Intermission...

Last night as I was watching this amazing little Horse Feathers show at the Together Gallery in Portland this fact struck my like a ton of bricks: On any given night in this city — or in this world for that matter — some really amazing artists are creating beautiful art. It could be only in front of twenty or thirty people, or it could be in a stadium, or it could be in some kid's basement. It was truly inspiring.

Now let's get back to some surf stories.

Counter Point (Punta Roca, Pt. 1)

Punta Roca is a right-hand point break that can deliver long, spoke-like bombs that explode over a shoreline of cobblestones and jagged lava rocks. Along the 400-yard walk to the point, you pass a wall sprayed with local graffiti (behind which lies an ominous graveyard) and tiptoe through debris scattered among the wobbly stones. When you finally reach the jumpoff spot, you get a court-side view of the wave, which at times seems to be breaking right on the boulders. On a good day, the sight of the swells lining up and falling like dominoes — precisely spaced with razor-sharp edges — is nothing short of "perfecto."

Perfecto. That's what our guide Joaquin called it over the last couple days of our El Salvador trip, when the long-awaited swell finally started filling in. The first time we surfed it was Friday morning. The photo on top is my first wave, on a board I'd never ridden, after having just been thrown backwards across the rocks on my shaky entry. The sun hadn't even risen yet. It was 6am.

The reason we were out so early was because when this place works, it gets crowded fast. As you can imagine, the local surfers and bodyboarders aren't so fond of alien invasions, as is the case with any other world-class wave. Joaquin briefed us the night before, drawing a map on his hand: "The main peak is here," he said, pointing to a spot near his fingertip, "but we'll be sitting here." He tapped a spot closer to his palm. "Anyway, if you sit out there and you don't know this wave at low tide, you won't make the section and you WILL end up on the rocks."

So we followed his directions carefully the next day: how to time the entry (kind of), where to be, where not to be. For the first hour, we were among only 5 other surfers and our trio got quite a few waves. It was only a matter of time before the number of surfers doubled, then tripled, then quadrupled. And the locals did what locals do anywhere: they paddled around the new faces and got any waves they wanted. And we behaved ourselves, sat where we were told, and got some wide-swinging rights that felt as if there were 10,000 horses sprinting shoulder-to-shoulder behind the 8-foot green faces.

One of our boards was snapped like a toothpick, but we all paddled in three hours later with good rides under our belts and smiles on our faces. The next day we weren't so lucky.

GREETINGS FROM EL SALVADOR

We´ve been in Las Flores and La Libertad for the past six days. Lots of fun right point breaks everywhere. Big swell is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Much more to come...

WISH YOU WERE HERE...
(But maybe not in the lineup)

Borrowed from Steve McQueen

Warm Water, Cold Blood

It was a beautiful weekend at the beach, with higher sea temperatures making thick wetsuits, booties and gloves unnecessary. Saturday night I surfed waist-high lefts at low tide until I was the last person out and I couldn't see the waves anymore. It was nice to surf barefoot and wiggle my piggies freely under the water again.

Of course, it seems like the warm currents might have a few drawbacks. Biologists are blaming Sunday's shark sightings at Seaside, OR on those toasty temps, which bring more marine life close to shore. Come to think of it, I wasn't the only one out at 9pm — There was a sea lion messing around on the next peak over. The video above is from Depoe Bay, OR Sunday, where a great white was entangled in a crab pot line 80 miles south of Seaside. Sharks here, sharks there, sharks everywhere. Will somebody tell them that Shark Week ended last week?

Woman: Je T'aime, Wave: Mois Non Plus

Size: 11" X 15"
Medium: Crayons, Water, Graphite, No. 2 Pencil
Price: $300 or trade for 6' Bonzer Egg

Translation of "Je T'aime, Mois Non Plus"
I love you, I love you, Oh yes I love you
Nor do I
Oh my love
Like the wave, irresolute
I go, I go and I come, Inside you my love
I go and I come, Inside you my love
And then I hold on...

I love you, I love you, Oh Yes I love you
Nor do I
You are the wave, And I the naked island
You go, you go and you come, inside me me love
you go and you come inside me my love
and then we are one...

I love you, I love you, Oh yes I love you
Nor do I
Oh my love
Like the wave, irresolute
I go, i go and I come, Inside you my love
I go and I come, Inside you my love
And then I hold on...

I love, I love you my love, Inside me my love
I love you my love, Deep inside me my love
And then we are one...

I love you, I love you, Oh yes I love
Nor do I
Oh my love
Physical love is a dead end
I go, I go and I come, Inside you my love
I go and I come
And I hold on...

No. Now ... Come.
— Serge Gainsbourg/Jane Birkin, 1968

My framed drawing on paper, along with the others pictured below (except for the Nat Russsel, which is now mine) are available for purchase at the Vancouver, BC stop of the Dear & Yonder movie tour August 6. If you're interested, talk to Andrea at the show, or contact me directly on this blog. A percentage of the profits go to financing the movie.