My favorite place to surf in Cali...

The pros ripped it up...

RIP CURL THE SEARCH EVENT

Sick.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE ONE AND ONLY ;-)

There are only two things in this world that give me a sense of peace and belonging. The love of my life Bel will forever be number one and the other is what this blog is all about. The love for Mother Ocean. A love that has been developed over many years and has taught me to dive head into my passions when the ride looks awesomely steep and hollow(occasionally making the best of mushy and foamy times as well). As a surfer we all look for the endless ride(left!) that will lead us to a state of nirvana, a state of complete and utter stokeness to where you walk onto the beach afterwards, sit down, and realize just how darn thankful you are! The universe just aligned perfect for me.

I've found that endless ride and I want to wish her the best on her most awesome birthday! Happy birthday my love! That silly grin I have on my face when I come out of the water will always be because I'm thinking "I get to come home to the most beautiful thing I've ever seen and felt in my life!"

NEW BOARD! (within 24 hours ;-)

Awww yeah...life is good!

OOOPS!

Topanga. Second Wave. Two foot slop. OOOOOOPS!!!


"Good excuse to buy a new board!" ~Tyler Grant

Pt. Dume and the South Swell of the Century(debatable)

Early Birthday present from mother ocean...thanks!

Now giving backside tailslide lessons...LA is all rights! ;-O

South Santa Monica Surf Fishing .. Practice Makes...

...for a bigger catch! ;-)

Awesome yellowfin croaker!

South SM Again!

Awesome! My first corbina...

Fish for Mom...

Fish in the Fishing Hole South SM Pier

Sting Ray - Catch and Release


Tiny Croaker - Catch and Release


9" Yellowfin Croaker - Tasty!


Barred Surf Perch - Tasty!

Shorty Halibut Catch and Release

Dern it...4 inches too short...

Not Bad But I Gotta Remember the Board

Torrance and Del Rey Jetty fishing is loads of fun! Especially with the DOTA crew!

Stan: 9 Walleye and 1 Mackerel
Tuan: 1 Walleye and 7 Mackerel
Phong: 1 Walleye and 0.99 Mackerel

Coulda caught some good waves too but didn't plan accordingly, oh well, next time definitely loading the shorty just in case!

Finally Settled into Los Angeles Beach LIfestyle

LA is now part of my surfing and fishing repertoire!

Palos Verdes to Nicholas Canyon. I do love my lefts.

Torrance to Zuma Beach. Both great places to throw the line.

Hope to see you out there!

This One Didn't Get Away

Fishing out at Tables on the 8 footer again! Setup a little bit further north and landed 4 Calicos. This was just outside the main break. Found a nice little kelp spot sitting further inside from the large beds. So many bites! As I was securing my third fish I left my lure in the water and accidentally let it sink. BANG, reeled it in and ended up with my biggest catch yet! LOL. Three around 5 pounds or so and the lucky one was around 8-10. Woohoo! I think I gotta let the under ten pounders go now...;-P.


12:00pm
Water Temp: 63 degrees
Air Temp: 70 Degrees
Weather: Sunny and Clear; Wind was Breezy
Tide: Low and Rising
Surf: not bad it was about 4-5 out there.

P.S. Used the Trilene knot on the lead line and a couple ties on the trimmed line to secure. Left about inch of trimmed line for any slippage. I like this knot. Hung on even when pulling hard against hook-ups with the reef flora.

Spring Fish

Awww yeah. Rigged the 8 foot sponge board with a basket and went fishing! Lingered halfway in between the kelp beds and the shore at Tables. It was a good spot this mid morning. Got a small Calico and it was enough for a meal. Half an hour later a couple pulls yanked my bait of the line so looks like they're biting out there! Can't wait to land a ten pounder! ;-)
Tide: Low and was Rising
Temp: 62
Weather: Sunny and clear.

A Return To South Pillbox

Wow, 3 hour sesh! Nice little left coming through on the south side. Was chasing it a bit paddling back and fourth but worth it. Floatie was the move of the day and some cover up stuff.

Tide ~2-3 ft
Waves ~3-4 ft

Hawaii - Oahu - North and South Shore January 27th-31st 2010

Day One:
Sandies 1-2 foot left. Sweet little wave. Surfed a local beach with lifeguards and friends. A perfect all around session. 70 degree water. After session Poke was amazing.

Day Two:
Kaikos 2-3 foot Right. Dinged up the board. Launching from rocks. Coming in through reef. FUN!!! Wind was howling but still rideable. Wave rain was insane.

Courts 1-3 foot Right. Sweet beach and nice walk and paddle out over the reef. Got cut off by the local cutie and earned a free drink. This is what Hawaii looks like in the pictures.

Stairway to Heaven(Haiku Steps). Insanely awesome hike! 2,000 feet and 3,000 + steps. This is Hawaii to the max.

Day Three: NORTH SHORE ;-D
Marijuana's/Alligators 4-5 foot Right. Serious paddle, serious duckdiving, easy drop but still lots o energy out there!!!

Day Four: Happy Frigan B-day Kurt!
rest...soooo sore from the stairway.

Day Five:
Diamond Head. 0-1 foot left. Sharp reef all the way out. 15th street like feel with lots o long boarders. Lots o peaks all up and down this section. Couple of fun waves. Final session before hopping on the plane an hour later. GOODTIMES!!!

Project Pelican Completed!!!!! 2009_12_21st & 23rd

Hell yeah. Finally got the water camera jerry-rigged so that I can surf and pull the darn thing out easily/quickly enough to capture these magical waveriding creatures. You can see the difference...

Del Mar 26th Street

Was till using a rashguard to hold onto the camera. The casing almost twisted off and I would hav elost everything but luckily caught it before i had to duckdive a wave. Pictures were scetchy and only got one good pic of a pelican going by on the inside. Surf was small. About 1-3. Really really cold though this morning. No wind but plenty of chill. Oh dang, alomst forgot, two dolphins swam right underneath me and unfortunately the day was cloudy so I couldn't get a good underwater picture!

Solana Beach - South Pillbox

Jackpot!!! Pelicans all over the place. Used a strap this time to secure the camera and it was way easier then a rashguard. Beautiful shots and I think I was able to capture how big and majestic these creatures are. Seeing them go by on waves ten times there size you realize how graceful they are as well.
Surfwise, I was able to paddle and ride with the camera no problem. Caught two gnarly lefts that went about 50 yards to the inside. Big smile on my face afterwards. Great power and so clean.

Mission accomplished...

Solid afterstorm peaky surf. 6-8 feet. Wooooohooo!!!

Del Mar 29th Street HIGH TIDE w/Chris Sonney

2009_12_18 0730

Wow, launching off the stairs at 29th street!!! Sand is gone and tide was super gone. Nothing like waking yourself up with 59 degree water. Sunshine and calm winds allowed for a great session with a cool buddy. He's moving back up north so boo on that but will have to cruise up there to surf with him soon.

3-5 foot day. Occasional 6 footer but the tide was so high that everything was pretty mushy. North swell with loads of current so we ended up at 20th in about 45 mins. Geat last wave with a pretty good backside snap. Will rememver it for a while.

Big Monday!!! 2009_12_14 0830

Cold, cold, cold morning session. Waves were easily 10 feet and heavy. Paddle out wasn't too bad in the 4/3 but there was bit of a current going south. The usual spot was breaking and Secrets was peeling a bit on theoutside before mushing and reforming. Caught two excellent waves after finally getting the right position. A left and a right. Biggest of 2009 for sure and you can feel the power of the wave as offshore winds try to throw you off and cause a partially blind takeoff. Definitely raining after duckdives. Cool feeling.

Ok, enough of the sunshine and flowers part. 20 second period swell meant high disparity between what you think are set waves and what really are the set waves. Being greedy and catching the 7-8 footers left me on the inside of the clean-out set and I had to bail my board twice. (Darn shoulder!!!) First bail was cake but the second was...well...easily one of the roughest dives ever. SLAM! Ok that sucks...don't lose my breath...ok i'm upside down and about to get thrown down...wtf, i'm on rock and flattend out on my back...wave still pounding on me...relax, relax...pressure finally gone...crouch...still on rock...push off with my feet...ok...swim...swim...kick...still swimming...where's the surface...finally...gasp...breathe...find board...thank god there isn't another.

Needless to say I caught one more and called it a day...shaken but not disheartened. Turned out to be a confidence booster and looking forward to the next big session.

59 degrees. 7-8 ft with occasional 10 footer. Right was the better wave as usual. Lefts were lining up but the tide was getting too low and it was starting to close out. Glassy and calm, no wind. Cloudy.

Snaking a Right @ 15th - 11_27_2009 0900

Went out at 15th Street with Tyler the waterman! First wave I ended up snaking him and felt a little guilty. It was a nice right almost all the way into shore. Good little ride with some decent cutbacks. 4-5 footer.

Rest of the session was super slow. Close out swell coming mostly right at us. Tide was creeping to a low so everything shut down but not 8th Street! Going off with about 50 guys out. Peaky A-frame about 5-6 feet and going both ways really nicely. Some barrels...

Drifted over a little toawrds 8th and lined up finally on a nice left. 13th streetish. Good take-off, dodged some insiders and had a great off the lip rip. Should have paddled in...

...but didn't and ended up swimming cause my leeash broke on the next 6 foot right that was a huge closeout. Bailed, swam, swam some more, and called it a day.

Thanksgiving Double Header

Henneman's! Long wait but way worth it. A memorable left to start things off. A frame take-off and slight cover up section in the boils. Good speed awith a couple off the lips and finishing with a nice cutback. Combos...finally! This spot needs size for sure and low to medium tides work. Goodtime!
Water temp has dropped a couple degrees to 61-62. Slight wind chop but nothing to complain about at 11:00am.

BLACKS!!! Been a while and it showed! My arm came out immediately duck diving a hollow 6 footer. Bad, bad, bad timing. Caught a couple hollow lefts and then a right. Slight cover ups but very short rides cause it was too peaky out there. Second to last wave, a left, my arm came out again and this time it stayed out. Sitting in the impact zone with a disfunctional arm is not fun and I was lucky a set didn't roll through. I got to get this thing fixed. F*&K!!!
Surfed with David Z and he brought his NorCal charm with him. "Oh, I think something really big just swam underneath me. Probably just a seal, hahaha!" Awesome!
Sat mostly just north of the South peak. Wind was offshore, raining! Size was between 5-7 feet. Water was warm!!! Not the best Blacks has been but it was BLACKS!

6am @ 15th 2009_11_20

COLD! Chest high with long lags in between. Not very good lines but got a good inside last wave. Pelicans everywhere, and they were quite big. Dolphins showed as well. Finally a morning session.

Another morning start that included the 3-Day Walkers...

El Segundo 2009_11_15 0900

small stuff but perfect for getting rid of a hangover(hj not included). could see big potential for some sweet lines if it was bigger.

South Pillbox

South Side Pillbox...

Washing machine conditions with 3-5 ft close outs = bump on the head and a bruised elbow.

Today was a tough day getting back in the water but I feel great afterwards. Sunset brought on a good crowd.

Water temp was quite warm for November.

8th Street Del Mar

Checked Seascape, it was empty and thus only close outs around 4-5 ft.

Went to 8th Street hoping the tide wouldn't be too high and a nice 4 footer rolled through. A couple good waves breaking on the outside reef but only enough room to do a maneuver or two before mooshing out. Sunny and warm waters. Fullsuit was too much. Funny thing happened though...a little fish ran into my arm trying to get away from something.

Both Rights & Lefts out there.

Not bad for a lazy Sunday afternoon...last wave was sweet for the goofy one.

La Canada Street - North Rock

3-4 Waves with ~20 mins waits between sets. 4-5 ft.
Some cool stand up paddle boarders were out and it was kinda epic for them.

Mom finally got to see me surf since forever.
Last wave was awesome. Little cover up with a bit of a cutback finish. Love this place. Magical.