Surfing Contests, Practice and Skills Improvement

Sunset over Its, 2/11/16.

Today is the Titans of Mavericks surf contest up in Half Moon Bay and it is nothing short of amazing to watch the waves these guys ride.

More so since I've become more and more of a surfer as I've progressed through my SUP evolution from flat water cruising and exploration to a mostly dedicated SUP surfer. I can't lie, its still really nice and a different kind of fun to go touring without worrying about swell, other people and everything else.

Something I am thinking about and realizing more and more is that I need to practice my in the water skills more. Not my on the water skills, I'm pretty good at catching waves, steering through crowds of people (though I will almost always seek to find emptier spots since my envelope to catch a wave is substantially larger than a surfer's, also a source of their gripiness about SUP's in general). In the last week, I've had a couple of getoffs that have resulted in my board becoming a weapon and smashing into me.

The first was when I tumbled forward off the wave and the board came down on top of my shoulders with the initial hit concentrating on the left side. Aside from some tenderness when I touch it, there's been no problems from that one. The other was from a fairly short outing yesterday where I got tumbled and my board bashed me in the chest. Again, no immediate harm or pain, just a little wind knocked out and then complicated by getting caught in the wash zone for a couple of minutes.

We have another three day weekend ahead and good weather on tap. We'll be getting some new booties first but then we will be spending a good chunk of time making sure they work!

Oh and here's a short video I shot with my chest mounted cam over the weekend. This will give you a decent idea of what its like to strap on a leash and head out into the surf on a big SUP!

Living in Paradise Means Lots of Paradisaical Photos

Here are some recent photos I've taken in the Santa Cruz area. Most have been tarted up in Snapseed or by Google's Auto-Awesome.

We had our first really wet weekend of the year with heavy rain most of Saturday morning and then another storm on Sunday morning. It made for good indoor playtime, we played video games, Lego, Minecraft, watched movies and ate party food!

Also, the three SUPers in the harbor? That's my buddy, Sean and his daughter (her first time!) along with Trudi, the lady who owns the SUP Shack.

The boys had almost no complaints about the weekend and I got out yesterday morning to take some photos of the storm and enjoy a little chaos!

Sunsets and Foggy Mornings in Santa Cruz

Is it any wonder that this town has so deeply set its hooks into my soul? The two images below are proof of the sheer epic beauty of Santa Cruz and I would put this town's scenery up against any in the world. The two shots are of Its Beach on West Cliff just north of the world famous Steamer Lane surf spot.

Its is especially nice because dogs are welcome to run free and have fun frolicking. There are people and dogs galore in both. 

The pano above is above Seacliff State Beach in Aptos before 8 am from earlier this week when the fog was thick everywhere on the coast except right here. And it was beautiful!

Some of the Reasons Why I Love Santa Cruz

All of these are mine except the last one. Its easy to take a gorgeous picture when you have a gorgeous model with some many beautiful angles and poses.

Cowell's and the wharf.

Today in Santa Cruz looking at the wharf from the other side of town.

Found an iOS app that takes photos and planetizes them for you.

This pano makes the river look way bigger than it is.

Not mine but wow-freakin'-wee!

Looking at the World

I live in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. This is not by accident, this is by choice. I could live in Podunk, Iowa for a third of the expenses I have here but well less than a third the quality of life. And what is the point of that?

I took this series of shots last week at the midpoint of a ride after work. This is the view looking back towards the Boardwalk from the cliff between Seabright and Main beaches in Santa Cruz.

It is one of my favorite places anywhere and I love that it is a mere 3 miles by bike path away from my house.

Another shot from about the same time, maybe even the same evening stopover. For some reason I really like the bird dominating the frame, the gulls love this spot too because of the hard winds. They get to fly all matrix-style with hovering, flying backwards and doing wicked wingovers, even the big ol' pelicans get into it!







Another recent shot from down near the river mouth. Took this yesterday afternoon while out riding bikes with my boys (tail wind out and head wind back does NOT make for a happy boy!).

We are in the final stretch of the school year which is good and bad. Looking at summer activities and things to do is fun.

And there are always the projects, the side projects, design projects, websites, parodies and all the other things we do to keep ourselves too busy! But more on those as they gel up more.

What Life Should Be Like

Like this

And like this (taken 2/21/14)

Not like this (taken 2/21/14)

Any questions?

A California Kind of Sunday

There are moments, minutes and hours that, for me, pull together all of the various threads of my life and gather them into one neat bundle. After a busy Saturday with my boys including working on the deck, setting up the tent in the backyard and having a campfire complete with S'mores for the family, Sunday was a bit more low key to start with.

Splash

Splash
Originally uploaded by fenriq.

It is exciting to take a photo that you think might be something special. Granted that most of the time there's something the detracts from the awesomeness you think you've just captured. That's what makes capturing awesomeness so awesome.

Part of our day off yesterday was spent out along Seacliff in Aptos. The boys rode their bikes from the now-defunct Cafe Rio all the way to the cement ship, The Palo Alto. We stopped in at the visitor center and found some really quite lovely treasures made by local artists (I have Christmas presents already knocked out for my mom and my wife!).