NEXT UP, OCEANSIDE Team Riders! Time to tune your beachbreak skills this weekend at Oceanside. Gretchen Harris has sent me tentative heat sheets for Saturday (see below) and there is always room for more alternates in this event. Anyone else want to surf? Contact me ASAP as I don't want Gretchen to have to make changes on Friday. Phone 858-204-6417 or 858-405-9168. Click on link to download Excel file: OLSC_SCHEDULE_07.xls Travis Long |
THE MALIBU BOARDRIDERS CLUB 16TH ANNUAL EVENT By Richard Steadham Can you say itty-bitty? That pretty much sums up the wave conditions for this year's contest at Malibu. Even though we knew the surf wasn't going to be epic before heading north, our expectations were still conjuring up at least knee-to-waist-high, machine-honed walls of glass off that legendary point. The reality of it once there however was more akin to ankle-to-mid-calf sets with the occasional knee-to-waist-high rogue rolling in. It was downright dismal.
Many from our club made the trip up on Friday and were able to get a little time in the water before the competition began on Saturday. The sun was shinning and the water refreshing with nary a wetsuit in sight. Other clubs had the same idea of course and it was every man and woman for themselves scratching for even the hint of a wave on the horizon coming their way. I'm sure the locals didn't even bother, knowing two things: a bunch of out-of-towners were descending on their break and there wasn't any surf to speak of anyway. Have at it. Some club members spent the night on the beach or in their vehicles in the parking lot, figuring a ticket would be worth the risk if caught. Others slept in their vehicles right on Pacific Coast Highway and kept a low profile. A sizable contingent had reserved rooms at the Good Nite Inn, 10 miles up Malibu Canyon Road in Calabasas for the next two nights. After this group (which I was one) had all finally arrived in staggered intervals, we gathered at a great little Italian restaurant called "Spumoni's" just up the road for pasta and libations to get the weekend off right. Early the next morning with sleep in the corner of our eyes and the taste of garlic in our mouths, we each wound our way back down the fog-shrouded canyon to the contest about the begin. First Round Heats on Saturday
Surfing in the same division a couple of heats later, Travis Long found just the right combination of outside, knee-high monsters and inside ankle-slappers to advance with a 3rd place notch on the rod. Pete Robson in only his second contest outting for the club in the Men's 40-49 category saw meager conditions during his heat almost void of swell energy and a chance at catching even the minimum two waves for scoring. He wound up 5th and for the rest of the day found a permanent place in the tent watching others either advance or suffer his fate. |
Still, it was
Malibu and the vibe on the beach among the 12 invited clubs was:
let's have a good time in spite of the miniscuel surf. And so we
did.
The morning started
off cool and gray with a stubborn marine layer holding
back the sun's rays until almost noon. Leading the charge for the
club
in only the second heat of the morning was Nick D'Rov in
the Jr. Men's 15-19 division. Rules for the small weekend's waves
were
to be four waves maximum, with two of them counting towards one's
score. Nick found it difficult, as many would later, to even find
four waves in one's heat to ride. When his heat was over, he was
left with a 5th place showing and one more contest disappointment
for this talented young surfer.
New
team rider Matt
Dalton surfing in the Men's 30-39 division a few heats
later got the ship
turned
around and heading back in the right direction by taking 1st in
his heat. Matt was fun to watch, perched on the nose with
such a laid back, traditional style, and he did it in surf barely
knee high. Welcome to the team Matt!
PACIFIC
BEACH SURFING HISTORY: By Bobby Challenger Thomas
Profile: Kanakas
Surf Club 1956 The photo above was taken during a Kanakas reunion back in 1989 while on a surf trip with Baja Surf Adventures. I am so lucky to have friendships that have lasted for more than 50 years and we are still doing what we did best as kids, surfing together at the Crystal Pier. You might not be able to make it out from this photo, but the cool original club logo on our T-shirts was Goofy the cartoon character dog on a surfboard. I was 11 years old in 1954 when I met my first Kanaka, Ferggy Maycumber, who would secure his wooden surfboard to a long wagon connected to his bike and off to the beach to surf he would go. This was the beginning of a friendship with one of the oldest-living friends I have today, and after all these years, still have something in common. It's the same for you as a club member, riding waves with your friends on a surfboard. How can that be? Like walking on water. 1954 was also the same year I entered PB Elememtary School and met Gayle Myers (Gordon & Smith Surfboards legend). A few years later I met Larry Gordon and Floyd Smith at Crystal Pier. I must have been about 13 or 14 years old at the time. Who would have ever thought that these two surfers would become owners of one of the longest-surviving surfboard building companies in the world. I am proud to have been a part of the Gordon & Smith legacy as one of their shapers in the early years. Malibu Paddle Relay: The members of the paddle relay team are my heroes. They all finished with stamina, style and class at the famous Malibu Boardriders Club "Call to the Wall." Great job at Malibu by out-paddling nine other teams and taking 5th place. That is an improvement from Santa Cruz by two places. Please report to Richard Steadham at 3pm on Saturday, if Team Captain Travis has signed you up for the paddle team lineup. I really had fun coaching the Malibu relay and building a winning attitude for the future. Oceanside Contest: This Pier break can get really big like Huntington. I have surfed it several times like this and based on the Hurricane off Hawaii, you can expect sets to be overhead. Look for these pikes, most will have a clean face allowing a connection for nose rides and off-the-lip smacks on the shore break. Do not get caught inside when a set comes. Wait it out. Good luck surfing. Triva: What year was the Kanakas Surf Club formed in the community of Pacific Beach? If you are first with answer, you will received a special T-shirt. Contact the editor with your answer.  Bobby Challenger Thomas on a big one during a contest at the Oceanside Pier. The photo was taken by Jim Pidgeon from the pier. |
Photos from the Bobby Challenger Thomas Collection
KNOW HOW PBSC held its
second surf clinic July 14 at Tourmaline Surf Park. We offered
three divisions, beginner, intermediate
and advanced/noseriding. Attendance was best ever with 20 beginners,
six intermediates and eight advanced. Celia Treamer instructed
her beginners, ages five to 50 in safe board handling, wave
reading,
paddling and popping up. Omar Metwalli broke
down wave selection, bottom turn and trim techniques for the
intermediates,
and Pablo
Smith and Jim "Spinner" Cameron explained
the fine points of noseriding, cross step
and drop knee cut backs to good surfers looking to take it to
the next level. —Kathy Austin Snapshots from the day of learning and fun: |
FILL THE WELL, DRAW THE WATER By Jerome Lynn Hall
If you’ve been down to Tourmaline Canyon this summer,
you’ve probably seen “Doc” Paskowitz and his
son, Izzy, running surfing clinics and Surfers Healing camps. “ Doc” came back to the states and practiced his craft as he raised a large and closely-knit family. His credentials – both in the water and out – are impressive: surfer, healer, teacher, and author. Recently, his book, Surfing and Health: Live Long Live Well. (Juliette Publishing. Honolulu, Hawai’i) was republished. Pick up a copy before the summer ends; I think you’ll enjoy his knack for story telling and his sage advice.
If surfing has a proponent of health, it’s “Doc” Paskowitz. Since his days as a young medical practitioner, he has been an advocate of proper exercise, nutrition, and rest to build a healthy body, mind, and spirit. Though “Doc” will tell you that it all begins with a strong and fit body, he sees it as one big, inseparable package. Everything, it seems, emanates from self-respect. Without an appetite for rightness in our bodies, hearts, minds, and spirits, we will never cultivate appropriate relationships with others or our environment. There is a “vitality” to life that too often goes unacknowledged. You can miss it if you aren’t careful. The next time you walk down to the shore and put your board in the water, pause for a moment. Look around and consider how everything you see is important. Then ask yourself: in the few moments that I spend here today, how can I make this a better place? For starters, exchange a kind word with someone between sets – someone you don’t know; encourage a beginner; pick up trash on your way back in. Go home and nourish those you love; remember those who love you and ponder how truly lucky you really are. Align yourself with the vitality of life! Fill your well often and fully. Draw deeply. You won’t go thirsty and you’ll always have water to share. That’s aloha. Quote experted from “Sound in Body and Spirit,” by Terry Tomalin, St. Petersburg Times, 29 April 2003. Photo courtesy of Izzy Paskowitz |
CLUB NEWS & MORE New Women's
Surf Magazine Online: On August 10th the club had an evening surf session (if you want to call it that; the waves were knee-high slop) and Bar-B-Que at the back of Tourmaline Surf Park. Organized by President Torrey Brown, it was an enjoyable evening of friends, food and conversation, despite the lousy surf earlier. By the time things got rolling, 22 members, guests and Tourmo regulars had partaken in the tasty fixin's Masi Saili had cooked up. |
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| Save Trestles
Update: The Surfrider Foundation needs your help. If you're interested in volunteer training on what you can do, they'll be holding a training session on August 30 at 7 p.m., location still to be decided (stay tuned). The California Coastal Commission will be hearing the application for the proposed toll road in October at a hearing in San Pedro (near the LA Harbor). It is one of the most important meetings in regards to stopping the toll road and Surfrider wants to get as many people there as possible from all over Southern California to attend the hearing. To that end, they'll be renting charter buses to get their supporters up there and all will receive "Save Trestles" T-shirts, signs and banners. For those who would like to speak during the comment period, Surfrider will provide talking points to focus on. Their main objective is to have an enormous presence. To learn more go to: www.surfridersd.org |
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Aug 18-19: Oceanside Longboard Surfing Club Contest, Oceanside Sep 8-9: Malibu Surfing Association Classic; Malibu Sep 15: PB Surf Club Late Summer Longboard Classic; Tourmaline Oct 6-7: Swami's Surfing Association Contest; Location to be decided Nov 24-25: Windansea San Miguel Invitational; San Miguel, Mexico |
This month's lead photo is by Matt Melin.
For more, visit the PB Surf Club website at: http://www.pbsurfclub.org
Copyright
© 2007, Pacific Beach Surf Club, San Diego, California
Editor & Designer: Richard Steadham
Got news? Send it to rlsteadham@mac.com
