Surf

I was checking out the latest swell to hit Europe and found some crazy shots courtesy of Reuters and SurfersVillage. One of the heaviest waves and craziest angles I’ve ever seen coming out of the Emerald Isle.

This swell was literally off the charts producing crazy swell from Ireland to Spain. Splitting boats in thirds as you can see from this shot.

When the Ocean’s fury wasn’t splitting boats in thirds or taking out lighthouses and small coastal villages, it would just push giant tankers up on the beach.

It’s incredible to think that human beings are out there riding the biggest ocean swells that mother nature can serve up. Not just surviving either. The human spirit is amazing.

I was going through my inbox today and happened upon this picture sent to me way back when, which got me dreaming of endless walls and crystalline barrels. The dreaming took me to the closest thing to the Bukit’s Dreamland itself, BaliWaves.com. It was a much appreciated diversion and after finding this picture and seeing the stoke on Dante’s face I realized its time to plan a surf trip.  The original picture you could see the stoke…In this one its all about body language.

With the way the wind was blowing on Saturday afternoon, it didn’t look hopeful that I would get a session in. I held out till around 5:30pm and finally with about an hour of light left it looked as though the wind had backed off enough, so I ran out for a quickie.

It was kind of funky and spent most of my time dodging closeouts. It felt great though because as I said, I just had to get wet. There was only one other guy out way down the beach that I saw every now and then in between sets.

The next morning I got up early, but with the time change it didn’t feel like it. I thought there would already be a bunch of guys on it, but the tide was high and there was a lot of water moving. I almost went back to get my bigger board, but glad I didn’t cause the little 6’1″ 18 1/4 2 1/4 is a bit slower and keeps me in the pocket rather than speeding ahead and missing sections. The only tricky part is not getting pitched into the flats on the bigger ones.

It was beautiful and sunny, but still lots of warble in the swell. I surfed for about two hours, caught five good waves and called it a day. My last ride involved a little lip action and then cover up to slashing carve….so I was stoked with that.

I went back to check it in the evening and was surprised to see the swell had cleaned up a bit with the low tide. I wanted so badly to get back out there, but had to suck it up. I did manage to slip away for ten minutes with my oldest boy to catch the sunset and a few nice rides.

It was one of the nicest days of the year and everyone was out walking on the beach, playing frisbee, taking pictures, having picnics…it felt great to be wearing shorts and its technically still winter.

The surfers were putting on a good show as the waves were fairly hollow on the good ones and rippable.

A couple stopped to watch as this guy was racing for the lip and then threw up a spout of spray that was backlight as if someone had lit off a flash in the water. The guy with his wife turned to me and said ‘Did you get that?’. Everyone was just soaking up the summer like weather and good vibes.

As my son and I rushed back to the house to eat and get ready for the week we reflected on what a beautiful finish to a great weekend it was. I’m going to practice creative visualization more often.

Woke up Friday morning to a beautiful crisp day and decided to do a surf check. As I stood on the dunes with the sun on my back, I watched the half a dozen smart surfers that were on it early pull into one shack after another. Not that big, but hollow and even spitting on a few. I sat and watched for about ten minutes before I sucked it up and went off to work.

This morning I woke up hoping for a repeat, but as soon as I stepped out the front door I could tell the wind was a bit off. I decided to take my camera instead of my board.

It was a little bit funky to say the least. The wind a bit sideshore offshore, with a bit of fog and clouds peeking through. The early bird runners were out and about, but only a couple people on the beach and one lone surfer paddling out. I watched him for a bit and he was catching some nice little shoulders here and there.

As I stood on the beach, the winds started to pick up a bit and it got increasingly foggy, but you could tell it was just over OB. Marin looked beautiful and sunny which is giving me hope for later this afternoon.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only guy watching the lone ripper having a ball out there in the onshore funk. Before long he had company, but I still wasn’t persuaded.

I was checking out this new surf forecasting site called Spitcast and it is calling for better conditions around noon today. It’s a husband and wife team out of Santa Cruz that run the site and I like the simplicity of it. You should have a look as its always good to have lots of information to help you out when you just gotta get wet. I kept telling myself that the wind would die and the sun would come out and as I write this from the living room it looks like the fog has burned off for the most part…..sun has come out and so now we just need that wind to chill or go offshore.

Creative Visualization!!

Check out this latest video interview piece with Thomas Campbell; skater, surfer, film maker, photographer, artist.

http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/452319916

Jialoshui, affectionately referred to as J-Shui bares little resemblance to J-Bay, but had a nice ring to it when I think Andoni started calling it that. The only similarity between the wave in S. Africa was that they are both right handers, as you can see.

For many years, it was ‘the’ spot in Southern Taiwan. It was the most easily accessible and consistently rideable east coast wave in Taiwan and quickly became a meeting place for the surf community living in the southern west half of the island.

We would go there sometimes and not a soul would be around. You could surf your brains out, walk down into the little town and get some coconut milk, fried chicken and rice, squid on a stick and all sorts of other tasty delights.

My preferred mode of transportation for getting from the city to the south was my trusty Kymco Easy Rider.

Many long miles were put on that bike. From Jungle heat to torrential downpours to typhoon winds, we weathered it all. Not to mention the crazy mountain roads, which were actually safer on a motorcycle, believe it or not.

Once you arrived, you would rock up to Gazza’s place and strap the boards and you were off to make your rounds and pick up the rest of the boyz.

It was always a good time. We’d sometimes have six guys in the beat up caddy with a tower of boards stacked on the roof blowing sideways. Whisbey and Binlang going around. We’d bottom out and sparks would fly.

We’d be so stoked talking about what we thought the WAP charts would translate to. If we were lucky we’d have the waves all to ourselves with fun conditions.

One of the youngest surfers out there at J-Shui was Gu-Gu. I can remember when he was probably 11 or 12 yrs old, but looked about 8 yrs. old with his crimson board. He would sit in the rivermouth catching little peelers and was so stoked.

The solo sessions were good to. My brother came to visit and we had the beach to ourselves for the whole day with overhead surf and beautiful sunshine.

We’d surf till we couldn’t stand up and then pig out and hit the hot springs in the evening with friends.

J-Shui was where it all started and ended in those days. The place would fluctuate between really perfect and really crap. As the years went on, it became more and more popular for longboarders and beginners because of the channel and slow waves.

During Typhoon season it would perk up a bit and if you timed it right, you could secure your own little slice of heaven. Here is a shot from last Typhoon season with one lucky guy getting it good.

After the typhoon rains the river would push out this incredible sand bar and you’d just have to wait for the swells to start coming in and you’d be laughing and hooting.

Here is another shot of that same lucky guy that was in the right place at the right time.

Nowadays it can get downright dangerous in the water with all the new surfers as J-Shui has become like the Malibu of Taiwan. The place is rideable from knee high to about double overhead before it starts to get pretty funky. It is the starting point for anyone going to the southern part of the Island and will always be just a taste of what the island has to offer in terms of waves and otherwise.

If you want a great place to eat and stay that is well positioned to hit all spots on the southern tip…see my man Terry aka ‘Tha Meystro’ in Hengchuen.

Also check out the J-Shui video here.

Had a really fun day of surf this past weekend. Felt like summer in February. It was sunny with an overhead swell running, bright greenish turquoise water, and the crowds were right. Traveled down south on a building WNW swell and got to ride my soul fish that I busted up a month or two earlier surfing Steamers on an equally gorgeous day. The photo above is down the point from where me and my friend Ted surfed and as you can see looked pretty good.

Had some nice rides, felt totally out of shape but loved every minute of it. Surfed till I was sloppy and could barely paddle.

The session before this one I was surfing some punchy little shorebreak and snapped my board that I have had for about 6 years. My first surftech that has been all over SE Asia with me.

It was kind of sad to see it go, but also kind of cool that it snapped right beneath me while duck diving. I was glad it didn’t just get old and fall into disuse. It went out in style! The wave wasn’t even that big, but the energy of it went straight through my body into the board and SNAP. Came up after a violent shaking to find my leash attached to some skegs….while the rest of my board was traveling off in a rip.

I have this thing with running my boards into the ground, so now I have a reason to add a new one to my quiver when the time is right. I have been eyeing these Bulkley’s from Mollusk.

Now I have a reason to spend more time in that shop. It’s like a candy store!