Not much to add these days. Surf has been solid for the last week or so. Nothing spectacular but a couple of great longboard sessions and one good session on the MSF last Monday. I find that as much as I long to ride faster, shorter boards, sometimes it's hard to fight the fact that I am just better at longboarding. Sure, conditions require differant boards for differant occasions and I am a big believer in that, but when the surf is under chest high, it's hard for me to make the decision to sacrifice wave time and ride a smaller board. Either way it's a dilemma I'm glad to be in.
My dad came into town for a bit and I remembered that our time together always feel short and too far in between visits. My parents are getting older and I realize more and more how little I see them. He left with my sister to visit family on the Oregon coast. This photo is from the last time I did that drive.

Life Like Liquid

This movie looks great! Anyone seen it? Did it ever make it to the U.S? Seems to be the epitome of the good stuff in life these days: photography (cinematography) , surfing, great music. I've gotten my fill lately. Saw an awesome Avett Brothers show last week. Their honky tonk rockin sound and the small town we saw them in reminded me of the tiny part of my heart that still lives down below. You can take the girl out of the south, but you can't take the south out of the girl.

To follow, I logged (literally), a decent, last minute sesson in Santa Cruz on Friday. When we drove out of Oakland it was grey and spitting, but Capitola was clear and sunny. The waves were fun, but a little on the gutless side. We should've just headed out to first or second point, but the paddle was far and the lazy waves and almost empty lineup were hard to get away from.
New goal: Surf in Santa Cruz more. Sure, it's a trek, but sweet perfection is worth it. Especially on the weekdays when the crowd is thin. Oh the ways in which it would benefit my surfing.
Saturday was a Bolinas day as everything else was big and blown out. It worked out well. Bobo's was averaging 3-5 ft (hard to believe I know) and honestly some of the prettiest surf I've seen in a while. Got to see some great talent on the outer reef at the patch, and even the channel was firing. We topped it off with a visit to a local pumpkin patch and a most excellent sunset spreading across Mt Tam on the way home. With scenery like that I'll never get sick of that drive.
BBQed at my house on Sunday. It was a smorgasborg of locally grown veggies of the Autumn variety, grass fed beef and IPAs. Oh, and a pretty damn good jam session by the fire as well.

I'm thinking Fall is the new summer.

First BIG swell of the season is here. This is an old shot from one of last years biggies. I'll be working for the next two days so I'm hoping to get some surf in with the masses over the weekend. Got in from VA this evening. Feels like winter here in Cali as a result. The east coast was hot, muggy, uptight and formal--just like I remember it. It's good to be home though it was nice to see my family and do a bit of sightseeing with D. We also got a couple games of tennis in too.

Speaking of home I haven't served up my critique of One California Day. I read a review by someone this evening who hated it. I thought it was fucking awesome. Mesmerizing, beautiful and had everything one would want in a great surf flick--a great soundtrack, soulful performance, beautiful scenery, lots of creative style. My god, that scene with Alex Knost, who does that song? It couldn't have been a more perfect choice, it was practically choreographed. Joel Tudo footage riding overhead surf on that raibow fish--so spectacular. It was just so great to see another movie that reminds us that surfing is about a beautiful experience and not just about high performance, contests, crappy boards made in sweatshops overseas and competitive vibes in the water.
It was so positive...
I just don't understand where all the women were? Besides some babes in bikinis and a 3 second shot of Joe Curran's wife on a wave, where were all the masses of female surfers that populate California? I see so much amazing style on a regular basis that I can't understand how it got left out so completely?

That being my only critique I have to say I read the previously mentioned review written by someone I know (no disrespect T) and was shocked to discover that not everyone shared my popular opinion about One California Day. Some people thought the artistic photography and landscape scenes were ridiculous, some people thought Greg Knoll was made out to be boring, some people out there even thought the music sucked!?! I guess what this proves is that just like out in the rest of the world, my fellow surfer is just as likely to be as differant from me as the guy driving down the street in a pimped out low rider blasting ghetto rap, or the IT guy next door. The water is no differant in deciphering one's artistic appreciation, style, or even politics. I've been surprised to discover that often surfing is not about the same thing for everyone. We don't all surf for the same reasons, we don't all dig the same kind of boards, the same kinds of waves, the same surfers, the same style, or even style at all. I think it's a good thing, makes the culture more diverse and helps me be in touch with what's really important about it for me.
Differant strokes for differant folks right?
Let's just say I'm working on that.

Heading to VA tomorrow. No surf for me in the near future. Just pretty leaves, pretty river, family and D. Looking forward to the trip-I miss my folks. This week has been hard. A lot of hard work, a bit of drama, and bit of realization that not everyone can relate to where I'm coming from and that can be ok too.
I'm grateful for all of it. All this experience.