Lost Boys & Co.

Lost Boys & Co... Y esterday, we included some skull shots from the exhibit by Helen Altman.  We mistakenly called her "Helen Atkinson," who is the well-known and recently appointed Chair in Metals Processing in the Department of Engineering at the University of Leicester .  You can see how we made the mistake, but anyway we thought we'd make up for it by running a shot of the proper Helen. P artly cloudy heading headlong into this Friday with the weekend looming large.  Winds are offshore by 3.9kts and the sea surface has a bit of a bump and tack to it.  The air temp is 56.1 and the water is 56.7.  High tide is at 10:12am +4.5' and low tide will follow at 4:15pm +0.5'.  The buoy is telling us that the swell is out of 273 at 4.9'.  It does look bigger today and we're calling it 4' to 5'.  We saw Poseur hitting it this morning and he was carving up some lumpy looking lefts and making the rights bend to his will.  This is after yesterday when

Lost Boys & Co... A few images from the NY trip.  We went to an art exhibit featuring Helen Atkinson's work, which this time included skulls molded out of various materials (including lotus leaves, chili peppers, fennel, seeds and artichoke greens.)  She also had a fountain that looked like an iron on an ironing board with a ton of white shirts waiting patiently to be ironed.  Didn't see any takers on that one...  The bed wasn't in our room - that was also part of the installation that included molded lotus leaf skulls, silkworm cocoons and a chenille bedspread.  We liked that one better, but it was a tad out of our price range... H ad to hit it early this am to keep the tide from getting in the way.  Sunny and beautiful with 25 miles visibility.  Not any clouds to speak of, with just a bit of haze.  Winds were offshore early at 2.7kts and the sea surface had a bit of residual tack from last night's winds.  The air temp was 52.4º and the water is 56.5º.  High tide

Lost Boys & Co... O kay, we're back from the Big Apple.  Damn, it was cold back there!  A couple of pics of a couple of relatively famous islands.  Pic the first is Liberty Island with the famous Statue of Liberty and the second is Manhattan Island with all of the requisite skyscrapers.  Both hold a rather fascinating charm.  We had to take the trip, mostly because in all of the times we've gone to NYC, we'd never visited the Statue of Liberty.  It was also blowing 40kts, 21º and clear as a bell.  Really kept the crowds down.  Note the lack of palm trees on both islands... A little hazy this morning with predominantly clear skies.  We're calling it 17 miles visibility.  Winds are currently offshore by 3.9kts and the sea surface has a bit of a tack to it.  The air temperature is 52.2º and the water is at 56.8º.  High tide is at 8:27am +5.5' and low tide will be at 3:07pm -0.5'.  A fairly significant tidal swing, reflecting tonight's new moon.  The buoy i

Lost Boys & Co.. . A beautiful day here in Lotus Land.  Attached we have a couple of shots of the surf and the turf from up in the Riviera.  In case you were wondering why the offshore winds are a bit chilly, that much snow tends to cool things off a tad.  Hey, it's February!  It's supposed to be cold.  H ey!  Have you ever had a toasted peanut butter sandwich at TJ's?  Damned delicioso and served with a piping hot cup'a joe.  We also got to meet Isabel (?) from Oviedo, Spain.  She's here for a conference that Zoe's putting on.  Here son is a surfista and surfs northern Spain and southern France.  Sounds like we need to visit! N o rain in the forecast through the weekend.  Sunny and partly cloudy is the word.  Today we have 25 miles visibility and clear skies.  Winds are offshore by 7.8kts and the sea surface at 8am was glassy.  The air temp is 56.7, just a few ticks warmer than the water at 56.1.  High tide is at 5:23am +4.7' and low tide will follow

Lost Boys & Co. .. A beautiful morning after yesterday's rains.  Let's see what's in the stats today... W e have 17 miles visibility, with hazy cloudless skies.  Winds are offshore by a strong 5.6kts and the sea surface is smooth, but not glassy.  The air temperature is 54.5 and the water is 56.3.  High tide is early at 4:17am +4.5' and low tide will be at 12:20pm +0.3'.  The buoy is reading a 4.6' swell out of 255.  The resulting waves are 3' to 5'. O ur suggestion is to hit it early tomorrow.  Yeah, we know it's cold, but the tide and the winds are best early.  We got shut out this morning waiting for the tide and it just kept getting lower and lower. L et's see if you recognize the eyeball... "When the surf breaks, we'll fix it..."  The Professor!!

Lost Boys & Co... H ere we have a shot of Buck and the Professor mugging for the camera before they went mano-a-mano .  The second shot is them strolling out to the waves.  Everyone else ran and jumped into the water.  Buck & the Professor took a more casual approach...  R ain squalls at times throughout the day.  Visibility at 7:30am was 2 miles through heavy rain.  Winds have already changed to onshore by 11.7kts and the sea surface is chopped, diced and minced.  The air temperature is 52.5 and the water is 56.1.  High tide is at 2:51am (if you happen to be up,) +4.6' and low tide will be at 11:24am +0.7'.  The buoy is reading a swell out of WSW 256 at 5.9'.  We're calling Topaz and the Avenues at 5' to 6' with some bigger outsides.  A little wild though...  It would be nice if the wind would stop or even turn around! O ur third photo shows Jex McCartney, showing off his Seahawk Beatdown jersey.  He used it to good advantage coming in second place in

Lost Boys & Co... A ttached you'll find Buck and the Professor being welcomed to the Redondo Union High School Alumni Surf Contest.  The girls are the score keepers and just happen to be Les Congiliere's granddaughters.  Les is the Redondo High surf coach.  Let's look at the stats and more on the other pics! R ainy this morning, with about an half mile visibility.  Some serious rain squalls from time to time.  Winds are out of the SE by 15.5kts and the sea surface has a backwards tack from the offshore.  The air temperature is 55.4 and the water is 56.1.  Only two tides today (one if you don't plan on being up at 1am.)  High tide at 1:35am +4.6' and low tide will be at 9:52am +1.0'.  The buoy is reading a 9.8' swell out of 181.  Most of the big ones aren't making the turn, so we're calling it 6' to 7' and actually pretty good shape, if you don't mind being drenched in the squalls as they blow through.  We haven't seen any lightni

H ere we have Buck and the Professor getting ready to hit the surf after suiting up. The surf was 3' to 4' at the Hermosa Pier on Saturday the 14th and they were the oldest competitors! Buck wondered where all of the older guys were and the Professor suggested that they might be in the home watching cartoons. We'll have a full report tomorrow! "When the surf breaks, we'll fix it..." The Professor!!

Lost Boys & Co... S o Danger Boy and the Professor head out this morning and the Professor cons Danger Boy into checking out Sapphire.  Danger Boy really  wants to look at the Cove, but he's beyond a good sport and goes along with the Professor.  They look at Sapphire.  It's not huge, but there are some good waves and the wind isn't hitting it as hard as Topaz.  As they're watching this guy catches one in the middle and proceeds to finesse it all the way to the rocks.  Who is that guy?  Well, it turns out to be Don Swift and he and Rooster had been watching the Professor snag all these good waves the day before and they decided that today they'd get a little Sapphire going.  As it turned out, everyone got some pretty nice waves!  On their way out the caught Bob Stassi checking it.  There were still some good ones at Topaz.  We hope he snagged some good high tide rollers! T his morning visibility was about 10 miles with partly cloudy skies.  In fact until the fr

Lost Boys & Co... N o rain today as some weather pundits predicted.  Instead clear skies and not even a hint of smoggies.  Visibility is 25+ miles and the winds are now reading 19.4kts with gusts up to 23kts.  The sea surface is lightly chopped.  The air temp is 53.4º and the water is 56.1º.  High tide is at 10:43am +4.9' and low tide will follow at 4:58pm +0.1'.  The swell is out of 262º at 6.2' and we're calling it 5' to 6' . W e hit Sapphire this morning around 9am and even though the wind was still a bit on and north it was starting to smooth out a bit.  We almost picked Topaz,  but it was a bit rocked and even Don Swift didn't look like he had a good pick.  Sapphire on the other hand was bouncing off the top third of the jetty and was setting up a rather steep bowling face.  There were some good lefts and the right was a long bottom turn with a quick kick out next to the rocks.  By the time we left at high tide it was starting to blow pretty hard a

Lost Boys & Co... H ere's the deal:  You can go out early when the tide is medium and freeze your ears, nose and hair off OR you can go out later and surf on barely rideable bumps at high tide.  The good news is that the tide continues to drop in the morning so the freezer issue should be mitigated somewhat (you can hit it later with a little more sun.) A nother clear morning with about 20 miles visibility.  The wind is out of the NNE by 3.9kts and the sea surface is smooth with a bit of a roll.  The air is a brisk 48.3º and the water is a lot warmer at 56.3º.  High tide is at 9:58am +5.7' and low tide will be at 4:27pm -0.6'.  The swell is coming out of 265º west at 3.6' and we're calling it 3' to 4'. C louds moving in this afternoon and the weatherman is telling us that we can expect some rain on Friday.  It looks like it might squeeze out a few drops this evening, but we're hoping we get a shot at it in the morning with a little sun to keep us as

Lost Boys & Co... W e checked it out at the usual time this morning and decided the wind was a bit of an issue.  So we got gas, went to Trader Joe's and then we cruised by and looked at it again.  WAIT A MINUTE!  The wind had changed direction and all of a sudden it started looking like it was getting BETTER.  We snapped this photo of Topaz and Sapphire as it was turning... A s clear as a bell at 25 miles and not a cloud in the sky.  Winds were out of the north and then switched to almost offshore for about an hour and a half around 9am.  The sea surface had a bit of a roll to it and the buoy said the wind was 5.2kts from the north.  The air temperature was 51.8º and the water was comparatively warm at 56.1º. High tide was at 9:14am +6.3' and low tide is at 3:55pm -1.1'.  The buoy was reading a 6.9' swell out of 274ºand we're calling the waves 5' to 6'.. S o we hit the surf as the tide began to drop and got Sapphire with some big foamy outsides every 3

Lost Boys & Co... T his weekend we traversed the highways and bi-ways of Southern California to celebrate a couple of birthdays.  The first on Saturday was Nick Corsinita.  We celebrated his hundredth birthday!  Yikes!  Quite an accomplishment.  The great thing is that besides his eyesight (which is a bit fogged) he's still got fairly good hearing and all of his marbles.  He was in fine form hugging it up with all the ladies (girls to him) and being as charming as he has been for the past century.  The second birthday was the first for Baker Carlisle.  He has great eyesight, fine hearing and a good crop of red hair - but he didn't have much to say.  He looked like he was having fun.  Not on the slide that the relatives pitched in for, but the box in which the slide came packed.  We've included pics of both boys and their respective eyeballs.  You have to figure out which belongs to who... M eanwhile some periods of heavy rain today (like right about now.)  3 miles visi

Lost Boys & Co... C ouldn't have said it better than Robert Stassi:         The Great surf recession of 09. El Nada . "I did not quit surfing, surfing quit me"   Bob Stassi T hat was until yesterday...  The surf started to move late Wednesday night into Thursday morning.  It started at 1.3' and by 8am yesterday it was already at 3.6'.  Then it started cranking:  4.6', 4.9', 5.2', 5.6', 5.9', 6.2', 6.6'.  Of course the rain started as well and if the storm drain issue clouds your thinking about it, you DO have a problem.  Let's look at the stats. W e have 3 miles visibility and cloudy rainy skies.  A couple of patches of blue have cruised through, but it's mainly stormy.  Winds started out of the south and by now are pretty much out of the west by 11.7kts, gusting to 15.  The sea surface is starting to chop up.  The air temp is a temperate 55.9º and the water is still 58.5º, but you can probably expect that to drop with th

Lost Boys & Co... W e caught Birdie hard at work this morning..  Funny how it must seem like work to him and to the rest of us it would be a real thrill to glass your own board!  Perspective is a funny thing...  oh, you don't think so...  okay... A nother clear day here in LALA land.  25 miles visibility and almost perfectly clear.  Winds are offshore by 3.9kts and the sea surface is that same old glassy table top we've seen for over a week.  The air temperature is 57.9º and the water is an amazing 59.0º.  Pretty damned warm for a February.  Low tide is late at 11:54am -0.2' and high tide will be even later at 6:57pm +3.0'.  Tomorrow we flip and high tide will be at 5am, so watch the shift.  The buoy is reading a swell out of 347º (pretty tight north for us) and 1.3'..  The surf is barely 1' and we're hoping the impending storm is going to bring some waves.  They're telling us that there won't be much percipitation, so maybe all of the evil thin

Lost Boys & Co... "H ello Baby!  Yeah, this is the Big Bopper speaking..."  Damn, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper all in one fell swoop.  50 years ago today... A beautiful day here in Southern California.  Our photo shows a clear cloudless sky interrupted only by an errant light pole.  How did that get there?  25 miles visibility with just a tad of smoggies in the corners.  Winds are offshore by 3.5kts and the sea surface is glassy.  The air temperature is 52.5º and the water is up to 58.5º.  Not bad for February. Low tide is at 10:47am +0.5' and high tide is at 5:57pm +2.6'.  The buoy is reading the swell out of 230ºat 1.6' and we're agreeing that it's about 1' and poor.  There aren't any waves anywhere. N ow we've investigated the long range forecast and they're telling us that we should have some weather on Thursday and Friday.  We're hoping this brings some waves, although the usual drill is for it also to bring

Lost Boys & Co... P hil Says "Six More Weeks of Winter!" Phil's official forecast as read February 2nd, 2009 at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob: Hear Ye Hear Ye On Gobbler's Knob this glorious Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2009 Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators Awoke to the call of President Bill Cooper And greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths After casting a joyful eye towards thousands of his faithful followers, Phil proclaimed that his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers were World Champions one more time And a bright sky above me Showed my shadow beside me. So 6 more weeks of winter it will be. S o there you are, Phil has spoken.  He said nothing about the surf, but we're imagining that it will probably be as crappy as it has been for the first half of the winter.  Spring starts March 20th so let's hope things pick up by then!  Meanwhile, we have sunny skies this morning (so Phil could see his shado