Bad breath too...

I think I prefer the kind of sharks with 5 rows of razor-sharp teeth to these freaks of nature. If I got attacked by one I'd make sure to have some floss on hand and maybe a tongue scraper to tame the gnarly halitosis.

Thanks, Rye.

Webcam Love

If you were there yesterday, you're probably pretty thankful. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

I WON THE PISSING CONTEST

Drawing I made a while ago. As relevant to surfing, I guess, as any other activity that a bunch of guys are involved in.

P.S. I've never run into the pissing contest mentality with girls. At least not in surfing.

What guys who don't surf much do in their spare time. Besides blogging.

For those who don't know, there's a colossal circle jerk online called the Oregon Surf Pages (mentioned in this video) where a bunch of doods sit around bragging about how "sick" the surf was yesterday and dissing anything that isn't wrapped in buffalo check flannel and Carharts. Rumor has it that a couple of the wannabe bro-brahs that hang there actually do other kinds of surfing than the internet variety.

But even the Pacific Gyre has a gem floating in it once in a while. Someone told me about this video and I had to actually brave the high fecal chloroform levels there to check it. I'm glad I did.

By the way, I think the bespectacled guy in this video might be partially based on yours truly. I love Mollusk and all kinds of impractical equipment... but I don't wear horn rims.

Gigantic

El Niño, el shmiño...

TRIM MACHINES

...AND THE DAMAGE DONE.

Thanks to Marc Andreini, trimming's now constantly on my brain too. Let's just hope he gets better real soon from his recent injury so he can make enough boards for everyone to experience some quality trim.

LOOK INTO MY THIRD EYE...

...and your brown eye will pucker up. The mysto slab known as The Yeti was firing while the contest at Oregon's other big wave was underway a couple weeks ago. I shudder to think what this sucker was doing yesterday.

Pics of people actually surfing it at the Wend Blog.

The Loneliest Little Wave

Please wait for me little wave.
Blink and you're gone.

Monday Monday

How do I describe my first day on the Vaqueros de las Olas? Do I start with the first wave I paddled into, where I belly-flopped when the board tilted unpredictably as I tried to pop up? Nah.

Let's start with the next wave, where I made the drop, banked off the bottom and hooked into the high line of a screaming left. I was so intensely focused on the feeling that I saw little more than the lip feathering above my head and the nose of the board sailing along the steep face. I couldn't even really figure out how long the wave was when I turned to paddle back out. It seemed like a long way. When I got back out a kneeboarder paddled over to me and said he had an amazing view of my wave, and had the lip thrown more I would have been barreled. Then he just said, "You were goin' so fast!"

My next wave was even better.

I can only describe the ride of the Andreini as surfing with the wave versus against it. The paddle-in was a little slower than I imagined a 7' board would be, but once it got up to speed, the thing just glided. I felt like I was coaxing the board to go where I wanted, rather than forcing it around the face of the wave. At the risk of sounding new-agey, it was a zen-like experience, following the fall line of the wave and letting the board do the work. Something tells me this board would just naturally go as fast as the wave goes. Slow peeler? Cadillac. Racetrack? Lamborghini. On the flipside, if you tried to do anything drastic, like crank a hard bottom turn or cutback from the tail, you'd fall. At least I would, anyway.

Those first couple good waves weren't a fluke. With each left I caught, I got more comfortable, taking off deeper and crouching lower in the pocket. My final ride was the best: Drop in, turn with my hand dragging in the face, rise up to the pocket where the wave was almost vertical, crouch super low and just hold that stance. I seriously didn't have to move at all for probably 100 yards. When the wave would flatten, I'd assess my situation and see a section way ahead and just park myself in the groove as the wave stood up again. It was crazy. Mind boggling, really.

And I hear those full-rail cutbacks are even more intense.

This cowboy can't wait to ride again.