SURFING

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I moved to L.A. 3 months ago. I bought a longboard 1 month ago. I've been out twice (Venice Beach). The first time, nothing. The second time, I rode a wave for a bit. A REALLY big thrill. Even though it was a small wave, and only a short time. Stood up and surfed for like one minute or something. I'd like to really learn. But I'm chicken of the big waves. There, I've said it.

― Skottie, Thursday, 6 May 2004 04:56 (9 years ago) Permalink

When I was about 14 I spent 3 weeks in Biarritz. I got a boogie board and a pair of loud shorts and I thought I was IT. Unfortunately, I got a bit carried away and decided to try standing on the board with the line strapped round my ankle. I lasted maybe 0.45 seconds before being hurled off and then a surfer went over my head. It hurt. I looked very stupid.

― Madchen (Madchen), Thursday, 6 May 2004 09:28 (9 years ago) Permalink

I'll repeat my story of surfing:

I was a huge college football star but I hurt my knee, so I joined the FBI and then took up surfing on the side because the chick who worked at the crab shack had a nice bum. And she also knew a few cool surfer dudes, Bodhi, Warchyld, Bunker Weiss. We hung out, got real close. I also had a older pal who enjoyed meatball sandwiches and lemonades. His name was Angelo. I got pretty decent at surfing and then discovered that Bodhi had kidnapped my crab shack love. Bodhi told me the only way I could get her back was to go skydiving with him without a parachute! So I did, except I jumped on Bodhi's back because the sneaky fucker actually had a parachute. When we hit the ground I landed awkwardly on my knee and let out a screech "whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa." Come to find out Bodhi and his buddies actually rob banks with masks of ex-presidents as their disguise. Well anyways, Bodhi eventually dies in the 100 year storm in Tahiti on a 400 foot wave. Those were good times.

― Chris 'The Velvet Bingo' V (Chris V), Thursday, 6 May 2004 09:56 (9 years ago) Permalink

Hi,

In my Southern California days, I surfed quite a bit. From the tip of Baja California, Mexico up to Santa Cruz and west to Hawaii (furthest west surfed was Windmill Beach on the northwest tip of Maui).

The gist is that you sit on a piece of foam encased in varying layers of fiberglass with a skag (skeg or fin) or three on the tail facing the incoming waves near where they break (where the wave crumbles or pitches out). When a wave is approaching you turn the board around facing the coast and paddle with your arms, propelling your board into the wave's momentum. As the wave becomes steeper, the board becomes propelled by the inclining waveface's energy and at this point you stop paddling, push up with both arms and slide a leg forward (left if you're "regular", right if you're "goofy") and begin turning so as to keep the board headed in the direction of the open wave face and away from the breaking part of the wave.

I have 2 friends (one in NYC) who surf Brooklyn, it is not unusual.

My personal favorite surfing movie recommendation is Bruce Brown's "The Endless Summer"... about as classic as a surf movie gets, and an excellent soundtrack provided by The Sandells (aka The Sandals).

Personal favorite surf spots:

Puerto Escondido (Baja, MX)
Horseshoes (La Jolla)
Black's Beach (La Jolla)
Swami's (Encinitas)
Lower Trestles (The OC, CA)
Salt Creek (The OC, CA)
Secret spots (private beaches) in and around El Pescador/El Matador (LA/VTA County)
Hollywood-By-The-Sea (OXNARD, CA 805 MoFoz)
Santa Clara Rivermouth (Ventura, CA)
The Ranch (private beach north of Santa Barbara)
Velzyland (northshore Oahu)

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 6 May 2004 19:47 (9 years ago) Permalink

I really wanna try surfing but alas I can't swim and have a primal fear of water, esp a big scary ocean.

Luna surfs, I think.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 6 May 2004 19:53 (9 years ago) Permalink

OXNARD REPRESENT.

No offense, but quite possibly the stupidest person I have ever met in my life was a surfer. Serious surfers also tend to be rediculously short.

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Thursday, 6 May 2004 19:56 (9 years ago) Permalink

as recounted on another thread, I saw a guy with a surfboard get on the A train the other day.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 6 May 2004 19:58 (9 years ago) Permalink

Serious surfers also tend to be rediculously short.

Cool!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

Oxnard is blessed with quite a few great surf spots; however, the locals know this and I've seen a lot of not only really bad vibes go down, but also a lot of violence (particularly in Silver Strand and Hollywood By The Sea). Fortunately, I've never got too much vibes from locals by being respectful which is pretty much a simple code to live by.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

Stephen Malkmus wrote the same stuff on his blog. 'Oxnard has the meanest locals'

I used to hear stories about people getting their asses kicked for parking in one of the locals' spots. Lord knows what would happen if someone commits an act of kook-ery.

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:18 (9 years ago) Permalink

haha, SM's sister lives in Oxnard. She works with an XGF of mine for a very large biotech company in Thousand Oaks.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:19 (9 years ago) Permalink

Oxnard doesn't seem very mean to me.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:21 (9 years ago) Permalink

http://images.google.com/images?q=nardcore&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:22 (9 years ago) Permalink

http://images.google.com/images?q=ill+repute+oxnard&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:22 (9 years ago) Permalink

hahaha ill repute

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:25 (9 years ago) Permalink

Best name for a hardcore band ever.

― NA (Nick A.), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:28 (9 years ago) Permalink

Search: Ill Repute's "Preppy", one of the best hardcore songs ever.

Check the Preppy thread on ILE.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:29 (9 years ago) Permalink

Haha, CAss called me a preppy earlier this week.

― NA (Nick A.), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

oh fuck, that was JFA... Ill Repute's big hit was "Clean Cut American Kid"... 13 year old skater me would be so shamed.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

i still have this zine (from 1983 i believe):

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:32 (9 years ago) Permalink

I've gone through obsessive phases with this. Lots of skateboarding and bodysurfing leading up to my first stand-up ride in Puerto Escondido, then riding mostly in New England's points and beaches, chasing hurricane and nor'easter swells. Most powerful waves I've surfed have been on trips to Chile. I'm not very talented (the opposite of short, alas), but I love the bigger days.

The sensations of surfing don't translate easily into words. The best I can come up with for the sort of feeling I crave in surfing is INTENSE. "Gnarly" works too.

― Collardio Gelatinous (collardio), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:32 (9 years ago) Permalink

holy shit. a she-malkmus working at amgen!

i was never cool enough to be down with the nardcore kids. also didnt go to public school so that didnt do me any favors.

i went to high school with roger camero, bass player in no motiv, if that makes me any cooler

(it doesnt)

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:33 (9 years ago) Permalink

Ya I do surf, but as often as I'd like to anymore - especially since my neighbor borrowed my longboard about two weeks ago and got into a car accident on the way back from the beach - apparently it got run over.

I mostly cry now.

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:36 (9 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

I have this game and I'm really good at it. I am addicted to my own replays:

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:11 (8 years ago) Permalink

I know this is bad but the girl surfer in it is rubbish. I never play as her.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:13 (8 years ago) Permalink

Did I let you borrow that one? It's fun. My favorite spots are either G-Land, Mundaka, or Kirra.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:16 (8 years ago) Permalink

No, I bought it. I like the beach that is really rough and is in Northern Cali and has no ridable tubes. Is it Half Moon Bay or something?

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:17 (8 years ago) Permalink

I also like Kelly's dry and witty commentary.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:18 (8 years ago) Permalink

Sarah watches because I told her he kissed Britney in a video.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

KS was also wooing Pamela Anderson for what seemed like an overlong period of time.

that beach is called "mavericks" and yes, it's about 1/2 a mile off the coast of half moon bay.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:20 (8 years ago) Permalink

Mavericks! Yes, they were in STEP INTO LIQUID. "Crazy".

Maybe we should go and see RIDING GIANTS.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

yeah! i heard it's great.

what is the opening song that plays during that video, sounds kinda tribal but eastern but glossy...?

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:23 (8 years ago) Permalink

I don't know.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:23 (8 years ago) Permalink

I wanted to check out Mavericks (in person, not on a video game) but nobody I asked in CA knew or had heard of Mavericks. WTF? Luna, I'm looking at you.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:27 (8 years ago) Permalink

Isn't it just part of the Santa Cruz/Half Moon Bay connurbation?

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:28 (8 years ago) Permalink

I wanted to check out Mavericks (in person, not on a video game) but nobody I asked in CA knew or had heard of Mavericks. WTF?

i hope you brought binoculars, it's pretty far outside. there is a cam, let me google it.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

http://www.surfline.com/surfline/livecams/getsurfmapsurfbreakreport.cfm?alias=maverickscam

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

SURF
Flat and poor conditions.

Not enough energy...

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:31 (8 years ago) Permalink

I didn't go to it cause no one knew where it was! I assumed it was far north of San Francisco for some reason.

So you can only tow into it?

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:33 (8 years ago) Permalink

In Step Into liquid they tow miles out from the coast of san Diego and ride freakishly high waves (60ft+) like death-crazed idiots. It's great.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:35 (8 years ago) Permalink

So you can only tow into it?

i think they only tow-in when it's closing out at the takeoff spot (ie, huge and swell direction < ideal).

it is a LONG paddle out and there are some boaters that will take you out in the lineup when it gets out of control (NB: i've never surfed there, this is based on stories and videos and conversations).

In Step Into liquid they tow miles out from the coast of san Diego and ride freakishly high waves (60ft+) like death-crazed idiots. It's great.

cortez bank, that's in KSPS too.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

I guess I have a long way to go. :(

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

haha, you sure do!

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:41 (8 years ago) Permalink

I am at the level in Vice City where you have to kill members of a "European gang". I bet your buddies JW and hstencil love THAT one.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:43 (8 years ago) Permalink

Is that passed the level where you have to shoot out the windows in the mall (because if it is, i've been stuck there for about 58 decades).

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:46 (8 years ago) Permalink

no.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

i don't remember then, that's how insignificant european gangsters are in my life.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

xenophobe

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

that's a very common eurocentric misconception that i certainly wouldn't put past you.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'd kindly like to point you to some recent opinion polls on this very subject. For ease of reading, they are displayed both numerically and in pie chart form.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 29 July 2004 21:51 (8 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 56 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

if you can get past the in-your-face advertising, company videos are an essential. volcom has some ones i'm really fond of.

― o pointy birds, o pointy pointy, anoint my head, anoity noity (kelpolaris), Tuesday, 12 April 2011 02:04 (2 years ago) Permalink

I love it and wish I (a) was a better surfer and (b) lived closer to a beach....

I've only surfed about 5 times though, mostly at Ocean City, Maryland (unless you count river surfing - there's a good standing wave in a Potomac River tributary in/near Washington D.C., and a great one behind Habitat '67 in Montreal). But I was brave enough to swim in Waimea Bay in Hawaii, and I can't find any words to describe how incredible and surreal it feels to swim upward and downward in 25-foot swells.

"Step Into Liquid" is my favourite surfing doc, one I strongly recommend to anyone who wants to understand the allure of the sport. Except for a late-'80s doc called "Surfers - the Movie" or something like that, I haven't seen any surf documentaries except the ones already mentioned.

― Lee626, Tuesday, 12 April 2011 03:13 (2 years ago) Permalink

those river waves remind me of those texans in step into liquid who would surf the endless waves in the wake of oil tankers

― ban drake (the rapper) (max), Tuesday, 12 April 2011 03:19 (2 years ago) Permalink

That's part of why I love that movie - it really does a great job of exploring surfing in all its shapes, forms, and permutations...

― Lee626, Tuesday, 12 April 2011 03:28 (2 years ago) Permalink

speaking of:

http://outofplacemovie.com/

― Oink Administrator (gr8080), Tuesday, 12 April 2011 05:35 (2 years ago) Permalink

sam500

― buzza, Tuesday, 12 April 2011 07:02 (2 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

― it's a meme i made and i like (Steve Shasta), Friday, 17 June 2011 22:02 (2 years ago) Permalink

good technique, young surfers could learn a lot from watching that

― Pompoussin (admrl), Friday, 17 June 2011 22:15 (2 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

daang ireland

― bear, bear, bear, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 08:21 (1 year ago) Permalink

unforgivable song.

― ⚓ (gr8080), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 12:37 (1 year ago) Permalink

yeah the worst

― bear, bear, bear, Thursday, 19 January 2012 00:24 (1 year ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

Largest wave surfed... 78 feet! I've been to Nazare and there were good waves there, but didn't know they got that tall.

― Vini Reilly Invasion (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, 10 May 2012 03:11 (1 year ago) Permalink

wouldn't want to go over the falls on that one.....

― Lee626, Wednesday, 16 May 2012 09:08 (1 year ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

What would be a good Xmas present for a 10 year old who claims to be into surfing?

* I think this means he body boards when he goes to the beach in the summer.

― djh, Wednesday, 12 December 2012 21:14 (6 months ago) Permalink

get him a surf DVD

― ❏❐❑❒ (gr8080), Wednesday, 12 December 2012 21:28 (6 months ago) Permalink

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