last wave of `08

There wasn`t much energy but there was surf ,I caught my last few wavse for 2008. Tonight I`ll sit down and calculate my TWC (total wave count), my WPH (waves per hour) and OTF`s for the year. Just kidding, don`t keep count,don`t compare, don`t covet your neighbors wave, just have fun and keep smiling. Happy New Year! 

warm sunshine

I had some free time and dusted off the longboard just to get wet. I managed to squeeze my post-holiday form into a wetsuit and go out for an hour. The surf was weak but the water felt good and I got a few thigh high sliders. Nice day for the beach in late December. 

Funeral for a good man...

 
I attended the funeral of a good man today, he was a friend, although I didn`t know him all that well, only saw him once a year at most, but I knew him and liked him. Steve battled cancer over the last 15 years ,occaisionally losing pieces of himself to the disease ,yet cheerfully and gratefully going about his life ,till he finally passed on Dec.23. Maybe the fact that he walked through the "valley of the shadow of Death" for so long caused him to live each day as a precious gift, to treat his family and friends with love because he appreciated them more, knowing how temporal this life is.
His memorial today was a great gift to me , one I hope I hang on to and don`t let fade with time. This life is but a flash in time , hug your wife, love your kids,spend time with friends, live your life in a way that brings joy to those who know you and a life that gives Glory to God. Thanks Steve.

stolen artworks

I lifted these pieces from the Surfweb. I really like them. They are collages by Portugese artist Pablo Ugartetxea
 
 

Chargers 52- Denver 21

Great game tonight, I thought we could win but they really had it together. Playoffs next Saturday in SD!

 
 

last Sunday of `08

Icy windshield, cold offshores and frosty shorebreak on tap this Sunday. HB was miles of empty beach, a dozen diehards contending for the rare waist high set at the pier, and the NB pier had its usual bunch of folks riding weak knee-highs.The waves weren`t much but it looks like another beautiful day.

 
 
 

better

No wind ,no rain, no heat either. Ice on the windshield early and 55 degrees in the water. There was a little windswell and light offshores, but the swell was weak and rarely chest high, inconsistent too but a lot better than we`ve had lately 

warm memories

Cold days like today make you really thankful for those warm autumn days of just a couple months back. 

day after

Really cold this morning, and the water is down to 54-55 degrees. I drove past miles of empty beach break, no one out at the HB pier, got to Blackies and saw Pooch sitting way outside, trunking it. You could see his skin turning blue , I don`t know why he does it. . 

Focus

Christmas is the day we`ve picked to celebrate God, who loves us so much that he come to Earth as one of us, to be with us and show His love for us.
 
All the other days of the year, I`m prone to lose my focus on God, I`m too busy looking out at"my" world to see His plan for mine. To help me remember,I have this little spike hanging from the rearview mirror so that every now and then I`ll pull my focus in and Thank the Lord who loves us so.

 

early Christmas present

Beautiful sunrise early today,"red sky in morning,sailor take warning" is the old saying,it is going to rain later but this sunrise is a glorious start to the day. 

Is there a Santa Claus?

This is a classic piece of editorial writing from the 19th century and it`s wisdom still applies today.

Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.




"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

December sunday

I didn`t even load a board this morning as there just isn`t much energy there. I really enjoy surfing but I know that what really is of value to me is the quiet time spent just looking.The morning sun, the empty streets, and the peace at the beginning of each day is what pulls me out early.

 

More public access lost

Orange Co developement companies have been approved to build more high end private communities north of Goleta, closing off long used access trails to the beaches and surf. In a time of increasing surf population we lose another stretch of beach to private ownership. Sad!

Mornings

Mornings are a gift. This morning was cold and no surf to speak of, but I was filled with a sense of gratitude as I watched the sun rise today.Every new day is a precious gift

how much longer?

It`s been a week with little to no surf, just a few weeks ago it was hot and dry, offshores grooming nice little combo swells( see below). Suddenly the storm track moves in pushing storms our way but sending the swell to the north, and the mornings are so cold.How much longer? On the positive side, the last 2 days have been crisp, clear and absolutely beautiful.
 

OC snow

I checked the surf this early am (small) but couldn`t keep my eyes of the snow in our local mountains. The view at sunrise was beautiful. It even snowed here in Orange County. Thanks Lord for a great start to the day!

 

Someone`s always out at Blackies.

Tiny surf, offshores, rain and toxic water quality but there is always someone out at Blackies

 
 

the sun`s out

Sunshine and light offshores at HB, the camera makes the surf look better than it was. Peaks broke and faded out quickly, water quality is very questionable as well 

where there`s a will....

Still raining this afternoon but I saw a few guys out in a sheltered cove 
 

every picture tells a story...

Cold, blown and stormy. A good morning for pancakes and the morning paper 

40 degrees at sunrise

Cold out early, no rain and no wind but the close period west swell wasn`t all that enticing. There were some very random rideable sections but not enough to lure me from my warm car.

 
 
 

Laying rock

No surf to speak of , makes it easier to stay on the jobsite. Nice views up on the hill.