Summer Solstice!

Can't complain. Cape's been waist high for what seems like weeks. Hungry for a big swell. Tropical storm Bill is hanging around the Gulf of Mexico forecast-ed to take a northeasterly inland track through the already flood-ridden Southern Texas. In the meantime of waiting for our larger waves ...........: Do you miss winter? It's a shame to hear of the shark attacks in the Carolina's. Suspected Bull-shark. a 7ft silhouette was spotted between the two beaches the attacks occurred at. Thoughts and prayers go out the young ones who lost limbs.....

The spirits got me!

Do not forget. We are vibrational beings existing within a realm of oscillating particles. Science backs this 100%. Yes, waves. In most situations, especially midst the chaos and churning of a double overhead beating, there are few things we can control. Aside from knowing how to manage a towering beating, the physical aspects. Then, there's the mind. Keep calm and paddle on! Sure, getting the snot washed out of you taking a 10 wave set to the dome in 38 degree water SUCKS! Ice cream headaches and all. Getting angry is only going to make matters worse. A controlled response is the ability to remain calm and heed off the adrenal glands from kicking on full throttle "oh SHIT" mode. Fight or flight, +(positive) or -(negative). Physical exertion or relaxation. It's an absolute buzz killer to hear someone become frustrated out there. It's surfing. This is supposed to be fun, a great time. NO MATTER WHAT. When it all comes down to it, next time you're out there about to let your kettle fly off the handle, at least you can surf. You've been granted this amazing existence near the coastline. Sure, it's not California but maybe that's what's so special about it. Maybe that's why this is my home. Maybe I can't get enough torture from the cold. Maybe I was born for the frigid desolation of the winter sea. Maybe I embrace the added challenge of 20lbs of 7mm winter gear. This sport will be with me until my grave. This sport has given me more insight, satisfaction and spiritual well being. There's something mysterious about immersing yourself to the depths of winters' frigidity. Something spiritual. There is a recognition from Nature. What goes through your head when you surf? What do you think about? Are you thinking about how you blew your last take off or missed that last air section? Spun out on a bottom turn and get flushed out? Perhaps you ran your favorite 6'-0" into the rocks rendering it out of commission for good. It can be a bummer the first time you destroy a $400-$700 board. Especially if it's your only one. You have a choice here, you can start freaking out, or you can do what any happy go lucky surfer would do. Do something about it. I'll never forget the first board I broke. My second season of winter freeze, I arrived at my favorite right hand point. It was absolutely mind blowing. Haven't seen it like that since. It was gargantuan lit up by the sunrise. Just heavenly. Calling me. Taunting me and beckoning me to paddle out. I was alone and only had one board. The paddle out was quick and my hair didn't even get wet. The lighting at dawn was magic. Pink hues diminished and refracted in the triangular rhythms of the oceans wind etched surface. The sets were most unforgiving. The consequence was a 300 yard drag from the outside. They were epic. Reeling from the head of the point all the way through. Faces big enough to count your turns, specifically 2-3 barrel sections and a whole lot of room to hack away. My session was unreal. I didn't feel alone. The Ocean set a hook in proper fashion that day. I was about 10 waves into it. 7, 8, 9 turn waves, air drop floater sections. Unreal fun and friendly big surf. I just remember feeling so free. I got cocky and hung a big too long through a floater and was thinking, "this is crazy, should I bail? I think I can make this, no don't bail, fly!", so I kinda popped this ollie from this chunky lip and kinda catch the wind under my board. I tried to cushion the impact. It was probably an 11ft wave. The landing was perfect. SNAP! I came to a stop instantly legs split wide open. Victory was taken from my hands. My friend, the Ocean kicked my ass for about a hundred yards chest down in front of the wash. It wouldn't spit me out. Finally I feel into a channel and got spit off. I came to the surface and there was half of my board. What a ride though. I'd happily sacrifice any board for another session like that one!!!! Even for just one 10 turn, 3 barrel wave! I paddled in. Smiling all the way to my car. Didn't see the rest of my board wash up, was greeted by a local with just beaming with positive energy. "I saw that whole thing that was awesome!!!! Do you have another board!?!?", I didn't, Said I would be back in about an hour and a half, took my suit half off and began the trek home to grab not one, but two boards. It was satisfying to break that thing. A welcoming to a truly challenging sport and a fresh spiritual awareness in life. You could say my 'chapel' is made from liquid forged by the wind. Stay + Namaste. JB

Winter Stash: Winter Wash

There's little one can compare to a session in solitude with Nature. Let alone in a habitat that may turn dangerously hypothermic if things go wrong. A fin rips your suit, fresh hole in a wetsuit and perfect waves for hours. All while soaking in sub 38 degree F. You feel the cold creeping in each and every failing seam in your suit. But you stick it out. You grind out the cold waits between sets. You'd be crazy to leave now after travelling so far and enduring so much cold already. There's plenty of people out there that call it crazy. In my mind, there's nothing crazy about it. When I surf, there is one goal, one idea. That's to be alone with Nature. Yea, it's not the smartest thing to do from a mom's standpoint(hell, there are some surfers in Cali that have NO IDEA there are waves on the Right Coast!!), but I've been doing it for nearly two decades. The cold desolate climate easily makes up for the crowds on the Left side of this country. Surfing has fused itself into my spiritual existence for good. What better way to wash out some negative vibes than immersing yourself in chilly water. In the hopes of snagging a few double overhead bombs, you wait for the sets to wrap into a sheltered cove and peel for over 200 yards. Alone. No one. Just you, yourself and the mind that you've constructed yourself. This has and will always be my time alone with "the creator". Whatever it is that fostered human existence, this is my devotion to that source. Enduring the cold to ride perfect winter brazen waves, ALONE. Practice Yoga all you wish. However you will. Your first mistake would be to confine Yoga to a mat in a classroom. YOGA actually means (in a rough sense): Personal alone time with God; the creator. The book, No Man Is An Island states, "True solitude is selfless. Therefore, it is rich in silence and charity and peace. It finds in itself seemingly inexhaustible resources of good to bestow on other people." This explains so much about why I love to surf alone. It says so little at the same time. A beautiful explanation of my spiritual transformation when immersed , alone, in Nature; surrounded by perfect 12-14 foot bombs raking over a granite reef I've never ridden before. But I'm not alone. I am with Nature, I am with so much more than any average person can even begin to understand.