Blue moon tonight

The old calendar

fills me with gratitude

Perfect surf car!

A "bunch of links" post this morning

First off

Point Never

(which of course describes a point you are never gonna surf! what else,  well maybe a variety of interesting publishing projects but I'm just guessing )


Next up

Buoy Alarm

(this site lets you set a buoy to ring at a certain time waking you up, every morning.  the swim out to the buoy to hit the snooze alarm is good for you)


Which leads us to

In the Valley of the Leafing

(a nice arty site with trippy movies from the NW.  no really)


Then there is my personal vote for best blog name


Hydrofied

(more hand planes hmmmm)


Lastly but not leastly


Factory Surfing

(sadly, no one standing on top of the building surfing the factory, but nice boards though)


Finally what you have all been waiting for!

This is the perfect surf car!

(well I guess it needs racks)

Photo coming from the Happy Barracuda website

42 Breaths?

I'm back!

The holiday's are over, the shiny balls are packed away and it's time to get back to the grind.

Surfing and blogging

The trip around the wheel experiment is coming along

I've surfed the nine footers and the 8 ohs

The 7'2" Parmenter Barracuda is on tap for today

Aleutian Juice indeed

The tide is looking fat and the swell is on its way down but this board may get ridden for a few days

I thought I would save my impressions for some future post

but just to give you a feeling for how it is going

although I will be keeping my boards and probably be adding to the mix at some point,

my next board will be a mat!

I hope you all had a rich holiday experience

There has been a wealth of material on the net so I'm sure you have been keeping up

The new years celebration is at hand and coincides with a full moon, so make your plans accordingly.

Oh the beautiful bowl of fruit at the begining of the post is what I should have been eating instead of the 10 pounds of Christmas cookies I did eat.

Maybe 42 Breaths to fill the mat to adequate inflation?

Mele Kalikimaka

Ran into Santa Claus reclining in a neighbors front yard.

I can say that Santa's definitely got good taste in fins!

He looked busy so I didn't get a chance to discuss mats with him.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Instead of my usual blathering on about the many holidays of the season

My personal favorite (Winter Solstice)

How I am looking forward to warmer days (tho it was 80 two days ago)

I thought I would just gift you this poem and call it a wrap

(those of you familiar with my poetry are wishing for some blather right now)


The spider


My wife pointed out the spider on the wall


"Get it", she said


I knew what must be done.


There would be no bartering for this spider's life


Firmly grasping the poetry journal I had been skimming


I lunged toward the beast


"Use a tissue, I'll need evidence",


she said,


too late


The magazine swacked the wall with it's deathly blow


"Nothing more dangerous than poetry" I said

I hate surf racks

Surfboards require surf racks

I have to say

I hate surf racks

with racks you have two options

hard and soft

with hard racks everything is modular

so first you buy the towers and the bars

then you get the appropriate fit kit to attach the whole shebang to your gutterless car

then you get to your attachment options

so you can carry your board, your bike and maybe a moosehead

and if you would like to lock your racks to the car, that’s extra

so like 500 bucks later you can put your board on the car and go to the beach

the whole deal is just slightly less expensive than buying a car with rain gutters and getting a pair of Aloha racks

I think this is why I got a mat in the first place

I do have soft racks

50 bucks, but you have to put them on and off the car every time you go

a plethora of nylon straps that vibrate in the wind

I hate surf racks

So I rode the long board yesterday

(get the loooogs ready!)

actually that was fine

It's a lot of rail

that isn't shaped anything like

a wave face

I’m looking forward to getting to the mid lengths soon

Another trip around the wheel

That's how I think of it.

I have ridden the mat a lot the last couple of years

Almost exclusively really

It's everything I have always wanted in a surfboard and more

But I have all these boards that I rarely ride

So this is the plan

I will start surfing boards again

Surf everything I own and end up back on the mat

Spend a little time with each and appreciate the board for what it is.

Maybe share the occasional opinion here on 23 Breaths

Ideally I would just bring them all with me to the beach and ride what ever is most appropriate for swell and tide.

But I don't have a van

So I thought I would just start at one end of the length scale and ride my way back to the mat.

I blame the historical display at the Surfing Heritage Foundation for the general idea.

(But I won't be starting with an  koa Alaia)

So first up is my 9'10" Mike Minchinton Sabre model.

The Robert August website says this about the Sabre

"This design comes with low-egg rails which taper back to an edge at the diamond-tail. A slight rail-to-rail concave under the nose incorporated with an overall flat bottom give this model some high performance capabilities to go along with its abundant nose riding qualities."

It doesn't fit that description exactly.

I would say its a well crafted single fin long board with modern rails shaped out of a Clark blank (10'1"Y?) with a square tail with slight V. It has a fin box and I need to find the fin I used to use in it.

It was a birthday present from my wife.

Although she doesn't surf she has a pretty good eye for boards.

How this plan to "tip toe through the fiberglass" will work out,

I have no idea.

One week on each board would take me well into Spring if not Summer.

The idea may collapse under it own foolishness.

A good swell may arrive and I may be off with the mat.

(a particularly good chance of that happening)

But it's Thursday morning,

the sun with come up in a few minutes

I'm jacked up on coffee

and this is the plan.

Pipeline Masters

Congratulations to Taj Burrow on winning the Pipeline Masters

When I was growing up there was no official contest but everyone knew who the reigning Mr. Pipeline was.

(or at least who the mags told us Mr Pipeline was)

Phil Edwards was "the first" one out.  So I would say he qualifies as the first Mr. Pipeline.

Anyone else think its odd that with a wave that interesting no one took a shot at it earlier?

Ok so the boards from that period weren't suited to riding the pipe but you would think some Paipo rider would look at that tube and be all over it.

Yes indeed (photo from paipo.com) but I digress

The next Mr Pipeline, as I recall, was San Diego's Butch Van Artsdalen

Black Butch rode massive waves switch stance

Next up was another switch foot

Jock Sutherland started surfing Pipe in the long board era and continued well into the era of short board pipe rockets (sorry but I can't find a good picture of Mr. Sutherland from the Pacific Vibrations period)

Which brings me to

Gerry Lopez.  The man most people think of when they hear "Mr. Pipeline"

And who could forget "THE SNAP"

by Tom Carroll at the 1991 Pipe Masters. Amazing

And we can't talk about anything surfy without mentioning

Kelly Slater

 Of course they are others, lots of other as a matter of fact, but the sun is up and it's time to go look for some cold southern california mush to ride.

enjoy the day

This is it!

the one you have been waiting for  

the annual Xmas gift post just in time for the holidays 

The top 10 gifts to get a surfer are...

(drum roll please)

Well to begin with you don't need ten new things

(maybe knowing that is the biggest gift in itself)

Surfing is an experience maybe a lifestyle not a product

(could I get a six pack of  hollow A-frame peaks!)

I suppose there is some stuff required

(I ALWAYS get email from naked body surfers who will argue the point)

but we tend to get more and more and more stuff

(especially here in 'merica)

So what do you need?

(do those peaks come in a ten pack with a side of off shore winds?)

More importantly what do you need that someone can buy you?

Grandma is more likely to pick up the pop out from offshore than the custom board from your local shaper

(It had all those pretty plastic flowers dear, and it came with matching shirt and trunks)

Ok so where does that leave us?

Wax

(wax on wax off)

I had a standing order for surf wax for all gift giving occasions for years

(If you see me at the beach ask me, I have some)

(hopefully the humor of a mat rider with a huge stash of wax is not lost on you)

There are some neat wax scrapers available

(beats using a credit card, oh you cut those up? good!)

So where are we now?

boards are out

wax is in

waves come in sets

But don't come in a store.

The truth is no thing you can buy will make you feel like this

"Family treasures can't come thru the front gate"

So ask for a new beach towel.

That one in the car trunk stinks!

If it's a magic towel so much the better

It was a dark and stormy night - Jazz the Glass

I always wanted to start a post that way!

I kind of works cause it was raining last night when I went to see

Jazz the Glass at the Hurley compound.

Mike Black, the pirate ship and one of the boards that was raffled off

I spoke to Mike before the show and told him how much I liked the Trailer #2 material.

Mike graciously gave much of the credit to his collaborators on the project.

Despite the rain there was a good crowd and plenty of good food and free Primo beer!

If you liked Invasion from Planet C you'll like Jazz the Glass.

Actually Jazz the Glass is the prequel to Invasion

Something I didn't see coming!

Very Lucas-esque.

Can't wait for the third installment of the trilogy

See more photos at Surf a Pig

Read the Mike Black interview at Liquid Salt!

Another Saturday Night

Shelter Surf Shop

Blow off your holiday work parties, mid December weddings, and general busy-ness to come throw down..Really.. Kick off your shoes and make yourselves comfortable.. We're breaking out the 45's, Tyler has a batch of fresh work, Alex has a new sound and Primo donated 300+ free beers for the occasion.. Hope to see you there!

Surf a Pig



Hurley is hosting the premier this Saturday Dec 12th 2009. This flyer says 2010. CLASSIC! We hope to see you all there. We are going to start the film around 8 even though the first flyer we pushed said 9. There will be free beer (thanks PRIMO!) and free gruel (thanks Gradoux) . There will be a board raffle (thank you 12th floor and Nation Surfboards). The prototype for the COOPERFISH BLACKBOARD will be there for interested people to check out. I can't wait to SHRED that! Steve Brom mentioned he might be bringing some insane false old boards to be displayed. We will have Jazz the Glass T-shirts and INVASION! from planet C dvd's for sale. We will have a few SLIDE magazines to be raffled off as well! Jazz the Glass DVDs will be replicated soon. ITS GOING TO BE SSSSIIICCCKKK!!!!

Check out the Mike Black interview on Liquid Salt

Ok I know this is a tough one.

Two stellar events, fresh art, live music, new pirate surf movies!!!

The noise the noise the noise

Did I mention free beer?

But I know you'll make the right choice.

It's the first night of Hanukkah

so you will all be at home

with the family

Ok Ok

You caught me!

The classic bait and switch

Just trying to make sure

The beer doesn't run out

too early

Notes from all over

Steveo at RORER714 has a nice piece on the local mat crew here

One more thing

I was wandering thru the local mall, which is I know a terrible thing to be doing this time of year. But one does what one must. An what to my wondering eyes should appear but the surf heritage foundation retail store!

In addition to the usual books and clothing they have a installation of truly unique and priceless surfboards.

I'm not talking about third string shapes that were so ugly and dysfunctional that they survived intact.

I'm talking Simmons and Lis!

A beautiful collection

(Yes Tom your bitchen Lis fish is living in a mall! I asked the nice man if I could take it outside so I could see it in sunlight but he was too smart for that one!)

Fishin' with George

Taking a breath after all the excitement with the Eddie.

Feeling like something from Greenough today.

George and friends fishing off the pod.

(Is it me or does the other fisherman look like Rob Machado?)

I hadn't seen this clip before

I thought you all might like it too.

Lots of things going on this weekend, I'll post more details tomorrow

Parties at Shelter and the Jazz the Glass opening at Hurleyville

It's a short post today. I have been staying out of the water since the "big rain".

My usual spot (a river mouth) has horrific water quality after a rain so I have been abstaining.

But I can only sit on the shore and watch it reel for so long.

I am going to find some surf.

Long wins the Eddie!

Bloggers still run pictures of Kelly!

Kelly's 98 out of 100 wave

Congrats to Mr. Long!

I picked up the current Surfer Mag the other day.

The black one, the 50 year Golden anniversary edition.

I have mentioned in the past that the mag doesn’t live up to my expectations anymore. This is primarily due to the fact that I am exponentially older than the magazines’ target demographic. That and there have been some fundamental changes in the magazine industry in the last millennium which made for changes in the user experience that will remain undiscussed.

(I remember sitting at the front of the cave waiting for the new issue to arrive by brontosaurus! I still have some of the early issues drawn by John himself on papyrus!)

I ignore the sage advice “never read a magazine bigger than your head” and pick up the BIG summer issue once a year. To be fair I look at the pictures and it gets lost in the pile of reading material before I get through it.

So I was pleasantly surprised to page though this issue and find myself enjoying quite a bit of the content.

I really liked the Q&A with the past (and present) editors and publishers etc.

There was a nice article on style which focused on actual style and not contest tricks.

So super stoked on the new issue guys!

The photography was great but that has never been an issue. Pardon the pun

Two years, 24 issues for 23 bucks, I think its a deal!

This magazine may have legs yet!

But the truth of the matter is that print is dead and newspapers and magazines are just trying to get a new “business model” in order to survive as a profitable entity.

That's going to be a tough road for er and ing.

While the big industrial magazine producers have done what they do best,

produce magazines on a nonvolatile medium (recycled paper),

several contenders to the throne have appeared in the ether,

Drift and Liquid Salt are two of the strongest.

Drift has it's journalistic "finger on the pulse" and has taken an early lead.

It's the new one stop shop and has a plethora of stories, art and video but

isn't weighted down by the overhead of er or ing.

Liquid Salt is a new interview only site at the moment.

They have picked off some A list interviews (Lopez, Bing, Chouinard) and

once they get the rest of the requirements (travel, bikinis and advertising)

I think it will blossom.

Fun to watch and good luck to all the players!

(As an unemployed blogger, of course I strongly suggest everyone play the home game!)

Some really important news

In my inbox this morning I got the monthly mailer from Swaylocks.

Contained in said missive was an offer to sell a used surf mat!

Only used on Sunday's by a surfer from Indiana!

1 2 3 jump on it!

Imagine - John Lennon

I'd really rather be posting on Lennon's new album and saying

something cranky about how it doesn't measure up to his old stuff

Imagine living in a country where every nut job doesn't have

easy access to hand guns.

Somewhat haunting but a personal favorite

A song by a mature artist comfortable with his choices

Couldn't we just try?

It seems like we could always go back to killing each other if
the whole peace and love thing didn't work out

Christmas Tree Water redux

(A re post from last year)

Often this time of year, my friends and neighbors will ask me...

“Pranaglider, (yes my friends and neighbors call me Pranaglider) I am going to get a Christmas tree this year and I want to know if there is anything I can add to the water at the bottom of the tree to make tree last longer.”

Yes fiends, there is

I take the citrus fruit that ripened and fell off the tree,

I cut the orange or lemon in half and throw the half with bad part away.

I squeeze the juice of the fruit into the water I am going to add to the tree.

I believe that the acid from the juice keeps the microbial growth down, but orange juice is complex enough for there to be additional actions.

Next add some sugar

The tree will drink the sugar and live a little longer.

In my family the kids will put in an aspirin tablet into the water too.

Not sure what that does

something I am sure

So there you have it

I put lemonade in the water under the tree!

This also makes a nice new years morning drink, if you over imbibe...

A little something new..

Usually I like classical for the rainy days but I heard a snippet of this on the car radio this morning and I like the way it sounds today

Ladies and Gentlemen

The Band

In other news,

The Eddie may run tomorrow and SoCal may get more rain after a brief break on Tuesday and Wednesday

The Eddie

Looks like a good chance to run the Eddie Aikau contest this year

Plenty of room on this wave for two guys!

Cause they say "The Bay" is just a big mush ball! Right!?




Maybe not!

Good luck and safe journey to all those who take the drop

STAY TUNED

Issued by The National Weather Service
San Diego, CA
5:31 am PST, Thu., Dec. 3, 2009

... POTENTIAL FOR WET WEATHER ACROSS CALIFORNIA NEXT WEEK...

A SERIES OF PACIFIC STORMS IS FORECAST TO MAKE LANDFALL ACROSS CALIFORNIA NEXT WEEK.

THE FIRST STORM IS FORECAST TO ARRIVE MONDAY OR TUESDAY. A SECOND STORM IS FORECAST LATER IN THE WEEK ON THURSDAY OR FRIDAY. WHILE IT LOOKS LIKELY THAT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WILL GET RAIN NEXT WEEK... THE AMOUNT OF RAIN WILL DEPEND OF THE STORM TRACK. THE FARTHER SOUTH THE TRACK... THE MORE RAIN WE WILL GET. A STORM TRACK INTO CENTRAL CALIFORNIA WILL BRING LESS RAIN TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

THESE STORMS WILL BRING THE POTENTIAL FOR STRONG WINDS... HEAVY RAIN AND SNOW... AND LARGE SURF ALONG THE COAST. FLOODING... DEBRIS FLOWS... HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS... AND DANGEROUS BOATING AND SURF CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE NEXT WEEK.

LARGE WEST TO SOUTHWEST SWELLS WILL BE GENERATED NEXT WEEK THAT WILL AFFECT THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COASTAL WATERS AND THE BEACHES OF ORANGE COUNTY AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY. BETWEEN MONDAY AND TUESDAY COMBINED SEAS AND SURF ARE FORECAST TO DOUBLE IN HEIGHT... AND BY WEDNESDAY MAY WELL BE OVER 10 FEET.

STAYED TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER EVENT.

How could you?

I watched them surf for hours

just sitting and watching from the shore

wave after wave

they rode the beautiful waves beautifully

they rode the big waves with strength and courage

they rode the little waves with great care and grace

and how they gently stroked the round insides of the hollow ones

it was obscene!

and when they paddled in

I asked them,

how could you ride those waves

on a mat?

They smiled and replied

How

could

you

not?

Style

Mat Max posted a very
thought provoking piece on SurfMatters the other day

His question was, "what is aesthetically correct on the mat?"

I commented a couple of times on the
piece but it such an interesting topic
I wanted do a post on the topic as well.

To open it up a bit "What is style?"

The answer seems to be very hard to pin down.

What may be stylish on a mat might look foolish on a body board, a stand up paddler or the latest pro quad.

I don't have answers.

I thought I would pose some questions
in hopes that you would play the home game
and provide your thoughts in the comments section.

Is style a look?

Is style a feeling?

Does stylish surfing begin then end at the waterline?

Does stylish surfing extend up on to the beach?

Does it encompass the commercial goods that one can purchase?

Does style include an attitude as well as a physical posture?

I'm not going to throw in any pictures on this post

because it makes a little too easy to say this is IT!

Think about it an let me know.