About Me

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Sacramento, California, United States
so salty pieces of coral from surfing Hawaii in the 60's and 70's getting reef pounded living in my body fall through my skin from time to time!

sailing to Oahu

Jimi Hendrix was playing on Oahu. I had never sailed. Surfed Mexico, California, Hawaii! Aw, how hard could it be to sail 90-110 miles from Kauai to Oahu? Piece of cake, right? Remember it was the 60's! This is so bad. We thought we were looking at Kaiena Point,Ohau, knowing we weren't going to make the concert! But at least we were in site of Oahu-wrong! Coy, who had never sailed before, me,who had never sailed before, jeff and Abbott etc. We were looking at the sleeping giant on Kauai! We had done three-sixty's in the night! We sailed on the only tri-marran I've ever sailed on ( except later ) in my life, missed the concert! It was at the Waikiki Shell Ampitheater ( Moon eclipsed . We finally made Nawilwili Harbor! The Skipper tried to give us his boat saying, " It's trying to kill me"! We watched him go stark raving mad not even realising that had we got caught in the channel current we were on our way to Japan! Remember it was the 60's and we were going to see Hendrix. I left out some of the good stuff but I will make up for it later!

Monday, September 14, 2009

The Ocean and Me

I couldn't believe when I was ten years old how far " Berdoo " was from the ocean. Our parents took us to La Costa Downs/ Carlsbad on camping trips every year because the grunion ran and Dad loved to surf fish, fishing boats, fish Bishop, Big Bear,
Lake Arrowhead or anywhere fish could be caught. He knew that he could find peace and his young little crumb snatchers and wife, would allow him, as bread winner, to fish until he had found a kind of peace that would allow him to face the daily battles of Norton Air Force Base and raising a family for another year! But and this is a big BUTT! I fell in love with a surfboard. Dick Dell and The Delltones, The Beachboys, even The Ventures, all came later. By the time I was 13 I knew people with cars but at 14 I was tieing a string around my arm,leading it outside my window to be pulled by S.B.friends with a car and with my parents permission to be picked up at 4 in the morning to make the dawn patrol at " Train Station " or " Poche " in San Clemente. Later I built on my surfing experience and a a desire for " Trestles ", which consists of many breaks with names. I'm a goofy foot so of course I loved " Cottons"! It was piratical fun in the mid to late sixties. You had to sneak into "Camp Pendleton", and I don't care if you were going to " Mile 0"! God, I loved it when the marines would try and get us out of the water. Most of these guys are form places like Kansas and they would paddle these " Zodiac " like green marine inflatables and ask us to please remove ourselves from the water, " You are on a government installation!" Duh, I only either walked along the trestle from San Clemente or paddled down the river from the bridge or got a pass on occasion from the gate itself. Before Nixon moved to- oh hell, that's another story. But Brodie used to run the gate at the private housing where John Severson lived and every now and then he let some of us come in and walk almost straight out to " Cottons"! I moved to San Clemente after I graduated from high school in Sacramento, California. Worked at the San O'nofre Nuclear Reactor and was a chauffeur for a good guy who had lost his license and needed a driver. He worked for the Pennysaver in Dana Point. I was riding a " Hobie" at the time. I broke that 9'9" inch Hobie Nose rider at Haleiwa, Hawaii in the winter of "67". I broke a Bing, Nuuhiwa/lightweight at 8' pipeline. For the next 20 years I only rode a couple boards that weren't shaped by Dick Brewer. I had found my home. Kauai Hawaii. I loved a hollow balsa I bought from Jimmy Lucas shaped by Mike Diffendorfer. Skip Harmon at the Hanapepe surf shop was being taught by Brewer and I loved Skip and Leigh. Skip let me ride some experimental stuff he was goofing around with. I've riden a couple " Lighting Bolts ". I think of all people Gerry Lopez was taught and learned more from the greatest shaper that has ever been than anyone else could glean from Brewer. Gerry is an inspirational surfer!!! Surfing led me into a relationship with the ocean. Up close and personal in that I have functioned as a fisherman, diver, U.S. Merchant Mariner, sailor and surfer. Me and a couple friends owned a restaurant in Hanalei, Kauai, called " The Rice Mill ". I had worked at the " Hofbrau " across from Queens in "67" and realized that working in the food and beverage business is absolutely the greatest job on Earth for a surfer. Work nights and days when there are no swells! Then work as little as possible to hold your job when " The Season " arrives. Worked for me. Gather round children and you shall hear!!!

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