Recent Rants

If there's such a thing as too much beauty in a film, the surfing documentary "Highwater" is guilty of it. Director-writer-narrator Dana Brown ("Step Into Liquid"), working with cinematographer Steve Matzinger, has crafted a compelling, thoroughly gorgeous look at late 2005's Triple Crown of Surfing, the granddaddy of big wave championships, which is held yearly on Oahu's famed North Shore.

At Montauk, on Long Island's far eastern tip, nearly 100 surfers braved the waves and were excited by what was to come. "It's going to be 22-foot," said Bard Cebula, 21, of Short Hill, N.J. "Surfing that kind of wave, you either know what you're doing or you're going to drown."

"Thanks for the Earl url. "

Need to get a new 4/3 sometime soon. Thinking of trying to hit some labor day sales in SC. Anyone have any experience with the 4.5/3.5 Psychofreak? I have heard its really warm... but I'm concerned about durability. How does it compare to a Psycho 2 (my past/current suit)?

"I just bought a new Psycho 2 at the Log Shop for $300. They have a sale going on through this weekend. 25% off O'Neill and 35% off Rip Curl suits.. ..."

"I hear you. I love the front zip, built in hood and no-rash neck. "

"Get a Buell wetsuit - he used to be Xcel's main designer and he just branched off and made his own company - a little pricey but well worth it - Sick ..."

The botanical society in this beachfront town thought it was honoring surfers when it spent $120,000 to erect a 16-foot tall statue of one riding a wave. Instead, it inspired a wave of humiliation for the hapless bronze dude.

Locals nicknamed it the "Cardiff Kook," derisive surfer slang for a wannabe surfer.

"The statue really does look like the guy is getting ready to launch into a ballet-inspired spin. I do feel sorry for the artist. He executed to brief: ..."

"The Cardiff Kook's form kinda reminds me of Cryptomail. Where's that dude been anyways? Even though the surfer's form is totally f*cked up, it ends ..."

"As an aside, kudos to the surf community for merely "decorating" it instead of vandalizing it."

"The waves were coming in perfectly, it was an amazing and magical morning!" remembers Paul Fisher, winner of July's Surfline Photo Challenge for his glassy water shot. "I remember just bodysurfing a bunch of waves and shooting as they closed out around me and this was one of them."

The dolphin hunting season starts today. Check out this report from Ric O'Barry (of 'the Cove' and 'Flipper' fame) to find out how to help end this!!

"The international pressure might help, but the best way to end it is for them to generate pressure from inside Japan, from the Japanese people themsel ..."

"Honestly I wonder what dolphin tastes like. If it tastes as good as baby clubbed seal, I can see why they wouldn't want to stop eating it. I think ..."

"@p_s: I disagree. There are plenty of f'd up things that rankle, even if they're not in my backyard. These include gruesome dolphin slaughter, slaver ..."

(1) The radio buttons for the conditions:

(1a) don't start with any one selected (just get rid of the checked="checked" that currently makes "fair" the default).

"Whoa good suggestions! I'm giving those suggestions a good+ "

"I think we need an option for Double-Plus Ungood, personally. Slavery is freedom."

"@whoa: good suggestions (but i think you are a bit challenged on counting :). i did #2 (let me know if that works for you). i'll have a crack at the o ..."

This week, we lost a great friend.

Barney, the sea lion, was doing what he loved most when fate intervened - surfing and eating just outside the breakers at Linda Mar.

From the cam...

Retweet posted by @OceanBeach about a small GWS stranded on OB today. Put back into the water. The original tweet from @thomask:

Great white shark (baby) stranded on ocean beach. He is back in the water now. Crazy! http://yfrog.com/2mmrlrj

"something about the dumb look on his face suggests he will not remember the great kindness we showed him. pity, i was looking forward to having a fri ..."

"Until I see the quicktime iPhone 4 iTunes video, that's a dolphin."

"No expert here...but that looks like a Salmon Shark. They've been washing up lately in Santa Cruz. http://www.ksbw.com/news/24735282/detail.html He ..."

today at 12:05 PM at LM myself and about 40-50 other people witnessed a shark attack. It happened about 150 yards beyond the lineup midway between the bathhouse and ######. All I saw was bright red blood shooting into the air and much turbulance and swirling in the water. A 20-30 ft diameter pool of red was all that remained after the attack.

"I'm just going to assume that the victim was not a person, since it is not specified. (?)"

"Oh my god! I am now going to seriously research shark deterring crap on ebay..."

"Yes @madpie, that would be a correct assumption...probably a sea lion."

You think about surfing when there's no surf. But what else do you do? Ever thought of tasing yourself, bro? Here's a hilarious entry by a Kiwi surfer about doing just that. To think I'll be committing 8 months to living there next year. Hmm....

The lesson begins on the beach with a youngster lying on a surfboard more than twice her size. After some brief orientation, the child, joined by a world-class surfing coach, is soon paddling about 30 yards into the ocean.

Free food, surf flicks, cheap beer, and it's for a good cause... you simply can not go wrong. Stop by!

Pushing under waves is a great way to streamline your paddle out to backline. When done properly, it can look like the most graceful and effortless act in the whole world.

When not done properly, however, pushing under could look something like my first attempt at getting it right as a kid.

"That doesn't strike me as a very accurate or helpful description of duck-diving. If you put your hands on the rail and foot on the tail and "push", p ..."

"I have to admit, that when I started to SB from a LB, this was indeed one of the first challenges. I think that board control is everything. When yo ..."