small bounty

early spring?

2012-02-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2012/02/unusual-ridge-that-wont-go-away.html?spref=fb

yesterday!

2012-02-09T09:55:00.000-08:00

dave took some shots as i paddled around solo. couple tubes

lingering

2012-02-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

summer/winter

2012-01-25T12:44:00.001-08:00

dark water, green water

2012-01-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

withinwaves.com

porch board number 6

2012-01-20T21:27:00.001-08:00

5'6", pretty flat in the tail

we'll see how she goes

tubetime

2012-01-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

Theodor Kittelsen

2012-01-18T18:59:00.000-08:00

big

2012-01-18T10:23:00.000-08:00

paddled out alone to this, got real worked. a couple bombs and a broken leash

2012-01-15T10:20:00.000-08:00

thanks to costa for the photos

makeshift

2012-01-11T21:17:00.001-08:00

noted:

2012-01-11T13:58:00.000-08:00

ooo look, no stringer in the tail.

via swallowtailsociety

2012-01-09T23:47:00.000-08:00

you know when it's just you and it's not really all that good, but there's swell and maybe it's even sunny and cold. and you're there. and you paddle out and the waves break, some you let pass because there was no hope. others come in and you give em a go. and so you paddle around in the ocean for a while. catch a weird wave or ten. go fast and fall over.

it's pretty nice

we take pictures of the sunset

2012-01-06T22:12:00.001-08:00

where we live,

2012-01-04T21:32:00.000-08:00

the generous world suggests generous living

sunday

2011-12-20T20:27:00.001-08:00

2011-12-19T22:24:00.001-08:00

San Francisco Doesn't Suck. from Blake Kueny on Vimeo.

2011-12-16T08:49:00.001-08:00

2011-12-14T22:40:00.000-08:00

Andrew Kidman - InnerViews from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.

2011-12-14T21:01:00.000-08:00

2011-12-04T19:20:00.000-08:00

2011-11-30T18:10:00.000-08:00

2011-11-25T00:30:00.001-08:00

from when it was still summer

2011-11-20T01:36:00.000-08:00

it only works if we believe in it

2011-11-19T23:23:00.000-08:00

this land is your land

2011-11-16T21:36:00.001-08:00

you know how i feel

2011-11-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

Take no pics, Make no phone calls

2011-11-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

A friend filled me in on a little secret in our little aquatic neighborhood.

Real tight-lipped hush-hush business, you know.

Just five of us and a below sea-level machine

as the tide sucked out

and the light went slanted as

the sun lay down to rest.

No turns, no shoulder. Just sideways drops under thick green curtains,

one moment to pick a line. And hope for the best.

One moment,

keep your eyes open.

I made a few and got plenty thrown down into the knee deep water.

Held tight to the sand.

I woke up to a bruised tail bone this morning,

I love November.

2011-11-04T20:42:00.000-07:00

the bar is back

2011-11-04T19:11:00.001-07:00

music for driving to the beach when I'm scared of how big it might be

2011-10-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

North PAC churning

2011-10-11T23:48:00.000-07:00

habitual movements

2011-10-11T23:27:00.000-07:00

they will tell you that you are dreaming

2011-10-11T15:03:00.000-07:00

"They will tell you that you are dreaming, but the true dreamers are those who think that things can go on indefinitely they way they are, just with some cosmetic changes. We are not dreamers, we are the awakening from a dream which is turning into a nightmare. We are not destroying anything, we are merely witness to how the system is gradually destroying itself."-Slavoj Žižek from speach at OCCUPY WALLSTREET

http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/736

we the small man, we will take it back

2011-09-30T09:18:00.000-07:00

WE ARE THE 99 %

2011-09-29T21:36:00.001-07:00

http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/

winter is upon us

2011-09-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

It's hella warm in September in northern california. But lately, the outer outer waters have begun to churn. My buddy said a few days ago, "the machine has come back to life". And it has. Swells have become back to back in the double overhead region. Little to no wind. And more to come. Forever. My arms are already tired.

Rains are finally in the forecast, bringing the long dry season to a welcome close. And with them come offshore winds. It's a good time to be alive.

Aint got no pictures to share, my camera has long been dead. Don't wanna spend no dollars on another cheap plastic throw away.

fish style

2011-09-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

I hounded my buddy Craig, who takes all these photos, for the full set of pics from a bunch of sessions that he's shot. I finally got them, and there are a few I'm stoked about.

I really like this one, I feel like it's got a proper fish feel to it.

a fish did this:

2011-09-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

This is my friend Benjie. A couple days ago, I went surfing at a spot I go to a lot. I surfed, got out of the water. No big deal.

About an hour later, Benjie got into the water at the same spot. Three waves in and thirty minutes later, he's sitting in the lineup, "chillin" he says, when all of a sudden he's struck from below. Struck so hard that he's lifted clear out of the water (confirmed by two surfers on the beach, clear out of the water), and in the same moment of impact the white shark breaks his board into two pieces.

The shark then munched the tail part of his board, bloody teeth marks visible...

He managed to get a wave on his belly into the beach. No bodily harm at all. We took Benjie out to eat and had a campfire to celebrate his life.

Cheers to being alive!

love to FALL

2011-09-13T13:32:00.001-07:00

fall is our favorite season. when the fog clears and the wind dies, we're left with backlit clear green water and fun little lines.

here it all comes again

2011-09-07T12:39:00.001-07:00

surfing my handshape 5'6" twin fin. waves like this are why i built this board...sometimes you only have one pump and one turn...

thanks again to craig s. for the photo

shelter

2011-08-21T10:20:00.001-07:00

setup

2011-08-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

what i actually am

2011-08-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

inland

2011-08-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

if you dare leave the ocean, it's pretty nice out there too

Fog's Poem

2011-08-08T22:49:00.000-07:00

The clutter of things in our house

A clutter of noises and lights

I look out the window and see nothing

Only my face reflected back

But outside there is

a faint glow of moon

through the fog

Mist settles on the porch railing

where I find my hands

wet

All night and all day

the sea rolls into the cliffs,

grey pulse of living Earth.

Slow roar of the universe .

In the morning the fog is so thick, we have only our

Small world

the fog clears once unexpectedly mid day

a patch of blue sky,

a mirror of blue ocean below it.

golden land revealed

I can see

small swells

come from nowhere in the still day

They congregate, rise together,

and dissipate

Again the fog returns,

the blue recedes

The waves and water,

hidden

Father and Mother, Brothers

Open the door

For the fog to wrap us

inside our small world

2011-08-08T00:55:00.000-07:00

summer quiver

2011-06-30T23:53:00.000-07:00

loving them lately

number 1 and number 3

change happens with people

2011-06-30T21:20:00.000-07:00

small bounty

2011-06-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

warming

2011-06-24T22:11:00.001-07:00

Running for cover in a hot night as the storm sweeps in.

It comes to us suddenly.

First lightning far off.

Then strong wind and a sudden deluge. It cools us down.

oh rain on metal roof.

This is the story of every summer thunderstorm.

But it's been years,

I held this one dear and close.

Now rushes of rain

drown out everything else. We pause our conversation.

Now a rush of thunder. And dances of light across the night sky.

I grasped it. Closed my eyes. Breathed in the night.

No good way to describe the feeling of thunder close by. You brace yourself, release to feel it penetrate everything.

Our eyes opened wide. Flash of purple, swaying grasses in salt marsh.

Dripping wet

Our eyes open wide.

what a joy

to feel the way it all comes to us and goes.

the tide is filling in, the sun is down.

the moon is up and full.

the rain on my bare shoulders, we run home

together as it lets up.

We laugh at it all.

I open my window to listen,

wake up to the heat of the day.

In the morning, the wet earth

seems happier for it.

How blessed we are

when it's so hard not to feel

alive

"what i find will be found easily,

2011-06-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

only when im not looking for it.

without looking for the morning in the sunset"

i'm on this phil elverum kick.

he may be the best musician ever. breaks my heart so good

buried in space

2011-06-03T16:47:00.000-07:00

if you've got the time and patience, this is good live music.

they opened their set with these two songs, fog machines and gongs. it was heavy

all things which grow

2011-05-30T22:36:00.000-07:00

surfboards, battered chickens, friends, vegetable gardens.

these things grow and grow us too:

This is Every Day

2011-05-30T18:42:00.000-07:00

Face to the ruffled water
I shiver in the cold.
My mind wanders out to the horizon and back
Summer will come, I remember it

A glimpse of something happening,
It is wind over water, under clouds, over water.
the light hits the water and is all silver.
My mind pauses.

I do not stand long.
I look back or forward: old faces, new faces
words from a book,
Somewhere else it is warm and lush.
I am cold in the wind.

Two shore birds run where the sea meets the sand.
The ground is wet. Thousands of flowers without names are blooming:
Tiny yellow temples, offerings to a thousand longings, offerings
to no one.
I see them briefly.
They are beautiful and remember nothing
I look up and my feet turn to go.

there is a graveyard on top of this town

2011-05-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

from a friend far away

2011-05-25T01:01:00.000-07:00

Mother Tongue
by willy oppenheim

Say what you want
about technology,
the way it makes us flat.
Call the word too final,
translation a theft,
all poems too harsh
for late light or children.

Still, I go back
to what my friend sent,
the words onscreen,
pixels meaning rain, river,
tall trees not-moving.
The taste of cold water,
our bodies becoming themselves,
becoming air,
becoming hung laundry,
sunset, a man at prayer.

Say tongue, just say it:
the named thing naming.
Speak your first words, unwritten,
the ones you speak at home;
call them sweet, let them ring out
like lightning, like darkness;
let them become the silence
in which I set out to accomplish
only my body in the wind.

Take my love letters and burn them,
spread them with my ashes,
but don’t call them untrue.
My morning meets your dusk;
our time zones too far for daylight.
Our small hope like birds
or fragile blossoms too sad to name,
too alive and beyond us,
too wildly themselves.

Let music stand for what I can't write
Let the call to prayer explain why,
when I saw your face today onscreen,
neither of us could speak.

and i will notice the world for a moment

2011-05-25T00:40:00.000-07:00

when you connect together

2011-05-01T22:21:00.000-07:00

direction change

2011-04-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

looked smallish from the beach, . and it was smaller when i paddled out there, but by the end of the session the swell had swung from west to more northerly, and sets started stacking up outside. and i was on my homemade 5'6" twin fin. which made it pretty interesting.

picture from the legendary local, craig spjut

water world

2011-04-28T13:47:00.001-07:00

Letter to a friend far away

2011-04-17T22:31:00.000-07:00

The rain comes and it goes. Sometimes hard down. Or sometimes so soft
like it is rising up.
Like tears come and go, but more like rain.
Blankets of wet fir needles,
The ground breathes
the water in. Breathes it out.
Fog rests on the ridge.

The rivers grow, become themselves,
Clear green and cold.
and we drink it.

The tall trees stand close together.
They never move
We pass them,
We move with them.
We come and go.

I sat down in pools warmed by cooling rock.
They form themselves. The hot earth spills itself out upon itself. It becomes itself.
I did not really
Understand.
We came and went.

I sat and knew you were there too with me
And I missed you nonetheless.

winter loves springtime

2011-04-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

more rain, more waves...and my shoulder still healing....

shape a stub

2011-03-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

Meet Your Shaper: Brian Hilbers from Mollusk Surf Shop on Vimeo.

sweet info!

laying low

2011-03-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

One week ago I woke up early, before dawn, to get to one of my favorite spots alone on a Saturday morning. But I couldn't lift myself out of bed. My shoulder was stiff and throbbing. Couldn't lift it over my head. Pacific winter has been in full force for over a month now. And up until a week ago, I was on it. every day.

And now I'm pretty sure that's my problem....One session too many. And not enough rest or care for my poor hard working body. I should have been listening more closely to what it was saying.

But alas, I'm injured now. I'm laying pretty low. No surf, no work. Rain comes down. The winter offshores roar out of the hills. Big swells still moving through. and the winter sandbars are groomed and firing.

I went yesterday to look at the waves. Three of us standing on the dunes looking out....HUGE OCEAN....and a couple of surfers out looking very tiny amongst it all. Big spitting tubes in shallow water. I sigh. wish I could sit out there with them. One guy goes for a late drop on the first wave of the set. Double overhead...He free falls as the lip throws and the wave goes hollow.. Somehow he keeps his feet and lands the full air-drop. A big bottom turn below the lip and he cranks a top turn as the tube spits right behind him. The three of us erupt. HOOT for him, HOWL for him. All of us a bit surprised by the finesse of the landed drop and the big powerful turn that followed on such a critical wave.

So I'm trying to stay positive as the winter rolls on. And I guess some second-hand stoke is enough for now. I'll keep going to watch the waves and to keep up with the ever shifting sandbars. Testing my patience, stretching and trying to give my sore body love while I keep my stoke up. Meanwhile I'll sow my seeds, work on my surfboards and be listening to what my body is saying. Waiting for it to tell me to go back into the ocean.

if i had an orchard...

2011-03-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

im really feeling this one right now.

6 feet @ 15 minutes

2011-03-12T15:53:00.000-08:00

ocean sucks off the beach. like a very negative tide.

...and rushes back in... just a few minutes later. high tide.

It was powerful to see hour much energy came from so far across the ocean. It came over the highway here in a few places, wrecked boats in harbors. And a man was lost to sea up north at a rivermouth. I can only imagine the power felt nearer to the epicenter.

A bunch of people stood on the cliffs or hills and watched. Our friends Molly and Yohei were there. Yohei took these photos at 10:30 or so, three hours after the initial pulses hit the shores. Yohei, by the way, makes beautiful wooden surfboards. taiyosurfboards.com

Standing there safe with everybody, in an earthquake prone place, I knew that could have just as easily been us. Our town. Our beaches and our houses. My prayers go out to the people of Japan.

little stub nose

2011-03-06T16:38:00.000-08:00

5'4" x 20" x 2.5

EPS/EPOXY with a tinted bamboo cloth deck patch, which im pretty stoked about. and hand foiled bamboo fins.

finished glassing the fins and leash loop last night. just sanded the fins a bit this morning before I got it out in some pretty solid surf today.

So far it feels good, and it was especially smooth going left. My backside turns felt nice and snappy.

I'll certainly need to try this one a few more times. See how it works in some different stuff.

searching for gerry lopez

2011-03-03T11:41:00.001-08:00

big shakas to mt.bachelor, oregon

... on the biggest powder day, word was that gerry could be seen flying through the trees wearing a blue coat. I never saw him but made sure to shred as hard as possible, just in case he was around the bend.

Oh snow, gotta go back.

one world, one pain

2011-02-20T11:11:00.001-08:00

projects

2011-02-19T23:14:00.000-08:00

I make my fins from 1/4" bamboo plywood which I buy at our lumber store. It's cheap, light, strong, and flexes pretty well. I've been experimenting with bamboo fiber. It's stretchy and difficult to work with but it has a lot of potential.

left: 5'4" x 20" x 2.5", quad fin. Hull entry, mild s deck, single into double concave under the back foot.

right: 5'10" x 20.5" x 2.75, single fin, maybe 2 side bites?

I don't ride single fins much so I'm not sure exactly where to go with this one. I almost feel like cutting the tail and making another fish. We'll see.

winter came back for a little bit

2011-02-18T22:03:00.001-08:00

after six full weeks of sunny warm temperatures, winter graced us with cold temps and driving wind, rain, and hail. and a fresh coat of snow in the hills.

and ive been working on surfboards, taking the time to wait and sit with my shapes, taking a little foam off everyday. but not too much. practicing patience and getting stoked on what is slowly emerging.

i have two in the works. a little stubby fish and a hullish 6 footer with a flexy tail. and a new batch of bamboo fins.

spaceshipROCKETship

2011-02-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

the last board i built didn't really work. i could surf it, but it didn't do at all what i wanted it to do. i left it too thick in the center and too wide in the tail, which meant i couldn't sufficiently sink the rail to turn. i was bummed.

....but this one. oh this one goes. thin and flat rockered and as fast as any fish ive ever ridden and it seems to go exactly where i want to be. right in the pocket, or out on the face.

"the pocket fish"

this is getting fun.

more big ripples

2011-01-31T00:37:00.000-08:00

sometimes, i'm not sure why i put so much energy into wave finding and sliding upon.
other times, im very very sure why we do.

i'm grateful just to float in this crazy bluegreen ocean,
let alone fly across its surface

floating

flying

pretty picture

2011-01-29T22:57:00.000-08:00

of chris del moro by ryan tatar

found at

http://www.shakasandsinglefins.com

what a january

2011-01-25T19:47:00.000-08:00

lots of good things coming through this corner of the universe.

sunny warm days and not too much wind.

big groundswell and a few missions to good places

feelin beat. sore. a little sunburned. sssstoked.

and a couple new boards in the works.

yeeeeewww!!!!

northwest coasts

2011-01-20T20:59:00.001-08:00

cold water, rainy grey days, pumping swell, sketchy waves.
this footage is awesome, and reminds me of some special days here on this northwest coast.

Start as you mean to go on...... from Tim Boydell on Vimeo.

here/there

2011-01-16T18:13:00.000-08:00

still just hangin out

2011-01-14T17:23:00.000-08:00

4 feet at 15 seconds

2011-01-10T21:48:00.000-08:00

today the rains and the offshores come back after a nice long, mid-winter dry spell. and with it, weve got some nice small long period swell. which is nice this time of year, when we're usually getting battered with swell. small enough to paddle the local beach.

I finished my second board yesterday, gave it a try. it's 5'9" by 2 5/8" by 19" 1/4.

I can't tell how i feel about it yet. it's from a PU blank i got at a garage sale, glassed with epoxy and it's got some homemade bamboo fins on it.

im hoping it might work with some of this smaller swell we've got for a few more days.

gold rush

2011-01-09T22:03:00.000-08:00

high pressure system holding. and solid long periods pulsing, fading, pulsing, fading for a good long winter window.

yessir, that's surfin. sure is.

2011-01-01T19:01:00.000-08:00

go here and watch the video, which is all the proof you need:

http://www.gentemstick.com

i want one, geez.

back home, alone

2010-12-31T18:40:00.000-08:00

an empty glassy ocean welcomed me home from a nice long trip east to see family and friends.

happy newyear! cheers yall

my 30 dollar planer works

2010-12-26T12:00:00.001-08:00

here comes my first fish

soon!

2010-12-14T22:57:00.000-08:00

whispers and hushed tones

2010-12-13T18:30:00.000-08:00

have you heard? shhh. don't tell anyone.

yep, a certain stream is a flowin and a certain secret sand bar is formed. right this very moment, a wave is rifling down the shallow gravel bar. left and right.

two weeks later and it's still workin...cars pile up and the old locals start given vibes and on a classic sunday mornin somebody picks one off deep and points for the exit. but mr socal softmore is in the wrong place at the wrong time. some yelling, some fighting words. bummer. isn't this something we do for fun?

what to do?
hmmm...get up before dawn and score before anyone's buttered their toast. and again tomorrow. and hopefully the next day.

I got a big wide open tube this morning, with no one else on the peak. certainly no time to scowl at the college kids.

welcome to the world of the plastic beach

2010-12-12T20:38:00.000-08:00

My buddy Tom works with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Mass, often out to sea for weeks working with researchers. He's in the Gulf right now studying the whole oil spill disaster.
He's also a good surfer and an all around awesome guy.

He made this video.

Alvin Cruise from Tom Lanagan on Vimeo.

damp winter days

2010-12-11T17:01:00.001-08:00

a couple days ago, we made the haul to a left point up north during the peak of a windy west swell. the spot was empty except for a couple dozen angry sea lions. south winds blow offshore, the swell wrapped around a rocky headland and broke over a jumble of rocks and sand. it was really nice to get some real point surf for a change and make more than a few turns on a wave. can't wait to return.

as the swell faded, ye old local beach break has been the call.

shifty, lots of current, but certainly a few good ones in the mix.

day in the rain

2010-12-05T20:52:00.000-08:00

charlie came for a visit and took a few photos while we swam around searching for the corner pocket. thanks charlie

what we do not say

2010-12-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

I did not tell you what the sunrise brought
over the green hills.
I rose silent, and left you there.

No breath of wind on the water
fog rising through the firs.
I run to see, put my
eyes to sea.
Blue water
grey water.
There is a storm raging very far away. I greet the ripples.

I do not tell you of the
flocks of birds flying south.
I do not tell you what the sunrise brought
over the green hills.
your face, your face

recent feasting

2010-11-25T11:09:00.000-08:00

dumping, heaving...giving thanks

2010-11-22T19:13:00.000-08:00

Huddled after a warm shower. Here comes warm dinner.
Cold cold temperatures these past several days.
Dumping rain on the coast.
Dumping snow in the hills.
And the ocean clean and heavy.

Sitting in the ocean tonight, I began to give my thanks and praise.
to winter storms, to warm food and shelter,
to friends near and far,
to the ability of a body
to seek beautiful water spaces
in beautiful places.

praise up!

rock tube

2010-11-19T00:31:00.000-08:00

couple good ones

2010-11-15T18:03:00.000-08:00

three days at an old trusty north wind spot. with no where else workin, i made the drive to paddle around with the masses. dozens of longboarders, college kids, highschoolers, and everyone else but i managed to snag some good ones each day. as the swell backed off i brought out my stubby and picked em off real early. all the way to the inside.

seems like everyone got a couple good ones. that's all we need right?

a poem from my friend willy, across the atlantic

2010-11-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

Animals

You find my waking body
naked on the floor
of a room without color.
It could be a shark or bear
or something else
more soft and clumsy.

Autumn, the redness of beets,
leaves pasted to pavement,
the rustle of lives through a city
where light catches the pale yellow
of one planted streetside tree.

Far away, a butterfly is weeping.
Our small friend
has buried his kitten
and stares down at his boots.

Barefoot in the wind,
I think apples,
poems about women,
the births I will not witness.

halloween

2010-11-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

im the lamp

word

2010-11-07T12:22:00.001-08:00

november mission

2010-11-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

classic

2010-10-14T14:48:00.000-07:00

no wind for three days, indian summer warmth.
clear green water.
a slowly fading pumping swell and I

finally found
a solid sandbar

oh nor cal in the fall
heavy, glassy, hollow.

keep on rowing your boat

2010-10-13T00:09:00.000-07:00