Sunday, August 3, 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.
Labels: Andy Finch, El Salvador, skateboard, surfing
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Eric AsistinIf you all didn't know, Skinny is the Man! That wedge is NASTY! Check your manhood for sure.
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Monday, June 16, 2008
Surf's up! Road Trip to for Surf.
This last friday, I ventured down the hill with Porters team riders Andy Finch, Zak Shelhamer & good buddy Mike Basich in search for some summer swell. Finch & I got the email warning from Surfline.com that a small pulse of SW mixed with NW swell was on it's way to California. Finch has been in the water recently since he just competed in the Ultimate Boarder contest and his summer surf vibe was in full swing. I had no objections to the trip as I had confirmed the swell report with our buddies down at NHS (Santa Cruz). It's amazing that you can get 4 friends together for a trip like this with everyones busy schedules, even just for a couple of days.
We were stoked it was going to work out. Zak, Andy and I packed up here in Truckee and drove down to Colfax to pick up Mike Basich at his home/studio/junkyard. Mike has a ton of great stuff at his place and it's amazing to see what the guy can create with his hands. He runs to the beat off his own drum and it shows. He showed us this solar powered piston combustion engine that he plans to recreate in a much larger scale. I can't wait to see what he comes up with because it definitely looks like alternate energy sources are going to be the wave of the future. If you haven't noticed....I'm pretty sure you have, GAS PRICES ARE RIDICULOUS!
Our 1st goal & destination was to try to hit some evening surf in the Halfmoon Bay area. The foggy cool coastline was a ecstatic welcome from the scorching heat & heinous traffic we drove through in the Sacramento area. We were all anxious to get into the water, but 1st things 1st..... No surf trip in my book is ever complete without a stop at a burrito joint. We stopped at the Happy Taco for some Carne Asada and figured it would set us up with some "extra boost" power for the paddle. It was a great idea at first, but when we all finally hit the water....let's say we were a little slow if you will. The paddle was relatively easy but the shore break sure was punchy! Finch pulled into a handful of good waves right off the bat as Zak, Mike & myself struggled just to get to our feet. Mike was suffering from signs of hypothermia as his wetsuit was old and not rated for the water temps we we in. In this zone it's a mandatory 4mm/3mm wetsuit that you need. He called it and I soon followed as the burrito had done me in and I got "tacoed" in the shore break twice. Zak & Andy followed later sharing a wave in. It was time to setup camp because we had limited light left and the Halfmoon Bay cops told us they were closing the the gate to the beach. We bailed just outside the gate an we waited for the cop to close the gate. Once the cop bailed, we got our camping gear ready and Zak, Mike & I rolled beach down the beach while Finch went to go park the ride at an undisclosed location. Yes, we camped illegally and it's another way to keep things on the cheap.
We got down to our site and were ready for a campfire & smores. Well we were ready for a campfire, but you kinda need matches or some sort of fire to start a fire. Finch blew it! Matches were in another pack he left back up at the ride......oh well. We called it a night and planned on an early wake up to beat the Rangers on the beach. We pulled it off....no problemo.
We headed south toward Santa Cruz to check out some of the more known northern coves. Score! No wind, glassy, & 2-4ft swells were coming in! Basich sat this session out as he was still cold from the evening session the day before. Zak, Andy & I all scored fun waves and had a blast! I even broke-in my new board in on a sweet right. There were a lot of heads out but we picked a zone that we had to ourselves and there were plenty of peaks to be had. Good session!
This was the last day of our quick trip so we had to try to get to another zone cause Mikey hadn't pulled into one yet. We rolled back up north to Pacifica and visited the surfing capital of the Bay area. Talk about a junkshow! (See photos). We decided to stop at Rockaway beach and I let Mikey use my 6'8" Superfish. He instantly pulled into a couple and the smile & stoke was on. We all finally got some! Mission accomplished! It was time to call it a trip and head back up the hill as I had a Father's Day Skate Session planned back up at the Truckee park. If you can, get out on your own little adventure. Share the gas burden & plan accordingly....most importanly, enjoy the ride!
Labels: Andy Finch, ericasistinphoto.com, halfmoon bay, mike basich, pacifica california, Santa Cruz Surfboards, surfing, surfing california, Truckee Skate PArk, Zak Shelhamer
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