Rememberance of Things Past

Pleasure Point 2010

"this unremembered state which brought with it no logical proof of its existence, but only the sense that it was a happy" This is my man Proust

About 35 years ago I was a kid surfing Pleasure Point. It was fun and all I can think of are the good times we had there. It had me thinking of a young Marcel, drinking some tea his mom brought to him in his made up town of Combray. Now Proust spent his whole life living with mom and was openly gay although not sucessfully gay. He was sick most of his life but wrote beautifully. I couldn't read it in French only English but still cool.

Anyway he completely trips out on the tea. The tea as he drinks it brings some reality to his exitance and memory. Although it gets weaker ever time he drinks it. He tries to hold the memory and make it real but the tea becomes weaker as he tries. All he can reason is that his sense of memory is happiness.

Well I won't prented to understand Marcel, but I did like reading it. Like a good song that you couldn't really get the lyrics to.

But, I went back to Pleasure Point this summer and surfed it with about five of my friends and my youngest son.

It was awesome. We had it on a small day so there really wasn't any crowd. Just us remembering fun times and trying to hold on to memories that were just out of reach. The more we tried to look backwards, we realized that we had this incredible day together. My Kid was stoked and ripping. We planned this reunion for about a month and brought together a good crew of the my freinds growing up. We laughed surfed, came in and surfed again. And like Marcel, we couldn't put a hard reality to what it was that was good all we knew was that we were happy.

The First Rule of Fight Club

FREINDS DON'T LET FREINDS SURF GRANDVIEW

I saw this on a bumper sticker today. I wanted to get a picture but missed it.

This one I have mixed feeling about. After surfing here for fifteen years we have seen an influx of crowds. From Main Peak to The Wall to Roundhouse the crowd seems to follow.

Do we do the localism thing and pretend that we have a secret spot? Or do we wave the white flag. Grandview is on the Surfline Camera in High Definition. The secret is out. The war is over and the only thing keeping us from complete crowd frenzy is the limit of the parking lot.

Ceremony

Compare and contrast, Joy Division's classic Ceremony

Radio Head Cover


New Order


Joy Division


Ok, if you are a purest you go for the Joy Division version. If you are from my college years you go with New Order, but really, the best version is the Radio Head cover. It is interesting and real. Joy Division was stoned, and had the Nazi thing going with their name. New order was all synthetic. Radio Head nailed it.

No Country for Old Men

My Valentines day gift from my wife was 'go surfing!'

In a cruel irony of events, my spot Grandview was about two feet too big to ride. But with the sun out and a free pass I had to paddle out.

On my way down the stairs I was greeted by four snapped surfboards! I got out got a wave and then paddling back out on Lucas' board I was met by a monster set. Then you are forced with the question of trying to paddle out and make it through before it breaks or do you let the wave break then duck dive. This is me trying to remember Bonga Perkins interview on Duck Diving big waves with a longboard. If you duck dive and the wave hits the back of the board you will paddle in with two boards.

Like the algebra problem you try to calculate when a piece of ice get stuck in your throat, I tried to figure it out, only to have the set break in front of me. I went under and did a few flips holding on to the board for dear life when I noticed that I forgot to take a breath before I went under.

It was time to go home. Do I feel defeated...no. As always, it is always better to paddle out even when all you have is a war story.

From Incenced to Outraged to Perplexed in 3 minutes

I can still count on Logan, he hasn't abandoned me.

So I am picking up Logan from Swamis a few days ago and ran into some of the High School Team.

Stage 1 INCENCED

SDA Team kids - "Why isn't Lucas surfing in the ISF contest this weekend, I can't believe they didn't put him on the roster!" They are beside themselves thinking that he has been taken off or lost his slot in the team roster. Anger, and teenage angst ensue.

Me - "He has to go to to a debate tournament this weekend"

He got his invite to the Stanford University Invitational cool stuff for debate nerds. It is a national tournament with a bid for the Tournament of Champions and if Lucas does well he can get a partial scholarship for debate camp this summer ( a whole other story ).


Stage 2 OUTRAGE

SDA Team kids - "Your kidding us! You have always been cool now your making go to some debate thing!!!? They are mad now and it is building.



Stage 3 PERPLEXED

Me- "His choice guys" I had to explain that this was his choice. The horse has left the barn. Being ego-centric it was hard for me to get around the fact that he has chosen debate as his passion over surfing. Yes, I said it. I am that shallow. Surfing I understand, the need to surf, the feeling and how you do it, but he has taken his path.

SDA Team kids- "Aaahhhh What!?"

Logan and I shrugged our shoulders. Tonight he gets on a plane for Northern California armed with 100 hours of prep, his notes, laptop and a cough that sounds like the beginning stages of pneumonia.


Can I talk him out of it?

Not a chance. He has self actualized and found his place. It will rain anyway this weekend. The contests will be rained out. But the hardware paradigm has shifted, he will trade any of his giant cool surf trophy's for the smaller hardware given to winners at the debate tournaments. He brought home a third place from his last tournament like it was the Hope Diamond.
Time to embrace it and understand what the hell they are saying about Hegemony, Fem K, Blocks, Bio-Power and Theory.

The Rock Showed Swell

The many faces of huge Ventura. If you started out at the top of the point you would end up about a half mile away at the Pier.

As the wind changed Ventura looked perfect and then gnarly all in ten minutes.

Some of the sets were big. Scary big, but if you had the position you could go on forever.

Cutback


Jason Schecter is my new hero going for an off the top floater reentry on a wave that started double overhead. He made it and won the heat, the contest and scored the highest wave score of the contest at 9.43.

After each wave you needed to run back to the line up. The heats barely afforded two waves. The no leash Cardiff Crew had to strap on what they had. Lucas' old soft board leash lasted about one 12 foot set.

With 8 minutes on the clock it was an interesting run back to try to get out for another wave. He put back on his leash event though it was broken maybe to feel like there was some measure of safety.

Big and perfect, a wild ride had by all

Tofino

Canada surf trip this summer looks interesting

Surfing

There’s no wonder Tofino is Canada’s surf capital. Home to the aptly named Long Beach and a host of others, the waves keep rolling in along miles of sandy beaches—35km of surf-able beach break to be exact—leaving plenty of room for all boarders, from absolute surf beginners to seasoned waveriders.

The water is a cool, yet fairly constant 10°C/50°F, making surfing a year-round activity in Tofino, with some of the best rides being caught during the winter when the surf is definitely up! Neoprene is the order of the day with wetsuits, booties, gloves and a hood recommended if you want to spend quality time in the water.

Get started with Tofino surf schools, offering lessons and surf camps, where certified instructors share their knowledge of proper surfing technique, ocean safety, and surf etiquette. Visit our surf shops for surf gear rentals – they’re also the best place for advice on current conditions and where to ride the next epic wave during your stay.

501 / math assigment

I got the call from the Leucadia Project for some input on Erik Baldwin's 501 Sessions

from Ed Lewis
to Aaron Foster
date Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 11:04 AM
subject Erik's 501 sessions a year
Jan 5 (3 days ago)

Aaron,

I am doing a post on Erik’s 501 sessions for the year. Would you be willing to provide me with a little math support on what 501 session a year means?

Lost productivity, loss of wages, the average number of bars of wax you go through, anything your mind can come up with? It would be fun to included.


Well Ed knows I like this type of thing so I messed around a little with the numbers

from Aaron Foster
to Ed Lewis
date Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 1:27 pm
subject Erik's 501 sessions a year/opportunity cost
Jan 5 (3 days ago)


Opportunity Cost



John Stuart Mill defines opportunity cost as-

"the basic relationship between scarcity and choice”

1. The cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put another way, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action.



Opportunity cost is measured subjectively and not necessary within the confines of money or goods. The formula is basically what you give up divided by what you gained. Which bring us to Erik and his 501 sessions in a year.



I will be subjective and go for it:



Let’s define Erik monetarily:



A few facts for the mix;

1) He lives in San Diego County = Median income $86,139

a. He is between 25-40 years old +7.5%,

b. Valedictorian of his High School+11.46% ,

c. White Male (sad but still true) +6.4%



His total average demographic income is $107,984 Annual



2) Let explore the value of surfing

a. A typical one week surf trip is 1493.91 (According to Wave Hunters)

b. Take out airline tickets -40%

c. Add housing cost v hotels in surf destinations +26%



His total yearly value of surfing is $66,807





According to John Mill, Erik gave up 1.6 units of what he gained?



Is this right?



Opportunity cost (oc)=$107,984 – gain (g)$66,768 =$41,216 or $82 dollars per session



Can we add some other math to the equation!



If happiness is gauged on money spent on Psychotropic care we have to do the following.



An average Psychiatrist in San Diego charges $189 per hour. (from studentdoctor.net)



There is no drug or conversation that equals a surf session. It can’t be replaced. If you look at the real number taking happiness into account Erik is ahead $107 per session or $53,607 over the year.

from Ed Lewis
to Aaron Foster
date Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 1:47 pm
subject Erik's 501 sessions a year
Jan 5 (3 days ago)

So you are saying he actually added $53,607 in value to his life last year by surfing 501 session?!


I’m impressed.
from Ed Lewis
to Aaron Foster
date Tue, Jan 7, 2010 at 8:29pm
subject Erik's 501 sessions a year
Jan 7 (1 day ago)
do you want to do a post on this? I just did one with my take but the math sounds better coming from you.
Ed

Yes Value has been added to Erik as well as us getting to surf with him and follow him over the year.


501 is not a prime number, but the sum of the first 18 prime numbers.

Gumby

Cut Back

I think there are two maneuvers that you need to accomplish in surfing.

1) Duck Dive- You know I feel strongly about holding on to your board. See my post

There is a satisfaction to a clean duck dive. You feel like you cheated the ocean and made it through a secret door coming out the other side refreshed. On a nice warm summer day there is nothing better than that first duck dive through the cool water.

2) A roundhouse cutback. It just looks good. Before you start your launching of airs and all the other moves, the full cutback is my favorite move

Is there a Holy Grail of surfing

I know your mind goes right to the Monty Python movie, me too.

However the early writings have Joe of Arimethea an original 'Twilight Fan' taking some blood from Jesus on the cross in a dish,cauldron, plate or some other cup like thing.

Years later mythical King Arthur had his whole crew looking for the thing that would bring, peace, prosperity and so forth to his land.

Other writers claim that the legend was a crossover from the Pagans who used some sacred cup thing to help their crops......but I digress.

We all have an ideal, a Holy Grail in our Surf fantasies.

The boat trip with no one out in perfect tropical conditions. I am not telling you not to go. You have to. You go for the stories and the change of scenery. Getting out of your comfort zone and enjoying the journey good or bad.

Is it good? Yes!

Is the the end all, perfect session that ends all sessions...Is it the Holy Grail?
No, it is awesome though.

But stay with me and think of surfing your home break after a long two weeks of good surf. Your lineup with friends and family surfing till you are silly and coming home to your own bed. Perfection and the pursuit are subjective to your experience. Yet your perfect day is hard to gauge or disagree with. The saying of the surf writers is 'six foot consistent and glassy there is nothing else to say' Do we have perfection and perfect days when we aren't looking?

Like Perceval who met the Fisher King and lived in his castle of luxury with maidens, great food and and all. He had to get the Grail. When he demanded the Grail, he ended up waking up alone and lost.

Maybe on the good days at our own break we found nirvana. A good cloudy day with long head high waves and crowds that are not too bad is what we have found. The search for the Grail might be just as impossible as the literature says...

But time is what we have. Learn to enjoy what we have when we have it. I pass by the mailbox where Dougan has his reserved parking spot at Grandview. He found the Grail by surfing his spot with his friends.

And enjoying everyday

20-10 or Two Thousand and 10

Christie's friend Theresa always wanted to surf. This New Years (unfortunate birthday when you are a kid) Theresa finally had her chance. Hannah was ready to help. With everything working well:

Water: 57.2
Swell: 6ft @ 13 Seconds plus a wind swell
Tide: +7.2
Crowd Factor at Cardiff: Every Sweeper this side of Orange County

Perfect day to go


Hannah swam out with Theresa and she go out right in front of the rocks on the south side of the river. I was a mere spectator. Then Hannah got her into a wave....she came down the 3 foot peeler....and started to get up...tentative at first than she was up!!!! A goofy foot was born! All was going well until we watched Theresa make her first wave and head right for the rocks! Uh Oh... The cops happily parked at the end of the parking lot getting their triple overtime with no one bothering them and every local got up and said AAAHHHHH! Look out!

I was a bit under the weather and not planning on doing anything be spectating ran and put on my wetsuit to try to keep her away from the danger. She caught a couple more until she couldn't stand up.

In the end Theresa was stoked. Here she is post surf learning quickly that the post surf life of a surfer. There is no drug you can buy Theresa or no class you can sign up for to get this feeling. You can only earn this high by getting in the water.

She loved the experience and is ready to charge the lineup. Is there room for one more stoked goofy foot girl with a great attitude?

Always!!!!!.

Mid Holiday Field Report

We have had surf! It is the swell season that keeps on giving. This is a great time to take off work. This week between Christmas and New Years has always been good to me.

We surfed Sano, Grandview, Cardiff and Swamis. Schedule as follows:

6:09 am Wake Up
6:10 to 7:23 Farmville....

Yea I know the Farmville thing is out of control but perfect for my intellectual capacity post surf sessions.

Anyway back to the schedule.....


7:40-8ish- Breakfast

8:12-8:29- Surfline, Wavewatch, Surfshot, Wetsand

8:30 Go Surfing



We have been surfing for about 3 hours. I haven't been able to do double sessions except surfing last Wednesday till dark or until I could not see.

Afternoon: Eat

Watch movies, play more Farmville.

I have been avoiding the news except for the Underpants Bomber and enjoying Karl Rove's divorce.

Nightime we have been watching movies and eating leftovers.

Repeat.....The holidays are awesome

Get to work

I need some presents!!

Gentrification is not a crime

Three Stages of the gentle class

Halfway


End of summer
Gen-tri-fy

Verb

1. gentrify - renovate so as to make it conform to middle-class aspirations;

"gentrify a row of old houses"; "gentrify the old center of town"
freshen up, refurbish, renovate - make brighter and prettier; "we refurbished the guest wing"; "My wife wants us to renovate"

Has our sport been gentrified? Yes. Is it a bad thing. No.

Like the cities that have renovated their downtown's there are negative reactions. Somewhat to the tune of 'we have lost our soul, the Petit-bourgeois has come and ruined everything we had.

Well naysayers I detract from your theory. If surfing was better when everyone was high and the violence in the water was the norm, you can have the good old days.

I clearly remember coming into a classroom and the teacher would tell you 'your a surfer sit in the back'. The change has happened. Us parents who grew up surfing when it was considered a pursuit of the stoned and stupid decided that our kids could enjoy the ocean and still be productive.

We have by a non scientific survey of parents at surf contests, have made sure that our kids are doing well in school and we use the leverage over teenagers that has stopped all trouble before it starts. We use surfing itself. "You want to surf, get good grades". Simple logic has changed everything for the surfers my kids hang with. On both surf teams grades are brought out and discussed openly. In high school surf team homeroom they have to produce and explain anything lower than a B.

The retired successful surf team coach from San Clemente High School is a Grandview regular. He made his team have a 3.4 GPA to compete. He told me he got sick of parents complaining that their kids were becoming surf bums. Some of his kids complained, but he said" I have 30 kids all at the highest level competing for 11 spots. I would rather get some complaints from the kids than hear anything from the parents or my boss the principal"

SDA Surf Team homeroom consistently achieves the highest GPA. Kids not doing well get a full attack from team mates and older kids who are doing well.

Soul or not, now that I am a parent I need to see the grades. They are the first currency our kids will earn. I don't want my guys to miss one opportunity for a quick fix of a few waves. The surfer / athlete paradigm shift is complete. After all you want to get to a place in life where you can surf and live by the surf. A few hours of study afterschool and an activity that looks good on your college app is a ticket to the life they and we aspire to.

Gentrification is not a dirty word.

Second at Seaside

Sometimes these NSSA contests are good just to go out at a spot with only 5 other guys in the water. Yesterday at Seaside Reef Lucas got to surf his way into a 30 minute final. The waves were about as good as Seaside gets, placing second was the bonus.

Face in sand followed by a cutback

The Sustainability Dichotomy

di⋅chot⋅o⋅my

–noun, plural -mies.
1. division into two parts, kinds, etc.; subdivision into halves or pairs.
2. division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups: a dichotomy between thought and action.

I have had my Firewire for almost 19 months. Which is a lot for me. The problem is that this board looks brand new! You can't ding it if you try.

How. do. you. justify. a. new. board.

Over the last few sessions I noticed that it seemed heavier. I looked at the tail and there is a small crack in the glass over the balsa. So I emailed the company and inquired if this board might have taken on water...if so what do I do etc.

These bastards got right back to me. Here is an email from the boss, I left his ding repair guys number in it for a shout out to my seven readers......

Hi Aaron,
Sorry to hear about your board. It sounds like your taking in water thru a ding somewhere. Place the board in the direct sun to create pressure in the board. This will force water from any place the board is leaking. Once you identified the dings let the board dry (in the sun) for a couple days. Make sure you place the board using gravity to dry out the dings. Once the boards stops dripping and the weights back to normal you can have it repaired. It will go back to the original weight. I have a great ding guy in Oside who's very reasonable. His name is Mark McGinnis and his cell is 760-420-5982.
Oh yea tell your wife Xmas is coming and you need to expand your quiver. Thanks for surfing our boards!

Michael Milliken
National Sales Manager

Mike, your killing me. It sounds like this thing will be like brand new. Oh well at least I have wetsuits to buy!

Thanksgiving Pie Heaven

Linda Benson v Swamis

It seems my kids high school surf team got on an email string regarding the fight for a contest at Swamis. And it is an interesting battle. The 2010 Womens Longboarding Championship to be held at Swamis next October.

Linda Benson...Icon, hall of fame surfer, et al.. is rallied her forces to have a womens longboard pro contest at Swamis. Kassia Meador, Jenn Smith and all the girls that could be supermodels, but surf better than you together for a weekend. Sounds great, fun, Encinitas like.......

Plenty of room right?

However the Swamis locals are not too stoked. There is a real backlash against contests at Swamis. Is it a slippery slope with Huntington Pier the poster child of surf spots turned contest spots? Should we invite more people to surf a crowded Encinitas? Should they just suck it up and surf closeouts at D Street like all the other contests?

Well I get to stand on the sidelines of this one. I have an Amsterdam pass being I have only surfed Swamis twice; once when I was 13 years old on an exotic trip down from Venice and then again two summers ago. I have been out to Boneyards but have not surfed Swamis enough to have a proper say in what should be what.

Do I want a contest at Avocado Street.....No. Do I spend my fall weekends at contests...Yes.

AMBIVALENCE
Noun 1. ambivalence - mixed feelings or emotions
ambivalency
feeling - the experiencing of affective and emotional states; "she had a feeling of euphoria"; "he had terrible feelings of guilt"; "I disliked him and the feeling was mutual"
conflict - opposition between two simultaneous but incompatible feelings; "he was immobilized by conflict and indecision"