Saturated and surf-stoked, red-eyed and bleary, sore, tired, hungry, beaten down and pulled-in, with a bruised foot and that healthy respect for the ocean you lose when it's two foot and sunny and playful, I have but one question: WTF was that?

It got massive out of nowhere here in California yesterday, and while anybody who was paying attention to the buoys knew that it was going to happen, actually watching it happen was something else entirely. Pulled up yesterday to my favorite haunt at 3 p.m. after a rainy day to an empty parking lot, I thought myself pretty clever. The swell wasn't hitting yet, so I hitched it down the road to see how it was filling in elsewhere, by the time I'd gotten back to my spot, it was packed with people and pumping. By the time I suited ...

read more...

It was cold (relatively, that is) and rainy (ibid) here in Southern California today, giving the distinct impression of a typical winter's day--driving home the fact that it's late February, and that, with more fronts moving through and storms lined up for the next week or more, we've got more typical weather headed our way. It's this same weather, combined with an epic run of swell (if not epic than decent, at the very least), that had me sitting idly by, smiling through the rain (we need it anyway), waiting out the weather and thinking that on the other side of all this poor water quality, those of us who rely on the North Pacific for our winter juice are apt to get a heady dose of swell again.

Then I get a call from a prominent big wave surfer I've been working on ...

read more...

What's your alternative? You're going to actually work? Forget that.Check the world's first Stand-Up Paddling Big Wave Contest Live on the computer all day at www.kuikaikachallenge.com.
Heats are in the water right now.

read more...