Spank My Wookie

I had another evening sundown session and it was fun. I dragged my brother to the beach as well. Today I brought both the coletta 9'6" and the hynson 9' performance lightweight pin tail. The waves were a little chopped up from the wind, but still very rideable. The crowd was minimal and the breaks were frequent enough that once I paddled out, I would see something I like, turn around and crawl for a wave. I caught a few fun rides today, and they were long, all the way to the beach. I shuffled on one of them too! My main problem is still looking down at my feet, and forgetting to try to turn the board once i get up.Then I switched to the Hynson and was it tough to paddle! My brother commented on how easy it was to paddle with the coletta. It took me a while to get to the outside with that board, and I also forgot how much trashing around I get when I am on it. I guess if I want to ride it better, I need to be on it more. I did make it to the outside, but my arms were more tired from paddling. I managed to belly ride one all the way in because I hesitated to pop up on the board. That is another problem I need to work on. All in all, a fun time and I got to see the sun almost set in the horizon, behind some clouds. Ahh...the joys of being able to get out after work!

Posted by Baldwin at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I finally decided to pick up an iPod. It's the coolest thing. 30 gigs of music for whenever I want to listen to it. It's best to listen to it during the commute to work. I just put on my headphones and zone out to some tunes while trying to catch the bus. I got the color one and it's already getting scratched up from all that use. Damn...oh well...getting my money's worth. Now, all I need to do is find that attachment so I can hook it up to the car.

Posted by Baldwin at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I checked the stokemasters group around 5:00pm tonight. Someone said LM was nice. It took me two seconds to decide to bail from work and head out there.I got there around 6:30 and it was small but glassy. The tide was going out so there were some closeout sets rolling in. Not bad. I got one nice ride, complete with a drop and all. Then I proceeded to pearl on a bunch of them. We ended up drifting north of the bathrooms, where I proceeded to get pounded by a few breaking sets. It wasn't bad though, because I pierced through it! I decided that I had enough of the north end, so I paddled back towards Taco Bell. I caught a small ride on the way on and then we call it a day!I got to see the sun go down, and it was not crowded, with slight sideshore winds which made changing a bitch!Fun stuff.

Posted by Baldwin at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

No swell in sight...small 3 foot closeoutsflat all over the beach....went out, just to go out...tried to find my own peak, caught one soup ride...called it a morning after 45 mins...Better than nothing!

Posted by Baldwin at 08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I woke up late this morning. There was some partying going on last night, so I slept in a little more. When I saw the clock, it read 9:30am, so I needed to scramble if I wanted to get to the beach. After that, it's off to a BBQ in the afternoon. Today was a continuation of yesterday; small peelers, wait, then a bigger one will roll through, wait again, then the small ones appear. Needless to say, the crowd was smaller too! I guess some people only head out if conditions are favorable. But I had fun today, so it was in my favor! hahaha...I got some more drops and some more fast pop ups. It was fun today, but my next two tasks are to work on the bottom turn, and to look up and not at my feet. I am still getting tired during the paddle out; and the freezing water doesn't help either. but like i said, fun, pure fun, and nothing but fun. you can forget all your worries when you get pounded by a 4 foot closeout!

Posted by Baldwin at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today was a cold day. But my freezing hands did not keep me out of the water. It took me a little while to get used to the chilly water(man, did I not remember it was spring) So today, the swells have not arrived yet. So they were long waits in between sets. I went out with my brother this time. Saturday morning, it was earth day, and best of all, it did not rain.At first, i thought to myself, "Why am I so tired all of a sudden. I thought i practiced a lot in Hawaii. but I guess not. At the beginning, I caught a long ride all the way in. I didn't make the drop, but nevertheless, it was fun. I just rode white water all the way. Some little turns but I forgot to look towards the beach. I am still looking at my feet. However, I was around a lot of people, and it wasn't as fun to always have to double check before paddling for a wave. If I hadn't looked around, I could of had a collision. So it was really good thing that the current pushed up farther north. The main pack in front of taco bell would every once and a while just paddle to maintain position. I drifted...but it was all good. Soon, we found a small break near the beach, and I started to have fun with it! As soon as I caught the first one, I felt enegized and not tired. I just wanted to head right back out there and catch another one!What a shift in momentum and energy. So I caught a few more, some where small but I did make the drop, and I sensed that my pop up is a little more poppy! Is this progress? I made a few more, some where just white water rides, but it felt good to ride them. I was so happy! My brother wanted to leave after a little bit, but I wanted more. Oh well...when we got back to the car, it was only 11:00 am. Man, I wanted a longer session!So tomorrow, I will try to head out earlier and ride a lot more than I did today. Perhaps drifitng to the north is not so bad after all!

Posted by Baldwin at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So I didn't manage to wake up for a morning surf session. Oh well, there will be some this weekend right? Friggen rain is going to come down! Oh well, if it is small enough, I will still try to go out. If not, it will definately be monday morning!So work's been going smoothly for now. Funny how 5 years of start-up environment can do to you. I am now realizing that there is life after the 9-5. Before, I would work through the closing hours and then realize that, I need to go home. Things are definately different where I am at now. Bigger corporation, different mentaility. Let's see how the next week treats me. So far so good though.I love my iPod. It's so cool that I finally got one. Now I can just zone out on the way to work, instead of looking dazed and confused. Next, I will need to put my game boy back into action and start playing some games!

Posted by Baldwin at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I started my new job Monday. Now it's two days and counting...so far so good though. This is such a change from where I was before. Let's start with the commute...what commute? I just hope on the Muni train and doze off on the way downtown. 20 minutes, and I am in front of Starbucks ready for coffee. Before, I'd drive half and hour in 101 traffic and just dread the idea of making the 9-5 routine in such a dead zone called Foster City.The enviornment is much different. For once, I do not have to deal with twenty priorities shoved at me and expected to be dealt with in 20 minutes. Things are more organized and relaxed. Why is that? I guess I am still jaded. Give me a few months to figure this out.The best thing is that I get two laptops, and two flat panels. Did I mention one of them is a 22 inch apple cinema display! Now I can have 20 terminals open and still have room to do other stuff! Best of all, I have access to all the machines with no restrictions. I can actually change the time on my machine! Before I couldn't do that! WTF...so cool, so cool...More to come.

Posted by Baldwin at 09:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I would have never thought that one day I will be excited to pack up and go surf somewhere for a long period of time. Hell, it was just about a year ago when I took my first surf lesson and made a complete fool out of myself. Well, this past week, I headed back out to Hawaii with Edlyn and surfed for 4 days straight; on one day, I even had two sessions.I camped out in a hotel across waikiki beach and decided to just surf queens the whole time. This was because the rental was about 8 bucks an hour and they don't really keep tabs on how many hours you have the board for. I did drive around the north shore looking for waves, but found it to either be out of my range or have no surf at all. Hell, Waiamea Bay was flat the day I dropped by to take a look. (I will probably never surf that place!)There were some surf outside Waikiki, at Ala Moana, Kaisers...but I wasn't prepared to paddle out there. It looked like short board conditions and I am still learning to surf a longboard.THERE IS NOTHING LIKE WARM WATER SURFING!!!!!!!!So Queens is one of the spots in Waikiki beach, right across the two Hyatt towers. I will come to learn that the lineup sits right between the two towers. Queens is a rolling right and left, which has an outside break, but then reforms to break two more times before dropping off into some deep waters, right before it heads into shore. It took me all four days to work up to sitting in the outside. Plus, the paddle was a little long and I got tired at times.So here is how the surf went.Session 24: Bright and early, Edlyn and I headed out to the beach, which was a short walk across the street. The beach boys were offering surf lessons, so Edyln took one for about an hour. I opted to rent a board and try my luck out there. It took me a little while to figure out what to expect. There were a lot of lessons going on in the inside reform, and then there were cats sitting beyond that. I decided to just sit on the second to the inside break and try to catch some waves there. I managed about two before I noticed her class was over. I decided to call it a day and head in to just hang back.Session 25: Again, headed out in the morning. Today, we both just rented boards and headed out. Edlyn was more comfortable chilling in the wash, so I headed out to catch some waves. Today, I rented a 10 foot foamie and it was really easy to paddle with. I managed about 5 rides today. Most of them were longer rides which I rode to the inside break. It was a fun day, but I was still a little tired from all that paddling back to the outside. My knees and arms were rashed up from rubbing against the foamie. I tried to ignore it, but after a while, it was burning and I called it a day.Session 26: Ahh, today I mad mucho rides and it was from reform from the outside break. I had about 10 rides in a two hour session, and I was really stoked about it. I wanted to sit towards the right tower so I can try to crank a bottom turn, but I wasn't able to do that yet. Regardless, it was a really fun day. Best part, I was able to paddle around a lot more and not be so tired! Am I getting use to this?Session 27: I finally made it to the outside today, and my there are some talented locals on the longboard. A lot of girl surfers were cross-stepping and just longboarding with a lot of style. I had a lot of near collisions today. It was more crowed in the morning because it was a saturday. I managed to catch about 5 rides from the outside. One was a really long ride all the way to the second from the inside. Today, I wanted to be able to pop up before the slide down the face happened, but I still need to work on this. I also managed to loose a contact halfway through the session.Session 28: Afternoon goodness! I also saw some locals from the morning. I guess Saturday is a good surf day for them. I sat on the outside for most of the session and managed to catch some waves before the white water broke. Those rides were really fun! I had a 35 pound hard top which wasn't pleasant to carry around, but was really stable in the water. I managed about 5 waves again, but almost ran into some surfers. NOTE to self: Must be more careful before crawling for a wave.All in all, I think I was able to make some progress during the week. I wasn't as tired paddling back to the outside when the week drew to a close. I was able to power into a few more waves than before. I was able to stand up a lot more than let waves go by.Now that I am back in the city, it is back to cold water surfing, howling spring time winds, and murky Linda Mar sessions. But I have a lot to look forward to. I am excited to attempt a lot more waves the next time I get in the waters. I might really start to work on that bottom turn and hopefully be able to make it soon!

Posted by Baldwin at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Baldwin at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When I took out the Coletta today, it reminded me of the first time I took it out after I bought it. Well, I got it back from repairs last week, and it looks brand new! I waxed it up with a fair amount of bumps. The smell of surf wax is good too; sometimes its pineapple, or root beer. Lindy was still a little bumpy today, but was manageable. When I dropped the board into the water, I watched as the water beaded up and just slid off the wax. With the board being beige, the wax being white; it created a neat effect when the water rolled off the board. Weird?!I caught two rides today, but they were more on the outside and I rode it all the way in. Man, did I miss this board. It's stable, and heavy, and won't spin you around as you are paddling to meet the oncoming white water that is about to break over your head. I am happy to just be there today; to get more acquainted with this stick! My second ride was a long one. I did not manage to stand before the board slid down the face, but I managed to stand after that, and it was a fun ride in!The paddling was tough today. I was met with a lot of white water, and a lot of breaking waves over my head. But it seems I wasn't too afraid to attempt to punch through. Is this progress? The second time paddling out was pretty tiring. I guess there is more muscle I have to build up!

Posted by Baldwin at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Gosh! going to a baseball game is fun when drunk! All the yelling nad hollering and acting stupid was a blast. Damn Giants had to loose though. But man, were the drinks expensive! 8 dollars a brew. I bought 4 of them and then 2 garlic fries, and that was 42 dollars! Anyhow, the queue for the bathrooms were so long, it seemed like an eternity, especially after 4 beers. When we left the park, I had to find a bathroom as well...but didn't see any till we walked all the way to gordon birsch. That was the farthest walk I've taken. Acting drunk along the embarcadero, I managed to scrape both my knees tring to hop over a pole. I cleared it, but didn't land correctly. Shit! oh well...Next game is in two weeks!

Posted by Baldwin at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Doesn't it feel weird to not fall into your normal routine anymore? Imagine waking up, and have to adjust to something else. All of a sudden, your routine for the past two years will change, abiet for the better, but still a change. I will be entering a little intermission before the start of a new venture. I've been wanting to say that for a LONG time. Stress, pressures, incompotence, empty buzz words, sales pipelines, crappy monday meetings have been my life for the past year. Ever since the company's desire to become more corporate, life has been a buzz with timesheets, fake appaulse and a LOT of corporate cheerleading. 50 hour weeks, nightly on call support, bad data pipes have driven me to look for something else. So what is on the horizon? A lot of surf for the next week! Then jump into something completely different. Change is good sometimes; this will be a nice change. No more driving to work, walks to the ballpark, close to a lot of people, and best of all; no more Foster City!

Posted by Baldwin at 08:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The drive over the hill was sunny. I can see from the flags that there was not much onshore wind. When I got to the beach, it was glassy, with small peeling peaks. Looks awesome because lately it's been junky blown out. I got about 4 waves today, including one with some shuffling to the middle. However, the nose is too thin to support noseriding. I am still tired from paddling and cannot consistently get into the waves, but hopefully this is a start of some improvements. Regardless, those were fun rides!I hit my head with the board on one of the wipeouts. It didn't hurt much, but I should be more careful. The parking lot was full of smiles so it must have been a good day out!More to come next time, which hopefully is tomorrow.

Posted by Baldwin at 08:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Somehow, I didn't make it out surfing this weekend. Yesterday, the sea was choppy and bumpy, much like how Friday was. Today, I made an effort to look for surf. Since I was driving back from Fremont, I decided to roll out to Half Moon Bay to check out the jetty. It was low tide and choppy, and not many people out. I couldn't make out the breaks, so I started to drive north on 1. Montara was closing out in massive sets throughout the beach. There was one guy brave enough to paddle out and catch a few good rides.Lindy today looked glassy, though closing out. So I thought maybe by 5 o clock, and with the time change, I could have a session until 7 o clock. Great! So I rush home to grab my gear. But alas, the minute I walk out of my house, rain started to come down! Damn it!!! so close but yet so far. so now I must plot when to surf this week.

Posted by Baldwin at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Junky, choppy, blown out peaks everywhere...head high breaks, but are more hidden in the chop. It was sunny today, but just choppy. The actual breaks were not powerful, I guess because it was neutralized by the wind chop. I got some rash rides today, got jossled around, and sat unsteadily on the outside waiting. There were a bunch of people out there. One guy asked if I was out there last Saturday. I guess I go there a lot!The benefit of today is to just paddle around in different conditions. I think I am starting to concentrate on improving the paddling. Let's see if I can get out this weekend for more.

Posted by Baldwin at 01:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday I had a sunny morning session; well, just got out there and paddled around. The waves were infrequent and the tide was going out, so yep; closeouts all around. I didn't catch much so I was experiementing with paddling around. I was trying to make every stroke count, and follow through while paddling. I did notice a difference, and I wasn't as tired. Need to practice more of it today. I also got the washing machine treatment. Pearled a few times and was caught in the spin cycle. It was pretty fun. BTW, the south end of Lindy is much more sandy. I had a hairy carpet on my chest when I got out.

Posted by Baldwin at 07:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)