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.
Revolt Summer Surf Series Results
October 4th, 2011 § 1 comment § permalink
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
Red Tide
October 3rd, 2011 § 1 comment § permalink
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
Get Back
September 29th, 2011 § 1 comment § permalink
Best song to cruise around in the car…windows down and volume cranked!
Romans 8
September 27th, 2011 § 1 comment § permalink
Romans 8 is probably one of the best chapters in the bible. It has everything; every verse is something you could preach a sermon on. You can just feel Paul getting emotionally worked up, and it’s contagious. But not only that, the message is so solid, so refreshing. When the going gets tough, you have to remember that God is in control and knows what He’s doing. Easier said than done sometimes. But when I’m discouraged reading Romans 8 picks me back up and reminds me that God loves me and everything happens for a reason, and nothing is in vain.
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28)
Humor
September 27th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
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.
Bicycles
September 25th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
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.
10 Mile Stereo
September 17th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
this push and pull is the force of a wave of time
ya know
September 16th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
I want to support brick and mortar, local businesses, but I just can’t when Amazon.com is selling something for $76 that I was going to buy at Target for almost $200. With free 2 day shipping (since I bought an Amazon prime membership, I get most things for FREE 2 day shipping. It’s been the best thing I ever bought, honestly. It has saved me money. Before I probably would have just bought the stupid thing at Target just so I could have it right now. But with FREE 2 day shipping, I automatically go right to Amazon.com to find the stuff I was going to buy.)
I can’t help it! I’m not going to spend an extra $100 out of pity for the stores, but I am watching a lot of stores go out of business and I don’t like that. I don’t know. I’m not an economist, so I can’t say what the answer is. I mean, the fact that Borders went out of business kills me. And I bought a lot of books from Borders.
Lowers
August 12th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
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