Bluebird Surf

The Old Taiwanese Fisherman will tell you that Jo Yuei is the month. With a twinkle in his eye, he’ll tell you about the time of year when the fisherman have to be extra careful when choosing how they navigate their waters and earn a living. Sometimes being confined to their harbors for a week or more as Typhoons lash the coast.

Well October was pretty darn good too with Super Typhoon Krosa bringing mass destruction as surfers rejoice. The Autumn Tiger, as it is often called, was as beautiful as it was ferocious packing gusts up to 160 knots, taking the lives of nearly 20 people and knocking out power to well over 400,000 households.

Surfers like Clayton and Terry from opposite ends of the Island basked in the glory left behind by such a powerful storm. Some of the biggest waves surfed by both of them in Taiwan.

In between dodging cops Terry was able to score two epic solo sessions. As he charged one of the outer reefs off the southern tip of the island he was given a royal beating in the form of a three wave hold down that pushed him down to Davey Jones’s Locker and back. Depleted of oxygen and energy he was able to pull himself to the surface, regain his bearings, and catch a couple more before calling it quits for the afternoon.

Later on that day he charged the infamous AK and states ‘AK and the outer reef were some of the biggest and cleanest waves i’ve ever got! Managed to get six waves at AK without a beating. It was insane.’

Its quite often a daunting task paddling out solo when you know that you could very easily become an island statistic if you don’t know what you are doing. If you do happen to get a fin cut or bonked in the head help could be far away or non-existent on this Island Nation that pays a healthy respect to the Ocean and even has temples, scattered around the Island, dedicated to appeasing goddesses like Matsu who protect sailors, fisherman, and these days even surfers from the mighty power of the seas.

Here is a photo of an old local attempting to dissuade the young charger. You know he has seen his fair share of tragedy along this stretch of coast.

Nothing worse than someone to help you second guess yourself on a day like this.

Meanwhile Clayton in the heat of pursuit for the Ultimate ride in Taiwan manages to get some of the largest waves I’ve seen ridden out at a spot that rarely breaks, but when it does, offers some of the longest, cleanest, and most rippable waves on the Island.

Here she is looking a lot like a dirty Uluwatu.

Taiwan is often just a stop in the airport for those surfers traveling to more consistent locales like Bali, Phillipines, or Japan. Any surfer will tell you when you mention Taiwan, ‘oh yeah, I’ve been to Taiwan but never left the airport’.

For those brave enough to venture out of the airport and sample the local culture, this is what can await you.

I think A-Lang of A-Lang Surf Shop in Southern Taiwan puts it best when he says ‘It’s nice to be Local, and if you’re Local it’s nice…it’s fuckin noice.’

The dog days of Summer have come and gone and the good ole’ N.Pacific is slowly starting to wake from its long slumber.

The first day of Fall began with overhead surf that is still hanging around here in Northern California. Lefts and rights on hand with the occasional hollow bowl to be found.

I can only recall two half way decent days this whole summer. One was the 4th of July and the other was a few weeks prior when it was really windy with only two other guys out. There were a few others, but nothing to get too excited about or blog about for that matter.

This is the best time of year as the winds tend to die down and the temperatures rise and we get that Indian Summer action. I have a few decent photos I will be posting in the gallery in the next day or so…a good sequence in particular of one lucky guy that got a nice little cover up to start the day. Until then, here is a little teaser.

SurfersVillage.com Press Release gives props to Jason Sedor and his vid Kaiwan.  We have always known Jason had skills so its cool to see him get global recognition.  Good on ya!  Check out the video here Kai Otton surfs Taiwan, dubbed ‘Kaiwan’

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 24 July, 2007 : – – Years before his WCT campaign commenced on the ASP tour and the rookie sensation began racking up semifinal finishes at Teahupoo and giving the world’s best a serious run for their money, Insight’s Kai Otton traveled to some random places like Taiwan and ripped the shit out of anything he caught.

Recently unearthed from hidden vaults, Jason Sedor’s footage of Ottz tearing apart waves in the Orient is well worth a look, and will no doubt help you appreciate why the surfing world is now taking note of the young goofy footer’s act. Go to surfingmagazine.com for the video clip, and while there be sure to check out ::Insight’s new ‘ZOUP’ campaign surf trailer a couple of links below. Sitting at your work desk was always supposed to be this fun.

www.insight51.com
www.surfingmagazine.com

Bluebird Surf started as Bluebird Boarding back in 99′ as a way to post photos of my surf adventures around the globe. Europe, Asia, and the US. It has gone through lots of developments over the years and has always been completely funded by myself and Gazza, and contributions from our friends and family in the way of server space, design help and more. Most recently we have introduced some advertising to the site to help offset some of the costs associated with keeping it up and running.

I began working with Active Athlete Media here in San Francisco in January and chose them as the partner to handle the advertising for the site. I was hesitant to introduce advertising to the site as I didn’t want to have obtrusive, flashing blinking ads that were annoying and of no value. Being that I’m personally involved in the process of providing a unique and valuable experience to the partners AAM represents I felt that my site would be a good starting point to help refine the delivery of quality relevant ads.

So…In an effort to help increase the relevancy of the ads we display and of course secure advertisers that understand the value of your attention. I have a survey that I am helping to push out to all of you and my family and friends that are passionate lifestyle athletes. Whether you surf, kayak, run, skate, kiteboard, Mtn. bike…whatever this brief survey will help us to gather information that will make the Bluebird experience that much better.

Surfing is a lifestyle, as we all know. As a surfer you live it and breath it and it affects your life decisions more than you may realize. The more I can help advertisers understand what we are all about and what kinds of interests we have the more advertising turns from being an annoyance to being of great value. Advertising is meant to bring cool products and services to you so that you don’t have to go out looking for them.

I’d appreciate your help and support in filling this out and forwarding the link on to as many of your friends and family that you think fits the bill.

Take Me To Your Survey!

Here is a link if you would like to spam your friends…it’s all good.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=jSnPB2tWQE1DW_2fpIPZuwMQ_3d_3d

Thank you for your continued support. This site was started for me and my fellow weekend warriors and globe trotters almost ten years ago, but couldn’t have continued this long without all the new friends Gazza and I have made on the way and all the people out there around the world that check in and help support us through forum posts, photo and video uploads and contributions and all those positive vibes you send.

Big Mahalos.

Stay wet and stay stoked!!