new perceptions, new shapes

this morning's session was full of new perceptions, thanks to zero wind and the relative lack of people in the water. first, my new fish, because of its wide tail and lack of a center fin, becomes obscenely squirrely if i take off with even the slightest bit of white water underneath the tail. that is why my new dream board is this one . i think it'd be delightful to ride a short board with plenty of flotation and a big honking center fin. i can only imagine what it would feel like to hold a line high up on a wave with it. amazing! you can, of course, do that on a fish, but it's trickier. i was looking for a single fin when i broke down and bought my new fish, not that i have buyer's remorse, but i still have the desire to get a single fin. the description of the stubbie on this page says that "rebounding off the whitewater is a bit easier with the stability of a center fin." that's opening up new ideas for me, and as much as quad fins are the rage, i think i need a center fin. and, just to clarify, my 6'7" trifin provides an amazing ride, but sometimes the surf is smallish and requires something a bit more floaty like the fish. that's where i think a single fin stubby comes in to play. i also spent a lot of time this morning making a point of popping up even earlier than your conscious mind tells you to, and on one wave that was weak but walled up nicely and nearly collapsing, i went straight into grabbling my rail and sort of did a freefall down the face of the wave. this strikes me as inherently more controlled than allowing yourself to get thrown, or trying to make a drop the conventional way. it also keeps your center of gravity much closer to the pocket. new horizons on drop ins!

buena lives!

i highly recommend this video, posted by a friend behind the dig out of the famed buena pool in santa cruz, CA. the transitions are way too quick for my old bones. my back hurts just watching...

the art was done by some of the same folks that did graphics for santa cruz skateboards way back in the day. and, talking about what a community can do, check out the video of them digging the pool out of the ground and even patching up the concrete...

spinalsurfer

spinalsurfer shot some pictures of us the other week at playa norte in punta hermosa. the picture of moi is a nice momento, though the other shots are much better. that was a strange wave. fairly slow at first and then it would become massive, heavy and fast lickety split. a friend of mine surfed it really well that day but the wall on the inside turned me into a yellow belly, ja que estou quase um pai...

summer has arrived

summer has arrived in lima, and i define its arrival as three straight days of sun. today was day number 4, if i'm not mistaken. crystal clear blue skies and 80 degrees. it's like san diego or los angeles, except lunch costs only $3 bucks for a three course meal (beverage included) and you have to look both ways before crossing the street as a pedestrian. this is the view from my desk. hard to focus on work with that bay staring at you.

oh wow

here's a link to my favorite surf blog, quality peoples, whose chefao always has great stuff on wavesliding, politics, and art. here are some photos he took recently in mexico. amazing stuff. the color of the water is incredible. and the shots are full of tension as the big waves threaten to close out on the surfers.