"Hey, do you surf, man? Are you a surfer?"

Plastic is not healthy for children and other living things. Photo: Chris Jordan

"Oh, no... Not me, I'm just a garbage man."  Certainly one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies of all time, Big Wednesday. So I think about Bear every time I pick up a new piece of trash and it makes me smile. Bear and I have a lot in common actually. We both drink too much, lost our shops, ex wives, etc, etc, etc... Only real difference, I am a surfer, man.. And it's getting harder, and harder to keep my head in the sand regarding all this plastic and crap washing up on the beach.  So I adopted a one mile stretch of beach that runs about the middle of LC about a mile north to the now nearly infamous surf spot I call "the curve". It's called something else now. But then I still call Pipes, Stables,  Leo Carrillo, Secos,  Zeros, Nicholas Canyon, No way man.. that's Point Zero!!! Maybe it's just Zero. Fact checking is not a huge part of my writing arsenal, I often find a vague recollection will do.. None of those spots are on my route anyway. What's your point Don, you want a sign or something?

A garbage collectors best friends

Not really, I just thought it might inspire some other obsessive compulsive eco-kook like myself to go on a mission to clean up his beach, lake, park, or yard. I'm no saint, in fact for at least 25 years I was flicking lit cigarettes out the window of my Landcruiser. Hundreds of them, probably more. My van isn't exactly green, but I did recently buy a new electric bike that gets 1200 miles to the gallon, and I've been trying hard to keep that van in the driveway. So I have come up with a comprehensive list of criteria that needs to be met before I hop in van and blast five miles into town. Topping that list is the "you better have more than one thing to do in town or you're not going clause"  ie.. No running into to town just buy a carton of eggs when your neighbor would probably be happy to give you a couple. Now a twelve pack of Sierra Nevada on the other hand, is a lot to ask, not to mention carry on your back.  Note to self... Buy a case next time. I don't want too be to preachy here. Just sayin'.. I'm changing my world, and you can't stop me. Personally I'm about as optimistic as Yvon Chouinard on the matter of saving the earth, but I'm out there walking my dogs anyway so why not. It was that very point that I took to heart when KS11 put it out there on twitter.

Happy Birthday!

Anyway.. I think the cigarette butt usually tops the list during California's Annual Coastal Clean Up. But it's the plastic bottle cap, usually from a single use plastic beverage container that tops the list on my stretch of beach. Followed closely by tiny bits of broken up plastic. Yes, styrofoam sucks, as does discarded fishing line. Ok. Environmentally speaking, all foam sucks, including the pieces of rotted out surfboards lost years ago that occasionally break free from that seawall just north of here. Balloons are disgusting after they've been floating down the trash superhighway. Can you think of another way to say Happy Birthday, or I love you? No not doves! If you are not aware of this my friends, there is a place in the middle of the the ocean the size of Texas no, the size of France, where chemical sludge, fishing nets, tires, just about anything and everything that floats, even those seemingly harmless Rubber Ducks you have floating in your bath tub. To be sure there are more than a few broken surfboards in the mix, along with some of my other favorite petroleum based products like, wetsuits, sunglasses, wax, and my Mick Fanning signature Reef sandals with bottle opener on the bottom, and the plastic bags. Actually I think wax sinks. Yes, I have a vague recollection of watching my wax slowly disappear into the deep, and slipping all over my board the rest of the day, but the plastic bags, please...

Today's Haul

Fucking A.. Using two fucking plastic bags to carry a big bottle of laundry detergent that already has a built in handle is pure insanity, isn't it? Yhink about it. It's actually harder to carry that way. Ever have your wine drop out the bottom of one of those things. The bags are virtually useless, especially when you consider that almost everything thing we buy usually comes pre-packaged in plastic, or with a built in handle. I am proud to be part of a town that just adopted Ordinance No. 655. That being, Carpinteria's Plastic Ban Ordinance, passed only two weeks ago.  Now ask yourself, did we really have to make it a law to do the right thing?  I guess we did. The fines are $100, $200, $500, for consectutive offenses of passing a single plastic bag. But your town doesn't have to wait, Carpinteria Albertson's has been voluntarily bag-less for almost a year now and it works. Do you really want to wait for your city council to tell you what to do? SB? Ventura? California? World? 

I think we have a problem here.

There are scientists out there being paid good money to pick up trash, sort it out, and catalog it on beautiful remote south pacific islands. So maybe I'm an idiot to be doing it for free in LC, but I'm not the only one. The awesome ladies of La Conchita, which include the first woman to ever grace the cover of surfer magazine sweep through town every Monday, and have treats for your dog too!  Still, I realize that not all of you have dogs that wake you up at 6:45am sharp with their leash in their mouth ready to hit the beach. So being a garbage man is probably not an option for everyone. However, I just read about another idea called the "Save 10 Movement" Just try to save 10 pieces of trash from going in the water anytime your at the beach. I know what your thinking. You're going to put me out of a job. Don't even worry about it. I'm having no trouble filling a medium sized trash bag once a week, and sadly, I can't keep up with it. After the gale force winds we had over the weekend, a crap load of foam from a obviously destroyed boat came floating in. You know the kind of foam they inject into the bulkhead, and everywhere else to keep it afloat. Well it didn't work. I did a search to see if any small craft went missing that weekend, but really there's no telling where this came from. It could have come from anywhere, but it is very interesting how the trash flotilla basically stays together. The porta-potty,oil cans, krazy glue, pens, pencils, oven cleaner, gas cans, anything that didn't sink to the bottom washed up right here.  Pick 5, Pick 2, Pick 1, or just pick up after yourself.  At this point I'm probably preaching to the choir now anyway, but if even one person reads this and makes a change.. Then well, that's pretty cool, so thanks! 

Free Beer!

Yep... There is an unlimited amount of crap washing up on are shorelines every day, but believe it or not there are still people leaving their own trash behind on a daily basis. Fishermen top my list at the moment, followed closely by partiers who are simply unwilling, or afraid to pack up their empty beer cans. Sure they occasionally leave a full one for me, but where the hell have these people been living the past ten years. This is the new millennium, the environmental revolution, reduce, reuse, recycle,  elf, Jack Johnson. Remember the Indian with a tears running down his face. That was back in the seventies! You're telling me in the year two thousand and twelve, people actually think it's perfectly fine to leave their trash behind wherever they want? Whatever... Ok I'll pick it up for you, no worries. Sadly I'm sure the partiers and beach goers will eclipse anything the fishermen are doing as soon as we hit summer, but thats another story. "That's the lemon next to the pie"

Life in the Bike Lane.. Prodeco Technologies G Storm eBike Review...

 What you can't see.. wont hurt you....

The bike lane to which I'm referring, might be 6' wide in some places, but it feels like 4' at the best. Going northbound, semi-trucks pass within a couple feet trying to suck you into their lane, to the right a bumpy dirt shoulder and ravine. So it's pretty important to stay in the bike lane. Of course the bike lane disappears altogether in a few spots so watch out for that. Heading south, at least in front of La Conchita town, it almost feels safe due to that extra lane for parking* Going south I pretty much ride in the parking lane even though it's a little bumpy. Once you hit Mussel Shoals it's back to the narrow little path known as the Pacific Coast Bike Route. Here your only chance for survival would be a clean hit that might send you over the 20 foot rock embankment and into the deep blue pacific. I just hope it's not low tide. Seriously it's a beautiful ride, but frightening at the same time. I wouldn't gaze around too much unless you come to a complete stop. There's cracks, potholes, tire shards, drainage grates, glass, just be careful!

Syncro... Happier days..

The Pacific Coast Bike Route actually begins at the California/Oregon Boarder on Highway 101 and meanders peacefully along, down towards Humboldt County and the Redwoods. Sounds great and might make a good trip some day in the future but for now, the Pacific Coast Bike Route means a run from La Conchita to Rincon on a stretch of the 101 that most people consider to be the Ventura Freeway. Up till last summer my familiarity with the bike route was limited to watching the bikers ride by from the safety of my porch, and making sure I didn't hit any of them on the way into Carp. All that changed during last summers huge Teahpoo Swell... Caught without my van (New Rear CV Joints) I was forced onto the highway, board in my arm, heading north to a spot located down some stairs and to the left. It was a pretty huge swell making it into pretty much every nook and cranny of the coast. I probably hit it up a couple of times by bike before getting the Syncro back.

Fun and adventure in a box!

It was a pretty slow and somewhat brutal ride on the rusty single speed Schwinn cruiser, and I don't recommended trying to negotiate this stretch of highway one handed, while hanging onto a surfboard. But there were some pretty good waves, and it was nice to know I wasn't completely stranded here in LC. Still.. I was stoked to get the van back a couple days later, and I didn't give the Pacific Coast Bike Route another thought till the Syncro suffered a catastrophic engine failure at the end of last year. You can dig back a ways in this very blog to hear my praises for the Subaru 2.2 / EJ22 Engine conversion. Let's just say, I haven't been singing about it the last two months. In fact, I really don't discuss the engine failure, and subsequent search for a replacement, and two month long process at all.

But I will sing you the praises for my new Prodeco G Storm, 24 Volt, 250 Watt, Electric Bicycle. Not having your van for a couple days in the middle of summer is one thing, but losing it mid-winter when Rincon was about to light up is a whole different story. Problem number one. The rusty 'ol cruiser was out of commission due to chain rusting all the way though and breaking. That stuff happens here in a place where bananas grow like weeds, and long low tide beach rides through the salt water all the way to Linden Avenue are possible.  That left me with two choices, walking, or riding the classic late 80's Cannondale mountain bike I've owned for 25 years. Well  it's not rusty, but it is incredibly uncomfortable, in fact the last time I rode it gave me back spasms for days. The good news was that other right hand point, just south of La Conchita, was working quite nicely during a few of those January swells... Easy walking distance.

Prodeco G Storm

Eventually though I had to get back to my favorite spot, um, just north of here. Yep. So using the dangerous one arm carrying the board, the other hand on the bars approach I learned over the summer, I crossed the railroad tracks and bravely merged on to the Pacific Coast Bike Route, aka Highway 101. Even with gears the Cannondale proved to be far worse than the rusty beach cruiser. The uncomfortable seat, the low handle bars, high center of gravity was sketchy at best, but at least that working brake was on my right hand. Anyway through a combination of biking, walking, and getting a lot of rides from my favorite neighbors Dawn, and Kirk, I didn't miss a single day of surf due to being without a vehicle. I was starting to think hey this is pretty cool not having a car. Enviormentally sound, and saving money too. I would get an occasional ride to town from my kids, or my mom, stock up on food, beer, wine, charcoal, etc...  I even had my friend Kim bring me down a crapload of firewood from the Goodland so I was set. Where did I have to go anyway? Nowhere. Nowhere fast. Well I did have to surf, and that was about five mile round trip and my ass was killing me on the Cannondale. Not to mention the ride home after a three hour session. That's when I started thinking electric bike.

These days when I start thinking about buying something expensive, it's a painful, mentally exhausting trip through the web searching for honest reviews, best prices, and hopefully, eventually, coming to the right decision. Honestly I wish I had a car to get out there and test some of the bikes I had looked into, but I didn't.. Haha. Besides that the e-bike field is complex, and fast changing, and mostly very expensive. I would say 2k is more like the average for something decent. There was a Prodeco Dealer in Santa Barbara but he was out of stock so I didn't feel too bad when I pulled the trigger and bought it direct from Prodeco Technologies. Everyone seemed to be waiting on the new 2012 Phantom Model with 500 Watts of power but that would have end up running another $400-$500. Not to mention no one could accurately say when they would be able to get me one. So I opted for the 2011 G-Storm with 250 Watt Motor. Total cost. $900.00 delivered to my door with free shipping.

250 Watt Hub.. Is that enough?

First off, I did do a lot of research, and the main consensus on the Prodeco bikes was very high quality, assembled in the US, and not in stock! Here is a link if you want exact details on specs and components. For the purpose of my review I'll stick to why it works for me.  I haven't really been involved in bikes since the aforementioned late eighties Cannondale,  so I don't know much about the latest components anyway. However what I do know is I was immediatly pleased upon opening the box. This bike does not disappoint, sealed cartridge bearings (think rusty crusier), disc brakes (it needs them), quick disconnect motor (for changing flats), and a pretty damn comfy seat (a must) Still the most important considerations for me were, price, weight, and compatibility, with the Carver Surf Rack, a company out of Hawaii. The G Storm well, it also looks pretty sleek, folds in half, and is ready to ride almost immediately out of the box.

The weight was a big issue for me and while it is not really that light at 46lbs, it is light enough for me to wrangle down the rocks to the beach, enabling me to access the complex tunnel system here in La Conchita. This tunnel system is extremely important if there is too much traffic, and is in fact, the only way to access town if you can't cross the highway safely. I couldn't imagine trying to haul one of those sleek eBikes that look like scooters down those rocks. Compatibility with the Carver Surf Rack was huge, and by the way those racks are hands down the best available period. Freeway tested! The racks are lightweight, low profile, and easy to remove if you need to. Way better than the old upright style that stick up out the back and flop around in the wind. Believe me I was tired of boards flopping around on Highway 101. I didn't think much about the folding aspect but have already used it a few times. It rules. I also like the LI ION LifePo4 Battery which is good for about 2000 charges vs only 500 for the stander Lithium Type. The two year warranty is not bad either.

Maiden Voyage.. Butterfly Beach.

They say the range is 15 to 25 miles on a charge but that figure definitely varies depending on use. I'm not sure it would last 15 miles without peddle assist, but trust me, the peddling is a piece-o-cake. My first test ride was going to be La Conchita to Santa Barbara for a special showing of Minds in the Water at the Film Festival. I had no idea if the bike, or myself would make it, but my friend, aka ex-wife had promised me a ride back, a free ticket, and I really wanted to see this movie. So that was it. I filled the water bottle and took off at 9:15am arriving at Butterfly Beach in under forty-five minutes, averaging about 15 MPH. Pretty stoked. 15 MPH might not seem that fast, it might not even be an accurate figure sense I have nothing to track it, but I can assure you it goes way faster than I'm used to going, and fast enough to make some serious road bikers wonder what you're doing behind them. I continued on to Surf 'n Wear's Beach House to check availability on the Carver surf rack I wanted, and stoked.. They had it, with discount too. Thanks Jeremy. Overall I went about 20 miles that day, still had plenty of juice left in the battery, and hadn't even broken a sweat.

Shut up. Hows it ride? Well.. I would describe it being similar to a Prius. The electricity gets you going then the motor kicks in. You being the the motor. It takes off effortlessly and gets up to top speed quickly, you can't help but peddle along. In town, parking lots etc, I just sort of putt around in e-mode, or a combination of the two, but once you're moving at top speed it's easy to contribute your own power.  It's pretty much like coasting. No sweat. Literally. I even beat my ex-wife to the theater. When she did get there, I folded it up, and fit it nicely into her bio-diesel powered Jetta wagon. Yep, I have come along way since flicking cigarettes out of my Toyota Landcrusier environmentally speaking. Hows it working for surfing? Like I said the rack works perfectly and allows for fin first placement so I don't look like a kook. It's pretty funny to get behind these serious road bikers and actually keep up with them just cruising along in a comfortable upright position, surfboard, backpack, just flying down the rode, fin first, and getting 1200 miles to the gallon.

Keep it green. You'll go farther.

Other notes: The handlebar throttle gage is supposed to show how much charge is left on the battery. Actually what it does is more important. It shows  how much drain you are putting on the battery. i.e. Go full throttle with no peddling even on a full charge and you'll see it drop into the red. But if you put even the slightest effort into peddling you'll will save a lot of drain on the battery. I found the gearing to be just about perfect for the 250 Watt Motor, with the motor topping out and leaving some extra room for speed by peddling harder. Any hills I have hit have been a breeze as well by just shifting down accordingly.  Out of the box I found the Disc Brakes needing a minor adjustment which was easy to do myself. Also the derailer was out alignment by one gear, missing the lowest possible gear. I found this was easy to fuck up on my own and I am now out of alignment on two gears instead of just one, and planning to see bike mechanic soon. Still like I said. It rides like a Prius. Lots of torque off the line and I have never used those two gears even on the steepest of hills.

Warranty...  I went on a strictly pleasure ride south to Ventura a few days ago and hit an especially bumpy, potholed, stretch of the Pacific Coast Bike Route when sudden the battery broke loose at full speed. I thought, oh shit. (the bike is heavy, and while you could make it anywhere under human power, the motor make its easy) So shit, I heard the battery bouncing along the pavement behind me, and didn't know what to expect as far as damage. Turned out the male connection to the battery cracked. Thankfully it fit back into place and I rode home, and have continued to ride it while waiting on the replacement part. So all good.. I would say very satisfied.

Two year warranty.. Yeah!

What to expect... A comfortable bike, that with a little peddling, and no sweat, will have you and a surfboard, moving along at road bike speed in a hurry. Quality components, functional features, and two year warranty.  What not to expect.. Sitting back on the throttle and blazing along at 20MPH (eBike speed limit) without peddling. Blazing up hills at 20MPH even if you do peddle. What I think.. In my limited knowedge I think this is the best of both worlds. If you want a bit of a work out you can get it. If not, lazily peddling along with the electric assist will get you where you want to go without worry. What to watch out for when converting from a driver to a biker. Drivers!!! Plus, try not to forget everything like me.  So far I have forgotten my wallet twice in route to town, and yesterday, jeez. I was all the way to Rincon before I realized I didn't have my wetsuit. After riding back I thought briefly about hopping in the van. (Yes, after two full months without a vehicle I got it back last Thursday) Then thought the better of it. After a surf, I came home and realized I missed the postman and had to ride into town to get my mortgage in the mail on time. I put some serious consideration into driving the van,  but hit the El Camino Real for the third time that day. . ** I'm going to have to talk about the parking/bike path situation another day but let's just say I'm in favor of the new bike lane.

Don't let transportation get in the way of your destination.

Wasting away in La Conchita Ville

Aaron "Arson" Ernst was absolutely killing it!

Let's see.. Picking up where I left off in December. I did manage to hang in there last month with $1.81 to spare.  Unfortunately exactly nine days after I got some cash, the day before new year eve, the van just died.. The only good news was it died right at the bottom of the offramp at Bates Rd. (just north of here)  With a help of couple fisherman I got it parked under the bridge, locked it up, and I went surfing, just like every other day in December. Three hours later it actually started but didn't sound great. I know it's hard to believe but, despite my rugged good looks, and neck beard, I really don't no shit about cars. But it did start, just barely, and I made a run for home. I even caught a lucky break and made the left turn into LC without stopping, limped down SurfSide, and it died in the driveway. Now I love my van, but after a week of denial, anger, bargaining, and depression, I finally accepted I was going to have to tow it in.

Tuesday Afternoon

So for the past month I've haven't had a car. It's sorta, kinda, pretty cool. I am very lucky to be within walking and biking distance to not just one, but two world class surf spots. It even got me think about getting an electric bike after seeing how much money I'm saving not buying gas. Riding your bike to Rincon is one thing, but going all the way into Carp is a bit much, Especially after surfing three hours..  Especially when you have 30 lbs of groceries on your back. (Yeah those beer bottles are not light) Especially if you bought a bottle of wine too. Unfortunately.. I think I'm looking at about 2K to get the van back to life, so the electric bike may have to wait. Well it's one or the other I guess. But I can't get to El Cap on the electric bike which was where I would have been heading last weekend, so yea, van, bike, van... The van is most likely gonna win out here.

Dane..Too bad I missed the first part of this turn...

Last weekend... Biggest swell of the year this far with the Goleta Buoy hitting 10' @ 17 seconds, and yep, I do keep track... probably ocd or something like it.  It was solid, some old guys said eight foot sets. I saw the reef way, way, way  outside Stanley's breaking on the sets.  But I was sick as a dog and had been for a few days. So silver cloud, golden lining, something like that. I decided to break out the camera and went down to shoot some surfing. Turned out to be pretty fun, so I rode my bike down there again yesterday. Here ya go.. Yeah 2012.. No car... Sick as a dog for the biggest swell of the year... Ok, it's not the end of the world, it's Tuesday afternoon in the cove with Dane, Pat, Lakey, Arson, and the crew. Music by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham.. Enjoy the full screen option for maximum viewing pleasure.

LC on Ten Dollars a Week - Two hundred forty-three dollars, and eighty-one cents later...

Good news for the one percent

It's Thursday, December 15, 2011, and I still have about five days to go. I have spent $243.81 since my last confession. Add that to the $77.73 from the first four days, and you'll see I ran out of money and fell into the red about $71.54 ago. Prescriptions, expensive dog food, emergency shower repairs for your daughter, it all adds up. Not to mention the beer and wine. The good news is I managed a 7 day surfing streak for free. Fifteen hours worth. Sure it included paddling the sup from LC to the north and back one day, and yesterday was nothing to write home about but.. I don't know? Can you write about glassy perfectly shaped waist high lefts with no one out? I just did. Well.. It is certainly no reason to stay out of the water especially after being dry three days straight earlier in the week.

Obviously not the same day

The rest of the days were average. (average waves, not spending) But an average wave at that spot just north of here is still pretty dang good. And average waves this winter, are starting to look better than ever. One day I paddled out into head high sets with just a friend and a sup guy out. Normally that sup kook would have pissed me off but something special was happening here. It didn't last long, but the best part of that session was paddling back out after we'd caught the first few waves of the set, and watching 3 or 4 more roll though unridden. Sweet. Won't forget about that for a while. I remember being very nervous sitting out there wondering what was going to go wrong. Instant crowd? More sups? Get hit in the head with my board again? Southwind? Yep, fucking southwind! Seriously, I would have gladly taken another sup... It only lasted for about 40 minutes before the wind turned south but I stayed out another hour knowing that the southwind looks offshore from LC...

99 cents worth of xmas lights

Anyway... I made about  $100 in dog sitting money, so over-budget yes, but still not completely broke, though I had to turn down a chance to see "X" tonight. I guess that is the cost of freedom. Financial freedom. I did manage an excellent surf and birthday lunch with a couple friends (not my birthday, Kims) Saw a movie about the haole royalty of Hawaii, drank plenty of good beer and cheap red wine, food made slowly, saw both daughters, got a free student edition of Photoshop, a handmade coffee mug, and took a trip to the 99 cent store, where I made the mistake buying only 99 cents worth of xmas lights instead of the $1.98 I needed. Also if you live around here you might have noticed, it's been pretty dang cold prompting me to go out and by two pair of polar fleece sweats for a mere $4.31 for the Carpinteria Thrift Store, along with at least one bundle of wood from the bag-less Albertsons.  Only one pair of the sweats worked out so if anyone needs a sweet pair of medium Patagonia sweats hit me up. Two bucks.. Just kidding you can have them.

Blurry pelican sunset with dogs.. No Charge

LC on Ten Dollars a Day - The Weekend

Ahhhh...

Picking up where I left off on day two. "Over budget, no problem, don't need much tomorrow." Well, on day three, it turns out I needed gas. $15.00 worth, and a few more groceries... Umm, ok wine. $10.81 So there ya have it. Three days, $27.90 over budget. I know what you're thinking, there goes the dog sitting safety cushion money, and hey, "How much gas can you buy for $15.00 anyway?" Not much. But it does bring the needle on the fuel gauge out of the red zone about a quarter inch. 4.2 gallons to be exact.  That's roughly 75 miles worth of gas give or take. Probably take. Maybe five or six trips into town if I'm lucky.

Now you're thinking, "That's not too great on the gas mileage is it Don? You pseudo plastic-bag hating eco-warrior kook." Sadly it's not, 15 mpg to 20 mpg tops.¹ However, even if did go down to Longo Toyota in El Monte² and pay cash for a new Prius today, it will take me 23 years to justify the savings.³ I'm not even sure if they designed the Prius to last 23 years, we'll see about that. All I know is the Syncro is going to be 25 years old next year, it's sleeps up to four humans and two dogs, and you can cook a pretty good dinner in it. Plus all pseudo hippy, plastic-bag hating, tree loving people drive Volkswagen Vans, old diesel Mercedes, or Volvo Wagons so I am keeping it.

Local Goods

So I am over budget thus far, but what can you do in LC for $10.00 a day anyway? Obviously nothing, so far it's running closer to $20.00 a day, and I still have a big dog food purchase coming up that will set me back another $38.00. To be clear, I am the 1% of the 10% behind the other 89% that doesn't feed their dog supermarket dog food. But really what can you do? Start the day with Coffee. Good coffee, made with love. My ex showed me the beauty of good coffee, freshly ground, and made slowly using ancient European methods. In my case it's the stove top espresso maker. One cup at a time and share. Sadly I usually I end up with Starbucks or Peets beans, but if you really want some good beans try Local Goods on Orcas Island. Anyway the point is to take your time, and make your coffee slowly, with love.  In fact the whole secret to the $10.00 a day method is to stretch everything out, enjoy every minute no matter how dull, and most importantly, go places where you can't spend money.

The good news is in LC, there's no place to spend your money except the fruit stand, so you're in pretty good shape if you don't leave town. Otherwise the beach or long salt water therapy sessions are good options. If you've ever been to LC, then you might know beach access is pretty funky. It involves either walking across the freeway, dangerous yes, but absolutely legal. I've seen in done, but have yet to try it myself. The only other way is though a drainage tunnel near the middle of town that runs under the freeway. The tunnel is just about four feet high, and six feet wide, and offers great acoustics, but it's not for everyone. More than a few of my guests have taken a pass on going the the beach. (Yes... We are in the middle of getting a real pedestrian underpass, the first thirty feet are already in place, and they expect to start up again in the spring for a possible summer opening. Personally, I think it's coming at a pretty high price, and I am not just taking about money.)

LC Grom Conner..  4' Tunnel.. No Problem

There are lot of ways the local's negotiate the four foot tall tunnel. Low tricycles, skateboards, and other interesting homemade craft. And for some of the mini-groms it's a non-issue. Myself... I use the duck and  run method, the faster I get through the better. That method has served me well the last couple years but recently resulted in a slight concussion and whiplash a few weeks ago when I forgot about the low overhang as you make the transition from the new tunnel, to the old tunnel. Ouch.. More like F#%K! It literally knocked me on my ass. I can still feel the whiplash injuries too. Once you hit the beach, and hopefully not your head, you'll emerge onto two miles of deserted  beach. Hunting for Magic Seaglass, and long walks with your four footed friends,  your lovers, or both are an excellent ways to avoid spending money. The sounds of US 101 seem to disappear as you look out towards 'anyapax,⁴ and limiw,⁵ two of the four channel islands on the horizon. To the north is the Queen of the Coast, to the south, Punta Gorda. Either way you walk it's not likely you'll run into anyone but fisherman this time of year.
.

Shuku

Today  though we have a special trip planned. We're going whale watching at shuku.⁶ It's a peaceful morning, sunny, but a bit chilly in the water, and even colder in the air. The waves are clean with an occasional chest high zipper coming through. It's Sunday, but there's only a half a dozen people enjoying the morning, most whom I know by name.  My friend saw it first and frankly I didn't believe her, I don't think she did either, but sure enough, poofe, there she blows.. Only twenty yards away, beautiful, perfect, and free, but going the wrong direction I think. Or maybe just swimming back to say hi, as my friend said. I've seen whales round  the corner more than a few times but this only the second time I've seen one close up and personal from the water. It was impressive, and of course free of charge.

So yeah. I am running a  little over budget, but had good weekend none the less. A few uncrowded waves, Tiger wins for the first time in two years, and we're having enchilada style baked chicken, with a salad, and a cheap red wine for dinner. A welcome relief from last nights grilled ahi with wasabi butter debacle. Nothing worse than worrying if you ate bad fish before you go to bed.

Weekend Spending... Sheesh. $25.64 cents over budget for the weekend $37.73 over budget after four days.
Gas $15.00
Groceries $ 30.64
Sunny day, fun waves, and whale watching with friends... Priceless.

Welcome to La Conchita

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1 Downhill with the wind.^↩

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2 MSRP: $27,859.00 Tax: $2,716.25 Title and License: $478.12 Total Out the Door: $31,053.37^↩

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3 Based on the above Prius III model with navigation, Driving 10,000 miles per year and averaging 50 mpg with gas set at $3.75 vs 1984 Syncro Transporter Westfalia Full Camper Edition with Subaru 2.2 mid nineties engine, Driving 10,000 miles per year averaging 17 mpg, and gas set at $3.75. Your mileage may vary. Syncro, annual gas bill $2083. Prius wow.. $750. Savings per year. $1333.. Nice. $31,053 (Cost new Prius) divided by $1333(saving per year) equals 23 years. Your math may vary but you still can't make a good cup of coffee in it. If you have to buy a new car I guess the Prius is a eco-friendy choice, or is it?^↩

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4 Chumash word for Anacapa Island, said to mean mirage, ever changing, deception. Also known as Eneepah. True. It really does look like a mirage some days, check it out, it vibrates.^↩

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5 Chumash word for Santa Cruz Island^↩

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6 Chumash Village loacated at the mouth of a creek just north of here.^↩

LC on Ten Dollars a Day - Day Two

Almost stayed on budget for day two. The surf looked pretty small from here, but definitely worth a closer look. So with the dogs loaded in the van I headed out about 7:30. I wish I could trust those two to hang out on the beach and not cause any trouble, but I don't. I also feel pretty guilty if I just leave 'em in the van, and head straight into the water, so I don't. Not much seaglass lately, but there have been an unusually large number of dead loons on the beach, both here, and in La Conchita too.. I don't know what's up with that but I can assure you Riley is not responsible.

An hour later I'm paddling out in some fun waist to chest high waves with light offshores and another refreshingly light crowd. Conditions were near perfect even though the swell dropped. Combine it with yesterday and it could have been all-time especially with the light crowds. Went straight to town today(save gas) My mission.. Pick up two bars of wax from Rincon Designs, and a few groceries from Von's. I always try to get people to buy me wax for my birthday, but that was way back in May so it was time to break down, or continue to slip all over the place with summer wax. Wax is now outrageously priced at $1.75 a bar. Maybe I do need to make that trip down to John's...

Across the street Von's is still killing seals, and birds, and turtles, with their useless plastic bags, that hold only 1 item, so I normally don't shop there. But in an effort to save gas, I put my canvas bag over my head and walked in to pick up a few things. By the way the Carpinteria Albertson's 100% Bagless Program looks like a 100% success to me. One of only two stores to go completely bagless in California on April 27th, 2011. No paper, no plastic, and guess what, the place is as crowded as ever, and most importantly people are bringing their own bags. A lot of them who would have never ever brought their own bags, never ever ever, and now its second nature. The point is we don't need to wait for a law to pass to ban those plastic bags, because there no law stating you have to use them in the first place!!! Waiting for the government to tell you whether you should or shouldn't use plastic bags, seems like a waste of time to me. Those guys are just one disappointment after another ( the government) I'll let you in a little tip too Von's, and all you other seal killing, bird chocking, plastic polluting monsters. It's rumored that Albertson's is saving 60K to 100k a year by getting rid of bags, so take that to your 1% and do the right thing!

Pulled Pork sandwiches on a French Roll for lunch, and Spicy Seafood Pasta, for dinner with a bottle of Firefly Ridge Cab $5.99 at Von's (plastic bag monsters) The finals of the World Cup of Surfing from Sunset Beach were sick with John John Florence winning convincingly and prompting me to put him on my Fantasy Surfer Team for Pipe at the ridiculously low price of 3,000,000.

Day two spending.
Surf Wax - $3.77..Groceries - $10.81.. Total Day 2 - 14.58
Total to Date - $32.09 Yep.. $12.09  Over budget, no problem don't need much tomorrow.

Big Bad Bag Man

LC on Ten Dollars a Day - Day One

Here’s the deal I had an unexpected Van repair in mid November running $300. That along with the cash put aside for the mortgage, bills, etc, left me only $250 till my next check on the 21st. Yep, my checks aren't that big, do the math. There was a time when my car payment alone was $600 a month, but not anymore. So anyway $250.. That’s a little over $10 a day, and maybe, I might pick up a little extra dog sitting money, still it’s not much. Wish I had bought a fishing license earlier in the year. Haha. Trust me, I’m not in the 1%. I am in the 10%, behind the other 89%, so I am usually pretty broke anyway. Not really a big deal, I don't even expect to have to go to Coinstar to cash my change in, but it's good to know I can. No worries, it's the life I've chosen, less money, more surf. Still three weeks will be an extra long stretch. Today.. I just need beer. That’s gonna run me more than $10 so not a great start. To be clear I am in the 1%, of the 10%, in back of the 89%, that only drinks decent beer, and not 40 ounce Malt Liquors or Coors Light.

Thanks to Riley and Wilson I scored some unexpected surf today, and it was pretty fun too. Sure the wind was going everywhere from light offshore, to glassy, to hard south, and every direction in between, but if you stayed out long enough you got some good ones for sure! Not bad considering the rest of so cal had 50mph winds. I guess no one expected it since I never saw more than 6 people in the water and it didn't cost a thing! Except a little gas (4 mile round trip) I should have combined my trip to town with the surf trip so as to save some gas, but I had business in town today and had to go back and get my wallet, check book, etc..(9 mile round trip)

By the time I returned there was a power outage going on, bummer, and that wasn’t restored till sometime after 6:00 (yeah, pretty close ruining my newly purchased food in the freezer) Luckily I keep a huge bag of ice in there and everything looks good. So yeah… No power.. No internet.. And even worse, no live coverage of the Van’s World Cup of Surfing from 8’to 12’ Sunset Beach. So I read the new Surfer cover to and thoroughly enjoyed it. $12 for a year of Surfer is hard to pass up isn’t it? Plus they throw in 12 issues of Surfing to boot, how do they do it? The power outage probably saves a couple bucks for next month so I am thinking.. Maybe they should have one everyday. Force people into reading or taking a nap!

I settled on a twelve pack of Red Hook ESB at $13.99 today for change of pace from my Firestone or Sierra Nevada routine, add some Snack Mix @ $1.00, and some red chili flakes for 79 cents found in the Mexican spice section in a little plastic bag. (That is a sweet deal compared to the bottled ones in the Spice section so you might want to make note if you like spicy seafood pasta as much as I do.) With CRV and tax that comes to $17.51

For dinner I went with a pasta dish cooked tonight cooked under the candlelight. Chicken Cappelini tossed in my own Mexi-Marinara sauce, and garnished with Avocado, Sour Cream and 4 types of cheese.. Wine.. A cheap ass cab from Fresh and Easy in Ventura.

No need to go on vacation with sunrises like this.

Don't get me started on the Cormorants

I know these California Seabirds in the photo above look poised but trust me, the two on the wire are precariously close to falling off, and the one on the pole ain't doin' much better. Periodically I find myself in need of leaving the sanctuary here in La Conchita and the nearby town just north of here in search of some waves in the big city to the south. Sometimes I stay on the 101 and zip on by mostly sub par conditions, and sometimes I get off at Seacliff and hit the old Pacific Coast Highway. If you get off on old PCH yourself be sure to check out the Cormorants of Solimar just north of the Solimar Beach Enclave. They hang out on a telephone pole and wire and out of the 40 different species of Cormorants they seem to be the only ones to do so.

I don't know if you pay much attention to the seabirds around here but my dog Riley does and the Cormorant is one of the most spastic seabirds out of the water I have ever seen. There are small jets that can take off faster than a Cormorant off the beach. In the water they are a different story, sleek, agile and very productive fish hunters for sure. But how these Cormorants of Solimar can balance on that wire, or actually get into flight before they hit the ground is beyond me... Next time you drive by make sure to have a laugh as they weeble, wobble, but don't fall down. Actually there used to be seven of them but only three this morning so maybe...

Yep.. The other four fell off already...

The rare bird. Keep it on the dl..

Tuesday.. Lots of surf this week but funky winds and currents at home so I have been heading up the coast at least three out of the last five days. The rare bird was looking in great form on Wednesday. It also looked a little bit too crowded even though I was dieing to surf there. Keep it on the down low?? How about everyone leave your cell phones at home instead. So.. I drove up a bit further and scored a different kind of bird. Pretty fun and near perfection in terms of surface conditions. 3 people out and they were really spread out. Super fun but not what I drove up for.

Wednesday saw the swell drop but the funky winds continue around home base. Still just enough fun to keep me out there for a couple hours. I thought about heading north again but with the drop in the swell just didn't seem worth it.

Thursday, March 17th. The swell is back up and I make plan to head north without even thinking.. This time crowd was looking good as I arrived. For about an hour it was pretty easy to get waves and I had a quite few nice little cover ups but no ridiculously deep shallow sand sucking barrels that were coming up, as the tide was going down. The place just turned on as the tide started to drop and I saw plenty of reasons to call this the best spot on the coast (If you like really fast hollow long makable barrels) Unfortunately it quickly turned into one of the most crowded days I've seen. Not a single wave, big or small, went unridden.. The Slide Show is about a hour later after I got out. The tide and bottomed out and it seemed a bit smaller. Still a lot of great surfing going on. Check out Brandon Smith switch foot barrel, that was pretty cool. But if you could have seen what my eyes saw during the dropping tide.. Perfection.. Sick.. Music: Rodeo Clowns... GLove, with Jack Johnson..

Friday the swell was down again, but I was hooked so I headed back up the coast again. This time to no crowds but that damn south wind followed me up there. Damn south wind, damn you all to hell. Still wasn't too bad with a 1/2 dozen people in the water. And when the wind switched onshore it even cleaned up a bit had it to ourselves till the Low Tide Crew Arrived.

Saturday.. Back at home and going over the falls at overhead Rincon. I was so used to just bouncing off the bottom and popping right up I forgot what it was like to get dragged under water for 50 yds.. Well it's raining today.. Horrible southeast winds and weather. Still you know that it is probably working somewhere..

Battle of the Saints.. February 26th, 2011

Santa Barbara's own Brawlin' Betties Roller Derby Team kicked off the season in front of a standing room only crowd that included Matt Damon, and the Mayor. Under the threat of snow, and rain the Mission City Brawlin' Betties flat out killed the visiting Santa Cruz Derby Girls by a score of 202 to 40, holding Santa Cruz to only 2 point in the second half. It was a blowout but since it was my first derby I had to keep asking Kim what was going on the whole time anyway. Ok I get it now. Full contact pro flat track roller derby. They are hot, sexy, and can kick your ass. Can't wait for the next bout...

Check out the slide show...

Locals Only aka.. The day surfline missed it..

It's easy to get good shots of the pros with their colored wetsuits, and ridiculous talent. But we do have a lot of locals that rip Rincon day in, and day out. Here's a pro free session from December 8th which I think was the day there were only 25 people out stretching from the cove to the Indicator at 8:00 when I paddled out. I'm pretty sure Surfline had the swell coming in on the 9th. Surprise. Waves were pushing double overhead with some thick barrels through the rivermouth section all morning. I didn't get one this day but there were a lot of rides going to the freeway. This session is from a few hours later. The word got out and it got a little sectiony but still plenty of fun for everyone there..

10.10.10

View from the porch.. I think I'll stay awhile.

10.10.10... Nothing too scary with that. I don't even hear too many people talking about it. In binary code it is the number 42. Sally Fitzgibbions tweeted that this morning so I thought I would toss it in. For me it marks the one year anniversary of moving to La Conchita. LC as it's called by the locals.

Excerpt from the novel.. The Innocents..

The '66 Bonneville eased out of Rincon Park and turned south, Wil nudged on the pedal conjuring up a throaty exhaust. He still had the hots for the car, virtually stolen from a widow during the gas crunch. The Bonnie had style; it went like a white bat. It's also carried a 9'6"longboard in a partition he'd punched through the back seat. To improve it's handling he'd replaced the suspension and steering. Other than that, the car was mint.

Wil rested his arm on the open window, to his left, La Conchita appealed to some inner sense. It was so unexpected: half a mile long, scrunched against the coastal cliffs, a vest pocket community not even on most road maps. North-bound drivers escaping LA for the red tiled splendors of Santa Barbara another 15 minutes up the road rarely caught two blinks of it in the rearview. Which suited him fine.

Like most locals, he dug the closeness of it. People co-existed.. like the mobile homes, beach shacks, stucco houses, redwood decks. Roses grew next to cactus, fuchsias next to Spanish bayonet. And up the street at the north end, bananas, the fruit tree-ripening in bright blue bags. La Conchita itself hadn't grown much, though. Laid out in 1924, it waited for the movies stars and city folk to come, some made it as far as Mussel Shoals. After a while the coast highway brought others: oil workers, smugglers, retirees, surfers, all attracted by cheap lots, and two miles of sloping beach...

Richard Barre pretty much nailed it in his 1995 description of LC. The banana's are unfortunately gone, and there are probably more nurses than smugglers these days though. It was late '94 when I first took a look at a house for sale on Vista del Rincon. Theresa quickly shut that idea down? The first slide happened about 3 months later when I was at the Ski Industries trade show in Vegas. I clearly remember the watching it on the news along side Chuck Barfoot, snowboard pioneer, and long time LC resident. Well..Chuck on is on the front row and so am I so I think we have more to worry about with the global warming and melting polar ice caps.. lol.

It was Jenny, Julia, and my daughter Kalie who brought me to La Conchita a year ago to this day. Well.. Long story short. That didn't quite pan out. So it was Jenny, Julia, who went back to Santa Barbara, leaving th big house, and mortgage, and myself. Thank you. I found Susy and her daughter to rent the uptairs. Problem solved.

Driving home last night on the way back from the Carp just in time to catch the sunset, there was a big ol dolphin show going on. Dolphins stretched from the curve all the way to the middle of town. Jumping, playing, racing, generally flying all over the place, speaking to me once again.. Yes.. I think I will stay awhile..

Bobby.. Some of the biggest LC Beach Break I've seen.

Kim's Sup Part Two or.. More time well spent..

About week later I decided I really didn’t pull a muscle but maybe cracked my rib. That’s what it feels like anyway. Don’t worry… it only hurts when I paddle real hard. So.. Over the weekend I tried to paddle casually into a few over at the left. Pretty small but I could have surfed bigger without much more pain so no worries. Wait. Before I go way off tangent and end up with a third part to this stand up paddle confession story of mine, I have to say one thing. You can’t just tell me you are a shortboarder, or a longboarder, or a supper, or a sponger, a kneeboarder, or a kite boarder or, I just surf when it’s good, or blah, blah, blah. Just surf. One of everything please..Thanks! I still plan on getting on a surf mat and on a kneeboard this winter. If you only have love for your own race, then you only leave space to discriminate.. which only creates hate, which can only make you irate. Except those spongers. Fuck those guys…. Just kidding… and the kiteboarders…. Kidding..

So here’s the story I was trying to tell you about yesterday. It goes like this. Riley was taking me on his morning walk up at Bates. We hooked up with Feta and Lou on the way back. I notice some fins heading in the same direction, at the same time my brother Mike calls and gives me the up to date surf report from Venturah.. Actually he hasn’t arrived in the VTA yet but it’s not happening in Hueneme. Which by the way is the Chumash word for “halfway” or “resting place” Halfway to where? Glad you asked. Halfway between Malibu and Rincon of course. Google it. Sorry. No. .I made that up but it sounds good yes? It is the however the only deep water port between LA and San Francisco. So I headed home waiting to hear something on the surf, and wondering if I should forget about it, and go cut the dolphins off in LC for a photo shoot. Sometimes I wish someone would just tell me what to do and where to go. Kidding.. Surf report came back negative but too late to cut off the dolphins. So now what? I need a new plan.

I decided to grab my Camera , load the SUP, head south, and cut them off for some photos around Hobson’s, then maybe drive a bit further and launch the SUP. Making the left into La Conchita is a piece of cake but heading south is a pain in the ass, at least in the Westy. I try to not let the f-bombs fly as I merge into the southbound traffic. I am sure most of those drivers missed the sign and flashing lights two miles back that said “END FREEWAY - CROSS TRAFFIC AHEAD” I know the dolphins are not too far ahead of me so I start scanning. As soon as I am safely in the slow lane, I look over, and there they are. Heading north! It could be a different group so I keep heading south. Past Hobson’s. Past Crap Reef. Past Pitas. Pass Mondo’s (where I briefly thought about paddling out on Kim’s Sup) Pass Solimar ( where I wish the waves were a little better so I could paddle out on Kim’s Sup without a crowd) Sheesh.. See how quickly this story is getting away from me. Stop!

There are no fins to be seen down this way so I turn around and head north thinking briefly again about paddling out on Kim’s Sup as I pass by Mondos . Stop! I need a new plan. I will rush back to LC and shoot some photos of the northbound group I passed on the way down. As soon as I pulled the u-turn and parked, there they were, about 100 yards north of me.. I briefly thought about running them down. Nevermind ! New plan!!! Forget the photos today go to the cove and cut them off on the SUP. So I did. Finally a plan that I could live with. Not that cove.. the good cove.

No waves and no one in the parking lot. Good. Perfect. I don’t surf the cove much anyway but I don’t really want to be caught with an 11’ SUP on my head. As soon as I hit the beach I saw them. At least two fins about 200 yards south of the cove. Sweet.. I hit the water and the conditions were perfect. Glassy, foggy of course, 10’-20’ visibility in the water, and two fins only 100 yards away. So I paddle on out thinking wow this is great and a bit unnerving at the same time. I have been surfing with these guys for years. I have been on the same wave. I have had them pass by within a few feet. I have had to duck dive right in front of six of them, heading full speed, straight at me. But that was just them passing me by. This time I was going to try to hang out with them for a while. I soon as I got pretty close I stopped and sat down for a while. There were two of them. Big ones with big unique fins but neither that I knew by name. They didn’t seem to be going anywhere or maybe I just stopped them. The three of us all kind of hung around in the same area for quite a while, and it crossed mind that if I fell in, they might ram my already cracked rib. Ouch.. They would get pretty close sometimes.. maybe 10’ -15’ and then they would disappear . Occasionally they would come up to the surface and just stay there. I see that behavior a lot now that I have been watching them. This time I was sure they checking me out. Then they both disappeared. So I headed north to towards the cove to see if they would catch up with me when.. poo’fe.. That is the sound they make when they surface. Kind of a soft poof. I don’t know something like that. Anyway it’s the sound of more fins coming up from the south.

Note to self. It’s way easier to count dolphins from this angle especially with the clear water. Six in this group, and without a doubt I know some of these ones but, not by name. This group appeared a lot less freaky than the two bigger ones. They were on a slow but steady trip up the coast. I let them come up to me and then started to paddle in front of them hoping they would pass me. Nope. So I stopped again and just let them cruise by me. Two up front, the other four bringing up the rear. The water is so clear I can see the bottom, the fish, the eel grass, and a lot of sand if you know what I mean. Super good waves coming is what I mean.

I just kind of fell in line naturally behind these guys and followed them into the cove, on up the point, all the way to indicator. I can’t really explain how cool it was. I was right there with them and they didn’t seem to mind a bit. I could see the four below me so clearly it was like slow motion. They’d surface right in front of me, poo’fe.. And for a brief moment in time I was part of this pod. Pretty cool. They never tried to speed away, change directions, or ram into my ribs. In fact I had to slow down a couple times. Pretty freaking cool. Once I hit Indicator I decided to turn back and leave them alone. I didn’t want to wear out my welcome but was looking forward to another encounter. Plus there was somebody out surfing the left and I didn’t want to be spotted on the sup.. Ha..

I wasn’t even to the rivermouth when two more fins popped up. Took a seat and there was qunt’aw (lighting). Pretty much the first dolphin I named and the first dolphin I have seen and recognized from the water. I would like to think he or she was cruising along with ox’kon (thunder) but ox’kon does not have that distinctive of a fin and I didn’t have a camera. But where there’s lighting there’s usually thunder..

Lighting and Thunder..