Making a little Move
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: All quiet on the western front

I've decided to make a little move as Tripod has become a bit unreliable in this dimension. The new adventures of the Silver Surfer can be found here:

http://trestles.blogspot.com/

Hope you can join me making a little move.

In spite of the maddening crowd.
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: 3-6 s sw nw ?
With damn near perfect waves (for me) at Lowers this morning and the bulldozers on the beach scraping the road to get it ready for the upcoming big Asshole Surfing Professionals contest, I had a really excellent session. It took a little while for the crowd to back off and the tide to just get right, but once it did, it was a virtual skate park, with glassy waves so clean you could mistake the water for smooth, shimmery ice, but the ocean is still pleasantly summer warm. Other than the usual kiddie crap annoyance, the ocean produced some pretty nice head high to overhead waves from time to time that I can't even really say where they might have originated. A bit less hollow than yesterday, but a bit more lined up, I dipped into several pits, ricocheted off lots of lips, and got quite a few waves this morning in spite of the maddening crowd.

Get all those little kiddies back in day care again!
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: 3-6 S NW good!
After yesterday's Dog Day morning, slugging it out for the meager-est of waves at Dogpatch, which was vacant when I paddled out at least, I opted for a more thrilling adventure today. Lower's was really, really good and only marginally zoo-ed when I paddled out this morning. Three tubes in the first three waves set the pace! It was really firing on the inside at my favorite spot. Annoying as the crowd was, they kept moving up to the top of the point as time went on, leaving what I consider to be the premier wave, the inside second peak screamer, to just two tiny tots and another old man. I get tired of herding the crowd around, but when I do, I almost always set myself up for a real nice one, and today was especially good. I got a couple of bigger overhead waves that basically didn't slow down for a good 100 yards of ripping down the point, weaving through section after section. Sadly, the final straw was when the gang all teamed up on me and one took off behind me, in front of me, and under me. Well, the guy under me was a boogie boarder, so he doesn't count. As that is 3 interference calls on one wave, I had to just give up. I can't hardly wait for summer to end, although I do enjoy the warmer water, and finally get all those little kiddies back in day care again!

"Welcome to the Waterdome!"
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: 3-6 s se
With the first real waves in a couple weeks and everyplace else closed out, Lower Trestles was the last desperation hope of getting waves today. It was Disneyland summer crowded, 405 rude manners, and sunny, head high and firing. I was at my usual spot and was happy as a clam picking off a half dozen brutes and ripping them up when, unsuprisingly, I drew a crowd of kiddies once they figured out I knew where the spot was.  Instantly, it became way too crowded to continue, so I caught a wave in as the tykes behind me fought it out tooth and nail to one kid's observation and war cry, "Welcome to the Waterdome!"

Asshole Point
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: 1-3 s
Perfect conditions and tiny surf was the order of the day at Lowers today. Kelly Slater, World Champ, happened to be in the water trying to get in a little surf time at the big T before the next ASP contest in September. I always appreciate how many assholes surf Lower's, because even the kids and wanna-be's followed him around and spent most of their time trying to snake him out of one wave after another. Of course he ripped a few, but I think he was feeling a little "t'd" after the crowd got to him, too. I manged a few paltry waves before the same thing happened to me, so I left early, too. It's nice to know even the best also get the shaft at what I have always called "Asshole Point".

A few waves a week adds to my sunny disposition.
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: 2-4 s s sw
After more than a week of utter flatness, I finally made it back out again today at Lowers. The waves were a little off form, but so was I , so we made a good match bobbing around in pretty good conditions waiting for anything to come through. I caught a couple of half hearted waves, but noticed there was an opening at the top of the point. so I made a beeline for it and managed a half a dozen or so real waves before the crowd and the tide turned off the waves. Still, where there was really nothing in the way of swell to speak of, Lower's still managed once again to produce a few waves where there should have been none. Let's just hope this week of waiting between swells is over, because I find a few waves a week adds to my sunny disposition.

Last chances of surf for the week
Mood:  down
Now Playing: 2-4 sw nw
The last gasp of swell was rolling through very infrequently, about every 10 minutes or so a Lowers, so even with fighting off a sloppy south wind and the usual annoying crowd,  I still got a few little ones on the inside. As I was leaving, the wind stopped and the sun broke through before the tide pushed all the waves right on top of the point. I managed a few meager baby waves before I left as the day offered a few last chances of surf for the week.

Astronomy Domine!
Mood:  party time!
Now Playing: 2-5 sw

It was like going to a Pink Floyd concert today at Lowers. The cosmic full moon set as the sunrise opened up the day. No clouds, fog,  or anything vaporous, just crystal like crazy diamonds sparkling in the reflection on the water, first from the moon, then from the sun.  A delicate sound of thunder rocked the landscape as the Pendleton Marines bombed themselves relentlessly. It was crowded, but 30 guys in the water is far better than 100 like it's been,  and I managed to squeak out quite a few waves under the radar of the main point.  Admittedly, falling off the first wave and body surfing it a ways wasn't anything more than a lunatic start, but several long flowing waves and a couple of hollow tubes later more than made up for it. With the sun and full moon showing signs of conjunction, all I can say is

Lime and limpid green, a second scene
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down, the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground. 

from  Astronomy Domine!

Nice day, but no waves
Mood:  d'oh
Now Playing: 3-5 sw nw
Not much luck at the beach today as the NW winds cooled the water and made a gutless windswell that manged to break everywhere except where I was. Nice day, but no waves.

All along the inside racetrack
Mood:  vegas lucky
Now Playing: 4-6 sw w
After taking the weekend off from obscenely large crowds and close-out waves, I ventured down to Dogpatch expecting very little and seeing very little early while I was checking it out. As luck would have it, the surf decided to turn the leaded gray day a into golden opportunity, as the inside "KO" break came to life and made for some really exceptional waves across the reef. I mean, it's not often you get completely barelled at Dogpatch. Still, with the SW outside kinda still closing out and the insided swell kinda lackluster, I just had to luckily pick the wave that combined the two swells into a wave that just stood up and threw out all along the inside racetrack.