The Gnarr and Whap-pap(!) of it all.

Due to the fickle weather in these parts, a surfer should have a variety of suits to meet the conditions at hand. Here are my suits all of which have seen action in the past year except for one......

the 6/5/4 West used in times of extreme Gnarr, usually snow on the beach days, epic tubular waves included......

the 5/3 Hotline for when the frostline has dropped to the floor, Gnarr factor of 8.....

the 5/3 Salomon, but the first hoodless suit in the quiver(who the fuck makes a 5mm sans hood? The Frenchies of course.....), best used on days where the above conditions are windfree and the water temps are above 52f, Gnarr factor of 4.....

the Ripcurl 4/3 zipperless, now retired after 18 years of use, what a champ! No longer required to have a Gnarr factor due to service above and beyond.....

the 4/3 Salomon, same as above when the air and water are both above 52f, Gnarr factor of 6.....

the 3/2 Salomon for taking a bath in, Gnarr factor 3......

the Rubber Soul 3/2, great name..... cheap suit, see above conditions, Gnarr factor of 1....

two rash guards one with hole in chest from 18 years of service, these two never meet the Gnarr.....

Lower right......booties and squid-lids too valuable to give public ratings to.

Aug-tober

This image belies what was two days of great waves. Warm water for us had a lot of people sweating in their 5/3's, saw people bootie-less, heard of some wearing trunks and rashguards only. I pulled the trigger on the 3/2 and was toasty warm for hours. The sun was out and it seemed summer-y, light winds kept the waves clean and the banks turned on up and down the coast. Surfed 3 spots in 24 hours putting in 8 hours of water time, did the beach hike saw a lot of pretty country. Talked story with a couple of the boys Friday night.

Went out for an early morning session Saturday that turned on 30 minutes into it, down a ways the crowd was epic while we traded crisp waves between friends for two hours. Surfed leashless, took a couple of long swims, but the warm water made it easy enough. Shortboarded the afternoon go out, still fairly wind free the buoys reading 4' but the sets were solidly overhead and powerful, I took an elevator drop late mid peak and got solidly rag-dolled. The reminder I think of it as. We are small.

How deep.....

......does this go?

A hit and a miss!!

After long beach walks and bumpy rides, Surftwin and I pulled a late Sunday surf check, the fog had cleared and weak afternoon sunlight filtered through storm clouds. The wind had completely swung around to off-shores and peaks were coming in throwing lovely curtains down the face. We checked a few miles of beach and came back to the first, just in time to see Heath pull the late drop to face-plant on a head high wave, we jumped...

Paddled over the low tide bar where every 2' wave seemed to drag us back to the beach. A long paddle into crisp little gems, it had all the promise of waves til dark on a night with no crowds left in town. Fat walls swung over the outer bar from the north west, the peaks shadowing over head on takeoff. Short lefts joined with the inside bar and the right coming off that corner....



The off-shore had smoothed out the waves leaving clean walls that got hollower with the pull of the tide. Midway through the session Heath dropped over the edge of an insider as I turned to paddle out to an approaching set. H. started hooting as he kicked out the back of his wave and didn't stop when he got back out either. Longest barrel of his surfing experience, from takeoff to kickout the lip breaking far out in front of him. The inside section hit hard and jacked, keeping him in the pocket till the end of the ride where he popped out like a seed. He was beyond stoked!!

Just as we settled in for what promised to be more, the whiff of "dairy-aire" wafted over the lineup, what was weird was the direction it came from, the south-east where there aren't the cows to tinge the atmosphere. Faaarrrk, the blowout came sudden and hard and in 15 minutes the walls were hacked and ribbed by a south wind with a black cloud descending from the headland, pouring it's guts out. The wind swirled and crushed the clean waves into froth.

Ten minutes later we had all paddled in, done in by mother nature.

Before the fog blogged my vision.

This was on tap, now I can't see crap!

Blood on the blog......

A little blood is good for ya......

A hole at the end of the world.

Four hunded feet up........

Is a 3 mile long footpath that takes you out to the tip, it's a slippery trek and full of loose rocks. There are numerous streams and washouts along the path, storms rip the trees out with regularity all winter long. You might even meet a bear up there, not a big one by most standards but something with teeth.....



It's built on top of these rocks which these birds live between. I'm sure all their crapping isn't acting like glue. The whole thing is a deck of cards in my opinion. These rocks fall with an uncomfortable regularity and if one falls in the boat, well the consequences are either death by rock or drowning. Yikes!

Monday's Wave

Because it never gets here anymore... taken in 2006........

Now that summer is gone.......

It seems ok to relive the road trip...... Surftwin and I hit the road and the first night we grabbed a hotel room where we caught this gem on tv, a retirement home with three levels of care although none of the three were spelled out.

So we came up with what they could be....

Stage 1) You wipe your ass.

Stage 2) We wipe your ass.

Stage 3) God wipes your ass.

Yeah I know....it's a horrible joke.

This thing about hanging around too long is waaaaay over played, sometimes the graceful thing to do is to exit via a long paddle out to sea and into the sunset(that is if you're a Westcoaster of course).



God save me from the alternative......

Road Styl-ee

Best part of SC is that I'm a young 'un in the water, there's crusty old guys with 20 years on me out there in the lineup. Here's a whipper snapper in his 60's.......