More big Sunday

Another pic from the swell we had last Sunday. Word is that it was one of the top 5 swells in Santa Barbara recorded history. I have only seen the entrance of the harbor look like this once before and that was 1983. I hope to find more pics from this day. If so I will post them.

Tattoo's and SUP surfing....Don't wake up Jethro!

Some of my friends tell me that when in the water SUP surfing I look like a dirtbag. I'll take that as a compliment thank you very much. It's not easy looking like a true dirtbag these days. You have your garden variety weekend warrior dirtbags and then you have your seasoned year round dirtbags. I decided to try an experiment. Here in Santa Barbara you can go just about year round without wearing a wetsuit. After having all the trouble in the lineup with the prone surfers I was trying to figure out why some of these guys think it's OK to come up to any guy on a a SUP board and talk smack. Do they just automatically think we are all a bunch of old fart's that will turn around and paddle back to the car? I was going to find out. So on some good weekend wave days I would paddle out with my wetsuit top on and sure enough the hecklers would start heckling. ( I do have to admit that when I see a fellow SUP'er paddling out with shorts, ankle high booties, and a big floppy hat on it does make me cringe! ) Anyhow, I did the same thing with out anything on but my surf trunks and the heckling stopped. Were they scared of the tattoos? Did they think I just got out of the pokey? Well it worked so good that I think next time I will take a Sharpie out and dot some tear drops below my right eye!! It might not always work but it does seem to help:) OUT.

Naish TV

Two things tonight. One, check out the SUP video of Robby Naish and the boys in Maui. Robby is doing SUP on some big ass waves. You can see it by going to www.naishsurfing.com and click on the Naish TV clip. Two, in a past post I talked about Monster Grip Paint out of San Clemente. They have a great product that I spray on the front of all my SUP boards. It's a marine grade epozy non-skid grip. The stuff is great. No more slipping on the nose of your board. I found another great use for the stuff. I have been having problems with my hands slipping off my carbon paddle when I am digging deep for a wave. I sprayed the Monster Grip on my paddle and the problem is gone. I really recommend this spray on grip to all SUP surfers. Do a Google search on "Monster Grip Paint" for more info or go to www.nonskidpaint.com. OUT.

CALIFORNIA

Steve"Stylemaster" Marsh doing his thing on a nice California wave.

Big Sunday

Sunday the 24th we saw some of the biggest waves to hit Santa Barbara in 15 or 20 years. It was insane. Pieces of our pier floating away and people getting swept off the jetty into the boat harbor. In fact my friend was walking his dog on the jetty and a huge wave swept him into the harbor. He is now black and blue with staples in his head. The pic above really doesn't tell the story but this piece of beach is normally flat even on a swell. Another friend of mine has a restaurant on the beach so he had the city build a sand berm in front of it and we hung out until midnight high tide to make sure things were going to be OK. The last time we had anything like this in SB was the winter of 82-83. Now we are back to normal with nice waves and the high in SB today is going to be 75 degrees!! Crazy winter. Check out WarDogs blog for some crazy Sunday surf pics. www.surfingsports.com.

FLAT TO FLUFFY

I walked the dog on the beach this morning and it was stormy and flat. 3 hours later we have 15 foot sets rolling in. Heads up So Cal because it's on it's way down the coast. Grab your SUP board and buckle up your chin straps.

"THARS AN ILL WIND-BLOWIN!!"

I had a couple of requests for some more of those SB glass pics so I jumped on my beach cruiser and set out to burn off the #1 (with grilled onion rings) I Just wolfed down at Fosters Freeze and check the surf. What I found was mother nature opening up a can O' whup-ass on the coast line. No glass today just a little victory at sea.

New Naish carbon paddle in town

I haven't had a chance to use it yet due to the wind and rain but I am thinking Monday in Santa Barbara will be the day. Big swell and blue skies. After breaking my old carbon paddle and having to use a old heavy one for a few weeks before it got fixed made me realize how important a good light well made paddle is. A heavy old paddle will hurt your back and bring your SUP skills down a notch. Don't skimp on your paddle. Spend the money and get the good one!!

SUP small talk

I was out on the SUP board today and overheard some very interesting talk. Most of it was way over my head but maybe yall can make some sense of it.

Lumber yard

This is why we spend the big bucks to live in Santa Barbara. 70 plus outside and good surf. WarDog had his demo boards out today and a good time was had by all. Should be good tomorrow and Monday. SUP boarding is alive and well in SB.

Water proof Bling Bling!

For those few people that check out this blog now and then you may have noticed that I don't post everyday. My goal is not to bore you to sleep with a bunch of mumbo jumbo about my last paddle up the coast in ankle high surf. When I have something I think might be of interest I will post it.

Today I did a paddle up the coast in ankle high surf......oops!!!! Sorry but this time it was different....really!! I was cranking Jimmy Hendrix "Electric Ladyland" on my iPod in it's h20 audio water proof housing. A bunch of dolphins came up to me and started to play. As I was taking a pic of them with my water proof camera my water proof phone started to vibrate in my surf trunks. Damn!! all this water proof stuff is getting in my way, I feel like a floating Radio Shack. I must admit that the water proof phone is the bomb. I called my wife just for the hell of it while under water and she could understand me. Well she could understand my voice at least. These are the kind of things that make a day on the flat water fun. The SUP board has made my day once again.

Summer fun!

Due to the rain, wind and lack of waves I dug up a couple of pics from last summer. My son Ben on his Ron House 10' footer. I still cant get over how thin the tail and nose are. I did see that StarBoard SUP boards have a kids SUP board in their lineup for 08. I think it's a 7'2" and 28 or 29 inches wide. Damn good idea. I have been thinking of doing a kids SUP board also but now I wont be the first. Oh well. OUT