How to Disguise a Bad Ding Repair

Here's the first ding on my Mandala. It occurred when I dropped into a "bomba" at Panga Drops, realized that the wave was going close out, kicked out the back, and underestimated just how much speed I'd gotten off my bottom turn. When I looked down with my feet still on the deck, I discovered that I was about five feet up in the air over the back of the wave. By that time my legs were fully extended and I had no way of softening my landing by bending them again. First my heel hit the middle of my board with karate-like precision and force, then my ass hit it. At first I couldn't find the ding and I thought I could keep surfing. Then, to my dismay, I saw the 3-inch impression running down the stringer, cracking the glass deeply along the wood.

When I got back to Playa Gigante, where we had rented a boat, I was informed that there was a ding repair guy in town who was capable of handling the job. As a matter of fact, he'd just patched up a resin-tinted Hobie that had suffered exactly the same injury, and the job looked fine to me! Unfortunately, when I got my board back it looked like someone had spilled a cup of coffee in the middle of the glass job. Oh well. It's under the wax anyway...

In other news, I got a great surf in today. The Mandala still works like a charm. Waist to shoulder-high peelers--perfect glass the whole time. Weird thing was there was a massive school of fish under the water that was so thick, you could actually smell them. The seagulls and pelicans were having a bit of a bacchanal.

Nazareth - Love Hurts

I Saw, Therefore I Draw

I think drawing from memories of sights, sounds and feelings is much better than sitting in front of something and trying to get it just right. So every day of my summer vacation I tried to spend time on the balcony with my ipod, some paper, a box of colors and two beers, in an attempt to capture what I experienced that day. Sometimes it was as simple as leaves on the ground, sometimes it was as profound as the perfect wave. I ended up with a wide range of paintings/drawings that say more than words--or even photos--about the time I spent in Nicaragua. The condo didn't have any art on the walls, so I taped a picture above the beds each afternoon before my evening surf session.

Mogwai - Travel Is Dangerous

Memory Trigger 4

Sunburn peeling
Ear infection no more
Mosquito bites scabbed over (all 80 of 'em)
Sore muscles gone
Jellyfish sting fading
Ribs softening up
Rashes a thing of the past

But the memories are still strong.

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Far Gone and Out

Art, Style and Surfing

There are some hot conversations being batted around about the validity of "art boards" and "hipster shops" in the Oregon surf blogging world. Go HERE and HERE to jump in on the healthy debate. I think if you read my blog you know where I stand on the subject.

Coincidentally, I just found a really great article on Mollusk NYC's blog about John Belik, an arty dude whose creative spirit helped him push the boundries of surfboard design. Check it HERE.

Cat Power - Hate

How Nau?

A few months ago I went on a little quest to ski, paddle a river, and surf all in the same day. I forgot to actually link to the resulting movie when it was finally posted on the Nau website. After seeing my sad first attempt at skiing, you may think that I "conveniently" forgot.

It was an amazing spring day and I was happy to be a part of it. One of my chums, Markarito, actually made the video and I contributed some drawings (and comic relief) to the production. The surfing sequence at the end is a pretty desperate attempt to catch a wave with the sun going down and angry storm surf tumbling in. Doc was there, he can vouch.

Hall & Oates - I Can't Go for That

PS - Finally back from Nica. Getting back to work and nursing a weird hip injury...

Shades of Nicaragua

Nicaragua is an amazingly colorful country. We took a lot of pictures between surf sessions. Dogs, crabs, pasture baseball games, kids fishing in their underwear. A trip to Granada during one of the lulls provided so much inspiration. The colonial city reminds me of how Havana must be: old open air markets on the streets, rusty bikes and old cars, Cuban cigars, and no matter how shanty the storefront, a layer of bright paint would provide a festive feeling that belies the country's current economic struggles. The rolling blackouts seemed to get longer in the days before we left. Thanks to my wife for the pics, who has an amazing eye, and to Tom of ptfotos.net for the unforgettable sunset on this page and the action photos from my previous posts.

Tunnel Vision: The Saga Continues

Hey Banditos,

Thanks for all the words of wisdom, kudos and judos. The small board WAS a bit touch-n-go on the bigger set waves, but I think my lack of shackdom has been purely the result of bad technique. I've reviewed the pictures of the big wave two posts ago a few times (it's still flat) and know that if I had taken a higher line and thrown on the breaks a bit I woulda been there. Just like Gaz and Doc said in the comments.

What really happened was that I looked up, saw the curtain start to fall, and made the mistake of trying to "punch through" the back instead of straightening out. The yellow t-shirt that I was sporting was ripped over my head and twisted tight around my arms (ala a good hockey fight), making it pretty tough to get back up for air. But I made it through the sandy foam in time. This guy from SF who we were surfing with said if I went for any more of the set waves I'd have to call my blog "Charger Fish."

Hey Nash, the Mandala suffered a pretty nasty gash right on the stringer. Not anticipating this flat spell, I hurried it to a Nica ding repair dude who patched it with a really big brown blob of fiberglass right in the middle. Oh well, back in the chilly PNW I'll always remember kicking out the back of a tropical Panga Drops "bomba," not realizing I was five feet up when I came down on my board. I'm sure it'll warm my heart.

Porky, I'll definitely still take you up on the Occster. Since riding the Manny 2+1 and my North Pacific step-up (which is also in the dusty hands of the ding maestro in a fishing village to the south) I'm starting to wonder how dangerous tri-fins can actually be...

P.S. If you were wondering, this post actually started out as a comment on the "Hollow-lujah" blog, but then it got so long I realized I should just give it its own entry.

Adios!

P.P.S. The series of shots above is another failed trip to Tooby Town. There are tons of insects in Nica. Did I mention that? One fairly rare breed is the stink bug. But here we have one captured on film.

The Clash - Sandinista!

Colorado Right

Mostly a-frames at Playa Colorado, which, when given the choice, I’ll take the left side of every time. But every so often I’d find myself perfectly set up for a right and have nobody on the inside. People would hoot and I’d have no other choice than to go for it. Actually, I’m finding rights more fun when they reel perfectly for 50 yards… not something you get often in Oregon.

Things have gone pretty flat here, and it looks like it’ll stay that way for a few days. We’ve done some sight seeing, including a trip to Granada and the volcanos of Ometepe. Today we might actually break down and pay for a round of golf. I’ll also be painting a lot to kill the frustration...

Hollow-lujah!

OS is insits that I put these pics up while I still have an internet connection, so here they are. For those who haven't been following my blog for the past couple years, my goal in life is to get shacked. And though it hasn't happened in the last week, I've gotten damn close. I've also paid for my boldness. Both of my boards (my North Pacific AND my Mandala) are now casualties of a psychosis I call "tunnel vision." That's why I'm riding my 5'8" in this series of pics. Wouldn't that be a great reality TV show? A show called "Tunnel Vision" where an novice surfer tries to get his very first tube? Imagine the carnage! Not sure if the camera crew would have the patience for the payoff of an actual barrel, but it would be great to have a coach like Occy or whomever you'd pic teaching a dude like me how to get the old in-n-out. Maybe the show could be called "In-N-Out Urge." No, I like Tunnel Vision better.

Anyway, so much for building up to the big waves. We've had some swell the past few days. I have more (less interesting) photos, which I'll post later when I'm not drunk on Tonas in a ramshackle bar surrounded by stray pigs, mosquitos, and torrential rain...

Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

"Tell 'Em I'm Alright."

I should have guessed that in a relatively undeveloped country like Nicaragua, high speed internet would be as sketchy as the dirt roads we bounced along to get to Playa Iguana. But like the trip to get here a week ago, I finally made a connection today.

There were near disasters though, starting at the Portland airport, when Continental Airlines told us that they didn't allow surfboards on flights to any countries but Costa Rica. We ended up transferring to a Taca Air flight in Miami that allowed us to bring our sticks. Note to Continental: Surfing is one of the main tourist attractions in Nica, so it would behoove the airline and the country to work something out during vacation months...

On arriving to Managua several hours late, we found out our rental car had been given away (even though we'd called Budget and informed them of our delay in Miami). Luckily, we begged the agent to rent us a 4X4 truck (in place of the little Suzuki SUV we'd reserved) and we were only held back one night by all the mishaps.

And then there was the lack of internet, which has really slowed down my Sissyfish posts and also given my headaches trying to get any "real" work done.

Now about the surf: We're staying very close to a swell magnet called Panga Drops that is kind of a right reef break over rock and sand. It looks like a beachie, but it breaks pretty damn far outside. The waves have consistently been overhead there since our arrival, pushing the head and a half range. The pics above are from there. I've managed to snag a few lefts there as well. You can always count on my trying to do that.

The next spot down is a beach break called Playa Colorado. Things started out pretty friendly there a week ago, with waves in the shoulder to head-high range. They were playful and easy at times, breaking right and left, with potential for the cheeky tube here and there. There were only five guys out and one was a dude I recognized from snapshots in the Surfer Magazine forum. He has a big beard, dreads, and rips on a Pavel Speed Dialer. He goes by the handle "Liquid." He was really cool, coaching me on how to get barreled. He told me that he looks at it like fishing: He'd rather see me get my first tube than score 10 himself. Liquid, if you're out there, thanks. I'm still working on it and when I do, you'll hear about it and be credited here!

A few days later, the real swell arrived.

Colorado was throwing head-high plus barrels with regularity. I got my ass handed to me with regularity. I saw a local kid get a full stand up tube and get spit out waving shakas in the air. There have been some special days, and we have two weeks left.

Though I have had my share of amazing waves, I've been struggling in the huge stuff. I have tucked into some heaving, dredging tubes and been swallowed up alive then sent over the falls and into the sandy bottom. My brand new Art Colyer-shaped rounded pintail is dinged to hell after a really bad wipeout at Pangas last night. Two fins are broken completely off and there's a massive hole in the deck and bottom. Out of commish. Pics to follow soon.

Tonight I'm taking a boat to Manzanillo, the famed left point break. I'm bringing my Mandala 2+1, which has been my daily driver down here. Wish me luck!

PS: To build some stoke after the humbling/humiliating surf sessions of the past couple days, I watched "Morning of the Earth" from start to finish this morning. That's where the title of this post comes from.

Mini Shakas

Wow. You'll have to forgive me for the lack of posts. As you can see, I've been busy. Got a first look at "Baby Chum" today and was pleasantly surprised to find the little gremlin throwing a mini-shaka our way. And no, we're not finding out the sex.

In other news, I've been packing my bags for Nica the last couple days and setting myself up for a nice little vacation. Waves looked really good yesterday where we'll be "shacking" up... I'll make up for the less frequent blogging starting tomorrow.

Adios!

The Knife - Heartbeats
(You've heard the song, but have you seen this amazing video?)

I Heart Mollusk NY

Hard to believe that around this time yesterday I was stumbling around Williamsburg, Brooklyn looking for the new Mollusk Surf Shop. But I was. And I found it perched on a corner loading dock near the Hudson River, covered in bright graffiti. I have to say that visiting the little shop was one of my favorite parts of my New York trip. Tyler and John from Mollusk SF were there helping Mike open the East Coast version of their legendary store. We ate shaved ice from a street vendor and talked surf (or lack of surf) shooting the breeze about boards and surf blogging. I was really happy to find out that some New Yorkers read my blog. Then I bought a t-shirt and a copy of Glass Love and headed around the corner to joint called Surf Bar (that actually has sand on the ground) where Gee and I grabbed Red Stripes in the sun. A perfect way to transition from the city back to the surf here in Oregon.

Mollusk New York is located on the corner of Metropolitan Avenue and River Street in Brooklyn. Stop by for their opening party July 7. Thanks to downtownfb for the hot tip...

The National - Mistaken for Strangers

Bad Apple in the Big Apple

Hey there. Just an update that I'm currently in New York City, doing my annual art licensing thang. Sorry for the lull in updates! If anybody who reads this in New York wants to surf this weekend, let me know!

Chum

Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out

Sissyfish Summer Mix

SIDE A
1. ELO - It's a Living Thing
2. Robert Pollard - Caught Waves Again
3. Pixies - Ed Is Dead
4. Love is Laughter - Corona Extra
5. Palace Music - Gulf Shores
6. The Ramones - Sheena Is a Punk Rocker
7. Brian Wilson - Surf's Up
8. Pinback - Boo

SIDE B
1. Neil Halstead - Seasons
2. Surf Punks - My Wave
3. Morcheeba - The Sea
4. Shuggie Otis - Island Letter
5. Yo La Tengo - Black Hole
6. Kevin Baker - Riding the Wind
7. Menomena - Oahu
8. Devandra Banhart - Some People Ride the Wave


I love making mix tapes. As a matter of fact, I love it so much, it's what I did for a job during the dotcom boom. It's a hobby I haven't been able to shake since youth, so I started a cd mix club called The Woodpex here in Portland. This is a mix I never actually submitted to the club, so I thought it might be cool to post it here, with some original album art (that I just finished).

Some of the music choices are fairly obvious, some are rare gems. It's the modern age! Go ahead and print out the art and make yourself the mix! Or let me know if you have some better suggestions for tunes...

PS: Yes, I'm riding a blue diamond tail in the drawing. Can you tell what I'm thinking about?

Bad Days Are Good Practice

Nash woke me up at 4:45 am Saturday with a text that beeped relentlessly until I dragged myself out of bed and checked it. He was pulling out of our planned early morning departure. I immediately understood that he was just hitting the sack after raging the previous evening and now that I was up, stumbled to my computer to check the bouys. It didn't look too good. I crawled back under the warm covers and weighed my options. The rest of the weekend was supposed to be even worse and with winds out of the south predicted for later, I could still get lucky at Cove if I left soon.

OS and I bombed out there and were disappointed to find waist high waves rolling in that even the loggers were struggling to get into. So we checked about four other spots. Blown out. Finally we returned to Cove and hesitantly tugged our wetsuits on in a stiff rain that started to come down. There seemed to be some smaller waves with more power on the inside, so that was our destination. At the very least, we'd get some paddling in to prepare for Nica.

The funny thing about less-than-stellar waves is that they always seem to teach you something. Without any other surfers around, we caught tons of waves and because they were so small we were forced to pop up quickly and pump immediately to make sections. I caught quite a few fun rights and lefts and was even happier with my new board, realizing that it can work quite well in small surf. As kooky as it sounds, Taj Burrow's "Book of Hot Surfing" has a great section on surfing in crap, saying it's the perfect opportunity to work on refining one or two aspects of your style: for me it was staying low on backside waves and smoothing out my bottom turn going frontside.

It was a surprisingly good session - much better that staying at home and watching the French Open with the rain slamming the roof.

Land of Talk - Sea Foam
(Checked out this band when they opened for the Rosebuds Sunday. They's good!)

New Board New Spot

Wednesday's session was started out pretty bleak:

1. Drove to the beach and hiked down the trail, waxed up the new board, only to find that the screw to attach my fin was missing.

2. Looked for a longboarder to borrow a screw from. No dice.

3. Waves seemed to be improving.

4. Turned around and found out that two crows had eaten half my sandwich.

5. Realizing I was literally screwed, hiked 20 minutes back up the trail, and burned rubber back to Cannon Beach before the surf shop closed.

6. As I'm screwing in the fin at the surfshop, the owner looks at my finbox and says, "I don't like the way your shaper did this. The fin won't slide all the way back in the box because of the knot from the leash being in there - it's going to create some kind of vortex, being that far forward." Manny warned me that people would look at the board funny, though.

7. Jumped back in the car and headed south.

And this is where I have to edit the story to protect the spot where I surfed (I'm no pimp). It was a new place. Let's leave it at that. I did want to review my new Manny 2+1, which I'm very happy to pimp.

The first thing I noticed about the board is that it got into waves really easy. The thing is greased lightening. I think the entry speed is as good as my quad. It was slightly harder to duckdive because it's 3 inches longer than the quad, but that's to be expected. I could still get it through some big whitewater. Finally, the board turned in a completely different way than the quad. It really did seem to "swivel" more off the back foot - which is exactly what I expected it to do. On the bottom turns, it seemed to be more stable, with more smooth flow. So that's really about it. I caught maybe 10 or so waves and was really impressed. I didn't notice anything weird about the fins dragging or interfering with water flow, but I'm no George Greenough either...

I'm really looking forward to riding it again tomorrow.

Daniel Johnston - True Love Will Find You in the End
(If you haven't seen the Devil in Daniel Johnston, rent it now! Anyone with any sort of creative compulsion will relate).

Sissyfish in The Surfer's Journal

I woke up this morning to pick up my new board from Fed Ex and logged on long enough to find that one of my all-time favorite magazines, The Surfer's Journal, is doing a column on surf blogs. And in the new issue, Sissyfish is featured with a screen shot and everything! It cracked me up when the author described my failed surf missions and wondered if I'd ever score. Thinking back, I realized that in 175 posts over the course of 2 years, I've probably only written about 10 epic days. But this morning I found out that I'm in TSJ and that I have an amazing new stick. So I guess I scored twice!

Rogue Wave - Publish My Love
The Clash - Magnificent Seven

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Saturday morning we checked everywhere and it was small and blown out despite the 4.5 ft at 16 second conditions that were predicted. So we goofed around in the chop and finally threw in the towel after being dropped in on several times. To salvage the day we came to shore and took pictures of the local wildlife. Summer is here.

Mungo Jerry - In the Summertime

A Blue Diamond Is Forever

A person I know who used to spend a lot of time with Yvonne Chouinard told me they were together once when he received a custom surfboard he'd ordered. As Yvonne opened the box with the biggest Cheshire grin his face, he said: "Every man should know the feeling of having a new surfboard on the way."

Without further ado: my winged diamond tail 2+1, shaped by Manuel Caro of Mandala. It has fluted wings, glass-on bamboo side fins from 101 Fin Company, and a semi-opaque blue resin tint from the Moonlight Glassing crew. Dimensions: 5'11 x 20.5 x 2.625 (or somthing). Skip Frye Flex Fin finds the path of least resistance through the water, allowing for speed and snap.

You'll get a better report once I ride the thing. Manny is putting it in the mail tomorrow.

The Mountain Goats - This Year

Worth It

Last week I snuck out to the beach after putting in a long day of writing. I knew I'd be leaving town for a dry weekend, so I had to make the most of the smallish conditions. One peak was overrun with 10 or so surfers, so I paddled out at the second creek, opting for a steady flow of tiny waves all to myself. It was glassy and fun and I ran into Slim (right upper corner), who was putting his new Art Colyer-shaped "speed dialer" through its paces. Looking forward to blowing off more steam when the waves pick up a little this week!

The National - Daughters of the Soho Riots

It's Coming...

"Hi there, remember me?"

Just got word from Manny that he picked up my board and is getting ready to ship it. Hopefully it will get here before the south swell rolls on by... Oh, it's already almost gone!

Mark Kozelek - Have You Forgotten?
(It's going to be this pretty.)

Good Days

The swell came back in a big way on Saturday. When we got to Seaside, there were already 30 rubberized souls sitting in the rain on the righthander that was peeling perfectly back into the rip. I noticed that the left was going mostly unridden. We're talking shoulder to head high A-frames. The left wasn't quite as pretty, but I'm always willing to sacrifice a little quality for the chance to get a few more waves. Paddling out, I tried to avoid the crowd by choosing a route that put me outside the farthest longboarder. As soon as I made it to the outside, a set came through. I paddled past the first wave, and saw that the second one was perfectly lined-up for me and a longboarder who had position. Surprisingly, the logger backed off! I spun around quickly and did a two stroke entry into the steep face. It was a perfect right. I did a nice long bottom turn and flew down the line, past a bunch of guys who were most likely cursing my luck. Though I finally made it to the left side of the peak, that wave I caught within three minutes of hitting the water was my best of the day.

On our way home, OS and I speculated about how many really good days like that the North Coast of Oregon gets a year. I could only think of five or so days this year that I could call "epic," but then again, I only get out 2-3 times a week (if I'm lucky). We then started trying to devise a matrix to determine the quality of life a city offers by certain factors - like number of good surf days, snow days, climbing days, biking days, etc. available to the city dwellers.

What do you think?

My Morning Jacket - Off the Record

Bring on the Dancing Horses

Just got back from the doctor, where he put a microphone up to my wife's belly and we heard a sound that bore a striking resemblence to running horses. Time to make the announcement official: There's a little Chum on the way. This whole thing took us by surprise at first, but now we're starting to get used to the idea. I may be having to lean on the advice of some of the surfing papas out there in blogland to figure out how I'll maintain my paddling arms with a baby on board. Baby on board... Hm... How soon until can I start charging tandem with the little sprout?

Echo and the Bunnymen - Bring on the Dancing Horses

Flat Spell

Sissyfish is in the throes of a flat spell. I've been distracted by work. The kind of work that grabs you by the ear and twists until you can only concentrate on one thing: Finishing the work. Luckily though, I have three things that get me through it:

1. It is truly flat out there (see picture above of a sinking logger from last session).
2. My surfboard is getting closer to being finished every day (right, Moonlighters?).
3. I just booked 3 weeks in Nica an hour ago (Playa Colorado for 2 weeks, Maderas for 1).

So please excuse my flatness. I'm sure it'll pick up very soon.

Guided by Voices - I Am a Scientist
(Click above to find out why!)

The Mayor Goes Surfing

I'm sure everybody in SoCal has a memory of Rodney Bingenheimer. I used to go down to LA for the holidays in the '80s and record his KROQ shows on cassette, which I'd listen to for the rest of the year. Thanks to Rodney, I was a weird Oregon boy with a taste for the Ramones, the Smiths, and even Brian Wilson. With all this talk of people selling out in the surfboard industry on the Surfing Magazine Blog and other sites, I was reminded of a guy who did his job purely for the stoke (and never did get paid). If you haven't seen Mayor of the Sunset Strip, you should beg, borrow, steal, or even rent it.

Brian Wilson - Surf's Up
(Wowee! Now you can even hear the music link!)

Three Weeks in Nica

I'm planning my next surf trip and it looks like we'll be heading to the land of lefts, Nicaragua this summer. I'll be going south for three whole weeks with my wife and two other couples.

Here's the deal: This can't be a feral surf trip with the bros renting boats and living off the land in remote parts of the country. It has to be an accommodating situation for the ladies too. So far, we're pretty sure we'll end up in (or very close to) Playa Maderas. It sounds like a beach with a variety of breaks... albeit a little more crowded than what we'd hoped for. It's also 15 minutes from San Juan Del Sur, where we can have a nice dinner once in a while and give the gals some opportunities to connect back with civilization (boo).

Has anybody who reads this blog been there? Advice would be greatly appreciated before I book it!

Cocorosie - By Your Side
(Click above to hear the song!)

Kook Power!

During my last surf session, I must've heard the word "kook" used fifty times. On a log in front of the break the words, "Kooks Go Home!" is sprayed as a warning to anyone who doesn't understand the rules of the spot. When two kids in hoodies walked out on the rocks and tried to snap a picture, a barrage of "Fuck you, kooks!" and "No photos, kooks!" was thrown at the duo, who immediately lowered their camera and scurried back to the parking lot. The locals jokingly called eachother "kooks" when they blew waves or didn't make sections.

I sat in the lineup and felt somehow that after three years of paying my dues, I had earned the waves I got. But there was a time not too long ago that I was proud of being a kook.

When I started surfing, it had nothing to do with being cool or becoming a shredder. It was all about getting out of town with the boys and sharing crazy experiences. My first stick was a big plastic banana board with a flimsy 6-foot leash. I was so content to roll in my 4/3 wetsuit (bought at an online clearance house), get worked on the inside closeouts, surf tiny waves, and hoot and holler at every good set that came through, whether anyone was riding or not.

As a matter of fact, after thumbing through a couple surf mags and seeing the horrible ways surfing was being marketed to the masses, I decided that looking like a surfer was the last thing I wanted to do.

But I did get stoked. I surfed more and more and for longer sessions. My equipment changed gradually to a custom 7'0 egg, then to a 6'6 hybrid shape. Now I pull a $700 quad fish out of my bag and wear a 6/5 super-stretch hooded suit. I pick surf spots based on studying the online charts and don't even bother driving out to the beach if the swells are over 15 feet (we used to just go and play in the reforms).

Have I changed that much? I still think that mass-marketed surf culture is a joke, but now I try to support artisan shapers and buy quality outdoor gear. I get longer sessions because I'm warmer and better waves because I need them to satisfy my somewhat higher level of surfing. I know more about equipment and what works for me in the conditions we have up here.

Am I still a kook?

I still hoot at strangers on waves and grin from ear to ear after good rides--or good wipeouts. I look like a hodad most of the time (in and out of the water). I have no desire to boost airs.

If those things make me a kook, then I guess I still am--or at least I hope so.

The Kooks - Seaside

Rite (Left) of Passage

I did something today that I've wanted to do since I started this blog. Sorry, no photos this time...

New Order - Vanishing Point