Serendipity

Really wasn't expecting much

The swell was rumored to have dropped off

and the offshore wind prediction

well, I have learned, over the years that what I mean by offshore and what the weather service means by offshore can be two very different thins

But hope springs eternal

My back was in much better shape

(thanks to some good advise from Ramsnake and Michelle)

JJ had emailed me that he would be there

So I made the trip down to the local break

It was perfect

10 Things to do this before summer in SoCal

I have been dreaming about Summer for some time now

But there are a couple of things to do before "Summer" officially hits the beach in force.

Remember that appointment I told you to make with your dermatologist last fall?

Yeah well my appointment wasn't until last Friday so we won't quibble.

But go!

I know you are saying, "Prana, dude I check!"

No. No you don't check, at least not very well and not with the skill of a good dermatologist.

So go!

Make matching appointments with your significant other

I'm sorry to be sexist but the chicks dig it

Trust me on these things, I'm old

Make a family appointment and get lunch /dinner afterward and make an event out of it

Do it for me, I need all the readers I can get.

Besides this is serious and you aren't going to read this in the mags (even the good ones)

How many waves like this do you want to miss?

Photo by my  Sweetie, Mrs. PranaGlider

I'm soaking my heel after the stitches were removed. (truly ugly feet, I know!)

I addition to my heel, I had "suspicious" tissue removed from my arm, chest and so much on my fore head that they almost ran out of liquid nitrogen.

Pre-cancerous reminders of too much fun in the sun. No thank you.

*

For my Southern Hemisphere readers.

I make comments like "summer and winter" based on what I see when I  look out the window. Just give it the old 180 degree spin and you will be right on target! 

It must be Summer...

'Cause Shelter is having a party!

3 Bands, Art And a Food Truck out Back.. 

4th St Vine is Serving Beverages!!

April 30th - 8pm sharp!

Come our and join them for the kick off of the “Shelter Party Season”

Shelter Surf Shop

2148 E 4th St

Long Beach, CA 90814

*Forecasts call for offshore winds over the weekend so if I'm late go ahead and start the party without me.  


If there is wind and if I do make it to the Shelter event (I'm a well known recluse, although being "well known" and a "recluse" do seem to be at cross purposes don't they? ), and so if I am not be able to lift my arms due to the fatigue from paddling lets just suspend the normal hand shaking, chest bumping "bro greetings" normal associated with meeting people at social events. Kay?   Also I would expect, given the wind forecast, that there will be SIGNIFICANT NASAL DRAINAGE** from the sudden and unexpected conclusion of waves in the "tube", "cover up" and "sick barrel" riding position, so anyone down slope from the drainage site should be forewarned.

**SIGNIFICANT NASAL DRAINAGE © is my new punk band and any attempts to use the name for public or private use will result in the release of my savage pack of barristers about the head and shoulders of your legal personage.  

the internet before there was the internet

I'm a big fan of Lloyds Kahn's blog he was the Shelter editor for the Whole Earth Catalog and is the editor-in-chief of Shelter Publications

He posted a link to an exhibit MOMA is doing on the Whole Earth Catalog

All I can say is the Whole Earth Catalog was the internet before there was the internet

We are just stones in one temple.

Back then it was the same but different, check it out.

Better?

Or worse?

Better?

Or worse?

Today I go to the opthamologist for my every five years check up
Should be every year but I tend to drag my feet a bit.

It doesn't help in the water but it will definitely be a big plus in front of the computer.

I've been on a roll lately, went to the dermatologist last Friday.

I'm still covered with scabs where he shot liquid nitrogen over a dozen reminders that I spent a lot of time in the sun as a lad.

peanut butter

I write this rubbish down between 5 and 6 am most weekdays.

Between loading the dishwasher, starting a load of laundry, giving the dog her pill and several trips to the bathroom.

Not really a creative time.

The really "writing" happens in those not awake, not asleep moments from the previous night and morning.

Last night was a doozy!

Something about life being like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The peanut butter being a perfect analogy for the grist from the mill of everyday life.

The honey, those moments of pure natural bliss always found where you least expect them.

The bread, the staff of life needs no further interpretation.

Which left the day to day activities my of life represented as trying to lick the edges clean in hopes of keeping the honey off my trousers.

Hmmm, no sense at all there.

Sometimes the light of day is harsh.

  

SUP Bunny

Photo from http://myyolo.yoloboard.com

The Easter bunny rides a SUP

But I'm pretty sure Bugs Bunny rides a Mat!

Good Friday - Rick Griffin

So here is the deal, I've got the day off (Good Friday Indeed!) and so I need to get moving early.

I woke up and thought a little Rick Griffin during his Christian art  phase would be a perfect blog post!

The problem is there is so much fantastic work during that period.

So I thought I would go with a simpler piece.

Enjoy the weekend.

Fluid Dynamics

Good Stuff!

I haven't posted this one in a while



Just what everyone wants to see, deep tube rides on a mat.

Thinkmat made his own backpack camera harness to capture these images on film.

The original camera equipment malfunctioned and JJ has been retrofitting the pack to accept a new camera setup.

The camera, water housing and backpack sitting on top of Thinkmat's mat, yes he made that too!
That's the hand held actuator dangling into the sand on the left.

Stoked!

an obvious fake!

When the following picture arrived at the massive 23B office complex the other day it was brought to me on a silver platter, the normal protocol for all the photo submissions.

The 11 by 14 transparency lay on the huge light table I use as a work desk. To further set the tone, I might also point out that my absurdly large corner "CEO" office swallows the normal office furnishings and I have had to include an entire Wahoos Fish Taco store, with staff, to fill up the space.

But we had bigger fish to fry, so to speak, because fish are never fried here at 23Breaths but coaxed to culinary perfection through a top secret grilling process. 

"It's an obvious fake" I said after studying the image for no more than a few seconds.

The staff let out a collective sigh of fear and loathing not heard this side of the inland empire in ages.

"I can't go right to save my life" I said, the staff looked around nervously making that nervous humming sound they make when I have blown their little collective mind with some new cosmic revelation.  They all worship the very ground I walk on , its all very charming in a naive sort of way, and the very thought that I might have some slight imperfection is such a foreign thought that they were stunned into a collective lump of inanimate humanity. 

After a few moments, my wife walked in, looked at me with, well you know, THE LOOK and without a word flipped the transparency over revealing a here-to-fore undiscovered image of me going left, probably from last years mat meet.

Sadly I don't remember the wave, the day or most of last year for that matter.

The staff was enormously relieved and were able to crank out another edition of 23B before heading home to live there lives out in quiet desperation.

Photo probably taken by Ken Samuels. 

83 Photos

National Geographic wanted to take a picture of a redwood tree.

It took a crew over a year and the final photo is a composite of 83 separate photos.

In an earlier post I mentioned I was thinking about getting a  tomato tattoo.

Forget that! I'm going for the whole enchilada.

Sequoia sempervirens on both calfs!

No new post for you!

Strained my back over the weekend working in the garden.

No new post this morning.

Instead of thinking up something interesting to say I'm laying on the ground trying to loosen up enough to drive to work.

Mark Thomson working on his left arm tan

2 out of 3 dermatologists agree that riding deep in the tube is the best way to avoid getting a sunburn.

Turbo Time

Mark Thomson sent this series over at night.

He didn't mention the location but it looks like fun.

Nice fin work / slash hand jive in the second shot.

The deep tube speaks for itself.

Thanks Mark!

Doing something about the Weather

The NWS forecast calls for 79 degree temperatures today and 81 on Saturday.

With no rain!

And my back is feeling much better!!

I know it's only April 15

but I am ready to call it Summer

Yvon Chouinard visits Debbee & Steve Pezman at the Surfers Journal

 This is a very nice piece of video, even though they walk right by a mat without comment. Nice music too.

 With all the BS in the Action Sport Retail marketplace it's refreshing to see people that are perusing a life spent doing the things that they love.

"Surfing is one of those useless sports, it has no value to society.
But it's super important! I don't know of any sport that people are as passionate about"  Yvon Chouinard

Gotta get this guy on a mat...

Five Summer Stories

Five Summer Stories came out just a couple of years (1972) after Pacific Vibrations (1970) and although some of the footage was shot during the same Hawaiian winters you can see advancements being made in rail and rocker designs. While the pin tails are still a little sticky off the top they were riding in the tube just fine.  (I think they were thinning out the tails a little more) You can also see a surf mat about 50 seconds in during the babies, dogs and bikini shots.



The Five Summer Stories used local band HONK do the sound track, which did well commercially and you can still see the band play live.

Rick Griffin did great posters for both.

Pacific Vibrations

As I have mentioned before Pacific Vibrations, was for me THE surf film, followed closely by Five Summer Stories.



At least part of the reason was that, I was and still am a huge Jock Sutherland fan.  Switch stance at Waimea Bay, side slipping thru head high Pipeline and charging Outside Pipe.

It may look tame by todays standards. Long boards had just been replaced as the standard wave vehicle.  The Cosmic Guns used in the movie were brand new. Shapers were just feeling out the advantages of more rocker, down rails and fin shape and placement.  Design ideas were dreamt up late Saturday night, boards were shaped Sunday morning, glassed Sunday afternoon and ridden on the increasing swell on Monday. The may have been broken by that afternoon and replaced on Tuesday with a host of changes,  some were advancements and some of which were just smoke dreams.

It was an interesting time.

What's next?

I continued with the daily yoga program over the weekend which is continuing to really help my back.

Managed a hour and a half surf Sunday morning. Felt great! My back was sore but it was worth it!

I would have gone surfing Saturday but I hailed here Friday night and I wanted to give the water a least a day to clear up.

So the big question in my mind has been what's next?  The yoga I have been doing has been restorative in nature and I will need to add some challenges in the mix.

I dug a couple of these tapes out and will move them into the mix when I feel the need.

Surya Namaskara - the Sun Salutations



The weather is finally warming up and don't want to miss any good days this Summer!

For your morning listening pleasure here is some more Neil Young (thanks to Kendog for the link)

Heart of Gold

Something for the All Neil All the Time crew



Found this over at The Boda Surfamily

Good Stuff!

TGIF

This morning before the rest of the storm rolled in. Not enough water to be fun but enough wind to blow it out 

Back's on the mend - check (Thank you Ramsnake and Michelle!)
Weekend's here - check
Looks like rain - check

This is a you tube clip of the yoga that has been helping my back



The whole practice is 30 minutes so if this looks like something you could do the DVD's are available all the places DVD's are available.

From their website

Gary Kraftsow began sharing the teachings of yoga and yoga therapy as Maui Yoga Therapy in 1983. It has since then grown into an international community of yoga professional educated by Gary Kraftsow in the spirit of Viniyoga ™, and inspired by the teachings of T.K.V. Desikachar and T. Krishnamacharya.


 Not as aerobic as Ashtanga, perhaps more therapeutic than most Hatha yoga packaged up and sold to American consumers of exercise routines. This is the real deal. Viniyoga starts where you are and then goes on from there.

I used to snark, somewhat, at this approach and think "yea I can do that when I'm like really old". (hmm what's that bell tolling?) When I was working less, surfing more and doing more yoga I didn't need this approach. It has since dawned on me that since I would usually practice before I surfed that no surf also meant no yoga!  Fail!   So here I am somewhat older and hopefully somewhat wiser.

Surf Meet 2011

Photo by Ken, Jason or Dirk, I'm not sure

I've been thinking about organizing another Mat Meet this summer.

The idea of having multiple mat gatherings up and down the coast has been thrown out there and I think it has merit. When we just have one day we always miss a bunch of people who would love to attend but can't because the date we pick just doesn't work.

So I am looking for comments, options, feedback and most importantly assistance from any of you so inclined.

Do YOU have WHAT IT TAKES to be a bona fide MAT MEET ORGANIZER?

Do you have intimate knowledge of a local spot that breaks during the summer and would make a good "mat  wave"? (I have no idea what a good "mat wave" is BTW, but you should)

Does said spot have parking, dining facilities, bathrooms, and accommodations for matters that want to make a weekend out of it?

Will your spot accommodate a medium sized influx of non local matters? (perhaps the best flash crowd ever!) who are these guys???

Can you, through the power of will and mind alone, cause the seas to rise, the wind to quit and the sun to shine?

Oddly enough surfing ability or prior mat experience doesn't matter a wit!

Then you may have what it TAKES!

Serious inquires in the comment section below

Sweet

I am going to be doing some pre work yoga shortly so my 5-6am blog post development time is going to be cut short.

But I read a couple of great pieces that I wanted to point you towards

Head High and Glassy, who always writes good stuff while whittling away foam to make great shred sleds has some interesting observations on the present state of surfboards, very interesting, don't miss it.

Kyle Lightner is back in town, from an extended stay at the edge.
So much good stuff there its hard to pick one but
if you haven't seen the surf badger video, now it the time
I won't embed it here but if you go to his site search for

March 24th, 2011 

So funny I had to watch it twice!

 Enjoy the day!

The Frog House Defense

As many of you know, the venerable Frog House surf shop, is in a bit of a zoning dispute with the city of Newport Beach, even though the shop has been in the same location since 1962.

There will be a hearing meeting of the planing commission this Thursday (see below)  to decide the matter.

PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA
CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH
COUNCIL CHAMBERS - 3300 NEWPORT BOULEVARD
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Regular Meeting - 6:30 p.m
 West Newport Amendments (PA2010-182, 190, and PA2011-014)
6904, 6908-6936, and 6480 West Coast Highway

SUMMARY: Amendments to the  General Plan, Coastal Land Use Plan and Zoning Map to change the designations of three properties from Two-Unit Residential (RT and RTE) to Visitor Serving Commercial (CV) or Mixed Use-Vertical (MU-V) land use designations. The amendments were initiated by the property owners who are seeking to continue the existing nonconforming commercial use of their properties. All three properties are currently developed with commercial and mixed use buildings, and no new land use or development is proposed at this time.

That the commercial activities of a surf shop, an animal hospital and a handful of other businesses escaped the city fathers notice for almost fifty years apparently is not the point of this civic exercise.

I am not sure if there is a point.

If the zoning variance isn't granted we will lose one of the last true old time surf shops in the area.

We will gain two condo's right on PCH whose occupants (which will probably change ever 10 days during the summer months) will wonder who all these young men are, who keeping parking in the driveway, barging thru the front door demanding surf wax so they can go shred some "sick barrels".

But go check out the planning meeting, I see the whole thing going down a little like this,




Great article about the Frog Shop by Kendog at AllAboutSurf

A Hoax

It turns out the whole lotto thing was a hoax!

I was totally fooled.

But things change

The tide comes and goes

I got a email from the ex-president of some third world nation I've never heard of who is promising to share a gazillion dollars with me it I only let him park it in my bank account for a week.

Sweet!

This particular windfall comes at a good time.

My wife and I had to call out the plumber over the weekend.

The kitchen sink was draining a little slow.

So this is what you get when you trade the money that was earmarked for a new wetsuit so that the sink will drain.

I have no idea what it is by the way, other than it was packed with muck and needed to be replaced.

In the category of "REALLY GOOD NEWS" I went for a surf on Saturday.

My back has been bothering me for a while and weather conditions have been poor every weekend since forever. Saturday didn't look much better but there was swell and by the time I got to the beach the south wind was coming up. I almost packed it in but I decided to go out and surf one wave. Just one.

Other than some bilateral soreness my back feels good!

Stoked.

19 20 42 56 58 and the bonus number 23 !

This may be my last post so listen up!

It's been an action packed few hours, since I won the lottery last night, 230 million!

That's a lot of mats and fins!

I was quietly pondering the future when a real estate agent called out of the blue. I was sort of irritated that I could be found so soon by what would be a long line of people wanting money.

Deciding that the best defense is a good offense, (I read that somewhere) I made inquires about certain bluff top properties in San Diego.

By 2am I had closed on three adjoining estates overlooking Bird Rock.

The existing structures will be demolished by next Tuesday and will be replaced by a tent and one of those emergency slides from an airplane. I will be able to jump on the slide at the top of the cliff and be dropped off just out side the break!

I was getting into the swing of things. I realized that the stores are never closed. If you have cash.

As I was being driven south I asked the driver to pull over at one of my favorite surf shops in OB. My head was spinning and I needed a moment. I have always loved surf shops and have spent untold hours just feeling rails and pulling boards out of the rack to sight down the bottom and check the concaves.  But now it struck me, I didn't need to browse any more.  I walked in, looked at the Brewer hanging from the ceiling, looked at the clerk and said, "I'll take them all" then turned and walked next door for a cup of coffee.  I wanted to check out my new properties as the sun came up and I find that I don't have the patience to waste time dawdling with the vulgarities of commerce.

So as I head south to warmer waters I hope you enjoy the rest of your April!

PS Stop by some time and I'll let you pet my elephant