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Showing posts from July, 2009

Faraginous Friday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... W e took off early this morning and watched José shape this beauty for Dave Doubravsky.  It's a double wing swallow tail, that's usually called a Tiburon shape.  Looks like a perfect board for the fall/winter when things start to get a little more power. H eavy overcast this morning with 10 miles visibility.  Winds are out of the north by 3.9kts and the sea surface is tacky, but mainly smooth.  the air temp is 65.3° and the water is a pleasant 68.7°.  High tide will be at 8:22am +3.4' and once again low tide is fast on it's heels at 11:55am +3.0'.  The buoy is reading a 3.0' swell out of the SSW 199° and we're calling it 2' with poor shape. S orry that we dropped a couple of days this week!  Various visitors, animals, surf, beach time, bike rides, skating and general laziness perverted us from making the deadlines.  We'll try harder in the future.  Okay - wait - we want to try harder.  We'll just have to see how much resolv

Thunder Lizard Thursday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... Y ou ought to go to the Redondo Farmer's Market more often.  This morning we ran into this young man gnawing his way through this ear of corn.  On closer inspection we recognized him as the red-hot junior Chris Stimpfl.  We were just lucky that the surf had gone down this morning and he decided to accompany mom and grandma to the farmer's market.  When he was asked if he would like to spend all 24 hours in the water he thought about it and then suggested maybe 20 hours, with about 4 hours to rest and get more corn.  Sounds like he's got the right attitude to us! T en miles visibility this morning under overcast skies.  Winds are out of the NNW by 3.9kts and the surface is pretty tacked up.  The air temp was 64.0° and the water was a fine 69.1°.  Still a lot of green algae bobbing around in the surf causing some really spectacular lime-green waves.  High tide was at 7:13am +3.1' and low tide was fast on it's heels at 10:28am +2.8'. The buoy

Mogul Monday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... T his study (Photo #1) in gray tones is exactly what you don't want to see.  This is the Edison Company (or whatever the hell they're calling it now) and the steam is being blown from west to east.  This means that the winds are onshore.  This does not bode well, as every surfista will tell you.  Actually, at the moment we snapped this shot, there was only a light onshore blowing (the stats will give you the approximate velocity!) but when that plume flattens out, get outta the water. S o on this gray Monday morning we have around 2 miles visibility and pretty heavy haze.  The aforementioned winds are 3.9kts out of the west and the sea surface is smooth, but getting ready to tack up.  The air temperature is a cool 63.3° and the water is a much warmer 69.1°, so just jump in and warm right up!  Low tide is at 7:36am +1.1' and high tide will be at 2:24pm +5.2'.  The buoy is reading a 3.6' swell out of 200°, which pretty much guarantees that PV wi

Phenolic Friday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... O ur first shot this morning features the budding waterman Luke "Tiger" Delameter.  He got a little upset when we told him he was goofy foot, so he switched stance.  That my friends is Determination.  Yes, with a capital "D."  By the way, he picked his nickname from a limited set of choices.  This is just to let you know "Captain Stinky" is still available... A bit of hazy sun this morning, clearing as we move through the day.  10 miles visibility along the coast.  Winds are light out of the SW by 3.9kts and the sea surface is tacked up a bit.  The air temp is 64.2° and the water is 69.1°, headed for at least 70 by this afternoon.  Low tide is at 5:43am -1.0' and high tide will follow at 12:10pm +5.0'.  The surf is working on an increasing swell out of 203° and was 3.9' at 6am.  The avenues and Topaz were 3' to 4', but clearly the swell isn't turning the corner, like we might have hoped.  Boomfwappa, reportin

Thousand Oaks Thursday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... W ho counted all those oaks in "Thousand Oaks" anyway?  Aw, we don't really care.  It could'a been "Thousands of Oaks" and that would'a been fine with us.  Meanwhile, the Professor was out at his former haunt, CSU Dominguez Hills and noticed this brand NEW sign!  He had quite the reputation for zipping around campus on his skateboard.  One of the president's (who shall remain nameless) told him that he had a notice from the chancellor's office to prohibit all skateboards from the campus sidewalks.  The Professor asked him if he was going to send out notification.  He said it was still on his desk and you know that's where it stayed until the Professor retired!  Yippee! S ome haziness out and about this morning.  We're calling visibility at 7 miles and it looks like it's going to clear fairly early.  Winds are out of the SW by 3.9kts and the sea surface was smooth and then a bit of light tack.  The air temp at 6a

Two-Handed Tuesday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... G ood morning leaders of the lovely!   Some fair surf this morning from Torrance to Hermosa.  We hit it with One-Nut Mike, Birdie and Duncan Avery (who just happens to be getting his masters degree and getting married this month!  Talk about a busy summer...)  Some fun waves.  Now Birdie might tell you to watch that first step -  he planted awkwardly on the sand and pushed off and his calf muscle torqued itself.  He was gimping around a bit, but by the time he got to his car, he already was looking a lot better.  Let's look at the stats... K inda foggy sun out at the beaches this morning.  The peeking in-and-out sort of foggy sun.  We'll be generous and call it 5 miles visibility.  The wind is out of the SW by 1.2kts and the sea surface is glassy.  The air temperature at 6am was 65.3° and the water is 68.7°.  A bit cooler on the inside, but past the wave line it's pretty toasty.  High tide is at 10:14am +4.2' and low tide will be not too low at 2:

Manatee Monday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... W e hit the waves with our man Fuzzini this morning.  (He's shown in our first pic with Connie Migliazzo.)  He's headed off to Philly to start his career with Deloitte, Touche and Tohmatsu.  But, of course, he had to get one last session in this morning and he and the Professor caught some nice little peelers at Torrance Beach.  We know he'll keep us apprised of things in Philly as he kick starts the business world. T en miles visibility this morning under a hazy sun.  Winds were soft out of the SW by 2.1kts and the sea surface was smooth.  The air temperature was 65.7° at 6am and the water was 68.2°.  High tide was at 9:37am +3..9am and low tide was at 2:05pm +2.2'.  The buoy was reading a 3.3' swell out of 203° and we're calling the waves 3' to 4' on a rising tide.  Actually the highest tide was this evening at 8:25pm when we had a 7.2' floater.  Tomorrow evening is even higher at 9:14pm with a 7.3'.  Worth a trip down to

Foreign Exchange Friday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... A beautiful day for a bike ride!  Here we have Tiger and Buck cruising down the Strand in Hermosa after scoring some grinds at Brother's.  The French toast was deluxe by the way. H azy sun this morning with 12 miles visibility under a hazy ball of sun.  Winds were out of the SW by 5.7kts to a bit lighter, but the surface had a definite tack to it.  The air temp was 62.1° and the water is 67.8°, posting a pleasant 70° in Hermosa at the Pier.  High tide at 7:17am +2.9' and low tide follows at 10:44pm +2.5'.  Pay attention or you'll miss the entire shift.  The buoy says the swell is 2.6' out of 199°.  We're calling it 1' to 2'.  Great for learning if you feel so inclined! O ur second shot is one of those rare candids that seems to equal more than the sum of it's parts..  It's not that the Professor actively dislikes children nor they him..  It's just that they move too quickly, smell funny and make loud noises.  Actually,

Thyroid Thursday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... U ntil we get our own waves we thought we'd drop this lime green Hawaiian wave for your viewing pleasure! L ooks like another typical Southern California beach day in progress.  We have overcast skies that are beginning to break up and 12 miles visibility.  Winds are calm, but acting like they'll turn pretty early.  Currently the sea surface is smooth.  The air temp is 62.2° and the water is 66.6°.  Low tide is at 9:26am +2.3' and high tide will follow at 4:47pm +5.4'.  The buoy is reading a 1.6' swell out of 227°.  We're calling it 1' and poor.  T he good news is that there's a couple of converging swells on the horizon.  There's a diminishing south swell coming out of 205° and there's a bit of a north coming out of 315°.  There's something up there in the Gulf of Alaska spinning out some waves.  Let's give it a day or two and maybe there'll be some waves! "When the surf breaks, we'll fix it..."  

Fear No Weevil Wednesday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co.. . P icture number one is a placid shot of an idyllic beach in Southern California.  The golden beaches, gentle surf and beckoning sand.  Of course it just happens to be a few yards from the chaos of the Huntington Pier.  Yep, shot number two suggests that the real California might be closer the action on the pier than that on the beach.  Well, we'll see  you in the water... T his morning under hazy skies we have 7 miles visibility with a reluctant sun.  The wind is out of the SW by 3.9kts with a bit of tack on the water.  The air temperature is 61.7° and the water is nice at 67.5°.  Low tide was at 8:31am +1.9kts and high tide will be at 3:50pm +5.0'.  The buoy is calling a 2.6' W swell out of 261° with a significant southern push, sending a lot of the energy right past us.  We're calling it 2' with almost 3' on the outside.  W e went to the Huntington Beach Farmer's Market last night.  It's part farmer's market, circus and flea

Take It Back Tuesday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co.. . L ooking like another summer day out there!  Our photo this morning is of Sandy at Sappharua stretching a nice left.  Two things you should know:  #1.  Sandy is about 50 or so and has had a hip replacement and a couple of major operations on her neck.  #2 She made the wave.  She's been through a lot of physical therapy and you can see it's working out pretty well! U nder hazy but predominantly sunny skies we have 10 miles visibility.  Winds this morning were out of the SSW by 3.7kts and the sea surface had a bit of a bump to it.  The air temperature was 62.2° and the water is a comfortable 67.6°.  Low tide is at 7:54am +1.4' and high tide is this afternoon at 3:00pm +4.7'.  The buoy is reading a 3.3' swell out of 265°.  The surf was smaller than yesterday, but we got Hermosa on a lowering tide and got some nice shoulder high zippers.  We've noticed that the bottom in Hermosa is pretty much pool table flat.  Redondo and Torrance always see

Mal de Mer Monday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... W e know that the Coach, the Rock and TJ hit Torrance this morning.  But we took a different tack and ended up at Sappharua on a west swell , that is making everyone extremely happy!  In fact yesterday we took a long bike ride to Manhattan and ended up getting a little sun at 28th St. in Hermosa.  Somehow we ended up in the water and it wasn't freeze-ass cold and there were some nice little body surfing waves.  You'd almost think that it was summer!  Our first shot is of Sandy ? (don't know her last name) getting low for a little speed run to the jetty.  She made it easy... H azy sun this morning, clearing to a brilliant day.  12 miles visibility and we watched the steam from the power plants rising straight up into a cloudless, windless sky.  The sea surface was a tad bumpy at day break, but calmed as the morning progressed.  The air temperature was 62.3° and the water is a delightful 67.1°.  Low tide starts out the morning at 7:24am +0.9' and hi

Fraternal Friday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co.. . O ur first photo is the "Box Brothers" after their session at the Hermosa Pier this morning.  The surf was advertised at 1' to 2' but the boys managed to coax more than that out of the rising tide.  Buck was catching everything that came his way with his new blade.  Fortunately, the curse of the new board has been lifted and even the Professor benefited from the resulting waves.  Buck was catching the outsides before anyone knew what was going on and getting outrageously long waves with zippered inside sections.  The Professor decided he'd just hang out on the nose.  A good idea but more difficult in practice!  He found himself airborne on several occasions, flying low over the sand. H azy sunshine welcomed the morning with SSE winds gently blowing at 2.9kts.  The sea surface was smooth.  The air temp was 58.8° and the water was a pleasant 65.5°.  Low tide was at 6:01am -0.2' and high tide followed at 12:36pm +4.0'.  The swell is ou

Throw Down Thursday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... A couple of folks were wondering just how big were the skeletal remains of the stingray the Professor found.  The entire object was almost six inches long.  It looks like it was injection molded and has a plastic quality to it.  It does, however, smell like a dead stingray, thank you. A beautiful morning this, as the morning haze clears.  Visibility is 15 miles and winds started out offshore by 5.9kts with a smooth sea surface.  The air temp is 61.2° and the water is 62.4° and feeling a bit cooler than yesterday in the surfline.  Low tide is at 5:33am -0..4' and high tide follows at 12:06pm +3.9'.  The buoy is reading a 3.0' swell out of 205°.  We're calling it almost 3' and some fun little waves.  We caught Hermosa before the wind changed and rode some nice little peelers - all the way to the sand like you're supposed to... L etters to the Editor: (Regarding our photo of the Lighthouse...) Hey Farnk! My first job in So. Cal. was as a wa

Vichy Water Wednesday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... O nce, when we were in some far-flung corner of the planet we saw a shingle that said inside you could see the dessicated corpse of an alien.  They had this grainy photo that showed the item and we decided it would be worth the 50¢ to take a look.  When we got to the display (which had an excellent build-up of flying saucer photographs etc.) we immediately started to laugh.  What they had on display was a dried out corpse alright, but it was a stingray and not an alien.  The gill slits and various structures looked a little like a face and the rest looked appropriately skeletal.  We mentioned something to the kid on duty and she just shrugged and said she didn't know what it was, but she had her doubts it was an alien.  Our photo shows the cartilaginous remains of a stingray that we found this morning at (of all places) Ray Bay! O vercast this morning with 5 miles visibility.  Winds were kicking up from the get-go out of the SSW at 6.5kts and the sea surface

Undergroung Testing Tuesday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... H ey, it's looking a lot like a summer's day!  Attached we have a shot of Hermosa, north of the pier, looking toward the far and idyllic Manhattan.  Amazing how the Indians sold that piece of real estate for $26.  Of course, that's before Big Wave Dave lived there... S tarted out a bit overcast this morning, but things have cleared up in brilliant fashion.  15 miles visibility and only a light marine haze..  Winds are out of the SSE by 9.2kts and the sea surface is smooth.  The air temperature was 63.5° and the water at the buoy is 61.2°, but we're calling it a solid 66 in the surfline.  High tide is at 11:10am +3.8' and low tide will be at 3:33pm +2.4'.  Coming out of 204°, we have a 3.0' swell that is generating waves of about the same height.  High tide has quieted things down, but if the winds remain soft, there's a good chance that it will pick up again in the afternoon. W hile waiting for a few waves at the Hermosa Pier this

Animal Magnetism Monday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... W e received a text message accompanied by a photo of a pair of hands with multiple Bandaids™.  The text read:  Guess who?  They were unmistakeably Danger Boy's.  Two problems:  One, we couldn't forward the photo to our mailbox, so we can't show you and two, we don't know how it happened.  We do know that the story will start out with:  "I don't know exactly what happened but the last thing I remember was..."  Our photo was last week with less hemoglobin in evidence. A beautiful morning this, with slight haze, but predominantly sunny.  15 miles visibility.  Winds are slightly offshore by 1.9kts and the sea surface is smooth with a slight ripple.  The air temperature is 60.1° and the water is 60.3° at the 46221 buoy, but we're calling it around 65/66 at the beach.  High tide is at 10:43am +3.7' and low tide will be at 2:58pm +2.5'.  The buoy is showing a swell out of 200° at 3.3' and we're calling it 3' to 4

Almost the 4th Friday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... T here seems to be some question about what is the hardest part of roller blading.  The Professor (see photo) is still maintaining that it's the concrete... B efore we start out with how gray things are, we thought we'd include a few of the comments we've received in the last couple of days regarding the overcast conditions. "Yes, I believe it is.  I'm further bothered that it's warm-hotish where I work, and gray & gloomy where I live. . . ."   Paver "YES! Makes for crappy surf"   Delza Laxamana "Bothering Dave too!"   Liz Stromath   S o you get the picture.  It's overcast and gray and at best we had about 9 miles visibility this morning.  Winds were up from the get-go out of the SSW at 2.9kts, leaving a light tack on the water.  The air temp was 60.1° and the water was 60.1° (at the 46221 Buoy.)  The Hermosa Pier guards still maintain that it's 68° about half-way out on the Pier, but we're not ag

Thecodont Thursday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... A good but overcast morning to you all!  Almost drizzling.  Let's check the stats and see what's going on... P retty thick fog bank going on at the beach, although minutes up the hill to the east it's clear as a bell.  Visibility is 1 mile.  Winds are blowing like a bat out of the SSW by 11.7kts and the sea surface is rife with choppy, unorganized tack.  The air temp is 60.8° and the water has dropped precipitously to 61.3°.  High tide is at 8:02am +3.2' and low tide will follow at 12:06pm +2.4'.  The buoy is reading a 2.6' swell out of 210°.  We're calling the surf 1' to 2' and poor.  It might get better with a lowering tide, but you're going to have to find a spot out of the wind.  Danger Boy and the Professor checked out the Cove trying to find a spot guarded enough from the wind to go out.  But at 8am, the tide had even the bigger swells floating over the reef.  Check it out in the pm. H ere's so mething you know mo

Wishful Thinking Wednesday Surf & Culture Report

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Lost Boys & Co... O kay!  It's the first of July and we have now left the June gloom behind us.  Yes, we are now in the "July Gloom."  The fact that it doesn't even rhyme makes it that more odious.  Of course, we always say that summer doesn't begin until after the Fourth, so we've got a few days yet... U nder the obviously light overcast skies we have 10 miles visibility.  Winds are already onshore by 3.8kts and the sea surface has a light tack to it.  The air temperature is 60.4° and the water is a chilly 62.4°.  The post in Hermosa said 68°, but we're thinking they are just a bit optimistic.  High tide is at 6:40am +3.1' and low tide will be at 11:08am +2.1'.  The 46221 buoy is reading a 2.6' swell out of 203°.  We're calling the resulting waves 1' and poor. T he Fourth of July always evokes the strangest memories, some amusing and some slightly disturbing.  The Professor shared this one with us this morning. "The Spirit of