Lost Boys & Co.

L ost Boys & Co... A s is often the case March came in like a lion and is now leaving like a tuna.  Winds were blowing from the west at 17.5kts right from the get-go this morning.  Sea surface is chopped and diced and bumpy to boot.  Skies are cloudy and the weathermen are calling for rain this afternoon.  The air temperature is 53.8° and the water is 58.1°.  High tide is at 11:03am +4.5' and low tide will be at 4:33pm +0.8'.  The 46221 buoy is reading a 6.2' swell out of 259° W.  It's registering 6.2' and we're calling the waves 4' to 6' and pretty ragged. O f course that didn't stop some people.  We saw Andrew out this morning and got his e-mail yesterday... Morning Professor. Surfed up north. Central Coast . Shell beach on Sunday . Waves were chest sometimes shoulder high. Surfed a spot called St. Andrews . Really. Right off Spyglass on the 101. Waves would line up right for a good distance. Spot is a reef break, more accurate...

Lost Boys & Co... So while LoLa was off getting her photo taken with Robin Williams the Professor was standing there with Robin's date.  "Does anyone ever ask you for your photograph?" he asked.  "No," she said, "he pretty much gets all of the attention."  "Well, we'll take care of that!"  So the Professor had their pic taken together and remedied that problem.  Oh, the other problem was getting Clint to let go of LoLa... Cool and windy this morning with 15 miles visibility under mostly cloudy skies.  We did catch a lone patch of blue and you can see it there in photo #2.  Winds are out of the WNW by 13.6kts and the sea surface is bumped up.  The air temperature is 57.7° and the water is 58.3°.  High tide is at 10:14am +5.0' and low tide will be at 4:00pm +0.3'.  The buoy is reading a west swell out of 261° at 5.2' and we're calling it 3' to 5' with poor to fair shape.  In fact, it looks not that bad.  We wat...

Lost Boys & Co... Y ou know how it is...  One minute you're riding your bike down the Strand in Hermosa Beach and the next you're at the American Cinematheque Awards at the Beverly Hilton.  This year they were honoring Matt Damon.  So we're standing near the bar and the waiter comes over and we start up a conversation.  Turns out he's also a beekeeper and we have a fascinating conversation about hymenoptera.  The Professor asks him who his favorite Hollywood star is.  He says, "Clint Eastwood, because he treats everyone the same!"  Well, it ends up that this waiter knows everyone and when we wander into the next room he takes LoLa over and proceeds to snap her pic with Matt Damon, who is now "Matty" and Clint Eastwood, with whom she shared an intimate little conversation and who stared at her for the rest of the evening.  In all fairness, the Professor took the shot of her and Robin Williams.  Tomorrow we'll see with whom the Professor ...

Lost Boys & Co... Y ou always hear about "chicken of the sea," but never about "Tuna of the Farm."  So today we thought we'd remedy that situation... B y the way, today's photos have nothing to do with anything in particular... T hings seemed to get lighter earlier than usual this morning.  That might be because the sun came up to a cloudless sky and it liked what it saw.  Considering the light had already traveled 93 million miles, the sun was still happy to get another 20 miles visibility across the bay.  Winds kicked up early at 11.7kts out of the NW, making for a bumpy playing field.  The air temp at checkout was 50.2° and the water was 58.3°.  High tide was at 6:53am +5.4' and low tide will follow at 1:42pm -0.7'.  The buoy was reading a swell out of the WSW at 241° and calling it 3.9'.  That has since bumped to 4.3' and we're calling it 3' to 5'.  Some bouncy/fun waves at Sapphire with Birdie and the Professor catching ...

Lost Boys & Co... Stuck way in the middle of our photo this morning is a mysterious craft lurking outside the Breakwall.  Mike Macintosh thought it might be a buoy tender or a kelp cutter.  We thought it looked like it might be restoring some lost rock to the storm ravaged wall.  Maybe you know what it is?  If you do - tell us for cryin' out loud... Cloudy, overcast this springer of a Thursday morning with 10 miles visibility.  Winds were trying to turn early, with scant onshores at 3.2kts, leaving the sea surface bumped and uneven.  The air temp was 54.5° and the water is 57.6° and the whole thing looked slate-blue and not quite welcoming.  High tide was at 5:50am +5.1' and low tide will follow at 1:02pm -0.5'.  The swell is coming from the WSW 237° at 3.9'.  It seems to be strong, yet the winds, cool air and bumpy conditions seemed to attract only a few enthusiastic folks.  We felt like we were slacking a bit, but it does get bett...

Lost Boys & Co... H ey, when you hang with Birdie (like Jack Bauer,) you'd better be ready for some full-on excitement...  But first, let's check out the surf... A nother gorgeous spring morning, with the same hazy sunrise as yesterday and 15 miles visibility.  Winds were offshore by 1.9kts at checkout time and the sea surface was glassy to smooth all morning.  The air temperature was 56.3° and the water is getting the message as it inched up to 58.3°.  High tide was at 4:30am +4.8' and low tide will be at 12:16pm -0.2'.  Don't worry, there'll be lots of minuses this week!  The buoy was reading a 3.6' swell out of 210° SSW and we were calling it 3' to almost 5' at the Cove.  When the Professor paddled out there were 5 guys sitting right in the middle of the Cove.  He decided that, with the tide going down he'd sit over at Boneyards and see if he could sneak some of those wally-rights into the rocks.  Well, children - it worked!  By ...

Lost Boys & Co... G ood morning from high atop Topaz Bay!  We saw Birdie out there this morning getting a few early ones.  One-Nut Mike was heading down and we could see Mac stretching a couple of back-side rights in the middle. C onditions are pretty spring-like.  Hazy sun and 7 miles visibility.  Winds are offshore by 7.8kts and the sea surface is smooth.  The air is a cool 57.0° and the water is 57.9°.  Low tide is at 11:14am +0.1' and high tide will be late at 6:50pm +3.1'.  The buoy is reading a SSW swell out of 204° at 4.6'.  Enough of it must be turning the corner because it looks to be about 3' to 4' with fair to good shape.  The tides really begin to oscillate, with the full moon popping up next Monday.  Any swell that comes through, will have the spring winds and radical tides to contend with.  That also leaves the door open for some days when it all comes together!  Check it out! "When the surf breaks, we'll fix...

Lost Boys & Co... S o, we've discovered the only way to get Xena to check out the surf report is to have her photo right there at the beginning.  In this photo she's trying to think of a mixed drink that starts with the letter "M."  How about "margarita! "  Whoa, that was easy... V isibility was 12 miles this morning under partly cloudy skies.  Winds were offshore at checkout time and turned around pretty quickly.  At 9am they were already 7.8kts onshore and the sea surface had a definite tack to it.  The air temperature was 50.9° and the water is acting rather springish at 57.4°.  High tide was at 1:25am +4.9' and low tide (which was essentially the only tide of the day) was at 9:48am +0.4'.  By 9am the surf had risen to 3.6' on a WSW swell out of 248°.  The funny thing was, when Birdie and the Professor checked out the surf at 7:30am it was small and broken up.  Hermosa wasn't any better, so they had breaky and yakked with everyo...

Lost Boys & Co... J ust like in the leper hockey game, there was a face-off in the corner.  Both corners as a matter of fact.  Yep, Uncle Bug took us to the hockey game last night and we luxuriated in his pavilion seats and ordered popcorn and all kinds of stuff without ever having to move.  Then he took us to the Lexus room and we smoked cigars and hobnobbed with the beautiful people.  If that wasn't enough, one of the beautiful people came up to the Professor and said, "Say don't you surf?" Prof.:  (Flattered) Why, yes... BP:  Do you coach one of the surf teams in the South Bay Surf League? Prof.:  Yes, I do... BP:  Are you the Coach?! Prof.:  (Sigh) No, I'm the Professor! Beautiful person walks away... I t really looks a lot like spring out there, even though winter's got another day to go.  Hazy sun this morning with 10 miles visibility.  Wind was out of the WSW this morning by 1.9kts and the sea surface was smooth. ...

L ost Boys & Co... W hen in Hermosa, do as the Hermosans do.  In this case, they don't lock their bikes when they celebrate St. Patrick's day.  No, no, no!  They stack them up in huge piles and leave them until their through.  We wondered about the person who had their bike on the bottom - but then we thought about it a moment and realized, "This is Hermosa, they're not going to be going anywhere for a looong time.  We did feel sorry for the girl who had the 144 spoke wheels though.  Too nice a ride to be thrown on the pile... R eprising yesterday, the sun came up as brilliant as you could want.  22 miles visibility, with a slight bit of haze.  Winds were offshore by 1.9kts and the sea surface was smooth to a slight tack.  The air temp was 54.0° and the water was 57.7°.  Low tide started off the morning at 5:24am +0.2' and high tide will follow at 11:28am +3.8'.  A strong swell out of 248° WSW at 3.6' and it was hitting Topaz r...

Lost Boys & Co... W ow!  St. Patrick's Day starts early in these parts.  We headed up to the Cove to check it this morning and Bobby Warchola was there looking at it.  This was about 7:15am.  The Cove already had 20 guys out and the Professor and Bobby had a chat. BW:  This is a mad boozin' holiday! Prof.:  Yeah, especially if you're Irish. BW:  You know there's a place on PCH in Venice that opens at 4:30am. Prof.:  Brennan's? BW:  Yeah, I think that's it.  Last year I was headed to Malibu and it was 5am and they already had a DJ pumping music and they we're pumping beer and Malibu was pumping too. Prof.:  Dude! BW:  Mark and Brian were there one year.  That's a drinkin' crowd, that is... Prof.:  So, you headed to Venice or Malibu? BW:  Hey, there are cops everywhere!  Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan, anyplace where there's a Hennessey's... Prof.:  I'm thinking Hermosa, with a bicycle and training whee...

Lost Boys & Co... S o Phil Specter came up with the wall of sound and in Asia they have the Great Wall of China and in Germany, they had the Berlin Wall.  Well, not to be outdone Patrick Malloy's has the Wall of Beer.  Yep, in anticipation of St. Patrick's Day the beer trucks were lined up behind Patrick Malloy's delivering dozens of kegs.  So how many folks will that take care of?  Try this:    US beer keg = 15.5 gallons = 128 oz/gal  1 case = 12oz x 24 = 288 oz 1 keg = 6.9 cases 1/2 keg = 3.2 cases 1/4 keg = 1.6 cases a 1/2 keg is = 1/4 beer barrel because a beer keg = 1/2 beer barrel and 1 beer barrel= 31 gallons   According to this hilarious WikiHow on how to "Throw a Keg Party" .... "One keg will usually allow about thirty to forty people to drink throughout the night (more or less)." That being the case (wait, that being the keg ) we have decided that Patrick Malloy's is going to be so damned crowded that we're going somew...

Lost Boys & Co... A nother beautiful summer's day!  Part of the reason for that is that it's not summer yet and we still have great weather.  S o it's sunny, a bit hazy and warm and we have 22 miles visibility.  We took a photo of the haze so you can get a better idea about what we're talking about.  There's the blue ocean, the light blue sky and the brown layer of smog and haze in between.  Always kinda gags you when you think, that as soon as the wind changes, all of that gunk will float back and we'll have to breathe it until it heads off to Riverside and nestles against the hills.  But it was offshore this morning by 7.4kts and the sea surface was glassy to smooth.  The air temperature at checkout was 52.4° and the water is 57.4°.  High tide is at 9:43am +4.9' and low tide will be at 3:54pm +0.2'.  The buoy is reading a 3.9' swell out of 270° west and we're calling it 4' to 5' with fair to good shape.  This morning's picks we...

Lost Boys & Co... D anger Boy was out looking at the surf this morning and Tyrone James came by and said, "Avenue G, is where you want to be!"  Danger Boy is a good listener.  When the Professor showed up, DB said, "TJ said Ave. G is happening!"  So they checked Ave. G and by golly, it was pretty good.  But something caught their collective eye, and they imagined that Torrance Beach was breaking as well or better.  They wasted no time in heading out and for the best part of an hour they got the peak in front of the dirt path all to themselves.  That is until Bredesen and Kelsey saw them and decided they needed some company.  But no worries - they caught a few more just to be sociable and then left - quite happy with themselves! A beautiful Friday in the Southland!  Visibility is 22miles under hazy but full sunshine.  Winds were off all morning by 7.3kts and the sea surface was glassy.  The air temp was 48.9° and the water is a chil...

Lost Boys & Co... O ur final Mexico pic shows us heading back from the point being tailed by a bus who was in a hurry to return to Acapulco.  If you blow up the photo, you can see the skull and cross bones on his bumper.  He was getting his kicks seeing how close he could get to our two-cylinder ride.  When the Professor pulled out the camera he immediately backed off, but he had been right on our tail. T he wind finally dialed back to our normal offshore-onshore flow.  20 miles visibility this morning with some haze over the water.  At checkout time we had winds out of the east by 5.9kts and the sea surface was smooth.  The air temp was 46.8° and the water is 56.5°.  High tide is at 6:32am +4.9' and low tide will follow at 1:25pm -0.2'.  The buoy is reading a 3.3' swell out of 265° west.  It was a picturesque 2' to 3' and there were some nice little curls teasing the locals. M ail Pouch... Gidget on Open Mic night at Di Piazza's ...sinc...

Lost Boys & Co... O ne of our cultural diversions down in Puerto was to visit the local "free" graveyard.  If you get buried in town, they want to charge you something like $200.  But if you head up to this area, you stake out your plot and proceed to construct your own memorial.  There were some great examples of primitive funereal art mixed with classic Mexican motifs.  Don told us that in this area of Mexico, they really go all out for the "Dia de los Muertos."  You could tell from the ornamentation and elaborate displays, that these were works of respect and love. O kay, okay - you can turn off the wind machine now!   Three days and it's still blasting away.  Like yesterday, we have 25 to 30kt winds out of the west.  The sea surface is all white caps and chop and everything is very disorganized.  20 miles visibility and partly cloudy skies.  The air temperature at checkout was 48.9° and the water is 57.2°.  High tide w...

Lost Boys & Co... A s you might have noticed, it's blowing a gale out there this morning.  March continues to come in like the proverbial lion and it's not helping the fronds on the roof of the palapa one little bit.  Visibility, of course, is unlimited and there are a few clouds galloping across the firmament. With the winds gusting from 25kts to 30kts the sea surface is choppy with wind blown whitecaps.  The air is a chilly 48.4° and the sea temperature is 57.4°.  High tide is an early 4:48am +4.5' and low tide will be at 12:17pm +0.0'.  The buoy is reading a west swell out of 269° at 6.6'.  The waves are in the 6' to 8' range and are even more disorganized than yesterday.  Now, if we could just get this damned wind to stop... W e're getting close to the end of our Puerto Escondido photos.  This one shows the hook of the bay, from the point, back to the city proper.  It's probably three or four miles.  Tomorrow, we'll share one of...

Lost Boys & Co... A few more shots from south of the border...  No. 1 gives you a look at the "point."  After a couple of miles of beach, Puerto hooks into this protected cove.  When it gets really big along the beach, this left-hander begins working and everyone says it's worth the wait.  It didn't get big enough while we were there, but we could tell it had possibilities.  Our second shot is of this surf shop behind the point.  You know how this happens - first you get the explorers who find the spot, then people spread the word and it starts to get popular.  Once people head there regularly, they need equipment.  At that point some enterprising entrepreneur decides to put in a shop.  In this case they had mostly boards, but you know what happens next...  it becomes a clothing store! C loudy in So. Cal this morning, but doesn't look like rain.  15 miles visibility with some slight haze.  Winds at checkout time were out ...

Lost Boys & Co... H ere we see the Professor outside Oscar's ding repair shop, up the arroyo from the beach.  You'll notice that the decor primarily consists of boards that were beyond Oscar's capabilities.  The funny thing is that you see benches, fences and furniture made from broken surf boards because there are so many of them there!  Not that other construction is deluxe.  Pic #2 is the wall a couple of doors down from Don's place.  It consists of re-bar enforced concrete slabs slid into I-shaped posts.  The heat and moisture eventually pops the concrete off of the thin surface and exposes the metal, which then rusts and falls apart.  So, how do they repair something like that?  With bamboo of course! H ere in the Southbay this morning we have partly cloudy skies with 20 miles visibility.  It's supposed to cloud up during the day, with a chance of rain tomorrow.  Winds were offshore this morning by 7.3kts and the sea surface w...

Lost Boys & Co... H ere we have a shot of the Zicatela as we walked down to do some body surfing in the afternoon.  The beach is about as wide as Hermosa and the sand is similarly composed of granite and shells - looks a lot like home.  Of course if you turn around and see a horsey tied to a palm tree, it begins to register that you're not in California anymore... O f course, in California this morning we have mostly sunny skies with 25 miles visibility.  Last night's winds are still about with the anemometer reading 15.5kts out of the west.  The sea surface is choppy and white capped.  At checkout time the air temp was 52.5° and the water was 59.4°.  Low tide started off the morning at 5:52am +0.1' and high tide follows at 11:55am +3.7'.  The buoy is reading a west swell out of 265° at 5.2' and we're calling the resulting chaos 4' to 5'.  The good news is that since the morning, things have begun to straighten out and it looks like it mig...

Lost Boys & Co... O kay, so you get to Puerto Escondido and you wait for your surfboard.  It doesn't come down.  You go over and talk to Walter and Norbert.  They tell you there has been a "confusion" and you are in Puerto Escondido, but your board is in Mexico City.  You say, "There are no waves in Mexico City."  They agree.  They say that it will be on the first plane in the morning and they will deliver it to the door.  We're a little skeptical, because we don't have an address - but they assure us that they'll find us...  Okay...?  Uhh, okay... M eanwhile this morning had some good surf here!  Visibility was 15 miles under cloudy (even a bit sprinkly) skies.  Winds were offshore by 3.7kts and the sea surface was smooth.  The air temp at checkout time was 55.2° and the water is 59.7°.  High tide was at 10:57am +4.5' and low tide is at 4:43pm +0.6'.  There is a 5.9' swell out of the west at 269° and we're calli...