Stoked!

Report: Most College Males Admit To Regularly Getting Stoked

eightOHfive!

The 805 posse feelin' right at home in the long walls of Jeffrey's Bay

Dane: Highest two wave score 19.20, & 3rd overall.

Tommy: Beat Occy in their Round 1 Clash of the Icons.

Bobby: Easily the best goofy-footer on the tour got taken out by event winner Joel Parkinson in the quarters for a 5th place finish.

Nathaniel: Finding his footing and fairing well with a 9th.

Tall Tails

Or, perhaps that should be long tails.  

Summer has finally arrived on the Central Coast of California and with warmer water, south swells, and bait balls.  Bait balls, or large schools of bait fish, are easily observed just offshore. Though you can't generally see the fish themselves, what you can see is often just as impressive.  Large flocks of seagulls, dive-bombing pelicans, a froth of seals and sea lions, and evidently thresher sharks as well.

Thresher Shark, photo: www.atlanticanglers.com

About a month or so ago, I paddled out with a friend on a classic summer evening; warm water, sunny skies, kine little chest high peelers coming through on the inside bar.  After about 30 minutes or so, we watched in awe as a 6' thresher shark started to destroy some unlucky thing, thrashing wildly only 50' from where we sat!  

The water cleared, and my friend and I eventually went in as well, not from fear of the thresher so much as fear of what might come sniffing around all the blood and noise.  

Later, over an oil can of Fosters on the bluff above the break, I assured my friend that these shark feed on bait fish and that it would be highly unlikely that they would ever bite a surfer (as we watched it cruise right through the line-up).  

Then a few days later the local paper reports that a surfer at this break was treated for puncture wounds from what was suspected to be a small shark.  

I don't really have an end to this story but I thought it was worth sharing all the same.  Any of you out there in the blog-o-sphere have any fish stories to share?

Until next time, keep your feet up.

Aloha.

Sacred Craft

The Sacred Craft surfboard expo is coming to Ventura, stoked to finally check this out.  More details here.

Local boys Eric Soderquist (shredda) and Chris Burkard (ace photog) will be rolling out their slick new book The California Surf Project tomorrow night at Moondoggies and then again at SLO Surfrider's Stokefest on Saturday.  Come out and show some aloha.

"The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility.  To cherish what remains of it and to foster it's renewal is our only hope."  -Wendell Berry

Earth Day Philoso-T.  Photo: Daniel

Blue/Green

Ben Keller is bringing his award winning surf film Blue Green to La Perla del Mar in Shell Beach on Monday April 20th.  Door are at 6 with live music by the Dentures.  Film starts at 7:30.  SLO Surfrider will be raffling off a shred sled.  Sounds like a pretty good time for 8 bones.