8 Hour Barrelfest

Session #1 6:45a -12:45p

Session #2 3p -5p

Sore as hell.

Santa, I Have One Wish...

I want a 4X4 van with big tires, an extended roof, custom interior for camping and surf racks for my quiver!

..."You'll shoot your eye out kid."

Surf this week!?*

The B-Dog and I hit the inlet way outside yesterday. A surprise leftover swell in the waist high range. We SUPed the sand bar next to the red bouy and both caught a great set wave. The tide was going out with light offshore winds and it still had waves coming in.


Saturday looked hopeful and now Magic has it forecasted for Sunday. Of course, I fly out on Sunday at 6am.


On the bright side, I may get to ride my doll on vacation. Butch may get to try a ride on a Uli Lopez in San Diego. We'll make it a double date. I'll even buy the coffee!


I have my Channel Island 6'2'' Al Merrick for sale (check out photo to right). I believe it is one of the best top to bottom shortboards on the market. I surfed it well at 175 lbs in warm water. I have it at the Surf House, Carolina Beach.


Getting ride of your boards is TOUGH. Every board is connected to a fond memory of a day in the water. Something we never want to forget and spend a majority of our time trying to relive.

Another One & Done Swell

The day after the swell, Sunday. CB inlet #17.


Sunday afternoon had some critically insane drops. I must of wiped out on a 1/3 of my waves. Shifting peaks with bottoms that would drop out and leave you hanging in a foot of water! I had off shore winds at 10 mph and the waves were 4-6 feet underhead! All to myself.



My new 6'6" Allison. I took it for test run Saturday at Masonboro.

Sunday AM

Large surf this morning. Head high plus sets breaking really far out. SSW winds. I'm waiting on a wind change.

I just edited the morning post with a PM update. I waited till 3pm to go out after watching guys struggling to make the paddle and only catch a wave or so. Lots of inside current and some overhead bombs. I pulled out the shortboard but went with the paddle board instead. I paddled straight out in a rip and was out the back in a minute untouched by whitewater.

More iSUPs by C4

C4 10'

The website description says for up to 200 lb rider.

C4 8'1' for up to 150 lbs for kids.

If you have kids, travel or live in an apartment the inflatible boards are the way to go. The soft deck and flexibility allow you to feel safe and comfortable.

We may have a ULI to compare it with shortly!

I left my board in California until New Years and will have it back home when I return if anyone wants to try.

My Blow Up Doll...

will go anywhereand anyhow.There's my new blow up doll in the back seat. Depending on how many people were around I would deflate her in the parking lot. When you push the release button everyone within 40 feet would jump. I was still a little shy with her. She's straight up 20 lbs, but feels about 10 lbs less than the Sub V.

The inflatable is a fun travel board. I can get the board, pump, 3 piece paddle, a wetsuit and some clothes all in one bag under the 50 lb baggage limit. The trick is getting the final bit of air out. It's really cool seeing it come to shape. The flex in the board makes it more difficult to take on whitewater in a paddle stance, so you have to go surf stance. On the other hand, I jumped over chest high whitewater cleanly. The threat of the board flying back and beating the hell out of you is non issue.



I found this drive up coffee spot while leaving Sunset Cliffs. Butch and I always get a coffee after a good early morning surf. This will be our new place. When I asked for two coffees the girl at the window looked at me funny, it was just me and my doll in the car.


I surfed the left pretty much all by myself. It could wall up nicely with out breaking hardly. I've seen glassier days here but these are the typical morning conditions. 60 degree water and air, light to no wind and you can see 10 feet straight down to the bottom.

San Diego's Surf

I surfed three spots while in San Diego.

#1: Tourmalines/Old Man's and Pacific Beach Point

This spot is what I invision California surfing to be, a parking lot filled with surfers of all ages, genders and abilities. If you need some ideas about outfitting your surf vehicle this is the place. "Four wheeled changing rooms". You can tell there are a lot of surf veterans here. The waves are really enjoyable here. Farely long and soft waves. A longboard spot for sure. The area is crowded but there are inside waves, outside waves and way outside waves when it's overhead. To the far right there is a right hand rock point break. There are several take off spots and with big swells you can hardly see the guys on the outside. There are reefs farther up the point that break bigger. Most of the waves in front of the parking lot were in the waist to chest high range with a few bigger sets. I saw and rode waves several feet overhead off the outside point.

#2 Mission Beach

This beach is walled up and shut down at low tide and big swells. The first day, waves were a couple feet overhead on sets and pounding. With small swells and high tide the wave is fun and workable. The wave were around chest high and I was on the isup this day. I got tired of paddling back out through the whitewater and the crowd closed in after 45 minutes, so I got out.

#3 Sunset Cliffs

This is a great area for SUP. Reef breaks everywhere. I caught a ton of great rides. Each morning I was the first one out around 6:30 and surfed for 20-30 minutes alone. It was hard for me to tell the size of the waves from the cliffs because it was my first time surfing there. I was thinking it was waist high until I got in the water and realized how far out the waves were. My first few waves were around chest high and then I started catching solid head high sets. Perfect A-frames with nice workable shoulders. The ISUP worked great! I caught a handful of waves that were overhead and the board held nicely. When it got to about 10 guys or so I surfed the less popular left in front of the stairs and stood on the inside. Most of the surfers have long boards at this spot and waited for the big sets. I took all the chest high waves that rolled under them and surfed them almost all the way into the rocks every time. It was like my birthday or something! In the video, the break just to the left is a bigger wave that came alive as the tide dropped. I can really see that this spot can get BIG. A couple sets closed off the channel between the two spots. Double overhead waves would probaly make me nervous there. And they can easily get that big during winter NW swells. I tried to dive in with the ISUP from the rocks like the locals and ended up no were near my board. It looked as if I threw my board backward and slide off the rocks. Luckily the tide was still high and no one saw it! I can hear it now, " some kook with a blow up board fell in today". I did witness a shortboarder fall on his ass will getting out. Lucky for him his board broke the fall. CRACK!

This area is truely a wonderful place to SUP/surf in the winter. Swells arive almost weekly and anyone from the east coast would appeciate even the smaller days. The water doesn't get quite as cold as ours does and there are no 30 degree wind chills to deal with. I believe I could wear my 2 mil on the SUP throughout the winter. I saw someone in boardshorts SUPing.

More SD Photos

Great flat water paddling to be had in Mission Bay. You can run, bike, blade or paddle for miles.


A shot of Windansea from the south. Short boarders here only! A great A-frame wave. There's plenty of reefs around when the swell is good to SUP.

I see surfers always at this rock break. 4 or 5 guys makes it crowded. It's between Windansea and Birdrock. This was in the middle of the afternoon and it's still glassy because of the kelp beds just offshore.

ISUP foot shot. I was trying to shoot Butch who was riding the wave with me! The action sport photographer I am, got this shot and one of the sky.

San Diego, Day #2

Mission Beach wave early. Day #3


I believe the guy on the wave was riding a 7'6" custom board that was locally shaped. It surfed like a potato chip, nice round and tight turns. Light offshore winds and pretty much sheet glass conditions seems to help your balance.



Butch on a long roller at P.B. Point. It takes a session or two in order to get used to surfing closer to the bottom of the wave. You can go back in forth top to bottom with the wave barely breaking. Not the typical run and gun I'm use to. Some really long rides and then you just stroll back out. During really big swells the waves are caught twice as far out and riden all the way to Tourmaline's.

The "GB''s first wave on Sunday at Tourmaline, just to the right of the parking lot.

San Diego Vacation Day #1

Mission Beach breakfast view from the Wave House. The beach breaks were walled up and shutting down. The wave in the picture is probablyoverhead high.


Butch and I surfeed PB Point and Tourmaline's on Saturday. This is a pulled back water shot of Butch dropping in on the second break and I'm paddling back out.

This is the middle inside section were the wave hits a shallow rock and clams up before rolling in to the inside section. The bottom drops out from under you. I caught some air drops on this section that really flexed the ISUP. I believe the guy on his belly tried to drop in on the inside and got worked.

The "Golden Bear" cruising. This is a great spot for stand up. The inside section is 1-3 foot and can roll perfectly for about 100 yards.

We woke up early and were in the water at first light. There's a lot of room when the waves are big to catch inside and outside waves. This day started with sets a foot or so overhead. The outside reef was a little bigger but a crowded take off.

First ISUP Surf.

Lots of waves on yhe blow up!

First thoughts, lots of flex. Second, good stability for a 9'3" SUP. Today wasn't the best day for SUP, I would have not gone out or surfed my short surfboard because of the conditions. The waves were chest/head high on sets with a low tide, straight east swell, no wind and lots of rips. This was as hard as it gets for stand up. Lots of water from all directions and short period swells that road each others back. My legs were shaking because of nerves and stability. You know like the first time you tried to stand up surf! The blow up board is a fast paddler! Faster than the SUB V I think. I know. I paddled into waves off balance and half holding on. The first several waves I took for granted and nose dived at the bottom on the chop. I found you have to draw out your bottom turns more. You really have to sit back bacause the nose bounces. But! The board can handle a tight rail on take off. No off the lips or tail slides today because of conditions. I know I will have fun with it in clean conditions. Hello SD!

I almost went postal!

Decent rocker. That's a double quatro in the deck for scale.


Looks like I'm going right and right and right... Hopefully the air dryer will straighten them out.

Inflated in a few minutes. No way to check the psi. The pumps gauge doesn't work. From what I've read on the ULI blog it's common.

A shot from last Saturdays session.

I'm optimistic about the blow up. It was easy to inflate and the shape looks pretty good. The board is light! The deck seems to have some concave. I don't know if that's common with inflatables, but with the extra buoyancy it can only help. It reminds me of the foam board's flex. Tomorrow I'm doing a test surf and rolling it up for the trip. I'll video everything. I don't expect it to manuever like a hard board but if it surfs anywhere near the foam board I'll be happy.

I never would have given up performance and been happy prone surfing, only frustrated. With SUP new and different is exciting.

Oh yeah. I waited all day for the postman, till 4pm. No package and I was distraught. Went to work like depressed, which aint like me. How could the post office do this! I was borderline crazy. And then I told myself to relax it will all work out. Call home later, guess what? Going surfing tomorrow... Holla!!!!

Waiting for my ISUP.

9'3" C4 ISUP (Modeled after the SubVector)
Weight: 20lbs versus 22lbs SubV
Floats up to 230 lbs.



This is the 10'6" C4 Isup modeled after ATB
Weight: 22 lbs
Floats up to 275lbs

The ISUP boards should be lighter with greater buoyancy. Both boards are just under 30' wide. I'm thinking the boards will be less responsive but may release the tail on power turns which could be a bonus because of the fins. I like having a tail pad for this reason.

My board should be here Wednesday, just in time for a test run before leaving for SD.

iSUP in a box.

This is a picture of the ship box for the C4 9'3" inflatable. I guess they do travel well.

Traveling with a SUP board: ULI Lopez

I travel several times a year to surf/vacation. Surfboard fees are outrageous and stand up paddle boards are restricted for size. When I go to San Diego I usually rent from Bob's Mission Surf. He has a good selection of boards, paddles and a great price. It does take time to get acquainted with a different board. When I'm there the biggest issue is storing the board while not surfing. Many of the hotels have a hard time accommodating my large board and cruising around during the day with the board on top of the car I run the risk of theft while out.

Solution #1: Inflatable Stand Up Board

The track record seems to be good for the Uli but is it compromising surfing ability? I'm sure grabbing waves and cruising it would be fine, but power bottom turns with speed, critical hollow sections and lifting the board spontaneously for a maneuver is questionable. Especially for $1400.

When I go to S.D. for the holidays I plan on a demo.

Solution #2: Buy or rent a SubV for the west coast and leave it there for future trips.

I still would have storage issues but ride my ride. It wouldn't help me going to Costa Rica or if I'm lucky Peru.

Weekend Ends with a Bang!

Tons of good waves on Sunday. I surfed Surf City pier for 3 hours, first light and first one out, but not for long. It was waist to head with side/offshore winds and LOW tide. It was shutting down at first and got more makeable the last hour.

The sand bar was relentless with waves walling up one after another making the paddle out interesting. Th bar short dropping off to chest deep water quickly. There's nothing more frustrating than getting pounded by 2-3 ft. waves.

Lots of great shots by DW on http://www.ncpaddlesurfer.blogspot.com

Thanks, DW.

Feeling a Surf Buzz

Another Surf House cake. This is the "Here you see it, now you don't" flavor.







CB1 (2nite)






Z- Man

CB1 stroking into one.

Wind swell/swell in the water. Yesterday it was fun SUP surfing with knee to thigh waves. The water is perfect around here to me. It's 1/2 mil to a short suit water. Great for paddling on a sunny day.

Today, Saturday, was pretty good. Lots of bounce/chop with decent faces in the morning. 4-6 ft. faces. An interesting paddle out with a lot current on the inside. Tonight was fun with waist to chest surf with side shore winds and farely good lines. Surfed with CB1, DW, J-Mac and Z in the AM. Z and CB1 in the evening. Topsail tomorrow maybe.

This Week's Surf report

Sunday, thigh to waist high sets.


Tuesday. Glassy knee high and a beautiful day. #16 Northend

So tempting. Tide was still dropping though.

Forecast looks promising for surf possibly late Saturday and Sunday morning. South at 7ft with winds going north on Sunday. You never know about the winds, if their N @ 10 mph then Topsail will be the call with more swell and offshore winds. And the tide will be rising at 7am.

Butch Scores in S.D.

I talked to the Golden Bear and he caught some nice waves in San Diego. Yeh, we had waves here. It aint the same! He SUPed Tourmaline's and had a blast.

1 Month = Me there.

PS. The Surfhouse has good cake for after surfing and SD doesn't have that!

I Appreciate the Differences

One day we have surf, the next it's gone. What a great day Thursday. If you missed it, put this way, if you have a pulse you got barreled. Not Escondido or Pipeline, but fun.

I brought the paddle board and my shortboard. There's no in between with me. I have to stay active when surfing. No longboard gliding, I need to push and pump.The waves only looked thigh-waist high but the tide was low and the waves were hollow with a WNW wind at 5-7. On the way to the water I stop and got the down low from a fellow surfer who said it was bigger than it looked. Sure enough, after half way through the paddle out I could see that. Why do the waves look and feel totally different when your feet hit the water? You can stand five feet from the water's edge and walk to the water, jump in and you receive a completely different perspective about the ocean.

I appreciate the differences between shortboard and the paddle board. The following is a short breakdown of both wave riding vehicles.

Shortboard
1) Good for surfing closed out surf.
2) I can get quasi barreled on about any day.
3) Good for fast maneuvers on quick waves.
4) I can duck dive whitewater or fall and get right back to paddling immediately.
5) I can sit in a pack and feel some Aloha.

Paddle Board
1) Good for surfing closed out surf because I can get to the corners!
2) Yep, I can get quasi barreled most days. Lay down mid ride!
3) Since I'm down the wave before it breaks I can always get a maneuver.
4) I don't need to duck dive because I can paddle around the whitewater or wait for a lull.
5) Finally, It's hard to get that same Aloha spirit from fellow surfers. BUT SO WHAT, I'm sitting 20 yards outside the pack and too dang busy catching all the waves to notice anyways. Plus, my back hurts from all that sitting.

PS. I do love and and appreciate all ocean sports and generally respect all those involved. Yep wave skis and boogie boards also. Now come in and get some Aloha.

Paddle Surfing in Costa Rica

This is from the Witch's Rock Surf Camp surf report blog. There are so many great stand up paddle opportunities around Tamirindo, CR. The offshore island, Langosta point and outer reefs. I've surfed Ollie's point four times and on two occasions my SubV would have torn it up. Overhead flawless rights with dry paddle outs that you could pick off missed waves.

New Paddle Guard and Tail Pad

What a difference the tail pad makes. I shredded the original and have been surfing without for a couple months. There is no way I could surf without a pad.

$5 paddle guard from Advance auto parts. Actually you can get 2-3 from the roll. All they had was silver. The idea came from the CB crew.

The second shot is from the public docks at WB. I drove around for 20 minutes to find a meterless spot to go for a paddle. No luck, so I dropped here. It's a great access in the middle town. $3 / 2 hours This was from last week. Slick glass and about 70 degrees. Anyone know of a good drop point?

Honeymoon Wave in Maui

This was shot by Krista on our honeymoon at the breakwall in Lahaina, Maui. I'm riding a 9' rental board. When its head high and glassy I'd ride anything! I'm guessing, every wave I caught cost me 30 minutes of shopping.



You know we were newlyweds because she was impressed by my wave.

Some Day I'm going to...

...surf La Jolla Cove with a big north swell. This looks like a good chance to stand up surf BIG Southern California. We visit San Diego several times a year and the cove is big and deep. Mostly snorkeling, swimming going on daily. North swell make the reefs (that seem to be a stone throw from the cliffs) light up! BIG swell that come around once every several years break across the deep inside. Inside is relatively speaking. Stand up surfing a big swell is on my bucket list. Anyone with me?

BIG Time Stand Up Surfing!

It amazes me to hear surfers still talk about stand up surfing when referring to only small surf and core fitness. Their image of the sport is distorted. Does this look like a cute game that only "dweebs" play? Forget the jet skis, go with the paddle for big waves.

Is Being a Prone Surfer a Pre-Requisite to Stand Up Surfing?

http://www.supsurfmag.com/technique-stand-up-paddle/surfing-technique/is-prone-paddle-surfing-a-pre%11requisite-for-stand-up-paddle-surfing?-20091002832/



In my experience, on our East Coast , it's dangerous and annoying in crowded lineups to SUP. Our boards take more room to maneuver around. As far as knowing the lineup rules and etiquette, do half the surfers at your local breaks really understand and show consideration for others?



I don't want an inexperienced anything in a lineup. SUP, longboarders, bodysurfer or some tourist that swims right out to the most populated surf spots. And lets not forget about the leashless guys!



So before we debate the one or two inexperienced SUP surfers in the lineup, let's get the lineup straightened out for the proners.



1) It's not OK to paddle straight out to a crowded peak, unless you're best friends with everyone there. You should paddle to the side and work your way into the rotation. Be patient. An example: The guy who jumps in the water in front of the piling or pier and paddles right to the inside. HELLO a**hole!



2) If you catch a wave from the main peak, you should paddle out and sit to the side for the surfers still waiting to have their turn.



3) We all know the surfer to the inside has the right of way, that doesn't mean you can paddle to the inside or turn around while paddling out after someone is already showing commitment to a wave.



4) When paddling back out, always paddle to the inside and not to the shoulder if you're going to be in a riders way.



5) Sh*t happens. If you drop in on someone, pull out ASAP and apologize.

Etiquete comes with experience, logic and upbringing.

Stand Up Surfin's Wave Count

Using the TruckCam this afternoon I shot me riding 22 waves in the video frame in 47 minutes. I know I had anothe 5-7 waves outside the cameria angle. A wave every couple minutes. And I didn't have to snake anyone in the process!

Great Surf, Perfect Weather and Forecasters Suck Again

Cut back sequence from TruckCam.

Glassy knee to waist high surf mid day. 80 degrees and sunny. Beautiful!

Chest high plus surf in the early morning. Offshores.

Video to come, lots of waves for meeeeeeeeeee......