Bananas..

I promise to get back to the bricks soon. It hasn't been a great couple of weeks for me.. Just floating around in relationship limbo. Then I just had the worst fight of my life with my wife. Not that I didn't believe in what I was fighting for, I did, but, the way I fought it was.. Painful. Hurtful.. To both if us. In the end I think I hurt myself the most. I know I did. In the end it's like the song. Nobody right.. Nobody wrong.. Most of us are just trying to get heard..

I know what you are thinking. That doesn't have anything to do with bananas. You are right. So my friend John told me recently.. "You got to be grateful" Followed up quickly by "don't you hate that" you know "people telling you to be grateful" So.. yeah.. I do hate that. But still.. You got to be grateful. Even in the midst of the worst of it. There is always something good going on. Hopefully.. Got to be hopeful I guess too. So.. What am I grateful for this week. Well.. the surf just keeps coming like it has for the last 6 months. It was the flatest I had seen all winter over the weekend but, still fun enough for for a longboard go out with Kalie in front of the house..

I was definitely grateful that by Monday things were getting back to normal. Some punchy head high windswell at Indicator going overhead on a few of the sets. Tuesday (the day of the worst fight of my life with my wife) Well.. Tuesday brought super clean conditions in the morning. A nice sized wind swell comboing up with a south squeaking through islands. It was so pretty out there. All green and blue.. Crisp and clean with some pretty nice looking barrels rolling in. Maybe a bit peaky for Rincon but some of them would line up perfectly. I had such a good time I couldn't believe I was in the worst fight of my life with my wife. (name withheld by request) Wednesday. The south took over a bit and made for a few incredible left hand barrels, though they were few and far between. The right had that south swell sectiony thing going. It's like a beach break really but, you are at Rincon, so if you are going fast enough, it's possible to connect about 10 of those beach break waves together, and end up half way to the cove before you know it. Thursday. Yesterday.. Another west swell. Long intervals so it was a bit inconsistent, and windy, but going overhead and plenty of fun to say the least.. So.. yeah. You got to be grateful.. and hopeful. And yes.. the bananas.

We moved in here in October of last year. See post previous post: "Right smack in the middle of La Conchita" So hopeful.. I was. Anyway my house is literally about 25 feet from the entrance of Doug Richardson's old Seaside Banana Plantation. So we transplanted about a half a dozen banana trees from our old house in SB to the new house in the LC. I have to point out, at this point the lawn was dead, the only palm tree was dead, this yard was dead! So these bananas trees all green and lush were a huge improvement. I planted them on the north end of the yard about 25 feet from the Banana Plantation. Then.. They started dying. Leaf's turning brown, Riley running into them knocking them off.. One by one they were dying a slow death. I felt like the laughing stock of La Conchita. I mean bananas grow like weed here in the LC. Oops. I mean weeds. Mine were looking pretty sad. Some were down to just a stock, trunk, I don't know what to call it but not a single leaf. Sad. But I was hopeful..

Here's a nice healthy grove on SurfSide

So I brought over a Pygmy banana tree I had growing at the trailer in Carp. This thing was beautiful. "I will show this town I am no banana killer" It died faster than the others. Banana killer!!! Or just a bad time to plant bananas I guess. But what about that infamous La Conchita micro climate? Bad time to plant bananas. I looked around the town at the established bananas and they were holding up pretty well. I heard Doug, owner of the Seaside Banana Plantation, used to put sheets over his puppy's on cold nights. Someone else told me to do that also but, it was too late for mine. Can't put a sheet over a dead banana tree. Too sad.. So I suffered the torment and shame, of looking at dying bananas, 25 feet from the former site of the only successful Banana Plantation in the United States just hoping.. they'd come back. Got to be hopeful.

Then.. Just in the last two weeks new leafs started sprouting out of all of them. I even have one with bananas starting to drop down that on that flower stock thingy. Whatever you call that. So I am grateful.. and hopeful... Thanks John.

Turning over a New Leaf.. Have a great day!

2010 Rincon Classic "Killing it Edition"

After 4 weeks of delay the Classic finally got underway this past Saturday. Unfortunately after week, after week, after week, after month, after month, after over four months of consistent often perfect surf.. I awoke Saturday morning to the dreaded south wind and 2' slop. I was pretty excited to go shoot some photos so I went on down there and had a look. Good turn out, warm weather, and some of those guys can turn blown out, white capped, south wind water.. into wine.. That is for sure. I lasted about 15 minutes took 4 photos, then went home to drink beer and cry about my wife moving out. The good news is I found some great tenants to move in upstairs. So "I" wont be moving out anytime soon.. And I can still see the 'con from the front yard. Life is good in the LC..

Sunday morning was looking nice as I glanced out the window. Glassy conditions, a bit more swell in the water, and shaping up to be another sunny and warm day. I looked at my watch.. and I was an hour late. Just kidding. Haven't had a watch in years. I didn't know what heats were running at what times anyway, so I figured I would just hang out till I get some good shots or run out space on my card (wannabe photographers only carry 1 card and usually a 3/4 charged battery)


Like I said.. Yesterday wasn't that great surf wise, or in terms of emotional stability, so when I pulled up and saw a few fun looking peaks coming into Indicator. Hmmm.. Well. You know. Surf first.. Shoot later. Luckily for the competitors, Indicator wasn't quite lining up into the Rivermouth Section, or I would have won the event right then and there. lol. By the way the water is freakin' freezing up here.

The surf felt great and with a clear head, frozen feet, and ice cold hands, I grabbed my camera and set up camp on the north side of the creek in Santa Barbara County. Most everyone else was set up in Ventura County. Anyway.. This contest is really about the locals and there are a million divisions for just about everyone. I am sorry to have missed most of the regular folks and mere mortals but.. I stumbled into some of the Mens and Bud Light Pro heats and they were lighting it up.. Check it out the full session at.. EppicSurf

A big thank you to everyone at SurfHappens for making it happen! Defending champ Kilian Garland took down the top spot again in the Bud Light Pro, with Spencer Regan nailing down first in the Mens 18 and up. For full coverage and complete results check out.. Santa Barbara Surfer


First Place Bud Light Mens Pro.. Kilian Garland

The Old Rincon Creek Brick Quarry - Part 1

I have searched and searched but I can not find a thing about these bricks on the web. Well.. There was a PDF file mentioning Benotite and something about a brick quarry at the mouth Rincon Creek. You had to pay for the article and that is frankly against my internet policy regarding information. So I will tell you what I know, and probably make some stuff up if I have to. I well tell you this. Facts or no facts this will be the most comprehensive piece useless information ever written about the subject. Please if you know anything about the subject feel free to school me in the comments. Our journey starts way further up the creek on a private road off Gobernador Canyon Rd It's here somewhere around 6-8 miles up the creek that the brick quarry stood. This was confirmed by Barron a long time resident of the Rincon Point enclave.

Now.. When I say private that's means I drove up there, and couldn't find any access points to the creek so I let it go. Well.. Not quite. Last summer desperate to find the source, and subsequently more bricks, I entered the creek at the only access point I could find. This creek does flow year round but it was a mere trickle this summer. Lined with massive amounts of poison oak on both sides, only an idiot would attempt to enter the creek dressed in shorts. So I jumped right in. In my 47 years I have had Poison Oak only one other time, but it was just a few weeks before this incident. Anyway.. I was armed with plenty of Mugwort, an old Chumash remedy which grows conveniently next to most poison oak groves. Well the creek was a bust, no bricks, and lots of private ranches lining the creek with plenty of dogs. Normally this would not have stopped me but, I brought my dog Riley along so and there was just too much barking. I came away with the worst case posion oak I have ever seen. Seriously.. I have permanent scaring.

By the way. Thanks to the California Constitution. It is legal to enter any creek, river, within 30 feet of a public bridge crossing regardless of of whether the creek flows through private property. I learned this from Kayaking days. The right to navigate the rivers and streams of California, including Rincon Creek, is guaranteed to the citizens by the State Constitution (Article 10, §4), which states:

No individual, partnership, or corporation, claiming or possessing the frontage or tidal lands of a harbor, bay, inlet, estuary, or other navigable water in this State, shall be permitted to exclude the right of way to such water whenever it is required for any public purpose, nor to destroy or obstruct the free navigation of such water; and the Legislature shall enact such laws as will give the most liberal construction to this provision, so that access to the navigable waters of this State shall be always obtainable for the people thereof.

The state retains ownership of navigable rivers and streams, and retains the power to regulate boating activities. This public right supercedes the rights of neighboring landowners, including situations in which waters flow through private property.

Way off on a tangent there. Sorry. Back to the bricks. I first learned of the bricks in 2005. We had those torrential rains to start off the year eventually causing the hillside here in La Conchita to slide, killing 10 people. We have had a lot of rain this year but, nothing even close to that. Well over 40 inches of rain fell over the course of a week or so. Thats over 26 feet of snow for you winter bound folks. Even more on Rincon Mountain. Two trash barrels according to Jessica. That is a lot of rain. That is the kind of rain you need for Santa Clara Rivermouth to do it's thing and form it's perfect V shape sand point. Long hollow rights or lefts, take your pick. And.. That is the kind of rain it takes to get these bricks out of Rincon Creek.

I was living in Carp during the slide, and the freeway was closed for about a week, so I rode my bike down to Rincon and there was a freaking huge pile of sand, rocks, and debris standing about 10 feet high and at least 100 feet wide at the mouth of the creek extending way out in the break. And the bricks.. Wow. I didn't really think much about them at the time. Cool colors I thought. But people were collecting them by the tons. Wheel Barrels, wagons, you name it. Actually I don't know who all was collecting them. My friend Wayne from Carpinteria is by far the biggest collector. I saw another huge stash in the mobile home park behind mine. There is a cool looking wall and walkway someone built right on the point. More on that in part two. I don't know why I didn't start collecting them.. This is kind of thing is right up my alley. Wow this is going long. Sorry.


Anyway last April, shortly after I moved out of Jenny's house in SB, and back home to Carp.. Just north of here.. I started finding a few bricks here and there on my morning walks at the point. I was hooked. Unfortunately the point has been pretty pick over and no bricks have been released since 2005. So finding even like one a day is nearly impossible. This is about the time I started to fix up the backyard and I wanted those bricks sooo bad. Just enough for a little walkway, patio or something. Had to have some. Wayne was not giving any up. No one. Period. But he did predict a rainy winter.. I needed them now! So I settled on a small round meditative patio, using a mix of creek bricks and some new bricks from a Masonry yard in SB. More on that in Part Two..

Flash forward to this winter. It has been pretty much non stop surf! Most of it has been pretty big but also really consistent! Lots of littoral drift going on. Best winter since '69 some say. We have lost at least 6'-10' of sand from the beach here in La Conchita. This has unearthed a gold mine of bricks that have been buried deep, deep, in the sand since 2005.


Thousands driving by every day oblivious to the gold mine of bricks for the taking.


Anyway the inspiration for this story was a walk on the beach waiting for a sunset that would never come. I decided to shoot these bricks in there natural state. So for the first time, I stopped picking them up, and just looked. The bricks get pretty cobbled and broken up making the trip down the creek, but after 5 years in the sand and sea these are even more cobbled. Large small, round, flat, square, broken it doesn't matter. I collect them all. Why...This kind of thing is right up my alley!