What the Rest of The Swell Looked like

Surfline and all the other websites show the pros, on the best waves, at the best spots. But what about the rest of the kooks, the ones that make up 98% of the surfing population? I found them at Sunset Point, aka Beer Can Beach. These shots come from Sunsetsurf.com These are classic!

Board needs Rider!

My good friend VR was down at San Elijo Camp Ground in Cardiff with his family and some friends. He asked me to join them months ago, but, lets just say the other half had an opinion and leave it at that.

Well, I really wanted to go. I told my wife a camp spot opened up for a Friday, and Cole and I could go down. She was just coming back from a work trip, and by the time she said it was ok, the spot was gone! ( I see a pattern here)

Well, I checked again on Friday, and got a spot for Sunday, told her Cole and I are going and will be home Monday.(Yeah for Us!)

As soon as we got there, and set up camp, my son said he wanted to go surf. YES, YOU HEARD IT HERE, "HE SAID" "HE" WANTED TOO SURF! can I get an Amen!
Now, some back story. He is 9, has really shown no interest in surfing, and Dad is bummed. I shaped him a board for his 1st birthday( true, a little presumptuous). I have not wanted to push it, for fear it would back fire on me and he will never surf. None of his friends surf, so he really has no desire. Besides, I really don't want to take him out to learn at Seal Beach because of all the Sting Rays. Can you imagine a 9 year old getting stung? he will never want to go back in the water.

So, off we go, with our 8' soft top. We get out, and I push him into a few, he does good, full "stink bug stance" at first, then actually cuts right and slide down a 1' face. Then he tells me "he wants to paddle into a few himself. Well okay! So he does, he paddles with all the power his 60lb frame can give, and catches a few. By this time I am literally peeing in my wetsuit with excitement, VR is watching from the beach giving a "thumbs up". I am Happy, he is having fun, the world is now offically a better place.

Fast forward to today.

Me, "Cole, do you want to head down to T-Street in San Clemente and meet Larry and his son, and try surfing again on Saturday?"

Cole, watching a rerun of iCarly, "No, not really"

Me, "It would be great, mom can come too"

Cole, "Nah"

Me, "OK"

I walk away with my head low, slink off to the garage in a daze and stare at my surfboards..............

Any suggestions would be appreciated?

Ludwig Surfboards and Ocean View Board Sports

I was up in the old home town the other day, and stopped in to talk to my Favorite Shapper "Ludwig"

Lud has some great new boards. We talked and I told him he needs to get a blog and do mor promotion. You can catch him surfing "uppers" alot.

But if you need a board, he has a bunch in stock, but will be more then happy to shape you a custom,

Here are a few pics of his shop ad some boards

Kooks and Redemptions

Who Doesn't like a good Wipeout? I know I do. I also know I have put on a good show for my friends over the years, so now it is there turn in the spot light.

So, for your Viewin pleasure. I present EP and his Buddy Ned!

Select Dawn Patrol showings at a break near you!

This is the way to Surf the Peak @ Lowers

Captain Barbosa's Raid On Lower Trestles from Jacob Epstein on Vimeo.

First Time Shaper....Long Time Surfer!

So my boy, Chuy, decided it was time to try his hand at backyard shaping. By the looks of the photos he did a nice job for board #1. He even did the glassing, something I wont try, even though I LOVE the smell of resin.

I think he might have done a 5'-12" beacus he said a 6'-0" would be to big. Every wave for him is overhead!

Good job Chuy!

I Surf

Influences Part II

So, I was out cruising yard sales this morning, and as I was driving up a street I saw the “Master of Disaster” himself, Mr. Duane Peters parking his van. Who knew that DP lived about a mile from my house?
Now, some of you that read my blog will recall one of my past posts “Influences” (click for a link to it). In that post I talked about a certain photo of DP, and how it meant something to me as a young kid who loved punk rock and skateboarding, back in the day.

I always wanted to meet DP, and hopefully get him to sign that picture. So here he was, I really didn’t want to come across as some kind of 45 year old groupie geek, but how often do you get a chance to meet someone that had an influence on you as a kid? I pulled over, said hi, told him about the picture and my previous post and asked him if he could sign it. He was super cool, he said “sure”, pointed to where he lived and told me to stop by.

I went back home, and grabbed the picture off my office wall and drove over to his place.
He signed the picture. I told him about what that single picture meant to me back then, and how if affected a 12 year old kid. He old me about the photo, where it was, and what was going back then. For those that do not know, DP is pretty much “Punk for Life”. He still rips. I just watched him skate the Combi Pool at the Recent Pro-Tec Pool Party Contest. He is still has his band U.S. Bombs, a great blog DuanePeters.net, and Tweets like no one else.

Thanks DP for taking the time out to let a 45 yo meet one of his early influences.

Back in the Water Again.....

So I finally got in a real surf since my shoulder injury.

Since today is my Birthday, VR and I decided to head to Spot X. We got there around 9am. The main spot was packed tighter then a can of sardines, with everyone fighting for one peak. We went to the Middle spot.

The wind was blowing very lightly out of the north, while a giant fog bank was lingering off shore, waiting to come in. There was around 10 guys already out, speard out over 50 yards. To be honest it didn’t look all that good, but I was my birthday and I was going to surf.

I paddled out and caught a small right, worked it in, and thought this might be fun. I quickly caught two more. VR came out and he got a few. Then, everyone left except one other guy, he stayed north of us. The surf picked up and we had the spot to ourselves for about forty five minutes.
Rights and lefts. We had a bunch of waves. It was a real fun session, more then we expected. But if you go in with low expectations, you get rewarded.
While I was sitting n the lineup, it dawned on me that we have been coming to this spot for 28 years, shit, I am getting old!

BTW, the shoulder is sore, but not real bad.

Spindrift Surfboards, Secos and Cyclone Surfboards and 1 kook

I found a box of old pictures the other day, and found these two shots.

The first one is me in 1984 with my brand new Spindrift 5’-10” thruster. This was a custom order from the factory up in Santa Barbara. Lokk at those colors and the Kook Holding it. Wish I still had that board.

The second is a shot of me at Secos around 1987. I am riding a 6’-2” Cyclone round tail, shaped by Jeff Bushman. I got this as custom from Jeff when he had his little shop up there in Ventura. A few years later he moved to the north shore and the rest is history. You can see pros riding his boards with the Bushman lable.

I wish I had that board too.