OOTO

I think I made the right call to tell everyone I would be working from home today. 

6mm Sunday

Below freezing, but overhead. 

Leftovers From Nuri

Despite a few factors working against us, we still managed to have a good time and snag a few waves while we were at it. 

Midweek Swell

Clear roads before the blizzard

Early morning off-shore

Fading swell

No matter what it looks like here I wouldn't swim in it

Midday pulses falling just short of a good time

Home Sweet Home

Flew back from Florida, picked up a dog, had a few late birthday drinks with friends, and then headed straight for the coast. Prospects of a big winter swell had everyone lined up for the early ferry and frothing for some cold water beat-downs. It was exactly what I needed after spending a week with family.

Irrational Thinking

It's funny how the faintest lines of yellow and green on the radar can cloud our judgement. And even more amazing how all rational thinking goes right out the window when BIG red blobs are headed our way. Recent images from a 6 hour round trip for 2 hours of water/camera time.

High Surf Advisory

Didn't even get in the water. Hung on the beach and snapped a few pics. Was planning on surfing the groins after lunch, but conditions turned for the worse. Ended up at the mini mart were Clem and I purchased a few Steel Reserves to fuel surf heckling session. At the time "High Gravity" malted beverages sounded like a great idea...not so much this morning.

In the office today wondering if anyone is going to even bother sending me an email concerning work. Not sure how I feel about not having any work to do. I guess it gives me time to update my neglected blog.

Pee Free

I'm going to go ahead and throw something out here- I do not pee in my wetsuit. 

Ok, I maybe I'm stretching the truth a little. It's more like- I do not pee in my current wetsuit. My current wetsuit, being brand new, or at least new to me, is the XCEL Infiniti 4/3 Drylock System.  Seeing the suit acts similar to a dry suit, it no longer allows for such guilty pleasures as stewing in your own urine in order to warm your core on a cold day...unless you want to pretend your a catheter bag. A cold core was the least of my worries because of "The Thermobarrier" lined front and back pannels running the entire torso and thighs. today I even flushed my suit on more than one occassion when I realized that I was breaking a sweat. 

Surfed the Cove with JR today. Waves were smaller than expected. In typical Cove fashion when the waves did come through the session lasted for a very short time.  We didn't even have time to put our suits on before I noticed the sets had fizzled out.  At least someone squeezed into a few waves. See Below: 

Back in the water

I spent most of this week keeping one eye on the surf report and the other on Craigslist. Even though Craigslist did provide a few decent job leads, it was the surf that put me back in a good mood. I'm also trying not to spend as much time on the Drudge Report & CNN which helps. It seems no news is good news these days.


Played around at the Cove yesterday with Trav, Clem, Tipp, and ran into Glen there too. Waves were nothing special, just small, clean, fast, and breaking on the sand. Jetty looked good, but to large and mushy for the boards we had. Actually the peak looked kinda fun, we just didn't feel like sharing with the 12 guys that were already on it.


Session was fun until I put my knee through the bottom of my board. At first I thought it was from Trav when he dropped in on me and bailed. I felt something hit me then, but the hole looks more like blunt object instead of a rail. I do remember going down on my knee, but couldn't imagine it doing that much damage and not leaving a bump. Oh well, I'm going to try and repair it today. My quad needs some serious work too from when I kicked the fin box through the board at the Dump.

Jackie leaves tomorrow for Hong Kong.

Several Seaworthy Adventures

About 20 miles of paddling around San Juan Island this past weekend and I'm not even sore. Either the kayaking trip on the Columbia a week before prepared me or I'm going to wake up tomorrow and not be able to move my arms. Hell, even if I was sore for a few day it would still have been worth it. The idea of actually owning a kayak doesn't sound that bad anymore. It's just below a 15ft Zodiac w/50hp motor on my list of thing to buy.


Thanks to Leah for setting up the trip through her friends at Discovery Sea Kayaks. Defiantly a top notch kayaking outfit in the San Juans, and when we plan another trip I would not hesitate to call them again. Although, I'm not sure if I need to listen to the owners pep talk about how accomplished our guides are. I don't need to be reminded that I'm not very motivated.


Fun mid-week surf session last week with Drex, Pete, and Adam. It's been awhile since I've been to the spot and almost forgot how rad it is. Surfed with a small crowd for a few hours, including these assholes, but ended up having the line-up all to our selves in the afternoon.

Big weekend planned for Drex's B-Day- 4 nights of camping on the coast. Hoping either the swell shapes up or the weather holds out. I'm sure good times will be had by all.

The Week In Review

A hectic week. The only thing that allowed me to keep my sanity was 3 separate trips to the coast. It started out when I returned Sunday night from surfing at Westport and found someone from Puget Sound Energy probing around for the source to a gas leak. Turned out our gas line to the dryer started leaking somehow. Jackie came home after having a drink to find our place filled with gas, and immediately called the gas company.

Work in general sucked because of the upcoming Olympics and new software we're going to be using for it. Hope to get it all figured out before the games start. My director was in town to meet with a vendor, but instead of having to sit in meetings all day I was excused to chase some surf in the Straits. Peter and I drove around checking a few spots, but ended up settling on the Elwha and some punchy little waves.

Peter behind the wheel

The second half of the week began with Jackie waking me up to ask why would water be coming out of the light fixtures in the Kitchen (directly under the bathroom). A few drops from a light fixture turned into a bulge above the sink, and eventually ended up as a pile of mushy drywall on the floor. A rusted old pipe coming from back of the shower broke open. I imagine it had been leaking for some time now and absorbed by the drywall. Pretty simple fix for the plumber, but we still have a huge hole in the kitchen ceiling to deal with.

Shi Shi

A basement remodel that's taking forever, our new couch had to be returned since it doesn't fit down the stairs, and the perpetual layer of dust that covers our belongings would have sent most couples to divorce court, but we made it a priority to get out to the coast with a group of friends this weekend. On Saturday a crew made the hike out to Shi Shi and scored some fun waves. Got harassed by the Park Rangers because a friend brought his dogs, and the few that were camping out there didn't have Bear proof containers. It's our fault for not paying close enough attention to the rules, but the Rangers were total assholes. I wonder if their week was just as bad as ours?

Under Contruction

Heading to Florida tonight. No chance of surf while I'm there. I wish I could say I got my fill this past weekend...I can't remember the last time I thought I was surfed out.

Past weekend- 2 trips to the coast, one a bust, and the other was pretty fun. Sunday morning surfed with about 25 other doods. Plenty of hollow waves to be had for all...as long as you don't mind pulling into closeouts, ending up in the sand, and getting dropped in on. It's all part of the fun.

After the tide switched, and our hands going numb, we decided to check the Groins hoping the tide had dropped enough. Still too full, but we hung out long enough to watch some guy get pushed into the rocks. He eventually threw his board over a log onto the rocks after a few unsuccessful attempts to climb over. Yeah, tossed his board onto rocks. Lucky he didn't snap an ankle too.

Movie Night!!

Hurricane conditions and the Cape E buoy was reading 34ft @ 17 seconds...I'm going to sit this swell out. Anyways if I was to head out I wouldn't have cell or email access because virtually all the coastal cities don't have power;) Instead I stayed home to watch 'Second Thoughts' the Timmy Turner movie about going 'feral' on an empty indo island. Amazing waves, good surfing, really cool barrel shots, interesting story, but who the hell let this dude (Timmy) narrate the thing. I seriously feel more dumber after the flick. Next time I'm watching with the sound off.

Just pulled the trigger on tickets to visit the folks in Florida. I'm already excited about the sunshine. I leave in about 10 days.

Thankful for...

What was I thankful for this holiday;

-Day before Thanksgiving surf
-2 days of excellent weather at Whistler
-First, and second, day of the season powder runs
-Posse of friends to make sure I always had a drink in my hand
-Fat Tony's pizza

Day to remember

Saturday we surfed until I was to tired to run back up the point to catch another wave...and then went back in for anther round. Twisted my ankle running over the rocks, but luckily the cold water kept it numb. Waves were good enough I would have gnawed it off if I thought it would slow me down. Surprisingly empty lineup...I'm sure it was good everywhere else too. No pics from the day.

Clem brought his friend from Oahu to show us how to surf. He wasted no time in instructing us how to snap vertically under the lip and blast the tops of waves off. He was having so much fun he even talked about buying his own wetsuit. We played it off like the surf was always that good...he's in for a surprise.


Leigh gave me an old camera the other day - Konica AutoReflx TC. Pretty much a manual SLR with crappy light meter, but still takes nice pics. I shot a roll through it this weekend and should get the results today. I doubt it will replace the Holga as my favorite film camera, but still fun to shot.

More of everything

Spent Friday and Saturday out at the Wedge. Long ways from home, but worth every second of the dreadful drive. Friday wasn't very big or consistent, but it was clean and occasionally lining up really well. Not too many other people out. A few guys killing it as usual-including Drex. He's really surfing well now that he's on something other than his homemade beast.

Drex wasn't the only one surfing well. I was ripping so hard I snapped the end of my fin off...into my head. A turn off the top sent me to the bottom were I received a sharp crack to my head. It wasn't till I got back out to the lineup and took a closer look at my board that I noticed the last 2 inches of my center fin missing. I figured a fin would have really done some damage. I guess a few layers of scar tissue and a hood saved me.

Saturday we met up with Kev and his dad. We kinda took our time checking out some other spots and stopping for food. Eventually ended up back at the Wedge were it was whole different wave than what we surfed the day before. That day it was overhead and snapping boards. Not too many makable waves out there when it gets that big. Didn't spend much time surfing...plenty of driving.

I'm heading back out to the Straits tonight with Travis. I'm sure my boss is beginning catch on that I don't like to be in the office. Good thing I can get twice as much work done frmm home. I have a 3 hour interview with another possible prospect on Wednesday. More button pushing, but also more $$$ too. More $$$ = more traveling!

No pot of gold here

Great Expectations

I've been watching the surf forecast all week just waiting for Sunday's report to drop to typical summer numbers, but this time it didn't. When Saturday rolled around the buoys were already starting to show signs of a much needed bump in the waves - 3.5ft @ 16 seconds from the SouthWest. I'd also heard from a friend, who lives in Westport, that Saturday afternoon was really fun. It's not that I needed the extra bit of encouragement, because we were already planning on surfing, but it was enough to motivate me to get up extra early.

Clem and I showed up a little before sunrise. Definitely not what I was expecting from the forecast. Wind was already chopping up the surf. We knew it was going cause problems today, but we at least expected it to be calm that early in the morning.

It didn't stop us from having a good time. There were some fun sets that rolled through and a few even lined up for decent length rides. The session lasted for about 2 or 3 hours, got out just before the hordes of foam tops went in.

Clem on the inside

We had chicken strips, onion rings, and Busch Tall Boy's at the Pine. Clem barely beat me at Shuffle Board. We checked the surf once more before hitting the road. Made a stop to look at a new truck for me, and another for ice cream @ Diary Queen.

1 week until we leave for France.