It's not whether you win or lose IT"S ALL ABOUT THE HARDWARE!!!!

In the biggest event of the IFS season with 300 surfers and 11 teams, Lucas places 3rd.
Ed told me to medicate myself to not be such a stage mom. To no avail of course. I was absolutely crazy and pumped up.






Lucas 'History teacher and coach Mr. Schockney posed with hardware!

The Diegueno Team stays undefeated!

Here is his brother Logan getting him psyched up for the Final.
Lucas spent the last two weeks working closely with Erik Baldwin. He took quickly to Erik Coaching him and was able to ramp up his surfing. Harder turns and better nose rides = glory and fun.
A good vetting process for your surf coach is how high he can go! David Gray captures Erik's skills.



Erik told Lucas that this is just the begining. He expects more excitement moving forward!

Not a Cold Water Enthusiast

Bobby Jindal V Mr. Rogers

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Bobby Jindal's Republican Response

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Is he the new Sarah Palin of fun

Not only is he Mr. Rogers and Kenneth, but can perform Exorcisms in his spare time.

From CBIC

Ok I will let it go but his creepy demeaner has inspired me to dig up all kinds of fun stuff on him including him making up his claim on working with the sheriff to let unregistered boats go save people during Katrina.

Bobby Jindal V Kenneth

This is too funny to let go of my latest obsession with Govener Jindal

Advantage Gained

A cutback is a learned skill.












Lucas is venturing into headhigh waves with some encouragement from his coach Erik Yes, Erik can absolutely kill it on a longboard!


ADVANTAGE - noun
1. A beneficial factor or combination of factors.
2. Benefit or profit; gain: It is to your advantage to invest wisely.
3. A relatively favorable position; superiority of means: A better education gave us the advantage.
4. Sports
a. The first point scored in tennis after deuce.
b. The resulting score.

As opposed to

CHEATING -Verb.
1. To deceive by trickery; swindle: cheated customers by overcharging them for purchases.
2. To deprive by trickery; defraud: cheated them of their land.
3. To mislead; fool: illusions that cheat the eye.
4. To elude; escape: cheat death.
v.intr.
1. To act dishonestly; practice fraud.
2. To violate rules deliberately, as in a game: was accused of cheating at cards.
3. Informal To be sexually unfaithful: cheat on a spouse.

ISF Contest on Saturday. Erik Balwin has been working with Lucas.

I was a bit worried....was this cheating...unfair or am I too much of a stage mom

The wide ear to ear grins as my kid gets out of the water tells the story! Confidence buit and new skill sets seem to be coming faster than we expected. Then as all surfers at some point there is a play by play on how hard he was ripping........17 times last night.

Teahupoo has more Teeth then we knew

Another reason I won't be able to surf Teahupoo right now

From Tahiti Press
A tiger shark weighing in at 1.3 tons was accidentally caught at Teahupoo in Tahiti. The renowned wave has been surfed by many visiting, and local, pro surfers over the years, and hosts the Billabong Pro Tahiti, an ASP World Tour event.

Last Thursday, two local brothers, Didier and Grard Parker, had been catching the Crown of Thorn starfish with fish nets, ridding the reef of the invasive species. As they pulled up one of their nets it became obvious there was something tangled in it bigger than a starfish, at first they thought it was a swordfish, but to their surprise it was a massive tiger shark. The shark had already drowned and was no threat.

It had always been rumored that a big tiger lived around Teahupoo, and now that rumored has been confirmed. The wave breaks about a quarter mile out from the beach, and although some surfers take boats to the spot, there are many that make the paddle. Now, they may have something else on their mind besides scoring perfect barrels as they paddle out.

Bobby Jindal quick drive by politics

So Slater took the first wave of the set, then this guy had to follow.....................

Kook (Websters)
Pronunciation : \ˈkük\
Function: noun
Etymology: by shortening & alteration from cuckoo
: one whose ideas or actions are eccentric, fantastic, or insane : screwball

Urban Dictionary

kook (also kuk) - 1. a surfing beginner 2. someone who gets in the way or into trouble because of ignorance or inexperience (see dork, geek) 2. someone who pretends to be something they're not. 3. a completely awkward or bad surfer (highly derogatory)

I don't think he's Bush bad, but maybe he needs a new advisor. Who told him to follow up after Obama tonight without listening to the speech.

Bobby who is the GOP's great ethnic hope claims that they 'fixed' the Katrina problem with good old Americans and not big government. He forgot to count the $175 Billion in aid the Federal Government has given to help them so far.

Not to get all political, but it was painful watching his response to the Presidents speech today.

Surfing in Kerry

I received this courtesy of Micheal from Glenbiegh Ireland.

He said the water is 5C let's see that is...........here is the math

C (At some point when I was a kid we were all going to go metric) x 1.8 (seems random) plus 32 degrees = You, Have. to. Be. Kidding. Me.!

Micheal thinks I am a wimp for complaining about our temps. And they drink Murphys not Guinness in County Kerry.


But after watching this wave I would surf this and not complain!

Today was Cold, Dark and Bitter

Just as I prefer my Beer.

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."
Albert Camus (1913 - 1960)

Swell Scan

I'm trying to resist looking at forecasts but this guy has been spot on for a long time. He forecasts for Wetsand and has his own blog Swell Scan

The latest looks encouraging.

Walk Don't Run

Japan looks better but this sounds better

Change We Can Believe In

I recieved several emails over the bailout stories I posted. Evidently some people in the Netherlands are not happy. (They emailed me not happy about the state of our economy????) me?) They must think I am
A)Serious
B)Know what I am talking about
C)Have some link to the powers that be in our country
D)Support Bush (NOOOOOO)
Believe me I am a surfer and have no clue. But here are my rambling thoughts on the economy.

Considering that our new president unwinds by body surfing and our new Secretary of the Treasury spends his free time surfing (in Cape Cod), I am encourged. (Yes Netherland brothers this is how I assess the state of our economy. We have surfers it must be good!)

Then I saw the Frontline peice on the Meltdown. Frankenstien AKAPaulsen is all you think he is and less. Holy dollar bill Batman! This is scary!

Watch the entire Frontline piece here

This morning however I was driving by 'The Longboard Grotto' and it was closed. Now this isn't news . It had been closing for a long time and now sits vacant like a reminder of the ghosts of economy past. In our backyard it made the problems uncomfortably close.
It's not like I was a giant fan of the Grotto. They had the customer service levels of the early 70's when the surf shop workers treated you like crap. I apologetically bought new boards twice. I always felt like I was 12 years old at Tower Records worried if the minimum wage clerk would think my record purchase was cool enough for them.

So what can we do as responsible surfers? A new board of course! My personal input to the economic stimulas package. Surfy Surfy has these Bonzers.
I always wanted or thought I could surf pretty well on one of these boards. This site is like crack to new surfboard dreamers.

From Surfy Surfy

Rule #19 Never Bail Your Board, Never Ever Ever Bail Your Board

Ok...Yes I have bailed my board...

many times.

Not in the GOP Congress way (finding Jesus and not wanted to approve Obama's stimulus after they spent a fortune on the war), but when it is big enough you just let go.

But I contradict myself. Let me revisit the Etiquette page telling me not to let go of my board.

go ahead and click to read
But I am sticking with the rule. Realistically I am out surfing 3 foot Leucadia most of the time. The last swell we had it was reaching head high and as I was paddling out this wave breaks in front of the guy in who was right in front of me. He doesn't look back or assess the wave he just lets go. I didn't say anything. I swallowed my anger and just paddled away warning others of the impending danger if you end up behind him.

There are situations where there is no hope.

However I want to hold on to something that floats when it gets bigger. Like having Krugerrands while the Dow goes over the falls at Teahupoo.

My Juinor High School friend Derrick Dorner said in his interview about whether to bail or hold your board at big Sunset..."Hold on even when the west peak sneaks in. The part of your board that survives the impact might be what keeps you alive"

As the economy goes further down think hard about this rule.

Bailout Plan

Are there some TARP funds available for this ?

Bangolore and Point Conception

Check out Bangalore Here

Sometime back around college I was invited to a party in Los Angeles. The theme was Cha-Cha music. There was an old house in Westwood with about 100 people dressed in theme. The girls had on the big platform heels and wild spainish dresses. Some of the guys were dressed in the

torero gear. In the living room was an old stereo with over one thousand 45's. (the old record singles vinyl). They played all this cool music. People were doing the tango and having a great time.

About midnight they broke out the surf music instrumentals. I had never known or really liked surf music until that moment. About 11 Negro Modelos in with this strange party the music just fit. Now I am a surf music guy.




The Surf Raiders

Wild Weekend.... not so much, Fun Weekend ...yes!

As always my timing is perfect. I found out that there is no long weekend for my work about ten minutes ago. I have a 6am conference call... ouch!

I once worked for a company steeped in Irish Catholicism and we had everything that looked like a holiday off. Possibly it was some guilt built on years on Catholic Mothering. (I have a jewish mother it is the same thing) But I was a true follower and soldier making sure to follow the company line and take those pesky holidays off.

But wild weekend fantasy aside, the boys showed up today and wanted to surf. I am an easy mark and we had some fun afternoon waves at Pipes.

On the whole wild glutton weekend thing, it has to be put off till the next time. As reality calls quickly like cold water to your face I give in to the will of commerce and normalcy.

No complaints on the regular weekend in that I surfed 3 plus hours on Saturday and twice today once with kids. Also, I might have found a surf coach for Lucas. Eric the new best surfer at the wall is a coach to kids and might be able to take my kid. The end of the ISF season looms near and I hope it works out bringing Lucas through the end of the season.

Wild Bachelor Weekend

Yes I know it looked bad when I went out this morning.

I really didn't think there would be any surf, but it was glassy if not junky this morning so I paddled out anyway. Thinking this might be my only shot before the oncoming storm, I went out and surfed by myself. After about 30 minutes the whole crew showed up. And surprise the waves were fun. It was a great surf this morning.

I was looking forward to a weekend by myself.

Right here in the middle I ponder the long weekend with no one around. Don't get the wrong impression, I am looking forward to having a weekend with no responsibilities.

Here is the score:

Wife- At wedding in the Northwest
Daughter 1- At wedding in the Northwest
Daughter 2- At Youth and Government in Sacto
Son 1- At friends house
Son 2- At his Mom's house

What do you do on such a long weekend alone.

Perception




Vrs. Reality



So I have several choices of things to do to include but not limited to:
XBOX, Full Season 3 of 24, Junk Food, Naps, Seeing my parents, developing a new play list for my ipod, more junk food and a nap.

But,now that it was fun surfing today. My whole plan becomes more complex. I now have too much to do. I have to admit right now my real problem. I broke out my kids xbox and put in this game. Just like Coca Cola, chocolate and snazzy tequila drinks I am hooked. Like a junky I can't.put.down.the.controller.

Maybe I need the real world of kids, job and wife back to keep me on some track of sanity. This schedule free weekend has been busy so far and it's only Saturday night. The surfing thing, various junk foods have to be bought. There is the taped tv shows I need to watch and now I have this addictive xbox game.

But, as I pick up my controller and go 'once more back into the breech' .

I better set my alarm.....after all I have a busy day tomorrow.

Why didn't my people find the promised land.....in FIJI!

No, thank you I can't make it in this lifetime
I found this article in Surline:

In pictures: Surfing for peace

A Palestinian porter pushes surfboards past the security gates of the Erez Crossing, in the Gaza Strip. The boards have been donated to Palestinian youths by an elderly American surfer.

Dorian Paskowitz, 86, from Hawaii, handed over some of the surfboards himself. The retired Jewish doctor hopes a love of surfing will help bring Israelis and Palestinians together.



The beach is one of the few places Gazans can relax. However, it is closely monitored by the Israeli military which controls the sea off Gaza's coast and the airspace above.

Several Israeli companies and donors also contributed to the donation of 12 surfboards. The gesture is part of the wider "Surfing for Peace" movement.

Gaza's surfing community is small. Dr Paskowitz said he was spurred into action after reading about two surfers in Gaza who only had one board to share between them.

Reading this from the comfort of my couch I have several thoughts. First and foremost why couldn't we have settled in Fiji? We wouldn't have bothered the Fijians. I would have been first in line to join the Israel Military and guard the important islands of Namotu and Tavarua against the dangers of sea turtles.

Second.. This Paskowitz guy lost his mind years ago. If you happened to watch the movie Surfwise about him and his 9 kids living in a camper, you saw that growing up surfing could be miserable. Then going anywhere near Hamas with surfboards?

Third ...The guys in the SL8R shirts are classic.

Fourth....I was going to post my complaints about the storm and the long weekend, but I was sobered after watching the news this morning. Both sides in this 2,000 year war are shooting missiles at each other again after the ceasefire.

We are lucky to live where our biggest surf issue is the rain. I went to a retirement party for a fancy exec at my wifes company a few weeks back. He was a Viet Nam Vet who went right into the thick of things. When people would come to him with their work problems he had a saying that rings true " Life is good! No one is shooting bullets at you"

“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore”

Ocean Beach San Francisco

Vincent Van Gogh famous schizophrenic must have been talking about needing to paddle out during our northwest wind swells.

I was watching a couple of guys trying to paddle out at Cardiff this morning. After no surf for so many rainy days you can't keep us from the water. I was reminded of the paddle out at Ocean beach in San Francisco.

The average paddle out was about 45 minutes when it was this big and you could travel up to a mile up or down the beach depending on which way the tide was pushing the water in or out of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Not only was it cold and big but it was heavily localized. The scariest crew back in the late 70's were the dreaded 'KNEE MEANIES'

Yes, I kid you not these guys were like a splinter group from the other unhappy locals. There were four guys who kneeboarded. That was weird enough but they all had crew cuts and drove around in a 64' dodge dart. They wore those coats like they were in some paramilitary Ruby Ridge thing. And for reasons unkown to us they always loved to hassel us.

But, I respected the Knee Meanies. They were so out there you had to love their commintment. Like Van Gogh, they were about one missed dose of Haldol away from giving an ear to some unsuspecting girl.

Yet as always I degress. Tomorrow we hope it cleans up and we can surf. The last sunny day before the storm and I plan to not go gently into the night.

Oydesseus dilemma Saturday post rain

The rain stopped and here I am tied to the mast trying to figure out how to deal with this look at the waves after the rain.

Here is the math:
B+ (sick for the last 3 days)/N( no surfing for 3 days) x S (sunny)/ G (Glassy and good)- X (Is the water at diphtheria level or just hazmat level)+ xw (It is going to rain again soon)+L (Ed's post on the good wave score today)
= Why. Did. I. Not. Go. Surfing!

I had the whole Odysseus thing going today. I did not want to see it because I knew it would make me want to go surfing, but I couldn't stop myself.

Sailing around high on Lotus going to hell and everything, Odysseus was having a bad time and really wanted to hear the siren song. It was said to be so beautiful it is hard to resist. But, when you hear it bad things happen. You might jump into the sea (not so bad), or have your skin and bones melt (bad) etc. .

But, Odysseus is 10 years in plus the whole Trojan war thing gives him about 20 years on this trip. Penelope is pissed off and he needs some type of action. So like all of us when we are at work or have other non surfing obligations when the waves are good, we tie ourselves to the mast and enjoy the song.

You can't help but see Kirk Douglas (with apologies to my 10th grade english teacher )



There are some parallels to surfing in his story. You have to question if Homer surfed. We all want to hang out on the Island of the Lotus-Eaters (with a good right point ) and hear some good music.


Tomorrow I will hear the song again, but this time I'm bringing my wetsuit.

Till then I will try to forgive Ed and David for getting it all time today in the Leucadia Project Post

Skateboarding, Surfing and the Emergency Room

Did I tell you I hate skateboarding? It is a complicated relationship with skateboarding so let me try to explain.

When I lived in Venice as a mini grom the waves were terrible. But as chronicled in the Z Boys movie my friends created an industry. We skated to do something when there wasn't surf.

YMCA Skate park after school skate for Logan

My first trip to the ER from skating was when my sister broke her arm trying to skate down a hill. She was a regular part of the Z Boys crew and we spent a good part of a Saturday when I was about 11 in the ER.

Next was me falling on a half pipe in 1978. The helmets were worthless. I was unconscious and woke up to start a fight which I was able to compliment my concussion with a set of stitches and lost memory for three days.





Here is Logan getting some air.

Logan was the third trip to the ER. He came home a few years ago complaining about some pain in his arm after falling skating. Of course I told him he was fine and if it was broke it would hurt a lot worse.

The next morning we went down to surf at Avo's. Logan did not want to surf because his arm was hurting. Bob Rogers was there. Bob looked at his arm and then looked at me "get him to the Emergency Room...NOW!" Now you guys that know Bob is not one for yelling or getting visibly upset very often. I figured out pretty fast that his arm was broken. The adrenaline hit and I went flying to the ER. I must have ran 3 red lights with Bob's 'get him to the ER' in my head. The nurses and Radiology tech looked at me like ...you couldn't tell that this was broke? Sure enough Logan had his wrist broken in two places. Father of the year award goes to ...

Last year right before summer started. Logan comes running in. "Lucas is hurt!"
We get in the car and find him on the ground down the hill. His face is bloody.

He went down the hill on a skateboard with no helmet falling and putting us in the ER from 6pm and getting home at 2am. Slight Concussion.

Here is the last of the sequence.

But they come back to me and say 'we want to skate Dad..It is like surfing' So what can I do? There not asking to smoke crack or go to Star Trek conventions.

I am a sucker. I make sure they wear their helmets and let them skate. And every once in a while I will watch from the side and think....that looks fun.