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Monday, April 30, 2007

Stalagmite

2 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:25 AM


N WIND 5 TO 10 KT...BACKING TO NW IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FOOT. W SWELL 8 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
Today's cryptic to non-existent reports indicate less than ideal swells out there...although a few seem to have found a bump or two.
Hoping the relatively light winds and finally a little less swell will all come together to provide some options for tomorrow's go out.

 

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Murder One, Bra

3 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 9:22 AM


N WIND 15 TO 20 KT...WITH GUSTS TO 25 KT THIS AFTERNOON S OF CAPE FALCON. WIND WAVES 4 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
When I was a kid I always watched Hawaii Five-O. Even though the plot lines were often somewhat asinine and McGarrett's hair was really weird, the whole show was so different from the regular TV fare. There were a few things that always kept me coming back...lots of drug busts, aloha shirts, 70's beach girls, McGarrett going undercover, the inevitable "Book Him, Dano" (Russ Tamblyn), the improbable Yun Fat as Chin Ho...and that spinning wave. I still can picture that spinning wave.

 

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Transformation

0 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 8:58 AM


N WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 11 FT AT 14 SECONDS.
North coast to central coast yesterday...
100 miles and not a wave to ride...
Did see a solitary rubber clad dude...
Walking up the cobbles...
Looking somewhat beaten...
As he slowly walked past...
His twin fin board...
Had been transformed...
Into an off-center single...
He was the only taker...
I saw yesterday.

 

Friday, April 27, 2007

Flexual

0 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:40 AM


SW WIND 15 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 4 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 12 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 12 FT AT 13 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON.
Just got done watching and listening to Skip Frye talk about "surfing"...in his life, relationships, balance, order, and sacrifice...opinions on the Fish, Steve Lis, flex, epoxies and progression in shaping...
This is the real deal...
As Sam George says at the end...
"It's an honor..."


 

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Walk in the Park

4 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:25 AM


S WIND 10 TO 15 KT...VEERING TO SW IN THE AFTERNOON. GUSTS UP TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 11 FT AT 13 SECONDS.
The aquatic park...
Nowhere to run...
Nowhere to hide...
Take your medicine...
Take a knee...
Pay your dues...
Pay the piper...
Say "Uncle"...
Say what you will...
Suffer the consequences...
Suffer no fools...
Know the risks...
Know your limits...
Sometimes you lose...
Sometimes you win...

 

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Longboater

2 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:21 AM


W WIND 5 TO 10 KT...BECOMING SW 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 12 FT AT 16 SECONDS.
Occasionally frictions can crop up between shortboarders and longboarders...
A sampling of Shortboarder gripes:
  • Grumpiness about LB'ers sitting outside...
  • LB'ers picking off waves beyond an apparent fair share...
  • LB'ers not utilizing the wave to SB'er standards...
A sampling of Longboarder gripes:
  • SB'ers trying to surf mushy small surf on potato chip surfboards...
  • Butt wiggling and hopping to stay in waves...
  • Grumpiness about SB'ers sitting on the inside...

The guy stylin' in the boat is clearly above it all...even if he is going straight off...

Local Report:

First day out after a long hiatus.

1. I could still paddle

2. I could make it outside

3. I could catch a set wave

4. I could not gracefully get to my feet

5. I could not wait to make a bottom turn 6.

I could not make a bottom turn

7. I still treated myself to an apres surf beer.

Nice day out there.

~rj

 

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Contrary Secondary

2 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 11:39 AM


SW WIND 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO 25 KT...BECOMING W 10TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 5 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 FOOT IN THE AFTERNOON. W SWELL 9 FT AT 15 SECONDS. SECONDARY SWELL SW 7 FT AT 20 SECONDS.
Things are not looking so hot this week. Pretty much contrary winds, from contrary directions, hitting a contrary swell with a contrary period. Although the secondary 7 foot SW at 20 seconds is looking excellent...
In any case, I have my doubts about getting wet this week...doesn't mean I won't go looking. I'm nothing if not persistent...sometimes stupidly so...some more adapted surf quotes:
In the face of each difficult section lies opportunity. ~after Einstein
Life is short, you must surf. ~after a Thai proverb...that Thai philosopher clearly didn't Surf In Oregon...
Local Report:
...I am finally learning that Oregon can't handle groundswell. Monday looked to be beautiful, sunny, solid 8-10 ft...what?...every 15 sec? What would be a sick 4-6 ft (hawaiian) was 100 yards of white water and closeouts from PC to Newport.
~scratchy
Funny, I surfed 2x plus all day in the spots you mentioned...I should add, a good friend of mine who sees perfection most of the time was shaking his head in disbelief. For every good wave I found I spent a great deal of time under water. I'm not trying to clown anyone, but there were waves to be had...you just had to really really want them and know how to get um. At times, the pucker factor was very high.
~sooloo

 

Monday, April 23, 2007

Seeker

1 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:27 AM


VARIABLE WINDS 5 TO 10 KT...BECOMING SW 10 TO 15 KT INTHE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 10 TO 11 FT AT 17 SECONDS.
When the waves get good...even the boards go looking.
It's good to be persistent...sometimes persistence can border on stupidity...
That's not good.
I was looking at some quotes about persistence the other day...
And I pondered their application towards the practice of Surf In Oregon...
So in SIO tradition...
I appropriated and altered them to my own narrow and specific need:
From Albert Camus, my favorite fatalistic author/philosopher:
Waves that don't kill you make you stronger.
From a Buddhist proverb, and who can't appreciate the persistence of Buddhism?...
When the surfer is ready, the wave appears.
And after J.R.R. Tolkien, another pretty accomplished writer...
Around every headland there may be, a new break or a secret spot.
Local Report:
Big and messy, lumpy and bumpy.........2x overhead sets were not in short supply either, and ass kickings were a dime a dozen.
~gaz

 

Sunday, April 22, 2007

History Lesson

1 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 9:32 AM


S TO SE WIND 10 TO 20 KT BECOMING W WIND 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 3 FT. W SWELL 9 FT AT 10 SECONDS.

Rick Griffin discussing adventures of Murphy...

GRIFFIN: Right. I always did that. He always got caught in a time warp of some kind. That was the second adventure, back to the time of the cavemen. What happened was he fell asleep on the beach, and when he woke up he was on the edge of a primordial forest. So his friends are gone, and there's all these strange tropical plants, so he starts off in the general direction of home, and he gets chased by a dinosaur, and he goes in this cave and these two cavemen sneak up behind him, about ready to do him in, and he goes to shield himself with his surfboard, and they see this thing, and they're amazed by it, by its technical aspects -- smooth, shiny, they are not at all familiar with the materials. It's strange to them. At that point, they're more interested in that than they are in killing him. And he realizes this, so he shows them what it is, he goes out and surfs. They really dig it. They go off into the forest and there are all these noises of cutting down, and they come down and they've cut down these logs, pointed them at the end. They're real crude surfboards. So they go out and they're all surfing and having a good time when this volcano erupts. The two cavemen head for the beach and disappear into the forest. Murphy heads out. And there's a tidal wave, the volcano creates a big tidal wave. Murphy takes off on that, and he's in the tube, so anyway he wakes up, and he's running up the beach yelling, "Help! Giant tidal wave!" and a little shore break breaks behind him. His friends are all laughing at him, saying, "Hey, Murphy, you've been dreaming, having another nightmare." And he says, "Hey, no, listen. I was back in time. There were all these dinosaurs, and cave people, and I was teaching them how to surf," and they're all laughing at him, "Oh, sure." So after a while they kind of run him off, and he's still saying, "Man, I know it, I know it was real." And at a different part of the beach, it shows these archaeologists, digging in this cave, and they break into this inner part of the cave, and they shine their light on the wall, and they're going, "What do you make of it?" And there, up on the wall are these crude cave paintings, of these people surfing, and one of them is a crude characterization of Murphy. It's obviously these two cavemen and Murphy. Most of them had an ending like that.

 

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Montage 4-20

4 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 10:59 AM


S WIND 25 TO 30 KT WITH GUSTS TO 35 KT. COMBINED SEAS 12 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 8 SECONDS.
Getting home last night I was struck by the events of the day...surfing is clearly the goal, but there are certainly benefits of sitting on the beach in less that optimum conditions discussing skill levels in the water, the relative merits of Oly beer, sucker punches taken to the head and unfriendly closeouts consuming those unfortunate enough to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time...anyway, I had to compile a montage of some of those discussions...it's impossible to include every impression, nor is depiction accurate in any sense of the image...it's just the montage impression of 4/20 in 2007.
Local Report:
Paddled into the maelstrom today just because. Saw a gem that I missed by 20' it could have been 2' but that is the beauty in surfing, you sometimes get to look but not touch...........
~gaz

 

Friday, April 20, 2007

Semi-Nice

0 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:36 PM


NW WIND 10 KT...BECOMING SE 10 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 9 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
Lotsa looking at lumpy disheveled waves out there today...there were a few takers out battling huge closeouts, duck diving mackers and getting sucked sideshore and out in seconds...
Checked a handful of spots...the most impressive a down cliff gaze at corduroy lines exploding onto ragged cobbles...almost tempting until the north that swings wide and obliterates any previously organized lineup...
Settled in late afternoon in a north coast cove and watched a group snag some DOH rights sweeping into the headland...late drops, hard off the bottom and hang on for dear life...setting up in the eddy, they'd wait for the boneyard explosion to reform on the outer bar and hope the ocean didn't have a different idea...
The ocean did...and watching them all cleaned up and struggling futilely to make it over the top of an outside set...they all came in at once...game over...they scored a few points, but the sea wins again.
Local Report:
Lot o' swell never cleaned up like it should have......still a beautiful day with an arduous paddle against a relentless rip of gargantuan proportions.
~gaz

 

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Kimo

3 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 10:49 AM


SE WIND 10 KT...BACKING TO E IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 12 SECONDS THEN 8 FT IN THE AFTERNOON.
Kimo Hollinger on early contests:

The kids started paddling out with numbers on their bodies. Numbers! It was incongruous to the point of being blasphemous. I wondered about myself. I had been a contestant and a judge in a few of those contests when it all seemed innocent and fun. But it never is. The system is like an octopus with long legs and suckers that envelop you and suck you down. The free and easy surfer, with his ability to communicate so personally and intensely with his God, is conned into playing the plastic numbers game with the squares, losing his freedom, his identity, and his vitality, becoming a virtual prostitute. And what is even worse, the surfers fall for it. I felt sick.
Although I don't suffer physical sickness at experiencing a surf contest, they are among my least favorite events in surfing. I attended one surf contest in my life (Stone Steps Invitationals don't count!) at Huntington with the final heat being Occy vs. Curren...Tom won. You couldn't really see much, the waves were crappy, it was crowded and I was bored...I went down the beach and surfed.

 

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Choices

1 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 8:00 AM

NW WIND 15 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 4 FT. W SWELL 14 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

When the surf is good (and it isn't right now...I hope)...
And I can't get on it for whatever reason...
Work, family, illness, injury or other obligations...
I get kinda pissed about little things...
I snap at my wife over nothing...
I'm impatient with people in general...
Especially when I know friends are getting waves...
It's almost as bad as no surf for days...
Maybe even worse in some ways...
I know...
Because lately...
There's No Surf in Oregon...
And I'm kinda pissed, snappy & impatient.

 

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Charlie Don't Surf

0 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:45 AM


W WIND 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 4 FT. W SWELL 11 FT BUILDING TO 13 FT AT 12 SECONDS THIS AFTERNOON.
"Lance Johnson?...The surfer?"...
Here's a pic of the real thing...a surf contest in Vietnam, 1966...
Captain Rodney Bothelo, 1st Shore Party Battalion, and Miss Elli Vade Bon Cowur, Associate Director USO, judges for the OSO sponsored surfing contest held September 25, 1966, are shown with Private First Class Robert D. Binkley, FLSG-B, who took first place in the event; Corporal Tim A. Crowder, Communications Company, Headquarters Battalion, second place winner, and Lance Corporal Steven C. Richardson, 1st medical Battalion, third place winner.
Can't get enough of Col. Kilgore:
"Just give back the board, Lance...it was a good board...I liked it..."

Local Report:

...the streak has ended. I sat there watching more crappy surf with no one out and took a chance with a friend of mine. Scored some very nice waves between hail storms. Doc said once "Paddle out to confirm it's crappyness".

~sooloo

 

Monday, April 16, 2007

Point Honda

4 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 8:34 AM


SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING S 20 TO 25 KT LATER IN THE MORNING...VEERING TO SW IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FOOT...BUILDING TO 5 FT THIS AFTERNOON. W SWELL 8 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
This was the scene of the U.S. Navy's worst peacetime maritime disaster...off Point Honda, within Vandenburg Air Force Base...in 1923...from the Navy website:
The Navy's greatest navigational tragedy took place in September 1923 at an isolated California coastal headland locally known as Honda Point. Officially called Point Pedernales, Honda is a few miles from the northern entrance of the heavily-traveled Santa Barbara Channel. Completely exposed to wind and wave, and often obscured by fog, this rocky shore has claimed many vessels, but never more at one stroke than at about 9 PM on the dark evening of 8 September 1923, when seven nearly new U.S. Navy destroyers and twenty-three lives were lost there.
Just over twelve hours earlier Destroyer Squadron ELEVEN left San Francisco Bay and formed up for a morning of combat maneuvers. In an important test of engineering efficiency, this was followed by a twenty-knot run south, including a night passage through the Santa Barbara Channel. In late afternoon the fourteen destroyers fell into column formation, led by their flagship, USS Delphy. Poor visibility ensured that squadron commander Captain Edward H. Watson and two other experienced navigators on board Delphy had to work largely by the time-honored, if imprecise, technique of dead reckoning. Soundings could not be taken at twenty knots, but they checked their chartwork against bearings obtained from the radio direction finding (RDF) station at Point Arguello, a few miles south of Honda. At the time they expected to turn into the Channel, the Point Arguello station reported they were still to the northward. However, RDF was still new and not completely trusted, so this information was discounted, and DesRon 11 was ordered to turn eastward, with each ship following Delphy.
However, the Squadron was actually several miles north, and further east, than Delphy's navigators believed. It was very dark, and almost immediately the ships entered a dense fog. About five minutes after making her turn, Delphy slammed into the Honda shore and stuck fast. A few hundred yards astern, USS S.P. Lee saw the flagship's sudden stop and turned sharply to port, but quickly struck the hidden coast to the north of Delphy. Following her, USS Young had no time to turn before she ripped her hull open on submerged rocks, came to a stop just south of Delphy and rapidly turned over on her starboard side. The next two destroyers in line, Woodbury and Nicholas, turned right and left respectively, but also hit the rocks. Steaming behind them, USS Farragut backed away with relatively minor damage, USS Fuller piled up near Woodbury, USS Percival and Somers both narrowly evaded the catastrophe, but USS Chauncey tried to rescue the men clinging to the capsized Young and herself went aground nearby. The last four destroyers, Kennedy, Paul Hamilton, Stoddert and Thompson successfully turned clear of the coast and were unharmed. In the darkness and fog enveloping the seven stranded ships, several hundred crewmen were suddenly thrown into a battle for survival against crashing waves and a hostile shore.
Local Report:
Headed out at 0500 this morning direct to N coast. On arrival the low tide was minimizing the size and spreading the peaks out to close out. Knowing that a brutal S wind was brewing I hauled sac to Shorties where I lone rangered it and scored some good crappy waves until the wind demolished anything rideable. After my therapy session I was debating whether or not to grub on some Muchas when I noticed that each time I rounded a bend there was some offshore spray patterns. Upon further investigation and a full stomach, spot 1 was recieving an onslaught of offshores. I jumped in to catch a few fun ones in front of the rocks until the wind caught my board during a kernupt kick out and took off like a kite. Whereupon my board dragging and skipping me along the surface finally came to rest just where a right was reeling off some nice sandbar hightide action. Burned up the Muchas and headed home. Pretty good trip considering the reports.
~pra

 

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Comin' 'Round the Point

0 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 9:10 AM

NW WIND 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT. W SWELL 12 TO 13 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

A new take on the old song

They'll be wrappin' around the point when they come, [repeat]
It'll be a macking ground swell when it comes, [repeat]
We'll paddle out to meet them when they come, [repeat]
We will drop in without fear when they come, [repeat]
We'll be scorin' hollow tubes when they come, [repeat]
We'll be sharin' stoke and hootin' when they come, [repeat]

Local Report:
Another double run this weekend
nice sizable swell with somewhat favorable winds
Similar results Sat
a couple hero waves
most allowed sharp snappy moves on the faces of long winding lefts
nice solid session sun
wasn’t getting into the sets
lotsa shoaling right up the face
making it difficult to get a decent drop
and then fighting the current
during the long lulls
rendered me into the weak old man that I am
very frustrating considering my pre sesh plan
to wait out the lulls on the beach
to conserve energy.
~moe

...almost sold a board at a garage sale...
~stiffler

 

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Fishing with Guns

0 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 10:02 AM


W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 11 TO 13 FT AT 15 SECONDS.
I don't know why...but this pic after Hunter S. Thompson just felt appropriate.

 

Friday, April 13, 2007

Triangular Projection

4 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 9:42 AM

~photo by unknown
S WIND 30 TO 35 KT WITH GUSTS TO 45 KT. COMBINED SEAS13 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 13 SECONDS.
I mentioned a couple days back sitting on the beach reading Paul Dresman poems. Paul is a Professor at the University of Oregon and, perhaps, more importantly, a poet and a surfer...in Oregon. I hope he doesn't mind, but here's one of his poems...
Triangular Projection
for John Larison

It's "November" in New Zealand
because it's May in Oregon
It's getting windy in Auckland
yet sunny at North Bend.

When a swell comes up
from May's south pole
the waves will rise where we ride
all the way across the Pacific.

On a south-southwest swell
each set of waves stretch across
the mouth of the wild creek,
winter's sandbar laid offshore,
and the swells break with symmetry--
gift of the southern hemisphere's tempestry--
a series of rings
that pulse thousands of miles
to the bay at Port Orford.

The water's in the forties,
morning's wind in the thirties,
and I wish I were twenty again.
The waves look big from far.
Up close, the walls are bigger yet.

When it gets really big, some
surfers hide in the lee of the "sea stack"
--a big offshore rock--a monolith--
to wait out the sets.

When it gets triple overhead

We catch what we can ride

We ride what we can catch
Local Report:
...nice session on the central coast. Got there 45 min before low tide and only one guy surfing. Caught about 10 nice little "warm-up" waves on the inner break. Other guy left pretty quickly and I moved out to the outer/bigger break. Had it to myself for a while and had a few nice drops and long rides. Then to my relief, 6 other guys showed up...being satiated, I welcomed the company. Waves got bigger, but a lot of shifty and deceptive peaks rolled through. Realized after a while that I was the only one out again. Got in the car and looked at the clock...I had been surfing for 4 and 1/2 hours!! I thought for sure the clock was wrong...time warp.
~funk

 

Thursday, April 12, 2007

No Surf Today

7 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 9:31 AM



W WIND 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 11 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
This is the swing from yesterday morning to yesterday evening...from somewhat fun looking surf to a maelstrom of chop, wind and water. Another welcoming invite from Surf in Oregon...
Local (rescue) Report:
Went down for a check and possible surf, the wind was ripping though so I just looked at it for awhile. Saw a guy in trouble so I kept the glasses on him. Moved the truck to the ramp and called SooLoo and told him that he might need to head down as there were now 3 guys in the rip not getting anywhere against it. Figured I needed at least 1 more if not a 3rd hand.

Changed into my suit as the weakest of the 3 waved his arms, he was pretty screwed. SooLoo pulled up and we paddled out on longboards. Wind was over 25.....heading toward 30 fast. Lost sight of the 3 as we drove down.........we went out in the rip, couldn't see them, thought "Fuck, they've already gone around the point...hope they're not trying to go in the bowl on the other side".

As we reached the submerged rock outside of the takeoff point we saw the 3 of them climbing out of the water inside the rocks as they began to climb the cliffs to get up. So we started back in through the rip....fuck what a battle!! Loads of wind and big chop, it was a long paddle to the south to get free of the current before we got lumps to come on in with. We paddled hard and it was still a struggle........

We came in as they came down the dune, knew 2 of them!! ...a guy that surfs here quite a bit on a 7'er, another guy...that I see all the time, both decent surfers......! The 3rd dude was the one least experienced he was the one waving his arms.....I think the other 2 tried to help him or got distracted long enough to get into trouble.
~gaz

 

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Shoulda Been...

1 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:18 AM

E WIND 5 TO 10 KT...RISING TO 10 TO 15 KT IN THE MORNING...THEN...BACKING TO N IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 9 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

...there today.
Usually it's "Shoulda Been Here Yesterday"...and I was...
It was onshore and a mess...
Now it's offshore and looks much better...
Can't win 'em all...
On the positive side...
I sat on an empty beach...
In an armchair of massive fallen rocks...
Under a sunny cloudless sky...
Sipping cold beer...
And reading Paul Dresman poems...
About surf, Oregon and much more...
When I was done...
I filled a bag of trash...
With bits of plastic & foam...
And wrappers of surf wax...
That should never have been left behind...
By surfers who should know better...
Local Report:
I got in the water last night South of Gleneden and North of Otter at a spot I've always watched but it's pretty intimidating. View from the water was way better. Got in with a guy who has had years surfing that area. Got 5 waves, and an amazing right drop I still have goosebumps over. Was fun getting over a mental barrer at a spot that for me is pretty spooky and had an amazing time. I still won't jump in the water there without some one that knows it. But still stoked.
~brisco

 

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Threading Needles

4 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:06 AM


W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 12 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
There are certain waves...
You can ride on certain boards...
When during certain moments...
There's a certain feeling...
Of Threading Needles.

Local Report:
In the 100 or so miles I drove on the Oregon coast today I saw one person in the water with surfboard... They were not surfing... Messy but sunny.
~doc

 

Monday, April 09, 2007

Lucky

11 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 8:35 AM


W WIND 20 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 6 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
I have a friend that lives on the Oregon coast...well, I actually have a few. But this one friend, he surfs alot...well, most of them surf alot...alot more than me anyway...but he gets more surf than most, in any case. I get out pretty often, but work, family and distance often conspire to keep my water time at about once or twice a week...sometimes more, somtimes less.
I heard through the grapevine that this friend saved a couple beginners yesterday off a prominent cape on the central coast. This wasn't the first time he's done so and it certainly won't be the last...but the bottom line is that these two were extremely fortunate that this person was present and able to help them. Luther Johnston, who died in the waters off Yaquina head last week, wasn't as lucky...he had friends who were trying to help him, but he died despite their efforts.
I wasn't there, and there may be other points in this matter that surface in time...but two kids decided to go surfing without really understanding the situation, conditions or their own abilities. A river of a side shore swept them north into a headland rip that they either couldn't, or didn't understand how to, paddle out of. The rip took them far enough out that they were swept around the cape into the area depicted in the photo. Again, I wasn't there...but I'd assess the photo as a small day...so I presume there was a bit more water moving out there as these kids bobbed around like corks wondering if "surfing" was such a good idea after all.
Well, long story short...the Coast Guard was called and en route...and my friend went out after them and paddled them all the way around the cape to the safety of the north beach. Paddling the cape is something that he does on occassion, but I doubt that this would have been one of the days he'd have selected to do so. But they're lucky that he surfs almost everyday it's surfable, that he paddles when it's small, that he was willing to put his own safety aside to help them, and that he had the ability and conditioning to get the job done.
This was a story with a happy ending...there are many stories where the ending isn't as positive. And there will surely be many more unhappy endings for people who don't properly assess their own abilities and surroundings...and who aren't so lucky to have my friend there to help them.
You did good, my friend...

 

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Boatist

1 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 8:40 AM


S WIND RISING TO 25 TO 30 KT WITH GUSTS TO 35 KT LATE THIS AFTERNOON. COMBINED SEAS BUILDING TO 11 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 11 SECONDS.

Although I consider myself tolerant and respectful towards most people and things...race, religion, sexual orientation, and even political belief...I have no problem with shortboarders, longboarders, funboarders, softtoppers, body boarders, kneeboarders or body surfers...there is one thing I cannot abide...kayakers in the lineup...I guess I'm a boatist...
That said...here's a great story from "Safe to Surf blog" about alternative craft and one of my surf heros...

 

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Rockerless

2 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 9:34 AM


SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT...VEERING TO W IN THE AFTERNOON.WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
Yesterday Report...Pic from another day...same place:
It was...
Lumpy and disheveled with periods of putridity...
But pretty big on the outside sets...
I was the only one out on a 9'6" and sitting well outside the pack...
And watched them get cleaned out on more than one occasion...
It was a little over head high...
But plenty of disturbing, shifty power...
I picked off my first tester wave...
Quickly got out of it and scrambled back outside...
Not wanting to test my inability to duckdive over 9 feet of foam...
The second wave was a fun one but still looking over the shoulder...
The third went top to bottom and I got absolutely rogered...
Not enough rocker and not far enough back...
Spun underwater far too long...
Then rising to the surface sucked back down again until I hit bottom...
Definite un-fun-ness...
Paddled back out and had to to readjust my wetsuit and boot that had nearly been pulled off... Then proceeded to pick off a few intermittently...
Between scratching for the horizon...
Or being suckered into trying for unmakables...
That made you look quickly back in an "Oh F@#k Me" moment.
Local Report:
Big dodgy peaks
West with a touch of south
Indicators firing smoke signals.
Steep drops over bumps.
Paddle out through toilet bowl hell.
Some made it some didn't.
South to north rip
scared surfers
Orange bird would have had some to pluck.
Without luck.
Screamers all afternoon.*
~gaz

 

Friday, April 06, 2007

Guardians of the "Spot"

5 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:39 PM


S WIND 10 TO 15 KT. GUSTs UP TO 20 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
I sometimes will snap pics of waves on the Oregon coast...usually after surfing...or in the course of long recons. I did this 15 years ago with film and I do it now with a digital camera. I try not to post pics of sensitive spots or even of known spots unless I have cropped out recognizable landmarks...
On some levels I am also concerned and protective of the breaks I surf...there's no question the lineups have grown progressively more crowded and I am sure this summer will be a record breaker crowd-wise...on the other hand it's an inevitability in the course of time that with more people crowding our planet, our state and our coastline that the crowds in the water will increase...
I have done my best to dissuade others from entering this very dangerous and wasteful activity...although some might look at this blog as part of the problem...maybe they are right...but I think that the majority of people that read this blog and others like it are the kind of people we need in the water and communicating what it means to be a surfer while at the same time being responsible for the protection and guardianship of this natural resource.
Oh yeah...I surfed today...not as good as Wednesday...but a few bombs out there that were rideable and racy...I'll post a report later.

 

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Tale of 2 Sessions

6 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:58 AM


S WIND 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 15 SECONDS.

The Worst of Times...
Yesterday's conditions were looking pretty similar to today's and I scrambled early hoping to get a few waves before the wind got it. When I pulled up to a likely spot I was greeted with low tide, crumbly, tiny, onshore slop...there wasn't a soul in the water and with good reason
I checked a few other places in self deluding hope that just around the corner there would be perfect waist to chest high peelers lit in glowing rising sun technicolor out of Morning of the Earth...I didn't think it was a stretch but instead I found more slop under gray skies and a building onshore winds.
Continuing in my fruitless search for perfection I came upon a weird low tide setup at a spot I surf on occasion...the reef was exposed and Washington tourists on spring break were picking it over looking for oceanic souvenirs. Beside the reef the sand beach had been scoured into a huge hole where knee to waist high crumbly waves were peeling left along the edge of the hole.
I watched it for a bit, and although it looked decidedly crappy and shifty and backing off...along with final detonation onto dry sand...I suited up and paddled out for a look.
Once out, I quickly realized why I had seen not another soul in the water that morning...the waves were gutless and weak and while I was able to paddle into a few on a 9' 6" Hynson Downrailer that pretty much will catch anything, once on the wave it was pretty underwhelming. There always seemed to be reasonably good looking waves breaking wherever I wasn't, but in reality it just bit in totality. I still surfed, if you can call it that, for about two hours. I tried the Ghost Hole point break but the incoming tide changed the dynamic and made it too mushy.
After I got out I checked a couple other spots further south and pretty much continued to find nothing. Although a beach break spot I saw was tempting in that it was breaking about 25 feet off the beach and was an easy paddle...but the wave breaking in about a foot of water about a foot from dry sand was a deal breaker...maybe if I still boogie boarded, but I'm all grown up now.

The Best of Times...
After working a few hours midday, I presumed the waves would have certainly improved. I reasoned that by now they would be chest high, rifled and perfect...the American flag snapping squarely on the flag pole as I drove by gave additional assurance...patriotism and perfection.
Unfortunately, if anything it was worse...I checked another spot, and another...only to find dismal, dinky, blown out slop.
I reasoned that now would be a good time to start drinking beer or some other liquor and made a couple calls to see if anyone else was up for this essential surf alternative...but since I couldn't find anyone I continued north in my now resigned journey to gaze on crappy waves.
Passing bar after bar in small coastal burgs, my resolve withered as I increasingly pondered pulling off and tipping a few back in an effort to drown what was turning out to be a bust surf-wise. I turned off the highway and went in to check a spot that is sometimes protected from south winds but that I had low hopes for due to the surf squalor I had found thus far.
As I parked my car I noticed a couple vehicles nearby that looked...well, surfy. I walked towards the water and as I came over the dune I saw an emerald line lift and throw, then reel left down the beach. Then another wave rose up, and on this one there was a rider...and he was surfing it!
My knees were weak and I dropped and groveled in the sand...weeping in gratitude. (Well, not exctly weeping or groveling...but I was pretty stoked and not a little bit surprised)
I watched for a bit to determine that this wasn't a freak occurence but after seeing a couple sets I was a convert and I headed back to my car, struggled into my soggy, cold wetsuit... grabbed the single fin and paddled out to partake.
The waves weren't perfect, but they actually improved on the outgoing tide. A confluence of 2 separate swells was providing a peak with a solid push into the dominant swell going almost always left. There were tiny almond barrels that made me wish I was the size of a GI Joe so I could tuck into them...although the chest high waves provided plenty of juice and were racy and fun.
The paddle out was forgiving and getting caught inside by a couple outside sets wasn't a disastrous occurence. I caught many waves before dark...glassy, green and groomed...I was amazed as I would paddle out, sit briefly, and then move towards an incoming line that I had found the one spot in a hundred plus mile stretch of Oregon coast that was working and that I was surfing it with one other.
An outside set approached and I paddled out to meet it. As it reared up, I spun around, paddled hard, felt the wave grab hold and accelerate me...I dropped into a head high left, bottom turning around the froth and swung up into the face and then pumped the board down the line...swung it all the way around to bring it back into the meat of the wave and then trimmed as the wave reeled towards shore. Inside, the wave closed out and I proned it in to the shallows.

 

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Summer Sized

1 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:19 AM


S WIND 5 TO 10 KT...RISING TO 15 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FOOT...BUILDING TO 4 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 13 SECONDS.
Put the 9' 6" single in the car a few minutes ago without even checking the forecast...then took a look. Looks like I made the right call. Hopefully, the wind'll stay off it and there will be some clean little, uncrowded waves...I'll let you know.

 

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Offshores

5 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:17 AM


NE WIND 10 TO 15 KT...EASING TO 5 TO 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 FT. NW SWELL 6 FT AT 15 SECONDS.
Looks beautiful this morning...hope it holds through tomorrow...but the wind's supposed to swing to a south...we'll see.
On another note...the Pacific Northwest had it's own mini version of "The Convergence"...a Quadrophenia...a Fish Fry...or a Gathering...or per FP's moniker, an "Anything But 3"...I missed out, but it looks like it was certain fun and a real breath of fresh stoke for those attending...J from Surf Strait has a little write up and Foulweather is sure to cover soon...check it out.
An especial nod to K from Ewaliko who provided several boards for the event and likely contributed enormously to making it a very memorable time for those lucky enough to be there...

 

Monday, April 02, 2007

Twain

2 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 7:13 AM


NW WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 8 SECONDS.
Looks like another typical stormy day in Oregon...sans rubber, of course...you got the guy that stands up before he's in the wave...the assorted bobbing buoy sorts in the impact zone...shorebound beginners practicing their popups and style...and the cluelessly doomed standing on the rocks ready to be swept off, in and away.
Mark Twain on Surfing...from "Roughing It":
In one place we came upon a large company of naked natives, of both sexes and all ages, amusing themselves with the national pastime of surf- bathing. Each heathen would paddle three or four hundred yards out to sea (taking a short board with him), then face the shore and wait for a particularly prodigious billow to come along; at the right moment he would fling his board upon its foamy crest and himself upon the board, and here he would come whizzing by like a bombshell! It did not seem that a lightning express-train could shoot along at a more hair-lifting speed. I tried surf-bathing once, subsequently, but made a failure of it. I got the board placed right, and at the right moment, too; but missed the connection myself. The board struck the shore in three-quarters of a second, without any cargo, and I struck the bottom about the same time, with a couple of barrels of water in me. None but natives ever master the art of surf-bathing thoroughly.
Sounds like ol' Mark got kinda worked...kooked out...ate sand.
While the locals (aka "Natives") scored heavily...connected the dots...shot the curl.
Local Report:
(It's kinda outta date...from last week...Tuesday I think...the names have been changed to protect the protective)
I checked Indicators (Oregon's version) today...
I got up early and went to Sand Spit...
Some friends of mine surfed a mysto break on the Island of Santosha...
I knew they would...
They got it, but it was no "Winter of '69'" at Windansea...
I saw Pat Curren sleeping in his car at Waimea...
Pipeline wasn't really firing...
So I headed over to Steamer Lane...
More onshore slop...
I drove on the beach at Daytona...
Let me tell you Florida sucked today...
Closeouts on the inner bar...
So I headed into work in Lincoln City...
Then checked Jaws...
Indicators again...
And Sand Spit...
If anything, they sucked even worse...
There wasn't even anyone out at Indicators...
On the first day of Spring Break too!
I thought about checking Santosha myself...
But I didn't have time...
So I cut inland and swung by Mundaka...
It actually was working but the tide was too low...
And I thought that Shark Island would be better so I checked that...
No luck...
I finally hiked into Black's...
It was horrible...
Disorganized, low tide wind blown slop...
I might as well have been in Oregon!
So I went to the old standby...
I pulled up to Nocnir...
And wouldn't you know it...
There were actually a few waves coming through...
It only took me 6 hours and 150 miles of driving to find it...
I paddled out...
I didn't shred, or rip, or gouge or throw buckets...
I didn't get tubed, or get a nose ride or an off the lip...
I didn't hassle, or jockey or give or get any stinkeye...
No rocks were thrown, no windows waxed, no vibing was done...
I paddled out and picked off a 1/2 dozen waist to chest high waves...
Nothing fancy, just paddle, drop and go down the line...
It was racy, but pretty gutless, especially the left...
When I was done I called Kelly Slater...
"Slats!" I said...
"Did you and Machado do Santosha this morning?"
"Yeah..." he answered...
"How was it?" I asked...
"Not as good as last time", he replied...
"Where were you?" he asked...
"Nocnir". I answered...
"Yeah, I figgered Nocnir might be the only place the wind wasn't on it" he said...
He was soooooo right.
~doc

 

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Black Butch

2 comments Posted by Wave Farmer at 9:05 AM


NW WIND 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WINDWAVES 2 FT...BUILDING TO 3 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. NW SWELL 6 FT AT 8 SECONDS.
"[Butch went on to] single-handedly rescue more guys in trouble on the North Shore than probably anyone else ever will. He was one of the last of a breed that started when surfboards were made of solid wood and faded out when they became light little slivers of foam and fiberglass." -- Gerry Lopez
Black Butch

Given the gift as a natural athlete...
One of surfing's more colorful characters...
His ability, though, paled greatly...
Compared to the legendary tales...
Of fighting, binging, pranks and recklessness.
Those who met Butch Van Artsdalen...
Likely would never forget him...
It was said he did 3 things equally well...
Surfing and drinking and brawling

He'd never seen a surfboard...
'Til he left Norfolk, VA...
For sunny La Jolla, CA...
On the beach at Windansea...
He'd borrow boards when he could...
'Til the Hawk hooked him up...
And quickly flew alongside...
Windansea grom with Hynson & Frye...
In one of the heaviest beach crews ever.

All his plans for a productive future...
His innate skill in all the ball sports...
Were swept aside and away by surfing...
When offered a spot as a Padre...
He passed on it for the waves of Hawaii...
He hit the North Shore in the early '60s...
Becoming a member of the Mead Hall Gang...
Where he gained renown for his radical antics...
Both on the beach and in the surf.

A propensity for drinking and fighting...
Gave him full acceptance by the Hawaiians...
And earned him his name "Black Butch"...
Already the king of Big Rock...
Mayor of the Long Bar in Tijuana...
He liked to go left at big Waimea...
And surfed switchfoot at Ehukai (aka Pipe)...
Earning another name "Mr. Pipeline"...
All on unrefined surf equipment.

Pioneer tube riding master...
Member of Duke's Surf Team...
Master prankster and binge drinker...
Bad tempered but generous...
A lifeguard at Pipe in the 1970s...
He saved countless lives...
And gave invaluable advice...
Until the day he died...
An alcoholic in 1979.
Local Report:
April 1st...Waist to chest, cold as hell if you weren't in the sun. Fun waves overall with lots of clean sets rolling through. Got smaller and choppy around 1ish. Passed through a snow flurry in the pass. ~Grave Wisdom

 

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