Imagination.

Its been a while since I have had a chance to update any my blog. Out of town a lot and really really busy at work. It looks like the lake is starting to freeze over a little early this year. Must have been that arctic snap last week that pushed it over the edge. Was playing around with the kids on the computer today when we came up with this little beaut. I have to give credit to my daughter for the idea.

I hear they are good eating if you can catch the little critters. The Wild Hicken rodeo is a nice compliment to any locat flea circus.

Well maybe with no surf in the near future I can focus on my work without checking the forecast every ten minutes, and cut my time out of town early.

Ahh... Winter surfing.

Tired from the holiday season and full day of snowmobiling, i was not too interested in a long drive to the Terrace to go surfing. Fighting the snowploughs cars and weather pointed me south of the border. Met up with Dave and Eric to catch some cranky waves. At first it looked pretty pissed off, waves comin from different directions, unpredictable break and an outside set that washed you into the beach every 20 minutes. As time rolled on it started to get a little bit more organized and some peelin action. Headed home tired and satisfied.

Friday Surf

Headed out to 121 on Friday to meet Winston. Got held up at the border for about 20mins. the surf was clean, not as big as predicted but still an awsome time in the water here is a shot of Winston riding his Channel Islands 6'5".

Props to the talent

Its time to give credit to the talent in California.

The locals.

Closeup Glass.

For you viewing pleasure here are some closeup shots of some beauts. This is what California is and was.

Lets just surf...

All right, all right we went to california to surf and surf we did. The trip was more of a surf boot camp, don't get mixed signals here, it was awsome. We awoke every morning about 5 am to hit a dawn partrol at trestles or salt creek. Surfed for about three hours then hit a little breakfast place called the 'Sugar Shack'. Filled the void in our stomaches and cured the cravings for protein. Hit up some of the local surf shops and headed out for surf session number 2 for the day. We surfed for another three hours or so then headed back to the campsite for some refreshment in the form of a Pacifico bottle. Spent some time relaxing only to head out for the third session of the day. We surfed until the sun went down and the sharks came out. Enjoy and repeat, all week long. So here are some pictures from those sessions.

Trunkin

I was reading an article on the web yesterday that talked of earthquakes in southern California. It stated that for the week we were camping San Clemente there were over 400 earthquakes recorded and several of those over 3.0. Now staying at the San Mateo campground sleeping on the hard sand floor I thought that maybe we would feel something. Upon second thought it was realized that with camp pendelton bombing, shooting, artillery and Liam's snoring it is near impossible to tell the difference from an earthquake.

While in Cali myself and Colin had to at least trunk it once, being lake surfers and all. My day was on Thursday. I paddled out mid afternoon amongst all of the rubber clad surfers in my pale white outfit, Boardshots only. After several confused looks from locals, someone finally said 'your gonna get cold sittin there'. I was actually not that cold, no colder than the lake in the summer. (about 61F) While we were waiting for some waves we noticed that the dolphins from the day before were back. It must be mentioned that the day before a couple of fins arose from the water about 6 to 8 feet from me on an early morning dawn patrol. My brain was telling me that they were dolphins, but my body telling me to get the hell out of there. After I casually turned around and started paddling for shore, Colin was yelling 'they are only dolphins...'. As I calmed myself down searched for any loose terds in my wetsuit, I sat back and enjoyed the sight of them. Anyway back to my original thought, as I was sitting on my board I was thinking that this may only be a once in a lifetime chance so I started repeatedly slapping the water in hopes to call the dolphins over. (like they do in Seaworld) It did not take very long before about 6 dolphins came right over to me. Probably attracted to the bright white object in the water. The dophins swam and fished around me under me and looked me eye to eye. It was amazing to understand first hand the gentle playfull nature and curiosity. I could have at any one time reached out and grabbed one. I thought of jumping in completely and see if they would swim with me. But I did'nt. The dolphins hung out with me for about ten minutes before continuing on with their journey. Before they left completed they caught a few waves with us. Colin actually rode a wave beside one of the dolphins. An amazing experience.