Surfminded - San Diego Surf Tours -

There is never a good time for an injury, but the explosion of my knee seemed to come with especially bad timing given that my buddies were coming back into town the next weekend.  Still hobbled by the time of their arrival, I was definitely unable to surf.

Not one to sit completely idle on the sidelines, I did manage to grab my new Nikon Coolpix Camera to get some pics and video.  Taking the footage from that day, some pics from www.socalwaveriders on another day, together w/ some miscelaneous footage produced the short film below:

Went up to North Tahoe for a fun-filled week of Snowboarding - broke my knee on the way up playing an ill-advised game of basketball.  As a result,  I am now down for the count - again...

Although I returned to the sea, I was definitely not in top form.  For this reason, I was going out with one of my smaller boards because I thought it would be easier to deal with less board in the water.  In a way, I was almost glad b/c I had missed the blue bullet.  Luckily, that first day back was an ideal one for the bullet, which is shown below:

This board lends itself to steeper days where waves are breaking closer to shore, as opposed to mushier, slow-developing waves that break out in the distance. 

I had to try to stop feeling sorry for myself out there.  As added motivation I looked up the one-armed surfer-girl who lost one of her arms to the jaws of a shark.  I figures that if she could tear it up with only one arm, I'd have no excuses for not so doing with my 1 1/2 arms.

As a result, I ceased my mental griping, tried to use the broken left elbow only for paddling, and use the right arm almost exclusively for taking off.  Needless to say, this was easier thought than done as well as the amazing Bethany Hamilton:

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.

SurfExcursion - 24 january 2010

We went forth into the calm after the storm.  With the low tide and semi-stormy conditions, the best local spot for the day seemed to be BirdRock.

At about mid-morning we arrived at the break and assessed the situation.  The left out in front of the park seemed to be working.  A little bit mushy and inconsistent, but the few rides that availed themselves were quality as evidenced below by the shots of my SurfMinded client:

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.

  As the days get shorter, the prospect of having my after-work sessions looms ominously before me.  Don't even get me started on the various wetsuits I'll have to wear before July 2010 comes around.

Luckily, the past few days have been spectacular all in their own ways:

- Wed. - Sept. 16 - Check out the surf at lunch - tide was too low and the winds were wreaking havoc on the shape.  No matter, I had to get to the comic shop anyway.  Went out after work and while the waves were still mushy, the waves were plentiful and offered up some corners that were open enough to afford one or two quick hits which is all you can really ask for at Scripps.

- Thurs. - Sept. 17 - Paddled out and there was not a cloud in the sky.  An extra treat this night was a band playing at the end of Scripps Pier.  I definitely enjoyed the live soundtrack to the session.  The size was somewhat smaller than the previous day, but I found enough open rights that had enough power to stomp and slide around on.

- Friday - Sept. 18 - Before Work - The sky was overcast, blanketing the breaking super clean, glassy, perfect corners that had me wishing both that I had gotten up earlier and that I didn't have to get out to go to work. 

The water was still warm though I still had to wear my spring suit because I left my board shorts at home.  But I couldn't believe that others were wearing full suits on a day like this, especially when there is going to be plenty of time to wear those awful straight-jackets over the next several months. 

Take-offs were super smooth, leading to ridiculously open faces both left and right.
The last wave was a nice right where I pulled in behind this longboarder giving me a view reminding me of that one camera commercial.  She noticed I was behind her and pulled out despite my yelps designed to encourage her to continue on. 

All together, today was the best day of the last three and I'm hoping I can pick up rights where I left off after work.

Sitting right below the famous volcanic crater, Diamondhead beach is easily accessed via a well-paved path that can be followed from the side of the main road. 

As someone from San Diego, I am all too familiar with having otherwise perfectly good surf days ruined by strong offshore winds.  What surprised me about Diamonhead and the east side of Oahu in general was the idea of sideshore winds that can gust and howl strong as high as 20 mph but not cause waves to crumble over. 

The other curiosity was the fact that different beaches in relatively close proximity to another could have completely different directional winds hit them by vitrue of the extreme curvature of the island landscape.  The same day at Diamonhead when winds were blowing fiercly directly from the east side of the break, a few miles over at Kuhio Beach in Waikiki the same trade winds gently skated over the surface and provided perfect offshore conditions.

To get an idea of how mighty the winds were at Diamonhead, check out the pic of this windsurfer tearing up the water:

But with these conditions, just a few hundred yards down the way I was able to find half-way decent open faced rights that were breaking with at least 3-5 ft faces. 

Back in San Diego, I can only imagine how great it would be on days when the winds get up high that if a beach gets completely blown out, I could just drive down around the bend a couple miles and find another beach with solid, open rights.

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:

The skies looked pretty dreary for a Tuesday evening, especially in light of the diminished swell following last weekend's complete and utter awesomeness.  All gloom was dispelled, however, after a quick dip into the 72 degree Pacific Ocean by PB Drive w/ my 8'0 Craig. 

Dolphins abounding, solid 3 ft lefts and rights that were either rideable to the shore or good for a couple of quick hits - the dark and gray clouds may as well have been a bright, blue sunny sky.  Any negative energy is quickly washed away by these warm waters.