RIDE 'EM COWBOY.

A while ago I posted about getting this 4'11 Mabile "White Pony" for those small days when the only other option would be to ride a longboard. You can see the post, and the red-hot comment thread it inspired HERE.

I took it out in waist to shoulder high waves last weekend and had an absolute blast on it. It went well frontside and, surprisingly, it worked really great on some speedy backside Gas Chambers rights as well. My wave of the day was backside actually, which is completely out of character for me. Well done, my trusty little steed.

When I brought it in on Father's Day evening/International Surf Day, I ran into Gaz and his gal who were scoping the waves. After we discovered a big gouge on the rail (from the leash) he gave the little pony approval and joked, "But Tony said these would never work in Oregon..."

Guess what Tony? It does. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

I suck.

Seriousy, I do. Hope to remedy that soon.

Picture of a Picture: Troncones Beachbreak Firing

Salt Creek Shootaround with Kolohe Andino

A month ago I had the chance to work on a video with Kolohe Andino, wunderkind shredder and son of the ever-cool dad shredder Dino Andino. It was a project for Nike 6.0 introducing their new Full Court Boardshort, one of first surf innovations for the brand. When the brief landed on my desk at Swift Collective, I was pretty stoked, not only because this was a surf video, but also because the shorts bear a striking resemblance to the uniform of my favorite basketball team. Purple and gold. The colors of champions. And do you know how hard it is to get any Laker love in Portland, Oregon?

Anyway, another thing that made this exciting was that I'd be able to work with my childhood chums, The Hoffman Brothers, who would lend their writing and directing chops to the job. Unfortunately they are Blazer fans, but they have done some amazing projects including this Paul Rodriguez banger and a little piece we put together in middle school called "Incident at the Farting Post"—which still only exists in VHS.

So with 30 seconds to tell our story, we spent the day with Kolohe at Salt Creek and and forced him to do a bunch of stuff that most teenagers (not to mention teenage surf proteges) would not take kindly to. But he was a trooper. And his whole family was amazing. Brother even paddled out at sunset in his boardshorts and proceeded to boost an air and snag a barrel. Check my pics and stay tuned for more from the day from Nike 6.0.

Big ups to Dino, who was a great help, Brother, who was great sport, the Hoffman Brothers, who went above and beyond, and the Lakers, who just won the first game of the NBA Finals tonight.

Huevos Rancheros

Or is it Wave-os Rancheros? A couple weeks ago I finally got a chance to visit a wave I've always wanted to surf: The Ranch in Guerrero, Mexico. It's a lefthand pointbreak that can hold up for more than 200 yards, and can hold some serious size to boot. We got it pretty good.

The pics above are from a day that I almost opted out of (see previous post), but decided to paddle out at around 11, right when the wind started blowing. Thanks to Ebb for putting together this little photo collage a typical day. When the swell really started cracking later in the week, seems like shooting photos took a backseat to actually shooting the curl... I can't believe I actually just wrote that.

But you know one of the best things about surfing the Ranch? Getting a breakfast of huevos rancheros, cooked over an open fire, served to you in front of the waves after a 3-hour session. The most pressing question of the day? Cafe con leche or a cold cerveza? Or a second session?

More pics to come...

Signs of the Times

Just got back from a two-week trip to Troncones, Mexico. Reviewing the pictures, this one really stood out. The one on the left is the sign I duct-taped to the fence outside our house early in the morning after my little boy struggled through a sleepless night, letting the other surfers in our "band of bachelor partiers" know that I'd have to take a morning off. I honestly think the reason he couldn't sleep was because the swell spiked that night and the explosions of the crashing waves kept him awake. I know those bombs going off made me a little restless.

The one on the right is the painting we worked on together that day. Sort of says a lot about how my life has changed from the old surfari days. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Reno 411 (The Rest of the Story)

My previous post about running into Reno Abellira on the beach at Trestles left me with a few questions. Among them: Was he really wearing one of those H-Bomb wetsuits with the batteries taken out? What happened to his choppers? Did I almost just get my ass kicked for saying "That's cool?" And was he really claiming to have designed the Bonzer center fin?

A week later I had the rare opportunity to do some fact-checking. A job put me on Oahu for a few days, where I took a morning to drive out to Cafe Haleiwa on the North Shore and speak to Duncan Campbell, one of the two brothers behind the Bonzer.

When I described my run-in with Reno, Duncan laughed hard and told me this story: He said that as crazy as Reno seems, he's one of the most important innovators of the modern surfboard. Back in the '70s, Reno was one of the few people experimenting with putting three fins on a board, along with the Campbell Brothers. But Reno's version of the tri had the fin cluster arranged in reverse, with the center fin placed in front of the two side fins. Duncan said that whenever Reno claims to have invented the thruster, he always tells him, "If that's true, then why aren't you still making surfboards with two fins in the back?"

But Duncan went on to say that Reno's designs for the board's center fin had a huge influence on the current Bonzer center fin. In fact, he wasn't lying on the beach at Trestles. It actually was his creation that he was about to ride on those speedy rights.

"And you can blog that," said Duncan.

His Name Was Reno...

...and he sat upon the sand.
I walked up to him and asked
about the board in his hand...

But actually, I didn't know it was Reno when I approached this skinny leather-skinned man sitting on the beach alone at Trestles, frantically rubbing sand all over the bottom of a single fin Pavel. The board looked pretty mean, so I crouched down and asked about it:

Me: That's an amazing board you have there!

(Long pause, looking up at me...)

Dude: How do you know?

(His front teeth were missing...)

Me: Because it's a Pavel. And it looks like it would work great here.

(Long pause. Hard stare.)

Dude: How do you know about Pavel?

Me: I've read about him a lot.

Dude: You read about him? Well, at least you read.

Me: And I ride a Mandala, which was shaped by a guy who learned from Pavel. It has a similar template I think.

Dude: Never heard of it. Toby's a friend of mine. You got a single fin?

Me: No. It's a quad.

(Longer, harder stare at me.)

Dude: Quad, huh? Where are you from, anyway?

Me: Portland.

Dude: Portland, huh? Ever heard of Gerry Lopez?

Me: Yeah. Of course. I've seen him out surfing in Pacific City.

Dude: Ever heard of Reno Abellira?

Me: Yeah. He's a legend.

Dude: (something inaudible)

Me: Sorry?

Dude: I said—YOU'RE TALKING TO HIM, dude.

Me: Really? That's cool! Sorry, I didn't recognize you.

(Long pause. Hard stare. Sizing me up.)

Reno: Anyway. I'm pretty excited to check out this fin. I designed it and now I finally am getting a chance to give it a try. It's my fin and the guys at the company finally gave me one.

I looked down at the fin. It was a 6-inch True Ames fin. It said "BONZER" on it.

Me: That's cool. It's a Bonzer, huh?

(Long, incredulous stare.)

Me: ...The fin, not the board...

Reno: Dude. I SAID this is my fin.

Me: That's cool.

Reno: Dude. If you say "that's cool" one more time...

Me: Okay. Well. I better get going.

Reno: What's your name?

Me: Rick Albano.

Reno: Italian, huh? Is that why you're wearing Persols?

Me: Um ... I guess?

Reno: If you give me your glasses I'll forgive you.

Me: Uh. That's cool... I mean, that's pretty funny. I'm going to take off. Have a great session.

Reno: Alright.

We shook hands and he walked off toward a right that had been peeling at Middles as we'd been talking. It was really weird. He had be grilling me, that's obvious, but in a strangely friendly way. I wish I could have stayed around to watch him surf, but I had to go to work. More on that later...

For a great recent Reno intervista, check out the Hydrodynamica Blog... (Thanks, Kirk.)

The Hard Body Blues

Fish by Mabile
Wetsuit by Axxe
Log by Junod
Shorts by Birdwell
Body by Bowflex®

Wow. The New York Times seems to be in love with surfing lately. This story just takes things a bit too close to the Meat Packing District.

Saucecrotch.

What's up with MGMT and surfing?

A couple years ago I posted a link to the MGMT video for "Time to Pretend," which featured the lead singer surfing on green screen ala Frankie Avalon (with decent drop-knee style). I think we can all agree that was a pretty great album. Now that the newest release by these debauched Brooklynites has officially leaked, like a surfboard with an unknown gash in the glass, it raises the proverbial eyebrows again to see all kinds of surf imagery in the mix. The album cover has a crazy Sonic-the-Hedgehog-like fox, throwing double shakas under the curl of a menacing wave shaped like his own head. Trippy.

In a recent interview with Spin, MGMT member Andrew Vanwyngarden talked story about the new album: “There’s a surfing thread throughout the record,” he said. “When you’re surfing, there’s a specific break you’re paddling to. And when the waves are really good you say, ‘It’s working.’ The song ["It's Working"] kind of has a surf-y vibe. It’s like surfing on ecstasy!”

Surfing on ecstasy? Seems like a lot of bands are taking to the wild waves with their influences lately. I've asked this before, but is this a coincidence? Are we headed to an era of Gidget-esque surf worship similar to the '60s? Are we already in the middle of it? Does it even matter?

As I write this, the album is playing in the background and it's totally tubular.

Check it for yourself. You can stream the whole new MGMT album, Congratulations, at NPR.org's First Listen.

TO DO A DULL THING WITH STYLE IS PREFERABLE TO DOING A DANGEROUS THING WITHOUT IT. —CHARLES BUKOWSKI