bike week

I love riding my bike and do so most every day exceptin ice or minus 17 temps. yeah I know I'm a pu$$y.

I still remember clearly Christmas day as a kid in Venezuela when my parents presented me with my first wheeled machine -a shiny red and white trike. I dogged that little thing for a long time.

I learned to ride a proper bike in '83. ol Jack got me a Krate style bike from the used bike shop. I ran it up a giant oak tree in the church lot across the street from our house on the first day.

then back in the Andes Calitos and Manuel were bolting 5 speed derailleurs on our beater bmx bikes with t-shifters on the top bar. we'd climb the winding steep road to the village above Las Virtudes -a slow grinding climb that seemed to take hours. at the top the boys would buy a flask of agua ardiente or Anise and then we'd come flyin and hollering down the mountain road like pre-adolescent maniacs with no regard for safety -your standard risk taking youthful behavior.

riding my bike is still as fun today as it was then in my youth.

so if it's been too long since you rode your bike, take your tire back from Pooky the pup and go for a spin. not to save the environment or to advocate for cycling rights, or to be healthy but just to have fun. simple old fun.

RIP David Carradine

rest in peace grasshopper

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

here's a scene from one of Jim Jarmuch's best films Down by Law.

stop

things are supposed to die -to come to a natural end.

we do.

yet we strive for some sort of legacy that we may be remembered.

old Chinaski had it right. it's a wonder how long people will wanna read about his gamblin and whorin and drinkin and fightin. about dingy LA and other failed writers and about his cars and listening to classical music on the radio while drinking beer wine whisky.

all things are naturally meant to come to an end, to fulfill the cycle of energy moving across our earths surface and through its guts, moving always and endlessly.

humans?

we like to prolong the inevitable. we like pretend like we can stop change. like we's some sorta power above the antelope when in truth modern man can't even chase the antelope.

these are the good old days no?

this dribbly rubbish inspired partly by Juana's Addicion

sons of slaves

as times change and one generation's seeming demise shifts into the next generations pop culture emblems one thing remains constant. humanity is not humanist. humanism is nothing but a construct of our romantic ideals of peace and love. humans are in fact animals (duh)who live by the basic code of survival using intrinsic instinct. where's the hope? self reliance. it is our nature.


classic Junior Delgado tune with Lee Perry production

style: fixed lean 1930's

when the surf is flat my mind turns to bikes

"when the surfer is high, so is the risk of drowning"

well I managed to get out for a sunrise surf with Blacks on Saturday. we hit up secret spot number sevens for some waist high glassy lines. this spot seems to still hold it's shape even when it's small and we both had our share of long down the line waves over the shallow kelpy boulders that sometimes pitched and boiled the wave face like a melting highway on an acid trip.

speaking of acid trips -here's an interesting study revealed at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Seattle. according to the study "Surfing under the influence of drugs or alcohol are two of the prime dangers facing surfing enthusiasts..." Dr. James MacDonald goes on to illuminate us with "The 'cool factor' sort of mitigates against wearing helmets or ear plugs to protect against swimmer's ear."

never mind kooks with cords dangling soft tops in the mush like so many dinosaur spears.

old MacDonald didn't forget to remind us about the dangers of localism either: "I was surprised at how much violence there can be in surfing culture. Some of the injuries I've seen have nothing to do with surfing-they're fisticuffs. There's no referee out in the water to break up fights." As popular surfing sites become crowded with novices and out-of-towners, veteran surfers may react to protect their "zones." remebers that!

maybe this Doc surfs and rather than stink eye the soft toppers he publishes blatant warnings in scientific journals. I reckon it won't be long before the Bra Boys start adopting his tactics.

my favourite part of the study though was that "those with full-time jobs that cut into wave time may experience injuries relating to deconditioning, such as muscle strains, soft tissue damage and falls."

so it is. I better close my office door today and bust a few push ups and crunches lest I get injured from deconditioning. and most importantly I think I've learned that the two shots of Crown in my dawn patrol coffee are probably adding to the "risk" factor of surfing making my 'cool' and 'core' factors rise to new highs (pun intended).

ok best get to work

see the original article here or search PubMed

further

the popularization of surfing continues its spread across America. the WHO has announced that surfing is getting close to becoming a pandemic and will likely declare it a level 5 in the coming days.

FARC turns 45

that is what I call perserverance!

death

keep on runnin

style = chase hawk

5 things

1. favourite blog at the moment is the Esteyonage
















2. best surf writing coming from North America on the web is Postsurf: unfiltered thoughts on Surf Culture by Lewis Samuels. check it here postsurf.com

3. best girl in the world is my lickle B

4. favourite food is arepas con carne mechada, fried egg and queso blanco (or light feta in Halifax)














5. and daily runs this week for relaxation and trimming to fit into the new thruster

happy birthday Mr T.

..and dammit it's flat. but it's sunny here in the north Atlantic so for that I must give thanks.

if you haven't already check out the rad new blog talkin' story. Mick Sowry of Safe to Sea and Musica Surfica has a great story there of surfing in Europe and chatting with Dora about Charlie Manson.

seen

as far as the eye can see

bike ninja vs. mr. perfect bicycle commuter man

over the last few weeks there's been an increase in bike commuters on my daily route. it's expected in spring just as there are more surfers in the water. there's one guy in particular, a middle-aged man astride a shiny new sporty street bike with flat bar and disk brakes, one of those homogeneous jobbies from one the big three bike companies. anyways, today he called me out for my swiftness at charging the yellow. I could hear him behind me, scolding in "that is ridiculous" kinda tone.

so what did I say? nothing. I just sped off on my merry way as I do every day. been communing to work by bike since 2005 when we lived in PDX. my friend Drew in PDX, originally from D.C., had always commuted and had been hit by cars twice -neither time his fault and accidents quite serious. Drew never followed the "traffic laws" on his bike.

let's face it. laws that state that cyclist should obey the same rules as motor vehicles are absurd. cyclists cannot accelerate like a motored metal box therefore they can be overrun, especially on narrow streets. a bicycle weighs nothing compared to even a small car or motorcycle so accidents caused by cyclists tend to cause little harm. and most obvious of all a bike is NOT a motor vehicle and should not be treated as such.

I know if I'm self righteous. why else have a blog? but I also value self preservation, especially in a city like Halifax where the driving public hates cyclists. so the new commuter on his shiny bike can kiss my ass, I'd rather be a bike ninja than a cripple.

happiness is love

some time during my mid twenties I realized that the quality of my life was based on the personal relationships I had with my family and friends. it was evident then as it is now that as a social being, my ability to give and receive respect and love and to share ideas was what gave me a sense of fulfillment.

these guys at Harvard took 72 years to figure this out but I guess any time is a good time. this is a great video if you have six minutes.

MP and mental illness

in my current job I work on projects that assist developing countries with mental health infrastructure. this includes basics like legislation and policy to protect people with mental illness, but also training and education, administration and development of clinical programs.

the challenge with mental illness is that there is a lot stigma attached to it whether it be for cultural or religious reasons. unlike cardiovascular illness, the treatment of mentally ill by the public is almost always at arms length and with a lot of accompanying fear.

MP as I understand became schizophrenic. this disease usually appears during adolescence (13 to 25 years of age) and is very difficult to treat. I don't know much about Peterson but it will be interesting to see how the surf media portrays his condition.

Searching for Michael Peterson Trailer from jolyon hoff on Vimeo.

style

the blue flame

a fleeting moment in the life of old blue. she made the distance across the continent twice with trailer in tow, boards on the roof, and bikes hanging off the deck lid. thanks Gramps!

mondays

5.9' @ 9 seconds
wind WNW 7 to 10 kts
water temp 40.5 °F
air temp 39.7 °F

waves -well pretty damn good if you ask me.

paddled out at a quarter to six. black was already there -says he paddled out and it was too dark to see if it was workin.

well it was workin.

I got one of the longest waves I've had in weeks.

he got out before seven and for the next forty five minutes I had it to myself. I looked around in awe. I let a few go by me so I could feel myself bob up and over the lips while sitting on my board. I tried taking off deeper each time and got stuffed about half the time. the smaller ones were better -way better. but I kept paddling over in front of the boulder and waiting for the ones that had the overhead take-offs. they'd line up far to the west and as I popped up and looked down the line I knew there was now way I'd make it.

funny how confidence plays tricks on you. towards the end of my time in the water I fell on a few and the ones I caught I'd squander. so my mood turned from the elation of the first wave to self pity for falling off perfect waves.

and the whole time the marvel that is a sunrise in the Maritimes was unfolding in front of me. black and white ducks flying low and some landing in the line-up, oblivious to the swells. down east I could the plumes coming off the backs of swells breaking on the beach. the sky mostly clear finally after days of low slung clouds and the grass green like emeralds and growing finally after a long long winter.

now I am ready for work.

que comida!

simmering rice with saffron, shrimp, and chicken stock with white wine


finished and cooling with digby scallops, squid and shrimp. under the seafood is chicken, fresh spicy chorizo, olive, capers and other secret goodness. this was a dinner request for Blacks birthday. we had a few beer as well.


my little B is making her favourite wrapped food. chicken tamales. we had to scramble all over town to find the husks.




food weekend

happy birthday Black

one year older means you possess a bit more wave knowledge, more endurance, and probably become a little more curmudgeonly.

thursday surf

JB picked me up at 5:15. we were in the water before sunrise. the waves were small but secret sandbar plain sight number 5's was doin its high tide thing again. warbly and shifty. not as good as the last time I surfed it. still if you got on the ones that walled towards the east you could make the inside section. just a few little pumps and huggin the steep little face before it closed out over the cobbles and dry sand.

maybe one day I'll get to the point where I go and look at it and decide it's too junky and go home. for now though if I think I can ride it then I'm on it. and now at work having already had a full day I feel at peace and completely happy.

Peta

good morning

was in the water at 6 this morning. took my log and surfed a right point. the waves were consistently waist high but it was a mixed swell and the peaks were scattered. there was a slight northwest wind when I first got in the water and it gradually increased but caused no harm. high tide was at 5:30 so the waves were a bit mushy. after about an hour and a half I came in. I looked over at the little sandbar that was working at high tide a week ago and sure enough it was workin again. it breaks right on shore but there's a fast wall for about twenty or thirty yards. I won't show up at high tide again without my shortboard.

rode my bike in to work and was at my desk by 9 and I've already had a full day.

danger

fires are done. some folks lost homes. sad yes it's true. luckily most who lost homes were the city's rich and elite. they can rebuild. one guy on the news almost started crying over the loss of his 6000 square foot home. waaa.

surfed saturday and sunday with Blacks. nothin epic but a blast nonetheless and my shoulders and back feel like I got a work out.

if you've taken a few waves on the head then you must certainly know what this green bandit is in for. the wave is California's infamous Wedge. click on the photo for the full 100.

"scrub it kook."

fires

here's two shot's take by my friend KK from her balcony yesterday. the fire is still raging.

Halifax on Fire

this is the best photo I could find of the fire which started late this afternoon on the west side of town. it's completely out of control and spans five miles. the winds are howling and the rain looks to hold off 'till mid day. definitely a stressful time although we are clear on the other side of the city. lots of people are evacuated and many have lost homes in just hours. crazy.

the story is here

almost...

... if I'd stalled a little higher in the pocket and stuck my mitt in the face a little deeper then maybe I'd have heard that fabled sound. foiled again but soon I'll find it.


phil taylor photo

Jaimal Yogis and "Salt water Buddha"

A couple months ago Jaimal Yogis sent me a copy of his soon to be released book. Actually the book is out on Friday. Often I've wondered if I relate to others based on generational similarities (music, art, current events, etc.) or sheer coincidence. Perhaps it's a mix of the two. Saltwater Buddha however resonated with me in so many ways it's uncanny. Here's a short clip about the author and the book. I'll be writing a more detailed book review on Phoresia.org in the coming week.

spring and the joy of crowds

was in the water by 6:30 on Saturday morning. would've been there earlier had I not checked some spots for which my hopes had been too high considering the tide and receding swell. there were two kids walking down along the path to the point when I was suiting up. normally I make the paddle through the bay to warm up as it were but I chose to pick my way along the rocks instead with the high tide lapping my feet. out at the point there was some morning sickness and all around weakness. the lefts coming off the point were short but steeper and probably a little bigger since they were heading right into the headland over the shallow weed covered rocks. after an hour of grovelling and small kine turns I thought the better of it and headed in.

the lot was almost full and scores were suiting up. I said hello to a couple of friends and made my way to the blue flame to take off my wetsuit. as I looked out over the boardwalk I could see a little left reeling off some secret sandbar and crashing right on the dry cobbles. I figured I'd give it a try since it was still only 8 am and damn it looked rideable. stepping out through the impact section reminded me of Spanish House or Wabasso -with a heavy wall coming fast and impacting on the shore. after that though the paddle out was minimal. I picked off the first one and popped up and just pumped and raced down the line as the waist high take off turned into a chest high vertical wall. the quad held like it does and each little pump coaxed more speed out of her. (I should give her a name fitting of her prowess.) finally I kicked out over the closeout before I was deposited on dry cobblestones. a guy watching from the stairs say my first wave, ran back to get his board and sat right on top of me the whole time. "this is beach break" I thought as I tried to push him a little deeper each time knowing that he wouldn't make the drop. didn't hamper too much to have him there and he took a few on the head and eventually went in. after a few more the tide filled in and the left became a closeout. should've been here an hour ago.

Saturday was the warmest day since last September signaling the end of winters grip. I have now completed three years of winter surfing here in NS. my shoulders and back have gained paddle stamina. my wave sense is as good now as it was in 2001 when I lived in Kona and surfed Pine Trees each evening after work. most importantly though my confidence has improved which sometimes can make the difference on a late take off. I'm as stoked on surfing now at 33 as I was when I was 17.

each spring it's become increasingly crowded in the lineup -even on early mornings during the week. it's easily noticeable here because mostly we have points and reefs, waves which tend to have a maximum carrying capacity. I must admit that I underestimated the surfing population before I came. but there has been a core surf community here for a long long time and they especially must be feeling the pressure of the increased crowds.

I was thinking about how to feel about crowded surf since it's been a long time since I've experienced it. there's really two ways to look at it. I can allow myself to get salty and jaded about a bunch of beginners letting go of their boards in the lineup or I can transcend it, focus on the horizon and work on improving my surfing. I learned how to surf in Brevard County on the shores between Cocoa Beach and Melbourne Beach. It wasn't uncommon to be in the water with fifty plus surfers, many who could surf better than I ever will. when crowds are all you know it's not a bother. so as look forward to riding my 9'6" at the reef or my quad at the beach break I have to remind myself that the original heads should get priority and that my outlook on the situation can make my surfing life fulfilling or less than half-empty. as always I got to give thanks for this life of riding swells upon the sea.

now I'm off to work.

had to steal this one from Crooked Arm as it's perfect for today's thoughts.

dawn patrol

Marine Forecast

Winds
Issued 03:00 AM ADT 24 April 2009
Today Tonight and Saturday Strong wind warning in effect.
Wind south 30 knots diminishing to southwest 20 near noon and to west 15 this afternoon. Wind backing to south 15 near noon Saturday.


Waves
Issued 05:00 AM ADT 24 April 2009
Today Tonight and Saturday Seas 3 metres subsiding to 2 early this evening and to 1 Saturday morning.

earth day = humans day

what am I doing for earth day? well I rode my bike to work in the pissing spring rain. please hold your applause. riding my bike to work is not going to "save our planet."

this may get a little ranty so cool your boots.

We’ve been getting duped for a long time with this earth day bullshit. Now everyone is “green” and every company offers a “green” product line. You can pledge monthly tithing’s to save: whales, wolves, hawks, beaches, frogs and trees. Hell you can even pledge to send some poor belly full of worms kid in a developing country to school. You can put their picture on your fridge and smile each time you go for your next beer. But really what it all boils down to is saving our own asses.

Before I get too cynical let I re-direct.

We are animals. Unlike other animals like iguanas in the Galapagos Islands, we do not speciate. This means that we are not limited by geographic location as we can adapt to live in any part of our earth. Like the iguana, we have a habitat which needs a basic level of natural functioning to support the life of the iguana. Any radical changes in the Galapagos sea iguanas’ environment and it will die. This is the same for us. However, because we can adapt so easily, and we can eat and digest just about anything, our habitat is not as easily derailed as say that of a really specialized animals like the marine iguana of the Galapagos.

All I’m saying through the above obvious statement is that we need to be honest with ourselves and with the language we use. We are destroying our own habitats. Some have destroyed theirs so completely that it doesn’t support them any longer and they must rely on aid. Haiti is the perfect example. I won’t waste any virtual ink on the blaming game as to who is responsible for the most damage to our habitat (we all know it’s the developed countries). The bottom line is that if you shit in your cage then you gotta sleep in your shit.

So what is the answer? How do we fix things? According to some it may be too late but perhaps the most powerful thing anyone in a developed country can do to help preserve their “own” habitat is to radically cut down on their total consumption of resources. I will leave it that as I intended this to be more linguistic discussion than an ethical argument about consumerism environmentalism.

Happy Humans Day!

style: danny MacAskill

I spend a lot of time on my ass either behind my desk at work or in the evenings at home after work. but there is one lesson that I learned from years of skateboarding and the same lesson has been re-stamped in my will after the last three years of steady surfing. the only way to achieve anything is to put in the work and to be present and engaged during the process, learning from mistakes and successes. in the last few days I've been more sedentary than usual due to a lack of waves. I ran on the weekend and finally busted out few calisthenics yesterday. however,that is not even enough for maintenance.

luckily I found this newly posted gem. danny macaskill is amazingly fluid. he's like a mix between ryan leech and chase hawk. if your into cycling or human mechanics or will power then you'll appreciate this video. now I'm off to do some stretching.

stick out your chest: the book Chavez gave Obama

and not your ass

OK so some people think that the Hawaiian surf culture can take localism too far. that they use violence too easily. but what else is a people to do? the video below is very interesting and features a member of Da Hui reading an open letter to the people of Tahiti encouraging them to stand up against Billabong and the ASP and demand to be able to take a greater part in the contest both as competitors and organizers.

why? because it is their land, their wave, their culture, their capital interest and their sovereign right. I truly and sincerely hope that the Tahitian's take heed and move to force the ASP to comply.


this brings me to another point. I have often lamented here that the internet has questionable benefits in terms of human and personal relations. but the same way as Da Hui video will influence many so has the photo and story of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez gifting a communist book to America's Barak Obama.



the book is "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent." in the book author Eduardo Galeano explores the "various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation."

exploitation may seem like a harsh word to some North Americans, especially if you are a good law abiding citizen who works an honest wage and takes care of his family. but we need to open our eyes to the vast desert of social and environmental destruction which we are leaving behind in our wake of over consumption.


Chavez is brilliant in this public propaganda stunt. by this simple gesture he will effectively educate thousands of Americans in the way of economic and military exploitation that the US has been so successful at inflicting on Latin America. I hope that the Tahitians too will take back what is rightfully theirs and demand a major share in the earnings of the western companies who are exploiting Tahiti's natural resources.

reggae vibes de pon blogger

for all you lickele reggae vibes fans don forget to check pull up selecta for the best in old and young reggae videos

learnins

go and come

drove 710 miles from Fenway stadium in downtown Boston to our front door in Halifax yesterday. this morning the rising sun shone through my window at 6:30 waking me before the blasted beeping nightmare of an alarm.

I'm glad to be back in Canada where the greater good of the people is valued above that of the individual. thanks Canada for having me.

so I leave you with one of Canada's grandest musical performers

new hampshire beach break

B and I drove for 10 hours yesterday and arrived at our friends house just as the tide was going low. I suited up quickly and grabbed my fish and ran the two blocks to the beach. I had not surfed a beach break since New York last fall. the waves were small and a little weak but two or three turned out to be fun. I'm not one to complain about rideable surf. it was fun to be in slightly warmer water and to surf with no leash without fearing the rocky shores like back home.

I walked down this morning at sunrise hoping that there may still be a small pulse left. no luck. but I did find this nice video clip for ya. not sure what the soundtrack is but it sounds like Orange 9mm.


Fresh Fruit for Rotten Vegetables from Surf Craft Media on Vimeo.

first light sessions

12' @ 12 seconds
high tide
water temp 35
southwest wind
southwest swell
found shelter
but a bit drifty
did the walk back up the point a dozen times
rode a 5'11" twin for the first time
on my backhand
goooood times
in the water at 6:15
back to the car at 8:30
early bird scores
every time
seen

hey -if yer reading this and you live here then you should give 'er

three days

Rain is softly pattering outside as the low moves over the mainland. I sit at my desk, organizing my thoughts for the days toil. But I keep slipping back to feelings of paddling through ocean swells. I surfed three days straight. The first day in stormy overhead peaky surf, the fog so thick that the usual indicators were hidden on shore, forcing me to sit closer to the boils on the takeoff zone than I’m comfortable doing. A few late drops combined with several beatings made for some good cleansing after a weeks work. As the fog lifted in the early afternoon it let the onshore winds in like opening the flood gates, killing any hopes for those that waited.

On Sunday I rose an hour before my alarm was set. I was on the road by six, trying to make it to the lookout spot by first light at six seventeen. The fog still present but not dense enough to ward off the southwest winds, I coasted down the hill and up the coast looking for shelter and size. Nothing. Finally, I drove back to where I should have started and found an inside section perfectly sheltered and peeling. Mostly chest high with a few head high sets, I shared the drifty peaks with a small crew as they rinsed the previous night’s revelries by immersing themselves in the still icy cold Atlantic.

Yesterday the receding swell granted me another small window of opportunity. This time the waist high waves came scant, but clean and perfect as they wrapped into the bay. Just two friends and I shared the little jewel. Off in the distance we would see the plumes of breaking waves over a shallow reef. In the bay the wind was calm and the sky overcast. The grey light making it so that the steely colour of sea surface and grey clouds blended, camouflaging the tiny pulses until they hit the cobblestone bottom and stood for a second before crumbling into mellow shoulders. I surfed for over two hours, mostly on the eggy thruster which at 5’10” and foiled makes me feel like I can turn like never before.

On the bus ride to work this morning I stood and held on to the railing and the bus bobbed up and down on soft air shocks over the winter’s rain filled potholes. I could feel the muscles on my back and shoulders repairing after so much paddling. I look around the bus and wonder how many of my fellow passengers communed with the elements. I sincerely hope that the number is higher than my cynicism will allow me to guess at. I don’t feel disdain or pity for them if they are sedentary. I only wonder why? Why would we live in these amazingly tuned and functioning bodies and not learn to use them to move through space with the grace of birds and fish? And why did I leave my bike at work forcing me to take this blasted bus.

picaresque trailer 2009

this is the only film that I've been really excited to see. DeTemple is stylish. D$ has surfed with him in overhead Southbeach mackers and seen Mickey pull into tubes like the A in Manhattan. and for those of you who think that riding lonboards is for pussys -let's meet at the point on heavy single fin logs on a head high day and see what a gwaan.

seen.


Picaresque Trailer 2009 from High Seas Films on Vimeo.

two growllers

propeller IPA growler -best beer in town

and the growlers her command accoustic version

un-skunked

well after a hella sprint home on the mighty Cross Check after work yesterday I loaded up the blue flame still breathless and tried to beat rush hour traffic and the fading swell. I surfed for a couple of hours with some local heavies. even though the waves had dropped a bit and the peaks were shifty everyone seemed genuinely happy to be surfing on a Tuesday evening. local shredder Nico was out makin it look easy as usual blastin 360 grabs way up above the lip. other certain individuals were pickin off mackers from outside on quad fishes and snappin turns under offshore groomed lips. I got a few little ones on the 5'10" Stamps skillet which by the way is about as fun as a case of beer on a Wednesday night with an empty belly and a get out of work for a day pass. got home to turkey dinner with B and E and the in laws, enjoyed a couple of fine bottles of Keith's finest, and went to bed at 10. all in a days surf eh.

the latest issue of SBC Surf is out and this time it's packed with content. quite a few travel stories including gnar backpacking back country surf adventures. there's also some loggin photos from local lumberjack and Californios. I was able to somehow squeeze two little pieces in there. they are at the newsstands now so whateryawaitinfor?

tuesday email to D$

wind 23G31 N 32/33 9' @ 10 seconds


"yo

faaack. we're getting hammered by a fucking snowstorm. I busted my ass preparing everything for a DP this morning. woke up after restless sleep - [I dreamed that B was gut shot in a war and refused to get treatment] - I checked the weather and the roads were sketchy as fuck and the offshores gusting to 50 knots! back to bed. then I got up again had coffee and checked the work email and by boss is mad. then I shoveled for about a half hour, showered and rode my bike in. the ride was OK 'cause it was snowy and not icy. I had to get on a main road towards the centre of town and got fucking sprayed with dirty salty diarrhea like snow all over my jeans -why I didn't wear my rain pants is beyond me. I get to work and realize that both sets of car keys are in me jacket which means B and her visiting parents are stuck at home which in turn means that it's unlikely that I'll be able to go for an evening surf as they'll need the car. foiled again. skunked. office working is for people whose passion in life is not dependent on the weather."

pull up selecta!

started a new page over the weekend called Pull up Selecta. I'll be posting pure reggae vibes from youtube. reggae music is my favourite musical genre and I can't really say why. it's sorta like having a magic surfboard, it just feels right. so I'll try and cut down on videos here on KuYah and instead post them on Pull up Selecta.

respec every time

do it how you want

 

 

 

 

knee high to as big as it got and often cordless, buddy's one board quiver fit perfect on the side of his bike with tent and other living needs.

beachies

really looking forward to 5 AM dawn sessions at this spot inna couple months

wednesday II

blacks tuckin in.

photo cred. here

Dubcast #14 long time no dub

tek it easy man.
Dubcast #14 long time no dub

Posted using ShareThis

all day surfing wednesday

here's JB making the best of a Wednesday morning. Doc posted up on the bank and took a couple of shots before suiting up. secret spot all the way. I'd have to kill ya. we surfed three hours in the morning then changed out of our wetsuits, had some lunch and watched the waves. then it was back in for another two hours. super heavy off shore winds all day. good times had by the small crew and I'm a tired one now. making some rose and prosciutto sauce with penne for B and then it's off to bed.

protec yuh neck bwoy

Marine Forecast
Winds
Issued 03:00 AM ADT 24 March 2009

Today Tonight and Wednesday Gale warning in effect.
Wind northeast 35 knots increasing to 45 early this evening then backing to north 35 Wednesday evening.


Waves
Issued 05:00 AM ADT 24 March 2009
Today Tonight and Wednesday Seas 3 to 4 metres building to 5 Wednesday morning.

listen to death

first I read about on Foulweather and then I saw it at Matt Chester's space -two of my favourite social critics. so it is that I pass it on...

death -what ever the hype that comes now what was done was done and that is what it is.

what it is

work

over the years I've had lots of jobs. always avoided restaurant work. wouldn't have the patience with someone being rude about their steak. here's a list jobs I've had.



- Printing press assistant on a 1910’s three color press
- Grocery store clerk
- Landscape worker (several years)
- Children’s librarian assistant
- University library clerk
- Construction worker (several years) building foundations, carpentry and renovations
- Customer service –phone and Internet
- Land surveyor – rod man
- Truck loader for a shipping company
- Community organizer
- After school program manager
- Peace Corps volunteer
- Administrative assistant
- International development organization administrator
- Free-lance writer

in an ideal world I would wake up early as I do now. make breakfast and coffee for B and look after the dog and other morning activities. then I'd go for a surf. after surf I'd do some writing for a few hours. have some lunch and perhaps do some gardening or tidying up around the house. go for an afternoon glass off session. make a nice dinner for B and in bed by 10. perfect. nice to dream no?

tired boss

winds 14 G 18-N 34/34 6'@ 13 seconds

the Doc and I met Blacks for an old time session. check two spots and decide on a secret location. no one out. north-north east winds. a few peaks here and there. paddle across the headland and get some lefts where there shouldn't be. swell straight out da east makin for some funny angles at the usual spots. no one out. two hours and our feets is numb. the Doc just in from out yonder freezing from lack of acclimation. two hour nap at noon and already had a full day.

no seal and hawk sitting like yesterday but I did manage a sub-zero sunburn on me face.

my.

B and are making food for birthday Doc.

on the menu: tacos 'al pastor with roasted pineapple and home made tortillas. salsa the agaucate picante with chips and scallop ceviche with cucumber and mango.

orale güey. dame tres por favor.

thinking ahead

street art in one of it's many forms does what it does best here. social commentary for the masses. too bad we seldom learn from our mistakes. more from Vinchen here

"the traditional teaching of the Church has proven to be the only failsafe way to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids".

Pope Benedict XVI

only one conclusion can be drawn from this statement. the world we live in is absolutely absurd and paradoxical. there are over 22 million HIV infected people in Africa. that's two thirds of Canada's entire population. and the best way to deal with it is through abstinence and prayer?

Nico's Lunch

Nico is one of those guys that makes surfing look easy. He's got a keen sense of positioning on the wave and hell of a lot of skill. I can't say that I know him well but the times we've been in the water together he definitely has a positive vibe and is well respected by his peers. Here's a short film done by local filmmaker Aaron Jackson featuring Nico and B.C.'s Pete Devries. These two are probably Canada's best surfers. Although the footage here is mostly from late summer early fall, it blows my mind to think of the hours these guys have put in in the most extreme cold conditions, wearing pounds of neoprene rubber and braving conditions that are outright dangerous.

Nova Scotia is arguably one of the coldest places in the world to be a year-round surfer. Yes colder than Norway on the average. The level of commitment from these guys who dedicate their lives to surfing is unparalleled.

Beware -> Tarrus Riley

been a long time now since I left Jamaica. one of the important lessons about living in developing countries is that I’ve learned how resource rich my life here is. it’s hard to be grateful sometimes. it’s easy to get vexed about trivial shit. but dammit at least I have a future filled with food, shelter and safety. that’s more than heaps of people have in Jamaica.

Jamaican music is a music of protest. I didn’t really understand that well until I’d lived there and learned to understand patois. many of Bob Marley’s songs are in patois and it’s funny to hear them played on advertising or at parties and people don’t understand how aggressive the lyrics are. or perhaps we don’t care, were oblivious to what’s happening outside of our culture.

but what Jamaican people may lack in resources they make up for with a passion for life and music. you can hear sound systems all over the island blasting the latest big tune. each month a new riddim will come out and every top dj will write lyrics and before long one or two or sometimes more versions of the riddim will be on everyone’s lips. taxis always blast the radio. in the country or in Town little kids rock and wine in front of the huge stacks of speakers. youths lean up against the sound and smoke spliffs and cigarettes and if there’s money they hold a Guinness. grown men play dominoes under mango trees on makeshift tables as the music from the nearest sound fills the steamy air with pulsing baselines. grannies make rice and tin mackerel on the coal stove and sing old church songs as if on stage. and the people live, survive and sing.

when there’s no future there is still music and community. that’s something. give thanks.

bajan diy

style + speed.

Zorba is recession proof

in times of bankruptcy and failing governments, and rising sea levels, and depleted fish stocks, and poisoned rivers, and suicide mass murderers in Germany and the US, and religious zealotry, and pollution, overpopulation, and consumerism over humanism -there's still always hope.

flow like water, subvert when necessary and be like Zorba, full of love of music and dance, fueled with a passion for good food, drink and friendships. this one goes out to Matty, the good Doctor and most importantly my dear Dad, who's always taught me the value of integrity and to avoid the love of things. for as Malcolm Johnson quotes from Snyder in his last entry : "the best things in life are not things."

the virtue of ego

on my way in to work this morning I was thinking about the ghetto boys. I felt like my mind was playin tricks on me and I was wrestling my way out. what kinda tricks? dirty ones. ones that make you feel like you know where you stand when in fact you’re about to sink in quicksand.

a while ago Foulweather wrote an insightful piece on community and the Internet.

“I fear people are seeking community here at the expense of real community, taking social risks 'online' but barely able to have meaningful interactions with their neighbors. It is going to catch up to us. There's nothing better than going a way from computers, cell phones and all that shit and having to actually interact with real live physical people.”

the internet gives us a false sense of community. I say false because although we do create some sort of community through our blogs or forums or the scourge that is social networking sites such as fecalbook, it is all based on words and images which may or may not reflect anything about our individual day to day lives. knowingly or not we build these virtual persona and social groups which exist primarily in our heads and fingertips.

you may ask what is wrong with that. isn’t it the way of the future?

remember that sci-fi film a while back when the guy goes into the future and meets a girl. he thinks that they are about to have sex when suddenly she sits him down and hands him some sorta helmet with which they will make a virtual romantic experience. the irony of course being that they are in a room, alone, sitting mere inches from each other –the perfect conditions for a true intimate experience.

the point I’m trying to make is that we are already separated enough from the natural world tucked away in our offices and cars and malls. and now with our “internet communities” we are separating ourselves even farther from a natural experience. humanity separated itself from nature a long time ago with its “taming” of nature and creation of the scientific method. this intellectual separation from nature has had many ill side effects which have been written about and documented by the same said scientists. however, this current separation that is taking place from natural human relationships is still new and can have massive potential downfalls.

in the immediate I write these words as a didactic self exercise –exorcism. I want to remind myself that what gives me meaning is making dinner with B each night, or meeting a certain dark one at the crack of dawn for a dip in the turbulent north Atlantic, or making lots of double shot espressos with my co-worker all day long to see if we can hallucinate from too much caffeine.

this space is no more than a sounding board for my ego, a way for me to learn to express myself with the ultimately ineffectual written word (more on this topic some other time).

I leave with the classic from Bushwick Bill and crew.

kalle lasn (monkey see -do)

L.A.: But what about the good ideas? Do they really come from cyber these days, as some people are saying?

Kalle Lasn: I don’t know, I’m from the old school. I don’t see it yet. I see a lot of frenetic activity in cyberspace, but a lot of it is like the postmodern hall of mirrors. It’s just people sending email messages to each other, hand on the mouse, and you think that you’ve done something great if you get some big idea here and send an email to your friend, and pass it on, and you think you have made some sort of a big thing for the day. I don’t actually see too many really new ideas coming out of cyberspace yet. I see a lot of new ideas still coming out of philosophers, musicians, thinkers, sociologists, a few economists. I think that the big ideas are still coming out in the traditional way, and then they start to reverberate within cyberspace. They are amplified there in cyberspace.

for the rest of the interview go to adbusters

soundbites for this reading provided by dub.com dubcast #6

Halifax -morning views

photos ras

going back to Hali

from PDX to Halifax and back. weird seems like deja vu. hope you guys out there in Stumptown are starting to feel spring. speaking of lack of spring, surfed this evening in -8 C air temps. unbelievable session, alone out there with reeling rights coming through head high. no one out. I made some sketchy ass drops on the 9`6`and then out to the nose for the steepest nose rides I`ve ever done. funny how different a chest to head high wave can feel on a log.

tonight`s video is josh martinez and other Halifax crew doing a play on L.L.'s classic tune. shot mostly downtown and on the McDonald bridge. rad.

my old Jamaican roommates les and hi-C grew with L.L. in NYC. lots of blunts in that Orlando apartment. they always looked at me like I was crazy headin out the door, six two 70's single under one arm.



oh and one more thing -I`ve surfed 4 out of the last 5 days. think I`m finally reaching the top rung in the ladder of success. workaholism is for the birds and boring folk.

"creation plantation"

another rad cy sutton film! peep Christian W. ripping on an alaia.

Tom's Creation Plantation Trailer from Cyrus Sutton on Vimeo.

sometimes all you need is a little ink.

weekend surfs

surfed the past two days. on saturday I waited all day long for the wind to come around as forecasted. and it did come around but the waves were tiny. I brought my fish and should have had the log. the dribbly knee high waves were barely rideable and I paddled around for an hour just to stay loose.

yesterday after making B some bacon and heart-shaped pancakes I got online to check the buoys. 5' @ 8 seconds meant that there should something somewhere. I grabbed my log this time and went for a drive. as I walked out over the bluff I could see way out to sea, the coast to the east zigging and zagging into the many bays and inlets. there was no one out, no one in sight at all for the matter. a three wave set rolled in at what looked to be waist high if a little smaller. perfect. I suited up and scaled the bluff,careful not to loose footing and end up with a broken neck.

the water is still ridiculously cold and the air temps was around -8 C. I paddled out and waited for a few moments for the first wave and it came, they came. for two hours I surfed mostly alone. the only memorable wave was a waist high wall that actually had some form. as I bottom turned the board drifted up into the lip as an egg railed sled will and I walked out to the nose. it felt locked as I was in the cheater five stance so I brought my left foot forward and stood tall, two boot tips over and the wave face below.

it seems crazy to go surfing in this terrible cold when the waves are barely big enough to push you along. but what else am I to do? it's too cold and icy outside to do anything else and the thought of sitting around all winter getting stiff and old is not comforting. at some point B and I will have to look south again, to somewhere where wearing a t-shirt outdoors is the norm. I don't care if the waves are tiny or sketchy or huge as long as I can surf. but for now I am in love with this cold place, its view-scapes, its customs and its people.



I like Tyler Warren's style. He's not too epileptic and yet not to easy.