Crazy out today, wish I had more energy and I would have hit a 3rd spot. I cruised Redondo and it was a huge swell, but a crappy shape. I picked a break and went out anyway because I wanted to at least feel the rips the lifeguards were warning about. Caught two waves but mostly it was just bobbing and dunking. So I figured I'd hit Manhattan pier. Ha! The waves were exploding almost at the end of the pier, no swimmers or boogie boards were even allowed out! They said 6-7', but I thought bigger.

So I backtracked to Hermosa pier and more big swell with no shape. I've seen Catalina Island affect surf forever, but it was like the island was dissecting this swell and channeling it at MB pier and points north. Had some near high speed misses with the ground, but avoided anything worse than the washing machine when I finally settled at mid-Hermosa as a compromise. Fun, but I'm exhausted.

El Porto today.


The Wedge

It took me two tries to get out to the line up the sets were so big and coming in so fast, My second attempt out I got shot down to the bottom and broke my toe on the reef.




five yeas ago i did the exact same thing and broke the same toe.

Ouch. I'm not that badly off, but I'm gobbling ibuprofen and my screaming shoulder is hooked up to an electro-pulse device so that I can lift my arm up straight again (hopefully soon enough to get back out there). Some pics from yesterday around SoCal:






for any non-bodysurfers, that dude has perfect form & placement in the wave for cutting across its face. That is 99% of catching a wave w/o any assistance from floaty thingies, getting to the base of a wave as it is about to break and letting it carry you to about 2/3-3/4 up the face (although I'm one of the few that don't like flippers either). But I prefer the distance and speed runs on waves, not cutting across the face at an angle, so I drop both arms below me and splay my fingers and it hydrofoils me a bit so I can get a breath or two during my ride - more like a boogie board run.

That is literally down the street from my house. I have been out there so many times just sitting and wondering what is swimming beneath.

Seriously sketches me out a bit. I mean, I know they're out there, but I usually don't think about them being IN THE FUCKING LINE UP!

Doesn't look much like a shark to me. More like a booger or bodysurfer rolling through the shoulder. Mind you, I've never seen a shark in the break. Plenty of dolphins though, and sometimes big fish of various types. You tend to be able to make out the body shape pretty clearly. Dunno about that one.

Saw on the news today someone got attacked by a great white in SW Western Australia, and a guy got bitten at my local break a year or so ago. The local attack was seen by "a shark expert" who confirmed it was " a juvenille Great White". The dude that got bitten later confirmed that it was a 3 foot carpet shark that he'd stepped on leaving the water. Sharks are around, but not as common as shark experts!

Haven't been out for a couple of weeks, had to go and house sit for a while away from the coast, and had my entire weekend eaten up by having to shoot a found object sculpture festival my girlfriend runs, and some other commitments. It was all blown out mush anyway.

One day I'll actually get around to hitting the water at 5am before work.

It was a young great white, there's been a few other credible sightings down there. Here's what shark dude thinks:

This year, water temperatures didn't warm until later in the summer, which might account for the spate of late-summer great white sightings, said marine biology professor Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach.

I've tried to imagine what being in the water with one would feel like, but can't. They chill me just seeing their shape under a boat. Honestly, we're maybe the first generation ever that doesn't just kill sharks on sight, but we'd wipe the few left pretty quickly if we did that now. Fuck it, I'd rather go out with my leg shredded by shark teeth than by dumbfuck 17 year old driving while texting.

Jesus Christ.

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/shark ... 1jsz9.html

Hey, Ryno. You been out in that bio-luminescent red tide yet? Heard SD is getting a light show at night. Can't say I love swimming in that stuff, knowing it tweaks out some marine creatures, but the docs say the red tide is no big problem for peeps to swim in.

Got a few sets in Wed and Thurs afternoons, I hit one of those lateral rips yesterday that had me 200 yards down the beach after just a few waves. I never am comfortable when I can't hold my position, so I had to hoof do the southernmost part of the curve, right before the rocks, but then I caught about 20 great waves with no rip to them at all. Such a cold September though, i wonder how long until it's too cold for me and I quit for the year (I can't get comfortable bodysurfing in a wetsuit, the buoyancy really throws me off)?

Coldest summer ever in LA? Feels that way, but I'll have to see what the numbers say. Usually I can swim until early Nov, but I'll be shocked if I can this fall.

I have only body surfed, and used body boards.

I haven't been out in the water for this red tide. I did roll down to the bluffs to snap some pics the other night. These are pretty noisy pics...low light and long exposure. And apparently my sensor is filthy, but you can definitely see the water was glowing. It was pretty cool. The pics don't do it justice.

Very cool! One of the most amazing things I've ever seen was lying on the prow of a boat at night, watching 4 dolphins weave in and out in front of us in the bioluminescence for a good 20 minutes or so. UCSB used to get it sometimes too, but I don't remember seeing it in Santa Monica bay.

Got into my first bit of surf rage in about 20 years today. Went out on the board early in the day and got a few waves in amongst the weekend crowd, so I came in, ditched the board and decide to go down to the swimming area with my partner, she doesn't surf, so while she was swimming I decided to bodysurf a few waves on the edge of the flags.

Some fat old dude paddled out with a paipo board, ignoring the lifeguards whistling at him to get it out of the swimming area. He was having difficulty controlling it, and to cut a long story short I ended up collecting him and his board while I was on the wave. I apologised and the old kook gave me attitude! Didn't let it ruin my day though. The guy was old enough, and I presume been surfing long enough (why else would you have a paipo?) to know someone on the wave has right of way.

When I came out, the lifeguards came over to me and asked if I was hurt, which I wasn't, but they sent a swimmer after him to tell him to get out of it. Last I saw of him was him giving the lifeguards a mouthfull. It's a pity because I actually wanted to tak to him about his board. There's only one other paipo rider around here, who uses it as a standup, and I've been thinking about getting one myself.

I've been waiting to have an altercation in the surf since I started surfing again, I'm just surprised that it wasn't with one of the local tough guys!

Pipe Masters on right now. Conditions are perfect...12-15 ft!

http://vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com/billabongpipemasters2011/live-ultra-gb

bitchin bruddah!

Anyone watching this???
Even if you don't know shit about surfing, the fact you can watch one of the best competitions in the sport, live from your cubicle or couch, is pretty impressive.

And the waves are good! Technology!!!

yeah they're all eating it, or the wave is eating them whole. 8-12 feet now, is that not ideal?

reminds me I need to get my christmas shopping done.

that slater-parko heat was nothing short of astounding

I was glued to the computer yesterday for 2 hours while the kid was sleeping and the wife was getting ready for a work party. Every time I got up to take a break the guys in the booth would start saying shit like..."Whoa...look at THIS ONE!" or "Oh man...this one is a perfect ride", and I'd sit right back down and keep watching.

I never watch comps but that was one of the best ones i've seen in a long time. Don't know how John John didn't make it into the finals but that kid is going places.

this dude's waiting for the right wave.

I've seen this guys photos all over the internets for the last couple of years. He gets some really great shots. This is how he gets them.
Huge shore break beatings...

Forward to around 2:20 for the start of the good stuff.

I wish the lovely town I live in had waves like that.

wow

Killer Picture! Did you take that? Wow.

A.C.E....go back and check out the video I posted 2 posts before that pic. He's the guy that took the picture. The video is pretty insane as it shows him in his element snapping those pics. And getting crushed.

Whoa, thanks. That was really cool. First two minutes of it were lame but, at the 2:06 mark he rolls into Pupukea Grill and scans across the Kam Hwy at about 2:10 to my absolute favorite snorkeling spot on the North Shore: Shark's Cove!
Great photography! Thanks.

Cool. I could look at that guys snaps all day long.