Da Boards

The Clear board is a 9'6" Chris Slick "California classic" not alot of rocker, fast, likes the bigger faster stuff
The Yellow and blue ( in the middle) is a 10'3" Slick NR3.......Killer in the big fat swells and small stuff too. It's kinda magical.
The White and blue is a 9"3" Slick NR3, thinner, whippy, nose rider and DANCER.... love it.
Surf on

Victory at sea

Today was wet and wild.
Tough,tough paddle out..... nobody else was in the water. 3 way cross ups, deep pits in the peaks, big bumps on the shoulders,walls, die-outs ,waves about 3-5 seconds apart. Every once in awhile it was like all the "cross-ups" came together into one big bomber and yeehaw !! My total #$*&@ day at work vanished from my mind in about 3 seconds. The concentration was refreshing and VERY necessary. Had some great rides and got my ass kicked too ..... perfect!

Yep.....likin' the Victory at Sea stuff.... makes a man outta ya !

Surf on

Expected a joke,but got stoke stoke S T O K E

AFTER the last Sunday session on my Beautiful 10'3" Chris Slick Noseider I saw the crack in the deck......lotsa water comin out.....thats goin to the shop for a good 2-3 weeks
BUMMER

TODAY I took my other Slick, (I have 3 heehee), a California Classic, which is a hybrid of a retro/modern 9 foot board, 2+1 ,not alot of rocker, and drove to the spot about 4 pm expecting windy,cold,SMALL chop and slop.

AS I pulled up I spied the only 2 surfers out there, 2 of my buds. Funny thing is they were way far out there ......

SUITED up and started the paddle out only to see BIG,FAST Walls on the outside and Pat and Dave scratching over them......

MADE it out( tough paddle out) and turned on the first wave.....steep drop, fast, hard, bottom turn and flew out the top in a swan dive over the back.

NEXT one was BIG FAST and LOOOOONG...........wooooooooooo eeeeeeeeeee
Stayed out through rain,rainbows, wind, chop,clearing skies, calm winds, glass off, spectacular sunset, and about 8 really great waves and rides. Doing things I have not done before. In tune and rockin'.


GOD I LOVE DAYS LIKE THIS, I just love 'em

Surf ON

sweetness

Today was one of those days that go down as sweet.
My son Jason ( shown above on Big Wednesday 12/21/05 looking over TerraMar)
and I (below with my winter beard, looking over Del Mar)


started at the beach break area and quickly saw the reef was breaking better. So we decided to make the 100 yard paddle over. This was cool as it was super glass and windless.
made it over and about 5-8 of the "regulars" were catching some nice peaky waves.
"Bout 70% of the regulars are pretty good surfers( mostly longboards) and bout 25% are V E R Y G O O D surfers. It can be a little intimidating and if your not "on it" you're not gonna get much.
My son was on our biggest board and he was getting alot. I was on a less familiar shorter board and was hanging south about 10-15 yards and waiting for the right that I new would show, based on the swell. I started getting my share until I was discovered and a little crowd formed around me.
No worries, Jason and I spent 2 hours surfing it up in some really nice conditions.
It's hard to describe how "complete" I feel when my son and I share a great surfing session like that together......it's just sublime and the after glow and stoke is such a gift..

surf on





I

My best yet

Surfing has been a real mixed bag lately.
Haven't wanted to write either. Let me sum it up.
It's mostly been weekend warrior suff due to either weather or work.
FIRST PART OF FEB.
Keeping me dry,or trying to was the weather, but I went out for hour long sunset sessions for 5 days in a row. Semi "Victory at Sea" conditions, and it felt GOOD.
By the time the weekend came around I recall a Saturday of Big, hard to catch waves, but I was "paddle ready". That Saturday was challenging the whole groups of "regulars" including myself. However my ride in wave was epic. Nasty drop,way outside, jacked up, head high,glassy,right, and rode it to the sand. That was worth me working thru the victory at sea week for sure. I felt satisfied.
Next week was kinda the same, maybe 3 mid-week sessions, then the weekend. Again, nice conditions and surprisingly large waves on the outside. Odd that the line up was largely un-populated,probably the booming closeouts, big, fat, fast, walled up booming close-outs. Had to have patience, which I DO.
After a series of drop,rise and get out kinda waves,
the big mack clean-up wave shows.
I remember thinking "I'm too deep, ah screw it" and dropping straight down a very fast, foot or two overhead, swifty. Made the knarly bottom turn right, and straight up to the lip, locked in my track and took off like a freakin' rocket, way high up on the wave. Rode up and down the face but parallel the length of the ride( 75 yards !!)
This is on my 10'3" Slick mind you. Well on that day I finally heard my board sing.
Not only did it "sing" but it belted it out, loud and proud. That sound was amazing, I wont forget it. At the end of this wave I sat spent and made about 3 or 4 arms raised over the head victory yells.

yeah yeah

You Are 64% California

You're so Californian, you belong in Hollyweird.

How California Are You?

H e l l o beautiful...Goodbye old friend Richard Smith

After being stood up on Wed.and Thurs., She showed up Friday night, albeit a little rough around the edges, at least she showed. We made a date for early Saturday morning and sure enough she showed again, this time, glassy, strong, and beautiful.
The paddle out was cool, only 3 out, and the lull in between set waves was just enough to allow me outside without to much huffing/puffing. Caught 5-8 really nice, strong,fat outsiders.
Got a great workout. The last wave in was the wave of the day( at least so far) and I danced up and down that beauty, through the inside lineup, and right to the beach. OH YEAH !
While changing, I saw a familiar, Paul is his name, good surfer. Asked about an acquaintance who I haven't seen for about a month, Richard Smith. He passed on 2 weeks ago was the reply.

Richard Smith..... 1 armed cancer warrior, surfer, Bro, and a truly sweet man...the photo above and below is for you. It's the viewpoint you always saw every weekend, while talking, watching, and longing to go "out" with your friends or no doubt alone too.
Like so many of us, Terramar was your friend, foe, and mistress. Here's to you Richard.

I cant go you eeediot....I'm not feeling too good.

Theeees is the song I've been forced to sing for the last 3 weeks. Actually I've gotten out 5 times in 3 weeks, and I'm thankful for those sessions. Got several goodies and 2 Sundays ago I was lucky enough to fall into a super session @ Terramar proper and Igor's.
It was sunny, calm, glassy and nice shoulder highs rolling through.
All the regulars in the line up were totally fixated on the usual left.....and although I was just 10 yards south I had right after right for 30 yard rides and it was like I was "invisible".
No one was taking the rights, any of them.
It was H E A V E N, my first true nose rides , checking out the reef and the long reef grass swaying 10 feet below me and my board..........and this was one week into my illness. I thought, "well....this will kill me or cure me"..... and when that session was over I felt CURED.
Although the illness has lingered on it is finally over( bout 4 days ago)...whew.

Surf on ....

"Hey Kook, I'ma mess you up, bad!!! "

Might have to change the blog name
from; Surfing Terramar
to Surviving Terramar.
Saturday, I arrive at the "playground" about 10 am to coincide with a 2 foot tide and there are 3 cop cars, lights a flashing, in my parking spot. So I park aways down the hill,grab the gear and head off to the walk down spot. A 30 year old surfer is standing at the top of the bluff and down below on the beach are 4 cops and a life guard.
I figure "surfer down". I ask the surfer on the bluff what happened ? He says he accidentally hit one of four scuba divers ( in the middle of the surf area) The diver told him to learn to surf then cut his leash with the divers knife. Wordz were exchanged, they went to shore. At this point the (ego) injured diver pulled his knife on the surfer and told him he and his friends were gonna " f*&k him up bad" evidently at this point spear guns were pointed at the surfer. Surfer says "if you all wanna dis-arm yourselves, I'll go toe to toe with all of you."
They continue the threats, surfer goes to the top of bluff and his car and cell phones the cops.
I BELIEVE THEY ARRESTED THE DIVERS....didn't hang around, paddled out instead, got about 5 or 6 nice ones, some RIGHTS for a change. They started outside, formed a nice peak then the shoulders just jacked up as the wave got to the beach. On a couple I was trying out the rail grab, beat the close out, someday I'm gonna get tubed maneuvers.
It felt good,tight and right.

THURSDAY night went out @ 4pm ( mad rush from work to beach) got in and had a bunch of mediocre stuff........UNTIL it got dark and this creepy low fog came in.Everyone got out except myself and 1 other surfer.
Just then, wild 3 wave sets rolled in from the outside. These appeared as gray/black fat lines charging from nowhere out of the now foggy horizon.
Myself...I got 3 BIG, FAST, LONG,SWEETIES.An awesome and strange finish.
Was SuperStoked the next 24 hours.

surf on....

Killer weekend

Friday was cool. Got in @ 630 AM and there were, to my surprise, waves and lotsa people. Oh yeah Veteran's Day, duh. Well we all got a nice Veterans day gift. Nice off shores, nice rollers, nice vibe.
My 10'2" Chris slick is sooooo perfect sometimes. Those big fat deep rollers just set this magic board free, me too ! My son showed up about 8am with a 9 foot version of the same board and we just surfed it up. We like to switch boards in the water and that makes for even more fun. It is amazing that these 2 boards are the same shape and model, but the dims are different and they behave so differently. I love both of them. I think the Slicks are a bit fragile though.
We had a great time.
Saturday was different. I was in @ 6 and out by 8. Got about 6 decent rides. Satisfying.
Sunday Jason ( my son) and I were in @ 6. Only 3 people in the water and on a Sunday?!?
OK?
We paddle out through some good sized walls and a familiar says " good luck guys, these are a little much for me" and with that he beaches himself.
OK ......So Im thinking there rollin in then it's jack, wall, CRASH. No sweat.
I say no sweat because. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I have been out over 150 days since Jan.1st.
I know this because I grab a shell after every session.
I've done this for this reason.
12/21/05
I watched big Wednesday
I watched big Thursday.
I watched slightly smaller big Friday.
I TRIED TO GO OUT on slightly smaller again, leftover Saturday.
At the time, I was incapable of paddeling out through 4-5 tiers of white water in short intervals.
It disgusted me, my son on the shore video taping my attempts to get outside, and each failure to do so.
That day I said "no more"!
So, on average, I have surfed every other day since.
Well, today I paddled with confidence both going out and
going for some pretty jacked up A frame waves. Got lotsa good ones, steep, fast and beach walls that required getting out of in a controlled way.
My son and I ruled the break today, ruled it.
The hard work, explanations to my wife and to my work, sore shoulders, people wondering about my obsession , have been worth it. I have put myself through 11 months of training and learning and it paying off.
There is still alot to accomplish.....but Im gettin there for sure and loving every session I have.
Life is very good @ 50
very, very good.

About last night....

OOOOO la la.
Very tough day @ the work. Left @ 4pm for home, stripped, suited and grabed the 10'2" to go and check it out. Pure glass,4:40pm,very warm, spring suit, 2 buddies and 1 famililar in the water. Weird little peaks showed. I took 3 to adjust my position on the board then everything turned sweet. After my 2nd semi nose ride through the drained out reef, I ran ashore. stripped to my trunks and surfed into the night with a glowing ember horizon and bright stars.
Cosmic, sensuous, bitchin STOKE.
Surfing and mother ocean never cease to totally amaze me.

Thank you Mother
Thank you God
wooooooooooooooooooo

Careful now..there are snakes in the garden !

We all know they are out there. Most try to avoid them. I have had relatively few encounters at Terramar., they do however become more numerous and aggressive at certain times. Im not really sure what drives that; big waves, nice offshores, famine ? I have observed that in groups they become more aggressive and sneaky. Some are just innocent accidents, some are planned. Yesterday, someone actually yelled out "don't let him have that wave all alone" while I was up on a nice one from the outside. At that, one of the established Kahuna's at Terramar ( there are many ) shoulder hopped me after I had been up for a good 10 seconds. I didnt back down, but never got close enough for me to park my board up his ass, sooooo no harm done I suppose. It was just the concept of the "group" effort to make sure it wasn't a solo ride ?? Sometimes a party wave is cool, sometimes NOT.
This one wasn't so bad......probably.

Here is the snake sneaking up on his victim from behind.

Whoops...the victim catches him in the act , and the snake must turn around and hide so as to avoid identification and escape.

A viscous attack averted by a wary surfer !!

I started surfing here 4 years ago along with my son Jason. He's 19, I'm 50.
This will be an account of the past, present and future. I hope to include graphic details of the good, the bad and the ugly. I am gonna use real names and true stories as I see them. I hope to use alot of photos. Time will tell.