Lost Boys & Co.

Lost Boys & Co...  S o, who is that masked woman who's out there on the front lines attending to victims of this pandemic?  It's none other than Tandis Morgan our own Iron Woman wearing a mask of her own design.  If you notice the mask is being held on with a couple of buttons on the side of her headband.  If you keep these masks on all day they start to saw off your ears!  Then, you don't have any place to hang your sun glasses...  In case you think you're hearing a lot of bluster from the media etc.  TM says the problem is real and has serious consequences...  Pay attention! S unny this morning and we actually got out of bed and rode our bikes down to check out the surf.  It's beyond clear, without all of our ambient air pollution.  Winds were off by 4.5kts and the sea surface was smooth.  The air temperature was 53.2 and the water is 57.4, which is several degrees cooler than last week!  No high tide today, but low tide will be at 8:29am +0.8', setting up

Lost Boys & Co... A t 6am this morning they locked up the beach in Hermosa (#1).  So no mater how long this guy and his bicycle (#2) look at the Strand, they were NOT going to let him ride down the bike path...  They have guards placed strategically along the main points of ingress to remind those who:  A.  Didn't get the message.  B.  Didn't understand the message.  C. Didn't believe the message... Y esterday was still windy, but the word was out that they were going to close the beaches, so even though conditions were marginal, some stalwarts jumped in at Topaz, Sapphire (#3) and Hermosa for possibly one last go out for a minute.  This morning the winds were offshore by 7.2kts and the sea surface was smooth.  The air was chilly 49.5 and the water is 58.1.  Low tide was at 6:23a, +0.6' and high tide will follow mid-day at 12:30pm +3.3'.  We have a SW swell out of 226º at 2.6' and it was 1' to 2' and we noticed a few guys out at Torrance Beach.  We c

Lost Boys & Co... H ow are your working-at-home projects going?  Well, the Professor was trying to rein in the bamboo on the south forty of the Mar del Fuego estate (#1).  So far it's bamboo 10, the Professor 3... W e've now heard that they will be closing Hermosa Beach at 6am on Saturday.  At least closing the Strand and the Beach.  Maybe this is the first time they've ever done this, unless they did it during WWII.  Of course the result is, that even though the surf is less than stellar, people are rushing down to the beach to get one last session in before they pull the plug.  At Sapphire there were ten guys out in questionable conditions (#2).  Winds were 10.2 kts from the west and as you can see, the sea surface has a considerable bump.  The air was a very chilly 50.4 and the water is 59.7.  High tide was at 11:08am +4.2' and low tide follows at 4:58pm +0.9'.  There's a ragged west swell out of 268º at 4.6' and it was 3' to 5' and fair to wi

Lost Boys & Co... A s it goes, most dark clouds have silver linings.  In this case all of the people who've stayed off the road have contributed to the clear skies.  This (#1) was a couple of days ago and it looked like Santa Monica was 2 miles away.  Someone said, "I bet this looks like when you were kids!"  NO!  When we were kids the smog was so bad that you couldn't see Santa Monica and people who moved here didn't know there were mountains ringing the basin until after a rain and the skies cleared for a day...  Y esterday the window opened up and it was pretty good from around 9am until 10:30, then the wind kicked up and it's still blowing.  So there's 20+ miles visibility with a few rolling cumulus clouds.  Winds were on from the start and at checkout it was 9kts and the sea surface was bumped.  The air temperature was 55.5 and the water is holding at 60.1.  10:35am is high tide and low tide is at 4:36pm +0.6'.  We have a SW swell out of 216º

Lost Boys & Co... A n empty Pier Plaza (#1) a few days ago.  Despite all of the news about folks cramming the beach, most were maintaining anti-social distancing as per Jetski's recommendations...  ( photo credit: Ario Hooshmad ) I n an attempt to communicate with surfers (in general) and Lost Boys (in particular) Buck sent us this diagram (#2) demonstrating the efficacy of protective measures to flatten the curve.  You will note that without protective measures you might as well be taking off on big purple Topaz and heading straight for Davey Jones Locker.  On the other hand with protective measures you are almost guaranteed a tube to shelter in place and won't tax the healthcare system to capacity...  Get it?  Got it!  Good! R aining this morning and cloudy skies with 2 miles visibility.  Winds were variable, but switching onshore early and freshening throughout the day.  Whitecaps this afternoon.  the air temperature was 53.6 and the water is 60.1.  High tide was at 10:0

Lost Boys & Co... D espite not wearing a shirt or long pants for as long as we've known him, Tim Kelly (#1) donned a mask to thwart the Corona virus.  Good thing, Tim would be around 80 by now and is certainly in the "at risk" category... T hat being said, we got the following from Fuzziny (Of the Frozen North) with this from the San Jose Mercury News:  "For Bay Area coastal dwellers, surfing would seemingly be acceptable, as long as surfers keep their distance. But what if a good swell brought a swarm of 50 or 100 to a certain break? "We are focusing on education and communication right now," Ashley Keehn, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, said via email. "If there is a crowded surf spot or beach, we are asking individuals to spread out."" (That's what we've always said!) B eautiful skies this morning with 20+ miles visibility and a few billowing clouds near the horizon.  Winds were strong out of

Lost Boys & Co... This is a special report, submitted by our own Keeks (Kirsten Lagatree.)  Thought you might enjoy the diversion... This month on Happy Hour with Al , Al Culliton , Basically's resident bartender, is explaining why—and how—she's still making cocktails, even (and especially) in the context of social-distancing. I have nothing to complain about during this time of uncertainty. I'm here at home with my partner. We're both working from home. We have more than enough food and a goodly stock of liquor. If you're able to take the time to read this, you are probably lucky, too. But, like all of us right now, it's difficult to get a handle on a sense of what day it is and how to make things feel normal. Some of my friends have posted their little schedules for their own days, or the ones they made for homeschooling their kids, some are wearing clothes they'd normally wear to work, or doing certain things at the same time e

Lost Boys & Co... H ere we are high above the fray at the Mar Del Fuego Towers, on the edge of the beautiful and pacific Pacific...  In photo #1 you can see the rather disappointing surf at Topaz and Sapphire.  Maybe it's just as well anyway.  Things are a bit uncertain and honestly they've left us wondering how we should apply ourselves if the surf does start to come up...  But first let's look at the stats... P artly cloudy this morning with 10 miles visibility.  Winds were offshore at 7.2kts and the sea surface was smooth.  The air temp was 53.3 and the water is 59.7.  High tide was at 7:50am +5.1' and low tide follows at 2:41pm -0.5' (if you have a mind to do some solo sea glass searching or clam digging.)  We have a SW swell out of 225º at 2.6' and it's 1' and poor at most spots, with the tide not helping at the moment... L ikewise, there's Hermosa (#2) and down the beach there were actually a couple of guys sitting there, not really finding

Lost Boys & Co... #1.  R emember when the rings used to intertwine?  This Olympiad it looks like things will be a tad different... T his lack of surf is getting to be pretty dismal.  Face it, if there were some waves we'd jump in and keep our distance from our fellow aquanauts, but instead we've got on shore winds up to 15kts and the sea surface is roughed up and uninviting.  The air temp this morning was 52.5 and the water is 59.9.  High tide was at 7:04am +5.0' and low tide follows at 2:07pm -0.5'.  We have a west swell out of 250º that continues to pull south at 4.6'.  It's a bit smaller in the 3' to 4' range, but it's bumped and confused...  Let's see if the weather patterns even out and give us some morning glass... O ur surfing buddy Sam Villaseñor sent out this post (#2) and somehow it seemed to resonate with the planetary nature of this pandemic.  Maybe we really need to look carefully at the underlying nature of this situation and ch

Lost Boys & Co... T aking Care of Boris (#1)...  Sporting an amazing resemblance to Elvis...  (Artwork by Chelsea Stambler.  She's been doing some great small pieces on skateboard decks...) C old this morning at 46.2 with the water still holding at 60.1.  10 miles visibility under cloudy skies.  Winds were variable all day and the sea surface has ranged from smooth to bumped with this afternoon's increased velocity.  High tide was at 6:05am +4.8' and low tide drains at 1:25pm -0.4'.  There's a SSW swell out of 204º at 2.6' and it was 2' and poor to fair...  Some light rain forecasted for the morning, but we're going to look. S apphire looking a bit deflated (#2) with the crew showing remarkable restraint and social distancing... K inda wishing we were back here (#3) in the warm...  Will they let us in to Mexico now? (#4) V irus filter/cookie duster...  Some question regarding it's efficacy...  Is fairly good at scaring little children... ✠ "

Lost Boys & Co... And it's a Happy St. Patrick's to you all... W ell, it certainly is doing it's best to look like Ireland this morning, what with the rain and all.   But the rainbows were in full force suggesting that there is hope somewhere.  We had more than a few pics, since the show kept changing minute to minute, but here are a couple of our faves (#1 & #2) taken by LoLa on her walk/run this morning... R aining pretty heavily this morning at checkout, with limited visibility and winds out of the east by 3.2kts.  The sea surface was bumped and 59.9 with the air at 48.3.  Low tide is at 12:31pm -0.1' and high tide will be late at 7:39pm +3.6'.  We have a SSW swell out of 204º at 3.3', but it's got too much south to really help us out.  Supposed to really blow tomorrow afternoon and maybe that will tweak the weather pattern around... F rom Ireland we head to Russia (#3)...  No, wait...  This is Trader Joe's in the Village, where they're cu

Lost Boys & Co... S o everybody's coping in a variety of ways...  The Maharishi & Kris, Buck and the Professor (#1) take to the video chat utility and discuss their strategy for dealing with the current viral situation...  Several options utilized the disinfecting qualities of alcohol applied topically and internally...  (DO NOT USE THE SAME SHIT FOR BOTH!) W hat does the surf team (#2) do when the waves are not quite up to their standards (which are admittedly low)?  On this morning we broke out the yoga video and had our young flexi-flyers unwind on the beach.  Honestly, they were really good at it... G ot out early this morning and it was partly cloudy with 10 miles visibility.  Rain for this afternoon.  Winds were variable from 3kts offshore to 15kts on in the afternoon.  The sea surface reflected that bluster.  The air was 50.5 and the water is 60.1.  Low tide was late at 11:16am +0.2' and high tide is at 6:37pm +3.2'.  The buoy is reading a SW swell out of 214

Lost Boys & Co... O k, we've tried to avoid mentioning the Corona Virus because:  1.  You're hearing enough about it everywhere else.  2.  We'd probably be guilty of poking fun at the craziness going on.  3.  We're just superstitious enough to believe that if we make fun of it, we're going to get it as just desserts...  Well, it's become serious enough for the WSL to cancel their first event.  Look at this:  The World Surf League just announced that due to the quickly escalating situation surrounding the COVID-19, all events slated for the month of March will be canceled, including the first stop on the 'CT, the suddenly-ironically-titled Corona Gold Coast Open . The decision came as a preemptive move out of "caution for the safety of our athletes, fans, and staff." N o word on how Corona stock is doing currently... G ray and raining this morning with 3 miles visibility.  Winds were light offshore and the sea surface is smooth.  The

Lost Boys & Co... L ook at these two people (#1).  On the left we have the Professor, wearing a rather provocative pink Hawaiian shirt and waiting patiently in the salon at Gate 2 in Puerto Escondido.  Next to him we have this, obviously disgusted, young lady in a fur lined parka trying desperately to ignore him.  It was 85º in Puerto on this day and she also had a blanket and pillow with her.  We hope she was going to St. Petersburg, Moscow or Anchorage via Mexico City (where at this time it was 76º.)  After a series of these photos and the Professor referring to her as the "Ice Queen" she probably had good cause to look a bit disgusted... R ain, rain, rain...  Visibility was less than a mile and winds have been fluky all day.  The sea is sporting an irregular choppiness.  The air temp was 57.3 and the water is 60.4.  Low tide was at 5:58am +-0.0' and high tide follows at 12:02pm +4.8'.  We have a 3.3' swell out of the south 185º and it's currently too ob