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Waves, please stop!

Surf check: Still huge, but now it is poop brown, rained all night. We leave for Boca...

Scott from LA came with us today. Boca looked smaller, but once we got out, there were still some sets that had us hooting and scratching for the horizon. Will it ever end? The waves just keep coming without a break. It is simply big or bigger.

There is a tree in the lineup today, and it looks spooky. Suddenly, we realize it is just us out! What is going on? We hear that it is the economy. No one is here. Hey, what am I doing here? I don't even have a job. It is all insane. But, we are here, and we are surfing.

Afterwards, we go to Caldera and find a jetty break that looks promising to Andy. I think it looks marginal. I am jaded.

The next day, we take Deb and Ryan with us to Caldera. It was so stupid from the get go. I could only see a big close out, but Andy wanted to try it. It was a great bodyboard wave. It wedged up in a nice peaky bowl, but it was too short and most of them closed out. The body boarders were charging! Andy had fun, but all I saw was close-outs. I left, and went over to the left I saw yesterday. That was a waste, too, just a mush ball - and then the wind came onshore. Oh, well, some days you win, some days you lose.

The good part was seeing Glenn today. We went to his house, bearing gifts of beans that I made and a casserole Deb made. Ryan had so much fun helping me sort the beans the other night. That was so cool how much fun he had. He wanted to sort more last night. How cool is that?

At first, we were afraid to see Glenn. When he came walking out of his house, it was a bit unsettling. His nose was taped up. He looked as if he had been in a heavy bar fight. One eye was swollen shut, and both eyes were black and blue. But, he was smiling and joking and happy as he ever was. Lindsey showed us the X-rays, and you could see how his nose bone has been completely chipped off. They formed a new one with plastic, and he still has the end of his nose. It was so good to see him again. All he wanted to know was what waves we had surfed. He told us that there have been a multitude of injuries over the last few days. Jim Hogan has a gigantic bruise from the top of his hip down to his thigh. Another guy got stitches in the leg, and some girl got stitches in her chin, all locals.

It's hard not to feel spooked.

Mark arrived this evening. The swell has been rising again, all day, just insane. We stood on the beach at sunset, just pointing to the two block long waves that are too big to even ride. Mark is worried about paddling out tomorrow, but we put his fears to rest. Well, we tried to pretend we had it wired at Boca to make him feel better. Ha ha. Shiver. More to come...

never a dull moment

In case you were wondering if the lack of updates was due to lack of things to post or boredom, here's a hell lot of stuff that I just didn't have the time to post.

"Never look down on the board!", I used to tell my surfing students...






These gopro photos were taken on 6 24 (the same day of the those Oahu photos of last post) on the south shore. Funny how the wide angle makes the big waves look small and the small ones (they were waist to chest high) look big!
Unfortunately, I keep having a major droplets problem. I tried many photographer tricks, but none worked, since the screen of a water housing is flat and lets the drops run easier than the very convex screen of the gopro.

Fortunately, I didn't have any droplet problem for the photos I took during the short walk on the beach between surf spots. My stalking has gone to another level.






It was the first time I used the gopro on a shortboard. That was when I found out that kicking with my feet when paddling for a wave is bad for my foot.
As a consequence of that, I'm trying to put together my broken 8.6. Unfortunately, the way it broke made the two halves not match at all and I tried filling the gap with some pour resin. Kind of got the rocker straight, but the pressure of the expanding foam made the two pieces end up not in line.
Tried this (went up to three bricks) for a few days, but it's not moving.


Plan B will be to cut three inches of the board around the break and try to stick together the two parts... I'm going to have an 8.3!
Since I'm not too confident about the result, I'm also planning on going to Oahu and getting myself one of those Tanaka mini longboards from the Town&Country factory.
7.2, 7.4, 7.6, 8.0... they all look pretty good to me.

In the meantime, I filled a hole in my SUP quiver. After I sold the Sea Lion, I was missing a short board for summer time waves. Looks like I found it...


Lately, I've been lazily trying to understand if the Canon 20D I bought on eBay is a keeper or not.
I'm not a photographer, so pretty much I don't know how to use it. But the other day I met Francky, who is an awesome photographer and does know how to use it. He took a couple of photos focusing on the mailbox of this house and I did the same with my old, cheap and trusty point and shoot Sony.

Here's the shots and here's what I sent via email to a bunch of friends that are helping me figuring out this atrocious dilemma...

I'm attaching a couple of those photos we took the other day.
Don't even know how to download the raw files (the sw didn't see them), but it's a jpg at the highest quality. Res is 3504x2336, file size is 3.8 MB. I cropped the Sony shot to have similar frames. The Sony shot is 1094x818, file size 329 KB!!!

Sure, the Sony shot looks over exposed and kinda bleached (can't see the tiles on the white wall... that's something that I can try to fix in future shots), but it also looks way sharper!
We were both focusing on the mail box, but even that is sharper in the Sony shot.
The Sony shot is taken at f3.5 and that should give it a narrower depth of field (compared to the canon shot taken at f6.3), nonetheless everything looks more in focus in it (I don't even know if that's a good thing or not).

I'm really perplexed...


Canon.


Sony.


FYI: Francky is doing an exhibit at the Green Banana cafe in Paia. The opening party is Friday 9th at 7pm. Can't wait to see the photos he selected.

Also, my buddy Chris sent me this email:
GP,
I would love it if you could give a shout out on your blog to my summer project which was initially inspired by your Oahu trip last year. Branded 60 Days of Summer. The aim of the 60 Days of Summer project is a simple one; to show that there is far more to Hawaii than winter surf and that with the right attitude, the right equipment and enough time you can find waves, wind, surf, freestyle, slalom, SUP, skate, kite, hike, bike, you get the idea, tons of action and have a whole lot of fun too – after all isn’t that what it’s all about?


Check how Chris does on his blog. My guess is that he's going to have a blast, also because it looks like he's going to get lucky right away!
In fact, I just saw on the weather maps a pretty deep storm that will send an overhead NW swell by Sunday/Monday.
This map is forecast to happen Thursday... not a bad fetch for summer time.


This south Pacific one instead is forecasted for Friday 9th. And that means that the weekend after that will see waves on the south shore. How come south swells always happen on weekends?


I saw this great gopro video on beachtelegraph.com. Fabrice Beaux and Rob Stelhik in Oahu.
I like the way they hold the paddle while filming.


And I saw this on Facebook.
Congrats to Bruno Andre for pushing the limits. My only hope is that whoever will feel like trying that, will do so in an absolutely deserted lineup. That's one board you don't want to be run over by!

FOIL STAND UP PADDLE from Surfsailing Team on Vimeo.

SUP Downwind racing season is about to peak. This sunday July 11 there's a Maui Molokai race, then July 18th the Naish Maliko Kahului and after that the Molokai Oahu.
If the wind will be forecasted to be strong, I may enter the Naish race with my 50 pounds, six years old 12.6 and wooden paddle and show them all the effort they put into making more technologically advanced gear was... worth it!

Last, but not least, I'd like to thank Dave Kalama for this inspiring post on his blog. After I read it, I stopped using the bus to go to the launching spot for my downwinders. Now I do that on the bike. If the wind is strong is not exactly a piece of cake on my old shitty bike, but sure it's a hell lot easier than paddling for five hours against the wind from the harbor to just past Peahi... you got to be kidding me!!!!

Thanks Dave. With the first five bucks I'm going to save on bus tickets, I'll buy you a beer.

More excitement...

Okay, this is officially the craziest surf trip ever. Today when we got up and saw that the waves were still giagantic and unsurfable, we never expected to end up NOT being able to surf third beach in Manuel Antonio because surfing there is now officially banned!

It seemed like the perfect idea, big swell, right direction, and third beach needs all that to light up. It is truly one of the most fun right points in Costa Rica.
So, we get to the park, walk the walk, and then get that bomb dropped on us. No reason given. "You can take your surfboards inside the park, but you cannot ride them." Perfect! What genius came up with that one? Just more nonsense.

Disappointed, we walked to the main beach where there are touristas everywhere and the beach break is wonky and booming. Andy has to get in the water, but I walk way down to the rock in search of a better break and a place away from the crowds. I never find much, but paddle out anyway, and catch a few mediochre waves.

Then, as I get back to the beach where Andy is surfing, mayhem unfolds. Big sets are creating a strong rip current and suddenly psople are yelling and Andy is attempting to save people! People are gathering, people are drifting out to sea, there goes some guy with a longboard. Where are the lifeguards? This is insane! They eventually save everyone, but one girl faints when she gets to shore and they lay her on the beach. People gather to gawk. Jesus! An ambulance trundles down onto the beach and they take the girl away. Meanwhile, a few feet away from the mess a guy is selling shave ice! On the way home, we stopped at another beach to check out the waves and we saw two kids drifting out in the lineup. Oh,no, not another rescue! Is this another bad episode of Baywatch? I tell Andy that I will get my board ready, but he is so exhausted and cursing stupid people for going out in that mess, and we just watch until we are sure they are out of danger. Let's just not check any more beaches today, I say.

Today, as we drove out of the driveway to go to Boca Barranca, I told Andy I was a bit hestitant to find out what today might bring after what has gone on the last two days.

But, today was most excellent.

We got to Boca Barranca and paddled out in overhead plus winding walls with light offshores and green, warm water. I got the wave of the day again, so said a Brazilian dude who saw that crazy big steep wall that I chattered down at warp speed, hanging on for dear life. It was hilarious, and I started laughing so hard I nearly choked afterwards. Right after my Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Andy caught one huge wave right in front of me, and I was hooting my head off as I looked up at that beast and saw him dropping in. What fun we had today. Only FOUR of us in the water! We realized that the magic hours are between 9 and noon, when the dawn patrol crowd leaves and the third crew hits. We felt like we won the gold ring today...

In the blink of an eye, everything changes...

As Andy and I stood on the beach this morning, I was wishng we had stuck to the plan of going to Manuel Antonio today. There is a right point break there that only breaks on a big swell. Andy thought the waves looked smaller today, and he really wanted to just surf behind our rental place, so... this was it.

It still looked pretty big to me. It's hard to tell with no one out. But when it looks like it is breaking in slow motion, that usually means it is reaching max size for me. I resigned myself to it. My confidence was restored after yesterday. Still, as I stood there, watching the relentless and heaving power of the four foot shorepound... I stalled. We both seemed to sense something. Andy kept watching it, too. We must have stood there, the current pulling us around, for about a half hour.

Finally, Andy just went for it. I have so much respect for him. I just put my board down and watched from the shade of the palms. I just didn't want to risk it. I was truly afraid.

Just then Glenn walked up, smiling, ready to charge. He didn't hesitate, he just ran down the beach and jumped in, as I watched Andy narrowly miss a pummeling.

I watched them for a long time before Glenn finally caught one. It was a huge one, double overhead, he looked so tiny on that glassy right. He made it, and cut out the back. I wondered why he would be riding a longboard on such a big day, but knew he was used to it, and I knew it had the length to get into the slopey faces easier.

Andy caught a left, a nice big shoulder to get used to the size, and I knew he must be hooting out there. Then I saw Glenn get another good right, but narrowly miss getting closed out on. Andy got another bigger, longer left that I knew he was stoked about.

Lindsey, Glenn's wife, came walking up the beach then, and we talked before she took off for her morning walk. Deb and Ryan came out, too, and Ryan and I made creatures out of the beach debris lying in the black sand.

Then, everything changed. About an hour and a half had passed. Lindsey returned, and went up to the pool. Ryan, Deb, and I decided we would, too. Then I saw Glenn walking up the beach, so I took off running. I wanted to tell him he was my hero.

As I got closer, I could see red. His face was red, bright red, and my heart sank as I saw his hand holding his face, blood streaming down. I rushed to him, saw that it was worse than I thought, a flap of skin hanging from the side of his face, white specks bubbling out of the red mass his fingers seemed to be holding in place. I took his board and talked to him, worried he might fall or faint from blood loss or shock. I told him he would be alright, Terry Nails had done the same thing, I said, and he was going to be okay, just like Terry. Deb ran up and panicked, ran to the hotel, calling for help. Then everything started happening at hyper speed. Ryan ran to get Lindsey, and they all were suddenly gone.

I ran to get Andy, who was running up the beach. He had seen Glenn take off on a macking wave, right in the peaking pit, the nose of his board catching an edge. The last thing Andy saw was him supermanning down the waveface. Later, Glenn would tell him that as he tumbled in the whitewater he felt a hole in his face.

As I washed the blood off Glenn's board, I saw a chunk missing from the nose of his board, and knew that was where the impact had occurred. They told us later that a chunk of the board was imbedded in his face.

Andy ran up the beach and disappeared, and we all ended up on the road... searching. Ingrid, a lady who Deb had found, had driven Glenn and Lindsey to the clinic. We took off. Once at the clinic, we learned that Glenn had fractured his nose and had some crushed facial bones. They got an IV into him and were getting ready to race him to San Jose for surgery.

All the other details are unimportant. Lindsey called us when we got back. She said they had made it to San Jose in the ambulance in one hour and ten minutes, and that it had been one hell of a "Mister Toad's wild ride." GLenn was stable, had a broken nose, and his eyes and teeth were fine. His surgery will include plastic surgery to repair his nose. He may have to have a steel plate in his face, but they would know more once they got in there at 2pm today.

Once we knew he was going to be okay, we all sighed and breathed again. Deb and Andy took his car back to his house and washed the blood off it. Now we wait...

Am I ready for the biggest surf of my life? NO

As I stood on the beach that first evening, I realized that some people might look at these waves I stared at as the best of luck. I have lost my job, and have little prospects at the moment. I shouldn't even be here. My life is just insane at the moment. But, look at the surf, will you?

How I got here doesn't matter. What does is that these are the biggest waves I have ever seen in my entire life in the flesh. My heart sinks. My confidence couldn't be any lower than it is at this point in time. I do not relish paddling out in this tomorrow. It is too insane to consider at this moment. There are so many reasons why we can't go out right now. We have to get set up at our place, get supplies, do this and that. Good. I do not want to go out here right now. It looks like it is forty feet out there.

No one is out, not one single person, anywhere we look. That tells you something, Andy says. But, what excuse will I have tomorrow? I feel sick at this moment. I just want a wave that won't kill me.

The next morning, we walk out. Good God. I was surprised the beach wasn't shaking. It looks a little smaller, Andy says. Are you kidding me?

We decide to look at the cabinas. Glenn says he will meet us there. When we get there, I just want to cry. Huge, glassy, green walls are heaving like buildings toppling over in slow motion. Glenn tells us about a guy who paddled straight out here, recently, with a new board and never got one wave. Snap! Down came the lip, and that was that. I was picturing my spine snapping as I watched another one rise up and bomb into a moutain of white water. Gulp. Andy actually wanted to paddle out. Respect!

I talked him down as we watched one of four super human or insane types bobbing outside like specks of dust in the universe. Oh my God, he is going for one... holy crap, he is taking off! We watch as he makes it and slides to the bottom, the thing four times over his head! I am twisting and squirming, did you see that? I am babbling. Glenn and Andy are speechless. One guy walks up, panting. Glenn says, as an aside, "Hey, he's a good surfer... what happened?" He says, "I got halfway out there and then came to my senses." We decide to go back and wait for a different tide, or day, or something, yeah. Waiting is good, thank you.

Okay, so we didn't surf those first two days.

No shame in that. No one was out anywhere except at wimpy Jaco, where it is 1/8th the size.

So, today dawned and I knew we would have to paddle out. That's what we came for.

Luckily, we went to Puntarenas. "Second best left point break in the world," a sign says by the $2.00 shower sign.

It looked about 3-5 ft. plus out there. I sighed with relief. There were still some bombing sets, but nothing compared to Hermosa, thank you. We headed for the cliffs, after paddling through the murky "croc" river, as Glenn called it. Glenn chickens out along the skinny path, the cliff steep and scary. He said he was afraid of heights. "WTF?" Andy said. "He drops in the biggest waves around here, and he can't be up here?" That path was narrow, and I was nervous, too. But, look at those lefts peeling off! There are only four people out. Am I dreaming?

We paddle out, and I catch one right away, a pretty good size one, overhead and clean. I race it, steep and fast. I almost make it to the inside, but the whole thing heaves and I bail. Stoked! There is so much time inbetween waves it doesn't matter.

Andy moves inside and is hooting, catching a bunch that are peeling off like clockwork. Glenn in snagging big ones, overhead, smiling the whole way. I am getting a little frustrated. I want a big one, but I am having trouble reading the waves. They start to break, and I back out, thinking they are going to close on me. It is hard to adjust to a peeling wave after the waves we get at home. Then it happens. There could have been no better time for it. My wave of the day.

I see the horizon go dark, and see the long line. It's a big one. I move a bit inside and over, realizing the trick, how it shifts. I am paddling hard, it is heaving, and I am almost too late. I am not backing out, and I jump to my feet at it throws out. I can only tuck inside, pig dog style, to make it.

And, then came joy.

The lip threw over and I set my line, just slightly pumping inside, on one of the best tubes I have ever had in my life. The lip just kept unfolding over me, again and again. It was ridiculous, and beyond belief. I saw the guy on the green board looking in at me, then the ripper kid, then Glenn down the line, hooting his head off! I kept in it past them, down the line, for so long. I kept thinking it was going to end, but it just keeps looping over and over the farther I moved inside. Then I just started laughing because it was beyond insane. I did some weird move that shot me out on the face and I saw Glenn grinning from ear to ear. "I think you were inside that wave for at least 20 seconds!" He laughed. I was shaking all over in disbelief, a happiness inside that words could never convey.

I paddled past the guy on the green board and he was looking at me, grinning, and said, "That was crazy!" I said I had been having a crap session until that wave. He said, "Well, you sure turned THAT around!"

When we got back and took out the boards, Andy noticed I had put my fins in all wrong. I put the big ones in the back and the small ones in the front. I just started laughing all over again. Andy just smiled, shook his head, and started putting them in for me.

How do I get through life? With a little help from my friends.

what I've been missing in Oahu

My friend Bruno Sillac sent me a few photos to show me that Oahu has been good lately.

That's what he wrote:

A nice South swell arrived, albeit spotty, along with somewhat less than marginal wind conditions, however Robby Naish, Scott Carvill and Bruno Sillac still ventured out to make the best of it. Although the conditions were less than ideal it was a rare treat to personally witness some fantastic sailing. Robby Naish maybe be getting older, but you would never know it by the way he rips.

This is Bruno.


Robby.






The other photos on this gallery on the Waterproofphotography website of Francis Brewer.

Oh well, this year no Oahu for me. At least not for windsurfing.
If I find a last minute cheap accomodation, I may still pop over to check out the Surf Film Festival and grab a few waves...