Sidetracked

The surf was pretty choppy on Sunday, but I managed to squeak in just enough ocean time for a weekend Stoke. 

Not long before that, I was trolling through Surfline and found this cool old shot of a guy surfing in Morro Bay. Looking at it, a couple of observations quickly came to mind:

1.) That’s a big wave. Assuming this is a normal-sized guy, I’d put this wave around 10-12 feet. Since swells are biggest in the winter, I’m guessing it was sometime between January and March, leading to observation #2:

2.) This guy had to be freezing. You’ll notice the lack of a full wetsuit here. Jack O’Neill came up with the surf wetsuit in the 60s, but it would still be a while before every surfer had one.  So this guy is roughing it in what is probably 50-degree water. Brrrr.

The photo doesn’t have a name attached — only the nickname Sandman. So should Sandman see this, I’d love to hear more details about the photo.

While we’re talking surf stuff here, did you know that Clint Eastwood was a surfer? In this Save Trestles video, he talks about surfing San Onofre in his younger days.

And while we’re still talking about surf stuff, the Surfrider Foundation is putting on a really cool show Friday in honor of International Surfing Day. The exhibit, at La Perla del Mar Chapel in Shell Beach, will feature a collection of surfboards presented gallery-style by various shapers from our area, including Nick Cooper, Chad Jackson, PJ Wahl (that’s him on the right) and Gabe Lo . The event will include music, food and drink, and it runs from 6:30pm -10Pm. A $1 donation will be accepted.

Meanwhile, the local Surfrider chapter is encouraging everyone to get out and surf Friday. According to the forecast, it’s supposed to be small that day (Look for 2-3 feet, at best.) But you might want to get out anyway since it’s going to be even smaller on Saturday.

 Wahl Photo: www.cameroningalls.com

Posted on June 16th, 2008 by Pat
Filed under: Surf stuff