Doc III photo spread

Okay, so there was a liberal interpretation of the picture of the paint job I showed them... Granted, I wasn't insistent on an exact copy of Clayfin's color design... so I wasn't too surprised by what I got. Here's Doc III, please be gentle:




I called up Little Miss N as soon as I got the board and left the message, "It's ugly. I LOVE it!"

I took it for a spin on Sunday. Not the greatest conditions to be taking out a new board, so I don't have anything to say about how it performs. But I think I'm going to be tinkering with the fins to get that looseness I loved so much with the old board.

Doc III

I just got a message that my board's ready! I'm going to pick it up this weekend.

Late great

The tide was too high in the morning on Sunday and I heard I'd missed a decent noon session from Saturday because I was busy doing long-neglected household chores. So I waited. I hit the Farmer's Market and Peet's Coffee with my make-up artist surfer friend and headed into the water around 11am... the tide still not looking much lower than at 9am. But we suited up and I burped coffee burps in the water. VERY uncomfortable.

I had few memorable rides, but one sticks out in my memory because there's nothing like panic to force a good kick-out. When that tide is high and that shore pound looms in a fraction of a second, you gotta love having the instinct to kick-out before you think about it. My friend Ms. Zen heard me cackle in triumph as I safely landed on my board and started paddling back out.

Noon came and my meter was up, but on my way out Sir Richard was headed in and I decided it was getting good enough to put in another dollar and chat with him in the water. I'm really glad I did... my last wave... around 1pm probably the latest I've EVER surfed a "morning session"... was a backside left I was surprised to find had a shoulder. I thought it was going to slip out from under me which a lot of the mushbergers that day did even when I ran forward to the nose. Surprisingly, the wave held up, I backed off to the tail and turned and was able to come back up and back down the wave. I kept doing that all the way until I felt my fin dig into the sand. Oops!

Bonus that the Boy was there to meet me onshore. He was done with his bike ride and I excitedly said, "Did you see that?!" A good wave is always better when someone else sees you.

It was a good wave. One that I relived on Monday morning when I looked out the window to see rain, also on Monday night when I realized I'd have to go to work on Tuesday.

Doc III

I visited the Metzler shop today and put in an order for a performance 9'0" with a paint job inspired by Clayfin. I'm getting the last Clark blank at their shop.

Hopefully I'll meet Doc III in about three weeks!

Docs II and I below. You'll see the bump in the tail which I think is the magic of this board:





Note the old patch job on the deck of Doc II when I buckled it a year ago. I'm going to try to treat my new board a little better and stay away from overhead close-out beach breaks at low tide.

Gaze and admire the 80s neon color and art deco fade on Doc I. I bought it used from the Board Gallery in Venice. My first board. Glassed on thruster 8'6". Note the broken leash that broke with the board.

Sh*t

Raw Sewage Spill Closes Beaches
By Angie Green
Times Staff Writer

11:18 AM PST, February 7, 2007

Portions of Will Rogers, Venice and Dockweiler beaches remained closed today after sanitation officials were notified of a raw sewage spill Tuesday afternoon.

Portions of the beaches will be closed until at least Thursday afternoon, said Jonathan E. Fielding, L.A. County public health director and health officer. County health officials warned users to avoid contact with ocean water.

"We always want to err on the side of caution," Fielding said.

Health officials are testing water quality for bacteria levels. Drinking water should not affected by the spill; the spilled sewage is going into storm drains and creeks, Fielding said.

According to officials, Will Rogers Beach is closed for about 100 yards on both sides of where Santa Monica Canyon Creek discharges into the ocean. Venice Beach is closed from the Marina del Rey channel entrance to the ocean to one quarter of a mile north of the channel. Dockweiler Beach is closed from Ballona Creek to one-quarter-mile south of Ballona Creek.

The Los Angeles city Sanitation Department responded to the Will Rogers Beach discharge on Tuesday at 12:03 p.m. and completed the cleanup at 12:40 p.m.

Culver City Public Works Department responded to discharges leading to Ballona Creek and Venice and Dockweiler beaches at 3 p.m. and completed the cleanup at 4 p.m., Fielding said in a statement.

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angie.green@latimes.com

Chicago Donkey

Though the opening kickoff return touchdown from the Bears was exciting, I knew before the endzone dance was done that my Bears were going to lose this game.

Surfing, though, was fun both Saturday and Sunday. Hello, Sis!

Going frontside always makes me feel like Laird Hamilton. Grain of salt, please, but what I mean is that going frontside, I feel the power of the bottom turn and carving through my legs and up my body. I feel ten feet tall.

Going backside always makes me feel like Taj Burrows. I improvise and find myself playing on the edge of control. Sometimes, like my first left in three weeks, I end up in a series of Donkey moves. I knew I was donkeying everything on this really nice wave, but every time I tried to correct my style, I OVER-corrected to another donkey position. But it was a really fun wave and I laughed at myself all the way back into the line-up. I was glad SurfSis's Soul Brother #1 wasn't around with his camera. Awareness of your donkey-ness doesn't show up in still photographs!

Then there are other lefts which leave me bewildered that I could have pulled off such a feat... like my last left of the weekend where I seemed to step and turn at the same time to try to get more power and speed out of the wave. I felt everything out of whack and still managed to balance ballerina-like on my pointed left foot while my right foot hovered next to it trying to figure out if the wave could be saved by crossing forward or returning home to the tail. I felt like I was floating above the wave for a long moment before bringing everything under control for a nice little bottom turn.

Laird or Taj, it was a good welcome back to the water after so long a hiatus.