My Own Surfing Thread!

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by nostatic

I saw the mention that La Jolla reefs were closed yesterday due to a shark sighting in the kiddie pool. When I surfed Ocean Beach up in San Francisco seeing anything in the water would freak me out. Something about the great white breeding ground that is up there...

Too big for me at the moment, though I'm judging off video feeds. I'm not in good enough shape at the moment to charge big waves. It'll taper off later this weekend I think. We just need some Santa Anas to clean up the faces. It's remained overcast here a lot.

More than once when I younger, I had been brushed/bumped, but thankfully never bitten..
Trying to find my old surfing pix..

[chocolatelab]

heading to san onofre tomorrow, trail 1

cant believe this swell is still here

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by chocolatelab

cant believe this swell is still here

Oh I can. You should have seen what made the swell

Have fun.

[tweezers74]

Chocolatelab, you post here all the time when you are going out to make me crazy, don't you?! I'm back in AZ and the closest body of water is my pool or the lake at the golf course down the street. Uggggggg!!! You are killing me!

[tweezers74]

Yikes! OK, maybe planning a snowboarding trip might be in order...

Aussie bodyboarder dies after shark bites off legs - Yahoo! News

[tevake]

But then you don't see many surfers buried by avalanches! or getting frost bite.

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

More than once when I younger, I had been brushed/bumped, but thankfully never bitten..

Same here. When I was younger I was brushed by a 4' Hammerhead (North Shore, Oahu). Thankfully it was already dead. Brought it on shore to show everyone, and some guys gave me $50 for it. I asked them what they were going to do with it, and they said they were going to put it in the bathtub of their bud's hotel room as a prank. Hilarious.

[tevake]

Ok I have to admit that I get the shark hibijibies too. My home break is just down the street at a place called tunnels. This is the spot where Bethany Hamilton got her arm bit off some years ago. Check out her story in the movie soul surfer.

Any way after that incident I have been much less inclined to just lay around after going down on my windsurfer, I used to take a brake, Rest, hang out look at the scenery after wiping out. Then after the deal with Bethany , I found that I would bounce out of the water as quick as I could.

Its funny that walking across the street to go sailing is probably more risky statistically, but somehow the primal fear of getting attacked by a big predator is way more impactful,
Just got to try to put out of mind.

Here is a pic from years ago just having fun.
About a 4' to 6' day at tunnels.




Cheers Richard
Make you itch to get back into it Bill?

[Bill Douglas]

Nice pic.



It does.

But it's still winter here. Nice and sunny warm winter, but still winter.

[Geary]

From my more active surfing days, lifted from M. Mcpherson's book, "All Those Summers" (Maalaea)


These days, an old surf buddy and I find it far less crowded carving the slopes. 1st tracks, mellow run, late May, 2011, near Truckee

[tevake]

Geary thanks for joining us , That looks like a good session in maui. Super fast wave there at Maalaea. Makes me wonder what it was like last week with that macking south swell.
So you are enjoying the slopes now, pretty, got any more pics? the thoughts of no crowds sounds fun. Was it hard to get into boarding? How quickly are you having fun doing some carving.

Bill that old pic really makes me want to get back into sailing too, its been two years for me, Am working on rehabbing a shoulder injury. I can relate to what you said earlier about getting beat up, and breaking gear. Don't know if I am just past it, there are cream puff days tho. Got to keeping working on the shoulder.

I've got no more good pics, so come on guys, lets see what you got for us.

Cheers Richard

[tweezers74]

Originally Posted by tevake

But then you don't see many surfers buried by avalanches! or getting frost bite.

You can prevent frostbite, Tevake. You can't prevent a big shark from taking a big ol' bite of your tush. OK, have to agree with the avalanche though. But with anything in life, if it doesn't have some sort of risk associated with it, it wouldn't be worth while, would it? We would all be living in a bubble.

And Geary! Love the picture of the snow! I am itching to get out this season. Looking right now for airline tickets to Tahoe or Colorado. I always have to travel to snowboard... snow doesn't get good in AZ until usually January.

I agree with Tevake... we need more pics. I absolutely LOVE all the pictures posted here so far. Post more, people! Some snowboarding ones too! I will have to get some of me snowboarding this year...

Since I don't have any pictures of me snowboarding, here's a link to a video I watch all the time to get me pumped for the snowboarding season. The USC ski & snowboard team... young but their little videos get me excited to watch the kids on the slopes and to get my old lady butt out there. They have a video from their surfing excursion too...

USC Ski & Snowboard - Party in the Park - YouTube

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by tweezers74

Yikes! OK, maybe planning a snowboarding trip might be in order...

Aussie bodyboarder dies after shark bites off legs - Yahoo! News

For your enjoyment... with all those crazy B-movies like "Ice Twisters" and "Sharktopus" being created by the SyFy channel, don't be surprised if they come up with movie about some government experiment on sharks or piranhas gone wrong and even snowboarders are getting eaten alive by vicious predator fishes that swim in snow.

Sharktopus trailer... be sure to stick around for the bungee jump at 2:20:

[Baz]

For total enjoyment - enlarge to fill your screen.

The song is "Astronaut" by My Robot Friend.

These guys CHARGE - wow!

[Geary]

Tevake .. I'm still recovering from a long flight back from OZ (where I missed 20' Bells by 1 day .. they were taking down the Billabong tent when the wife & I pulled up), so I haven't talked to anyone about the recent Hawaii waves. I imagine Maalaea was at least 8-10' on this swell. (The bigger the wave, the more makeable Maalaea gets.) One of our hurricanes pushed an 8' diameter boulder right into the freight train path maybe 15 years ago, so it's risky to ride a super deep 5-6' wave there today.

A surfer needs to dedicate 3 straight days to snowboarding, before expecting to feel "the carve". I'd recommend wearing full protective gear for those 3 days. I've now been at it for over 20 years, so it's just like surfing to me. My buddy had coincidentally e-mailed that snow pick to me two days ago, so I was able to pluck those two tiny pics from my e-mails folder ..

[Geary]

Richard .. in scanning through this thread, I see you spent some time in Whangerei .. very cool. I lived in Titirangi (20 minutes from Piha) off & on '87-'91, and had a number of friends in Whangerei. We had some epic days at 90-mile beach. I left my Ole longboard with a young shaper just south of Whangerei, and later read (Surfer's Journal) how he had become one of NZ's premier longboard shapers. I've had a virgin Brewer 9' gun "curing" on Kauai for over 2 years now .. Hanalei is one of my all-time favorite spots. Aloha, Paul

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by Geary

Richard .. in scanning through this thread, I see you spent some time in Whangerei .. very cool. I lived in Titirangi

Ha, I told you NZ is a small place and everyone of the 6 people who live here know eachother. I grew up in Titirangi. Lived on Old Titirangi Road. And my Mom used to take me on the back of the Vespa for swims at Green Bay and French Bay LOL.

[Geary]

Oh, that's funny, Bill .. My house was 21 Arapito Rd, where I had a nice little dock (until the highest tide of the year swept it away).
Did a bit of lifeguarding myself (Waianae) in the late '60s, Richard.
S2 & Tweez .. you should PM me next season, if you visit North Tahoe and want uncrowded pow (.. or we can ride a free day or 2 at one of the bigger resorts).
Shaun .. I think you should further develop your magnetic boots .. it's an awesome idea .. way better than the "freeboards" marketed now.

[tweezers74]

Geary, I am still new to snowboarding even though I get better every time I go. I have only gone a total of ten times but I have gotten addicted to it! So, I doubt you would want to go with me. Maybe the end of the season when I am better. I am carving though. Can't do any of that fancy stuff. My friend always rents a house up in N Tahoe for the winter season. One year in Truckee actually. I went to Alpine and Squaw. Heard Heavenly is good too? How's Northstar? Ugggg!!! I SOOOO want to go snowboarding! Can't wait!

[Geary]

Leave the jumps and parks to the kids. Deep powder & carving nice groomers is what gives me joy. This past season was a good time to be recently retired .. everywhere had unbelievable snow, and I rode about 175 days. Alpine's great. Heavenly (south shore) is better for skiers. Squaw has oversold itself with cheap season tickets (crowded). Northstar's OK .. inconvenient parking-wise, but I can score free passes for guests. Sugar Bowl is excellent. My favorite terrain is hidden between two resorts, only ridden by 3 of us. (I still find it hard to believe sometimes.)