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