just a little fish trying to survive in this great big ocean...

Friday, January 28, 2011

Looking into a crystal ball?

Today was quite the adventure. I set off for Newport Beach in order to turn in applications for the apartment we are trying to get at the end of February. I had come up with this plan to surf after dropping off the applications because I had checked the wave report and we are at the end of a swell in North Orange County this week so I wanted to get a couple waves before its gone. Of course I didn't call ahead to make sure that someone would be there, I just assumed that it would be all good. Well...I showed up at 1:20pm and they were out to lunch until 2:00pm. Seeing as how I could not muster up the patience to hang out for 40 minutes just to turn the applications in so I decided to go surf first. I traveled up the coast a bit trying to find a spot where there weren't a lot of people out...the thing is it's been too long since my last real surf so I wanted to help my wave count as much as possible. Sunset Beach had just enough waves to make me happy and only a couple people out....
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A little closed out, but after a while I got the hang of where I needed to be to get a decent ride. I had some fun paddling into some lefts. I don't know what it is, but I always feel like I am forced to go right. Of course when it's closed out you can only go straight.
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It was a fun little session out on the 5'8 ...Lost RNF and reminded me of just how happy life is when you get to surf every day. Was today a glimpse into a crystal ball or what could be my near future? I can only hope that this is just a preview of what is to come living in NB. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Until next time...praying for surf.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Danny Fuller knows which way is up.

Danny Fuller - PM Approved from RVCA on Vimeo.


A video tighter than your girlfriend's pants from Danny Fuller and the boys at RVCA about what they have been up to lately.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Thoughts of Life and Surf

Let me just begin by saying that if the first part of this post offends you, well then, I am sorry, but there is nothing I can really do for you, maybe its time to retire and become a beach bum.

So...I went surfing today. Yeah that 8am wake up call that I haven't had in quite some time showed up. It's funny though to think, when I set my alarm for 8am to go to work or class I get so annoyed when it goes off, but when it goes off on a day when I'm headed out to surf...I actually get pretty excited.
Anyways...I took the alaia out today to give it a try and things didn't go so well. It may help if I decided to paddle out on a day when it's not a lake out there. That's about all I have for that story, but to the real point of writing this post....


Here I am sitting on my bed thinking about my little paddle out this morning and I came to the realization that any day I get to paddle out for a little sesh becomes a good day. Now this idea of a 'good day' takes its role in a couple different ways. A day can be classified as a 'good day' by the mere fact that after a surf session I am put in such a good mood that it would take quite the fiasco in order to ruin my day. Another way in which a day could be classified as a 'good day' is in the sense that in order to get cleaner waves you just have to get up early and go before the wind picks up, based on that, my day just gets started that much earlier. Seeing as how I only ever have evening classes and the schedule of a Tilly's Sales Associate is not demanding of the early morning hours, I am never required to be waking early. It's funny how when you are arriving home just after 11 in a post surf state things feel so good, but on most days I am barely rolling out of bed around that time. It feels nice to know that I have at least done something with my life...at a reasonable hour.
This leads me to a pattern of thinking about where I would like to live. Hmmmm, I missed conveying some information here. Let's backtrack. The lease for our apartment is up in February, and while we have enjoyed our time in Yorba Linda, the rate for the lease is raising and we would like to keep costs down. This has brought us to a search for a new apartment. We set a day to take a look at several apartments a while ago; some in the Santa Ana area and others in the Huntington Beach area. I think that has us caught up. So one apartment that we looked at was in Newport Beach about a mile from the coast. Anyways...all this thought about how I feel after a paddle out leads me to thinking that the closer my proximity to the beach, the better I will feel. I know this seems simple, and yet it is the little things during moments of reflection after surfing can just make things rather obvious.

I'd say that this blog usually will remain on the actually surfing of the day, or at least more related to the surfing, but with the current situation at hand and not much to speak of for the waves today...this is what we got.

Until next time...praying for surf.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

New Toys!!!

I went on a little trip today in order to pick up a new toy. Inspired by having seen people out on the alaia surfboards a few times now, I found one decently priced and picked it up. These boards are pretty cool, no fins, it feels really retro. A board like this also makes for a pretty cool wall piece when its not out in the water.

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I can't wait to get this thing out in the water. I know the learning curve on these things is pretty steep, but I think it should be fun going for it.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

How does a surfer make it through class each week?

Here are some pictures that made it into my notes for class. This is how I keep myself awake during each class....

Airing out
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Rooster tail
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Checking the surf
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Hanging out in the Pope's living room
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Going vertical
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Bottom turn
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Hitting a little floater
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Duck-dive
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Getting out alive
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Hand-stand
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180ยบ
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Hitting the lip (this one was far too quick of a sketch)
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Ten piggies over
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Big turn
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And just for fun, 'cause it was already drawn in the notebook....
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