Merry Christmas!!!

it's been a COLD week in LA. i guess it's nothing compared to the blizzard that hit the east coast but, by southern california standards, it's freezing.

i went surfing on sunday after not having been wet for almost a month. rainy run-off has kept me away from the beach. i mustered up some moto and got down to MB for an early morning sesh. i decided to take the single fin (aka: Red Rocket) that my brother-in-law made for me a as a Christmas gift a few years ago. it was a good choice.

despite some very cold water and a wetsuit mishap, i managed to catch a couple of fun rides in an hour or so. glassy, chest-high rights with a very light crowd by LA standards. then the extremities started cramping. not good. i must be crazy to subject myself to such abuse.

here's a few pics of the Red Rocket from Christmas 2007.

i am looking forward to some time in the water tomorrow...i hope that you do as well.

it's been swell...

i guess it's been awhile since my last posting. i have been surfing, just not on the Stealth Tuna. if you can get your hands on a Channel Islands Biscuit (or any biscuit for that matter...who doesn't like a biscuit?) and you will not be disappointed. that thing is FUN!!!! more on that later...

the surf has been decent lately. last saturday, i took the Tuna down to E.P. for a morning sesh. there was supposed to be some swell in the water and the tides were going to be high, so it promised to be fun. after waking up around 7am, grabbing some Golden Arches, i made my way to the beach, found a great free parking spot and joined several hundred of my fellow tribesmen and women in the water. it was CROWDED. it shouldn't come as a surprise since i live in a megalopolis. aside from the crowd, everything else was working. the swell was chest to head high, glassy with a decent shape. not having ridden the S.T. in months showed. i looked and felt like a complete idiot out there. it was over an hour before i caught my first wave as i floundered, struggling to find the 'sweet spot' on the board.

then, it finally clicked...i had scooted up on the board far enough to where i wasn't pushing water and managed to get into a wave, pop up and go down the line. i gotta say, it felt great. after that one wave, my whole day changed. i started catching waves with some ease and managed to get a few good rides under my belt. in between sets, i got a nice little fright from a dolphin that decided to surface and clear it's blowhole 2 feet behind me. it's amazing to be so close to them like that. they are enormous, yet so playful.

all in all, a decent morning in the water. after catching a few more, i caught one in and made my way home, happy to have ridden a board that i made.

Meet Stealth Tuna

i had been wanting to shape a surfboard for a few years now. back in july-august, i finally did something about it.

my brother-in-law has been shaping boards in his garage for a little while now, so i enlisted his help in making this dream come true.

here are the final photos after polishing and buffing and all that stuff...

lessons learned:

1. shaping a surfboard is no joke.

2. it is amazingly rewarding to surf a board that you made

with your own two hands. SPECIAL.

3. measure, not twice, but five times, cut once.