the wicked paipos of sea witch

Beautiful paipos and handplanes made from yellow poplar:

http://witchesofthesea.tumblr.com/

The California Surf Project

I really love artworks that speak to a broader range of experiences and deeper resonances of the wave riding life. Some of them are best expressed in words. For others, words fail, but a single picture tells the whole story.

I'm lucky someone special made sure this book found it's way to Santa, and that I haven't been too naughty. Because it contains an abundance of drop dead gorgeous photography, interlaced with some really lovely writing and stories.

The book's young creators used the prize money from a photo contest to propel a 50-day top to bottom California surf trip in a 1978 pop-top VW van. The California Surf Project documents their thousand mile journey, containing the kind of honest stories (from surfer and writer Eric Soderquist) that have the unmistakable ring of truth, with the ups, downs, ambiguous and often funny experiences of the vagabond. It also glints a bit of a reflection of America itself, from the mystical and wilder corners of the north coast, through green barrels, odd characters and more frequent run ins with authority in the densely populated south. Chris Burkard's photographs are the highlight, evoking a vivid sense of place and spectacular range of the ocean's moods, many in lonelier corners of the state that can't help but tug at the emotions and longings of an urban dweller and lost country boy like me.

The book also includes a companion DVD with some off-the-cuff super 8 and video footage of the trip, set to a fittingly quirky soundtrack, which ends, in a nod to Mexico, with a very funny "Mariachi" skateboarding sequence. Thanks Santa, I'm stoked.

www.thebookprojectca.com
www.burkardphoto.com

The West is the Best!

No, actually I have massive love for Strong Island. But on a recent work trip to L.A., I made the most of my downtime and was amply rewarded. Ventura county. The right point breaks I've been missing all my life.

With good buddy Shaw, checking the local shops. You'd be grinning too. Read on.

Shaw getting lost in the well-stocked longboard section.

Look up and get history! No one but the owner rides these.

A nice thing about the left coast is used boards have nice prices. Campbell Bros Bonzer, good condition, 300 benjamins. Damn American Airlines board fees!

Waves seem to break slower on the West Coast making them super easy to get into, whereas in NY it seems to require more split second timing. I love both waves, but there is something friendly about the still punchy, but more predictable/slower developing breaks out West. You can sort of turn off your brain and just relax into things. And (with the possible exception of Malibu), fewer people dropping in makes it a more mellow experience. I'd like to see the Rockaway crowd moving more in this direction.

My unintentionally semi-Cubist Malibu panorama (click and drag on the screen to look around):

Joel's Single Fin Repair

Joel in Santa Barbara:

Went out yesterday with Sam(my brother),

Caught a few tsunamis, It was pretty fun, bigger than normal, but nothing too crazy. The surges made it look like low tide one minute, and high tide a few minutes later. My first board, that I tried to learn on 15 years ago is a 7'7" single fin. I think rounded tail, or maybe rounded pin, from maybe the 70's or 80's. It had a wooden, I think mahogany sandwich with clear stuff in the middle, glassed in fin. It got broken some time back, but just bought a cheapo fin for it, waiting for a fin box. Sam showed me his new short board he just shaped. Looks nice to me, but what do I know? He's saving his pennies to get it glassed, or the new style which I think is epoxy.

Hung out with Sam, his girlfriend, and her dad last night, he heard some good stories. Back in the day, He flew from Texas to Hawaii for a vacation, and ended up staying for 11+ years to surf. Lived on Maui, and rode all kinds of boards, mostly long boards I think, including a board with holes in it that would squirt you in the face when you rode it.

2001, a San Onofre Odyssey

endless summer surf camp:

Smuggler's Cove, Santa Cruz Island, CA

2007, Santa Cruz Island. I must be in a real nostalgic mood today. This watercolor just took shape in my sketchbook and I realized that it was the first day I really fell in love with bodysurfing. 

Wiley and Joel getting out, the swell done gone. We hiked over the hill from Scorpion Anchorage expecting just a hike but there were some nice waves greeting us, for a bit.

UCSB crew.

evolving...

2003 Wategos, Byron Bay with Domenico and a sweet 9'2" longboard that I bought for a month. It snapped at Tallow Beach on a powerful wipeout. My pal Andreas, a German working and traveling in Oz, drove me to an industrial park outside of town in his van where I got the board repaired and got a chance to visit Mctavish Surfboards.

2006 Santa Barbara. This will probably be the last custom board I'll ever have shaped. Hunt Customs 8' egg. It was a blast but my heart was stolen by a Neumatic surfmat.

just remembering my past boards this evening. funny how length gave way to surfmats and bodysurfing.