Awoke this morning to a bit of chill in the air. You could feel the damp fog rolling through the air and creeping over the dunes. The wind was slight, but enough to make you second guess just suiting up. It was one of those checks where it could go either way. The wind had been blowing steady for about a week and the swell was dropping faster than the wind.

The wind had created some nice lines, but it wasn’t the kind of nice even lines that will get your blood flowing at 7am. It was really low tide with a few surfers scattered about.

It looked really small, with the occasional decent line that would make you optimistic and hoping to see something bigger roll through.

In the end, I chalked it up and left it to the guys that were already out there doing their thing. This morning they can have it cause there’s always tomorrow.

Super Typhoon Rammason is behaving like your typical early season typhoon as it is cruising north pretty quickly. It is huge though and because of that looks like it may kick up some ground swell for Taiwan. With sustained winds of nearly 200k, I’m sure that the majority of Taiwanese and Phillipinos are pleased that it will be keeping its distance. Japan may not be so lucky, but chances are it will weaken quickly. Okinawa and points north look like the place to be today.

If this is any indication of things to come, should be a wild season.

The forecast shows some action may heat up for more than just the East coast by the end of the week. High hero may have some challengers.

Kaohsiung is my favorite city in Taiwan. I lived there for six years, both my sons were born there, and we have many great friends that still live there.

It is the second largest city in Taiwan and the fourth largest port in the world. It is the home of Binlang Boarding, the first core surf shop in the city started by me and my friend Rastafar’Ian’ Sweeney.

Many good times were had in this southern port city that held so many stark contrasts. Giant glass skyscrapers built alongside traditional one story houses.

It was always a laid back city with the mountains to the north and east and the harbor and ocean to the west. You could see whole families on 50cc scooters without helmets and typically the man of the household donning white cotton boxers, tank top and slip on sandals… cigarette dangling from his mouth and perhaps that of his wife’s…and binlang stains around their mouths. At every stop light you would get a collage of spittle that would stain the streets and curbs reddish brown. It got so bad that they banned spitting your binlang on the streets while I lived there.

It became our anthem for lack of better words. Binlang was the symbol of most of what Taiwan was to us. The freedom! It was like the wild west. As a foreigner you pretty much got away with it all.

About 15 minutes by motorcycle or scooter from our house was one of my favorite breaks in the city, directly in front of the Matsu temple. This was the temple dedicated to the sea goddess Matsu that protected the fishermen and sailors from the perils of the Sea.

It was very fitting that we surfed in front of this temple cause it was often a perilous adventure surfing in the city. Dirty water, rebar and concrete pilings under the waves, jettys, fish hooks, and god knows what other kinds of waste. It could get pretty gnarly. You had to pucker up and go for it some days cause it was right in the city and sometimes just too good to pass up.

Most of the year the ocean was dead calm, but during Typhoon season the beaches on the Chijin Island, which served as a natural breakwater for the harbor, would come alive. In the photo above you can see one of the locals getting his morning dip. The little barrels didn’t seem to faze him much, which is rare since most Taiwanese don’t swim.

I surfed out there whenever I could since it was unlike most other waves in the area. It was fast, dumpy, hollow and unpredictable. Most of the waves would close out, but it was the luck of the draw. There were a handful of memorable sessions but was only able to share a few with friends cause most of my friends didn’t believe there were waves in Kaohsiung…or thought I was nuts for surfing in the dirty water. ‘It’s not that bad’ I would tell them.

I got Rene to come out for a surf with me and my friend Alan. I think they were the first two guys I surfed with out there. Rene was the most senior ex-pat I knew of and he was a wealth of information on the surf potential of Taiwan. He knew all the ‘harbas’ around the island.

He knew of most every spot in Southern Taiwan and labeled it either the ‘harba’ or the ‘point’.

Here he is cruisin on a fun day at Matsu’s.

There were both lefts and rights on hand most of the time and they were usually really short fast little rides. Occasionally things would come together and they would start to break at the top of the jetty’s and provide for a solid little line. Here is a pulled back view with an empty wave in the back.

It only broke in the summer time for the most part and so it was really nice rocking up for the dawn patrol at about 7am or so, already about 85 degrees, 80% humidity and no wind and an ocean all to yourself. Here is a shot of Aussie Al ‘laughin’ as he would say.

Kaohsiung will always have a special place in my heart as it is a perfect blend of Taiwanese sophistication and laid back tradition. It is a perfect base to explore the island and still make a decent living. It is definitely one of the most polluted cities in all of South East Asia, but the people are working hard to clean it up and make it a premier destination. With that, the hope of cleaning up the beaches around the city, that hold so much potential.

This is one of the few photos I have of me having fun out there. It was alway a good time and always left with a big smile and sand in every orifice.

The 2008 Surftech Jay Moriarty Memorial Paddleboard Race

On June 21^st, 2008, Surftech will hold their annual Jay Moriarty Memorial Paddleboard Race presented by QuikSilverEdition. Held in Santa Cruz, Ca. the race course offers prone and standup paddlers alike a rigorous 12 mile paddle straight into the heart of the Monterey Bay. In conjunction with the men’s event, ROXY returns to present the Roxy Women’s Paddleboard Challenge held simultaneously on the same 12 mile course. Known locally as “the Jay Race”, what started as a core local tribute to one of Santa Cruz’s most legendary watermen has become an internationally recognized event that draws top prone paddlers and standup paddlers from areas as far away as Florida, Hawaii & Australia. Requiring a combination of paddle skill and ocean knowledge, Santa Cruz’s notorious open ocean offers an exhilarating course that for the previous 4 years has been dominated by legendary paddler Gary Fortune of Southern California. While Gary will return to defend his title, this year’s event is expected to draw the largest turnout ever, with an array of world class competitors looking to take away his title. In anticipation of the turnout, the 2008 Jay Race is offering a prize purse for top prone paddle finishers in both the men’s and women’s event. Additionally The 2 top Overall men’s & women’s finishers and the top 2 men’s & women’s finishers from Northern California will earn free entries into the QuikSilverEdition Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard Race to be held in Hawaii on July 27th

For the recreational paddler, there is a lot more to the event than just the full course, The Jay race is known as a great event for paddlers of all levels and ages. In addition to the 12 mile course, for 2008 there are different short courses set up for recreational paddlers, broken up in a range of age groups. From ¼ mile sprints for kids to respectable 2 mile paddles for adults, The Jay Race offers a great opportunity to celebrate a shared appreciation for paddling at all levels.

For more information about the 2008 Surftech Jay Moriarty Memorial Paddleboard Race and how to signup check out the event site at www.surftech.com

I received my copy of ‘All for a Few Perfect Waves’ recently and am looking forward to diving into it.

Here is an entertaining clip by the author David Rensin.

Mike was like a stone; an attractive, magnetic, powerful stone. A stone that was vaguely translucent; that you could see into for a few inches and then it went milky and inscrutable. And around the stone all the little iron filings gathered, people who did not see anything in the stone, but could not resist it. When the stone moved, they rearranged themselves, shifted positions, made an intricate complex maneuver to get closer to the stone.

-Eugene Burdick, The Ninth Wave

So I’m just a little behind on things. Lots going on these days and with the spring time onshores in full effect the sessions that are squeezed in are becoming more and more precious.

This past weekend was crap up here. Should have made the trek to more protected locales. The weekend before, on the other hand, was blessed with some really clean and fun conditions.

I awoke early on Saturday and did the regular surf check with coffee in hand. It looked really fun as I stood up on the dunes watching the early birds get some decent rides.

I took my time getting out in the water as it was perfectly calm and so figured I would go at an equally mellow pace.

When I did get in the water it was pretty fun for about twenty minutes. Nice lines, but quickly became pretty inconsistent.

I decided to go back to the house and get a longboard and/or recruit one of my sons to help with the fun factor.

When I got back to the house my oldest was rearing to go and so we grabbed a bigger board and headed out.

Later that morning he rode his first wave solo. It was pretty cool.

I don’t know who was more stoked. We stayed out together for about five hours surfing and playing in the tide pools that formed with the low tide.

Sunday a couple buddies joined me for the early and to our surprise were greeted with head high to slightly overhead hollow little peaks. With the conditions just right we had a ball with pretty much all the surfers here in the city and then some.

Topped it off with a trip to Mollusk to drool over some of the new boards and then off to enjoy the rest of the afternoon in the sun.

I’m hoping for a replay in the next couple days when we get a break from the wind, but right now its stiff onshore and not much to get excited about.

The surf community has lost one of its great pioneers this month with the passing of Woody Brown. At 96 years young, he lived a very rich life leaving behind 10 grand children and 19 great grand children. He will be remembered as one of the first big wave surfers and innovators in both sailing and flight. His enthusiasm embodied everything beautiful about life and his legendary stories of surviving massive Waimea when his buddy Dickie wasn’t as lucky will be forever branded in my memory.

His interview in Liquid Stage was what first got me excited to learn more about the life and times of this interesting man. The second you heard him speak your spirits were instantly uplifted to his level. The film is a documentary featuring many legends like Greg Noll, Rabbit Kekai and Rell Sunn, but Woody’s stories are one of the highlights for me.

For more information on the life of Woody Brown:

SurfersVillage.com

LegendarySurfers.com

Come ride the waves, the surf is high, and hear the song the surfers cry. Slide out on the shoulder and finish the ride, Your heart’s on fire, your soul’s filled with pride. Taste the salt, the stinging spray. Know the price a surfer must pay.
– Woody Brown

On my only surf surfari in the U.K., my brother and I traveled 3 hours to chase a swell that was forecasted to be pretty decent. We meandered through country roads until we came upon a town on the North Sea and were met with this.

Supposedly missed the swell by a few hours. Our friend in Amsterdam sent us photos of it that same day and it was looking well overhead. We ended up with a few pints and a smile anyway.

The islands nestled off in the North Atlantic have always had a special allure to me. I spent my first year of life in Scotland and Ireland and then again returned to Ireland when I was 12 for a brief visit. My dad always glowed when he spoke of the people and how they were the kindest people you would ever find. He commented on their rosy cheeks and said you could see the warmth in their eyes.

Somewhere locked in my early consciousness there is the romance of rolling green hills, rocky coasts, fresh air, and the sweet taste of Guinness on my gums. Helped me out a lot when I was teething.

This curiosity was stoked further when my brother and sister moved to London several years ago and I began meeting surfers from the U.K. and Ireland and hearing about the adventures of searching for waves in these cold locales. Hearing of surf trips to the Hebrides and seeing photos of some of the big swells to hit Ireland, Scotland, and Cornwall have certainly piqued my interest in recent years.

One of these places has been brought to my attention recently by a friend that I met while living in Taiwan. We would travel down the coast together and score waves wherever we could. He recently went home to catch up with family and a few waves in a place he calls home. Somewhere near the North Cornwall/North Devon border is where you will find a rugged stretch of coastline that is home to a few rugged waveriders.

You can easily spend years surfing your familiar breaks and missing out on the sense of adventure that comes with the unknown.

The anticipation of the incoming weather, the numerous translations that can arise from the charts, the tides being a major factor…especially in this part of the world all amount to a feeling of the unexpected. In this chart it is pretty clear that it will be going off just about everywhere in the region…but you know what I mean.

You could travel for hours, driving down treacherous roads, hiking across fields, and doing anything you need to do to get a slice of surf paradise for just you and your best mates.

It may require a bit of ingenuity and luck, but with the right information you will be off to a good start.

As my friend and one of the locals, Mike Heard, has put it to me, ‘it’s a very remote, rugged place that can change in seconds due to the never ending stream of weather systems that roll in off the Atlantic! Not easy to find great waves there.

Huge swings in tides (5-7m) narrow country lanes without sign posts, often cold, but seek and you might just find. And if all else fails, there is always the pubs.’

Found this great clip of the Eisbach on YouSurfTubes.com

I surfed this wave way back when and it was pretty darn tricky…these guys are busting airs, 360’s, alley oops…dang. I was lucky to get one turn off. You can check out my feable attempt here.  I was the guy without a wetsuit in late October…yeah it was cold.