Power to the Peaceful.. No new fees!

Enough Said.

The people have spoken... And someone was listening for a change. Word is in that the Santa Barbara Parks Commission is recommending "No" new fees to be imposed at County Parks. Awesome. Some thought it was a done deal, including Santa Barbara City Council Member, Frank Hotchkiss. "It's nice not to have to pay, I agree, but an old custom that may have to pass." Thanks for the support Frank. I myself was starting to worry about it a bit yesterday, but thanks to the hundreds of people who poured their heart and souls into testimonies that could leave you in tears. And the hundreds, or thousands more, who wrote letters directly to the Board of Supervisors. Wow, are we actually seeing democracy at work? It was standing room only at last Thursdays meeting as single moms, hard core surfers, lawyer types, the rich, the poor, and everyone in between all came together in force to oppose any and all fees at our beaches. Even more showed up today via remote testimony to the last meeting held up in Santa Maria. It's unanimous. Everyone from the Rincon to Guadalupe Dunes agrees. No Fees to go to the Beach!  Suzanne Perkins, a premier realtor from Santa Barbara, and member of Parks Commission Board since 1992 had this to say. "This is democracy at work." See, what did I tell you, it's democracy at work. She probably said more but, I'm sorry to say, and I feel a little guilty about it, I skipped this mornings meeting to surf. Umm. Bob was there too.

I'm also sorry to say... It wasn't good surf either. Still it was enough to get out there and make a few more test turns on my new 6'5" Jumbo Shrimp by master craftsman, John Perry. Yesterday was good, well contestable at least. That was my rational as I got off at Bates and headed south, instead heading north to SB for the meeting.  Had I known they were making a decision today I would have gone for sure. Sorry. But back to the Jumbo Shrimp. Todays surf wasn't what I had in mind when I threw out a few ideas to John after riding the 5'11" Shrimp earlier in the summer. "A little wider, a little thicker, it's a long wave, some fat sections, and oh yeah... I want to put in a single fin box so I can see what the hell Cheyne Horan was thinking when he finished in second place four consecutive times on the pro tour. Umm. Just in case better put in  a FCS Quad configuration too."

Following his own path to 2nd Place.

Yes I'm talking about the StarFin, WingedKeel, the Americas Cup, and Ben Lexan. Okay.. Well if you can do air reverses in your sleep, then you probably don't have the slightest idea of what I'm talking about, but ever since I got a look at JP's Lazor Zap inspired Shrimp, I knew I was going to need a StarFin. It started in May, at LC's annual garage sale. Rincon was looking pretty good from two miles away, but I was stuck here selling stuff I bought at last year at LC's annual garage sale, and talking fins with avid finster RB from Mussel Shoals. He had three StarFins in his collection, not with him, and not really wanting to part with any of them. I settled on a Cobb-o-Fin which reminded me a lot of a Dolphin named Peace, Fin Id #25 out of the Dolphins of the Rincon Catolog. I went out that afternoon and after two big roundhouse cutbacks on one wave, a couple of my best ever, I was satisfied with my purchase. But still the StarFin was intriguing to say the least. Cheyne still sells them direct from Australia though the shipping was a bit high. I finally found one for a fair price with free shipping way, way, way, way north of here, and it's been sitting idle on my desk up till yesterday. How's it work. Hmm. The jury is still out but the early indicators are promising, and Indicator will likely need to start working again before the jury comes in. The surf had a little push yesterday but still was only in the waist/belly high range. The 6'5" felt huge under my feet after riding the 5'11" all summer and I would have never taken it out except for the fact it was brand new. In fact it was burning a hole in the back of the van. There was some surf, not enough, but good enough for me, and you know how easily those VW vans burst into flames. I had no choice. The 6'5" caught waves effortlessly which is exactly what I was looking for. I have very high wave quotas to fill. Still for conditions like this, I've already begun to throw around some ideas of a thicker, wider, quite possibly with a single fin box, FCS Quad, 5'11" Shrimp. Yes, I'd like to get that on the barb-ie as soon as possible mate. For the first couple hours I surfed the Jumbo Shrimp as a quad to get a good baseline for comparison, and I was about to call it a day when everyone got out of the water. The waves while small were still pretty fun, and the high tide was helping with the kelp factor, so I went in and set up the StarFin. By the way, the StarFin is no match for the kelp, you think a big single fin is bad, this thing stops you dead in your track.

Nope It's not backwards.

This fin sat on my desk waiting patiently, as was John, till I had enough money to pay for the 6'5".  It was a few weeks, maybe three, plenty of time to think about it. So I had a certain perceptions. Actually they were dreams, perhaps visions of how it was going to ride. And.. So far..  Right in the pocket of the wave the dream comes true. It feels like I'm on a track, not a bad track, my own track. Kinda of like your own constantly evolving Hot Wheel Track. It also seems to have some drive right on take off which I have been missing ever since I left my beloved Andreini Hulls at home. That initial drive might be coming from the slight V in the nose John put in, the fin, the extra thickness, or a combination of the three, I don't know, but I know I'll be taking off deeper than any of the other shortboards I've been on lately. I'm stoked! I haven't had a chance to get out on the open face much, since there really hasn't been any, and I felt a few quirks here and there. I don't know if it was the fin, the thickness, the width, or the crappy waves, but either way I'm stoked on the ridiculous amount of fin options on this new board. Quad, Single, Thruster, Five, ThreeDom, Winged Keel, it's all there. Time will tell. I don't know about you, but I'm more than ready for this summer and it's damn SE Swells to be over. Now... Back to the parking.

Standing Room Only!

It's not over. This is politics in America. One meeting isn't enough, two meetings isn't enough, three, sorry not enough.  Next this Fee Proposal goes before the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.  It will be up to them to decide go against the overwhelming disapproval of the people, or to accept the Parks Commission reccomendation of "No Fees" and put this case to bed. Politics. A steady intake of proposals, expensive studies on how to make more money from their constituents, and a shitload of meetings. As many as possible it seems, all the while crossing their fingers that the public might not show up to voice their opposition. Well I feel a little better about the system today, how about you?  My new Facebook Friend Supervisor Salud Carbajal, and Supervisor Janet Wolf have both indicated they will vote against the fee proposal, so we only need one more. I'd say we're looking pretty good but I wouldn't put it in the refrigerator yet. The eggs are not cooling and the jello is definitely not jigglin' See you again in October.

No Parking Ever Again!

Normally I might have been apathitic to the whole thing. I mean, I can ride my bike to Rincon anyway, and I wouldn't mind if they did put in a bike rack or two. But after seeing how easy it was for them to just simply get rid of 212 well used parking spaces along the highway here in La Conchita. Yep. Gone for good, along with the easy access to over two miles of sloping beach. Right here, right now, just happened in the blink of an eye, I don't even think anyone knew about it. How did that happen? Maybe no one showed up to the meetings. So I felt compelled to get involved this time, even if it was just showing up and holding a yellow protest sign. So thank you Tony for that first Facebook post that caught my attention, and thank your wife for printing up those yellow signs, and thanks especially for turning me on to those aforementioned Lazor Zap inspired Shrimps. And wow everyone else, mostly people I've never even met, David, Anne, Tyler, Ben Lexan, and the social media in general that made this easier maybe? Really way too many names to mention, but everyone really stepped up and got this thing done. If you haven't done so yet write the Board of Supervisors today. I don't care where you live. Free access to the beach, and wilderness, you already paid for it, it's a god given right. You can't just put up a fence, a sign,  a meter, and turn us into customers. Fuck that. Look, I voted for Nadar, but Ronald Reagan has some really good quotes, check it out...

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like at Rincon where we could park for free" 

Sorry Frank, the people have spoken. New customs for the next generation.

Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors Email Addresses

SupervisorCarbajal@sbcbos1.org
jwolf@sbcbos2.org
dfarr@countyofsb.org
jgray@co.santa-barbara.ca.us
steve.lavagnino@countyofsb.org