Happy New Year

So its 2014, the blog has been redesigned for a fresh start. Stayed tuned for future posts on a -- hopefully -- somewhat semi consistent basis.

Personal babble on the ASP in Rio

I have been a long time fan of watching professional surfing and every world tour event online when they are on. Recently the tour landed in Brazil for the Billabong Rio Pro and I couldn't help but become stupefied by just how lousy the surf was in Rio. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of times when we would kill for that lousy surf locally, but for a world tour event it just flat out sucked.
During this same time we were bombarded with images from Tahiti and other locations around the world, and I couldn't help but wonder, Why are they in Rio? I know the cost of running a pro contest is great and a lot of the big companies are in financial trouble, so a contest like Rio is great because the event sponsor is actually the city as opposed to being Billabong. They just have the name on the title and don't have to fork out the dough to put on the entire event. But really, if they are trying to make the pro tour more enjoyable for us, the viewers, and even the surfers on tour stops like Rio, have got to stop... Or at least be knocked down to a 5 star event on the WQT.

I saw countless tweets made by surfers while they were on tour enjoying Rio life, but the majority of them (including Kelly Slater) were very unhappy with the waves and really that's what its all about. I don't know if there is a simple answer to this problem as events like J-bay and the Search now cease to exist because of the high cost. There has got to be an alternative and hopefully next year when Zosea takes over the ASP we will see some changes, and maybe one day we might get to see it drift back to the Dream-tour of years past. Of course, this is all just my own opinion. I could be completely wrong. On a side note, one good thing that came out of Rio was an Occy interview with Kelly Slater. If you haven't seen it yet you should go check it out here! It's worth the watch.

My San Francisco Trip Or How I missed Kelly Slater winning the world title twice.

In November of 2011 my fiance surprised me with a trip to San Francisco so that we could watch the Rip Curl Pro Search event first hand. This was our first vacation together and it still stands today as the best vacation of my life.

We traveled by train from Portland. It was a seventeen hour ride, but I loved seeing the sights from the train window; truly the best way to travel if you're not in a hurry. After making stops in Eugene, Klamath Falls, and Sacramento, we arrived in Emeryville, California, where we transferred from train to bus and rode into San Francisco.

We arrived in San Francisco early in the morning and checked into our hotel; a quaint little room at the Castle Inn in the Russian Hills neighborhood. Since we didn't eat breakfast on the train we were both starving and were directed to The Bagelry--a local favorite for something to eat breakfast and have and coffee. With our bellies full and our bodies rested, we set out on our independent tour of San Francisco. The Rip Curl Pro Search had already been going on for a couple of days. Kelly Slater had already won his eleventh world title once (before returning his trophy due to a miscount of points). We headed to Ocean Beach were the event was being held, only to find out we had missed the last heat of the day on November 4th by about 30 minutes. Daunted but not defeated, we decided to take in some of the sights and hit up Wise Surfboards. Alaina (my fiance) snapped a few photographs of the sunset while I chatted about surfing with the guys at the shop before we finally decided we'd better head back to the hotel before dark. Over the next couple of days the contest was on hold due to poor wave/weather conditions; so we did what any other self-respecting tourist would do. We went sight seeing. Pier 39 was our first stop. Since Alaina had been to San Francisco a couple times before and this was her favorite place to visit out of the entire city, we grabbed a burger at In-N-Out and then hit up all the little clothing and bead booths we came across. Alaina was on the lookout for a certain necklace booth that she had purchased from a handful of years back. It was like sensory overload at times... We happened upon an Occupy San Francisco protest march; complete with fully naked men and women and enough patchouli oil stench in the air to ground any flight. We loaded up on knickknacks and ended up at The Wipe Out Grill for Mahi Mahi, baby back ribs, and a beer before walking back to our room for the night.

The next day was pretty much the same except that we stayed closer to our hotel room and found a gem of a Restaurant called Little Thai (now T2J). This was hands down the best Thai food that either of us had ever eaten and I recommend it to anybody who goes to San Francisco. Give it a chance and have the Pumpkin Curry. It is sinful, I assure you. Over the next couple of days the contest was on again, so we headed back to Ocean Beach only to have missed Kelly winning the world title again (go figure), but still in plenty of time to watch him lose his semi-final heat and watch the final round. Being the tourists we were we hit up the merchandise tents and bought some swag. We were given free stickers and postcards to boot before heading back down to the beach to Watch Gabriel compete against Joel Parkinson (Parko) in the finals. This being my first professional competition I was in awe of just how talented all these guys actually are. Gabriel, at only 17 years of age, was doing stuff that I could never even dream of doing, and on top of it he was making it look easy. Parko surfed with class and style but in that moment it was not enough to defeat the wonder-kid from Brazil.

I have never seen such incredible surfing in person in my life and felt like a grom for the first time since, well, being a grom. Kelly was some kind of supernatural freak, and yet, he still lost to this kid. Gabriel exited the water and was chaired up to the podium (on a side note: have you ever noticed that whenever someone from Brazil does anything good there is always someone with a Brazilian flag to cheer them on? I mean really, what's up with that?). We sat right behind the magazine and ASP photographers and watched as they announced the winners and spun the globe trophy. It was, to say the least, a very cool moment that was made even cooler by the fact that it would be the last year that Rip Curl would hold a Pro "Search" event. The local surfers I met in San Francisco were all very friendly, though they were uneasy about sharing their waves with the best surfers in the world. They still seemed to be okay with surfing next to an average Joe from Oregon. I have never met a nicer bunch of locals on any of my road trips. Since the competition had come to and end, me and Alaina decided to play tourist again; hitting up Chinatown, The City Center and of course, Fisherman's Wharf once again. We hiked and sweated up Lombard street, then took pictures so that we had proof of our achievement. We took a few more photos of the Golden Gate bridge, Alcatraz, Ghirardelli Square, and the rest of the underrated nightlife in San Francisco before returning to our hotel room for the evening.

I decided I had never loved a city more than I loved San Francisco. It was the perfect blend of a beach town and enormous city. The people were always friendly, the food is good everywhere, and there is always something new and interesting to see. I can honestly say that I never wanted to leave that city, and I would return immediate if given the opportunity. It was the most fun I'd had in years.

So... If you're due for some vacation time, don't completely rule out San Francisco. You might be pleasantly surprised.

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Kelly Slater Roam Boardshorts by Quiksilver

I recently received a pair of Kelly Slater Roam boardshorts by Quiksilver, so thought I would share my personal opinion of them with you. My first impression; fresh out of the packaging, was very positive. The colors were brighter than I expected and they were constructed with a strong but lightweight material. We recently had our first really nice day in our corner of the world so I broke these out for a test run... err surf. I was surprised how comfortable they were. They were not so long that I looked like an escapee from the 90's, but not so short that I felt like i was wearing boxers; a comfortable 21'.

The Roam uses Quiksilver's Cypher Technology, which boasts a four-way stretch diamond dobby construction, water repellant treatment, double up closure system, diamond fly, and stretch hems. All that may just seem like a lot of technical mumbo jumbo from the label (which it is), but in reality all those little things add up to a killer pair of boardies. The thing I loved the most was how quickly they shorts dried after getting out of the water! We are talking minutes; they were dry as a bone. They even have Slater's signature embroidered on the pocket which was kind of cool. I've owned many pairs of boardshorts in my lifetime but I can honestly say I was nothing but impressed by these and I would recommend them to everyone.They're comfortable, affordable, and very well made.

If you want to check them out for yourself, click here for a picture of them at Quiksilver.com and scroll down to see my official review for these boardies!

Arbor Timeless Bamboo

Living in the pacific Northwest we can't always count on the waves, so if you love surfing and want a good substitute you're going to need a Skateboard. My Skateboard is a longboard from Arbor and it lets me feel like I'm surfing even when my local spot looks like a lake. It is a concave pintail, and 46" long with a 32.25 wheelbase. The construction of the board is a blend of Canadian maple wood and bamboo. Bamboo is the most sustainable building material on the planet and completely regenerates in as little as 4 weeks. Arbor has been incorporating it into their boards for years. The bamboo gives the board a nice flex without losing strength in construction; it also makes it very light for its size. The board rides so smooth it's ridiculous and picking up speed on even the slightest incline is not a problem.

One of the other things I love about Arbor is their choice of artists. Skateboards have been known to have very attractive designs since they came to be. VCJ created some of the most well known designs for both Powell-Peralta, and Jim Phillips created the screaming hand and numerous other graphics for Santa Cruz. That being said Arbor uses a wide variety of artists for their boards and what they end up with looks like something one might hang on their wall. The art on my board was designed by Nanami Cowdroy. You can read more about her at nanamicowdroy.com; her work is truly incredible.

Anyway, if anyone is in the market for a board check out Arbor before even considering anything else. I'm glad I did.

Thank You

I just want to thank everyone from around the world who has taken the time to check out this blog. I have a ton of ideas cooking up in my head and will be posting more reviews and stories in the coming days. Again thank you.

HURLEY: H2O water bottle

First off, I hope everyone had a great Earth Day! Second, I figured I would review the Hurley H2O Water Bottle. I picked one up a couple weeks ago off their website and its great. It is not one of those huge bottles that is bulky and heavy once filled but a nice 22oz stainless steal that easily fits into a backpack pocket or bike drink carrier. Its a soft matte black with blue writing, and has a secure metal ring if you need fasten it to something.

As a surfer I feel it is important to know that bottled water produces over 1.5 tons of plastic waste per year. Even though the bottles are high quality plastic, over 80% are thrown away. We can all do our part to end this senseless waste by shelling out a few extra dollars, yen, pounds, euros, or whatever to purchase a reusable bottle instead if purchasing countless plastic bottles that only end up everywhere except for where they should be.

They are available at Hurley's website right now, so go grab a Hurley H2O bottle and do your part in saving the planet.

Support Your Local Shaper

So, today I would like to do a followup post regarding my boards, and my shaper, Tom McNamara.

I grew up in a small town outside Newport,Or; I started surfing at about age thirteen, which was right around the time Ocean Pulse (the local surf shop) opened their doors. My first new board was a 6'10" squash tail with red rails off the rack. This was my baby, and I learned all my first maneuvers on it; how to do a proper cutback, bottom turn, and floaters. Everyday, good swell or not, I was in the water.

After a few years had passed I happened along a 6'3" bat-tail at a garage sale for $75.00. It was a little dinged up but hey, it had the Ocean Pulse logo on it and I knew they would fix it, so I brought the old board to the shop for Tom to repair. Come to find out, that particular board used to belong to one of the Ocean Pulse employees, Greg Niles.

He was shocked to see it and so stoked that I was able to purchase it for such a good price. Being the young teenager that I was, and looking up to Greg as somebody who has surfed all over the world, I was ecstatic to have his old board under my feet. This board shaped my style. It allowed me to go faster, turn tighter, and really advance as a surfer. I still rode my Red board on bigger waves, but the bat tail was my go-to for everything else.

A few years later, I decided to get a bigger board shaped because I was surfing a lot during the winter and winters in the Pacific Northwest can be something of a challenge on a 6'3" (remember, this board was designed in the late 90's early 00's so boards were thin, narrow, and had more rocker than anyone would ever need) so I ended up going with a 7'2" board to keep it reasonable, while still having that extra bit of board to float me. This was my Todd Chesser inspired Blue Beast; my first custom board and Tom allowed me to come to the shape shop whenever I wanted, which looking back on it now he probably regretted saying so because I was there all the time watching everything he did, asking a thousand questions, and reminding him about the fact that he was in Point Break (he really was -- go watch the movie!).

Tom is a special breed of man. He shapes every board by hand, and he puts hours upon hours of time into each step. No computers, no pre-shaped blanks; just old school and all local.

Sure, I could have gone with a Channel Island or Rusty board, but to know that my money would be staying in the community and helping my local shop stay in business, was important to me. I know that my business has always been and will always be appreciated. This is why even though I live hundreds of miles away from them now, I still got in touch with Tom and asked him to shape it for me. I wanted a board like a Rusty Dwart; double winged to a rounded tail, short, and wide. Tom took my order and we called and emailed each other frequently to go over the details and just BS about old times. One might call it a labor of love of some sort. He said the wings were a bitch to glass, but I could tell that shaping boards was still a huge part of his life.

When I finally got it delivered it was everything I thought it would be and more. Hand signed by Tom and ready to conquer the mushy Washington/Oregon summers.

I could never say too many good things about Tom and his skills as a shaper. Not only as a shaper, but also as a friend and person. It is so important for one to support their local surf shops. The guys at these shops are the same guys you share the line up with and they know more about your local breaks than anyone. Not to mention we might be one of the only sports left in the world with the opportunity to have equipment made by hand. If we don't support them, then in a way we are helping put them out of business in this economy, and we will also be losing something that makes our memories of surfing so incredibly special.

Quad love or why I love my new board

I just got a new board last week. A custom shape (resembling a Dwart) from my friends at Ocean Pulse in Newport,Or. I decided to go with the 5 fin setup vs. the traditional thruster. I've always been a huge fan of quads since back in the 90's when Pottz was riding a twinzer; I went nuts. There is just something about the speed and overall freedom of a quad. Maybe freedom is the wrong word but when all you've ever ridden is a thruster, stepping onto a quad is like taking the training wheels off your bike for the first time.

So when the time came to order my new board it was a no-brainer that I would choose to go with the 5 fin/convertible setup. I love the fact that I can change the fins depending on the waves and conditions if the surf. I even purchased the FCS vs. Knubster (which I will be reviewing sometime during the upcoming weeks) for a little more stability and control down the line.

I honestly don't remember a time when I was more stoked about a new board or the summer waves in the Pacific Northwest.