Yesterday evening I cruised over to the Blockade Runner to check out a
special surfcamp outrech program put on by Indojax Surf Camp. It was very
low key and like any surf lesson you see the expected pearling, shaky pop
ups and kooky stances. This group was no different really; energetic kids,
excited but worried parents, and stoke invoking instructors... In fact a
few a few of those kids did much better tha my first surfing attempts. But
there was something different about this surf class. These kids were all
visually impaired and some had other impairments too. Indojax rocks in my
book. During this season they are doing a out a dozen outreach programs at
no cost. These guys give their time, equipment and stoke freely to these
outreach events. I am still tryoing to decide who had the biggest
smiles....the kids, their parents, the indojax guys....or me.
... Message sent via Blackberry...
Laurence C. Bergman
Information Technology Director
City of Wilmington
PO Box 1810
Wilmington, NC 28402-1810
Phone: 910-343-3909
Fax: 910-341-4624
Email: larry.bergman@wilmingtonnc.gov.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Of wax and distant waves
Of Wax and Distant Waves
There is a partially used bar of wax in my car. The cooler weather has kept it from ending up as pool of muck in my drink holder although with the current state of my surf heap, it wouldn’t matter much if it did melt. I find myself sticking the tacky white chunk to my nose and breathing in deep. Hours later I will still be able to feel the wax on my fingers and smell the familiar tropical scent that can put me on a top of a board on a pretty left no matter where I happen to be at that moment.
Speaking of which, for the second time in just a few short weeks I find myself on the road and far away from good surf. A good friend said not to worry, that if the waves were good they would comfort me by saying that it was flat. Thanks, really, I mean it… unfortunately they can’t email me with this little white lie because it turns out to be chest high and clean and they are all too busy collecting memories for their “you should have been here yesterday” stories. From 250 miles inland I watched the reports and updates all day, all week, the surf was shaping up nicely and of course there I was , the closest body of water- a muddy brown lake.
The next trip away was to honor the passing of my grandfather. Interestingly, he didn’t swim. He told me about an incident that had put fear into him as a young boy. I think it was probably the only thing he was afraid of actually. When I was much younger he would join us at the beach and he would walk up and down the ocean’s edge and had an uncanny ability to spot sharks teeth. It was pointed by another good friend that ancient Germanic tribes attributed the ocean as the place our souls come from and return to, so this meshed well with my thoughts of my strong German decent Grandfather. He was good with his hands… fixing things, doing woodwork, tending gardens; Utilitarian and creative all at once. I am just now seeing similar elements in myself with a new appreciation. Maybe I can reign in some of his spirit as I shape a new board. Anyway, if you are having a particularly good day of big, shapely swell…. You are welcome, because I must be out of town.
As simple as wax is, it’s much too under appreciated. Knowing how frustrating it is to need it and not have it, I recall scraping some off my board with a shell to let a fellow surfer get that little bit of grip to get through the day. And who hasn’t tossed a little nub of wax to another in need, all in the name of good surf karma. The variations on technique for applying wax are interesting too. I just have to learn to do that sunburst spiral thing before its time to put on the summer wax. There are a ridiculous number of surf wax brands once you do a little research. There is a surf wax collection online that just boggled my mind. I was taught to use lots of wax and put it all over and I still do this. Putting new wax on a clean board is something I really enjoy, and actually stripping it off is pretty satisfying to me. I run my hand up and down the smooth deck looking for cracks and bumps and remember that this is how that board originally looked. This summer a family friend met us at the beach and brought an old beater thruster from the 80’s…it was all original...including the wax. It was so old and dirty I wondered if it was some secret pine tar recipe. Surf wax is also a convenient excuse to walk into a surf shop. I have bought wax in every shop I know of in the area as the drawer in my utility room demonstrates. Sex Wax, the old standard is still probably my preference as long as it’s the white pineapple variety, but I use others too including one with little color coded flecks so you can tell if it’s warm or cold water wax- pure genius. Drop by your favorite shop, grab some wax for your stick, and maybe an extra bar for your desk at work or school or and you will never be too far from those distant waves.
See you in the water.
Drop me a line at writteninwax@gmail.com with comments, complaints, cool surfing pics, salsa recipes or for no reason at all.
There is a partially used bar of wax in my car. The cooler weather has kept it from ending up as pool of muck in my drink holder although with the current state of my surf heap, it wouldn’t matter much if it did melt. I find myself sticking the tacky white chunk to my nose and breathing in deep. Hours later I will still be able to feel the wax on my fingers and smell the familiar tropical scent that can put me on a top of a board on a pretty left no matter where I happen to be at that moment.
Speaking of which, for the second time in just a few short weeks I find myself on the road and far away from good surf. A good friend said not to worry, that if the waves were good they would comfort me by saying that it was flat. Thanks, really, I mean it… unfortunately they can’t email me with this little white lie because it turns out to be chest high and clean and they are all too busy collecting memories for their “you should have been here yesterday” stories. From 250 miles inland I watched the reports and updates all day, all week, the surf was shaping up nicely and of course there I was , the closest body of water- a muddy brown lake.
The next trip away was to honor the passing of my grandfather. Interestingly, he didn’t swim. He told me about an incident that had put fear into him as a young boy. I think it was probably the only thing he was afraid of actually. When I was much younger he would join us at the beach and he would walk up and down the ocean’s edge and had an uncanny ability to spot sharks teeth. It was pointed by another good friend that ancient Germanic tribes attributed the ocean as the place our souls come from and return to, so this meshed well with my thoughts of my strong German decent Grandfather. He was good with his hands… fixing things, doing woodwork, tending gardens; Utilitarian and creative all at once. I am just now seeing similar elements in myself with a new appreciation. Maybe I can reign in some of his spirit as I shape a new board. Anyway, if you are having a particularly good day of big, shapely swell…. You are welcome, because I must be out of town.
As simple as wax is, it’s much too under appreciated. Knowing how frustrating it is to need it and not have it, I recall scraping some off my board with a shell to let a fellow surfer get that little bit of grip to get through the day. And who hasn’t tossed a little nub of wax to another in need, all in the name of good surf karma. The variations on technique for applying wax are interesting too. I just have to learn to do that sunburst spiral thing before its time to put on the summer wax. There are a ridiculous number of surf wax brands once you do a little research. There is a surf wax collection online that just boggled my mind. I was taught to use lots of wax and put it all over and I still do this. Putting new wax on a clean board is something I really enjoy, and actually stripping it off is pretty satisfying to me. I run my hand up and down the smooth deck looking for cracks and bumps and remember that this is how that board originally looked. This summer a family friend met us at the beach and brought an old beater thruster from the 80’s…it was all original...including the wax. It was so old and dirty I wondered if it was some secret pine tar recipe. Surf wax is also a convenient excuse to walk into a surf shop. I have bought wax in every shop I know of in the area as the drawer in my utility room demonstrates. Sex Wax, the old standard is still probably my preference as long as it’s the white pineapple variety, but I use others too including one with little color coded flecks so you can tell if it’s warm or cold water wax- pure genius. Drop by your favorite shop, grab some wax for your stick, and maybe an extra bar for your desk at work or school or and you will never be too far from those distant waves.
See you in the water.
Drop me a line at writteninwax@gmail.com with comments, complaints, cool surfing pics, salsa recipes or for no reason at all.
A few of the recent Written In Wax articles
The new Local Sessions is out, so get to your favorite surfshop in town and grab a copy. If you can't wait to check out the latest Written In Wax column I copied it, and some of the recent issues pieces too.
Surf Now, Apocalypse later. That’s what the beachside graffiti read somewhere in California. This issue arrives on the heels of recession, pandemic, and worse…a rather lame winter and spring of waves. Sure, there have been a few magic days, and with the right stick you can just about always catch a little ride but those long cold months with short days require more commitment. The solution? Summer. You don’t have to wait ‘til June 21…it begins when the wetsuits start getting shed, boards get stripped and freshly waxed (you do take that old wax off don’t you?), and you stop feeling so lonely at your favorite surf spot.
Some of the best days of the year have nothing to do with the size of waves, but rather the freedom of paddling out in just board shorts for the first time that season and feeing the still cool water with the assurance that the sun will quickly warm you. The “right coast” way of surf life is about changes and cycles, it’s about the promise of waves brought by autumn storms and winter swells and the assurance that summer will come and let us feel the ocean without neoprene prisons surrounding us. Think about this…have you ever had a surf dream where you are wearing a wetsuit?
And…some of the most memorable days may not even be about the waves you surf at all, but the waves that a little grom will catch for the first time at surf camp, or that an autistic child will find some peace in at the Surfers Healing event, or that wave that gets a competitor a heat winning score in one of the various competitions we have in the back yards all along our Local Sessions coastline.
But…yes, some of your favorite days of summer will be about waves, your waves and those of friends around you. It will be about those days were you can sit on the beach with friends or family and jump up and run in for a few waves and then easily coast in and build a sandcastle with the kids. The days are long and its once again possible to get in a dawn patrol surf before work or school, and then catch another session after dinner. If we love surfing, then this is a little of the “why” we love summer in the South.
Some will curse the tourist that push their umbrellas 4 inches into the sand only to have it blow away and spear your favorite board (yes this is fact not fiction), and others will moan about the surf zones and regulations (which you should obey and educate others about if you plan on keeping these rights), and maybe those human obstacles that are in the surf keep you from a great ride now and again. The contrast is part of what makes changes in the seasons something to look forward to; who knows, maybe in a few months you will be wishing for an empty lineup and 48 degree water.
Write your comments and questions on a twenty dollar bill and send it to Local Sessions...or just email me at writteninwax@gmail.com …see you in the water.
Not So Regular
I am not overly conscious about myself, but I am pretty sure that I don’t have a goofy haircut and my wife is good at keeping me dressed so I am not too goofy looking, or at least not when she is around. So why is it that just because some of us surf or skate with a right foot forward we are destined to be called a “goofy foot”? I can vaguely remember someone telling me I was goofy as I was learning to surf, but that it didn’t really matter. Of course they, a regular foot, had no Disneyland stigma attached to their stance. I have since learned that left handers tend to be goofy and right handers tend to be regular, but it’s not always the case. I am actually right handed and goofy footed which must make me even rarer.
Of course I am in good company and you may have heard of these before…Tom Carroll, Joel Tudor, Gerry Lopez, Rob Machado to name a few. I thought my son was going to join me in this elite status, but I am afraid he is going to stand regular like his momma. I guess everyone can’t be blessed with a right foot forward stance. In fact, of the 70 or so male surfers listed in the Fantasy Surfer statistics, only about 25 percent are Goofy footed, and only one of the 19 Women riders, 5%, is a right foot front stance. This has no real value in knowing or having shared with you, but if other sports aficionados can spit out useless trivia about how many footballs an NFL home team has to provide the referee (24), or who reached 1000 strike outs first (Babe Ruth), then you can stun them with your prowess on the footedness percentages of professional surfers. There is a fair amount of research on handedness, but finding surf related handedness and footedness research is pretty slim pickens. I am guessing that surfers would rather…well…be surfing than researching.
As the story goes, the 1937 Disney cartoon, Hawaiian Holiday (you can find it on YouTube) depicts, among other things, Goofy surfing right foot forward on a blunt tailed, finless, no rocker plank and it has stuck ever since. I suppose I have grown fond of the term. Regular sounds so…regular. A “goofy foot” t-shirt would be kind of cool, but “regular”? Yes, your parents must be so proud that you are regular. Of course plenty of regulars seem to be adamant that their stance is dominant and more prevalent for a reason. I found a great story about the late legendary surfer/shaper Dale Velzy and his great dismay as he learned that is young son was goofy foot. This is a family magazine, so I will have to leave that particular quote out…just use your imagination.
As I have progressed and become more confident of my abilities on a surfboard, the name for how I stand isn’t really that big of a concern…although, now that I think of it, maybe when that person called me goofy when I was surfing that it had nothing to do with my stance…
See you in the water.
Writteninwax@gmail.com is your direct email link to send comments, suggestions, or to enlighten me with more useless trivia.
Surf Now, Apocalypse later. That’s what the beachside graffiti read somewhere in California. This issue arrives on the heels of recession, pandemic, and worse…a rather lame winter and spring of waves. Sure, there have been a few magic days, and with the right stick you can just about always catch a little ride but those long cold months with short days require more commitment. The solution? Summer. You don’t have to wait ‘til June 21…it begins when the wetsuits start getting shed, boards get stripped and freshly waxed (you do take that old wax off don’t you?), and you stop feeling so lonely at your favorite surf spot.
Some of the best days of the year have nothing to do with the size of waves, but rather the freedom of paddling out in just board shorts for the first time that season and feeing the still cool water with the assurance that the sun will quickly warm you. The “right coast” way of surf life is about changes and cycles, it’s about the promise of waves brought by autumn storms and winter swells and the assurance that summer will come and let us feel the ocean without neoprene prisons surrounding us. Think about this…have you ever had a surf dream where you are wearing a wetsuit?
And…some of the most memorable days may not even be about the waves you surf at all, but the waves that a little grom will catch for the first time at surf camp, or that an autistic child will find some peace in at the Surfers Healing event, or that wave that gets a competitor a heat winning score in one of the various competitions we have in the back yards all along our Local Sessions coastline.
But…yes, some of your favorite days of summer will be about waves, your waves and those of friends around you. It will be about those days were you can sit on the beach with friends or family and jump up and run in for a few waves and then easily coast in and build a sandcastle with the kids. The days are long and its once again possible to get in a dawn patrol surf before work or school, and then catch another session after dinner. If we love surfing, then this is a little of the “why” we love summer in the South.
Some will curse the tourist that push their umbrellas 4 inches into the sand only to have it blow away and spear your favorite board (yes this is fact not fiction), and others will moan about the surf zones and regulations (which you should obey and educate others about if you plan on keeping these rights), and maybe those human obstacles that are in the surf keep you from a great ride now and again. The contrast is part of what makes changes in the seasons something to look forward to; who knows, maybe in a few months you will be wishing for an empty lineup and 48 degree water.
Write your comments and questions on a twenty dollar bill and send it to Local Sessions...or just email me at writteninwax@gmail.com …see you in the water.
Not So Regular
I am not overly conscious about myself, but I am pretty sure that I don’t have a goofy haircut and my wife is good at keeping me dressed so I am not too goofy looking, or at least not when she is around. So why is it that just because some of us surf or skate with a right foot forward we are destined to be called a “goofy foot”? I can vaguely remember someone telling me I was goofy as I was learning to surf, but that it didn’t really matter. Of course they, a regular foot, had no Disneyland stigma attached to their stance. I have since learned that left handers tend to be goofy and right handers tend to be regular, but it’s not always the case. I am actually right handed and goofy footed which must make me even rarer.
Of course I am in good company and you may have heard of these before…Tom Carroll, Joel Tudor, Gerry Lopez, Rob Machado to name a few. I thought my son was going to join me in this elite status, but I am afraid he is going to stand regular like his momma. I guess everyone can’t be blessed with a right foot forward stance. In fact, of the 70 or so male surfers listed in the Fantasy Surfer statistics, only about 25 percent are Goofy footed, and only one of the 19 Women riders, 5%, is a right foot front stance. This has no real value in knowing or having shared with you, but if other sports aficionados can spit out useless trivia about how many footballs an NFL home team has to provide the referee (24), or who reached 1000 strike outs first (Babe Ruth), then you can stun them with your prowess on the footedness percentages of professional surfers. There is a fair amount of research on handedness, but finding surf related handedness and footedness research is pretty slim pickens. I am guessing that surfers would rather…well…be surfing than researching.
As the story goes, the 1937 Disney cartoon, Hawaiian Holiday (you can find it on YouTube) depicts, among other things, Goofy surfing right foot forward on a blunt tailed, finless, no rocker plank and it has stuck ever since. I suppose I have grown fond of the term. Regular sounds so…regular. A “goofy foot” t-shirt would be kind of cool, but “regular”? Yes, your parents must be so proud that you are regular. Of course plenty of regulars seem to be adamant that their stance is dominant and more prevalent for a reason. I found a great story about the late legendary surfer/shaper Dale Velzy and his great dismay as he learned that is young son was goofy foot. This is a family magazine, so I will have to leave that particular quote out…just use your imagination.
As I have progressed and become more confident of my abilities on a surfboard, the name for how I stand isn’t really that big of a concern…although, now that I think of it, maybe when that person called me goofy when I was surfing that it had nothing to do with my stance…
See you in the water.
Writteninwax@gmail.com is your direct email link to send comments, suggestions, or to enlighten me with more useless trivia.
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