Life

Dear Reader(s),

More pressing situations have recently conspired to divert my attention away from Horace posts...pressing times we find ourselves in these days. So you may start to see less frequent, more intermittent postings for the near forseeable future...at least until I get things a bit more figured out. I'll still try to post the occasional tidbit here and there, and document stand-out surf sessions when I can fit them in...but I think I'll stop the detailed log of every session, highlights only from here on out...

And a bit of perspective...looking back, 2008 I definitely made my year of surf. I made a lot of progress that year. This year I've stepped back a notch, am not subjecting myself to quite as many early morning slogs to the beach...but I'm thankful and appreciative to have had the opportunity (and dedication!) to it last year. It'll always be an ingrained part of my routine but the single-mindedness I devoted in '08 can't quite be repeated this year. Probably that's a good thing, I was starting to morph a bit too much into this guy. 

And oh yeah, make sure you root for Villanova this weekend. Thanks.

SURF LOG

Session 31 - Wed Mar 25 - 2nd peak

Session 32 - Fri Mar 27 - 2nd peak inside (with dad, surf school in session...he's showing great progress)

Session 33 - Sat Mar 28 - SC Beachy south (again dad, again, more progress, old man is a trooper)

Session 34 - Sun Mar 29 - 2nd peak/38th (with Joel, great offshores, fun waves, plus my favorite girls plus a couple beers waiting for me on our private 38th rock spot) 

Session 30 - Mar 22 - JTY

Wind. There was a lot of it. In spite of it Ramin and I made the quick drive down from SF. I surfed for maybe an hour or so, Ramin was sick so he stayed on land and took photos. I'll post some when/if he gets them up online. That is provided you want to see pictures of a big dude going slow bogging down a 6'4 in the trough of the wave. Because that's my specialty. I do it as well as anybody. 

Madness

My bracket:

My current ranking: Tied for 6th. Along with about 50 other people.

(It's too early to tell)

But dang you VCU and Utah St!! One point losses! I picked you both, upset city baby!!!! Letting me down.

Anyways this first round does not matter at all to me as I went upset crazy and picked Villanova to win it all. So either Villanova wins and I win or Villanova loses and...I lose. Go Nova!

Selin has a bracket too and she is doing quite well I might add -- she knows how to pick 'em!

Update: And if you can't click the picture to make it bigger and actually see my pics...too bad. Just know they're the best picks ever! Go Nova!

Best ever?

I've seen a lot of themed Google logos over the years but this may be my favorite yet. Nice work!

Google celebrates Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar 

Update: Ramin was upset about Hungry Caterpillar doodle on what also just happens to be Persian New Year.  Here you go Ramin, to appease you I had Obama put together a personal message just for you. Happy New Year!

 

Session 29 - Mar 18 - 2nd Peak

Dusted off the kingfish, afternoon/evening surf out front Wednesday. Nice sunny, relaxed day. Surf was clean and conditions were good, quite a few people out there and my preferred 2nd peak combo spot wasn't working so was pretty tight. Still got a few waves but was also doing a lot of watch and learning. 

10

Schralp

Yeah, Sunday surf was good. I didn't surf here, but a lot of people did.  And a lot of them were really, really, good.

Yep, cell phone camera. Again. Fun day. Sorry you can barely see the surfers. Just know that they are schralping. (It is a cell phone camera, ya know)

Session 26, 27, 28

Sat Mar 14 - GWC

Sun Mar 15 - WC

Tues Mar 17 - KAVE

3-for-1! Sort of just a placeholder for now -- maybe you'll get more details later. But then again maybe you won't! Keep you on your toes, Reader(s).

Saturday was messy, Sunday was joyous, and this morning was...kinda scary. (I'll admit it). Foggy, just me and Ramin out there, heavy, building NW swell, dumping. Clean conditions but just a lot of power on those waves. Worst hold-down I've had in a loooong time. Hit the bottom and came up gasping for air, only to take another one on the head. All well worth it though, what point is being alive if you're not living? 

Session 25 - Mar 11 - LM

Met Ramin at 7 at K Ave, but it didn't look that enticing. Freakin' freezing cold and low tide drainers dumping on about 1 foot of water. Unfortunately wasn't really getting hit with swell that much -- what was hitting was just closing out. Probably could've waited and gotten it pretty good for the second hour of the session but patience/pragmatism/forward-looking thinking has never been a strong suit of mine when it comes to finding waves. Anyways we left and drove up the coast and didn't find much better so I wound up at old faithful, making the most of it. As it usually turns out, it wasn't a total wash, it wasn't epic or anything that memorable but whatever it was fun. I caught a few waves that I surfed ok. 

Another sunny morning, once got past putting on that cold wet wetsuit it was all well worth it. 

Posterized

Cool photo sequence. Too bad Blazers lost...

Photos by Bruce Ely/The Oregonian, and taken by me from the Blazers Blog

Session 24 - Mar 9 - Lane

Dropped in on Nat Young today. Well, ok, not really. I didn't drop in on him, he must've picked up the wave I was already on from further inside, somehow. Well, that's what I'm telling myself. (I actually really don't think I burned him) Anyways, nice kid. When my ride ended with the wave closing out on me, all of a sudden I see behind me this kid punting an air. Yep, nat. Don't know where he came from. But still, on the paddle back out I apologized if I was in his way, he was real nice, no problem at all. Good to see. Refreshing. 

Surely beats the guy riding shotgun in the old beater truck that drove by the parking lot as I was putting on my wetsuit and saw it fit to yell "KOOOOOOOOOOK GO HOME" at me. What? Whatever, idiot. 

In his defense I probably did look like a kook, using my board bag as a changing towel. I forgot I didn't have a towel in the car. It happens. What're ya gonna do?

Session 23 - Mar 7 - GWC

Still not a whole lot of cooperation from the surf gods, but at least the weather demons took a break and blessed us with some nice sunny beach weather on Saturday. Met up with Ramin at GWC which was the most protection we could find, and joined a few other guys out there on a semi consistent peak on the north end, off the rocks. All in all it actually turned out pretty fun, nothing spectacular but plenty of little waves and a lot of sun. After Ramin took off I caught a few more and then set up camp on the beach and read my book for the afternoon...not a bad way to spend the day. In case you were wondering, I set up camp in the middle of the beach. Away from the naked dudes on the north end. 

Camera phone picture is from a little hike I took after the session enjoying the rest of the sun. Beautiful day. 

Session 22 - Mar 4 - LM

Snuck out, Joel came and met me in MV, and we went to LM for an afternoon/evening sesh. Surf wasn't spectacular but it wasn't awful either. Worth the trip. Joel being the greedy fishmonger he is hogged the KG and I surfed the 6'8 Taylor. Oh well worked fine, still got plenty of waves. Closeout central up on the north end, true to Joel's prediction, but the south and middle beach were working pretty good. Boat Docks better longboard wave so kind of surfed in between after the closeout section the loggers weren't making. Fun afternoon and good to fit a surf in the week's generally uncooperative conditions. 

Sergey Brin: Professional Bowler

Somebody here at work sent this around this morning. 

Takes me back to a much simpler time...not a worry in the world. Funny how life goes. 

Economic Crisis News of the Day 2

This was sent around by DFisch himself and, I agree, it's worth a read. 

Berkshire Hathaway Annual Letter

"By yearend, investors of all stripes were bloodied and confused, much as if they were small birds that had strayed into a badminton game."

Session 21 - Mar 1 - Swrs

Weather kinda blew all day Sunday, but in the afternoon rain calmed down a bit and I went for a walk outside. It's nice to put on a raincoat and go for a walk sometimes. It reminds me of home. Growing up in Oregon, I used to walk in the rain all the time. I was in the rain so much, that I didn't even own a raincoat. Now, I'm this full-blown Californian and I think I own like 3 raincoats. And it hardly even ever rains. How's that for sensical?

So on my walk I went to one of my favorite places to walk and stand, which is this rock that sticks out in the water a bit between Rockview and little Wind n Sea. I'm not going to tell you where that is exactly because both those spots are firmly entrenched on the 'not-to-be-mentioned-on-the-world-wide-webs' category of surf-spots, but if you know them, you knew them already, and you already know where they are, and you'll know where this spot I was standing is. Anyways I went and stood there in the rain and wind and watched a lot of good waves come through. There were 2 dudes on longboards catching lefts and a few out at RV catching rights. I watched the lefts with much more attention. They were better waves anyways.

I wound up standing there and watching for so long that by the time I went back home, changed into my wetsuit, and went back outside the wind was howling out of control and the ocean looked like a completely different place. The guys on longboards who had been catching lefts were gone. So I wound up going to the best looking spot I could find which only had a few guys on it and tried to catch some of those drainers best I could. I caught a couple and didn't catch a lot. Wave really jacks up and pitches over right at that spot, is a lot of fun if you can handle it right. It was also fun because making the drop was more or less blind as the wind was blowing the entire top off the wave face so all it was a massive blast of spray as you're trying to line up your drop. So, just point and shoot and hope for the best. 

All in all I shouldn't have stood on that rock so long and should've got some of those hollow lefts I saw. But at least I got something which is more than can probably be said for most on this particular rainy stormy Sunday. 

Yep, good to live on the beach. Bad to own 3 raincoats. My employer, in the good 'ol days, used to give them away quite often. 

Hey, there's a rainbow right outside my window. Cool!

Economic Crisis news of the day

(Well, actually a few days ago)

Start Up the Risk-Takers

I agree.

Session 19, 20 - Feb 28 - SC Beachy

Surprisingly sunny day, surprisingly fun surf...nothing earth-shattering but nice to get out and have some fun in a very sparse crowd. Session one (the better of the two) was around noonish o'clock, session two around dark o'clock, both 6'2 KG.

Session #2 I dragged the GF along with me to sit on the beach and be oh-so-impressed by the surfing prowess of her man. Naturally, I proceeded to kook out on every makeable wave that came my way. 

Hey, it was low tide. Waves were really fast, closing out real quick. I surfed 'em as good as anybody could've. Nevermind the young dude out there with me managing to catch some nice long rides and even an occasional cuttie every now and again. He must've been using some crazy new shape or something. I was on the wrong board. Should've taken the 6'6. Definitely the wrong board. Should probably have surfed down the beach a bit further anyways. Would've killed it over there. Definitely. Killed it. Skills. 

(who am I kidding, Selin was reading US Weekly. She's never been one to be impressed by my amazing surf skills. Or lack thereof. Good thing)

Pretty sunsets this weekend.