> I just wanted to show you want drugs can do to a person, and > their family. It isn't just you, but others that care about you, so I > say the best thing to do, is just choose your friends wisely

Several years ago I met kid and we became good friends. We met on the paintball field. Our weapons of choice; Tippman special and a camoflaged bong. What a thrill it was to have a big choker and then skulk around the woods and creep up behind someone and give them an earful of paint. We went on to win state that year and our friendship grew. Soon enough we found that we were also in the same business and became renowned associates in the 'politics of contraband'.

We pooled our resources and tripled our bounty. Along the way I introduced him to surfing. Helped him buy his first board, wetsuit and pushed him into his first wave which was well overhead. With our economic freedom, we could blow out to the coast for weeks at a time with all the latest gear and surf our brains out.

At night we'd sit at the campfire and I would spin great surf yarns full of sharks, big waves, pirates, lost bales of weed, etc. He would just eat it up. I'd prep him for a new spot that we're gonna hit the next day by telling him the history and reputation of the spot and throw in a crazy name like "Bloody Stump Bay". The story behind it would be like; An Indian fisherman was reeling in the day's catch in a wooden rowboat and outa nowhere a Great White came ascending from the depths and bit off his arms at the elbows. Hence "Bloody Stump Bay". He had to believe me. He had no choice. I was teaching him the sport of kings and not only that we had a deep respect for each other and when it came down to business I was a straight shooter and dependable.

Someone who's never surfed, has all kinds of crazy ideas in their head. I fed off of this. We'd paddle out and I would just watch him the whole time and laugh cause he was white as ghost with fear. Eyes all bugged out. He thought I was even crazier cause I was laughing the whole time. The thing I liked about him the most though; No matter how big the waves were or how scared he was, he's go. He'd do whatever I'd do. After time he put to rest the Great White fears and we had a good laugh about it. But there was always something else to chuckle about. Like him getting worked extensively. I used to call him 'Zone' cause he was always in the impact zone getting worked.

When we tired of Washington, we'd just hop a plane to Mexico and setup the whole party down there. Soon we'd bring a bunch of his underlings into the picture and get them all psyched up about surfing, have them go buy the best gear, tell them the stories, get them almost killed, and then buy all their gear at pennies on the dollar.

There was always more drugs and another laugh to be had. If you couldn't have a laugh, then you'd really have think about walking into a room full of Mexicans with 20K strapped to you and 3-4 weapons pointed at you. Or the amount of time you'd end up doing with handle grips stapled to your ears in prison. We were 'financing the endless summer' way before the movie. And then "Point Break" did come out. We'd invite a bunch of our friends over to our $2000/month delux rental, put a plate of assorted substances on the coffee table and watch them watch in awe as we took down names for our next adventure·

And then it came to an end for reasons I can't go into right here. For me that is. He went on. I received rumours of his 'exploits' from people thruout the years and heard things were turning sour. 2 weeks ago I found out he was dead.

I can't help but think if I hadn't of stopped when I did, I might have been dead with him. Or explaining his death to the police or writing the Sandman Chronicles from prison or something heinous like that. I wish I coulda talked to him before he died. We had such a strong bond that I might of got thru??? Every once in awhile I pine for the daze of no commitments, lots of money and time, and the endless laughs we had surfing and living the life. But then I remember that it ends for everybody·. I don't know any old drug addicts or dealers that surf and stuff. It's better to have a mediocre life with surfing and stuff than to burn quick and die.

Roy Batty said it; "the candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long". We burned with 10 times the intensity that anybody around us did. God be thanked I knew when to quit.

Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: Re: Sex and surfing
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997

OK: 10 Reasons why surfing is better than sex! 1.Nobody expects you to be brilliant straight away... ...It's understood that you get better as you practice. 2.You get nice and wet but not sticky. 3.Your board doesn't have to be 'in the mood' so that you can do it. 4.Your surfboard may dump you, but it can't leave you - because it's tied to your leg. 5.You mean it when you say, "That was beautiful man!" 6.You can be honest about surfing - it is size that counts. I mean, can a three foot swell really beat a six footer? 7.Your surfboard doesn't steal the duvet. 8.You expect to wear rubber when you're surfing, 9.But when you take your wetsuit off it doesn't make yucky noises. 10.You don't have to make breakfast for your surfboard. I lied about 10... 11.Surfing's exciting!... {:^)

From: Nancy Jean Travis
Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: Re: World Surf Day '97 (was: re: Alt.surfing Beach Bash)
Date: Sun, 02 Feb 1997

> > Clarification (I've gotten some email responses about this), > what I describe as "World Surf Day '97" would not entail anyone > actually meeting-up, but rather everyone surfing wherever they > want on the day we decide (all over the world). Then send > someone (me) the report(s), I'll collate them and post the > results!

YAAAAR!! It so happens I was just reading my old 1993 Tide Log/journal, a very good year. Doesn't everybody read old tide books fark!

Soooo April 3rd was out first World Surf Day, 1993. We tried to set it as close to April Fools Day as possible as I recall. Also, my journal notes say we took a non-surfer friend (wind surfer) Dean out for his christening that day and the poor bastard forgot he had no sail to hang on to...elevator dropped an 8 footer and I'll neva forget the look on his face when he hit the pit and realized HE DIDN"T KNOW HOW TO TURN YET! Yeah!

I had dropped in on him (or course) so I got a close up look at it, I couldn't believe he was goin!!! That was before he knew better ;-) Also same journal, same first World Surf Day, we had a contest to see who could get a J out into the lineup dry and there were three successful entries...you can imagine the crew with paper towels and baggies trying to pass this reef around without getting it wet and snuffing it out.....THEN to realize we were bonged, paranoid and the surf was 8 to 10 backs.

Ah 1993, let's definitely repeat that !!!!! April Fools Day or close to Easter will be the time....I volunteer to surf Gnarabup, someone has to go oooooooB-) Fang the Feral ps Hello Mom

Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: SURFING'S ORIGINS_3
Date: Mon, 02 Jun 1997

The 3rd installment of the origins of surfing. The entire article can be found at: http://www.best.com/~malcolm/surf/legends

The Long Voyages, 300.-1350 A.D. A third phase of migration -- what has been termed The Long Voyages -- took place between 300 A.D. and 1000 A.D. This third phase is foremost in the oral traditions of Polynesia -- especially Hawai`i.

The Long Voyages were different than the prior voyages of previous generations of Polynesian and ancestral Polynesians in that they were apparently the results of the spirit of pure adventure, not from pressure exerted from the homeland. Voyages were made from Central Polynesia in organized expeditions under the leadership of ali`i (chiefs), with learned priests as navigators. During this period, they discovered unoccupied islands and also rediscovered islands already occupied by earlier Polynesian settlers. Most times, the voyagers returned to Central Polynesia and not only related their discoveries but gave the directions by which the new lands might be reached.

The Long Voyagers took no women or food plants along on the initial trips. Subsequent voyages, however, featured cultivable food plants, as well as complete families. The coconut, taro, yam, and sweet potato were spread through Polynesia primarily during this period. This third and final trans-Pacific migration began soon after the Polynesians sank their roots into Hiva [Marquesas Islands], beginning around 300 A.D. From the Marquesas, the settlement of Eastern Polynesia followed fairly quickly over the next few hundred years. Expeditions of migration set out from time to time, and in due course came to Easter Island, Tahiti, and the Hawaiian Islands.

Recent archaeological finds suggest that the first canoes reached Hawai`i from Hiva by 400 A.D. According to Hawaiian oral legends recorded by Abraham Fornander in An Account of the Polynesian Race, Its Origin and Migrations, the Hawaiian island chain was first discovered by a Polynesian voyager by the name of Hawai`iloa. His legend and geneology is the most accepted of those credited for discovering Hawai`i, although two others are also mentioned in Polynesian legends; one a Tahitian and the other a Maori. from Aotearoa (New Zealand). Whoever was the first, it was in the later part of this third period of migrations that Tahiti became a base for further expeditions to Hawai`i, the Cook Islands, and New Zealand,. By about 800 A.D., all the habitable land in the Eastern Pacific had been found and occupied.

Some of these lands were extremely small and remote. By this time elsewhere on the planet, the only other significant seagoing explorations had been made by Irish travelers reaching Iceland and Vikings discovering the Faroe Islands between Norway and Iceland. The harshness of the North Sea aside, these nautical discoveries are relatively modest when compared to the Polynesian migrations that spanned the vast Pacific Ocean. Raiatea and Tahiti in the Society Islands formed the center of the diffusion of the later period.

The ancient name of Raiatea was Hawaiki, so it's logical that this area be the starting point of most of the Long Voyages. Following this last migration period, one other significant discovery was made by the Polynesian voyager Kupe, who sailed from Hawai`i for Hawaiki, but discovered the "Land of High Mists," instead. Subsequently named Aotearoa (the long white cloud), this land is better known today as New Zealand. From a number of genealogies, Kupe's discovery of New Zealand has been placed at about the period 950 A.D.

One famous Maori song of welcome illustrates the importance of canoes to the people of the Pacific: Toia mai, te waka! Draw hither, the canoe! Kumea mai, te waka! Haul hither, the canoe! Ki te urunga, te waka! To its pillow, the canoe! Ki te moenga, te waka! To its bed, the canoe! Ki te takotoranga i takoto ai te waka. To the resting place where shall rest, the canoe. Haere mai, haere mai. Welcome, twice welcome.

As noted anthropologist Kenneth P. Emory so rightly put it, Polynesians traversed the Pacific ocean "at a time when the English were being Christianized and introduced to civilization." It was a collective feat "that properly should rank among the great achievements of human history, and one that must have been flooded with human drama."

By 1000 A.D., the period of the last of The Long Voyages, the Viking Leif Erikson sailed from Scandinavia to North America and gun powder was invented in China. Emory put it another way: "At a time when our European ancestors knew little more than the world about the sheltered Mediterranean, our Polynesian ancestors were navigating the greatest of the oceans. And while Columbus and the European navigators of a much later date launched out with fear and trembling into the unknown, these earlier Polynesian navigators knew where they were going and how they were going to get there." --------------------------

Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: Re: Severn bore record goes again
Date: 31 Aug 1996

> >From yesterday's Times: > >"A man aged 50 has retaken the record for surfing the Severn bore. >Dave Lawson, of Gloucester, surfed up river on the morning tide >yesterday for 5.7 miles, a fifth of a mile longer than new record >set by a friend, Steve King, earlier this year." > >Nice to see the youngsters still ripping it up. > >Nick > I'd like to know how long his board was?

From: dp025@seqeb.gov.au (D.Pritchard...Bear)
Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: Re: Severn bore record goes again
Date: 2 Sep 1996

. > I rode the Severn Bore twice in the early 70's for a distance of 4 >miles. > I think it was about 4 ft. > The wave was green when I caught it, and then softly broke and >reformed several times. As I approached Maisemore weir the wave must have >felt bottom because it "dumped" hard. >>> Where does it begin? >

I can't remember Mick-the-Welsh-kayaker!!? So I assume the long ride was in a kayak. When I went there, we used to check (I forget where) a spot where a _lot_ of kayakers would often catch it together (I saw about 40 of em one time, probably a club(s) from somewhere) At this spot the waves would only be about 1-2' of broken white (white!!????on the Severn...ok brown) water. We used to park at a couple of places, one near an old church. Usually there was at least one guy who volunteered to drop everyone, sometimes at different spots and then cruise around picking everyone up after their ride (or miss, quite often). The best spots are where the wave either builds up (thru centrifugal force) on the river bank where there is a bend or curve in the river, or, where there is a mudbank in the center and a channel either side, so it looks like a peak. The biggest I've seen a walled-up portion of bore was when it rounded a bend and a guy name of Mike Conlan was on it on a 6' Atlantic board...he carved a bottom turn and smacked off the lip..the only time (in quite a few visits) I ever saw someone ride it just like an ocean wave- most people ride it on long boards in a very conservative way (like it was the last waves they were ever gonna see :-) )

At this point it had about a 6' face. Two other friends of mine had been on it with him, but lost it when it slid across toward the bend. This was back in about 72 I think. Gold Coast resident (and ex-Welshman) Ron Williams has video'd the thing a few times, the last being when he was over there late last/early this year. I haven't seen this yet ,but probably will when I see him next. It's good to see one of us old bastards has the current record. Did he run over any dead and bloated sheep I wonder :-) Bear

From: "Bonzer" Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: Re: surfing at night
Date: 18 Sep 1996

Anybody else have experience surfing at night? Surfing at night is pretty awesome under the right conditions. Senses a little screwed up due to the shadows, eyes trying to adjust to the differences in reflection of lights from the shore, roads, moon, whatever. Unable to fully see the wave, you ride almost totally by "feel". It's great.

I have surfed at night on several occassions. At one reef break, a homeowner sometimes turns on the powerful flood lights so they have a good view of the surf. It is easy to see the lines coming, but when you whirl to take off, you are blinded by a million little particles of light, not unlike the spray of offshore winds, without the feeling of water in your face. What a rush as your eyes try to adjust during the drop. Another place is a pier that has lights along the side. Perfect for a warm moonlit night. Drop into little black barrels you can't see out of, save for gyrating reflections on the rippled face. When you get pounded, you have to guess which way is up. There is nothing like it. See you out there, Bonzer --- http://sd.znet.com/~dew ------- the best surfer is the one having the most fun --------

From: surfotter@aol.com (Surfotter)
Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: Re: surfing at night
Date: 30 Sep 1996

I used to surf frequently on full-moon nights. Now that I live 'way up north, I don't do it any more -- too spooky, too cold, and too many large, toothy fish up here! But those summer nights at Trestles and Black's were pretty neat, a lot of years ago. Last time I moonsurfed was in, oh, maybe '85. I hiked in to Trestles at about midnight, and found at least a dozen people in the water. (That's better than the hundred or so there would have been in daylight.) I had a good time, but I could not help but remembering when Trestles was still on the marine base.

In those days we had to sneak in through Cypress Shores, the gated community just north of the base boundary. There was too much chance of getting caught by marine patrols if we went in on the road. I remember more than one night out there, riding perfect 6-foot Lowers while the Marine jeeps patrolled up and down the sand. They never knew we were there. And Black's... In years of moonsurfing there, I never saw another soul. I don't suppose that's the case any more. Surfotter, Humboldt County, California

From: Robert Ireland
Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: Re: surfing at night
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996

> Anybody else have experience surfing at night?

Last November a friend came over and said that he wanted to take a cruise over to the coast, and if I wanted to bring my board and stuff and go with him, then I was welcomed to. Well, I looked at the clock and it was already close to 5 p.m. but I was jjonesing to surf so I went. It takes about an hour to get to the coast from where I live, and by the time we had gotten over there, it was close to dark and pretty foggy.

I checked my home break and could barely see the waves from the bluff. Not to let the fog ruin my chances of getting wet, I had my friend cruise me down to Casper Cove. Once we reached the cove, it was already dark but I walked down to check the surf and noticed a surfer coming in and six others down the beach huddled around a camp fire so I ran back, suited up and paddled out. I was nervous at first because I had never been night surfing before, but at the same time I was purely stoked! The waves weren't that big, maybe two to three feet and it took me a few minutes to familiarize myself with feeling waves out instead of being able to see them. I probably only caught four waves, and managed only one good ride. I came in some time later and had never been soo stoked in my life.

I agree with you Robert, there is a certain spookiness that can't really be described, but there's also a feeling you get...call it a pure stoke because to me that best describes it. Anyone can surf in the daytime, because we can see the waves and stuff like that, but at night, you rely on your senses mostly. It's kind of spiritual in a way. I definitely want to go night surfing again, but this time maybe I'll catch it good when the moon will be out and really bright. ~Da Rat (life's short, surf hard!)~

From: kma@netcom.com (Kevin)
Subject: Re: surfing at night Squeak6081

: Night surfing rules. yes. i used to surf the southside of the Seal Beach pier from 1am-4am just about every day for about a year. because i couldn't see how hairy some of the drops were and because no one was around to laugh if i crashed and burned, i was a braver and took more risks than daytime surfing. i live in NorCal now so no lit piers with waves, real sharkey. i'm not about to go out there alone in the middle of the night!

Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: Re: surfing at night
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996

> > Night surfing rules. > > I have a good paying job that keeps me at work when the waves are up > during the day. So after work I speed to my favorite break and get there > about 6:45pm and surf until 9:30-10:00pm > The majority of my recent surfing experience is night surfing, my verdict: > I LOVE it. Especially as the sun goes down and the sunset-set comes in. > Usually a nice set from the air cooling off I think. > No waits, no spongers, no kooks! > It is kind of spiritual, you go more by feel than look. You also get > really good at reading waves, and really quick at turning around to catch > them. > I love day surfing, but have grown fond of the "soul surfing" feel of > being in uncrowded waves with a couple of friends. > He'e nalu no ka oi ---Squeak

Nothing quite like a little night surfing for an extra shot of adrenaline. I always have liked to stay out until dark. The crowd thins, and eventually you are left alone with the ocean. I become more aware of all the creatures I am sharing the ocean and begin to pay attention to every ripple or splash. I enjoy the heightened awareness one immediately develops when deprived of most visual distractions.

My favorite memory of night surfing was one evening out at Pinballs, inside Waimea, with my little bro. It was a mellow day, maybe about three feet Hawaiian. It started to get a little bigger as it got dark. I didn't want to go in and so the two of us stayed out. It was getting very difficult to see, but not wanting to leave my bro out alone in the dark I kept paddling back out waiting for him to get a wave and go in. He got a wave as I was paddling back out and I was on my own. As I got back to what I thought was the lineup I saw a set feathering outside. Thinking I could make it over the top I tried to paddle up the face. No such luck. Backwards over the falls. The lip took me straight to the bottom and I found myself at the bottom of Waimea Bay, hugging a boulder, alone and in the dark.

It was an interesting moment there at the bottom reflecting on where I was and what a rush it was to be there. Paddled in after that but during that moment of reflection, while hugging a boulder as the wave dissipated around me, I felt very alone, but very stoked. A pleasant interlude. Jock Sutherland surfing real Waimea alone during a full moon is the all time night surfing story I have heard. It was mentioned in an article about Jock in a Surfer"s Journal within the last couple of years. I can dig out the exact issue if you missed it. Waves for everybody. Stay tubed. kevin

From: ocean@arrakis.es (Ken)
Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: Re: surfing at night
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996

Many years ago, i was camping out at the jetties in Cape Canaveral with some friends and after drinking a few beers a few of us decided to grab our boards and hit the surf. it was an awsome experience hitting the dark water and paddling into black space. there was so much phosphoescent material in the water that after a while you could make out the waves by the millions of little lights which started to filcker just before the peaks began to break; the waves were small and fun and none of us had any problems with sharks, even though for those of you familiar with the area, it's known as the "shark pit", just lucky i suppose... a surreal experience that i shall never forget. i am still surfing, but not at night since in these waters the tides and currents are incredibly strong (water is sort of chilly too!)

From: the Sandman
Newsgroups: alt.surfing

> (SurffOhio) writes: > >From hells heart I stab at thee. Sandman, I seek thee out, to all > corners of the earth. You have been my persecution, and to my last gasp > I will find thee. Who will raise their grog to the finding of this > evil entity? Hear yee, I nail this gold dubloon to the mast. Yee who > finds this wretched beast, The Sandman, will have it. > >Surff

Aarrghh maty, ye have persued me round Good Hope. Round the Horn and round the Norway Maelstrom and round ye perditions flames and thou still burns with lust fer me hide. Aye, aye! I roam the great digital sea at will, and slumber where I may! Know ye that I cannot be harpooned? Knowest not I took poor Ahab to the icy depths for his last voyage? Ye seek what ye cannot find. A great white whale with wrinkled brow and crooked jaw. Aye, aye, it lives!!!