Last Day of the Year

2010 is officially over in a couple of minutes.
I think it is quite amazing how my last day of the year came together as well as it did. This morning, I surfed Blackies--peaky A-frames, a slight wind, and a tolerable crowd. I must say, I had the best surf performance-wise this morning and caught like 25 waves before my feet were frozen solid. Most of my waves were lefts but I had a few rights to mix it up. Saw a ton of people there including a customer, Eric. It was a nice ohana way to end the year with surprisingly good waves.


photo courtesy of www.newportsurfshots.com

River Jettys

I love River Jetties... but its soooo dirty right now.


The mountains are so beautiful in the wintertime.

Winter Embrace

Winter. Is. Incredible.
Although I haven't been enjoying the rain or the blistering cold mornings, I am embracing wintertime.

During the summer, I constantly think how much I love summer because of the heat and bikinis. But then again, there are a million people at the beach, the lineups are crowded, and its usually blown out by 10 AM.

The winter months differ from the summer ones. The biggest factor is that the air and water get colder. It blows my mind that soon after labor day, the beaches are vast and empty. There are mornings I hardly see ten people. Course, I do not go to Blackies and that seems to be the 'hangout' place so I am partly biased.

Today I surfed Nomansland even with the horrible stench and the run-off dead branches, trash, and whatever collectibles I could discover while trying to maneuver myself to the water. The water wasn't brown this morning except at the river-mouths. So hopefully I am safe by wearing my ear plugs which I hate! Despite the quality of the beach and water, the waves were juicy, clean, and beautiful. Had a blissful time.

So as of now, I am praying for cleaner water. Rest assured it will come.
I sure do love wintertime.

Tour de Newps

Here's my beautiful bike loop around my favorite parts of Newport Beach.
Went through Balboa Island, the Ferry, boardwalk, Mariners mile, and back home.
12 miles!

Pre-Christmas Waves

Holllyyyy yeah there was some incredible waves this morning!
San Diego county
Loving life.




Just wanted to note that he tested out the little handplane and loved it!

Handplane

She's finished.
I've been keeping my little handplane a secret from Afran because it was a Christmas present!
Now we just need to wait for a break in the rain!!

del mar

leads to somewhere.
blue eyes.



had a beautiful, perfect afternoon in Del Mar today.
not too many waves but a few sets rolled through that looked nice.
thank you Afran for the incredible photos.
you make me look good.



Ended the day at this lovely restaurant overlooking 15th street

Weekday Lux

Ohhhh the luxury of weekday morning surf.
MMM. It's one of the best things in the world.
Had RJ's with about 6-8 other people.
Summers yield 100 somedays.
Especially during swells.
I love winter, and I don't mind wearing a full-suit, if I can have uncrowded waves.



This afternoon, my friend Jen and I, went on a hike in the laguna hills.
Such a beautiful place and you could see for miles despite the smog.
A very enjoyable girl time!!
And victory cerveza to top off the afternoon!

the Present

Ohhhhhh yeahhhhh today was good.
It wasn't 10ft Pipe, but for Newport Beach, 2-3 foot was good.
I'll tell you why.
EMPTY, FOGGY, GLASSY, PERFECTION
I love the fog because no one surfs when its foggy and everyone seems to be scared that they can't see the waves.
Zooport doesn't get its name from anywhere... it's known for crowds of kooks. But today, NOPE, it was EMPTY & it was a SATURDAY.
Did I mention that it was GLASSY too? MM I love that.
This all leads to PERFECTION...
All my worries were far gone and nothing else mattered except ....

LIVING IN THE PRESENT.

Listen to this:

Nostalgia

I have a lot on my mind tonight
Feeling a little bit nostalgic tonight although I really don't know how to think.
It mostly began when I transferred my photos from the last five years over to my new computer. Made my heart hurt a little.
Its funny how life changes sooooo much. Or is it just me? Have you changed or stayed the same over the last five years?
I'd like to know. People come and go.
I don't even recognize the person I was in those photos, was that really me?!
But I must have faith in the future, whatever happens...

Have Faith!

HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that's all I got for today.
breath easy. laugh. smile.

Manzanilla Dreams

its time to go.
ISLA NAVIDAD.
i'm ready.
From TJ to Manzanilla it is 1500 miles. Not bad. But flying sounds better.

Wintertime

It's December 1.
I guess that means winter?
Surfed Orange St tonight. Air was 61 & water was 56.
BRRRR.
Frozen feet.
Still flat.
C'mon swells.
Catalina looked beautiful, well thanks to the Santa Anas that have been blowing. It was illuminated.
NEED: Surf Trip

The Feast!

Most amazing feast ever. We made it all!
Then went in to sleeping coma. lovely

So thankful for:
Good friends and family, my life, surfing, waves, shaping, smiling, and love.

Beachy Thanksgiving

After we put the turkey in the oven, we headed to the beach for a morning walk & people watching time.
Swami's is so beautiful. Not really any swell in the water but good to enjoy a beautiful Thanksgiving morning.
<3 MM

Be Still.

I spent some time meditating and thinking this morning.
Expressing what I am thankful for.
I like the back bay.

Waiting.

I. NEED. SEAHAB.
And I bet you do too.
Waters polluted, contaminated, murky.. Floating diseases all around.
Plus its windy, nasty, whitecaps,freezing cold, no swell...
Ok. I'll stop ranting. Days like today make me want to leeeeeeave this place.
Somewhere warm like: Nica, Bali, well you get it.
I'm in need of a swell. It doesn't matter what direction it is, NW, S, SW...
Make it clean, consistent, warm water, and fun. I'm pretty sure you will agree with me.

Just went on a long walk around my neighborhood and by the time I arrived back at home, my cheeks were red and freezing.
BRRR. What is this, winter?
Tomorrow I'll get in the water. I have to.
windyyyyyyyyyyyyy

PS: the photos of a jig I made at Affffff's house. I'm ready to fish now!

La Jolla + Birthday Fun

Weather forecaster in the making.

Sunday, November 21, 2010
Happy Birthday A!!
Had a swell rainy day.
So thankful you're in my life!




Nice run-off waterfall.



I love peli's

here fishy fishy

When there's no waves in sight, get yer fishy on!!
www.warbaits.com yeeeee boy!
team fdbu put together a killah video of their adventures to SCI when its flaaaaaaaaaat !!!
SCI is 60 miles off the coast of Newport Harbor. only the strong survive, say the boys.
so good. enjoy.

Heavy.

SO HEAVY.
My heart sank when I watched this video. I started crying in the computer lab at school.
Words cannot describe the feeling of a paddleout.
Loyalty, ohana, love, passion, fellowship, oppression, aloha...
It proves we are a family, a community. We care for one another.
Hands splashing water into the air, throwing flowers, screaming. So vibrant.
Its a celebration of life. Life from before and life to come.
I cannot imagine the feeling of losing someone so close as Andy's wife did.
Nor do I ever want to. It's life and we must accept it.
When I do die, I want to be cremated and spread in the ocean probably at RJs or Nomans.
I pray that the surf community finds closure after this time of disrupt.
Show your friends and family that you appreciate them.
The time is now.
RIP AI.

The Benefit!

The Benefit for my good friend Mark Bouvier went very well. Stoked I was able to help.
Had some awesome raffle prizes-- shirts, fins, blanks, skateboards, and beautiful custom surfboards.
We raised over $2600 today. Thank you to everyone who contributed.

Winter-y

Ohhhh I love Saturdays. I don't like weekend warriors, but I do like Saturdays.
Today was a perfect winter-like morning. The sky had a purpleish blue hue, light traces of offshores, and glassy water.
I do love Summer here because I don't have to wear a wettie and can surf for hours BUT I think I truly love winter surfing. Less crowded line-ups, chilly water, clean conditions, and you know the only people who are out are there to surf, not some summerkooks on softies.

Surfed Nomans Land this morning. Rode my 5'4" fishy. Good vibes spread through the line-up probably because it was mainly locals and a few dads with kids. My friend scored a barrel on my fish. Needless to say I was stoked cause I saw it. He commented that it is a very fast board, a little squirley, but overall a rad board. Thanks man.

One wave stood out in my mind this morning. Caught one of the set waves, went left, dropped down smoothly, and stylishly sailed down the line until the white wash crumbled in front of me. I love that free feeling when dropping down a wave. Nothing compares to that. Especially when the conditions are perfect and glassy.

I needed this SEAHAB. My soul is awakened and strengthened. Did you get some SEAHAB today? If not, grab your suit & board, let's go!

Super Windy

Today calls for a day of skool & studying.
I have a new project planned on the horizon.
Not going to tell any details because it's gonna be THAT KOOL.

Do something sea-related today.

I would like to know who my readers are ... please send me an e-mail @ whitneyl33@hotmail.com
cheers.

Foam Time!

Started shaping a new shred sled yesterday afternoon.
Stoked that I can work out of there!!
Its a 5'8" fishy similar to my current fish.
Had a little problems with the outline because I drew on the outline with a fishing pole curve, not a template. I seemed to fix it completely and the outline looks good. I knew the numbers I wanted to hit... its just aesthetics to get it to be a smooth curve.
Planed top and bottom with the Hitachi modified planer. Had some fun with this since I had to take off almost an inch.
Used a new technique, a revolving sander at about 3500 RPMs to do faster sanding. Brian showed me this and I like the way it works... as long as I don't jab one of the edges into the flat foam HA.
I actually enjoy using the hand tools -- the sureforms and sanding block. This is probably because I learned how to do everything by hand. It's probably good knowledge to have ... but it would be rough if I had to bust out a few boards a day.
Still need to shape the rails and throw in a bit of a concave.
Then we'll be ready to glass. Any ideas on color?
More to come.
STOKED.

Revitalize.

Surfed Thursday, tide was weird, saw a couple dry barrels. Nothing too special. I think its funny that there were places that had waves so huge they didn't know what to do with them & then here at home we have tiny waves with no power. HAH. So interesting.

Went over to my friend Brian's shop EMNT. (Check em out: http://emntboards.com/ ) He's got a great operation of Skateboards, Surfboards and Clothing. Goes against the grain of mainstream surf industry. I hope to be working at his factory soon-- probably lamming. Also, I will be making more boards in the near future. Things are happening!

Had a lovely weekend though. Some great SEAHAB Explored some tide pools in Laguna by Rockpile. Biked on crazy PCH. Had such great food: sushi, acai bowls, pizza... ! Did lots of things Sea-related. Felt GREAT. I am revitalized. So thankful for everything around me.