January Photo Contest Winner

Congrats to Jen Miskov. She is the winner of the January Photo Contest for this awesome photo. This photo was taken back in December during the El Fronton Invitational. I actually had the pleasure to hang with this cool chick during her stay in the Canary Islands. She has traveled the world promoting her great book, Silver To Gold. You can grab it for a very affordable price off her site: www.silvertogold.com. Not only is she an author, she's currently in school chasing after her PHD. I wish her the best of luck and whenever you have time Jennifer... let's hook you up for that FREE Hour Photo Session. Yes, you can invite up to a few friends.

Preparing For Paradise

Not sure if you all know it or not, but my wife and I have been running trips out to Indo since 2004. For the past week or so, I've been fine tuning the trips set for this summer. And every time I go through the photos, they all take me back to some very awesome times. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. If that's true, I'm sitting on close to a 1,245,654,002 words. Maybe more ; )

A couple years back, I took a couple friends on the Indo Experience. They were so pumped that they asked me to put together a bachelor party slash surf trip for one of them. I gladly excepted the job and put together Kevin Smithey's bachelor party to Indo. We leave in a few days and needless to say, we are all amping. They're all stoked because it's Indo! I'm stoked because I get to see what it's like on the side of the bukit on Bali this time of year. New waves, good friends and more good times. Amping.

Below are some photos that I randomly picked out of the thousands that I have. As much as I don't want this to sound like a spam blog, I can't help to say, let my wife and I show you paradise. Indo has it all. I still have spots available on both trips. The first is geared more towards adventure and culture with some surfing but it's the second trip that I have planned that all you surfers, bodyboarders, waveriders want to check out. My trips are pretty much all-inclusive. All you have to really worry about is getting shacked. Peep www.theIndoExperience.com. Yes... photos and videos included! Oright, enough of that. Enjoy some of my photos...

Brett Billings lines up Shipwrecks.

The Padang Padang Fire Dance crew. A must.

Jay Fajardo navigates Race Tracks.

Sumbawa reef walker.

Aussie groms owning Shipwrecks.

Overlooking Uluwatu from Wayan's Warung.

I'm Not Going To Lie...

I'm not going to lie... it's a pretty cool feeling. Not sure if you read that from my previous post but... I'm a happy camper. So stoked that I dropped cash money and bought a magazine. I haven't spent money on a surf or bodyboard magazine in a long time. I'm one of those cheap asses that goes to Borders or Barnes & Noble and takes an hour or two to skim through his my favorite magazines to see all the sick photos and only read those topics that catch the eye.

But this was different. Now, I get to skim through Standup Journal and stop and say to myself... that's your photo right there sucka. I have a ton of great photographer friends and I see there names in the magazines all the time. But because I hang and am friends with them, it's seems like no big deal. They're good and that's what they do. You expect it from them. On that note... I really hope my pro photographer friends don't forget what it was like to get that first photo in the mag.

It's a pretty cool feeling.

Cover of the new ish. I got some old guy to take the photo. I think he was 93 years old.



Top photo. I like shooting with Sean Poynter. He's not afraid to get close. Whoa, that sounds gay.  That's Sean on the bottom right posing in a, shoud I say it, _______ position. Hahahaha... I love it.



Paying Off...

Finally! I've been shooting SUP ripper Sean Poynter and other SUP riders for the past six months or so and... we've finally made it into the mag! A sick layback cutback photo of Sean is my first published SUP photo ever. I don't have the actual shot from the magazine but as soon as I get my hands on the  most recent Standup Journal, I'll take a snapshot and get here asap. I have the original on file but it just looks better in print. For now, here's a pic of me with the goods... a check to be cashed! Stoked.

Straight to the bank! Thanks Clay and crew at Standup Journal. Great photog support over there!

What's Really Going On?

Something's happening in the wave riding world. Modern day surfing has surfers that are pushing 80. And for the first time in history, bodyboarding has a baby boomer type of community that are pushing their 40's. Mike Stewart is a great example of a bodyboarder that is over the hill (age, definitely not his skills) and still rides his three foot something piece of foam. But those bodyboarders that looked up to the likes of bodyboarding pioneers Mike Stewart, Keith Sasaki, Ben Severson and many others are still riding their bodyboards and have not opted to go the route of stand up surfing. The simple answer of 'it's more fun' is reason enough for them, and me, to stick to riding a bodyboard.

It didn't hit me until the other day when I went out to this one surf spot where I was the only bodyboarder out in the line up. My friend and I were joking about the surfers that may talk smack on me cuz I'm on a 'sponge'. But then we realized that I'm a grown man. I'll be forty in December. So who in their right mind, would talk smack to a grown man just because of his/her wave riding vehicle? If I haven't dropped in on you or gotten in our way, then the board that I'm riding shouldn't matter. Simple math, right?

This past weekend, an underground 'contest' went down at Salt Creek up in the OC and there were just as many men as groms out riding bodyboards. Side note: That's the most bodyboarders I've seen in California in one spot in a long time. It was actually kinda cool to witness.

So what's really going on is this... grown men who know how to ride waves properly, respect where it's due and love to ride waves as much as his/her fellow ocean lover can very well be a bodyboarder.

Holy shit... I'm going to be 40 in December!

Thanks to Don Nguyen for the photos.

Over 30 and still boogie-ing.

Stan Moniz, Hawaiian ripper, was owning the event this weekend. And yes, he's pushing 40 as well.

Go Ride.

Do you remember the fire swell? Hard off shores, unreal perfect combo 5 to 7 foot swell hitting the So Cal coast. It was what people still talk about to this day! Well, I missed it. I decided to spend time creating new flyers for a new type of tour my wife and I were trying to make. The new Spring Break tours to Cabo didn't pan out and I missed one of the best swells ever! I think back and if I put the flyers on hold for just 24 hours, I don't think I would've missed out on any marketing time.

So today, good friend Nelz calls me up right after I got out of the water from shooting. I usually head straight home and begin uploading the photos from the session. But I heard it in Nelz's voice. I've heard that voice before. I only here it when the waves are absolutely going off or super fun. I thought back on that the fire session and make the choice to meet up with him for a session.

Needless to say, my hunch on Nelz's voice pitch was right on. We met up in an undisclosed parking lot, suited up and head out to perfect little drainers. My favorite thing about this magical place... there's a no-leash policy out there. It's a great policy in a place where the waves are perfect. Spreads out the waves and riders perfectly. I think every wave that is perfect and sizeable, the no-leash policy should be enforced. Love it.

Moral of the story... if you know deep down that the waves are going to be going off, think about your sanity if you miss the session. If you decide to spend time behind the computer on work that could be postponed without any serious consequences, think again. The only thing we really have at the end of our own life long tour of ours, are our memories. So make 'em great.

This isn't the spot that I rode today but it is another great memory from Indo. I'll be there soon with a group and again in July. Who's in?

Cabo is coming

Cabo photos, stories and crip food spots coming tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Remembering Three Simple Letters

Something cool happened today. I know, I know... I was supposed to bring you more pix and stories from Mexico but that can wait. I want to tell you about what happened this morning.

Once you look beyond the muscles... you can actually see a smile on this guy.

As some of you may or may not know, I've been heading to La Jolla Shores every morning, while I'm in town, and shooting water photos of eveyone riding waves. I then come home and upload them for people to see, download or buy prints. It's been going well but I can't quit my day job just yet.

I've been wanting to share the love and head to another beach where the vibe is similar to that of the Shores. Mellow vibe, cool people and wave riders just having FUN. I think I may have found that 'other' beach this morning. The people I met today had one thing in common... FUN. It was good to see that this morning. Reminded me of the times when my friends and I riding waves in some outer island in Indonesia. Even though I wasn't riding waves, it put me in a good mood through the whole day.

When I see people snapping at each other in waves that no bigger than knee high, it makes me think, 'why are you out here?' No, I didn't see that today. What I did see was friends sharing waves and having FUN. Sure the waves were two feet but the sun was out and we weren't sitting at desk jobs.

My point is this... when you're riding waves that aren't life threating, have FUN, share waves and smile. Why else are you out there?

Feeding The Dragon

When I first started asking about Blogging, good friend and SUP patriot John Ashley said to me, "if you're going to do the blog thang, you've got to fee the dragon." Huh? "You have to keep the content fresh and consistent." So one of my new year's resolutions is to do just that... in 2011, I'm going to 'Feed The Dragon'.

I pledge to post to something, anything, at least once every two days, shit, maybe even daily if something comes up.

There you have it. So today, I hit you with this...

Tomorrow's post will be my summary of my Cabo San Lucas holiday vacation in Cabo. You don't want to miss it. I will have SUP, bodyboarding, and surfing info that you'll need to know. Plus, I'll give you some tips on the best place for eats in San Jose Del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas.

Then after that, I'm going to tell you the story that made my wife's and I road to Cabo very memorable... four days on the Sea of Cortez.

Stay tuned!

SUP heaven. The Sea of Cortez.

The best sopes in San Jose del Cabo? I think so!

Back on the west side of the Baja peninsula.