Soup of the Day

"the best part of surfing is talking about it afterwards" gerry lopez

missed opp

i missed every ounce of this swell. it hurts just thinking about it. but, when you gotta move, 

you gotta move. this i know is true.

Leap

A waveless, unlit morning - - - good excuse to explore

Soup of the day

Another spot

So, I think the recipe goes a bit like this: 

   1 part searching

   1 part watching

   1 part riding

   1 part knowing

New spot added to the list, the right direction,
and another wind angle.
...loving it all....

Alaia progress

Sanded out

Logo burn

Small n Fun

Last bit

Spring swell

 Fun waves for yesterdays morning session, and it looks like its gonna keep coming.....

Sprummer

 Oh, how sweet it is to feel a warm breeze again. 

Swell continues to veil itself on a regular basis. 

Instead, we run by the sea today,
 and enjoy the toasty sun on our backs....

 Search for wildflowers growing on sparse ground.......

Leap from smooth boulders, and play....
like children...

Contradictions

Alaia update

I started the idea of shaping an Alaia last year, and stalled during the search for paulownia wood. I opted for shaping a hand plane out of cedar, which proved to be a great material all around. Its less expensive, and if you can find the clear stuff, without knots, it planes like butta.

My hand plane came out symmetrical, though it is an entirely different shape than everyone else is using. Its more of a down the line Gerry Lopez style from the 70s, rather than the fat, stubby shapeless models of today. I have doubts, but who knows. It was a good learning platform.

The Alaia fell along the same during design process. Take a few pictures, a few dimensions, and wing the rest.

1. Draw a grid on masonite board. 6 inch squares.

2. Measure out and grid off a picture or drawing of an alaia shape.

3. Plot in out as a half model on the masonite board, trace over to your blank. Half at a time using the   

    centerline on the blank.

4. Cut it out, and shape away.

So far, a have a rough shape going, some work left in the nose, and the right rail needs to look like the left.

In the future, the critical path for shaping will be: shape the bottom rail first since it has the most work, and then shape the deck down to that point. I worked them at the same time, not good....

Tube ride

Things that make me smile

I need another bus...soon. There is a shop in San Diego that rents V dub campers, older and newer westies. They are ready for surfari through SoCal, and you can even bring them up to San Fran on a one way trip. Option 2 is to just buy one out there, in the land of the VW, and road trip it back. The wheels are turning.

My 79 westy at San Onofre - good living.

               

Somewhere

Walkin

Some daze are better than other daze

I guess you could say the surf gods owed us one after this winter. Down south it was waist to chest high, glassy, and oh so perfect this afternoon.  3 hours of ride after glassy ride....rubber arms and a happy brain.

One more

Another 60

Flying shoes

The first 60

"Photo Commuting"

Ground on down

A slice of tropical paradise this afternoon

Uruguay to Patagonia 2011 photos

Backpacking from Montevideo to Santiago, via the Argentinian Andes and Chilean Patagonia.
All via Bus, Ferry, Horseback, Foot and 4 wheel drive.


https://picasaweb.google.com/116418287673419740212/UruguayToPatagonia2011

Lean on love for a minute....

Finally some decent swell arrives.
A proper nor'easter. All joy fades as my dress shoes start to freeze on the snowy beach. Empty barrels will pound without me today, it's a mandatory work day....

Waterman

Soup of the Day

" I need the sea because it teaches me.
I don't know if I learn music or awareness,
    if it's a single wave or its vast existence,
            or only its harsh voice or its shining suggestion of fishes and ships.
The fact is that until I fall asleep,
        in some magnetic way I move in the university of the waves."

Pablo Neruda, The Sea

Untitled

What do you say....? few and far between, several hours of cove checking and not a soul in the water, the last stop north produced a few little peelers. Offshore winds were screaming, like really screaming. As I was walking down to the water, a guy was coming out of the parking lot, set his fish shape down in the sand. The wind lifted it up, bounced it a few times, and about 50 yards later, left it at the waters edge.

We ain't in kansas anymore toto....

Reduce, Reuse, Recreate

It's good all around. Clean ur beach and build something....

Daydreamer

Uruguay to Chile

Catching up on my Uruguay to Patagonia backpacking trip photos from last year. A few black and whites...