/her defense, it is really hard to motivate to take pictures at the beginning of a session. Everyone is too pumped to willingly give up waves and sit on the beach. And on Saturday in LA County, trying to take pics from the water is just ridiculous. Nevertheless, I present to you crappy surf photo # 2000.

Can't we all just get along?

According to this article in the LA Times, the crazy politicians are at it again... Republicans want to start offshore oil drilling in the Santa Barbara Channel (what's new?); Democrats want to tax oil drilled onshore. They're at an impasse (again, what's new?). Reps don't want tax; Dems don't want to fuck up what's left of California. What I want to know is this: Can't we be friends? This state needs some cash-o-la! As the author says:

" The $100-million oil deal might seem like chump change. But it could have saved the parks ($14 million), the program for abused and neglected children ($80 million) and community services for the elderly, including Alzheimer's patients ($4 million)."

Alternative scenarios:

1. Take a long look at what caused the financial mess; get citizens involved and invested in fixing the problems we have caused. Nah, that's too difficult, time consuming, and might cost some folks their jobs (yeah, I'm talking about YOU, Arnie).

2. Go for the easy out. Drill for oil in what remains of California's open space AND charge the fuck out of residents for the privilege. In fact, I am kind of liking the designs crude oil is putting on the deck of my board. It's starting to remind me of da islands, brah.

3. Better yet, let's all abandon our obsession 'modern life.' Let's all grow our own food, ride bikes, and write off communications with anyone further than 50 miles away. I'm sick of sitting in traffic anyways. Oh yeah, that cuts off these places to all but a few of us:

(That's Bells Beach, J Bay & Padang Padang, to be explicit) FAARK! Why is modern life so damn complicated?

WTF?

Let's all take a second to thank Matthew McConaughey for another 'this is really really not ok' moment. Not really sure where to start... Is it the SUPing or the stance? I heard somewhere that the origin of the word 'kook' comes from a Hawaiian word meaning 'to drop a deuce.' Well watch out, wave, or you're gonna get kooked on...

As one wise SC grom's tshirt said: friends don't let friends SUP. Please, celebrity worshipers, there is no need to copy this man. Ever, ever, ever.

Now this, I AM OK with:

If only I could get my own little fuzz into the water. Tossing him in a pool at 12 weeks old (then repeatedly every time the little guy steps onto the beach) probably isn't helping. I'll call it tough love.

Aaaahhhh, there is finally swell! El Salvador aside, this is the first session I had without my wetsuit. Wore B's thermal vest though, which was really helpful. It's amazing how much slipperier and more unstable you are without a wetsuit. B was on the beach taking piccies as he is on crutches, but we didn't get anything good. Well, that's a lie. I got my first awesome sequence. Watch me (looker's left) miss what is probably the wave of the day. Guy on long board is stoked ... for a second.

Oh yeah, then there is this one of me doing a sick "bottom turn." If you can call it that (you can't):

It was tough out there, man (for surfer and photographer alike)! Much more challenging than it looked. It was pretty choppy, really high tide, and the current was going about a mile a minute. Still caught a couple nice lefts though and managed to throw in a couple turns. Plus, about halfway into the session, a pod of dolphins and a random seal swam up; they must have been about 3 ft away. So cool! The swell is supposed to pick up over the next couple days too, so we'll see.

Blue Mondays

Despite partial employment, I seem to be doing Monday sessions only these days. I'm sure July 4th weekend killed some of the motivation as well...

Last Monday. B & I drove down to San O (sorry pup, we had to abandon you for the day), since the 3-4ft S swell was going to miss El Porto completely. It turned out to be a good decision; the water was clean (blue even), waves were relatively glassy, and since the NSSA comp came to a close, the crowds were all at Lowers. We surfed Uppers, which was seeing some pretty big peaks roll through. Considering it is summer, that is. As is my usual steez, I found a spot on the shoulder that picked up rando waves and had the spot virtually to myself. Tried to take pics, but neither B nor I were willing to give up our 1st couple waves to get the job done right. Ah well, next time...

Today. There was some decent-sized swell coming through El Porto this morning/noon, so B & I went out for a couple hours. I took the Dan C out for the first time in ages, and I love that board! It's a workout, but throwing turns on it is SO much more fun. I caught one left and B told me he saw the biggest spray I had ever thrown. I totally nose-dived, belly-flopped, and got the wind knocked out of me, but hearing about the spray made it all worthwhile. B's last wave was pretty sick... He caught an outside set, and managed to make the drop as the wave reformed and a new face came up. It's always so satisfying when you can get that to work.