Hollywood, Here I Come!

Tomorrow I'm heading down to LA and then San Diego for my sister's graduation. I'll be in LA until Saturday morning and rolling down to SD (staying at Ocean Beach Hotel) on Saturday and Sunday nights. Back to LA on Monday and Tuesday.

I'm not positive what my schedule will be, but I'm packing my 4/3 and hoping to slip a few sessions in. I have a couple surfing aquaintances in LA and SD, but if anybody wants to show an Oregon surfer the ropes, let me know!

X "Los Angeles"

Squiggly Lives

The new website for my art licensing company, Squiggly Studios, is up and running! For the last year, my next-door neighbor and I have been working toward attending an art Licensing Show in NYC. The show happens at the Javits center from June 19-23. The idea is that we've drawn hundreds of amazing, stunning, mind-boggling, genius, clever, brilliant, unique pictures that companies will want for their products. After meeting us in New York next month, they'll buy the rights for the pictures, stick them on their merchandise, and we'll watch the royalties come rolling in.

Then it's like: "What we gonna do with all the cash? Smoke hash!"
(Kidding, mom.)

Tenacious D "Kyle Quit the Band"

Spring Cleaning

After the long, cold winter it's time to take the strata of dirty wax off your sticks. Yesterday I put my two Hammers in the sun and the cold-water parafin liquified in a matter of minutes. A few paper towels later, my boards were clean enough to eat off of. This is always a good time to check for dings and cracks that may have resulted from beach break beatings taken all season. I only noticed a few new pressure dings (that have webs of spider cracks under the glass) but other than that, I think they're ready for the mellow sessions of spring and summer.

These have been my go-to surfboards for the past two years:

Blue Hammer Speed Egg: 7' x 21.2" x 2.8" (with extra tail rocker)
Green Hammer Evolution: 6'6" x 20" x 2.35" (swallow tail)

Destroyer "The Bad Arts"

Built to Swill

Have you tried the new Built to Spill album yet, You in Reverse? It's really great, especially on headphones as you're riding your bicycle in the sunshine. Doug's voice sounds like shandy tastes: sweet, slightly sour, malty, a little fizzy, and sure to give you a quick buzz.

Built to Spill "Liar"

On Golden Pond

For those of you who don't live up here, we're experiencing a strange heat wave today. It is going to be 92 degrees in Portland. We surfed yesterday and the waves were pretty small again, but we still managed to have a great time. I was going to sneak another trip out to the coast today (combining business and pleasure), but looked at the webcam and saw the above image. The ocean is so glassy and flat that you could skip a rock to China. The south swell is supposed to build throughout the day today and tomorrow, so it looks like I'll try again in 24 hours.


Strauss "Blue Danube"

Small

Tuesday was small; I think my toes may have gotten barreled. Let's hope Sunday is better!

Morcheeba "The Sea"

Big

Yesterday I rode a pretty big wave. The drop was super late so that it felt like my board was stuck in the side of a vertical wall. When I hit the bottom, I was going so fast that I was afraid to cut back. "Hang on for dear life," was all I could think as the board skipped along over the chop. It felt like the time my friends played a joke on me at Pyramid Lake, pulling me on waterskis behind a 1970s jet boat, when they pushed the speed to full-throttle and made a hard turn. But that time I couldn't hold on. Yesterday I did. Without any effort (besides absorbing the chatter with my legs) I stayed in the wave as it keep building, watching a big green shoulder rise ahead of me. On the inside, some 100 yards later, the wave got incredibly steep again as it began to pitch over all at once. I straightened out in the nick of time while the whitewater exploded behind me, threatening to knock me off. Then I ejected, kicking the board away from me. I was so blown away by the ride that I almost paddled in and ended my session after only a half-hour. But I didn't.

Black Flag "Rise Above"
Drawing by Pettibon

Happy Cinco de Moustache

Pixies "Vamos"

Slap in the Face

"I get no respect." --Rodney Dangerfield

The waves were overhead and the north wind was blowing offshore at Shorties on Monday night, creating ideal conditions for an after work surf. When O.S. and I finally made it to the logs facing the cove, it was nearly 6:30, so we charged straight in. We timed the paddle-out perfectly and made it without having to duck any of the set waves that would pile in every 10 minutes. There was a group of five other surfers out there that were absolutely ripping. One would take off on an A-frame peak, completely disappear from view, and before you could ask yourself what direction he went, a board would slash like a blade over the back of the lip--all the way up to the fins--and snap back down, sending a cascade of water in its wake.

The peak shifted around the second creek area to the north of the cove. There was really no way of telling who would be lucky enough to get the biggest and best shaped waves. I had a couple good rides, but seemed to be getting weird vibes from another surfer who was nearest to me. A few waves before, he dropped in on a wave and went right and I nearly went left toward him, but pulled back. I apologized for almost getting in his way. He just gave me a look that resembled a person who smelled an offensive egg fart.

A few minutes later, a big set wave rolled in from the north and started feathering behind me. The stink-eye guy had been catching some insiders and was well out of position for this one. With O.S. yelling, "Yeah Chum!" I turned and stroked into it confidently, and surged forward with the same sensation that Barry Bonds must have when he lays pine on a baseball and knows it hit the sweet spot. As I jumped to my feet, I noticed that the guy inside was paddling into the wave on the shoulder. Normally, I call a person off to avoid being dropped in on ("beep, beep!"), but this time I didn't have to, because when I laid into my bottom turn and reached out to drag my hand I must have been going pretty fast--my glove slapped the face of the wave so hard that it popped like a firecracker. The guy jerked his board back and I flew by, just working the green wall as hard as I could, feeling the speed and watching the swell reshape and re-bowl several times.

It took me forever to get back to where O.S. was sitting and when I finally did, he said, "I thought you wiped out, because I heard a big smack after you took off." I just laughed and told him about what happened. Then I thought about this blog and about how nobody would believe how good it was if One Speed wasn't there to witness the session. Am I just getting lucky? Or is there another factor, something magical in the woods, bringing me good fortune at Shorties?

The Fiery Furnaces "Paw Paw Tree"

PS - I grabbed this photo off of the Short Sands area of Magic Seaweed because it looks similar to the conditions we had on Monday... Thanks, whoever!