tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91368762009-07-15T16:36:33.372-07:00Surf experiences of a Los Angeles area novice surfer.Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.comBlogger630125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-88748450362655325052009-07-13T20:53:00.000-07:002009-07-13T21:29:25.592-07:00

We had a plan. After we dropped both girls off at our eldest's dad's house the wife and I were going to grab some dinner and drinks in Santa Barbara and go feral for the night with the intention of making our destination - Jalama - by the crack of dawn. The van was loaded with everything we needed and more. A twelve pack, two bottles of wine, two surfboards, snacks, lamp, astroturf, DVD player

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-76310401667561155252009-07-09T09:13:00.000-07:002009-07-09T09:55:47.956-07:00

I think Neptune has it in for my youngest daughter. Or at least I'd like to blame him for the recent barrage of barriers that is keeping her from being able to learn how to swim. Ultimately, though, it's probably all on me. Let me 'splain...I don't think it's a secret that we have a family membership at the local YMCA. It's in sharp contrast to the night-club feel of the gym at which I used

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-19194019849587581932009-07-07T10:12:00.000-07:002009-07-07T10:32:43.805-07:00

As I sit here watching the Michael Jackson Memorial on television, thinking back over his illustrious career, his contributions to music, etc., I wonder to myself...will Eddie Van Halen walk on stage and bust out the "Beat It" solo? That would be frickin' rad.I spent the past couple of days at the Happiest Place On Earth (if you're a regular footer). I am not, so, it was just Some Place on

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-10402757808939979982009-07-02T12:26:00.000-07:002009-07-02T12:48:10.277-07:00

Sometimes life throws you a bone and you get to have a day to yourself to wander about in one's solitude. One with no kids, no responsibilities, no work and no wife. My bone was delivered* at the peak of this most recent southie. Yeah...the timing was impeccable.Of course this meant I could take my sweet time meandering up to LPB for an extended session. So I lazily strolled up at 5:15am like

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-63370900394682881502009-06-29T08:28:00.000-07:002009-07-01T10:52:32.338-07:00

Let's see where we're at here, shall we?There hasn't been a lot on the surfing front. There were a couple of lame El Porto sessions that really won't provide any good reading, so, I'm going to skate right over those. That leaves me with an Orange County run last Saturday.Summer is in full force right now and that means the homebreak is a complete and utter waste of time. You haven't seen poor

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-80708661028215938392009-06-22T15:09:00.000-07:002009-06-22T15:36:53.673-07:00

I must really love my family. For Father's Day, instead of allowing my wife to purchase me a gargantuan, new, Weber grill that could easily hold an entire side of beef and whose charcoal pyramid could be seen from space once lit, I let her buy some patio furniture. It was for the good of the family. I was happy with the ice chest and folded towels I had been using as a loveseat out there, but,

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-39225424632629532232009-06-18T15:05:00.000-07:002009-06-18T15:28:23.853-07:00

I've been vamping on here for a while about how rough I am on my boards. Their life expectancy is cut in half the very moment I first lay my hands on them. I harped even further about how all my dings, gashes and various other damages result exclusively from contact with me, the seabed, the car, the wall, the ground, the kids, sea creatures, mysterious gnomes...basically anything and everything

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-80247963890787610152009-06-16T14:23:00.000-07:002009-06-16T14:35:06.763-07:00

Randy sent along a nice one from some place that I won't be for this swell. I'm going to go cry now and beat the kids. By the way, I'm the one who got all Perez Hilton-ish and futzed with the photo. I removed some of the break and time info lest you people attempt to scalp me. I have the original intact for my viewing pleasure/disgruntlement.

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-63553632745145415222009-06-16T08:14:00.000-07:002009-06-16T08:35:46.751-07:00

This surfing nonsense is killing me. I'm so tired I almost pulled a neck muscle trying to keep my head from slamming in to the keyboard after nearly dozing off here. 3:00am, 4:30am, 4:00am...WTF am I doing to myself? I guess it wouldn't be so bad if I went to bed early enough. But to accomplish that, I'd have to go to bed when the kids do. Things aren't right in the world if a parent can't

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-62181758756748143202009-06-15T09:53:00.000-07:002009-06-15T10:26:47.731-07:00

Saturday morning I got up at 3:00am in order to meet my maker. I mean my bonzer's maker, excuse me. The idea was to meet up for dawn patrol in the Encinitas area, trade cash for glass and commence with the surfy surfy. And we did just that.The Butter Bonzer - as it will be referred to from now on - is sick looking. Look at the picture from my last post and check out the contours on that thing

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-90934868543139135822009-06-13T16:51:00.001-07:002009-06-13T16:54:47.451-07:00

5'11 x 2 5/8Salted Surfcraft"Butter Bonzer"

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-13336377895460840912009-06-12T08:23:00.000-07:002009-06-12T08:52:59.684-07:00

I feel like I just did a few rounds with Tyson. That whole "quantity over quality" surfing mantra I supposedly live by can sometimes bite me in the ass. A friend and I agreed to check the Pier and, if it wasn't surfable, we'd drive to T****a to inevitably fester in frustration with the throngs of longboards, local rippers, paddle battles and fin-breaking rocks as lovely peelers rolled in from

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-16178322221785699532009-06-08T07:58:00.000-07:002009-06-08T12:56:56.036-07:00

Summer is going to cost me a lot of money. The ole homebreak simply won't hold any decent sized South very well which leaves choosing between enjoying 1000ft-long closeouts and an empty lineup, or, nice pointbreak gems with 30 people paddling for it and $25 worth of gas to get to them. If the past couple of sessions are any indication, it's time to get a second job making tacos at Tito's.I

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-52992050258199126582009-06-06T17:13:00.001-07:002009-06-08T07:58:39.125-07:00

...to a Whiffleboy near you.I'll post about recent surf sessions on Monday. In the meantime, I'm chomping at the bit to retrieve my latest addition to the quiver.

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-27047413617543852032009-06-04T08:41:00.000-07:002009-06-04T08:55:35.436-07:00

Imagine a walled up wave that stretched several hundred yards down the beach from the Pier to the Jetty. Imagine said wall of water cresting and pitching its lip, heaving tons of water on to shallow sandbars down the entire length of this span. Now, if you will, imagine a fully rested Me gazing upon this wonderment and then uttering the only words I could muster to describe it - "Heeeeell no!"I

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-5893506680403498012009-06-01T15:04:00.000-07:002009-06-01T15:49:30.232-07:00

It wasn't much but it was something. That's about as nice as I can be about today seeing as how I've been out of the water for a week - not by choice, of course. I don't think it's news to anyone around these parts that it's been flatter than a girls junior high softball team. So as far as I'm concerned, the few cleanish, waist+ waves I caught this morning were a score. A poor-fair score.

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-26902070709754556832009-05-26T15:19:00.000-07:002009-05-26T15:44:18.799-07:00

Aside from a couple of sessions at the homebreak last weekend, I made a run to LPB to try and catch some of the southie that was to be rolling in. I think most SoCal surfers can agree that the swell didn't really deliver as initially expected. I'm sure there are exceptions, but by and large, from what I read/saw, it was mediocre at best. Such was the case at LPB. It was so inconsistent and

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-32448390299393352842009-05-18T13:00:00.000-07:002009-05-18T13:32:59.919-07:00

I came across a bulletin board post about an incident at Swamis recently where a surfer started punching on another surfer in the water. I'm going to the leave out the details as to why it all started, but, suffice it to say it was nothing more than typical snaking-followed-by-call out stuff. Anyway, the surfer who was punched did not fight back. Rather he paddled in, called the cops and the

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-7369048720335133692009-05-14T10:19:00.000-07:002009-05-14T10:43:40.466-07:00

One of the surfers who pulled the guy out of the water yesterday emailed me last night with a little more detail as to what transpired. Pasted with his permission:"We didn't see anything of what happened, only the aftermath. I saw him before he got in, then, after I stretched and leashed up, I saw his board floating loose but didn't see him chasing after it, which immediately made me concerned

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-8252732431562648872009-05-13T08:49:00.000-07:002009-05-13T09:10:11.321-07:00

I tell ya what...nothing brings you back to center like surfing your own creation. After yesterday's fiasco I knew what I had to do and that was surf the single-fin this morning. It has a way of hitting the reset button every time for me. And get this...I was even forced to paddle out without a leash since I forgot to take it off my MTF yesterday. So, even though I ended up swimming for it 3

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-9307042414807331912009-05-12T08:09:00.000-07:002009-05-12T08:47:09.606-07:00

You'd think with only two of us showing up to surf this morning and no one even looking that the enjoyment factor would've been measurable. After all, it was surfable and glassy. However, as soon as the first toe touched the water the onshores kicked up. Glass to bubble wrap in no time flat. WTF? So it's now a bit bumpy and choppy and sort of frustrating. I figured a couple of waves under

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-10007199105267185832009-05-09T17:55:00.000-07:002009-05-09T18:35:20.072-07:00

This has been a good run of surf here at the home break. Pretty much non-stop action for a week and a half. Considering it's Spring, that's impressive. I've lost count of how many sessions I've had the past 10 days and, since I don't necessarily blog about each one like I used to, it's hard to go back and calculate it. However, I only remember one or two days where I didn't surf. Mother's

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-21749017579747082662009-05-06T09:09:00.001-07:002009-05-06T09:30:57.029-07:00

You know the term butter face - "everything was decent but her face". That's pretty much how it was this morning. Sloppy and choppy on the surface, but, once you got out there you could look past the crappiness and extract a fun ride. To top it off, after the first 1/2 hour it cleaned up quite a bit and even got a little more shapely. I had the whole northside to myself with a left coming off

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-60465275725726942422009-05-04T08:26:00.001-07:002009-05-04T08:51:56.405-07:00

4:30am came way too early for me this morning. It took everything I had to get out of bed and motivate myself to check what I assumed was going to be choppy, junky surf. I did my morning "thing" - which includes a cup of coffee and all related collateral damage - packed up the MTF and went along my merry, drowsy way. Rockin' out to NPR's Morning Edition, I pull up to the Pier and, by golly,

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9136876.post-25486949736444723742009-04-30T11:16:00.000-07:002009-04-30T16:50:22.317-07:00

I don't know about the rest of you, but, I'm totally caught up in the hype over the pandemic H1N1 Flu, or, "Swine Flu" to you cretins. There seems to be a lot of contradictory information floating around the Internet and it's really difficult to separate the truth from the fiction. That being said, I'm playing it safe and have come up with my own contingency plan to thwart the possibilities of

Whiffleboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03268804139008461642noreply@blogger.com2