| Yukon seems to have a knack for finding Matt just as he's trying to hide from the wind.  |
| Last year |
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| Last week |
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| Our oldest son Joe popped the question this weekend. She said, "Yes!" Welcome to the family Amy. :) |
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| Rob was charging everything that came near him on Friday. To boot, he was out in a vintage 5mil because his regular suit had torn and was out for repair. No way was he going to miss out on this swell. His surfing was so hot, he couldn't get cold! My Hero! Aloha |
| Well, the world didn't end today. Not yet anyway.... Pulled up to find it much bigger than I was expecting and the winds weren't all that bad at first. Pretty big swell in the water making for some awesome rides. Saw Rob G. drop into one that was easily 10'-12' on the face. One of the biggest waves I've ever seen ridden here. I didn't get a lot of waves but the ones I did get were a full on blast. First two lefts were absolutly nuts. Well overhead and just perfect. Late drops were the call in the stiff offshores and the lefts were really standing up and throwing. Only got tossed once but took a couple of beatings on the way out and on a few monster clean up sets. Haven't seen this kind of size in a very long time. Good times!  |
| Bigger than it looks... |
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| Outside! |
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| Once again, the Andreini delivered. |
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| Yukon, way down there shooting photos in the maelstrom! |
Stopped by my buddy Rob's house to drop off that DNLW for him to look over. (That board is a blast to surf btw.) After a bit of comparing the Bing to my Zeph YYZ the topic of conversation shifted over toward vintage boards. Rob mentioned his G&S stringerless Farrelly and was kind enough to pull it out for me to see. Beautiful board and extra cool that he's the sole owner since the late 1960s.  |
| Rob and his 7'10" Farrelly V-bottom |
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| #2733 |
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| No swell for the past week so we did the next best thing. A little gliding in the paking lot. :) |
| Woke to the sound of wind blowing through the trees. Knew it was going to be 50/50 on the conditions over at the Rocks but had to go take a look for myself. It was much colder that yesterday and the wind was just starting to crank as the sun rose. It looked fun even with the wind so I suited up and paddled out solo. The waist high swell that I saw from the beach was super clean and then the sets showed up. Shoulder to head high screamer lefts with some big rights throwing over near the rocks. Had a bunch of fun ones and was once again shocked to have it all to my lonesome. About an hour in Matty J, Loni and Chris C, showed up to keep me company and many fun waves were had by all. Good times in the crazy wind. Glad I got up and went for it! *Aloha*  |
| Sunrise on the Two Mile bridge |
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| Early morning perfection! |
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| And then the NW winds turned up to 11 :) |
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While I was walking around the booths in Del Mar at last months board show, I thought I'd come across an old member of the family. After closer examination, while it was very close, it was not my old board. My wife bought the one in the first photo at yard sale in Rio Grande, NJ in 1987 for $5.00. We held onto it for almost 20 years and numerous moves around the country, courtesy of the USCG, before we finally let it go. I took it up to George Gerlach (Surfer's Supplies, OCNJ) at some point in the early 1990s to get his take on it. George said it was most likely from around 1965 and that he sold a bunch of them out of the shop during that time period. It was 9'6", had a slight twist up toward the nose and a cool blue fiberglass "chopstick" fin. The red "Greg Noll" in the lam had faded away and for several years, I had no idea who made it. Just a little guy with the word "surfboards" on the deck. There wasn't much about longboarding history at my fingertips back in the late 80s and it wasn't until one day that the sun shone on the board at the right angle that I saw the faded name on each side of the the little "fat man" on the lam. Rode it quite a few times but never really fell in love with it as a rider. While stationed in Chattanooga, TN I kept it behind the garage where the tug I was on moored up. During the summer months I'd paddle up river during my lunch break in a weak effort to stay in some type of surf shape. After many years of it gathering dust, I put it up for sale and off it went to a new home somewhere in Northern California. Hindsight being 20/20, it's one I'd like to have back. Not so much for the performance aspect, but more for the nostalgia.
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| Summer 1988 |
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| Fat man lam |
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| Vintage Noll at the International Surfboard Show in Del Mar, CA October 2012 |
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| Packed heavy this morning with anticipation.... |
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| Howling offshores really turned up around noon. |
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| The shortboarders were all over the rights by the rocks. I stayed on the lefts up the beach but didn't score the rides they were getting. |
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| It was more of a challenge than fun this morning. Had a few good ones but the majority of mine were closeouts with a few decent beatings thrown in. |
