One Wahine

Either/ Or Team Surf Cup Results!

2007-10-02T16:23:00.000-07:00

The 1st annual Either/ Or surfing team cup took place September 15th and 16th, 2007 at Road’s End State Park in Lincoln City, Oregon. The event featured great conditions in the six to eight foot range and was a benefit for a 7th - 12th grade school water club.

Jason Garding, event organizer, describes the unique team event. “The bottom line was you had to get all 4 surfers on the team to score at least one decent score per heat. You may be the biggest ripper in the whole contest but you’re only worth 10 points out of a possible 40 per heat. After you get a good (wave), you’re better off rooting your teammates into a few. If you’re sitting on a solid six point wave you’re probably not going to improve on that much. It’s better to make sure your buddy who may only have a 3 improve his score. It was interesting to hear the communication going on between the teams out in the water. You don’t hear a surfer telling another surfer to go on a wave in the middle of a contest very often.”

Jason further describes the highlight of the weekend. “One of the coolest things I saw this weekend was Buzzy Morales and Tony Perez working together on the same team. Who would have thought that a guy who prays before every surf and a guy who spray paints his boards black and draws demon heads on them would come together for the common good of the team. Yeah, we broke down barriers this weekend. I felt the love.”

Winners for the First Annual Either/ Or Surf Team Cup include:
1st Place Team: Oregon Surf Shop (OregonSurfShop.com)
Team members: Buzzy Morales (Salem) , Kenny Wilson (Lincoln City), Tony Perez and Jason Garding (Lincoln City).

2nd Place: Seven Surfboards (SevenSurfboards.com)
Team Members (all from Pacific City): Bryan Bates, Ryan Merton, Dustin Judd and Sylas Stephens. Additionally, Ryan Merton was awarded the $100 best single wave for the event.

3rd Place: Gorge Performance (GorgePerformance.com)
Team Members: Kainoa Casco, Bobby Ruleau, Matt Spencer, Rex Adams.

4th Place: ASV Productions (AwesomeSurfVideos.com)
Team Members: Mattie Star (Lincoln City), Andy Hensley (Lincoln City), Stew Williams (Eugene), Zach Booth (Eugene).

Tied for 5th Place:
Ossies Surf Shop, Otter Rock Surf Shop, Double Vizion Photography and Gallucci’s Pizza.

Sponsors for this event included BK Mulligans Sports Bar, Awesome Surf Videos, Oregon Surf Shop, Fox Riders Company, Xcel, Rebel Boards, DoubleVizion Photography, ERA skateboards, Ossie’s Surf Shop, Right Front Burner and Russo Surfboards. Volunteers included Jason Garding, Ken Wilson, Keri Garding, Sean Johnson, Mattie Star and Andy Hensley. Judging was provided by Jedi Jonny, Hannah Nichols, and Stan Michaels.

Movie Fundraiser this weekend in Newport, OR

2007-09-11T19:25:00.002-07:00

On Friday, September 14th at 7:00 PM the non profit Surfrider Foundation Central Coast chapter will be hosting a Surf Movie Night featuring the surf movie Bowlful of Chile. The movie will be shown at the Newport Visual Arts Center (777 NW Beach Dr. Newport). The movie will be the grand kick off for the Surfrider Foundation’s participation in the SOLV Great Oregon Fall Beach Cleanups which will be held on Saturday, September 15th. A Bowlful of Chile was recently released by Seven Films and features top surfers tackling a huge slab wave in Chile. A suggested $5 entry donation entry for the movie will go towards the Surfrider Nye Beach Water Quality watershed improvement program. Food and beverages will be available for purchase, and movie watchers can bring their own snacks as well. Come early and meet members of the Surfrider chapter immediately before the movie! The chapter has a short meeting before the movie, starting at 6:30 PM at the Visual Arts Center.

The annual SOLV Great Oregon Fall Beach Cleanup will be held on Saturday September 15th, from 10:00-1:00 PM. Members of the Surfrider Foundation Central Coast Chapter will be captaining at 3 different sites: Ona Beach (8 miles south of Newport), Lost Creek (7 miles south of Newport), and South Beach State Park (2 miles south of Newport). Participation by Surfrider volunteers in the Great Oregon Fall Beach Cleanup coincides with an international beach cleanup event. Surfrider chapters across the globe will be participating in beach cleanups, paddle outs, and beach and ocean awareness events. All Oregonians are encouraged to come out and participate in the statewide cleanup efforts happening along the entire coast this weekend! For more information on the beach clean ups, contact Charlie Plybon CPlybon@surfrider.org 541-961-8143.

Surfrider’s focus on cleanup efforts in the South Beach area are part of an ongoing “Adopt-a-Park” partnership between the Surfrider Central Coast Chapter and South Beach State Park. The chapter recently installed new dog waste bag dispensers, and Surfrider members provide ongoing park cleanup and trail maintenance support. Surfrider members also conduct water quality monitoring as part of their Adopt-a-Park partnership with South Beach State Park. “This is essentially our backyard, we should treat it as such and teach others to do the same,” says Surfrider volunteer Joe Haxel. Charlie Plybon, the Oregon Field Coordinator for Surfrider, notes “The statewide cleanups represent the spirit of Oregonian beach stewardship. The beaches are more than just a place we recreate, they are part of our identity as coastal Oregonians”.

August 31 2007 Short Sands

2007-08-31T16:26:00.000-07:00

Nothing worth noting today- beyond the beautiful jelly fish in the water. The jellies were clear with red tentacles, rather short ones, on the edge. There were quite a few in clumps (5-10 per clump) across the water.

The water was chest to head, but closing out in nasty shore break. So, not really ride-able for me with the longboard. The teenage shortboarders were moving it out for short little rides before the waves turned into foam balls.

Either/ Or Surf Cup Sept. 15 and 16 2007 Lincoln City

2007-07-29T15:32:00.000-07:00

BK Mulligans and Awesome Surf Videos Host Surfing Team Cup

The 1st annual Either/ Or surfing team cup has been scheduled for the weekend of September 15th and 16th, 2007 at Lincoln City, Oregon. This event is a benefit for a 7th - 12th grade school water club in the Lincoln City area. A surf themed raffle, surf movies filmed with local Oregon surfers and live music will be offered on Saturday night (September 15th ) at BK Mulligans Sports Bar, starting at 6 PM. The Saturday night event will be free and open to the public.

Four man teams will compete against each other for the coveted Either/ Or Trophy. Jason Garding, one of the event organizers, notes the winning team will also get a plaque “so years down the road you can show your grandchildren how rad you used to be”. This one of a kind event is limited to 32 surfers total in 8 teams, and will utilize a unique team format. The event will run with two teams per “game” (or heat), with each team surfing two quarters per game with the winning team moving on towards winning the team cup. Each team member will have their best wave score combined with the best wave score for their other team members. The team with the highest cumulative score wins the event and the coveted trophy. Another different aspect of this event is that the only other surfers in the water during each heat will all be on the same team, and surfing cooperatively with each other as opposed to the surfing against each other as is seen in every other local surf event. Surfers in the Either/ Or team cup are encouraged to share strategy and to change water approach tactics to maximize the best surfers for the best conditions during their heats.  
The event will run a total of eight hours of heats, with each heat scheduled for at least fifteen minutes. Teams will surf two heats each. Teams must have at least two shortboarders (boards 7’4” or shorter) and one longboarder (boards more than 9’). Teams must register in advance as team space is very limited. Individual team riders will be registered the day of the event in a beach registration process, or at BK Mulligan’s Sports Bar Friday night between 6-8 PM. The entry fee for each team will be $150.00. Checks for team registration can be mailed to Jason Garding at Either/ Or Team Cup, 1745 NE West Devils Lake Rd., Lincoln City, OR 97367. Include the team name, a team contact person, a contact phone number and e-mail address with the team registration check. Judging for this event will be provided by the surf judging group Pacific NW Judges, headed by Sonny Owens.

The location for the event will depend on ocean conditions on the day of the event. The selected areas for running the event are D- River Wayside, Road’s End, Canyons, Nelscott, Otter Rock or Mulligans. The selected event location will be posted on AwesomeSurfVideos.com on Friday, September 14th. In the event of severe weather conditions, the team cup will turn into a pool tournament at BK Mulligans Sports Bar, which is why the event is called the Either/ Or Team Cup (either a surf event or a surf oriented pool tournament).

Sponsors for this event include BK Mulligans Sports Bar, Awesome Surf Videos, Oregon Surf Shop, Fox Riders Company, Xcel, Rebel Boards, DoubleVizion Photography, ERA skateboards, Ossie’s Surf Shop and Russo Surfboards.

Contacts:
Jason Garding (Registration, logistics) jasongarding@charter.net
Ken Wilson (Logistics, web site) ken@awesomesurfvideos.com
Pamela Clark (Media) clark_pamela@yahoo.com

Saturday July 28th Short Sands

2007-07-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

Man... did every board rental place sell out today? It was madness at Short Sands- there were two separate line ups today (one inside, one outside). It reminded me of California. The waves were pretty small (two to three) with a few fives rolling through. Pretty thick, you really had to be on the peak and almost inside to get things going.

There was one guy out there on a red longboard with dark hair who was working it- hanging five on the drops, beautiful foot work. He was great and it was fun to watch him!

I saw a tiny little brown fish in the foot deep water, maybe a halibut or something.

And, there are some really interesting priest lamp mushrooms that have appeared on the walk down to the water. They are freaky little things with no chlorophyll, just a glowing white. I've never seen them before so that's always fun- to see something new.

Thursday July 26th Indian

2007-07-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

Back at Indian- the waves were smaller, making for more of a scratch to get out. The surf guys were there again, and we surfed for about four hours. Waves were in the three to five foot range again and the mood was friendly and polite.

Oregon surfers are the best- we don't have many wave hogs or localism.

Or maybe I've finally turned into a local... hmm......

Wed July 25th Indian

2007-07-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

First time to surf with Sonny and the other surf guys in a long time. And it's always great to catch up with everyone!

Indian was great. The waves have a longer interval now which makes for an easier paddle. Sonny coached me a bit, mostly on working on a nicer pivot during a switch stance (versus my little hop now) and on some paddling techniques.

The waves were in the three to five foot range and it was nice and sunny.

Yay for summer!

Chick Surf! Saturday July 21st Short Sands

2007-07-29T15:12:00.001-07:00

Oh yeah... Chick Surf!

Many thanks to Katie B. for hooking up the group of girls who made it down to the coast this weekend. The group stayed in a house and it sounded like they had a blast. I met them for a day surf on Saturday at Short Sands. The water was pretty crowded, but that's what happens in summer. Most people stayed inside and played in the foam lines as the waves were just big enough and frequent enough to make getting outside a bit of a challenge.

And, honestly, catching perfect wave face is sometimes not in my ability tool kit. I can catch waves, but haven't yet perfected figuring out when a wave will collapse over (resulting in just a foam line) or will break right or left (resulting in a nice wave face). I'm working on it- hopefully that skill will develop over this year!

Thursday July 19 Short Sands

2007-07-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

Bit bigger than yesterday, but still disorganized. The interval between waves has been pretty short lately and that makes for a long paddle out!

Wed July 18 Indian

2007-07-29T15:09:00.000-07:00

Made it out early, and was in Ecola state park by 9 AM. It was awesome, and I saw a black tailed deer on the paved road between the ranger station and Indian Beach. The waves were a bit disorganized, but it was small and fun.

Julia Updates for July

2007-07-16T17:15:00.000-07:00

Man, miss a few weeks on baby updates and a novel is needed.

About three weeks ago, Julia said "DaDa". That means Rachel won the bet and we owe her some beer. Good call, Rachel!

About one week ago, she went into open water for the first time (a lake in Eastern Washington state). We put her in a baby float thing (like a inner tube, but with netting inside so babies can just hang out and float with water up to their waist). She LOVED it and immediately figured out that kicking her legs would make her move. She just took off, laughing and chattering to everyone. She's been in baby swim classes here in P-town, so we knew she liked the water, but finding out she's OK in colder water was a nice surprise as well.

About two days ago, Julia started eating bananas and cheerios (her first real food, not just baby food). She's just not that into food, still working on understanding what chewing is, and we finally just made her eat. She watched some other kids eat Cheerios and that was the end of that- of course, she wanted some then and thinks they are very entertaining.

About two hours ago, she cut her next two teeth. Her top two teeth are coming in at the same time, and they just pushed through the skin today.

Go, baby girl, go!

CSO Surfing Contest Last Weekend

2007-07-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

The CSO event was awesome on Sunday, July 1st. It was held at Road's End state park in Lincoln City and the second day of the event was beautiful and sunny. The waves were quite small but that worked out well for some of the divisions! A photo badge has been created and is on the left hand border of this blog.

Tue June 19th Short Sands and Bald Eagle!

2007-06-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

Went to Short Sands today to go surfing. It was a beautiful, beautiful day. Small waves, friendly crowd, clear water with crabs scrabbling around below, and I busted out my "cover girl" Walden Wahine board (yellow with the flowers). Just a magical day-

And then, a bald eagle skittered into the ocean about fifteen feet from the nose of my board, and came back up with a silver fish. It was amazing- the bald eagle was stunning. Our little crowd of surfers was stunned into silence, and then a few of us clapped and a few hooted. It was a very cool experience-

About a half hour after that, a sea lion breached a full air turn. Not like a dolphin, he stayed in the water, but came up to check us out and did a lazy arch of his whole body slightly above the water on his way down. He was right in the middle of the line up.

It was beyond cool- like everyone in the animal kingdom had come to play in the water today.

Trip to the Zoo May 2007

2007-06-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

We took Julia to the Portland Zoo a few weeks ago. While there, we checked out the lorikeets (cute!), large mammals, otters, and all the zoo exhibits along with the nice sunny day.

While there, I overheard these two statements which still crack me up, weeks later. I wrote them down at the time on a dirty napkin, tucked it into a corner of my desk, and just pulled it out.

"I love me a spiny haired goat!"

and the classic

"How does Valium work on a kid?"

Clean Water Classic results!

2007-06-05T14:44:00.001-07:00

The 6th annual Clean Water Classic surfing contest has just wrapped up at Westport, Washington. This event was a benefit for the Pacific Northwest chapters of the Surfrider Foundation. The 2007 Clean Water Classic was presented by Global Surf Industries (GSI), the worldwide leading surfboard distribution company. The event drew more than 100 competitors and also drew many first time surfers to the beach as well. “It’s great to see so many people surfing for the first time- it’s just perfect!” said Mark Kelly, the President of Global Surf Industries.

Mark continued “"The surfing community of the Pacific Northwest should be very proud of itself. The quality of the surfing I saw on the weekend was sensational. The local guys can hold their head up high on the performance side of things. This was my first trip to the region, and having travelled extensively throughout the world I have to say that the “Aloha spirit” was alive and well in Westport. The surfing culture here is pure and the joy of surfing that I witnessed really fits with our company mantra - Life is better when you surf!” GSI brought several well known surfers to participate in the event, including Bonga Perkins (who is currently on the cover of Longboard magazine) and Steve Walden, a successful surfboard shaper/ manufacturer from Ventura, CA.

The event started with a GSI sponsored surfboard dealer heat on Friday, which drew three man teams from six surf shops. The three man teams surfed three boards (a shortboard, a fish, and a longboard). The shop winner was awarded a $2500 shop credit, which drew spirited competition to start off the surfing weekend. Steepwater Surf (Westport, WA) was the eventual winner of the GSI shop challenge.

On Saturday June 2nd, the first heats started at 8:00 AM at the jetty in Westhaven State Park, Washington. The event concluded at 3 PM on Sunday, June 3rd. Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, 50 heats were run with most being 15 minute heats. Six competitors per heat was the norm on Saturday, with the semi finals and finals on Sunday drawing between two and four competitors per heat. The weather was calm and foggy at times, with nicely shaped waves in the two to six foot range.

On Saturday night, GSI and Quiksilver combined forces to provide an extraordinary surf theme party which attracted over 450 people. The party turnout packed the Westport Convention Center, and featured a Quiksilver raffle, the donation of boards by Mark Kelly from GSI, and several surf movies and movie previews. One of the movies previewed was Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer which will be released by Fox on June 15, 2007. In this movie, the lead character rides a silver surfboard. The Clean Water Classic was selected by Fox to feature a very limited edition silver surfboard similar to the one used by the movie character. On Sunday, this board was given to the winner of the Master’s Shortboard division (Matt Loughren). Matt is the well known owner of a local surf shop in Westport, and the crowd roared appreciatively as Matt stepped up to claim his one of a kind prize.

Other major sponsors who made the 2007 Clean Water Classic a great success include Rebel Boards, Awesome Surf Videos, Vitamin Water, One Ball Jay, Cleanline Surf, Sex Wax, XCel, Perfect Wave, Hammersurf, and Biofoam Boards.

2007 Clean Water Classic division winners included:

Pro/Am Shortboard Division (shortboards are less than seven foot four inches):
1st = Noah Cohen (Tofino, BC) . Noah also won the Best Wave and Shortboard Highest Scored Wave. Noah received $500 for his win.
2nd = Steve Martin (Westport, WA). Steve received $150 for his win.
3rd = Bastien Lanusse (Tofino, BC). Bastien received $100 for his win.

Master’s Shortboard (40 + years of age):
1st = Matt Loughren (Westport, WA)
2nd = Andrew Drake (Seattle, WA)
3rd = Gary Smither (Coos Bay, OR)

Women’s Shortboard:
1st = Leah Oke (Port Renfrew, BC). Leah won $150 for her win.
2nd = Rachel Ward (Seaside, OR)
3rd = Katt Dunn

Men’s Longboard (longboards are more than nine feet long):
1st = J.P. Canis
2nd = Steve Martin (Westport, WA)
3rd = Andy Cordeiro

Master’s Longboard:
1st = Perry Abedor (Dana Point, CA) Perry also won the Longboard Highest Scored Wave.
2nd = Andrew Drake (Seattle, WA)
3rd = Gary Smither (Coos Bay, OR)

Women’s Longboard
1st = Rachel Ward (Seaside, OR)
2nd = Yvonne Mendel (Tofino, BC)
3rd = Hannah Nicholls (Depoe Bay, OR)

Junior’s Division (between 12- 17 years old):
1st = CC Unger-Mayor (Tofino, BC)
2nd = Kye Peladeau (Tofino, BC)
3rd = Janek Peladeau (Tofino, BC)

Surf Kayak High Performance:
1st = Gary Korb (Port Angeles, WA)
2nd = Jameson Riser (Seattle, WA)
3rd = Kate Howell (Corvallis, OR)

Surf Kayak Novice/ Intermediate:
1st = Joe Dietrich
2nd = Jeff Daniels

The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of our world’s oceans, waves and beaches. Founded in 1984 by a handful of visionary surfers, the Surfrider Foundation now maintains over 50,000 members and 63 chapters across the United States and Puerto Rico, with international affiliates in Australia, Europe, Japan and Brazil.

Clean Water Classic results!

2007-06-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

Thu May 24 Short Sands small and fun

2007-05-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

Another week, another Short Sands trip- and yet again, small and fun. The sky was blue, the winds were light, and the other surfers were friendly and ripping.

Unfortunately, I was not. We just wrapped up a quick trip down to CA to see grandpa, and taking a nine month old on an airline flight, in coach, is just not fun. Our daughter is a total trooper, but she just had enough after 30 minutes or so in the air not to mention all the changes in routine/ sleeping spaces/ naptimes/ etc.

As a result of trip-tiredness, I was dragging in the water. Totally kooking on the paddling, missing drops repeatedly, gas running out after twenty minutes.

But it was still great to be in the water! We're all glad to be back home-

Wed May 16 Shorties Awesome-ness

2007-05-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

Another perfect day at Short Sands- yet again the waves were small (yes!), relatively uncrowded (yes!), and full of boys with shortboards, doing their best to rip it up on a two foot wave.

Summer in Oregon is just made for the old loggers like me. My nine footer is hardly long enough. If anything, summer in Oregon is about the ten to twelve foot log, which makes it easier for the lazy paddlers like me to catch the small rollers.

The water was a bit disorganized, and that would be the only ding in the day. No clear line up points, but at least that keeps the outside line spread out and keeps everyone moving.

It was awesome!

May 10 Short Sands Perfection

2007-05-11T17:24:00.001-07:00

Surfed Shorties today, it was absolute perfection. Small, perfectly shaped waves, some wind to keep things moving, and just enough people out in the water to keep it lively. Perfect, perfect longboarding day- it was AWESOME!

The waves had about 2-3 foot faces and some workable fronts for a few tricks. I got in lots of rail grabs, some switch stancing, even screwed around with tail and fin first take offs which are totally fun. Haven't got that trick nailed yet, but I'm working on it!

May 9th Otter Rock windblown

2007-05-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

Otter Rock was sunny but really windblown on May 9th. The time to hit it was early AM, before the winds started kicking in, but I couldn't make it out until mid day. By then, the wind was pretty howling, causing some havoc with the tiny little slappers that were rolling in.

The birds were beautiful!

April 29th Shorties Volcom Truck

2007-04-30T17:05:00.000-07:00

Surfed Short Sands today- it was windblown and pretty ugly conditions.

One new thing was a big Volcom converted truck in the parking lot as I left. It had CA plates, and was very "Bend to Baja", all converted with big 4*4 tires, a very stereotypical surf rig. And it was head to toe in Volcom skin, which was very loud. First time I've seen it here in Oregon and that made it kind of strange!

Surfing quote

2007-04-02T08:52:00.001-07:00

A new favorite quote from the Surfer's Path:

"I paddled over the shoulder of a set wave and an instant later a guy popped up from his duck dive a moment behind me. I knew him well, we had surfed together often. But we were 12,000 miles from home, and neither of us knew the other would be there. I said, "Hey." And he said, "What's up?" Like there was nothing out of the ordinary, like it was no surprise that either of us should pack our bags, fly for two days, and boat for another to surf this place on the other side of the planet and not expect to run into one another. Surfing is like that. The commitment is like that."

- Gary Sirota (surfer, ocean advocate, rich in love)

March 2007 surf update

2007-03-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

Surf Stories- March

Nothing new to tell! I went out to the Cannon Beach area last weekend and checked out the three usual spots (Spot X, Indian Beach, Shorties) and only one was working. The working spot was only going to be working it for another twenty minutes with the tide change- shoulders getting beyond mushy, waves disappearing under the tide, etc. Indian has been a wash for me all winter long and Shorties was only good for the workout of hauling my board and gear to the water and then walking back.

We've finally finished the registration form for the upcoming Surfrider Foundation Clean Water Classic surf contest (June 2-3, Westport WA). The forms are on the front page of http://www.cleanwaterclassic.com and the event always books up.

Surfing, taken by David Pu'u

2006-12-17T16:14:00.000-08:00

Surfing, taken by David Pu'u
Originally uploaded by onewahine.

Dec 7th Nelscott is a go!

2006-12-17T16:08:00.000-08:00

The Nelscott Reef tow in surf contest is a go for tomorrow (Friday), start time 8 AM in Lincoln City.

Should be a crazy, fun time!

Nov 27th Julia, Chocolate and the Priests

2006-12-17T16:07:00.000-08:00

As most of everyone reading this will know, back in the day I worked at a chocolate store down in California. We handmade all of the chocolates by hand. It was my favorite job of all time, and maybe still is. It also left me with a compulsion to visit small chocolatiers and to chat tempering and butterfat percentages. Yum!

Today, Julia and I headed out to a small fudge/ chocolate store in Amity which is about 50 miles south of our house. It's run by Brigittine priests and is at http://www.brigittine.org/

Anyway, we walk in, and are chatting fudge with the nice woman at the counter. A priest walks in- kind of unexpected in a chocolate store- and stops by me and Julia as we're the only customers. He looks at Julia, asks her full name, and blesses her with a pretty elaborate blessing. It was very shocking given the setting for some reason, but also so completely perfect.

For my daughter to receive her first individual blessing in the middle of a chocolate store- how can it be more perfect?

So, of course, I had to go to the chapel and get a bit misty eyed over the strange synergy of life. But not before buying some truffles!

November 22 Still no surf in Oregon!

2006-12-17T16:06:00.000-08:00

Still no surf here- it's been really cruddy on the coast. Tons of rain, gale force winds, roads collapsing into sink holes and shutting down- all kinds of fun travel and surf weather.

We have some family coming over this weekend, and will be holding our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday instead of Thursday which is kind of fun. Fewer people at the market, easier to schedule with people, and just more laid back. We might keep this up for future years!

Our tugboat is doing great, she just rolled over for the first time yesterday. Yay, Julia! One milestone closer to nose riding!

Currently reading :
The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-be Southerners

Yes, still trying to learn how to cook. Or at least not burn water!

November 9th San Diego/ Oregon water

2006-12-17T16:05:00.000-08:00

Well, friends in San Diego have told me they are seeing great surf time.

We're seeing huge swells (20 plus), but unfortunately tons of wind, road wash outs, houses falling into rivers and the Pacific, and other stuff which makes paddling out not so enticing.

The Nelscott Reef tow in surf contest is now on a yellow status, meaning that the waves are big as you know what, but due to the general crappiness of chop and wind it's most likely a no go for this yellow status condition.

On a personal note, I've gotten out about four times since my daughter came along. Each time was AWESOME. Maybe not because of the conditions, but just for the enjoyment of being in the water and being in a contented, great place in life right now. So, yay for winter! Yay for pictures of Santa, and homemade cookies, and huge waves and chop and wind. Bring it on- winter is awesome!

ASR in San Diego

2006-12-17T16:03:00.000-08:00

I spent last week in San Diego, and it was awesome. While there I hit up the ASR trade show, which is one of the largest surfing trade shows. It was crazy fun.

And, in a very California story, there was a large sewage spill in the LA region while I was visiting, ruling out surfing adventures. Largest sewage spill in the last decade for LA which is saying quite a bit!

Oregon is socked in with rain again so no surf stories from the Northwest either.

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Clean Water Classic call for volunteers!

2006-05-06T14:52:00.000-07:00

More info on this surf event is located at http://www.cleanwaterclassic.com

We'd love to have some extra help with the contest!

2006 CWC Volunteer Opportunities
– contact Ian Miller at imiller@surfrider.org or 360 808 1103

A note on volunteering: Please come ready for surprises, quick changes of plans, and any weather that this Earth can possibly produce, etc. This whole event is an adventure! Volunteers are responsible for providing their own lodging and food.

AV Specialist – this position is a weekend long commitment and will start with Friday night’s movie viewings and run through Sunday afternoon. This individual will be responsible for moving, setting up and maintaining the contest sound system and projection system.

Friday Night MC – This individual will work with contest organizers to run Friday Night’s movie showings at the Islander Resort.

Registration Room Staff – Assist the Registration Coordinator with registering competitors, distributing goodie bags, monitoring the silent auction and selling merchandise. Shifts available:

• 6 PM to 9 PM Friday
• 6 AM to 9 AM Saturday
• 9 AM to 12 PM Saturday
• 4 PM to 7 PM Saturday
• 7 PM to 9 PM Saturday
• 8 AM to 11 AM Sunday
• 11 AM to 1 PM Sunday

Set Up Crew – 9 AM to 6 PM Friday. Set up banners, beach equipment, registration room, sound equipment…pretty much everything involved in the contest gets set up on Friday. Be there…

Roaming Raffle Assistants – Assist the Raffle Coordinators with the sale of raffle tickets. This is one of the big fund-raisers in the contest! Shifts available:

• Friday Evening
• Saturday 9-1
• Saturday 1-6
• Saturday 6 – closing
• Sunday 9-1
• Sunday 1-5

Beach Volunteer – Assist the Beach Boss and Beach Captain with running a smooth event on the beach. Possible jobs might include flagging, distributing jerseys, running scores, assisting the judges. Shifts available (times are approximate – come to this one ready to get swept up in the action):

• Saturday 6 AM – Noon
• Saturday Noon – 6 PM
• Sunday 7 AM – 11 AM
• Sunday 11 AM – 3 PM

Set Up Crew – Awards Ceremony – a small group that will help set up the Islander for the awards ceremony. Be prepared to be engaged from about 1 pm on Sunday through the end of the ceremony

Contest Clean-up and Break Down Crew – the single most important job in the event. This is what keeps relationships good and allows us to come back. From the end of the awards ceremony (about 4PM) until we are done. Break down banners, tents, etc. Put away equipment, sweep the beach…it all needs to be done.

Feb surfing

2006-02-17T11:46:00.000-08:00

I did get out last weekend, and it was pretty nice. Long foam lines, some peaky waves about three to five foot size. The sandbars at Indian at high tide were acting strangely, with the waves dissolving and disappearing. I haven't been watching Indian so I don't know if that will be a permanent feature or not. So, I hoofed it down to Shorties with every other city-liver and enjoyed the day in the foam and waves. Lots of boards out, even some shortboards, but it was a day for long boards to make the reforms.

Hopefully, more stories to follow!

Our surf contest season is in full swing, and if you'd like the dates of the contests you can check them out on my website at

www.onewahine.com

New surf photos posted in sidebar

2006-01-29T14:13:00.000-08:00

New surf photos taken at La Jolla have been posted in the sidebar. These shots are three from unknown surfers taken at La Jolla, CA about a week ago. I'm working on getting better action shots of surfers in the water and am finally getting the trick of capturing spray and other aerial moves.

Good job, brain!

No surfing in the past month

2006-01-14T15:05:00.000-08:00

Very sad to say, I haven't been out surfing in over a month. Oregon has been getting an inch or two of rain every day for the past thirty days or so, with high wind/ gale force advisories on the coast.

No surfing, no stories-

Please check back in a month or so!

Nelscott Reef contest last weekend

2005-12-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

This has really turned into dead space lately, the holidays and work are killing my surf time.

The Nelscott Reef tow in surf contest went off without a hitch last weekend. Big kudos to the organizers, John and Roland, and to the great judging crew headed up by Sonny Owens. The competitors put on a great show and the event got scads of media coverage. Congratulations to the organizing committee and to the competitors for a great weekend of surf!

I'm hoping to head out again after our winter storms pass by- stories to follow!

No date yet for Tow In surf contest

2005-11-09T12:48:00.000-08:00

While there is a tow in surf contest scheduled for this fall/ winter on the Oregon coast, the date has not yet been set. This upcoming Friday was mentioned as a potential day, but it will most likely be too windy.

If you are participating in this event, please do not make travel arrangements unless you are told by me (if you are a judge), or a contest organizer (if you are a competitor) that the event is a go and you should plan to arrive at a certain time at a certain location.

Looking forward to many stories to tell after this event!

Big and Nasty surf

2005-11-06T11:07:00.000-08:00

Yep, the last person who left a comment is right. The waves in Oregon have been rather large, and pretty messy due to a never ending storm cycle. Gale force winds, inches and inches of rain, and just general overall nasty-ness have left me high and dry without surf. It's been about three weeks now without a surf session, and no end in sight.

Aargh!

Back home in Oregon

2005-10-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

California was beautiful. The last few days were spent with my Dad and Lynda in Huntington Beach, and unfortunately it did rain pretty hard. That was the end of surfing for me, although there were several other people braving the bacteria-full water. The water cleaned up nicely post rain, and the waves were really nicely shaped four footers.

The sandbar was doing weird things, and the waves would dissipate and then re-form later on giving many examples of the "Huntington Hop" for my dad to watch.

CA road trip

2005-10-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this in San Diego, and the road trip has been awesome so far. Water is small, three foot range with a storm coming in tomorow. La Jolla was nice today, and turned into thumpy beach break about one PM. The water is a bit mushy, but it's still awesome to be surfing without booties.

Women finalists at the Rogue Classic

2005-09-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

Women winners at the Rogue Longboard Classic September 2005 (photo by Ted Thurman of Ocean Bay Gallery.

I'm at the far right in the Oregon Girls Rock shirt, and the winner of the event (go, Nance!) is in the light blue shirt second from the left.

Cheater Five at the Rogue Classic

2005-09-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

Cheater five noseride from a competitor in the Rogue Classic. This shot was taken by Ted Thurman of Ocean Bay Gallery. Thanks, Ted!

2005-09-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

Crowd at the Rogue Longboard contest in September 2005 (Newport, OR).

This is a smattering of the crowd at the Rogue Longboard Classic. The beer garden is on one side of the red fence and several competitors are standing around in their wetsuits. This is a much better turnout that during the Clean Water Classic- funny how pouring rain can keep a damper on spectators!

2005-09-14T20:49:00.000-07:00

Pamela and Sonny Owens at the Rogue Classic September 2005

Sonny Owens is the head judge for many of the surfing contests in the Pacific Northwest. He's a great guy all around and is often seen telling me to learn to kick out or break an ankle. Someday, Sonny- someday!

Sat Sept. 10th Rogue Longboard Contest Newport Beach

2005-09-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

What is it with surf contests and bad surf conditions? It's a myth among some surfers that there is nothing like a surf contest to bring out really bad surf conditions and sad to say this was true for the early morning of the Rogue Longboard Classic in Newport, OR. The first heats started at 7 AM. I helped judge the contest, and the fog made it tough to see some of the moves by the talented group of long boarders. The contest was called off for an hour to improve visibility, and started up around 8 AM. We were on the South Beach break, immediately south of the Jetty and in the general area of the aquarium and the Rogue Brewery.

As the morning progressed, the visibility improved. The waves were in 6-8 foot sets with some of the long boarders scoring short barrels. The chop was bad and the wave interval was pretty short with the bigger sets moving through every ten or fifteen minutes. The judging area was full of conversation, and I learned a ton about why some judges score waves higher than other judges. While there are judging conventions (i.e. traditional long boarding or progressive long boarding, etc.) this was a general open contest and each judge had a soft spot for a particular move or style. Speed in sections played a factor, noseriding had fans, extra tricks (helicopters or spinners) were popular and overall style was a factor. It was a full day of great discussion and wave riding.

The staff at Rogue Brewery did a great job of hosting the contest. They brought out a BBQ and had warm food for sale (much better than cold sandwiches), beer on tap, hot coffee all day long, a great sound system and scaffolding for the judges, and several Rogue employees staffing the event. It was really great to work with them!

Fri Sept. 2nd to Sunday Sept. 4th at Otter Rock

2005-09-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

Otter Rock was perfect all weekend long. Small longboarding waves, some with a small workable face, some with peeling, too small to crash over foam but still enough push to get in a switch stance or rail grab. There were huge crabs along the sand bottom, and sand dollars scattered over the beach. The water was very clear, the sky was big and bright, and there were only about fifteen other surfers out all weekend long.

The low numbers of other surfers (and beach visitors in general) was really odd. It might be the gas prices. All weekend long, the surf was empty, the movie theater was deserted (maybe it was my choice of movie- Transporter 2), and the restaurants were open as well. It was a perfect weekend on the coast.

Sunday, August 28th

2005-08-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

Otter Rock today - the surf was a nice size around 11 AM and dwindled down with the tide change through the afternoon. There were tons of people out, many beginners and some old time longboarders as well. I'm learning to sit out in the outside lineup and to scratch for waves which is fun. I put together some nice sections and realized that I've learned to get from the whitewater to the unbroken wave face without thinking about it. That was weird- making the transition from white, broken wave faces to unbroken wave face is necessary for tricks (like nose riding) but used to take me quite a bit of "thinking". "OK, drop down to pick up speed, pull up to aim for the lip, a bit to the left to get around this collapsing bit" and now it's just instinctual. That was a nice thing to learn.

The rain moved in about 3 PM along with the lack of waves and that was the end of the surfing.

Monday, August 22nd

2005-08-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

OK, this post is not technically about surfing but that's OK. Early this week I had the opportunity to go on a jet boat ride on the Rogue River in southern Oregon. My first impression of the idea was not a good one, I was thinking it would be like the paddle boats on the Willamette or something else kind of slow and weird or else really loud and bad.

The boat ride was AWESOME. On the four hour trip, we saw:

Three adult black bears, two black bear cubs.
Two bald eagles.
Tons of osprey nests, and four ospreys.
Five adult blue herons.
Five or so deer.
Three elk.
A beaver.
Several river otters.
Big sea lions in the harbor, play fighting and biting at the seagulls.

It was just insanity- the Rogue River is one of the most animal populated places that I've ever been while in Oregon. The jet boats are limited to a very small portion of the river, and of course now I am saving money to ride a non motorized raft down another portion of the Rogue. It was awesome! We went in the afternoon, and saw most of the animals right before twilight (around 6-7 PM).

Friday, August 26th

2005-08-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

Indian Beach was the spot today, given that I had to work in the morning. It was small with a medium wind. The peaks were shifting all over and eventually the surf died out around four PM. The sandbars are really not stabilizing this summer for some reason, and the waves just haven't been holding their shape or form for me over the past month or so. Waves will come up, start to peak, and then dissolve back into nothing with no rhyme or reason. Last summer, each break had very regular areas that would be a nice left, a nice A frame, etc. but this summer I'm not finding the same stability.

Looks like I have a lot to still learn about how waves develop and the intersection between sandbars and waves! There were also quite a few bird feathers on the shore, and there have been reports that Oregon's had another dead zone in the water resulting in bird deaths. Kind of freaky-

Saturday, August 13

2005-08-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

Today was a blustery, three foot day at Beverly Beach (near Otter Rock). I went out with Mark from the Otter Rock Surf Shop and we taught a group of three girls how to surf. It was pretty fun. I'd forgotten how hard it is just to pull the board out to the line up, and how difficult it was to even be able to balance on the board prone without tipping to one side or the other. Not to mention the mysteries of pearling, being too far back on the board, and the overall questions of trim and board balance.

The girls were all troopers, the water was very cold and the wind was going. We were the only surfers at the break, even though it's a Saturday in summer. The waves were disappearing, and just peaky beach break. It was moderately difficult to keep foam lines intact for the girls to get rides, but all of them did.

Very fun day!

Saturday, July 23rd

2005-07-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

Short Sands was small, windy and packed. The waves were nicely shaped and would have been great fun if they had been moving from a slightly different direction. As things lined up, they were breaking right over and dumping onto the sand. Shorebreak at low tide is always a sad sight to see, and there was some moderate wind from the North in the mix. I was on my longboard, and the wind was so strong that the wind on two occasions picked up the nose of my board and blew it up into my face while I was on the board, trimming along.

More noseriding, less wind shear- that is the new goal.

It was a beautiful day and would have been pretty close to perfect without the wind. Or with the wind and with waves that held their faces for a bit before turning into chompy beach break. Maybe later on this week!

Sunday, July 17th

2005-07-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

Beautiful day today at Indian. It was packed as only one or two days are each summer in Oregon- by 11 AM the main parking lots were jammed and people were starting to park on the sides of the highway. It was almost enough to bring back flashbacks of Malibu, but then I realized Oregon has no fast food outlets, no shopping centers, no nothing but large trees, ferns, eagles and three foot waves. It was grand.

Got some switch stancing in, some rail grabs, and I'm starting to work on popping up goofy footed versus my normal stance. People have mentioned that learning to pop up on the non preferred foot can cause some stance issues later on (your brain will kind of forget which foot to use and you'll fall off the board). Saw a beautiful crab in the water as I was trimming over him, some small fish (anchovies?), and tons of beautiful dogs. A mile from my house a nutria came out to say hello and was just sitting staring at all the traffic, twitching his nose, bristling his hair. Given it's Oregon, the traffic was all Subaru Outbacks, and every driver was just looking back at the nutria until the light changed. It was a surreal little moment.

Friday July 15th

2005-07-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

Spent the day teaching a friend how to surf. It's an odd mix of pride to see them catch the stoke and abject horror of how many ways an injury can happen while in the water. Of course she did fine and everything went well, but it's still pretty stressful. Every time a wave starts to crash over her head, I have to muzzle my "Duck!" and other comments. It's tough to shut up! Yeah, don't bother with the comments... I know....

The waves at Indian were beautifully shaped, but unfortunately breaking in about two feet of water. It was a bit windy, and we had quite a bit of company in the water. We went out at low tide and of course everyone had to tell us how great conditions were four hours previously.

Wed July 6

2005-07-06T22:35:00.000-07:00

Where to start? As you can tell, I've been doing too much working and not enough surfing. In the past month, I've only surfed once or twice in June which is really bad (for the body and the head).

Happy to say that right now I'm in the LA area on a surfing road trip. The first day was Sunday (Portland to Gilroy). No surf but some beautiful brown deer with black tipped tails. The second day was Gilroy to LA, and included a huge hummingbird with yellow wings and a black body and seeing some of my favorite small girls (Hi Serena! Hi Emmaline!). Surfing at San Clemente after a swing by the Surfrider Foundation National chapter offices which was just heavenly.

The waves were small with some nice sections and rideable foam lines and it's not horribly crowded. Southern CA is in the midst of a red tide period, so the water is a very murky dark brown and not appetizing. That might be keeping people out of the line up, or perhaps it's the two foot waves which is doing the trick. I'm not complaining, either way!

And it's warm here- people are barebacking without wetsuits. Man, it must be summer!

Friday, May 27th

2005-05-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

Short Sands was the spot for the day. For non-Oregon readers of the blog, Short Sands is a very well known break in northern Oregon. It's located about ten miles south of Cannon Beach, in the Oswald State Park. Don't bother flaming me for revealing the location of the spot- from the amount of cars there today, everyone already knows about it ;) !

It was crowded today, but still not as many people as I'd expected. This day is supposed to set a heat record for Portland (in the mid 90's). The coast was in the mid 60's which felt great. The waves were a little bigger than yesterday, some to waist high with a sneaker to the shoulders every now and then. Choppy, though, and disorganized with waves colliding into each other and dissolving. No real workable reforms, unfortunately. So, while the air, temperature, clear sky and lively beach made for a great day the waves were just a little short of perfection.

Hopefully Sunday and/or Monday will improve the wave situation. I'm planning a small group of girl surfers to gather on each of these days at an undisclosed spot. This is the first time the gaggle of girls will be getting together to surf, so it should be pretty fun as everyone meets everyone else.

Stories to come!

Thursday, May 26th

2005-05-27T18:55:00.000-07:00

Otter Rock today, shared with a few other surfers. I was expecting the water to be packed, given the forecast of record heat and clear skies with a nice high pressure layer overhead.

The water was clear due to the bathtub like calmness over the ocean. The waves were literally about six inches tall in the afternoon, and while perfectly formed, just too small to get any workable speed. So, the only thing to do is just enjoy being outside, in the water, watching the schools of small silver fish, kids on the beach, and joyous dogs running back and forth in the sand.

Small waves are also good for paddling practice, and scratching for a one foot face can be both embarrassing (if you miss) and reason for a big smile (if you make it). My shoulders are feeling the day, even though it was very small.

Sunday, May 22nd

2005-05-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

No surf for the past week- it's been pouring rain in Oregon. Today has spotty showers and pretty big waves (nine to eleven feet). Heaven to some, but still too big for me.

Hopefully the next week will bring some sun, manageable wave size, and some breaks from work to get back in the ocean!

Ashley and Pamela at the Classic

2005-05-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

Ashley and Pamela at the 2005 Clean Water Classic.

You can tell it's not the average surf contest by the drenching rain, our frozen blue lips and the squall gear. Brr... nothing like fun times to bring friends together!

Clean Water Classic weekend

2005-05-16T20:35:00.000-07:00

Wow- the Clean Water Classic is finally over. Six months of planning, and the event has some of the worst conditions I've seen all winter. Wow- the rumor has it that contests are always cursed with bad surf, and that was the case this weekend. Not only was the water choppy and unhappy but the rain pelted down for much of the two days. We had about a one second interval, waist to head high nasty peaks dropping and reforming in unpredictable areas.

At least it can only get better in 2006!

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

2005-05-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

Hi One Wahine readers-

I'm now running in a special event for the Oregon Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. As many readers of this blog know, in addition to being surf crazed I am also a two time Hodgkin's Disease survivor. Hodgkin's is a lymphoma, and last year I had a bone marrow transplant for my relapsed Hodgkin's. Fortunately, the transplant was successful and I'm now in remission from my Hodgkin's.

However, other people aren't as fortunate and as a result the Oregon Leukemia and Lymphoma Society could really use all the donations they can get. The event ends June 20, 2005 and you can read more about the event (and donate!) at

http://www.pamelaclark.info

I'll keep everyone posted about the event as the days go by. Please spread the word about the Society- all donations are tax deductible and you never know who is looking to help out!

With thanks to everyone for their good wishes, prayers and hope,

Pamela

Clean Water Classic weekend!

2005-05-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend marks the date of the fourth annual Clean Water Classic surfing contest in scenic Westport, WA. The Classic is a benefit for the Surfrider Foundation, and is going to be a crazy fun time.

Check in starts Friday afternoon, and the main HQ for the event will be the Islander Hotel. Competition starts early Saturday, and the Classic concludes with a raffle and prize ceremony Sunday afternoon, again at the Islander.

Please swing by and check it out- we'll have bands, a surf related auction (surf boards, wetsuits, etc.), great surfing, and lots of family focused fun.

See you there!

Great comment about the jellyfish

2005-04-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

Hi readers-

One of you posted back about what the small organisms are on the beach. Cook notes:

"The Jelly you were seeing I believe is Velella velella. Normally the design of their "sails" keeps them offshore but when there is a strong west wind they loose their tacking ability, spin out of control, are pushed inshore and can pile up in windroes on the beach. I have never actually seen any but I was just learning about them in my biology class."

Awesome- thank you so much! I can see how the sail of the jelly would work to create speed and direction. The jellys are still on the northern beaches, so it might not be too late to go check them out. They are really beautiful, and don't sting (yep, I've handled the ones on the beach).

Thanks, Cook!

Wed April 27

2005-04-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

Today was made for Otter Rock. It was just a perfect, small longboarding day. The waves were about waist high, really slow rollers with some open wave face for nose riding. The water was clear, and seven or so longboarders were out in the afternoon. Everyone was catching nice rides, and I got the chance to bust out the switch stancing on an unbroken wave face instead of the foam lines I've been using it on.

Just a gorgeous day, and hopefully the start to a great longboarding season. A friend of mine in Los Angeles has loaned me a shortboard in the seven foot range, and hopefully I'll try that out over the weekend.

More stories to come!

Friday, April 22nd

2005-04-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

The forecasters were right for the day. Beautiful and sunny, with small wave sets rolling through and the very occasional head high in the morning. There were tons of people out in the water, and I saw a lot of friends which always makes surfing more fun. The water is warming up, and it was relatively clear as well.

I surfed both Indian and Short Sands, and Short Sands was holding shape a bit better for the day putting to rest my eternal question of "which break would be better today?". Of course, tomorrow the answer would be different but at least for yesterday the better break was Short Sands.

The blue diatom die off from earlier in the week at both Indian and Short Sands is actually a small jelly fish. This is the largest die off that the state has measured, and the state doesn't know what has caused the die off. The jellys don't sting, fortunately, as they are covering the beach and sand. The dead jellys are starting to smell pretty pungent as nothing is really stepping up to eat them- the seagulls won't touch them, and apparently nothing else is willing to either. Hopefully a nice high tide line will come up tonight as it's raining on the coast today anyway- that might clean up the shore line a bit.

Sunday, April 17th

2005-04-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

Finally- a small break in the two inch a day rainy spell the Oregon coast has been living under. Even though the foam lines at Indian were totally broken up, the pleasure of being in the wetty and in the ocean was pretty awesome. The water was very clear, not ice cream headachy cold, and filled with about ten surfers total.

The one odd thing about the day was a die off of blue organisms which varied from a dime size diameter to about a three inch across diameter. They were blue on the bottom with a clear perpendicular fin or projection across the face, and a mouth/ motion device on the bottom. The tide line on the shore was covered with thousands of the creatures which had died very recently, and the whitewater area of the ocean was filled with them as well washing in to shore. Not fun to think about what had killed them off, so I didn't stay in the water for very long. If anyone has any insight into what happened, please let me know because it's the first time I've seen it!

Wed April 13

2005-04-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

Still no surf, and still tons of storms bearing down on the Oregon coast.

Man... it's killing me (along with every other surfer!)

Sunday, March 27th

2005-03-27T10:25:00.000-08:00

I've made it home safely, but there won't be any surfing stories for a few more days. The Oregon coast is getting quite a bit of rain, along with some high wind. Hopefully, things will clear up in the next few days.

Until then, it's time to do some stuff around town!

Monday, March 21st

2005-03-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles is really beautiful right now. The rains have made the hills green and the flowers are going crazy with their blooms.

The water is under a high surf advisory today, and it's a bit windy making for some chop. The direction of the swell in the Malibu area is a bit off, but the waves are there. Small, and not as long as I've seen them before, but still very pretty. People are going without their wetsuits in the water- something we usually never see in Oregon!

La Jolla over the weekend was windy and choppy as well. Tomorrow I'm heading to Ventura and looking forward to checking out Rincon again.

Wednesday, March 16th

2005-03-16T19:47:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in my girlfriend's house in San Diego, thinking back over the day.

What was the best part of Wednesday, March 16th?

The shoulder to head high swell at San Onofre?

The awesome guacamole in the burrito from the taco shack?

The sunset and palm trees?

You already know the best part of the day. The peeling waves at San O- very nice. Tons of birds, nice friendly people in the water, and not a cloud to be seen.

Thank you, road trip God!

My running for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Man and Woman of the Year

2005-03-07T19:14:00.000-08:00

Hi readers-

I'm going to run for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Man/ Woman of the Year in Oregon. It's the first time this event has been done in Oregon, and the organizers have promised that it's a lot of fun. The event has been done in forty or so cities across the US already.

Readers of this blog can help out by donating to my campaign starting on April 29th. The time period for donating ends on June 21st, 2005, so it's a two month window for donations. Everything is fully tax deductible. Readers of this blog can also help out by leaving me a comment if you know of a company that would be willing to do an event and donate a percentage of the profits from the event to my campaign. If readers have any other ideas please feel very free to let me know.

All ideas are welcome!

The website for my campaign is http://www.pamelaclark.info

Now, back to surf stories!

Sunday, March 6th

2005-03-07T10:36:00.000-08:00

Wow- what a pretty day at Indian Beach. It was sunny, in the mid 50's, and the beach was packed with small kids, dogs, and all kinds of people. The crabs underfoot were out in full force, and the tide was washing up tons of small rocks and sand dollars. The water was over head high at the outer breaks (past the rock cliffs), but impossible to get to due to the fast paced foam lines. Another day of foam line riding- it's strange to say I'm almost getting tired with switch stancing, but I'm almost getting tired of switch stancing.

Time to learn a new trick!

Jimmy Z's comment and other comments

2005-03-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

Hi Jimmy Z-

I love comments on the blog, and do write back. The only problem is that the person making the comment has to leave me some email address, because the blogger software doesn't do that automatically. There's no way for me to get back in touch with people who blog anonymously.

So Jimmy Z, I'd love to talk more about your ideas (especially the idea of a surfing/ cancer foundation!). If you could leave another comment with an email address, I'll write you back and we can get some good ideas going!

Sending good thoughts,

Pamela

Surf Life for Women article

2005-02-28T18:05:00.000-08:00

The Surf Life for Women article which profiles me along with two other girls has just been released on-line. The website address is

http://www.surflifeforwomen.com/index.cfm?page=inspiration

I'll try and blog the whole article in a little bit. The article will be in the Spring 2005 issue which should be in newsstands around March 10th or so.

Big thanks to David Pu'u, who took the amazing shots of me surfing which are in the article. If David can make me look good surfing, then we all know he's a genius ;)

Sunday, February 27th

2005-02-28T18:03:00.000-08:00

Cold, grey and rainy. The waves are choppy and disorganized, and the shoulders aren't workable. I'm starting to get really antsy for an unbroken wave face of any kind, instead of the consistent foam lines that Oregon has been getting.

The daffodils are out, and the bumblebees are starting to appear. Hopefully, clean wave sets will follow shortly!

Sunday, Feb. 20th

2005-02-21T10:30:00.000-08:00

Wow- I almost don't want to write about this day. It was just so beautiful. Clear, sunny blue skies, flocks of birds, other surfers in the water, gorgeous dogs running on the beaches, kids building sand castles, and switch stancing on the nine footer until the end of time.

This weekend was gorgeous, and forecasts are for the beauty of the weather to continue through next week. Time to develop a "cold" or "stomach flu" for my meetings which are upcoming in the next few days!

Friday, Feb. 18th

2005-02-18T17:30:00.000-08:00

Indian Beach today in Oregon, with crazy waves and nice foam lines. The waves were breaking outside of the far North ledge, with huge faces. Double overhead, maybe more- unfortunately, the faces dissolved into close outs far too quickly for anyone to brave the paddle out. One day, Laird and his crew will discover some of the Oregon spots with their jet skis. The foam lines had a little bit of juice, and the chance for some smaller, waist high reforms now and then. I'm still working on the switch stancing, which is going pretty well. Every now and then, I try to ride a wave backwards after seeing it in a surf movie. It doesn't work as well on foam lines as it did on the wave face shown in the movie, so it's time to be getting another dog and pony trick ;)

Oregon is enjoying some sun and nice temperatures in February, so there have been other surfers in the water for the past few days. We're all working on getting creamed by the rips and reforming waves. I haven't broken any bones this year, so maybe I'm getting a bit smarter about not heading out too far or maybe it's just dumb luck. Let's stick with getting smarter!

Wednesday, Feb. 9th

2005-02-10T13:35:00.000-08:00

Currently, I'm in Santa Barbara in the beginning of a road trip. It's been incredible already. The most interesting thing to me, surf wise, has been the damage on the CA coast due to their recent heavy rains and landslides (including La Conchita). I heard the news on the TV a few weeks ago, but seeing the impact of the rains and landslides on the coast is a very different matter. There's tons of debris along the beaches- patio umbrellas, men's shoes, seven feet tall piles of bamboo and weeds, plastic jugs of every size and dimension. The water is still a dark, muddy brown. Rincon's beach is covered with wood and logs, with wood (from destroyed houses?) still floating in the surf line in the ocean. It's incredible.

Other things from the road trip:

The white cranes outside of Monterey bay
The awesome, cheap hotel room in Gilroy. Gilroy!
The bald eagle outside of Eugene
Seeing some of my favorite three and four year olds in LA
Having happy birthday sung to me by two groups of people, twice in the same week
Best of the Clash, and Best of the English Beat. Hey, it's a thousand mile drive- someone has to narrate it.
The beauty of dropping around the curves and dropping into the Five Cities area. Man, Pismo Beach and Shell Beach never look so good as they do after a seven hundred mile drive.
The dolphins in the Ventura area. The only place where a black fin can be friendly!

Sunday, Jan 30th

2005-01-30T19:37:00.000-08:00

Nice winter day at Short Sands. The waves were smaller than earlier in the week, and the foam lines had enough mustard to get some speed to try some tricks (rail grabs, stance switching, etc.). Today was a great day for wave reading, primarily in figuring out where the mythical pocket was heading. There were lots of surfers out, probably due to the nice sunny day, and some shortboarders actually made it outside to the overhead plus close outs. I didn't see any of the surfers outside catch rides, but there were about four outside waiting for the perfect wave.

I'm looking forward to the sunny spell that the forecasters are promising Oregon. More surf stories to follow!

Wednesday, Jan 26th

2005-01-26T18:51:00.000-08:00

The old saying goes there are no highs without lows. Today would be the latter category. Screaming wind, two or three second wave periods, shoulder high rearing up close outs right onto the beach sand (in two or three feet of water, max), and reverb waves from the rock beaches at high tide made for some pretty challenging surfing.

One of my favorite things about Oregon is that the surfers just suck it up. Of course, there were about five of us in the water even though the conditions sucked all around. It's such a fun place that way- Oregon surfers are game for conditions that would stop pretty much anyone else. Days like this make me proud to be part of this small, potentially insane tribe.

Monday, Jan 24th

2005-01-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

Short Sands again, with foam lines, shoulder high close out and larger sets breaking outside. Getting to the larger sets would have been a shoulder killer as the wave interval (really, the foam line interval) was about three or four seconds. Tons of paddling to meet a nice rip to carry you out of position sounds really tasty. No one tried for outside while I was in. There were about seven other longboarders in the mid-inside area with me.

I'm getting almost a little cocky with the switch stancing. Usually, I surf "regular" (right foot back, left foot forward) and to switch foot is to move from regular stance to "goofy" (left foot back, right foot forward). The switch stancing is really coming along, to the point where I can take off in goofy stance.

The large rock sculptures have washed away, but smaller, new ones have sprouted on the rock beach. Some of the smaller ones have some very fragile balancing multi-rock arcs, and must have taken a ton of time to create. The silver fish schools that live inside with the surfers are getting bigger- about eight inches now and picking up some red on the fins and belly.

Hopefully, this week will hold a few more surfing expeditions. Cross your fingers!

Comments are encouraged

2005-01-25T09:24:00.000-08:00

The blog has gotten a couple of comments already, and that's very fun. So, if you're here hanging out, and want to drop a line or two, please feel free to do it. It's fun for me to hear stories as well!

Friday Jan 21st

2005-01-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

Short Sands was closed out foam lines today. There were about five other surfers in the water, and the air was a relatively toasty 50 degrees or so. The waves were breaking all over the place, and just collapsing without any workable shoulders or peaks.

One nice part of Short Sands is that someone has made stone sculptures/ rock piles across the sand beach. It's a pretty cool art form, and the sculptures are about five feet tall in one place using wood and beach rocks. There's just something about impermanent, beautiful things. Anyway, the rock piles are worth the walk to the beach alone. Check them out quickly, before the high waves take them away!

Friday, Jan 14th

2005-01-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

Short Sands was a classic log riding site today. While it was freakin' cold (air about 38-40 degrees), the waves were nice, knee to waist rollers. The water was perfectly clear, and the crabs, small silver fish and starfish were all visible from the lineup all the way in. It's such a fun sensation, to be surfing on top of the water and to see the fish and crabs scuttling below, trying to avoid the board's shadow.

Today was also a day in which I learned that my body knows more about surfing than my head does (umm... that wasn't a surprise, actually). After catching a wave and heading left, my brain realizes that I'm far ahead of the peak of the wave- ten feet or so ahead of the peak. That's important because the peak of the wave has more speed, and with little waves you need every bit of speed you can find. So, while my brain was thinking, "If only I could drop back into the peak, and stall or something", my body had already turned the board right, traveled eight feet or so, done a bit of a stall, curved over the peak's foam, and re-placed the board perfectly in the left hand pocket, or peak of the wave.

Man, times like that are just magical.

New Website for the Clean Water Classic

2005-01-13T10:32:00.000-08:00

OK surf fans-

The website for the 2005 Clean Water Classic is now up and running. I built the site myself, so keep the comments constructive if they are negative, overflowing if they are positive. Here it is:

http://www.cleanwaterclassic.com

And I'd like to invite any readers of this blog to come down (or up!) to the event in Westport, WA. It's going to be a ton of fun, with lots of family focused activities along with the surfing contest.

Tuesday, Jan 11th

2005-01-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

Indian was so perfectly small today... just perfect longboard waves... maybe two foot. Construction going on at the road to the Cove in Seaside, with exposed pipe and such. I'm staying away from anything that potentially involving sewage lines (not to say this project is because I don't know, but if any pipe is exposed I'm not surfing downwater).

But- the high tide was up about ten foot, and it was breaking up on the rocks, and the reverb wave back into the water pretty much destroyed anything surf-able. The breaking waves were very small, and breaking in a few feet of water. Too bad the only time I could head out was at high tide. Hopefully in a few days the high tide time will continue to move into the afternoon and evening and I'll be able to pick up some small longboarding waves in a mid tide or low tide time.
Hopefully!

Sunday, Jan 9th

2005-01-09T17:02:00.000-08:00

Otter Rock was small and somewhat rainy today. The waves were disorganized, but the chop wasn't as bad as it has been (wow, what a sell job for Oregon surfing!). Lots of dogs and people on the beach which was great, and everyone was bundled up against the rain and hail. The temperature (air) was in the high 30's or low 40's, which made for some pretty chilly parking lot changes. Nothing like being soaking wet, in a bathing suit in a parking lot, and having people in heavy parkas ask, "Are you cold?". Good thing I'm trying to give up sarcasm for my New Year's resolution.

The waves were about waist high at high tide, if you were lucky enough to get close to a wave peak before the wave dissolved or torqued in another direction due to the rips and other currents.

We're starting to organize the 2005 Clear Water Classic. Check out the links on the left hand side of this blog. We should have the CWC webpage up and running in a few days, and the blog is already going so please feel free to swing on by and check out the contest! The event is a fundraiser for the Surfrider Foundation.

Friday Jan 7th

2005-01-07T11:02:00.000-08:00

No surfing for the past few days. The weather in Oregon, while not freezing cold, has been wet and chilly causing black ice and snow in the mountain passes. Unfortunately, the mountain passes are between me and my beloved ocean. Unlike last winter when I surfed no matter what the road conditions were, this winter I'm not going to chance the drive.

Until next week, when I'll need to surf really bad after waiting so long!

Monday Jan 3rd

2005-01-04T17:14:00.000-08:00

Wow- what an extraordinary day. For starters, there wasn't any rain. Not even any clouds, which for Oregon in the winter is a one in a million type of day. The water at Indian Beach was very clear, and the waves were huge. The waves were peaking and breaking at the end of the last Northern cliff rocks at low tide, with an offshore wind. The waves were actually maintaining shape instead of collapsing over, and were probably in the twenty foot range. People (other shortboard surfers) were videotaping the waves, they were that memorable.

Of course, I stayed out of the huge breaking waves outside and practiced some new tricks on the foam lines and reforms inside. Got in some rail grabs and switch stancing (to my left foot, which is kinda funky fun). It was hard to concentrate because I was pretty focused on not ending up outside, which took quite a bit of attention away from the other mechanics of surfing (wave selection, being in position, etc.).

Sunday Jan 2nd

2005-01-02T18:27:00.000-08:00

Otter Rock was so beautiful today. The sky was clear and bright shining blue. Not a cloud passing by, and the water was perfectly clear. Big crabs crawling around underfoot, tons of kids learning to surf on BZ boards, and one or two great surfers out on longboards. One guy in particular had a very interesting, close legged stance and long hair. He had amazing trim and was just so perfectly balanced you could tell he could nose ride from here to Crescent City with the right conditions. The stance was almost a ballet pose, maybe the fifth position, with slightly bent knees. Anyway- he was great.

Today, I changed stance (regular to left) three times which was a very cool new thing to learn. And, sat down on the board for the first time. I've seen people sitting cross legged, riding longboards into shore, and always had that in my head as something to try. It's pretty fun!

Thursday, Dec 30

2004-12-30T20:45:00.000-08:00

Indian was large, foamy and not ride-able today. The waves were breaking at the end of the cliffs to the North, and were rolling in with unworkable shoulders and large foam lines with a short interval. Big foam balls were rolling around on the sand, and one or two logs were in the water, hitting the sand. The offshore wind was pretty chilly, and kept most of the whale watchers in their cars.
However, the Cove was another matter. Several surfers (about ten) were out, mostly shortboarders. The waves were overhead, and it looked like some of the surfers were scoring short barrels. On the beach, several surfers (a dad and his teenage sons would be my guess) were changing and loading up into a white truck with California plates and specific CA football team insignia. Someone(s) had kindly waxed into their windows "Go home" and other messages like that. I've always been greeted kindly when surfing California line ups, and it made me feel sad and strange that these guys were greeted with hostility, even if it was somewhat joking.

Oh yeah, the whole Hodgkin's thing

2004-12-29T13:03:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, the whole Hodgkin's thing. I have had Hodgkin's disease twice. Hodgkin's is a cancer of the lymph system in the body, or basically cancer of the immune system. The first go around was in 2002 when I had six months of a chemo course called ABVD. The second go around was in 2003-2004 and I had a stem cell, autologous bone marrow transplant. The transplant was done by the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance under protocols developed by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (yep, SCCA used a cattle prod on me to get me to memorize that sentence). Anyway, cancer cut into the surfing schedule a bit, but things are healthy and good right now (knock on a wood stringer!).

Tuesday Dec 28th

2004-12-28T17:47:00.000-08:00

Nice day at Indian Beach today- but what is up with the water being ice-ice cold? That's something that I was hoping would happen in January or February. Anyway, it was relatively clean and the waves were small, making it pretty perfect longboarding conditions. The sky was blue in the early afternoon, and the pelicans and seals were out in force. One grey seal kept playing with everyone right in the lineup zone, he must have been a surfer in a past life and kept scoring the best rides out of everyone in the lineup. Tons of dogs as well, and lots of people. It's Whale Watch week on the Oregon coast, so everyone is taking their families out to the beaches to see the whales. What a cool state tradition- maybe we'll get some new young surfers that way!

Ecola state park website (this is the coolest state park in Oregon, and is full of Roosevelt Elk herds and other huge, mysterious things) http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_188.php

2004-12-28T10:52:00.000-08:00

Taken in a truck, on a surfing road trip. Nice salty hair!

Previous Life Website

2004-12-21T17:18:00.000-08:00

The website for my previous company is www.acrobatresearch.com

The company (Acrobat Research) was very fun. I might start taking more evaluation work in 2005, but as of right now the company is in a temporary hiatus.

Blog Start?

2004-12-21T16:49:00.000-08:00

This blog will be focused on surfing jaunts (hopefully!) with some fun detours along the way. I got the idea for this blog from a friend in Portland who has a blog on blogger as well.

I love to surf, and surf trips and pictures will be the highlight of this blog. Every other month, I try to get out of Oregon and head into California just to see family, friends and warmer water. The last road trip for me ended December 20th, 2004, and the destination was beautiful Ventura, CA. Talk about heavenly- and to return home to rain and messy, choppy surf was somewhat heartbreaking.

Interesting things coming up in the next few months are another road trip down south to California, a short bit in a surf magazine (Surf Life for Women), and two of my sisters having babies in the next few weeks. Nothing like tiny new surfers in the family!

Pamela and Jennifer in early 2004

2004-12-21T16:43:00.000-08:00

Jennifer lives in San Diego, so she's one of my favorite destinations (along with a million other reasons!). It's nice to have girlfriends who don't complain about sand clogging their drains, or that the wet footprints across the floor are rotting the carpet.
Pamela and Jennifer early 2004

Oregon Coast 2003

2004-12-21T16:38:00.000-08:00

This photo was taken in the winter of 2003. It's one of my favorite shots, and the long gone cowboy hat was my favorite thing to emerge from that winter.
Taken at the Oregon Coast in 2003.

First One

2004-12-01T14:11:00.000-08:00

My name is Pamela, and I'm a surfer in Oregon.