Deja Vu All Over Again

So last year, around early to mid June, I tweaked my back working out.

I did it again.

Worse this time.  Damn it.

We have quite the amazing wind event going on this weekend in Santa Barbara.  I'm sure most of CA is getting blown away by this one.  It's PERFECT wind for paddling.  And the sun is out.  (tears)

So, I'm just resting now.  Drugged up and resting.

And on that note, an amazing picture of Mark Healey I recently saw.

Time to get better.

Growing old ain't for sissies.

Stoke

Took out the 10'6" BARK paddleboard and caught a few waves with the daughter.

Pretty sure she enjoyed it.

Little four shot sequence of a ride.

Sunday LSD

What a long strange trip it was.



LSD means:  Long Slow Distance.

Wanted to get some quality time on the water with a bit of distance.  Didn't want to work too hard and set any speed records.  Just took a slow steady paddle up the coast (round trip from Rincon to Shark's Point -- 17.1 miles at 5.1 miles/hour).  Watched the birds & seals, freaked myself out a couple of times, and had a good quality day with my ipod.

Locals giving me some serious stink eye.
I stress the stink part of that.

I swear there's a pelican in this picture.
(Added bonus:  Seriously crooked horizon.)

Kelp running UP the coast.  Not a good sign for the ride home.

The only issue was the south wind, the south current, and the south swell.  I had hoped that by going up the coast first, the wind might switch and I'd get some runners on the way home.  It never happened.  Doh!

Steve:
"Hey look!  A seagull!  I've never seen a seagull before!"
(Second bonus seriously crooked horizon picture.)

Seagull:
"What?  You never seen a seagull before?  Beat it, kook!"

Check it out:  Sunbathers.

Coming into Rincon point.  Almost home.

It was a wonderful, albeit Rapture free, weekend here in SB.  Caught a surf with the daughter on the sprint board on Saturday (more on that later) & got in a long paddle on Sunday.  My friends survived the OCR race, with Coach Heather being only the second woman EVER to finish the race solo.  Well done, Heather!

Couldn't quite figure out where to put in this photo.  It was too good not to post.

What's that awful smell?
Oh wait.  It's me.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Random Peppering in 2011.

Pepper is a good friend of mine.  Our banter includes sarcasm, hyper criticism, and assorted stupid crap to make the other laugh at inappropriate times.  Here are some random email attachment samplings from 2011:

Addison's new fire alarm.

WTF

BILL POSTERS IS INNOCENT!

The karma gets reincarnated.

I've tried something like this before.
Didn't work.
Turns out insects aren't very good at reading English.
Next time I'll try another language.
What do you think?  French?  German?  Pig Latin?

A classic.

Time and tide can be a bitch.

Pepper's sparring partner.

                         Steve:  So your garage is how long?

                         Joel:  18 feet.

                         Steve:  And your board is how long?

                         Joel:  18 feet, 2 inches.

                         Steve:  Awesome.

There's also some hidden subtlety in this that a select few will get.
Sorry for posting an inside joke.

The start of the OCR, 2011.  
9.5 mile paddle, 26 mile sand and trail run, 38 mile trail bike.
Gnarly.

One can only hope to get a note like this on their car.

This is Death Wish, part one.  I'm in the second lane.
A "Smart Car" going 80 on the freeway passes me in the third lane.
Unfortunately for him he was going slower than he wanted to in lane three.
He had to go around me when I passed him.
He switched to the fast lane to go even faster.

And this is Death Wish part two.
This is when he passed me in the fast lane.
On the 405.
At 9 p.m.
Going about 90.

Matt Walls, King of the South Bay Donkeys, a paddleboarders' club.
Coming in from surfing at this year's Bare Back Classic.
In January.
The water was about 53 degrees.

A friend of mine from high school who now lives in SB.
This picture cracked me up -- 100% due to that t-shirt.
In case you're wondering why, please see the caption just above this one.

Um... okay.

That's less than 1/2 of them.

Have a great one, all.

The UNREAL Sunday Downwind Run

This is why we paddle.



An amazing afternoon run from Goleta to Ledbetter w/ John & Jack. Brought the GoPro for fun and got a couple of fun shots.  Unfortunately, the housing had condensation inside so by one quarter of the way through, the pictures got distorted and fogged over.  Here's the best I could pull from them.  [Note: we also had the sun at our back, so my shots are backlit.  C'est la vie.

Prepping at Goleta Beach.

The boards are prepared at Goleta Beach.
Three beautiful BARK 14' paddleboards.

Old Faithful, prepped up and ready to rip!

Jack & John (l-r).

The 1/2 Mile Paddle Out.

John (foreground) and Jack, paddling out.

 Jack, with a nice fog spot in front of him.

Paddling down the coast.

I believe this was at the paddle out.

John, with that same fog spot unfortunately.

Cruising between wind chops.

Pulling ahead.

 Me, on a bump ride sequence.

Dig...

Lean waaaaay back.

Lean left...

Lean back right!

All told, a great run down the coast.

Team BARK Kicks Butt. Period.

Battle of the Paddle in Hawaii.

Now I'm no SUP'er.  But damn if the BARK folks didn't kick some butt yesterday!  Led by shaper Joe Bark and team riders John Becker and "Captain" Morgan Hoesterey, team BARK dominated.

The man:  Joe Bark.

1.  Women's Results:
First Place:  Candice Appleby on her new BARK.
Second & Third:  Jenny Kalmbach & Rachel Bruntsch
Fourth:  Morgan Hoesterey on BARK board!  Right on Captain Morgan!

Candice & her new race board from Joe.

Sparky, Candice, Jenny & the infamous Capt. Morgan.

2.  Team Surftech -- on a BARK of course! -- wins the Beachboy Relay.
-Sam George, John Becker, Joe Bark, & John Griffith

3.  Lots of fun with Team BARK in Hawaii!

Events: BOP Hawaii with the Bark Team - Surf and Paddle from Soul Surf Media on Vimeo.

Video courtesy Chris Aguilar.

4.  Mens Division:
Travis Grant, Danny Ching, Connor Baxter, Slater Trout.  Wow.

5.  An awesome write up on the event:  LINK HERE.

Ummm...

Maybe we should go somewhere else...