Archive for June, 2006
Friday, Jun 30th, 2006
Categories: travels
We spent the past two days packing and moving the contents of my house into storage. the physical crap that weighs you down. Your things truly do eventually start to own you. Fortunately for me, my things consist mostly of records lps, books and art. if you’re gonna have physical objects, those are the ones to have.
I was standing out on the corner of Highland and Franklin, just down the street from my house. Its literally one of the busiest intersections in Los Angeles. As I was waiting for the walk signal, I’d peer into the cars driving by. Standing so close to the cars, you could really get a sense for each person’s personality, by way of their driving position, demeanor, car interior decoration etc… There’s something entertaining about peeping into other people’s worlds, as they drive past, safe in their little boxes of metal and glass. It’s almost as if I’m intruding in a slightly voyeuristic way. I’d love to take some photos. maybe I will.
I’ll miss my guilty pleasure.
Following our recent joblessness, we decided to go to Guadalajara for a few days to see Marcia’s family.
Pato and Fer are here as well, so we met up last night for some sushi and then on to an english style pub. Nothing like a good Guinness, they even had Ehrdinger. At five bucks a pop though, imported beer is a bit rich for my mexican blood. Roll call: Pato and Alma, Fer, Pete and Olga, Marcia and myself.
Apparently, pubs are the latest trend on the GDL nightclub scene.
Funicula was heaven.
I got some dental work done (with anesthesia) yesterday and it was hilarious trying to eat sushi without gnawing my cheek. Speaking spanish with a numb jaw is next to impossible. It was my third visit to the dentist, only 3 more to go! yay me! (kids, brush, floss, and rinse. three times a day. don’t learn the hard way.)
I’m dreaming of a new surfboard. Also dreaming of a much needed vacation to indonesia, hawaii, india, australia. so many choices.
We are going to Los Angeles on tuesday to clean out my house and prepare it for the end of escrow. I will miss the Dekeyser House, when it is no longer mine. We’ll be there over the Fourth of July. We’re also planning on buying a new car. I think we’ll go on a small road trip to northern Cali to see my sister and hook up with the ‘rents. I’d love to stop in Big Sur. Maybe rent a house in Bolinas for a week. Catch some cold water surfing. And then drive back down to PV. it’s gonna be a fun coupla weeks.
What up Christian Gunther?!
The past week has been insane. Insane. Following last weekend’s large swell, we (Mom, Marcia and I) decided to collectively withdraw from the project we have been working on, La Vida. It’s been our baby, for two years. We have ate, breathed, slept and dreamt this project. And now, for us, it is over. I won’t go in to the reasons why, that wouldn’t be appropriate, but our decision to end our relationship with the project was most certainly for the better, for each one of us. So now we find ourselves unemployed once again. And we love it.
It’s time to go into business, purely for us. simple and easy. we provide the vision, the business plan, the marketing, the sales, the dough and the sweat-equity. We’ll start small and keep larger projects on the burner, grow organically. It’s time to turn over a new leaf, we don’t know what the future holds quite yet, but we’re confident that good things lay ahead.
Adios, La Vida.
This is bananas. Huge waves in Puerto Escondido.
Wednesday, Jun 21st, 2006
Categories: surfing
The swell report says that we are receiving a nice big south westerly storm swell. I kick off work early and head out to Burros at 2:30 or so. As I round the curve to see Destiladeras, one of the test markers, the waves are breaking nice and big and further out then usual.
I pull in to the parking area to see no other cars. This is unusual. As I hiked the trail and come down on to the beach, I can see Birro (a local) dropping into a 5 foot wave and getting tubed, a hundred feet from the shore. Just as I make my way out on to the beach, a monster set comes in. At least 8 to 10 feet, depending on who you’re asking. When Burros is this large, it tends to break in one entire mile long line and close out. I’ve only seen it do this once before.
Instead of shucking my gear and jumping in the water asap, I sat on the beach watching the swell. It was very awe inspiring, if a little intimidating. I even saw tubes here and there. As I watched the set come through, it seemed that there was a spot that wasn’t closing out. And that the mixing bowl, to the right, was unusually large (don’t get caught in the mixing bowl). The large set was replaced with smaller sets but nothing under 6 to 8 feet. I reluctantly paddled out into the fray.
It turned out to be an amazing day, nice large waves and only 4 of us in the water. I rolled into one, right at the crest, dropped in and back up the face, cut-back on the lip and back down, bottom turn and right back up for another cut-back on the lip. As I came around again, into the white foam and turn out, I see the lip over my right shoulder, I crouch down and viola, I’m tubed. The crashing wave is hitting my left shoulder and for a second, she’s giving me a big fat kiss. Out the front, up the face, cut-back on the lip and down again. Chicharro (another local) is pumping his fist in the air, yelling.
This was probably my best ride, ever. In terms of being in tune with the wave and responding to it’s movements. I was in the pocket, the entire time.
I met another gringo in the water, Erik (from Oakland) and I asked him how large he thought the sets were. He laughed and said he wasn’t the kind of surfer to speculate on wave height, they were big and fun, but what’s big? Hawaiians might say it’s three feet. I laughed and said he was probably right, but I definitely wanted a second opinion on how big, big, is right?!
This day was amazing. I only got caught on the inside of the larger sets once, took a few on the head, but nothing life threatening. I imagined what it would be like to surf larger waves, every day. How it could improve my skill and for the first time, I realized that I am on ok surfer. Not great, not good, but ok. I love it, enjoy it and can handle my own, but I want to be a good surfer, someone who can surf 8-10 feet and surf 2-3 feet just as well. and enjoy both, religiously. I know i’m well on my way to being a good surfer and I look back at how far I’ve come in two years and I am content, but I definitely feel the itch: Hawaii is calling, Indonesia is calling, Tahiti is calling, Australia is calling.
I could sure use one of these: VW Westfalia, contemporary redesign. Perfect for the camping, surfer, modernist in all of us. This is obviously just a mock-up but one can dream, can’t they?!
The first real rain of the season just started. Over to the right, near the nice sized triangle of bay view are semi-clear skies with actual rays of sun. Over to the left, towards Vallarta, are brooding dark grey clouds. We’re in for some nice thunderstorms tonight.
And everyone in our Melrose Place-y apartment building are all out in the backyard, hootin’ and hollerin’. Who loves the rain? we do. It’s been a long time, we miss you.
Update: The early evening rain was just a precursor to what was to come, later that night. It must have poured something like three inches at least. The storm rolled in, at around 1:00am or so and lasted til 5:00. Lightning and thunder everywhere. it was gorgeous. and enough reason to wake up in the middle of the night, just to enjoy the show.
Sunday, Jun 18th, 2006
Categories: surfing
I’m not quite sure, but I think I have a new nickname: Mala Suerte (Bad Luck). We’ll see if it sticks, it could be worse, mexican nicknames are a time honored tradition, but some of them are just plain awful. Mala Suerte comes from my very, very, very very, very bad luck with surfboard dings, self repairs, more dings, professional repairs, more dings, tragic accidents, professional repairs, more dings and crappy DIY repairs, etc…
So in the spirit of passing on self-learned, the hard way, knowledge, Here’s my top nine list of integral ways to keep your surfboard from getting all dinged up. Why nine? cuz I couldn’t think of ten and still keep the list interesting:
- When paddling back to shore, if the shore is rocky and the tide is low, don’t bother riding the board all the way in. It may be easy on your aching muscles but it’s the fastest way to put a nice fat ding in the bottom of your nice un-scathed board.
- When standing the board on end, try not to put it on anything hard, like gravel or concrete. This most often leads to tiny fractures that when let go, can seep water into the foam core.
- When loading the board back into your house, if it’s a longboard, have someone else guide you. if it’s short, try to carry it as vertically as possible. Think of it like the game Operation, when your board dings against the door frame, you lose.
- Preferably, don’t live in a concrete house. In a test of strength, concrete will always win over resin, fiberglass, foam and wood.
- Do not stick the board into a ceiling fan. This will put nice impressive punctures into the board. If it’s a glossy coat, then add times two.
- When loading boards in the car, do not lean it against the car in windy conditions. This also goes for trees. Lay it down on the ground, gently, instead. you could use the exercise bending over to pick it up.
- When strapping boards to your vehicle make sure they are always as horizontal as can possibly be. Never stack them diagonally, putting the noses into air, like say over the cabin of a pickup truck. This will most certainly have disastrous results
- Always use a day bag or board sock, if possible. This will insure the best treatment of your board. Most dings happen any place but actually in the water.
- When stacking boards on the roof of your vehicle, keep the stack down to three or so. Anything over four boards, is asking for trouble. It may look cool in vacation photos but five stacked boards can lead to small fractures caused by the straps.
Keeping aware of your actions with the board, out of the water, can mean the difference between a nice aging board and one that has more band-aids then board. Unfortunately, three of mine fall in the latter category. good luck and may bad luck never strike your board quiver. If it does, may you always have a cheap ding repair guy. What up, Cholowin (in Sayulita)!!!
In some ways, Mexico is a very affordable place to live. The food is generally pretty well priced. I mean, how expensive can street tacos get right? When you go to a more tonier place to eat, you’ll definitely feel a pinch on the ol’ wallet. But for the most part, when you live in a small seaside town, there’s not a whole lot of retail therapy to be had.
My ‘96 Nissan Pathfinder is basically on it’s last legs. It’s a great truck. It gets me to and from the local surf spots like a total champ, but on a three week surfing expedition, I’m not sure how well she’ll hold up. A week or so ago, the thingy that moves the fan belts broke and it’s the latest in a long stream of exponentially worsening issues. So we are casually looking around for a new car. Or should I say, a newer car. and a little more reliable in the long run.
I’m a total convert to the idea of buying used. It just makes sense. Anything to avoid paying new car sticker prices. I done it once, can’t get fooled again. With used cars, you’ll get a pretty well seasoned car, not too many miles and for a price that reflects it’s true Blue Book Value. Well, I have my eye on a pretty modestly priced used truck, in Los Angeles. With the idea of buying it and then driving down here to mex.
This is a bit of a hassle though, the drive and having foreign plates, kinda leaves you open to the whole mordida thing. We looked into possibly buying a new car in Mexico, since buying a used car just isn’t safe here. There’s no return policy on anything, never mind a lemon. Do not buy a used car in mexico unless the owner is your personal friend. It’s just a fact.
This brings me to the point of this entry. New cars in Mexico cost almost double what they cost in the US. double!. something about a “luxury” tax. ouch. A Nissan Xterra. humble truck, not fancy, the xtreme kids like it for the dumb marketing gimmicks, but honestly, it’s basically the same car as my Pathfinder, right? Perfect for salty surfboards and sandy dogs. Down here, the 4×4 version costs $35,000. yes, dollars. that is insane. There’s just no way I can justify spending that much money for a car, period, never mind an Xterra.
So when asked, is Mexico cheap? I’ll always so yes, it can be, but the crossed fingers behind my back, means that anytime there is something “luxury” related, like a car, a tv, a plane ticket or even a pair of jeans, you’re gonna pay more then you would in the US. Again, it’s just a fact.
Sunday, Jun 18th, 2006
Categories: surfing
8:30am session this morning at Burros. Nice glassy conditions. three to four foot sets with occasional five and six foot sets every twenty minutes or so. 15 people in the water as we go to the beach. The rainy season is just around the corner and the low hanging clouds give me some sense of security and I can’t quite explain it. With the thunderheads come good swells.
I had a few good rides, but mostly battled for left-over slop from the past few days, with visiting surfers from the bay area and carlsbad. The water is getting increasingly warmer as the days go by, I dive down a few feet to where the colder currents used to be, a few weeks ago or so, only to find more warm water. By 11:00am the sun is relentless. Full face block is required and even then, eyes are blood shot. Off-shore winds picked up at around 10:30 or so. Waves were breaking to the left, while the current was pulling to the right, unusual. but all in all still a great day on the waves. Went into shore a little early and got some great pics, why does it seem like whenever I get out of the water, the time in between sets decreases?
photos to come.
Consistently high winds during the spring months make Bucerias a total haven for kiteboarding. The winds all of a sudden die out, one day in June. Two days ago, the wind calmed down that night and didn’t start up again the next day, never returning, until next season. In it’s place we now have a light mid-day breeze. Something to keep the water slightly choppy but not enough to mar a good wave.
After a crazy, crazy half-day at work, today, I slinked back out to Burros, for another session. There’s a swell on, ya hear. it’s official, with the height maxing out, monday morning.
As I made my way out to the beach, to my delight, there were only 2 people in the right break. While at least ten people were crowding the smaller left break. They did seem to have some nice waves coming in, but I’m all for no-crowds. I paddled out and caught the first wave of the day, a nice 6 footer, broad face. Not as big as yesterday but solid 5 and 6 foot sets. Nothing to complain about. I had the fish today (after my cute little ding yesterday). The fish is just a wonderful ride. The lines and pivots this board can do, are simply beautiful. I once said that the Flyer II was to a porsche as the fish is to a mustang. Those comments were from a guy who was just learning the potentials of such a nicely shaped board. Fish are transcendent.
The line-up was so sparse, I was, literally, able to grab as many waves as I could get myself into. It was almost like being able to practice, like say learning a trick skateboarding. Usually, it’s such a competition just getting into the waves, that I just want to enjoy the ride. Today, I pushed myself, really getting the feel of a good frontside-cutback, dropping in, making a nice bottom turn, up the face of the wave, the cutback and then back into the maw for another turn. You could say I concentrated doubly hard on my surfing style, feet positioning and general demeanor on the board. Without the driving winds, any winds that were around, didn’t affect the waves very much, making conditions near glassy.
I surfed for about an hour and a half. I was beat. I took one last wave in and headed home. Gotta compromise a little, Marcia wanted to go to the movies and I was glad to get home in time to go.
I woke yesterday morning, 6 am to the sound of watery bombs being dropped on the beach two blocks away. I thought to myself that there must be something happening up the road at Burros, yet I couldn’t pull myself out of bed. The past week has seen pretty heavy winds and not much in the way of swell. My “pansa” has been growing, ever so slightly.
I was sitting in my office, programming the next version of this site, yesterday afternoon, when I got a text message from Pau. “Vamos a las olas!” (let’s go surfing!). And so we rolled up to Burros, not expecting anything too heavy. I have three or four points along the road to Burros that are indicators of what we can expect. The first two were flat as a pancake, as we rolled past the third, I could definitely see solid waves, the fourth is a long stretch of beach called Destiladeras and at the end of the beach are two solid surf spots, there were nice rows of waves slamming the beach. I knew if nothing else, at least it wouldn’t be flat.
As we walked the jungle path, we ran across to gringo longboarders who both proclaimed that it was “going off” but i was brush it off unless it’s a local, too many vectors in the mix. Sure enough as we got down to the beach, the spot was a mush in white foam, current, wind but best of all, bonified swell. We surveyed the scene and jumped right in.
As I got to the line-up I grabbed a quick 6 footer, had some nice cut-backs and a generally awesome ride. Over the next hour or so, sets came in at 8 and 10 feet with the smaller sets overhead. All the while, in their usual Burros form, not very powerful, no tubes, but great nice big faces to carve and play with. After about an hour or so, the interim between sets grew from 5 min to about 10 and the line-up filled with Sayulita locals who (against usual fashion) didn’t start any trouble.
I grabbed a nice 10 footer, rolling face, right at the crest, bee-lined it down the face, nice mellow cutback, into the maw and back out again, came up the face, another nice big carve and then back into the maw again, cutback and over my right shoulder the wave is over head, barreling, once again bee-lined it and then up the face and to the close-out. Easily best ride in a year or so. So clean and crisp, by this time, it was about 8:30 or so and the wind had died down and the sun was beginning to set.
As I got back to the beach, talking with some visiting surfers on the beach, they were amazed at how inside the crest I got, almost getting tubed and then coming back out again, unfazed. I was stoked. And then, I looked down at the Flyer II to see a large hole in the bottom, somewhere along the way I managed to ding the shortboard, again. I remarked to Paulina, as we walked back to the truck that I have the worst luck with dings.
It was a good day.
holy crap. web 2.0 air-fare search site, that actually works! Kayak.com. I just bought tix to LA for 800 bucks, when Travelocity and Alaska Air were both trying to charge me 800 bucks for one ticket, one way (i.e. 4 times as much). woo hoo!
This is right up my alley: Large group of people show up to Best Buy dressed in quasi-employee wear. fun and hijinx ensues. and some Best Buy employees take their jobs way too seriously.
My new friends, Casey and Meagan, dropped down to Bucerias for a two week surf trip. Having visited Vallarta several times over the past few years, Casey and I had briefly met, in the lineup at Burros one day last year. After having stumbled across this website, sometime after, he made the connection and contacted me. Through various emails we started corresponding and for this trip, Meagan and Casey reached out and kicked it with us grimey locals. I introduced them to my entire posse, we surfed various local spots and chowed down at all my favorite little food joints. What set apart their trip, this time, was the local contact. Experiencing a foreign place through the eyes of someone who has a little bit better grasp things. And from my point of view, it was great introducing people, who’ve been here multiple times, to new things that are underneath the surface and hidden. Every place has it’s hidden gems and I was glad to be able to give these guys a glimpse into my life in this this crazy/beautiful mexican culture.
definition of bokeh
Salim is the ice-man in our group. with all the hot-heads swirling around him, he is the natural peacemaker and soother, never an off tone or under-the-breath remark. Everyone loves Salim. and not in the sarcastic patronizing way. A guy who’s niceness comes completely naturally. He’s the man!
Salim has been studying to be a diplomat for the mexican embassy, for some time now. Through a series of drawn-out and intensive tests, thousands of applicants have been whittled down to a few hundred. He went to Mexico City a few weeks ago to participate in the last round of testing. A four day affair, where they test you on course material, mexican history, personality testing, spoken english etc… Through the grace of goddess, the embassy association notified him last weekend that he had been accepted into the program. This past week would be his last week with us, in Bucerias. He would pack up all his stuff and move to Mexico City for orientation and three months of intensive classes and then he’ll be place in a mexican embassy somewhere in the world.
Today he said his goodbyes, packed up his car and took off for his great adventure. We’re all sad to see him go, but we’re happier-then-can-be to see him follow his dreams. Salim and Paulina are like the coolest couple ever and it must been very hard on each of them. I’m secretly hoping that they do the right thing and get hitched, before he finishes his studies in Mexico City. When you find someone that’s special, there’s no reason you have to give that up to follow your dream. I hope he realizes that, i’m sure he realizes that.
Thank you for being my friend, Salim.
My friend Paulina is a concierge for one of the local resort groups. Her job is to cater to all the ridiculously childish whims of the jet-set. In other worlds, she’s a babysitter for very rich people. The group she works for own several amazing houses in a residential development in a small town just north of where I live. Word to Big-Bird: rich people don’t stay in hotels anymore, that’s so 2005 - they belong to resort clubs and get to stay in architectural mansions all over the world. One of the houses was recently finished and Pau asked some of our friends if we’d like to come up and test the house out for an night. To make sure that everything was up to standard. We grabbed some food-provisions, bathing suits, a change of clothes and some hooch and headed up to the manse.
The location is insane, perched atop a small hill with views of the nearby town, the bay and Vallarta in the distance. The house is in what I call the “pacific coast mexican style” of architecture, slightly Mediterranean, with tons of concrete and marble mixed with very organic materials like raw wood posts with vine wrappings and palapa roofs with pergolas on the terraces and mexican hardwoods used for all the carpentry. A very modern style but also warm and organic. I’d say the house was easily in the 4 to 5 million dollar range. If I had to guess.
The jacuzzi and the pool became our group center as we chatted the night away, through drinks, food, drinks, more food and more drinks, nobody with anything more on than a bathing suit for good measure. The sunset was incredible and the moonlight sky as well. I took the opportunity to try out the camera photographing the beautiful architectural details of the house.
In the morning we woke, ate a huge breakfast prepared by the three wonderful ladies who take care of the house and then prepared to leave our wonderful hideaway. Paulina then begged us to stay longer, so we played hooky from work and spent most of the day hanging out in the pool. When it was time to go, we were all sad to have to leave such a wonderful place. We gathered for a few minutes to load Paulina up with our thoughts and suggestions regarding the “testing” portion of our visit. We thanked her for a much needed and quite unexpected mini-vacation and headed back down to our normal lives (in paradise).
Thanks again, Pau!
slideshow or photoset
Marcia and I sat down last night to watch the first part of No Direction Home a biopic about Bob Dylan, directed by Martin Scorsese. I grew up with my dad’s Bob Dylan records playing in the background, a soundtrack to my childhood, along with The Grateful Dead, Jackson Browne, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley and Gregory Isaacs (among many others). The specter of Bob Dylan always hung around my childhood, like a long lost uncle. One that had done amazing things in his time, things I could never quite grasp beyond the music and his raspy voice, his words laid out on the horizon just past my comprehension. In this realm of mine, Dylan stayed for many years, tucked away in an album cover in my dad’s record collection and then eventually in a handful of tracks stashed away in my itunes library somewhere.
Last night, my child-like recollection of Bob Dylan was pried open and shucked off like a corn husk. As I watched the movie, all those old songs that I’ve heard a thousand times - a thousand Saturday afternoons, playing on the livingroom rug, star wars and legos and dad in his comfy chair with a Dylan album jacket or a good book, with Dylan on the stereo, that friendly old uncle talking gibberish - changed shape right before my eyes. When put into context and given a language to decipher his songs, they all started to reverberate with new meaning and importance. It was like hearing each one, again, for the first time. The music was the same, scratch that, not even the music was the same. As the movie wound it’s way through Dylan’s late-teens and early 20’s as he shape-shifted from genre to genre, I started to understand where he was coming from, where his sound (and eventually his poetry) where coming from and what informed them.
What struck me the most was how Dylan literally became his heroes, like Woody Gutherie. Acting like him, talking like him, playing his songs on stage. And doing it in a very open and honest way. He was like a sponge, a “Musical Expeditioner” taking all these different aspects of musical styles and combining them into something very attached to tradition but also leaping past tradition into something entirely new and fresh. And then as he began to write his own lyrics, it was as if he started to channel human consciousness. What he began writing was in a language that was very old and plain, yet hyper-new. The concepts he put forward were radical when attached to politics, but the language had been used again and again for centuries. As Dave Von Ronk says, Dylan’s song could have been written two hundred years ago.
This movie was literally a rebirth of Bob Dylan, for me. I understood his genius, for the first time in a clear and concise way. Mom walked in just as I was finishing this journal text and we discussed Dylan, a little bit. She says that my father and her (and I suppose most people in her age group and social outlook) feel that Dylan was a modern bard. As in, The Bard, that Dylan was on Shakespeare’s level. I agree with her, whole-heartedly.
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In a related note, Dylan’s early career and records would not have been possible if current copyright laws existed back then. Dylan’s tapping of songs from the public domain was essential for his artistic growth. Without such a strong collection of songs without copyright, Dylan might never have existed. The same could be said for most folk artists, The Beatles and literally all music made in the last twenty years.
Ok, so two days after I got my fish back from Cholowin (the guy who repaired all of our boards, after that unfortunate, tragic event that claimed all three of the boards in my quiver), I managed to run the fish into the rocks at Burros, putting a nasty 2 foot gauge in the bottom. Cholowin fixed that up as well. 5 days ago, I was putting the fish away, in my extra-bedroom when I lifted it up just a tad too high and Thwap!, I had stuck the board into the ceiling fan, chopping off a small part of the nose and putting in a 6 inch gauge about 4 inches below the nose-tip. A nice deep symmetrical gauge. ouch. I quickly patched it up with a half-ass job using boat resin. Yesterday, I pulled out the Flyer II, for some short board action and dinged the nose on the way out the door and took off the nose-tip. not quite hitting foam, but close enough to warrant a patch job.
It’s official. I am not to be trusted with boards. Any new boards I get go directly from the ocean to a board bag. I can’t image what I’d do to a nice finished board with fancy graphics. I think both the fish and the Flyer II now have more band-aids then actual board.
Video explains the world’s most important 6-sec drum loop called the “Amen Break”. A great explanation of how a small 6 second drum-break on an obscure funk record from 40 years ago can make it’s way from early hip-hop, to pop music, to drum-n-bass to car, clothing and pill commercials. and an excellent explanation of why over-protecting copyright works hurts the public domain and squashes innovaton. wicked! [via BoingBoing]
Nothing like a nice quiet Sunday morning, the dog at my feet, a warm cup of coffee, waves washing against the beach in the far background, Marcia milling around in the bedroom, Joaquin Phoenix doing Johnny Cash on the ipod mini-stereo and a copy of CSS Mastery - Advanced Web Standard Solutions. Current temperature: 92º and 82% humidity. the life, for sure.
The charts say that the waves are very very big. Unfortunately, the charts are based on “virtual buoys” and these particular ones are not that accurate. Thursday was to mark the beginning of an extended swell, that looks like it could carry on for over a week. The by-product of two storm systems, one off of south america and one off of Southern California. So in effect we’re supposed to be getting sandwiched from both sides.
If only that were the case.
On Thursday we got to Burros at around 3:30pm. We were happily greeted by 6 people in the water and waves that were easily between 8 and 10 feet, big nicely formed, powerful waves. even a few barrels, something rarely seen at Burros. It was the kind of surf that makes every muscle work and as the sets came in I could feel myself getting slightly sick from so much adrenaline. I got knocked pretty hard in the first set or two and spent the next hour recuperating. I had several really nice rides and the Fish treated me well, I definitely broke a few speed records but the waves were all about long, flowing, carving lines. After about an hour or so, inexplicably, the waves just sorta died down. Time in between sets increased to about every 15-20 minutes and the size shrank to about 4-5 feet. 30+ people filled the water, it quickly became an exercise in futility, between fighting for the mushy leftovers (of whatever freak swell had come and gone in one hour) and the 10 or so other locals (that all had knives-out battling for those last few ripples). Back on the beach, we all marveled at how fickle this “incredible swell” was and hoped that Friday would be better. Maybe it was just a tide issue.
Salim messaged me at 7:00am, Friday and surely we both thought that the waves would be back in action, this time at low tide and without the choppy wind conditions of late afternoons. After making the jungle trek, we rolled into Burros at 7:30, to find a flat ocean. We shrugged off the disappointment and headed home. Friday afternoon I headed back out to Burros to find the same scene as the second part of the day before. 4-5 foot waves with 15-20 people in the water and incredible long wait times between sets. Although i was glad to be surfing, this was not the “incredible swell” being displayed on every and all wave charts for the area.
It’s official, this is another one of our infamous phantom swells, most likely caused by the southern depression sending waves north that miss Vallarta because we are tucked up inside a large bay, that same reason Vallarta mostly never gets ht by hurricanes. As the swell report says that we have another 5 days or so of nice waves, I’ll pray to the surf goddess’ to send some our way. In the meantime, I’ll be thankful for what I’ve got.
My brother-from-another-mother Mr. Isaiah Seret is part of a group that teaches meditation to young adults in prison. It’s called “The Mind Body Awareness Project” or MBA Project. Isaiah had been asking me to help him design the site for eons. One day he showed me what he had in mind, later that day I whipped up a photoshop comp for him and a few days later, this is the result. It wasn’t much effort on my part, just a small exercise of my pshop design chops to give it a decidedly Web 2.0 flair and then Isaiah handed the comps off to Xhtmlized to code the site out. They choose TextPattern as a back-end which is great. The site still has some rough edges, but overall I think they did a good job bringing static comps to life. And The MBA Project has a nice professional looking site that they can update themselves. Very very cool.
Remember that scene in Star Wars when Luke, Han Solo and Obi Wan are speeding towards Alderan and Obi-Wan senses a disturbance in the force and it feels like a billion voices crying out. and then they come out of hyperspace to see that Alderan is gone? The Pirate Bay taken offline by Swedish police. This is kinda like that. UPDATE: and continuing with the Star Wars metaphors: The Pirate Bay Strikes Back.
Get it while you can: Good Weather For Airstrikes’ Exclusive First Listen: Thom Yorke’s “The Eraser” (Thom Yorke of Radiohead fame, non-solo album).
