Surfminded - San Diego Surf Tours -

After three (3) months out of the water, a broken elbow, a pair of broken teeth, innumerable visits to various medical offices, playing a gig on bass guitar for a new band, several flights to and from San Francisco for work, several flights to and from Mexico for a wedding, and the most excellent 30th birthday party I could have ever imagined - I returned home to the ocean courtesy of my 5'9" Kaysen heavy-glassed, painted blue fish.

The return was painful on the elbow, but the waves that were breaking chest to shoulder high with solid and open peaks were persuasive enough to get me out of bed and back to Scripps beach. 

Competing against the hordes of surfers who were not returning from a fractured elbow was challenging, but I managed to paddle out and score two solid lefts.  These two (2) first flights after being grounded on dry land for so long were simply glorious under the glowing blue sun and out on top of the deep purple of the sea. 

I wanted more but did not want to press my luck.  Trying to take it slow I’m feeling good knowing that I can now come back for more.

During the holidays, we went up to see the family in Los Angeles.  

The best part about returning home is that Trestles is inevitably on the way.  

Below are some shots that are the product of the great Jill Sunshine who endured the cold and dark conditions to catch the action.

The right here at uppers was SOLID.  Despite the crowd, plenty of decent waves were to be had.  

A few weekends later I went snowboarding and broke my elbow on the last run of the day.  

Then I rode my bike home on another weekend and lost the handle.  Trying to avoid breaking another arm, I fell right onto my face and broke my two front teeth.  Needless to say, this has been the worst January ever.  The only redeeming factors have been the steady awesomeness of Jill Sunshine and my inclusion in the band, Jackpot Junkies.  I was fortunate that my injuries did not prohibit me from playing music.

The injuries have, along with the bad weather, kept me out of the water but hopefully for not much longer.

Until then, I’ll just have to keep replaying the rapidly fading memories of Trestles in December of 2009.

Check out our first attempt at in-water filming.  The waves started out reasonably good this day but quickly devolved into wind chop that did not want to break, let alone stay open once it did.  Anyway, the process was more difficult than imagined but more rewarding than expected once the footage came back.  There were actually a couple of real gems: