Turn On It, Tune Out, Drop In

S WIND 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 11 SECONDS SUBSIDING TO 9 FT IN THE AFTERNOON.

No surf for me this Labor Day weekend...

Heading south and east...

Boats, lakes, rivers & beer...

Damn! Looks good too...

See ya next week.

In February of 1937 a shipping strike caused lumber to pile up at Port Orford mills...

Filling the docks and mill yards, even spilling onto the streets and lots of town...

The Trans-Pacific Lumber Co. arranged for a steamer out of LA to ship lumber...

The Cottoneva arrived at the then new Port Orford dock on Tuesday, February 9, 1937...

The wooden steamer was built in 1917 on the Columbia originally as the Frank D. Stout

The slated load for the ship was to consist of 800,000 board feet of lumber...

The next day high winds hit the harbor and the Cottoneva made for open sea...

As the port had little protection against the 75 mph south winds hitting the coast...

But placement of the cargo made the boat hard to handle and she was beached...

Hard and high aground between the Knapp Hotel and the Port Orford Pharmacy...

The crew of 26 was saved by Port Orford lifesaving crews using a breeches buoy...

Hundreds of people ventured to Port Orford to view the wreck of the Cottoneva...
Which was embedded deeply in the sand and could be reached at low tide...
Questions and solutions about what to do with the rusting hulk varied...
Some suggested the city lay claim to the wreck and convert it into a jail...

A jail with a salt water pool which would be useful in the treatment of drunks...

The wreck of the Cottoneva was ultimately turned over to Orris Knapp...

A man nearly met his end assisting Knapp in retrieving a lifeboat from the wreck...

Charles Hayes' craft capsized and he nearly drowned in the heavy surf...

Knapp planned to use the hull as a tourist attraction for the summer...

In addition to the lumber, machinery and other salvageable equipment...

And thus the Cottoneva became a part of the maritime history of Port Orford.

SW WIND 5 TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 8 SECONDS.

So I invented a new move today...

Well, new to me...

I'm sure it's been done before...

Anyhow, paddled out about 10am...

Ran into a friend...

Traded waves with him for a couple hours...

Wasn't too big...

Chest high, tops...

Took off on a left...

It walled up nicely after the drop...

I stepped forward...

And watched the nose dip...

I stepped back quickly...

But not quick enough...

Watching the nose bury...

Expecting a launch...

And requisite swim...

I proned onto the board...

Which forced the nose deeper...

Expecting to pop out the back...

Only to pop out onto the face...

I stood back up nonchalantly...

And finished the ride...

I have no plans to add this move...

To my small repertoire.

I always thought Prince Namor...

AKA The Sub-Mariner...

Was super cool...

Why was he always so pissed off though?

Was he a local or something?

NW WIND 5 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FOOT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 9 SECONDS.

My wife found the receipt for the Mabile twinzer the other day...

I wasn't really trying to hide the fact I'd gotten another board...

I just didn't mention it...

I mean, she doesn't even surf...

So it's not like she'd want to check it out or anything...

Right?

NW WIND 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING VARIABLE 5 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 10 SECONDS.

I'm not a religious man...

Although a life in the ocean...

Has definitely given me pause...

On more than one occassion...

The Oregon coast might be God's country...

Surely, one among many...

But words from Jesus apply...

Out of context though they are...

"...If you shall say to this mountain...

Take up and cast thyself into the sea...

It shall be done."

W WIND 5 TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 11 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 8 TO 9 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

Up & down the coast Wednesday & Thursday...

Only to find blown out mackin' surf...

Checked here and there but only half-heartedly...

Since I knew it was crappy everywhere...

Saw a solo walking out to surf around noon...

I wasn't seeing anything worth the walk...

Much less the paddle...

But it looks like things are shaping up

S WIND 25 TO 30 KT WITH GUSTS TO 45 KT. COMBINED SEAS 8 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 8 SECONDS EARLY...THEN BUILDING TO 10 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 8 SECONDS.

4 Winged Seagulls?

What's next?

Flying Monkeys?

Clean Surf?

SW WIND 5 TO 10 KT...BACKING TO S 10 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 FOOT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 8 SECONDS.

I don't know why...

But when we'd bomb hills...

Luge style on our backs...

I don't advise it btw...

We called it Carpet Bagging...

I don't know why...

I do know why we didn't do it standing up...

Clay wheels and roller skate trucks...

Things changed in the 70's...

Polyurethane wheels...

Fiberflex decks...

Tracker trucks...

Were a few of the improvements.

NW WIND 5 TO 10 KT...BACKING TO SW AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 FOOT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 9 SECONDS.

When I had Skip Frye shape me an Eagle...

I told him to make it bulletproof...

I didn't care about the extra weight...

So, he used a 1/2 inch stringer...

And heavy glass all around...

But after about a year...

The Eagle's starting to age...

A fin box that needed repair...

Rail shatters due to smacking the rider...

Now a ding in the nose that will need to be dried & fixed...

Worse than that several stress cracks...

Across the belly of the board...

Likely due to riding it in overhead surf the last 2 days...

I'm kinda bummed...

But that's the price you pay...

And if I had landed that floater...

On a 10'6" board...

On a 10'6" face...

That'd have been sweet...

Instead...

Just damage.

N WIND 20 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 5 FT. W SWELL 8 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

The post could have been titled "Not Paying Attention"...

I went with the time tested plan of "Just Go"...

Last look at buoys indicated a 5 foot swell...

So, I wasn't really ready for an 8 foot swell...

I had to watch, look where to paddle out, and stretch...

I almost felt like fall!

Paddled out with a guy I have surfed with several times...

Still don't know his name...

Shortboarder guy him, longboarder guy me...

Never the twain shall meet?

Anyway, it was solid...

With a capital "S"...

Had to massage my balls back down into their sack on a couple occassions...

Not huge big, but bigger than comfortable on a 10' 6" board...

Lots of early ins, down the line, tempting tuck'ds to get fuck'd on...

I dodged the vast majority...

But then, I don't know...

Overconfident or cocky...

After about 8 head to head and a half screamers...

Went for the ill advised floater reentry...

Works fine on a sub 7 foot board...

But not so much on a 2 board equivalent...

The closeout/wipeout resulted in a blow to the knee...

That ended a session about to end anyway...

Tomorrow, hoping for more...

If...

No...

Despite the sore knee.

YES

N WIND 15 TO 20 KT...WITH A FEW GUSTS TO 25 KT IN THE EVENING. WIND WAVES 4 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 9 SECONDS.

Paddled out Monday to some fun waist high lefts...

Picked off a left that lined up nicely...

Swung it around...

Cross stepped up the board...

Foot slipped out...

Splash...

Swim...

Retrieved board...

Paddled back out...

Repeat performance...

I figured it was 'cause I'd left the booties on the beach...

And wasn't used to surfing barefooted...

Every wave required careful precision to avoid a spill...

The board was super slippery...

I'd go to grab it once a wave had closed out...

And it would squirt from my grasp...

I reasoned I needed more wax...

So headed in to get some...

I told my friend the wax I'd found on the beach...

Was super slippery...

Almost like soap...

He picked it up...

Looked at it...

Smelled it...

"This is soap, dude"...

He said, laughing...

And it was...

So I laid a real wax layer on top of it...

It was still kinda slippery...

But much better...

I do not advise a base coat of soap though.

S WIND 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FOOT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 8 SECONDS.

Yeah, I know...

It's not a surf spot...

But sometimes you gotta get out of the fog...

Headed east for some fresh water time...

Had actually planned on a coastal trip...

But the weather left a little to be desired.

Did a little stretch of the McKenzie River...

Down to the Tamolitch Pool aka The Blue Hole...

Water so clear and deap...

I glows bluely..

We hiked down to the waters edge...

And I wished I'd had my wetsuit...

The water looked inviting...

But was icy cold.

The weather didn't hold...

Saturday dawned with persistent rain...

So we packed it in early...

And headed home.

SW WIND 5 TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FOOT. NW SWELL 4 FT AT 7 SECONDS. AREAS OF DENSE FOG ESPECIALLY NEAR SHORE.

I apologize for posting this image of Alex Knost's ass crack...

I really do.

But there's a reason...

If you recall I posted recently about looking for a new wetsuit...

So, I have been looking...

And trying a few on here and there...

But it's sweaty business...

And there's a big difference between getting in a wetsuit and paddling out...

And getting into a wetsuit in a dressing room only to get out again.

I tried on a Matuse recently...

And as much as I admire the premise...

Limestone, skintight, waterlocks, etc...

The lack of hood...

The struggle to get feet and hands through the openings...

The twisted farmerjohn inner suit...

And the fact that these suits really only look appropriate on someone with Alex Knost's build...

Pretty much eliminated the possibility of my owning one.

So when I walked in and looked at essentially the same Hotline wetsuit I have been in since 1999...

That's right, 1999...

I considered trying to stretch it to a full 10 years just to see...

Because, honestly, the suit is still fine...

Aside from the fact it is gray...

The zipper pull broke (not the zipper)...

And the left leg sometimes holds water...

Other than that it is still fully operational.

When I put it on...

It looked the same...

Felt the same...

Was the same...

Then I accidentally ripped off the tag getting it off...

So I bought it...

Alex Knost can have the Matuse's.

N WIND 10 TO 15 KT INCREASING TO 15 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. GUSTS TO 25 KT BY LATE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 3 FT. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 7 SECONDS.

I was loading up my car to head for Gearhart this morning when I got a call from a co-worker that power was out and that a plane had crashed into a house down the street. He said he could see flames 50 feet high and that another c0-worker had been driving by the house when the plane crashed. His car was blown from the road by the impact. Here's the story from the Daily Astorian:

GEARHART - A single engine plane crashed into a house in Gearhart this morning and exploded into flames. An adult and two children were taken to hospital.
Three other children were unaccounted for, said Dennis McNally, Gearhart city manager, on-scene public information officer.
Eyewitness Jay Speakman said it was a sad day for the community. "When we got here it was a giant ball of flame," he said.
Speakman said he heard the plane take off, level off, then the engine appeared to speed up and then there was silence. Fifteen to 20 seconds later there was an explosion, he said.
A LifeFlight fixed-wing plane, rather than a helicopter, was headed to the Astoria Regional Airport in Warrenton, where victims would be shuttled for transport, said Bob Coster, civilian search and rescue controller at the Group, which includes Air Station Astoria.
A later message said LifeFlight was responding to Warrenton with multiple aircraft.
Betty Smith, The Daily Astorian's advertising director, who lives in Gearhart, said her whole house shook with the impact.
"You could tell the plane was in trouble," she said. "I heard it stutter, and then there was a thud as it exploded."
Smith feared that her dear friend Judy Redekop's house had been hit so she ran to find out. In fact, Judy and Jake Redekop were unscathed although their bedroom was opposite the house that burned. Smith sheltered the shocked couple in her home.
The house that was damaged belonged to Greg and Nancy Marshall, although it was believed that it was occupied as a rental.
Emergency crews from several local fire departments responded to assist Gearhart Fire Department. Fog at the scene hampered early efforts to find the location, on North Marion Avenue near the Third Street intersection.

W WIND 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING NW IN THE EVENING. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 8 SECONDS.

Hopefully, yesterday's micro session will not be indicative of the surf this weekend...

Wednesday yielded up head high walling lefts that offered a small tube or two...

Thursday went looking for more only to find stormy waters and onshore winds...

Paddled out anyway to surf frustrating backing off mushburgers for about an hour...

Heading down to Cape K for the "Classic" this weekend...

Don't have the highest of hopes but you never know unless you go...

Perhaps not 100% true but I've got a pass and need to use it.