Pre-trip eye candy - dream of smooth flying & waves

With 101 things to do, and I cannot stop daydreaming. But since this time tomorrow I'll be Tortola (**** yeah Tortola!), what do you expect. The flight is on American Airlines, and traveling with a board is a major hassle. So my ADD mind starts wondering/wondering: Wouldn't a Seaplane be perfect? Like those big WWII jobs? Load up your stuff, fly to the break, land, drop anchor and have at it. Jacques Cousteau had one (above), so there.

Movietime!

I gotta see this - Palos Verdes in the 60's, clay wheels, even their surf team rider jackets are the coolest - and any of those cars in the lot are Musclecar Monday material!

More randomness:

The 777 is the liveliest traditional singlefin log you could imagine. Here's it's creator smacking it in El Porto (photo: Brad Jacobson):

Sawyers Island and Rowley River Saltmarshes, Rowley, Massachusetts

No surf and high fatigue levels brought us to a new spot - Rowley River Saltmarshes, part of the Essex County Greenbelt.

The Essex County Greenbelt Association is a member supported nonprofit land trust that has conserved nearly 14,000 acres of land in Essex County. Their goal is the creation of "greenbelts" consisting of river, trail, and other natural corridors, coastal systems and visually intact landscapes.

The new-moon tides put some roads underwater.

This marshland is part of The Great Marsh, which extends from Southern New Hampshire to Gloucester, and is the largest salt marsh ecosystem in the Northeast. The salt marsh is the single most important habitat in New England for the production and maintenance of life. As the "nursery" for many marine species, including herring, oysters, shrimp, clams, mussels, and many other species of fish and invertebrates, the marsh supports a highly divers population of migratory and resident birds, and provides two-thirds of the value of our commercial fisheries. The salt marsh also acts as a filter for nutrients and contaminants moving from the land toward the ocean.

Musclecar Monday - 1965 Mercury Comet Caliente

From 1960-1965, the Comet was based on the Ford Falcon platform. In '65 The 289 V8 was available in three horsepower ratings, 200 hp, 4-barrel 225 hp and the premier driveline option was the 289 cubic inch, 271 hp high-performance engine and four-speed manual transmission found on the Ford Mustang. The performance version was known as the Cyclone, replacing the previous S-22. Then in descending order of trim levels were the Caliente, 404 and 202, replacing the previous Custom and base models.

Gloucester by bike

Nothing epic (well maybe this Mercury) - but this is what you'll see when you ride around this burg.

film! it's what's happening

• just shooting pics over the past 2 weeks, pretty pleased but the killer noreaster telephoto images didn't come out.


• this old 50mm lens I use f1,4 - "cateye"- no need for hipstamatic effects

• take an old nikon slr (the trusty fm2), the older 50mm nikkor, plus some expired Fuji film and I'm ready to rock & roll; I guess.

Getting back to normal - very good surfin' on Thanksgiving.

Depending on what you call normal.

Thanksgiving had aways been a day for super fun surf. It was ideal, get up, suit up at home, let the first splash of cold water bow out the hangover-induced mental fog, and go light it up.

Then something happened, for the past 2 years Thanksgiving offered either no or poor waves. Thanks for nothing, Thanksgiving.

But cheer up spuds, the world is right-side up again!

Today: got up, suited up at home, let the first splash of cold water bow out the hangover-induced mental fog, and then proceeded to light it the **** up. Twice! - 2 sessions all before noon, and I got paddle under a bridge, ah the ever-loving creek! No big deal, just sayin'. Not much clearance but I made it. Sorry for the so-so pics, again, too anxious to paddle out to shoot the day's fun. But this old Dodge military truck was cool - happy 50th, peace corps!



Yup, you heard it, I'm an early riser now, so not only is the world right-side up again, the times, they're a changin' , somethings blown' in the wind.

With a little luck I'll have film pics tomorrow.

the nearest faraway place

It's been a rough week for us, and a very rough for some friends. We'll pull through.

But in the meantime hopefully some images from the Summer of 1967, yes, the fabled "Summer of Love" courtesy of the Surfing Heritage Foundation will put things in their proper perspective for you too. The ideal - it speaks for itself:.


Below: This is from 1964, and to think she's about 50 now. Her name is Karen, hey Karen, if you can see this are you still surfing San 'O?

A blessed child indeed.

Addendum:
As a matter of fact - I did a quick Google search. Not only does she still surf, she runs a surf school on the North Shore of Oahu!

Check it out:
http://northshoresurfcamps.com