More Recent Reasons

The Sydney Bureau Wave Update

This week has seen some smokin' action in the water,it's been consistent and around 4-5 feet everyday. Consulate surf team get out there! Here are some pics of this morning.....stop drooling!

A.

Communing at Santa Claus Lane, Late Last Century

My mother-in-law and I have some ongoing debates about all sorts of things. It's nice to have that as part of our relationship. The ability to really blast away at each other on philosophical and political points and be all in the clear relationally afterward should not be taken for granted.
For Father's Day she sent me the recent Surfing magazine about how surfing has become a religion. The articles in that rag are predictably shallow but it's always interesting to see what pops out of unlikely sources.
This weekend we found out a very close friend has a fair bit of cancer sitting in his chest. We visited him in the hospital yesterday. I brought him Sprout and Seedling to try and get his mind off the confines.
In that Surfing magazine, the religion one, in the lead article, there is a line about how the author really only finds a place to pray and get out his feelings in the water; how the act of surfing is his translation of a communion or liturgy; his way of dealing with the pain and celebrating hope.
I felt that this weekend. I felt like maybe the most effective way of getting out some emotion is by taking it to the water.
There is an imminent trek to be made in the name of my friend's health and my own mental stability.
-Toddy

Bowl-a-Rama 2008 From the Sydney Bureau

Sorry Toddy, this is the closest footage to surfing I could come up with (you can actually c waves breaking in the BG). The comp was held in February this year and yes of course a yank won it, godamn seppos!! haha.....check it out....& stay tuned for the next episode! A

Spitcast ca. 1997

Jack has always been good at a few things: surfing, thinking and leaving a party unannounced. He has other talents, but anyone can pretty much peg him on those.
I'm not sure how the sudden absence part of the equation works into it, but he has been figuring out how to combine the former abilities into something productive for the last couple years.
Last week he officially unveiled Spitcast, a surf forecasting service for the California coast.
He explained his methodology to me once, but it all sounded like so much physics algorithmic gobbledygook. The basic theory combines swell models, weather reports and real, anecdotal evidence to specific surf spots under every condition. Of course there is a lot more to it than that, and apparently the math is pretty involved, but Jack has pretty much nailed it.
If you are on the left coast and want to know when and where, or want to contribute, check it out.
Its up and live and highly efficacious.
In the Locally Surfy section to the right.

Surfer's Ear from the Santa Cruz Bureau

"That's about a teaspoon of bone chipped from my ears. 20 years to
create and 4 hours to remove. No surf for me for another 3 weeks.
And another thing, those that are in their career time of life don't
surf all that much in California either. Mostly they sit in traffic."
- Jack

Joe Curren Book Signing at Mollusk

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Music by South 6th Jorge