Surfing, Lake Style

It’s been weeks since I’ve been in the water. Well, that’s not entirely true. I bathe (most) days so I have technically been in water, just not salt water, i.e. the ocean. Last week however I spent the week in Lake Tahoe and not only spent a lot of time in the water but was introduced to an activity that resembled surfing.

My first introduction to wake surfing was years ago, watching Phil Edwards do it casually and elegantly in one of Bruce Brown’s movies. I hadn’t really seen it since but as you can imagine, wake surfing (just like surfing) has progressed considerably since the 60’s. It’s no longer done on a longboard using a long tow rope, moving in and out of the wake like traditional water skiing. Today, ski boats (I assume) have adjustable ballast tanks so that one side of a boat will sag on one side and therefore generate a stronger wake or wave on that side. For example, if you surf front side, the boat’s aft (rear) can be adjusted using ballast tanks to sit farther down on the port (left) side, creating a bigger “wave” that you can surf. Don’t worry, the video will help demonstrate what I’m trying to describe.

Liquid Force Custom

Anyway, while the wave is modified, so is the board. I rode a 4’10” polyurethane surfboard specifically designed for wake surfing. It was shaped by Jimmy Redmon of Liquid Force. It was 20.5” wide and couldn’t have been thicker than 1”. It looked essentially like a thick, fiberglassed skimboard with traction pads. Other features: very low rocker; sharp rails; single, concave hull finished off with a bolt on carbon graphite single fin which resembled more of a semi-circle than traditional raked fin.

Getting pulled out of the water was interesting as you’re much closer to the boat than on a traditional water ski tow rope and the board is horizontal to the boat rather than in-line (again, think water skiing). So when you’re up, you essentially swing the nose around so you’re in-line with the boat. It takes less force to pull you out of the water because I assume you have more surface area to stand on.

Once you’re out of the wake and in the pocket, it’s a series of carves and cutbacks. In other words, woo hoo! I got winded pretty easily given the higher altitude and the fact that I normally don’t surf on a single wave for 5-10 minutes. This video gives you an idea of what wake surfing is like:

I had a lot of fun wake surfing and while it was close to surfing and I’d enjoy doing it again, it will never replace the feeling of surfing on a wave generated by Mother Nature.

Until next time, may your waves be head high and glassy.

Fun Club

Me and the fam clan spent a nice afternoon today in Pacifica courtesy of the Pedro Point Surf Club for their annual BBQ/picnic.  Established in 1987, the PPSC is a good group of guys and gals that, at first impression, love surfing, love their families, and love having  a good time.  Thus, my kind of people. It got me thinking about surf clubs in general and what they have to offer.  Here’s my top 10 list of reasons to join a surf club:

10. Join a tradition that dates back to the mid-1930s with the Palos Verde Surf Club

9. Surf trips, aka surfing surfaris

8. A sense of camaraderie to feed our inherent need to belong

7. Learn about different boards and designs and even try before you buy

6. Network to find a new job or business opportunity

5. Get live surf reports from a trusted source

4. Improve your surfing

3. Raise awareness for an important cause like beach cleanups, clean water, at risk kids, etc.

2. Have another excuse to go surfing

1. Club meetings (always, coincidentally, at a place that serves beer)

If surf clubs are anything like THIS, count me in.

Until next time, may your waves be head high and glassy.

Orange Sunshine, Rainbow Bridge

The link between surfing and spiritual enlightenment is cliché and cause for ridicule.  Nevermind that it’s true; there are only a few pursuits that allow you to harness the power of nature or experience its wrath.  Either way surfing can induce awe in nature and its link to a higher power.  It’s no surprise therefore that during the cultural revolution of the late 1960s many people were drawn to surfing as it represented a pure and beautiful form of expression that allowed a closer connection to God and enlightenment. 

Too deep?  Yeah, probably.  But you can see how hippies would totally eat this stuff up, can’t you?  To mix things up a bit, imagine a twist to all this peace and love and expression.  How about some organized crime?  How about some international drug trafficking, money laundering, narcotics manufacturing and distribution, identity theft and fraud?  And what if surfers made up many of the central figures of this twisted tale?  Throw in some Hendrix and Hawaii and now you’ve really got something.

As implausible as this may seem, it really happened.  I just finished a fascinating book by Nicholas Schou titled Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World.  Nicknamed the “hippie mafia” by Rolling Stone magazine, the Brotherhood of Eternal Love started out as a bunch of surfers, hoodlums and petty crooks who experimented with LSD in the canyons and beaches in and around Laguna Beach.  They fell in love with the spiritual effects of the drug and sought to turn as many people onto it as they possibly could.  Turning people on cost money though and so in order to fund their mission, the Brotherhood leveraged and expanded their pot smuggling skills to build an international network.  As many members of the Brotherhood were already successful pot smugglers, the challenge of smuggling hash from Afghanistan became an exciting pursuit that challenged their creativity. 

A few weeks later, [Brotherhood member Dave] Hall borrowed a surfboard from Mike Hynson that had been hollowed out so Hynson could carry pot with him when he flew to Hawaii or Mexico in search of the perfect wave.  Hall took the board to the airport, flew to Portugal, and then from there to New Delhi.  After a few days in India, he flew home with a board full of hash.  A curious customs inspector at the airport started to give Hall a hard time about his surfboard, not knowing what it was, but Hall had brought along a copy of Surfer magazine for just the occasion.  He helpfully pointed at the photographs to explain his bizarre baggage.  Hynson now says he regrets telling smugglers like Hall how easy it was to hid hash inside a surfboard.  ‘People started doing that too much—using the same boards over and over,’ he says.  ‘It was just stupid.’  In any case, Hall returned to California safe and sound and eager to share his wares.  ‘I sold ten pounds in one day,’ Hall says.  ‘I made ten thousand dollars in one hour.  Nobody could get enough of that stuff.  Everyone loved it.  And soon guys were coming and going like gangbusters.  It was literally the Wild West hashish trail.

David Nuuhiwa, John Gale, and a whole lot of hookah and cosmic art; Laguna Canyon, 1971

While drug dealing and drug smuggling would soon become a multi-billion dollar business defined by greed, bling, gang violence and turf wars, it’s virtually inconceivable to imagine the Brotherhood were genuinely in it to build and support a way of life that celebrated spiritual enlightenment and communal living.  The Brotherhood subscribed to friend Timothy Leary’s call to action: tune in, turn on, and drop out and their very own topical island seemed like the ideal place to start a commune.  While purchasing an island never materialized, many did lay down roots on Maui.  And staying true to their cause, they introduced acid and hash to the island residents and Maui Wowie to the mainland. 

Honolua Bay, the Crown Jewel

But they also surfed.  Honolua Bay in particular.  This was a special wave and surfing it well when it was really on became a rite of passage for many in the Brotherhood.  This idyllic setting of surfing, nature, narcotics and transcendental meditation attracted members of the Brotherhood but also others outside their growing circle who were curious, adventurous or hip.  This included a movie director named Chuck Wein and a talent manager named Michael Jeffery, who had managed to hitch his cart to another 60s icon: Jimi Hendrix.  Their collaboration with the Brotherhood led to the 1972 film “Rainbow Bridge” which was less a Hendrix concert film and more a “psychedelic mishmash of New Age philosophy, surfing, vegetarianism, astrology, and belief in extraterrestrials.”

Rainbow Bridge Promo Poster, 1972

While Hendrix’s music had clearly turned on the Brotherhood, the Brotherhood were eager to return the favor and turn Hendrix on to their art form, namely surfing.   Hendrix was eager and willing however Jeffery talked him out of it, fearing for the international rock star’s safety (in hindsight, a very wise move).

Inevitably, the mouse can only outsmart the cat for so long and the heat from the police and their efforts to shut down the Brotherhood’s international drug smuggling ring became too much.  Cooperation among different law enforcement agencies, better intelligence (aided by a disenchanted member who turned state’s evidence and became an informant) and a series of successful sting operations brought an end to the operation and ultimately broke up the Brotherhood.  Many were arrested, went independent and began dealing cocaine or heroin, or walked away and went surfing.  Ironically, it was surfing that led to the Brotherhood’s eventual downfall:

While busting dealers, [Laguna Beach Police Officer] Romaine often had found in their wallets business cards for Rainbow Surfboards, a company formed in 1969 by Johnny Gale [a particularly notorious member of the Brotherhood], who in 1970 coached the U.S. national surfing team, and Mike Hynson, who shaped the boards, which featured psychedelic airbrush patterns designed by Bill Ogden and Ted Shields, one of which was shown being cracked open by Hynson in Rainbow Bridge.  When the film opened in Laguna Beach in 1972, Hynson gave Gale all the tickets as a birthday present.  Half of the audience was rumored to be narcs.  ‘The room smoked up so much you couldn’t see the stage,’ Hynson says.  ‘We had all these Rainbow Surfboards up on the stage, and when the movie showed the board being opened up, it got the police crazy.  They were constantly on our ass.  Anybody who had a Rainbow Surfboard in their car got pulled over.’  Indeed, by that time, customs inspectors at the airport in Honolulu had seized several of Gale’s hash-filled boards.  ‘It started to become a real pattern,’ Romaine recalls.  ‘We started to realize that everything we were seeing had to do with the Brotherhood of Eternal Love.  We just knew there was something bigger than anyone realized going on, that they were getting all this marijuana from Mexico and that the hash was coming in from Kabul.’

Orange Sunshine is a fascinating tale of an eclectic group of surfers, hoods, and hippies who in their own age of enlightenment turned countless people onto LSD (as well as hash and premium grass) for years, right under the noses of law enforcement.  Like Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men, you can’t help but route for the outlaws.  It’s a real page turner of a story and I recommend the book highly. 

Until next time, may your waves be head high and glassy.

Here and Now: the Best Place to Be

I had the pleasure last night of seeing Here and Now, the latest film from director Nathan Myers.  In this age of social media where ordinary people are producing content, Nathan has done something similar but still unique.  With help from producer Taylor Steele, Nathan reached out to several filmmaker friends and asked them to film their friends go surfing for one day, May 2, 2012.

More than 25 filmmakers in all were used to film surfers from sun up to sun down all over the world.  Dave Rastovich, Alex Knost, Kelly Slater, Alex Gray, Rob Machado, Ozzie Wright, Steph Gilmore, Ezekial Lau and many others were featured, some in amazing surf, others in slop.  But this was more than a surf film.  It was a collage of the day in the life of a surfer.  Where they sleep and eat, how they get to the beach, what and where they ride, who they surf with and how much fun they have with their friends.  Highlights include Ozzy Wright and the Doons of Goom “personalizing” their camping tents with graffiti, Rob Machado shaping his “board eat board” specifically for this session, and Kelly Slater, Dane Gaduskas and Alex Gray scoring beautiful surf.  In addition, many of the surfers themselves wrote and produced the music for the film.  In fact, many of them recorded their music in the same Byron Bay, Australia home in which Nathan was editing the film, while he was editing the film.  This was definitely a community affair.  The product was a slick and professional but still very personal.

A bonus was a Q&A session with Nathan Myers and one of the subjects of the film: Pete Devries.  I have to confess, Pete is not only one of the most interesting surfers in the film but is one of the most interesting surfers in surfing today.  He may not think he’s all that special but he is.  Compared to Pete, we have it easy.  When we want to surf, we get in our car, drive to a beach close by, get in, surf, and go home.  Surfing for us is just a few hours out of our day.  Not so for Pete.  For starters, Pete lives on the west coast of British Columbia where the water temp varies between really cold and really really cold; according to Pete, that’s about the mid-40s right about now.  Plus given the topography of British Columbia, Pete doesn’t have a lot of sandy beaches at arm’s reach to choose from.  There’s lots of hiking and camping involved.  In grizzly bear country.  Pete will often drive several hours just to get to a specific boat ramp or harbor, then motor for a couple more hours through intricate waterways to an otherwise inaccessible cove or bay.  The spot he surfed in the movie was just such a spot.  But he totally scored.  Beautiful stand up barrels all to himself.  But there’s no guarantee, especially when he was given just one day, May 2^nd.  Regardless, it takes major commitment to do what Pete does and he’s special guy because of it.

The evening was hosted by Clif Bar at their Emeryville offices and featured an insightful presentation from Surfers for Cetaceans.  Great facility, great beer and food, and a great night.

Me and el Hombre: Peter Devries

The Importance of a Good Quiver

Korduroy.tv, the purveyors of digital stoke, is asking its readers to submit photos of their quivers.  Not surprisingly, many of the submissions are eclectic to say the least.  Just like you wouldn’t bring just one CD on a road trip or play a round of golf with just a putter, having a surfboard for the many unique conditions the ocean throws at surfers just makes plain sense.  Shortboard, longboard, gun, fish, asym, alaia, mat, boogie, kite, sail, hand plane and SUP (gasp!).  Pin, square, diamond, swallow, bat, and moon tails.  Channels, wings, parabolic stringers, PU core, EPS core, chambered core, fin configurations, rocker, foil, and rail variations.  The possibilities go on and on.  It’s important (and, of course, fun) to have this variety to be prepared for what the conditions may call for or to mix it up, experiment, and keep things fresh.

My quiver is by no means extensive but I’ve got a variety of tools in the shed that almost guarantee surfing will be fun and exciting (good waves always help too).  I’ve got an old longboard with pretty flat rocker that’s great for slow, mushy waves.  Another more modern long board that’s lighter and narrower and, while it doesn’t have as much rocker as I’d expect, it’s got a pintail that makes it more responsive.  Shortboards include vintage 70s, 80s, and 90s designs which are most easily differentiated in their evolution in foil, fin configurations, width and rails.  In a nutshell, boards underwent a period of hyper-innovation: shorter, lighter, and narrower with an evolution in fin set ups to boot: twins, thrusters, quads; hyper-innovation to the core.

There’s an even more practical reason to having a good quiver and I was reminded of that yesterday when I reached for my current, go-to long board: a 9’2” John Peck Penetrator.  As I pulled it off the racks, I noticed a ding in the rail down at the tail.  I don’t know how it got there or when it got there but it was there.  Rather than reach for the duct tape, I opted to take out another board: a 9’6” Pearson Arrow.  It’s a single fin, triple stringer with a square tail and decent rocker for longer nose rides and fewer pearls.  It’s the only surfboard I’ve ever bought new and it’s held up well considering it was my every day board for almost 10 years.  I had however recently started building out my quiver and surfing, dare I say, was becoming a little stale.  But surfing the same board for all those years had become a bit stale.  So I began building out my quiver and expanding my horizons.  As a result, it had been at least a year since I last rode it.  The coat of wax was old and dirty and missing in some spots but because it would have to do.  At the beach, a mixture of SW and NW swell was producing pretty small surf with set waves peaking at no more than 4’.  As I paddled out, my expectations were limited as I figured I’d be spending most of my time re-acclimating to the board, searching for the sweet spot for paddling, front & back foot placement, pivot points for the quickest, most efficient turns.

Well, wouldn’t you know the waves were glassy, uncrowded and well shaped.  As for me, I summarily surfed my brains out on that board.  I caught more waves, had longer rides, better turns, and so much freaking fun; an unbelievable day.  Would I have had as good of a day with the board I originally intended to use?  Maybe, maybe not.  But that's not the point.  The point is having a variety of boards to choose from allows for a different experience every time.  Now the big question is: do I take make this my next favorite, go-to board or do I take out an entirely different board tomorrow?  Decisions, decisions. 

Until next time, may your waves be head high and glassy.

The Sounds of Silence

“Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.”  Whether or not Yogi Berra actually said it, this quote is attributed to him and like most of Yogi-isms, it’s a paradox that makes you think and then smile.  Lately I’ve taken the same philosophy with surf spots.  Part of the frustration stems from age, meaning an accumulation of a job, family and obligations have prevented me and many others from getting into the water as frequently as we used to.  When I do get out, it’s usually to a spot that’s typically really crowded.  As a result, I catch fewer waves and I take less chances on the waves I do catch.  I also start to hate people, surfers in particular, as I’m forced to hear all of their stupid conversations.  Everyone’s a bad ass, everyone rips, everyone scores with the ladies and everyone’s smarter than someone else.  With all this brilliance in the water, you’d think I’d be inspired to be totally cool just like them.  Um, no.  In fact, when I get out of the water, I want to throw my board in a trash can and find another way to spend my time and energy.

You see, although we’d never admit it, surfers have a pack mentality.  Most of them ride similar boards, wear similar wetsuits, listen to similar music, wear similar clothes and, unfortunately, surf the same few spots that everyone else does.  I’ve been guilty of this pack mentality for years, paddling out to a crowded spot with the logic that, “if it’s crowded, it must be good.”  We have the same attitude when we commute to work.  Even though the highway has bumper-to-bumper traffic, we travel the same route because it will eventually get us there and that’s how everyone else gets to where they’re going.  There are however alternate routes.  Finding and using them may take some trial and error and it may not be the most direct route but at least you’re driving and that beats sitting and getting frustrated every day of the week in my book.  Less traffic, different (and probably better) scenery, and some new discoveries and perspective are all to be gained.  

Should it be any different with surfing?  No it shouldn’t.  So I’ve started looking for an alternate route.  A road less traveled.  Greener pastures.  A spot less surfed.  With this new philosophy, my last two surfs have been so special because they’ve been so personal.  Last weekend I had a peak all to myself even though the water was clogged with surfers.  I paddled out to the spot farthest from the parking lot, requiring the longest walk.  The peak didn’t break as consistently and the wave face wasn’t as smooth as the other peaks but the drops were bigger and the rides were more challenging, thus more fun in my opinion.  This morning was different but no less fulfilling.  A mix of meager swells created small, unimpressive conditions.  In the past, I wouldn't have even bothered to paddle out.  I would’ve opted for a crowded spot, assuming it was the only spot working or I would’ve gone home and pissed and moaned all day about there not being any surf.  Well, with my new outlook, there’s always surf and even the small days are fun.  I surfed a spot today for example that I hadn’t surfed in years; the old me always reasoned that if there was surf there, it was probably better (and more crowded) somewhere else.  It wasn’t the best day ever but I had lots of waves to myself.  In fact I took off on waves I’d normally pass on.  I thought about fundamentals like duck diving and proper stroke technique.  I studied the waves a little more closely, like where they were breaking and how many waves were to a set.  And I took more chances.  I took off later and deeper.  I made turns in spots on the wave I’d normally draw a line and trim.  I also fell a lot more but like anything in life you won’t improve if you don’t take chances.  

I can’t do these things nearly as easily when it’s crowded.  When it’s crowded, every wave counts more because there are fewer of them.  Also, I typically surf more conservatively, not wanting to fall unnecessarily.  I’m more likely to hurt someone and I don’t need other surfers to write me off as a kook and never give me another wave.  So I’d rather have small, junky waves all to myself than larger, well-shaped waves with 30-50 people all over a single peak. From the car, this spot didn’t look like much.  Again, in the past, I would've driven right past it.  From the water, It was 3-4 feet and fun.  I noticed and enjoyed how clear the water was, how amazing the rocks looked up close, and how beautiful of a day it turned out to be.  Hallelujah. 

Until next time, may your waves be head high and glassy.  Or at least less crowded than somewhere else.

Hotlips, Part 2

As I shared in my last post, I met Tammy several years ago and was struck by this truly enigmatic surfer girl.  The following is the second half of my conversation with Tammy. 


When did you realize the work you were doing with Doug was for surfing?
Oh, almost immediately. When Doug didn't need help with his ding repair projects, I got lost in all of his surfing magazines. I got a pretty good indication pretty early on what surfboards were for and how surfers used them.  Those magazines took me to a world I never knew existed. Big, beautiful blue and green waves in places I'd never heard of.  It was a complete fantasy world.  Doug's yard was like a classroom and he was like a teacher who answered millions of dumb questions, the kinds of questions that only a little kid can come up with.


Sounds like you and Doug had a pretty special relationship. What did your parents think of you spending so much time with an older boy?
Well, let me first say that there was nothing immoral going on.  If anything, Doug and I were like brother and sister.  Having said that though, Doug and I also became very good friends.  We still are today.  But anyway, neither of us had any brothers or sisters, so we treated each other like the brother and sister we never had.  I think my parents saw this and understood this and were cool with it.   They were pretty trusting of Doug because he was such a good kid.   He was so polite and friendly and respectful and my parents really appreciated that.  They saw the surfing aspect as cultural enrichment, which they were really big on.  It helped that he went to Catholic school and that my parents were Catholic.  Don't get me wrong—he and his friends were a bunch of smart asses, but not around adults.  They were really good guys.  No pot, no beer – at least around me – just a whole lot of Van Halen!


Right on.  So, how long before you got in the water and started surfing?
It wasn't too long.  Maybe a year.  Once Doug got a driver’s license, it didn’t take long before he took me out to Santa Cruz to watch him and his friends surf.  I'd sit on the beach and watch them for hours. I learned what I could from watching them and asking Doug questions.  I learned by listening to Doug and his friends about the local breaks in Santa Cruz and Capitola and the swells they needed well before I ever even paddled out.  So much so that, the more I learned, the more I wanted to surf!  Doug gave in pretty easily and started bringing a longboard for me to use when he went surfing with his friends.  It was an old 9'0" Pearson Arrow, the board he learned to surf on.  There’s no way I could’ve been taller than 5'0", so to me, a 9'0" was a gigantic!  No worries though.  It paddled really well and was thick enough to cut through the soup.  Usually, Doug and his friends would drop me off at Cowell's and then head up to the Lane (Steamer Lane).  Eventually, I worked my way up to Indicators, just below the Lane and then started paddling out with them to Inside or Middle Peak to sit, watch and learn.  When I got comfortable out there, I began shoulder hopping on Doug's waves and would listen carefully to what he said after every wave.


How were you perceived out in the lineup? Let's face facts: you were a young girl on a longboard during a time when most people didn't take too kindly to girls in the lineup, let alone longboarders. What was that like?
Well, as far as being a girl is concerned, it's only gotten better in Santa Cruz the last several years.  Women have really established a presence in the water now and I think it really helps mellow the vibe.  The exact same with longboarding: it's totally respectable again. I was probably more discriminated against for being a longboarder than for being a girl back then, but I always felt safe and protected around Doug and his friends.  Don't get me wrong—the crowds can be bad and you’ll occasionally see a stink eye or two, but I think surfers actually behave themselves a little more when there are girls in the water.  There are girls of all ages out here now — kids, teenagers girls, UCSC students, moms, and even grandmas.  Together they've kind of diluted the testosterone level in the water!


So overall you'd say the vibe in Santa Cruz is pretty good?
Yeah, I'd say so.  When I was sitting in the lineup early on and studying the waves, I was also studying the vibe.  There are some spots around here that are a lot mellower than others and I dig surfing those mellow places a lot because of the mellow vibe.  When the surf gets good though, no matter where you are, surfers get more aggressive.  And I can understand that.  If it's crowded and you want to catch waves, then you've got to be aggressive.


Do you consider yourself aggressive?
I can be if necessary, like when the surf is really good and there are other aggressive surfers out there.  I think it's something you have to be able to turn on and off.  You see, it can be a real problem when being aggressive is misunderstood. Respect goes a long way and I'm a firm believer in it.  There are so many surfers in Santa Cruz where probably half are locals and half are coming over the hill.  You can tell who lives here and who doesn't, so you know who to look out for. I used to get hassled sometimes for being a kook and that's understandable.  I was a kook.  But even though I'm coming over the hill to surf, I've gained enough confidence where I feel I deserve a little respect too. I just try to get that respect with a smile and some really fluid surfing.


Do you have any plans for the future? Does surfing fit into those plans?
Oh yeah, surfing's for life!  The older surfers out here are such an inspiration.  To be honest, I never really lost interest in being a doctor, but that takes so much time and commitment.  I've started taking some EMT classes and am considering a career with the Fire Department.  I think being a paramedic would be the next best thing to being a doctor.  Not only that, but it would also allow me to be a stronger and more active part of the community, which is something my parents hammered on me my whole life.


Speaking of community, how do you see yourself in the surfing community?
Are you asking me if I see myself as a girl who surfs or a Vietnamese girl who surfs or, worse, a longboarder?! 


Exactly!
Nah, it's not much of an issue.  I mean, there are millions of Vietnamese people in the Bay Area.  Because of that, I guess surfers don't trip out when they see me in the water.  But Santa Cruz is a pretty tightly knit surfing community and one I’ve been a part of it for several years now so I haven’t thought about it in years.  At the core, I get nothing but a good vibe from people in the water and I do my best to return that vibe.  But, I don’t try to over analyze it.  We’re talking surfing here.  Everyone's just stoked to be out, catching some waves, no matter what.


Tammy, thanks for being an inspiration to so many people.  Until next time, may your waves be head high and glassy.