Turn On It, Tune Out, Drop In

Gamera? I thought you said Camera?

Never mind.

SW WIND 20 TO 25 KT WITH GUSTS TO 30 KT. LOCAL GUSTS TO 35 KT EARLY. WIND WAVES 6 FT. W SWELL 14 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

I guess I'll take a break from all the esoteric bullshit I've been posting the last few days...
Not that I have any particular issue with esoteric bullshit...
Hell, surfing and talk of surfing is, largely, esoteric bullshit...
Now that I've mentioned "esoteric bullshit", 3...no 4...times in the first 4 sentences...
I'll get down to the business of the actual post, esoteric bullshit aside...

I pulled up to the edge of the Pacific this afternoon and saw something I haven't really seen before...
The swell was supposedly running 14 foot and I saw the sideways rain, so I knew it was windy...
In any case, conditions weren't looking to be particularly clean or even ridable...
But, the waves were only head high and there were a couple guys out in the cove...
A look throught the binocs showed another couple out down south along the cobbles...
Again, it wasn't looking to hot and I did not scramble out of the car to suit up...
As I watched I saw that which I had never seen at this spot, nor many other Oregon breaks...
As the black wetsuited form picked his way down the cobbles I wondered what he was riding...
Closer inspection through magnifying lenses revealed no vehicle aside from Churchills...
"Bodysurfing...wtf?" was my initial thought and this from a former dedicated practitioner...
I have considered bodysurfing in Oregon and have on a couple abnormaly warm summer days...
But the very thought of imitating a pinniped on Carcharodon carcharias' turf in winter always seemed foolhardy at best...
As I watched the neoprene clad fellow wallow into the water I wondered if he had any skills...
He didn't, he merely lolled in the messy waves off the rocks...
A bony, temptingly meaty morsel with no speed to evade an apex predator...
I guess it's his right to put himself in harm's way, but I can't help but wonder why...

~photo via toneman

~photo by Servais


S WIND 35 TO 45 KT. COMBINED SEAS 15 TO 17 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 12 SECONDS.

To the mind that is still, the ocean surrenders.
If not in the barrel, where else to find it?
All is revealed in each droplet of the lip.
To best achieve tranquility, fade deep.
Better to practice than to talk.
Not the board, the emptiness within the wave.
Each journey begins with a single stroke.
The deeper you go, the quieter you become.
Life is like paddling into a wave that has no exit.
There is no then, no later, and no now. Just go.
When you are there, there is no there there.
A perfect wave has no rider.

SE WIND 30 KT WITH GUSTS TO 35 KT... BECOMING S 35 TO 40 KT WITH GUSTS TO 50 KT. COMBINED SEAS 15 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 14 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 21 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 14 SECONDS.

Sissyfish did his 2007 recap and I thought I would too...

February...the return of Niceness, although I can't check it from home since for whatever reason it continually crashes my modem...still the top surf blog in my opinion.
Late March...a group of 3 paddles out at big Agate with sad results...only 2 paddle in...another Oregon drowning.

In April, another near drowning...instead, a Oregon surfer paddles a kid, who had no business being in the water, around the Cape to the safety of McPhillips Beach.


In June, Surfline and several sponsors thought it would be a great idea to takeover a break in Baja and deny access to any and all...except their chosen invitees.


In August, the Cape K LB Contest capped several days of surf, sin...and some suffering.


In September, my 10' 6" Skip Frye Eagle arrives...and glide enters my life.
October...believe it or not, never fished for salmon before. On my first outing, snagged a pretty good one.

November...Fall offshores at Shorties...several fun days rewarded after a long drive from the windswept central coast.
December was...mostly memorable for the days I didn't surf...high winds, flooding and huge out of control swell...but I snuck in a few, including one last day near the end of 2007...and again on New Year's Day.