I love waffles, I mean who doesnt? I will tell you who, my old roommate Brennan didn’t. Apparently he was eating waffles when he found out his grandmother died as a little kid and has not eaten them since. Talk about bad associations. I feel the same way about pecan pie. On a family vacation to Virginia Beach on our last night my parents got this pecan pie from Denny’s. Now, I love Denny’s as far as cheap eats go and a nostalgic Jersey dinner feel you cant go wrong. I dont know what happen with this particular pie, but all I know is the whole drive back to NJ I was vomiting and spitting out my asshole.
I dont know if you can blame the pie since no one else in my family got sick, quite frankly I most likely ate too much of the damn thing. Anyway enough with bad food experiences and on to good ones. Isnt this a great way to start out a blog for a recipe to cook? These Almond Flour Waffles are absolutely scrumptious and they are gluten free. These days gluten has become the enemy of human existence even though we have been eating for over 300 years. They are tasty, fun and easy to make.
Total Cost: $9.75
Feeds About three people, two waffles per person
Ingredient List:
Almond Flour – 2 cups
Eggs – 6
Salt – 1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon – 3/4 teaspoon
Baking Soda – 1/2 teaspoon
Vanilla – 1 1/2 teaspoons
Honey – 3 tablespoons
Step 1: Mix Ingredients – In a large bowl whisk together all ingredients. It helps to do all the wet ingredients first and then add the dry ones. Whisk till you have a nice batter
Ingredients pre-mixing.
Your finished batter
Step 2: Add Batter to Waffle Iron – Preheat waffle iron till it is hot. Pour enough batter into iron to make one waffle, I would say fill the tray about 3/4 of the way. These waffles grow well.
Step 3: Add Toppings – Use syrup, fruit, powdered sugar, butter, chopped almonds or whatever floats your boat and enjoy.
This week as I mentioned in my previous bullshit blog was Westmont College’s spring break, being my employer I had the week off as well, unpaid of course. I actually am ahead financially (or was?) and with many backed up errands to run and Kooky Kyle’s adventure tour the time was rather welcomed. One of those errands I had to handle was car shopping. I know just the thought of getting rid of Sammy the Saturn and our countless plights together is a somber one. We ran up and down the east coast dozens of times for multitudinous round one losses and embarrassment at surf contests. Sammy and I survived the arduous task of driving cross country to California, where I slept in the back seat of the car at truck stops and nearly froze to death in Alabama of all places.
I rebuilt the chassis from junk yard parts when I was ran off the 101 by some random idiot and we survived 200,000 miles of insanity together. Sammy had a great run and as far as cars go all I can say is that an ’02 Saturn despite the gripes of others did me well. If I put over five grand in repairs on that car over the nearly ten years of ownership it was a lot. I was sorry Saturn went under or I would have definitely went back for another. If you mess around on the myspace.com blogs you can find tons of Sammy and Chris adventures.
Lately driving Sammy around has been like riding in a ticking time bomb. The whole car shakes over 60mph, the driver side mirror was broken and hanging on by epoxy, the passenger side was repaired with bondo, the tires were bald, the brakes were going, it ate two quarts of oil every 200 miles and god only knows what else was about to blow up under the hood. Sammy needed to retire, especially with all the driving that constantly plagues the Santa Barbara surfer. Car shopping I went.
I dont know if anyone out there has ever went car shopping before (Im sure you have) but it is exhausting both physically and mentally. Maybe its fun when you have a decent supply of money to work with,but when your playing with six grand and bad credit it can be a nightmare. I wanted something that had under 50k on it and preferably a Honda Civic. I had been looking online and at auto shoppers for sometime, but I know very little about cars and have no friends that are mechanics so buying a used car that way is very risky. That being the case I resolved to go the dealer route where I could at least get some type of warranty.
Shopping at car dealers is like being a scantly clad, sexy female at the bar, as soon as you step on to the lot you are being lurked by all the salesmen there. They let you peruse the merchandise for a little while and then they pounce. Some were intelligent and when they heard my situation pretty much sent me on my way. Others were a bit hungrier. I was at a Toyota dealer looking at the selection of pre-owned vehicles. I told the sales man Steve exactly what I was looking for yet he still attempted to sell me a super charged Scion Xb including a high speed test drive where at one point we found ourselves coming up to a 180 degree turn at 75 miles per hour. My hear was in my mouth for a moment when we practically drifted the turn at 55.
I couldn’t help humoring the guy, I mean he was so excited about the car. In the end I found myself at a Buick dealer looking at a 2010 silver Honda Civic two door coupe for $16,800, way out of my price range. As I was about walk off a sales person, Moses was his name, approached me. I thought his name was a sign and worth hearing what he had to say. He claimed they had a comparable Civic for 13.5 on their other lot and we would take the Civic I just described to it. That ended up just being a ploy to get me to test drive the car. It was a really smooth ride and I was digging on the car but I knew I could not afford it.
I told him as much and then Moses said “If I could make the numbers work would you be interested”. Now I love to humor delusional people so I agreed. When you get inside with a car salesman its a ton of fun. They try all these ploys to get you to pay sticker price and the like. After about an hour of negotiations I was over it. I got up to split and then his sales manager shows up, which always happens in such a case and offers me $500 for my Saturn. I laughed and kept on walking. Then he offered $1000, Then $2000. At $2000 for a car barely worth $200 how could I not go for it. Then the idiots were somehow able to get me a loan as well.
I ended up buying the thing locking myself into a five year $219 a month contract. Now I hate committing myself to one place for that long, but I figured between school and the chef thing and my ultimate ten year New Zealand goal I will pretty much be planted in Santa Barbara for a while anyhow. Why not spoil myself with something nice to drive for a change? Im going to be getting a better job really soon and can most likely pay the thing off faster anyhow. I guess Im growing up a bit and becoming less of a recluse. I know its a bit sad, but even Moon Doggie in Gidget had to move off the beach and get a real job. Dont worry kids Im still in the game and as long as I get a session in a day my core can not be questioned.
So yeah no blogs yet this week and only four in March. Its not because Im lazy, well partially, but mostly because I have been fucking busy. This week has been tough with Kooky’s adventure tour, car shopping, John and Brennan coming out for a weekend and mid terms at City College. The waves have also been the best here since January. Read the Surf Log which I am still updating daily for more on the surf.
Once again, Im sorry, but I promise a plethora of really awesome blogs soon. For now enjoy this picture of a really fat guy riding a really small peddle moped.
I promise more Lisanti fun soon, Lets shake on it!
This week’s UCB makes a victor of Nick the Kook. You know between Nick the Kook and Kooky Kyle it really begs one to reason what kinds of friends I keep, but since I bestowed those nick names on the two I guess it really points out what kind of asshole friend I am. Anyway he said I ought to allow user submissions for the Groovin’ High section of this blog. Well if everyone remembers back to the very beginning of surfingruinedmylife.net in August of 2010 (thats right only about six months ago), when I started Groovin’ High the whole point of it was for everyone to share different musical Ideas and tastes.
I said “feel free to post your own entries in the comments and what those songs mean to you, help me experience music I have never heard of” . This is what I hoped would happen and in its early days I think about three people posted, Nick being one of them. Everyday I get a stats report for SurfingRuinedMyLife.net and it gives me all sorts of helpful information about my blog and its readership, which pages are viewed, how many hits each page gets, overall hits, etc. Well I noticed shortly after the first month of Groovin’ High that the page was not getting any hits at all, as of press time it has only received 118 hits since August 2010.
Now Im not bitching (ok maybe just a tad), just stating some facts. It is for this reason that now with my busier schedule Groovin’ High has sort of feel by the wayside. Truthfully Im a little saddened by that. SurfingRuinedMylife.net is a selfish monument to my own personal vanity. That being said I have been accumulating more hits and readership daily. For whatever reason be it amusement, mocking, entertainment, interest, pure cubicle boredom people like reading about my life. Music is a major part of everyone’s life and the tunes they are jamming out to at a certain period of time can really reflect on their character and overall mood. Right now I personally hate the direction hip/hop and R&B have taken and am listening to more old school stuff as one may have noticed from Groovin’ High.
Im not blaming anyone but myself for the failure of Groovin High. I put it up as a side show and therefore updates to it are not recorded on the main home page. A user actually has to click on the link to view the latest update. To correct this problem I am from this blog foward going to turn the section into actual blogs and then post just the links on the Groovin’ high tab, similar to how Recipe D’Jour or The Coffee Table Saga is done.
Thanks to Nick the Kook I have been motivated to resuscitate this near dying segment I had considered pulling the plug with. This will be the first entry of the newly revamped Groovin’ High segment.
September, Earth, Wind & Fire
This song is my personal jam. Everyone has one I dont care who you are. Even deaf people probably have something they rock out to even if is only as a result of felt vibrations for such music. September is that song for me. No matter where I am or what mood Im in when September comes on I cant help but breakdown into some completely retarded dance move. Its a great song for sure but besides that just the title if you are a surfer on the east coast will make you happy. September is a great month to be a surfer back east, warm water, light crowds and the bulk of hurricane swell action with the beginnings of Nor’Easter swell as well.
When this tune is played I never know what is going to happen from me breaking it down in the middle of the frozen food aisle in the supper market to getting kidnapped by some psycho bitch at the Wild Cat, anything is fair game. One thing that will always remain constant when this song comes on is it will completely take over my soul for its duration. It is very similiar to that Seinfeld episode, where Elaine’s boy friend would go into a trance every time the song Desperado would be played. Thats a great episode and totally a must watch.
Here is a clip from the Seinfeld episode I referenced earlier.
Finally Nick the Kook made a Groovin’ High suggestion to go with this blog that helps reaffirm why I don’t deal in submissions except for in the comments section of a Groovin’ High blog. Let me apologize for the abuse to your ears before hand.
It has occurred to me that I missed the January version of my monthly surf recap. That is a little sad considering it has proved to be the best month in surfing of the winter season, which is about to close shortly. February was a crazy and rather frustrating month to be a surfer in Santa Barbara. It seemed that for every great day there was a flat day and for ever good run of swell it was followed by a flat spell. Plagued by bad weather, diligence was key. There were plenty of days where a great session went down but only for a short period of time at a certain location.
I found myself surfing a wide variety of spots and even a few rather unlikely places. We had a head high SW wind swell that is unheard of anytime of year. Overall though compared to last February this one was a bit unfortunate to say the least. If you notice, in this surf summary there are a few more stats and that is because I have diligently been keeping track of the number of waves and amount of time of each session. Im not going to get into that here. Look for a blog all about my new wave to time in water stats soon.
Number Sessions Surfed: 21
Days Surfed: 21
Actual Time Spent in the Water: 32.5 hrs
Number of Waves Surfed: 556
Average Waves Surfed per Hour: 17 waves
Spots Surfed:
Rincon: 7 New Jetty: 5 Emma Wood: 2 Santa Claus Lane: 1 Stanley’s: 1 Solimar: 1 Bates Beach: 1 Oxnard Shores: 1 Mesa Lane: 1 Santa Clarita River Mouth: 1
Top 3 Sessions:
3:2/18/11 PM Session – 3-5ft, Bates Beach
Waves Surfed: 30
Time in Water: 2hrs South East wind swell in Santa Barbara? And Rincon of all places!!! JD and I sat around all day waiting in vain for the wind to change. Finally by 2:30pm we set off on a wing and a prayer to check every semi north facing spot I could think of. After three less then stellar surf checks in the pouring rain we ended up at Bates Beach (the top beach at Rincon). Turns out there were solid chest to head high lefts peeling down the beach and barreling. I was all over it. JD however was not enticed opting to stay and nap in the car. I however went out there and snagged a hand full a great barrels sandwiched between some pretty shitty beatings. It was a classic New Jersey side shore day although it also reminded me of North East wind swell Frisco.
2: 2/19/11 AM Session – 2-4ft, Solimar? Waves Surfed: 19 Time in Water: 1hr
This morning was another surf I had not planned on. I thought I would have been too hung over to even get out of bed in time for work at 11, but thanks to things not going as planned I ended up making it an earlier night then expected. As a result I was up early and since the sun was out and there still a bit of that SW wind swell on the buoys I figured I would just head to Emma Wood. JD was awake for some reason even though he got home way later then I did and we gave it a go. On the way down there were some fun looking waves at both Santa Claus and La Conchita. Part of me just wanted to stop and surf either one of those, but I really had faith in Emma. Turns out Emma was terrible, too bowly with the mix of NW and SW swells. We were cruising back to see about the top of Pitas when I noticed that the north side of Solimar right before the houses start if your coming from Santa Barbara, looked punchy as hell. We pulled over and saw a few dumpy, heaving shore breaky nugs with one guy on it. Out of time we decided to give it a go. To be wholly honest I did not think much of the wave while putting on my suit but as soon as we hit the beach we saw this wave wedge up, A-frame and then heave over spitting both left and right. After that we were full on frothing. I ended up getting a bunch of sick left hand barrels and hit a super clean backside indy grab air. It reminded me of the grinds in Buxton, NC on the outer banks. JD had a ball also. It was so good I ended up being ten minutes late to work, but a lot of me thought of not showing up at all. Sometimes you can find waves in the most unlikely of places I mean technically that is not even really a surf spot. Soooo Stoked!!!
This week’s UCB is taken by Brennan with the topic “What is your worst character flaw?” Well like his, I would love it to be that “I was everyone’s unrealized dream”, but unfortunately I am more like most peoples unrealized nightmare. Enough on that, we are not here to explore that aspect of who I am. That can be saved for some other blog some other time.
My biggest character flaw, well actually there are two and I will cover both here. Lets start with the most obvious, MY ANGER!!!!!!! Face the facts I am an angry person, very angry, borderline sociopath. How I have made it this far not being institutionalized be it prison or asylum is beyond me. I think my high level of intelligence is the only thing that has kept form spending the bulk of my days behind a wall of glass.
In all seriousness I have an anger problem. Everyone who has spent more then 24 hours with me can attest to that. Sometimes all it takes is twenty minutes depending on the situation. There is an “anger” category to the right of this blog for surfingruinedmylife.net. If you click on the link I think there are easily over a dozen blogs there on everything from getting into a street fight to ranting about using apostrophes.
I don’t really know why I am so angry. I had a very privileged life. My parents loved me and provided for me. I had a few childhood pets. Its not like I was some gangster from the hood who was constantly getting kicked back into the gutter. All I can blame it on is years of malicious ridicule from imbeciles because I was and still am different from them and see things differently.
Im not just one of those angry people who bottle it all up inside eventually either having a breakdown or climbing up on the roof of their house with an AK-47 and taking out the neighbors. I am one of those people who act out on every initial angry impulse I have. I threw a desk at my 8th grade math teacher because he made a joke in class at my expense. I can flare up rather easily. Brennan the bearer of this internet literary feast (or lack there of) you are reading can attest to that.
It is true that in my old age I have calmed down tons. When I was in my late teens early twenties I would chase down some one on the road and try to fight them for beeping their car horn at me, even if I was in the wrong. Keep in mind at 5’9 and 150lbs soaking wet get my ass kicked in a fight situation more times then not. Sure there are still moments of ridiculous road rage for proof on that read about the Caesar Chavez Incident in the blog “Flying off the Handle”. There are plenty of surf line up altercations, but in my defense I rarely lash out first unless the other surfer is being a real bone head. Shit, if a person is being a total jackass it is our responsibility as good citizens of the earth to put them down, vigilantly style especially where surfing is concerned.
I have been making the greatest efforts possible to control my anger and it is probably down to only about four to six outrageous blowups of rage a month. I used have that amount happen in one day. My goal is to one day only have that many disruptions a year (maybe before I die? Then again with out my fits of rage this blog would be a bore. Damn catch 22). My other Character flaw is that I live in a fantasy world, but then again that could also be my greatest character trait depending on whom you talk to. That being the case Im not about to get into it here. Since Im still an angry person be sure to not be on the receiving end to my stick because if your smaller then me, like maybe a midget or a sickly child I will fuck you up!
Im so mad I cant even open my right eye.
The future accommodations to be provided for me courtesy of a fit of rage taken too far.
I dont know what this fucking thing is but I will wipe that stupid smile right off of its face.
Fuck you Gary Coleman I will kick your little ass.
Potato Knishes are one of my favorite side dishes. Nothing pairs better with a big thick hot dog, kielbasa or corn beef sandwich. I used go to this grimy but renowned deli in New York City called Katz Delicatessen (I believe there was a myspace blog on it at one point). They made a killer corn beef sandwich and their round knishes were almost as big as my head. The sandwiches are great too. Enough about Katz though, find the blog on Myspace if your still jones’in for more on that.
Jewish Russian immigrants first brought the knish to the United States circa 1900. Back in the New York/New Jersey area you can get knishes just about everywhere. They are sold frozen and even sometimes fresh in the average supermarket. Here in California I found them nearly impossible to come by, especially here in Santa Barbara. After an exhausting search I gave up looking and decided to learn to make them myself. I must say my knishes did not come out too shabby either. Here is my now perfected potato knish recipe.
Total Cost – $6.87
Feeds about 6-8 People (yields about six medium sized Knishes)
Ingredient List:
Potatoes – 6 (I used russets, but the variety does not matter)
Vegetable Oil – ¼ cup
Salt – 1 ½ teaspoon
Baking Powder – 1 teaspoon
Flour – 3 cups
Pepper – ½ teaspoon
Butter – ½ cup
Onion – 1 diced
Cold Water – ½ cup
Egg – 1
Step 1: Cook Potatoes – Peel potatoes and cut into even chunks. Place chunks into a pot of boiling water for 15 to 20 minutes or until soft. Strain in colander.
Step 2: Mash Potatoes – After straining put potatoes back into boiling pot from step 1 and mash them up with a potato masher, fork, ricer. Measure out 1 cup of the mashed potatoes for your dough. Leave the rest in pot for the filling.
Step 3: Make Dough – In a bowl, add the baking powder to the flour. Whisk them together. Add about one-third of the flour mixture to the mashed potatoes put aside in step 2 and mix. In sections, add in all the flour. Break the three cups into individual one cup portions to accomplish this successfully. Next, make a small well in the center of the bowl. Pour the cold water right into well. Knead the dough with your hands till you have a nice firm ball. Finally place a wet cloth or towel on top of the dough, and let it sit for 30 minutes to proof.
Your finished dough prior to proofing.
Step 4: Make Potato Filling – Meanwhile, cut and peel the onion. Dice it into small pieces. Then melt the butter in a pan on high flame. Add the onions and sauté until they are soft, but not yet brown. Pour the onions into a mixing bowl (separate from your now proofing dough). Add 1 ½ cups of mashed potatoes, ½ teaspoon of salt, and ¼ teaspoon of pepper to bowl. Combine everything together. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Your Potato/Onion mix filling.
Step 5: Roll Out Dough and Form Knishes – Place flour on a flat surface and a rolling pin. Take a handful of dough and flatten it down on floured surface. With rolling pin roll out the dough, flipping it over occasionally, so it is one-quarter of an inch thick.
Rolling out the dough.
Round Knishes – Create a circular cut out from the dough rolled. A small bowl can be used as a template. Place filling in the center and pull all sides into center over filling and pinch closed into a tepee like top.
Square Knishes – Create a square cut out from the dough rolled. Place filling into the center of square and fold over short sides. Next fold over long sides and mold with a little water to close up edges and corners.
A Round (Left) and Square (Right) knish.
Step 6: Bake Knishes – Place finished knishes onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper or treated with nonstick baking spray. Beat one egg and brush it over the tops of each knish. Bake at 425F for twenty to twenty five minutes. Check for doneness when egg turns a golden brown color.
Book IX: Peer Gynt, Henrik Ibsen, first published in 1867, 169 pages
I feel like I have been on a world tour of literature lately. I went from British lit, to French, to South American and now with the addition of the play Peer Gynt find myself taking a stab at Norwegian literature. Written primarily in verse Henrik Ibsen takes the reader on a lyrical journey with main character Peer Gynt. Supposedly the play is based on an old Norwegian folk tale of the same title. Its rather easy to read and the form flows quite nicely and this comes form a person who is not a fan of poetry. I am about half way done with this play already considering I have not had a chance to make this entry here yet. Never the less I implore you to pick Peer Gynt up and give it a read.
Garcia Marquez has yet again managed to captivate me in another of his novels. I rather enjoyed Chronicle of a Death Foretold although a bit disturbing. The whole book is written knowing the main character is going to be brutally murdered from the first sentence. In Marquez’s usual style there is plenty of sex, scandal and moral upheaval one has come to expect from his works. I definitely suggest if you missed this book when I first entered it into the book club to give it some look.
A few weeks back Kooky Kyle made a UCB request to write on what I missed most about the east coast. To be honest at the time of his posting nothing major had really come to mind. Of course the obvious friends and family came to mind, but that is a given. Recently I have been reminded in a few select surf session of the East.
What do I miss the most? Cape Hatteras, North Carolina is what I miss most about leaving the east coast. I miss having it only a 12-hour drive away. For me Hatteras was a quick and easy escape from reality. All I would have to do is jump in the car and cruise down there and be able to surf a variety of beach break practically to myself some days. One can always surf alone there. The place has miles and miles of empty coastline some only accessible by four-wheel drive and others only by foot.
Sure the main spots draw a crowd but when its good it does not really matter cause the surf is so consistent. Speaking on consistency there is pretty much a ride able wave at the lighthouse 365 days a year. It may be small but there will be something to grovel. If there is any kind of swell in the Atlantic Hatteras is sure to pick it up someplace and amplify it. The barrier islands form a big semi circle allowing NE, E and SE exposures to be had, thus accommodating every swell and wind direction.
If you are keen offshore wind can almost always be found. There is a legitimate left point break on the island. It is one of the few places on the east coast you can easily get triple over head surf. The surf can go from waist high in the morning to nearly triple overhead by the evening. The place is nuts.
Man does it barrel. I have scored some of the best surf sessions of my life down there just getting pitted off my ass. Im talking so hallow you cant even do a turn. Its no coincidence that OBX Local Brett Barely showed up at the pipe masters last year and was a serious contender. There can be some serious tubes out there and I remember watching him and a couple of the boys at the lighthouse a few years back charging serious ten to twelve foot surf that was heavy as hell, super drifty and very few make able rides. Those guys were just out there getting their asses handed to them and loving every minute of it. Me I went to the point and had a fun session.
There are mysto sand bars that just happen over night and can be gone just as fast. The first thing I do when I get into town is go hang around the Food Lion (only grocery store for 45 minutes) in Avon and just ease drop on any surfer looking type person and even fishermen. Fishermen can tell you a lot about potential set ups cause most of these bars have deep water on either side of them or in front that fishermen froth for. Usually in an hour or two I can find out where one of these are if such a miraculous thing exists.
I remember one year there was one all the way at the very end of Frisco just about at the end of the island. It was an easy five mile hike to the place or accessible by 4×4. I did not have one but luckily was picked up by a friend. That sand bar literally was like lower trestles but a left. It was easily peeling for 100 yards and as killable as a wave can be. Another year I remember this bar set up for the last two days of my trip over in Avon at ramp 39 and it was like a mini pipeline. Im talking spitting left and right tubes with solid hurricane swell feeding it.
Then there is “S-Turns”, maybe one of my favorite surf spots in the world. I think it is in my top ten for sure. I guess at one time or another when the island was wider right at the beginning of Rodanthe there was a forest that got washed away considering the island is barely thirty feet wide there now and floods all the time. The stumps were all left behind and it created perfect sand banks thanks to all the roots and stumps holding in the sand. Basically the place is eight or ten peaks of perfect a-frames that can either be a skate park or a barrel fest depending on the day.
Finally OBX is scattered with dilapidated fishing piers that all have their own distinguishing characteristics. Frisco pier is in my opinion the best, but I have scored Kitty Hawk pier, Rodanthe Pier, Duck Pier, Avon Pier and Nags Head Pier pretty damn epic as well. Shit I got hooked six times by some red neck at Avon Pier and would have drowned if not for some fellow south Jersey guys and the help of the Geilselman family.
Bottom line the place is a surfers dream. If it were not for the inclement winters I would have moved there instead of Santa Barbara. Unfortunately even though it is the south the water still dips into the low forties and the air goes way worse then that. The place is pretty pristine and will always stay that way thanks to being a National seashore. All the towns are super small and have miles of undeveloped coastline between them of just huge rolling dunes, marshlands and open beach. Its beautiful out there and I recommend it a visit for everyone. Although if you want the best surf/weather go between August thru November.
For me Cape Hatteras will always be a very special place. I have had some great contest results, surfed excellent waves, met many of good friends, spent real quality time with old friends, partied like a rock star, lived in a tent, nearly blew myself up with fire works and always felt refreshed after a tenure there. I hope to go back someday for a week or two one fall, but until then she will always be in my heart. To my east coast friends and especially my Hatteras friends get a tube for me.
Here is a slide show of my favorite pictures from Hatteras from years past.
My Best Shot from the day. Rincon February 17 2011, Photo Don Jayne
Last week I wrote a surf session blog called Big Name Pros, Stupid Car Surfing and Aggressive Line Up Tactic involving super fun Rincon, my boy JD finally having a good session (probably his best of the trip) and professional surfers Kelly Slater and Sally Fitzgibbons. If you missed it I suggest clicking on the link and checking it out. It was a pretty entertaining surf blog. Occasionally I find other blogs, photos or internet type stuff that links in with a blog I wrote. When that happens I like to post it here.
This one was actually found by my former roommate and lurking partner in crime Brennan (Brennan has recently gotten some play here in the last two blogs: The Paradoxical Plight of the Eunuch Cat and The Great Escape from Mission St. those are worth a read too if you missed them, more the latter). This link comes from SantaBarbaraSurfer.com and has been featured on the both the myspace.com blog and SurfingRuinedMylife.net. I really should feature them in my link section but have been too lazy to bother with it. Its a pretty cool blog completely devoted to the Santa Barbara surfing community.
There is some text relating to the session similar to my blog on the day. If you read you will notice the author also ran up to El Capitan for a surf like myself, except he must have gotten there about an hour earlier then I did because he actually was able to get some water time. The slide show is pretty cool. It shows you how the cove was on the day in question. There are some amazing pictures of Slater, Sally Fitzgibbons, J7 friend/team rider Arson, Tom Curren’s older son and even three shitty shots of yours truly, Chris Lisanti.
In the comments he mentions something about even running a few pictures of the guys with “stinky style” when he gets the occasional shot where they are not embarrassing themselves. Im sure I fall into that category. Whatever, I have a ton of fun, even if 90% of the time I am completely kooking it, flailing around like a wounded condor. I have shots #33, 86, and 87 in the show. There are some pictures of the crazy equipment Slater was riding as well. If you got a minute I would check it out: http://www.santabarbarasurfer.com/index.php/news/article/thursday_at_the_con/.
Kelly Slater always brings out the admirers.
Here is a classic example of what they call "Stink butt style".
Surfing Ruined My Life 