Post Thanksgiving San O'

Nose Riding the post turkey, pie, stuffing

Cut Backs

Cut back 2.0

Take off

Hang 5

Out of the city run off zone (it's our story and were sticking to it) San O' was clean and fun this morning.

We surfed today anyway

Yes I was up last night with the rain thinking about how we would be sitting around today and playing xbox, eating junk and enventually getting bored and grouchy. But this morning we woke up with no wind, fairly clear skies and waves!

Cardiff this morning around 7am. Below is the surfshot pic.

I got crappy pictures but it was firing! Lucas got a wave way over his head and I slid right on some freight trains!

Above is a marginal shot of Lucas. We hit it just right. When we got there the wind was slightly offshore and the tide was high. The wind made the waves look perfect and there were some solid overhead sets. The tide kept the run off at bay (or in bay). Right around 10am the wind started to change and you could smell the lagoon comming back.

Lucas got his first Hang Ten today! I didn't see it but pics of the next attempt are comming.

You can see the wind in the backround starting to go the wrong way.

So after the whole thing last night about not surfing in the rain only surf in the rain in a third world country it had me thinking this morning. What do I do in Mexico that keeps me from getting sick. Cipro Baby! Good for a terrorist Anthrax attack and surfing in foreign surf countries. I still had some from my last Mexico trip.

Christie looked at me this morning like go surfing and have fun but if you get sick I will not be a happy person! Then I went to Henry's and got the Vitamin B12 shot from the hippy ND doctor. Oh yes!

Stay with me

So it's raining hard now outside and I can't sleep. My surfing blog has officially left the reservation. But you will like Stan Getz. This is the first music video I remember seeing in Miss Tylers Music class circa 1968

The Best Laid Plans

I used to surf a place called Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz. There was an open sewer and it was aptly called 'Sewer Peak'. We surfed it all day long. We surfed in the rain, after the rain, before the rain. Now we only surf in the rain in Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador et.al. Someone help me with the logic!

Now we are stuck. What to do. I laid out the whole surfing Thanksgiving plan. Well, you have two choices. Go through the plan. It is a 'Surfing Stimulus Package'. Bank the effort during the holiday so you can surf the next swell. When it comes you just say "I am going Surfing" case closed.

Don't worry I bought the pic.

Or another option is from my favorite blog. Read everything you will need to demand from your family during the holidays.

http://cajunboyinthecity.blogspot.com/search/label/kate%20kershner

Joel Tudor V SUP

Joel Tudor is the ultimate stylist.

Chris sent out an email about a needed stylist and infered that Ed look into a position as a hedge in this economy.

It made me think of the Lucas story from this morning. I dropped him off early at Cardif. There was only a few guys out. One was Joel Tudor. Then the SUP/Sweepers came out. One started to take all the waves and would call Lucas off the wave even if Lucas was going left and the SUP guy was going right.

Joel Tudor- "Cut off the SUP next time"

Lucas-"are you sure"

Joel Tudor-"they are kook's"

Lucas (apprehensive) - "OK"

So Tudor and Lucas started to cut them off and they left. It made me wonder why they would be intimadated by a grom and a skinny longboarder. But wait, Joel Tudor is a word rated Jiu Jitsue dude. Great way to clear the water of those guys! I like the idea that Tudor is a good guy to groms. It makes me feel better about surfing and dropping my kid off at Cardif.


Future stylemaster

10,000 hour rule or how I quit swim team with fancy author logic

So Malcom Gladwell's (Tipping Point, Blink) new book came out telling us that to master something you need to spend 10,000 hours doing it to become great.

He used examples of great atheletes, musicians and scientists. To really get somewhere you need to put in 10k hours. Lucas only had about 5 hours a week to put in over a year. He was swimming and trying hard. However, Lucas was not self actualizing in swim team. I did the swim team thing and was pretty good. My dreams of my son taking the torch and becoming the next Michael Phelps? oh well....


You. Can't. Compare. Swimming. To. A. Good. Day. Surfing.

I guess if I could have surfed as well as Lucas when I was 13 I wouldn't have been so happy posing in my bikini in 9th grade.









Here is the last good wave of Autum for Lucas. Our next contest is December 13 at Moonlight.

December Big Wave Dilemma

Go ahead click on the picture.

This is Big Swami's from one of the 'Big Wednesday' days. I know what your thinking......If it wasn't so crowded I would go out and charge it!

With December around the corner I am thinking when 'Big Wednesday' comes I pull on the 3x and wax up my 9-0 and go at it!

I have some fantasy I can still surf big waves. Hey 30 years ago I surfed big Santa Cruz. (Let me revisit the math... yes.... 30 years ago I could surf big waves.) So, why do I think I can still surf triple overhead monsters?

I don't know but I like thinking I can.

Bad day at Blacks

I thought more about Saturday

David sent me more pics. This brings me back to reality.

We remember good days like they were the best day ever in the history of surfing.

And it was glassy with a bit of swell.

I seemed to have forgot that it was crowded! What is with the crowd. Back paddling, cutting you off or me off.

Who am I kidding the crowd, and all it was great.

Sunday - Good from Far, Far from Good

But Saturday was so good! Come on! Criminal I tell you!
This is an ongoing problem.
(Read- Don't leave good waves for better waves)
(See also - Don't go in early when the waves are good to get it tomorrow)



Here is Kirk and Paul getting ready with me. We assured Paul that it got good fast yesterday as the tide turned.



It was sunny, glassy, warm and uncrowded. With the conditions so good it was hard to put together the fact that it just was not working today. But it just closed out. Like the hot cheerleader in your freshman French class who smiles at you, it just was a smile.

The good news was that I surfed yesterday until I was scared of the stairs. And, yesterday was good.

But, I won't complain. You still feel better if you got wet.

Mid Day High Tide Paradox

What is the answer to a 7.3 High Tide at 10am?

C (2 cups of coffee) + T (80 degree temperature) x Saturday + S (WSW Swell building) - 7.3 High Tide in the middle of your day/ Your Age (49.9)+ It's Saturday!=

You. Have. To. Wait. Till. The. Afternoon.

I talked with various people including Anne, Kirk and Guy on how they were able to deal with the waiting. There is no good way to do it. Chores go quickly. I was done with the garden and pool just about the time the tide hit high. But I did wait and it was worth it.

14 Years Ago I could surf better than Ed............Really (2.0 )


The stlyemaster Chris. He absolutely killed it in Mexico.





I am trying to get credit for head high. Nah

Here is some guy David gray got a shot of preserving the integrity of the old fat guys surfing well!

Lucas has Soul

Looking good on the cross step to the nose. We used to call style soul surfing when I was a kid. Lucas unfortunately inherited my lack of grace. But, put him on a longboard and he is a style master!

He has no interest in shortboarding. He likes the aesthetics of longboarding and looks quite good.

I was thinking about Logan and Saturdays

Logan is someone who is in constant motion. I always had a hard time with him when he was really young. What do you do with all that energy?

As someone who really wanted them to have 7 nannies until they could drive, I got lucky when they got into surfing.

Here is Logan burning up his Saturday angst!

As Father of the year I thought he was off school on Monday. He wasn't. The water was dirty and he just about drove us nuts. But he was quickly forgiven when he brought home an A on his Social Studies paper!

Logan's Run

Logan started to go to the skatepark after school last year. I was not that excited about it after he broke his wrist a couple of years ago but he wanted to skate so here he is. It is a great work out for a kid and he came home tired and worked out hard. All of the sudden he started to skate the pools. We skated pools when I was a kid, but we started out from the bottom of the pool and only would go to about 4 or 5 feet up. 9 feet is pretty cool!

Before the storm

Lucas Noseriding

Cross footing is the coolest part of longboarding and Lucas has broken the code of cross stepping. It puts the art and style in the sport of longboarding. I can't cross foot. Is he better than me? Uh Oh

Here is Logan on a re-entry floater on a head high wave for him. Next year will be his year.

All dressed up with no where to go

Hale and Lucas got up early. They spent last night rewaxing surfboards and talking heat strategy. We were ready for 5:30am departure. Then we got the email:

Offical email from ISF

isfsurfteams@aol.com to me show details 5:12 AM (6 hours ago) Reply

Please note the contest is canceled today due to weather and unsafe conditions. thank you, Carolyn.

INTERSCHOLASTIC SURFING FEDERATION6774 Camino Del Prado, Carlsbad, CA 92011760-476-1694 http://www.isfsurfing.org/

It rained like crazy last night so the water was dirty and unsafe.

Here is what Ocean Beach looked like from surf shot.

But you know groms, they were still begging to surf this morning so I drove down to Ponto about 7am to show them it looked like 'Victory at Sea'. Now I just have to keep them occupied without going stir crazy the rest of the day.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

We are heading back to Avalanche Jetty for the ISF Middle School Contest. There is a new swell forecasted about the time Lucas will be paddling out. Maybe back to the scene of the crime from the last contest when the waves were a bit 'punchy'. Time to shake it off, get back in the game, go back on the horse and all other corny sayings. Your team is number one time to step up to the plate and go at it guys!

Meanwhile at Grandview

David sent me this picture of Ed answering the age old question...Was that wave over my head?!!

I received the latest David Gray pictures while here in Minnesota. Check out the dead eel. He is ugly.

Here is Bob Rogers from last summer. He started surfing in his 40's to be able to hang out with his kids. Pretty cool we thought. We would give him waves and encourage him. Then just like a grom he started surfing well and taking lots of waves. All of the sudden we have another wave magnet. Sorry Bob no more free waves!!!