Hot Summer Nights

I cut a short trailer for the little surf film I’m working on.  It’s not a full length film by any means, it’s going to be very short.  However, it’s taking some time to complete since I want all the clips to be grade A.  No ho-hum waves.

Final Points Standings

This past Saturday I participated in the Finals of the Revolt Summer Surf Series held at Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach.  My friend Kim did this one with me, which was fun.  The waves were really not so great, and I was struggling to get any speed out of them and to even do a turn.  I did better in the first heat – the waves had a bit more shape.  I rode my short stubby quad, but I’m wondering if I should have just rode my thruster.  Either way, it was fun.  Kim did really well, placing second.  I got 5th overall.  Just glad I didn’t get last, haha.  I wasn’t too thrilled with my performance, but it was ok.  I just couldn’t get a good wave in the final.  I could basically ride it straight, but every time I got enough speed for a turn the wave would just disappear.

Anyway…I’m pretty stoked on getting third for the series, although only a few people actually did all of the contests.  I guess showing up is half the battle, haha.  I think I did the best in the first contest I did…I actually placed ahead of the girl who won first on Saturday.  It’s so hit or miss…and contest surfing is a bit of luck on who can get a good wave, especially when conditions aren’t that great.

NOW, if they could just figure out how to spell my name, I would be ecstatic.

Crystal Pier Contest Site

The red tide is still around here in Leucadia, and I got to watch and photograph it again tonight. I was amazed to see that the water was sparkling with iridescence. I’m not sure what was causing it…maybe fish, or kelp moving around. The stars were out, and the water was glowing a deep, plasma-like blue. It was a bit more intense than the other night, and I was a little sad that the waves weren’t a bit bigger. However, this was one of the coolest things I have seen. Amazing.

San Diego Red Tide At Night

San Diego Red Tide At Night, Beacon's Beach

Galaxy Reflections

Cloudy Night

I was reading some of the old entries in this blog, and I cracked up at some of them. Such a comedian I am. Of course, I was in Starbucks, and had a severe laughing fit. You know when you get that uncontrollable laughter but you can’t really make any noise? I mean, they probably would have hauled me off in a straight jacket.

Tonight we played softball against the WORST team ever. I mean, slow pitch is not that competitive, but our teams were so unevenly matched. The other team wasn’t taking it too seriously though. One of their players was in a cow costume. It was pretty darn funny. Every time he did something I’d made a moo noise at him.

Other than that…the red tide is really strong right now in San Diego. If you don’t know what Red Tide is, click HERE. It causes the waves to glow blue at night when they break. It looks really, really cool. But, it is kind of a bummer to surf in. The water looks really dirty, and is this red / rusty opaque color. Like mud water. Gross. I made sure I used my Neti Pot after.

The other night I rode bikes with some friends all the way from Pacific Beach to Downtown San Diego, with a couple stops on the way to a friend’s birthday at El Camino.  It was a night time bike ride, and having never been biking around that area it was actually pretty darn cool.  Just so you’re aware, the ride was 12 miles each way, meaning we biked 24 miles in one night!  I don’t know how I did it, considering I never bike and I hadn’t ridden since January.  It was a nice night out, and we took the bike paths and went over a few bridges.  I don’t know the paths, so I was just following.  I had no idea where we were most of the time until suddenly we popped out in Old Town, the historical Mexican mission themed area in San Diego.  We stopped for some sake at a sushi place where a friend of one of us was working, and then moved on to El Camino where we had a mini dance party, and then continued downtown to a place called Voyeur in the Gaslamp.  I couldn’t believe we biked all the way down there.  Then we had to ride back, and we ended up getting back at 3am.

The whole mission was pretty darn cool.  There were 4 of us so we were safe, (for you parents reading this, haha) and I felt like I was 10 years old again.   I also kind felt like those kids you see in 80′s movies like ET and the Goonies where they’re always riding their bikes in a group to some adventure or another.

Of course, we weren’t being chased by police, and we didn’t go flying through the air, but you get the idea By the way, when they fly through the air is one of the best scenes in cinema history, in my opinion.

Lower Trestles is one of the absolute best waves in the world. It’s like a playground – rampy, fast, and long. It’s credited as one of the most “rippable” waves in the world, meaning that it’s just an incredible canvas on which to work on turns, airs, and all sorts of surfing maneuvers.

However, this also means that it’s incredibly crowded. Catching waves is a bit of a trick. You can paddle in the middle of the crowd, or you can sit off to the side and pick off the ones that swing wide. Generally that’s what I do, although sometimes I get sucked into the crowd thinking “well, maybe this once I can be in the right position for a set wave.” In my case though, the latter strategy generally means running people over or getting run over myself.  Yesterday I even smashed my hand onto someone’s board as I was paddling.  I thought I broke my hand it hurt so bad, but it’s OK.

Either way, anytime you go to Lowers you’ll be able to witness some of the most talented surfers around. Inevitably there will be a handful of serious professionals out there. All these elements combine to make it a great place to shoot photos and video. So that’s where I have been going the past few days. Yesterday I spent all day at Lowers – and walked the trail from my car to the beach and back THREE times (generally to get to get to Lowers you need to park quite far away). That was poor planning on my part – I certainly didn’t intend to do that. No, not when the hike is 20 minutes at least. ONE way. Yes, that means I walked almost 6 miles yesterday, surfed for 2 hours, and took some video. All in all, I was really stinkin’ tired.  But in a good way!

I can’t complain though – I got to surf one of the best waves on the planet and spend all day there filming.  I actually had my best Lowers session yet.  I’ve only surfed it a handful of times, and I can kind of measure how my surfing has progressed by how I do there.  My first time at Lowers was really tough – I only got 2 waves in quite a while.  This last session I got about 6 good waves, which is not as many as I would have liked, but I caught them and surfed them well (at least in my mind).  Lowers is so cool – it’s such a perfect wave that it’s really easy to do turns, and even plan out your next turn.  I had enough time to think to myself – “OK, use your upper body to initiate this turn.”  It definitely helps your surfing when you have a good wave to work with.

Anyway, here are a few of the photos I shot. You will see the video I shot when I’m finished with my mini surf video, which should be done hopefully by the end of next week if all goes well. I just need a few more good clips and I’ll be set.

Catching Air - Unidentified

Throwing Tail - Unidentified

Silvana Lima, carving

Sorry I’ve been lazy about posting!  I’ve been super busy the last few weeks, and it’s all been super fun!  Hi Grandpa!  Heard you got  a new computer!  Yeah!

I’ve been putting my camera to good use these days, and I’m having a blast filming and editing some different projects.

First I was asked to put together a little short promotional piece for Stoked Mentoring, a non-profit organization that helps underprivileged kids from Los Angeles and New York participate in action sports workshops, such as surfing and snowboarding.  It’s a cool way to keep the kids out of trouble, and gives them a chance to do something that they might not have had the chance to do.  So that is one project I’m working on.  I filmed in Venice beach a week and a half ago, and I’m slated to film again on Sunday in Huntington Beach.  Hopefully we get some sun this time as the Venice Beach day was totally overcast, making for dreary looking video.

I also got a chance to help teach a photography workshop through Stoked Mentoring last Wednesday.  Special thanks to Kim from Mahfia.com for inviting me to help.  It was a super fun day, and the kids are really cool.

teaching the stoked crew photography basics with mahfia.com

I’ve also been filming some professional female surfers thanks to Chris Grant of JettyGirl.com, and I’m in the process of putting together a short summertime surf video.  It’s such a cool opportunity to get to shoot with these talented surfers.  I remember years ago watching surf videos – including the few all-girl ones – and thinking about how cool it would be to actually make a surf film.  Now I get a chance to film some of the same people I was watching in those videos.  Life is so funny sometimes.  I have some good footage so far and I’m hoping to get some more.  I could seriously sit for a few hours playing with the footage, editing it in different ways.  It’s truly something I love to do, where I won’t even notice that it’s suddenly 2:00 am and I should probably go to bed.

I was thinking back to how long I’ve loved doing videos, and I think it definitely started when I was like 10 or 11, playing with Chris and Molly from across the street, and the short movies we used to make with his dad’s camcorder. “Belle To The Rescue” was a great series featuring my dog as a canine Indiana Jones, saving people from falling off cliffs, and averting criminals from taking over the world. I really wish we still had those, but unfortunately I think they have been lost. Then my dad got me set up with an awesome editing computer running Windows 98 and a prehistoric version of Adobe Premiere (hey, it was state of the art back then!). The rest was history.

Here’s a short video I put together a few weeks ago.  I was calling it a rough draft, but I’m probably done with it since I’m working on other things and I’ll probably just leave it as is.  Maybe I’ll revisit it in a while, but for now I’ll call it in the can.

It’s summer in San Diego!  The past couple of years San Diego did not have a summer.  According to some friends this is the hottest it has been in July in quite some time.  It’s great – I’ve never experienced San Diego like this.  I’ve been surfing in just a bathing suit and I haven’t gotten cold!  Last night it was so hot in my apartment and I had all the windows open.  Last July I think I had all the windows closed all the time and it was cold and rainy all the time.

So, this is quite a welcome change.  This is actually the first time I’ve been wearing shorts in San Diego without being cold.

Fourth of July was great – we hung out on the beach, surfed a couple times in clear, warm water, had a BBQ, and watched the fireworks over the San Diego County Fair at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.  It was a very cool view – the lights of the fair, the rides, the screams from the people on the roller coaster.  It was all very nostalgic and idyllic.

Fourth Of July Fireworks

Last night I surfed Cardiff at sunset.  It was a brilliant sunset – I took pictures but they just couldn’t do it justice at all, so I’m not even going to post them.  Over the water the sunset was a brilliant pink, overhead the sky was deep indigo, and behind me the sky was gray with a dark anvil thunderhead, complete with a vertical rainbow.  The entire sky in 360 panorama was just a sight to behold, casting the glassy water and waves in a pink glow.  It was one of those breathtaking evenings that puts a stupid grin on my face and reminds me to thank God for all my blessings.  San Diego is definitely lacking in the cool sunset department – Long Island blows it away completely.  We just don’t get the interesting clouds here in San Diego very often.  So I’ll take the good sunsets when I can!

Last weekend I participated in the 13th Annual Pacific Beach Surf Club Summer Longboard Classic.  Now, I’ve only been longboarding for about 10 months.  I was always on a short board.  Actually all my other boards are sub 6′.  Last August I could barely even turn a log correctly.   But I’ve come a long way since then, and I figured it would be fun to give it a go.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect; I kind of thought it would be a smaller contest.  I was quite surprised to find that it was quite a big event, with a lot of participants and attendees that I knew.  I also didn’t know what the talent level would be.  In NY the women’s heats at the ESA NY events tend to be fairly small and not always well attended.  I have to give props to the girls in my heat – they had a lot of talent!  Overall I got 6th place.  Obviously I wish I could have done better, but I’m pretty satisfied overall – I surfed decently in the finals heat but I tried to do too much and kept falling off or losing the wave on noserides.  I’m not experienced at doing contests so I get a bit flustered in my heats.  I think the key is to just relax.

I met some new people and some of the regulars at Cardiff were there.  Two of the older locals – Roger and Otis – have since given me some tips.  Roger gave me some advice on stepping more toe-heel on my cross stepping, and that has actually helped me tremendously.  It’s funny how you can know that you’re doing something not quite right, but until someone points it out and gives you advice on correcting it you just won’t change.  Since giving me that tip I have had a couple of the most stable and best nose rides yet.  So overall it was a great way to get out there, get to know some new people, and be a part of the community.  That’s the way I did it back home in NY; just show up to stuff, and you end up meeting a lot of people.  It’s really cool.

The Women's Finalists

Fresh out of the wrapper! Today I bought a new shortboard off the rack. I had been planning on doing so for a while, but I was letting all the options percolate in my head before choosing one. Guess I was saving the occasion for a rainy day. Anyway, can’t wait to take it for it’s maiden voyage!