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.