Turn On It, Tune Out, Drop In

NW WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 8 FT AT 14 SECONDS.

A 17 foot Joe Bark Unlimited Paddleboard...
Carbon Fiber...
Foot controlled rudder...
Hollow...
Fast...
Spent most of my last paddle...
Trying to knee paddle...
And falling off alot...
Not to mention...
My bleeding feet...
From the abrasive action...
Of switching from prone to knees...
And vice versa...
Oh, and ripped big toenail...
Ah well, lesson learned...
And knee paddling accomplished...
For a few satisfying moments.

SW WIND 15 TO 20 KT WITH A FEW GUSTS TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 4 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 10 SECONDS.

Just because.

Jim Phillips Surfboards from Patrick Miller on Vimeo.


N WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 10 SECONDS.

I surf (pretty regular) a 9' 4" Phillips single fin...
I have to confirm that the board is super solid...
It's one of my happy moments coming in to ownership...
And the vid above is super classic, beyond the process...
I especially liked the east coast travel assessment of...
Earning $60 a day in the 60's...
Pillaging and staying the night...
How sweet it was...
Nice explanation of the term "Haole" too.

SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 3 FT. W SWELL 8 FT AT 9 SECONDS.

My neighbor called me the other day...
"Doc...I have an offer for you" (he didn't actually call me Doc)...
"I want to sell you my Volkswagon Beetle" he said...
"Uhhhhm. OK...How much?" I asked...
"One dollar" he offered...
"A dollar? Ummm...OK?" I accepted...
I now own a 74 Super Beetle...
It runs pretty well...
Doesn't always start...
Lights don't work...
Seats are blown out...
One more project I don't have time for...
Stoked.
Beetle name: Bodi...
Short for Bodivar...
Oh yeah, found 75 cents cleaning it out...
Made my daughter take him the change...
"These are honest people" was his response.

                                 ~photo by Tom Ortner via Surfer's Journal
SW WIND 10 KT TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 4 FT. W SWELL 8 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

Figured might as well stick with a good thing...
Different wave, different board, different day...
Same surfer, same bottom turn...
Same smooth style.

SW WIND 20 TO 25 KT WITH GUSTS TO 30 KT...EASING. WIND WAVES 5 FT...SUBSIDING. W SWELL 9 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

I always edit Surf in Oregon reports...
But, ultimately...
It all comes back to the same point for me...
Where I started and where I got...
I'm not the best surfer...
Nor the worst...
I like short boards...
And the long ones...
(Mebbe a bit more the long ones)...
But the heart of the matter...
For me at least...
Is keeping the act of surfing...
Effortless and enjoyable...
Which, sadly, for me...
Has been hard to achieve of late...
Between an injury and physical distance...
I want to keep the stoke...
But also battle being the downer of late...
So all of you out there...
Geting a few here and there...
Help me out...
And tell your tales here...
Unless...
Of course...
It's as I've always said...
There's no...
Surf in Oregon.

S WIND 15 TO 20 KT GUSTS TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 6 FT. W SWELL 14 FT @ 13 SECONDS.

So when you can't surf...
Devo...
Nostalgia and awesomeness...
Came together for 90 minutes...
On Wednesday night at the Crystal Ballroom...
In Portland, Oregon.

GALE WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM THIS EVENING


S WIND 25 TO 30 KT WITH GUSTS TO 35 KT. COMBINED SEAS 12 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 SECONDS. RAIN.

I always love gale warnings in red letters...
"Combined Seas" and "Rain" are also awesome...
However, old surf jalopies primered red...
With vintage longboards on top...
Parked at curbs in the sun with palm trees...
Also have a certain allure.

NE WIND 15 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 4 FT. NW SWELL 5 FT AT 10 SECONDS.

Coulda...
Woulda...
Shoulda...
Been some to been had...
Out there today...
Stuck in the valley...
Of sickness and death...
The past 20 plus years or so...
Although I am doing fine...
Just missing so many waves...
Ahhhh, February...
Can't wait for you to end...
Where's my beer...
Out?
Lame.

                                         ~foto poached from Collectic Life

NW WIND 15 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 5 FT. W SWELL 15 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

I was perusing the outerwebs...
And came across this shot of full frolic...
It made me think about a few things...
Recollections, memories, reflection...
Growing up in N county San Diego...
Sharing the waves with dolphins was common...
An almost ordinary experience...
As extraordinary as it obviously was...
The water is shared now (in Oregon)...
With aggro territorial sea lions...
And unseen fish you don't want to think about...
Much less have visual (or worse) contact with...
Anyhow the image triggered a memory...
That is one of the defining moments of my life...
In 1975 my Father died, he was 45...
He died on Tax Day, April 15th...
I was in 7th grade, 13 years old...
Oak Crest Junior High School...
People told me they were sorry...
I put on an adolescent kid act...
Of utter non-chalance as best I could...
Seemed the best way to go...
To keep from crying in public...
A few weeks later we took my Father's ashes to sea...
My Grandfather piloted the boat...
Further out than we had ever gone fishing...
For hours it seemed, farther and farther...
Beyond sight of land and other boats...
It was ocean on the horizon in all directions...
As we motored we encountered a super pod dolphins...
They surrounded the boat on all sides...
Again, as far as you could see (at least in my momory)...
It was dolphins, leaping...
Dolphins surfing the boat wake...
Dolphins criss crossing the bow...
I don't remember how long we were in their midst...
But it was a long moment of joy...
My Grandfather powered down the boat...
And they passed by us in the thousands...
Tens of thousands I would guess...
Mothers with their babies at the center of the pod...
Grizzled and scarred males at the edges...
As we sat rising and falling on the swell...
Awestruck, laughing, crying...
We spread my father's ashes...
Watching the grayness spiral quickly out of sight...
My Mother dropped their linked wedding bands in as well...
She never remarried...
I don't remember the exact words she said...
But something to the effect of...
"It was as fitting a memorial as anyone has ever received".