What an incredible last few days. Fall is here and it means only one thing to me. REALLY GOOD SURF. Mainly the off shore winds are what make california so good this time of year, but it is also when we start seeing some decent NW swells. The swell this week wasn't quite all it was cracked up to be, but did produce many head high waves and just a couple overhead ones too. My buddy james, who put me up for a couple weeks in El Salvador was on the trip with me. I am introducing him to cold water and COLD it was! The days were getting up to 80 and I never saw a cloud the whole 3 days. I did see a lot of shooting stars. One morning while we were on a dawn patrol mission, I saw 3 shooting stars within 5 seconds. That was a first for me. This is the best way for me to start my winter!
-Finch
Somewhere in El Salvador……..
Written by larsames
Monday, 18 August 2008
Arriving in San Salvador with no baggage claim ticket to my surfboard bag, soon to find out I would not have any surfboards either. Desperate to get my boards we post up in San Salvador for a little local crazy driving experience in hopes to pick up my boards the next day. With no such luck we head to surf destination to get wet. Swell report calling for a 12foot swell in a couple days. My buddy Santiago (James) was putting my wife and I up for 2 weeks in his newly built home with a 2 minute walk to the wave. May I remind you this is more camping than anything, except we did have running water and electricity when it wasn’t storming. I should mention the shopping experience for fruits in veggies in a small town with a big market. Lots of bargaining for some killer deals, we filled up the back of our small pickup, with bags, chairs and ourselves. Finally on the wave which was a super fun right hand point break that was a 30 second ride and very consistent. Due to a local surf resort a ways away, 3 or 4 boats would roll in a day loaded with surfers, but due to our epic location, we would just get out of the water then get back in when they left. Averaged 3 to 5 hours a day in the water except for the day I had the runs, the day I had a ear infection and the day I had a sinus infection too. We cut one other day short too cause conditions were questionable, but more so because the jellyfish were thick and we were getting stung constantly! I was hitting one every paddle. But by the next day there were only a couple left and than completely gone the next. Boards showed up 4 days after arrival, just in time for the peak of the big swell. Double overhead sets coming in and we were all loving it. Second week, got all the bugs out of my system and was finally adjusted to the heat. We filled the down time with horseshoes, darts, making salsa, jumping on the trampoline, playing soccer with the local neighbors, and my favorite was skating the mini ramp in the back yard that Santiago made with rocks stacked for walls with a semi-smooth layer of concrete over it. The ramp reminded me of skating a canal, super fun! Finished the trip with a 3 hour session to ourselves before I jumped on the plane. Spent the night in the San Fran baggage claim sleeping on my surfboard bag (comfortably). Now home just enjoying the photos looking back on how awesome the trip was.
Mt Hood
Written by larsames
Friday, 11 July 2008
Finally a good snow year for the summer camps. Middle of July and we can still ride all the way to the parking lots. Half way through my trip and it already feels like a full week. Body is filling it for sure. Ride for 5 hours, skate till dinner and wake up early to do it again!
Windell's has it going on right now with a massive step up looking jump (really a table), but super lofty and no compression. Got in a sunset session with a skier film crew that was gracious enough to let me join them. Little tail wind, clear skies with some California smoke to give a little color. With some shots in the bag, I now can cruise the rest of the week and just feed off the energy from the mini shreds.
Nations Foundation crew is up here too. We are getting some of the last shots and interviews for the movie "ONEYEAR". Also making plans for the following movie, keeping it a surprise. Gonna be a good vibe!
