Bluebird Surf

It was inevitable that Taiwan eventually got on the radar of the International Surf Community.  For a place with so much potential and such a unique culture to remain relatively untouched for as long as it has, is/was indeed special.  Hiroaki, who ran the only surf shop in the south when I arrived, has been spearheading the movement to create awareness for the typhoon rich island.  Mostly among the Japanese surf community.

Luckily for the surf community in Taiwan, scoring good sessions generally requires local knowledge and a bit of resourcefulness.  If you haven’t seen the post yet on Surfline, you can check it here.

Although I don’t think Taiwan will ever be the destination for most surf travelers, if timed correctly it can certainly be a good jumping off point to other more well known locales.  This shot above is bitter sweet for me as I believe I was the first one to ever surf this place that I know of.  Gazza, Dante, Red, The Meystro, RastafarIAN, McKrackin, Mike, Al and others broke it in at a time when Hiroaki and others stuck to Jialoshui and Nanwan exclusively.

Glad to see the local culture evolve and glad to be a part of Taiwan’s surf history.

This is the Taiwan I will always remember and look forward to returning to.

People  talk about the vibe you get in the water when things just don’t feel right.  I’m sure you’ve all heard about the stories where they are sitting 100 yds offshore and they get a weird creepy vibe and then paddle in to get a glimpse of a large fin cruising the lineup or something worse.

Well, I don’t know if I have one of those stories or not cause I don’t have any proof.  Let’s just say it had all the signs.

First off, tis’ the season.  October and November are Shark months in Norcal…not to say that the rest of the year is shark free by any means.  Anyway, I paddled out this morning for the dawn patrol and there were a couple guys and gals out off to the left of where I usually surf.  The swell was about 2-3ft with a somewhat high tide.  Beautiful as the sun was just coming up and the ocean was pretty glassy.  I surfed for about twenty minutes paddling to stay in position as everyone else drifted south.  I had a weird feeling cause the tide was high and I was solo for the most part…you always hear about early morning sightings etc.  Well, just as the thought popped into my head I saw a fin about 30 yrds out to my right, followed by another that breached the surface like a dolphin.  Whew…a relief.

The next set that came in I watched as the dolphin streaked along in the face of the wave and then kicked out half way through the ride.  It was cool to see and thought to myself that I was just being paranoid.  Ten minutes later, about 15-20 yards out to my right, I catch the tail end of a large splash/thrashing type movement under water…not right at the surface…but it did kick up a bit of spray which was what got my attention.  I sat there and just watched to see if I could see anything more for ten seconds or so…nothing….a wave came and I was on it.  Not a good one, so I kicked out a bit further inside and sat there looking out to sea again.  A second later to my left I saw a sea lion jump out of the water once continuing south.

Now of all the stories I’ve heard, those are the signs.  Dolphins present, splashing/thrashing, sea life acting erratically.  I didn’t want to just paddle in, but felt that I probably should…nothing wrong with getting to work early, right?  Besides the waves weren’t that good, at least thats what I told myself.  I got one more wave on the inside and then was out.  As I walked up on the dune I hoped to see something that would validate my paranoia, but never did get the proof.

Still not sure if what I witnessed was anything to exit the water for, but thought it was a good move to listen to that creepy vibe and respect the Ocean.  I know this is not the type of stuff you want to read about necessarily, but I had to tell someone.

What a beautiful acceptance speech last night.  A truly monumental moment in our Nation’s history.  I was moved and inspired.  As one of my old coaches used to say, ‘It’s a good day to be an American’.

What a weekend!  Great contest!!  Good on ya Nat!!

That one backhand vertical snap was killer….yeah you know which one too.

While the contest down south was in full swing with Middle Peak starting to show we were getting hit with some large surf up here.  I woke up around 7am, suited up and jogged down to the beach.  I didn’t hear much and thought the surf was a bit smaller than the 2-4ft the day before.

As I got my first glance I slowed to a walk and then stopped in awe as the ocean was alive with huge waves breaking in the 15ft-20ft+ range.  The outer reefs which lie about a half mile out were feathering on the sets and way up in Marin you could see a couple bombies and the trail of spray hanging there from way over near Bolinas as if it was suspended and not moving.  I sat there with my 6’5″ watching to see if there was a chance I wasn’t undergunned when another guy walked up for the morning check and said he sure hoped I had a big board….apparently not big enough.  The tide was high and so after watching for 4o minutes and feeling defeated I decided to go back home and either wait for the tide to drop or go to other locales that would be more manageable.

Here is a shot later in the day as the tide dropped.  This was taken on the north side of the beach and was a bit smaller than the swell that was getting in further south. Looks like a big dump and full on stand up pit.  No takers.

So the goods turned out to be just around the corner in a special place designed specifically for the hardy local bunch.

The stories about getting sucked out around the bridge and having to come in over boulders with huge shore pound are a plenty at this spot.  Also a plenty are the stories of localism at this spot that breaks pretty infrequently and has a narrow takeoff zone.  I have a sequence of the guy in the photos sitting deep getting dropped in on as he came around the boil and then pushing the guy who dropped in on him off his board.  They just missed nailing each other…bound to happen with the twelve guys all sitting on one peak.

When you do get in position for a set you have to be careful about which ones you grab for obvious reasons.  The Big boulder in the wave is what you will face taking off too deep or too far outside.

The inside had some nicely shaped walls and the select few would even hold up to be taken apart by the skilled riders like the one in the picture below.

After checking this break, down south on Sunday was a piece of cake.  It is so perfect down there and the biggest hazard is the crowds.  I surfed for five hours+ on Sunday and got my fill…atleast for a day or two.  Not looking forward to the time change next week when my window of opportunity will be drastically reduced.

That’s gonna be me…all weekend long.

HOOT!

Awoke before the crack of dawn to almost balmy weather for these parts. Grabbed my 6’5″ not knowing how much swell would have squeezed in and hoped for the best.

Needless to say, I was pleasantly greeted by spitting barrels. Its funny too, cause I was just talking about them and its not all the time that the tide and swell come together to create those types of waves. It wasn’t big…about 2-4ft but perfectly shaped. Within the first few minutes I saw probably five waves that spat…one right on me as I duck dove to get outside. The water was a little chilly and I was one of three guys out at 7am. I guess everyone slept in a little not knowing what to expect after a couple days of wind.

I was stoked as I had a peak all to myself that had a nice fast right and bowly left. I had some great rides and stayed out as long as I could. More and more people began to show up and share in the fun. I had a killer bottom turn on the wave of the morning that made me feel like a superstar but unfortunately went too high and overshot the lip skidding out as I attempted a cutback/snap. Got too excited I guess. It had been awhile since I had glassy perfection. I also had a nice snap on a left hander that got me excited…this time didn’t blow it. Timed it nicely just under the lip and had a no look back torquing thwack. Good ego boost! I love those moments that stand out in your sessions. Thinking back…it’s interesting the surf moments that get branded in your psyche. Good times!

Looks like more swell on the way for this weekend. Cold Water Classic in Santa Cruz should keep the crowds just right.

So it was small, but dude…you can’t complain. The crowd was right! I was stoked…got three morning sessions mid week the best of which was this day. My last wave before I headed off to work was killer. I took off on a lil right that was perfectly shaped and speedy. As soon as I got to my feet I pumped quickly to get up high on the face and with the lip cascading just behind my back leg barely touching it I was able to stay just ahead of the lip. I raced up and down pumping down the line when I saw my opportunity for a head dip and slowly glided down to the mid point of the face…I softly slid my hand onto the wall feeling it as it rose up above and over my head…got a couple seconds of the corner and then stood up as I shot out onto a little shoulder….did a slow mo cutback to the foam and then jumped on my belly to ride in. Great way to start my day. It looked just like this right hander below.

Getting up for the early tomorrow again…wish me luck and stayed tuned…Thanks for the motivation Duggar!

I’m stoked for the Wellman’s but these photos are painful to look at. Old surf pal Tom and his family moved to Bali recently, bought some land and are now living the good life.

One can only imagine how spoiled one could get having waves like this in your backyard. I mean I’m not complaining, but Impossible perfection such as this is incredibly rare if not literally impossible here at OB.

Good on ya Tom! Catch one for me…make it a few, and don’t let those groms show you up. Experience counts, especially when it matters.