Longboard Or Shortboard - Surfing

Until now I have not had a longboard surfboard that I can use while I am at home.  I always use my co-workers longboard at work and my 7’6’’ board when I am home.  Thanks to my roommate and his beater longboard that needed repairs those days are over.  He told me that if I fix the numerous dings and holes on his old longboard I can use it as often as I like, so I did.  I spent all weekend and about $20 worth of Solarez fixing the board and I think it turned out great. My other roommate and I decided to go surfing today at Tourmaline.  So I threw the Frankenstein longboard on top of my Jeep and went down there.  Unfortunately,...

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Repaired My Surfboard - Surfing

I found a hole in the bottom of my mid sized board a few days ago and was really bummed because I do not have enough money to spend on surfboard repair.  Well I looked online and found this stuff called Solarez.  This stuff works great and only takes about 10 minutes to use. Epoxy Surfboard Hole Above is a picture of the hole I found in the tail of my epoxy board.  Unfortunately, the guy at the surfboard shop did not ask me whether I had an epoxy board or a fiberglass board so he gave me the polyester Solarez resin that is meant for fiberglass boards.  I found this out after I made the repair haha but oh well it still worked...

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Always Be Prepared - Surfing

My surf buddy and I just took a quick drive out to our surf spot to arbitrarily check out the conditions during lunch.  Unfortunately, my buddy did not bring his board with him today so it really didn’t matter if the conditions were good or not but it was an awesome day so it was still worth it to go.  I am happy we went and checked it out because this is what we saw. Terra Mar Surf Spot I took this pic today!  The waves are definitely not huge today but they are nice and glassy with a long wave that was breaking very clean.  We watched a lady catch a wave on the outside break and ride it all the way in to the shore, and it...

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Surfs Up! - Surfing

Man it feels like it’s been ages since the last time I surfed… I guess it’s only been about a week but that just seems like way too long.  The conditions in SoCal have not been great for beginners the past week and it has really had me bummed.  There was an awesome swell last week which is great, if you’re good and know what to do with the large waves but not great if you are still trying to stand up in the white wash like a noob.  Today I forgot about the last week in a second because the waves were awesome! I paddled out to the point break again and sat there for a bit before I decided to get out of there because I did not want...

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Getting Back To The Gym - Weight Training

After a long internal debate I have decided to get back to a regular gym schedule to do some moderate weight training.  One of the main driving forces for my blog is to take part in a variety of activities to make the experience of working out not feel forced, boring, and scheduled.  I really want to re-wire my brain so I become an active person that does not rely on countless hours on an elliptical machine, treadmill, or stationary bike.  I want to get the bulk of my exercising from activities such as kayaking, surfing, road biking, skateboarding, basketball, or whatever else I can think of.  That still leaves one main piece to leading a healthy life style, weight training. Part of me feels like going to the gym to lift heavy things is in the same class as scheduled movement...

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Turning Nothing Into Something - Skateboarding, Basketball, Land Paddling

I was really unmotivated to do anything today but my roommate Zak convinced me to get out and do something, I am glad he did.  I had a lot of options to choose from for an activity today and we couldn’t decided so we loaded Zak’s Bronco up with everything lol.  I am not even kidding either, we stuffed two surfboards, two skateboards, a Kahuna Big Stick, basketball shoes, a basketball, two wetsuits, skate shoes, and some towels in his truck and just went out looking for whatever might look good today. We drove down to our surf break in San Diego only to discover it was completely blown out and too small and mushy for the short boards...

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The Wedge Got Huge This Weekend - Surfing

This past week Southern California had a large swell which caused the famous spot in Newport Beach, CA called “The Wedge” to get pretty big.  The media circus showed up on May 19th which hyped up the swell even more.  Here is a video of some pretty crazy wipeouts on May 19th, 2011. The Wedge is a world famous surfing and bodysurfing spot located in Newport Beach, California.  The massive beach break waves are a result of improvements made to the rock jetty, in the 1930s, on the west side of the harbor entrance. This creates some massive waves that get as high as 30 feet!  I would never have the stones or talent to...

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Loaded Tan Tien - Gear, Skateboarding

The Loaded Tan Tien is a longboard skateboard that has become very popular among longboarders all around the world in the past year.  The Tan Tien dimensions are 39'' long, a 27'' wheelbase, and 8.75'' wide.  There are three different decks you can choose from that have three different weight thresholds.Flex 1 – Up to 279lbs Flex 2 – 130lbs to 210lbs Flex 3 – 80lbs to 170lbs The most popular deck of these three options is the Flex 2, which is quite flexible yet still very strong. One of the reasons for this strength is that fact that the deck itself is made of bamboo making it very strong and giving it lots of spring.  The trucks...

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YouTube Channel - General

Our YouTube channel is finally up!  This will be the location for any videos that I create that are related to this blog.  Keep checking back because I plan to upload videos oft...

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Design Tweaking - General

Hey all, Just a heads up that I am tweaking the design again today so you might hit refresh and see some strange colors or formatti...

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Blown Out Again - Surfing

We have had some really unusual weather here in San Diego the last few weeks.  My buddy and I decided to switch our surfing hours to the morning so we will have more consistent surf.  It is sometimes blown out in the afternoon by an on-shore wind and it sucks to get off work and head to the beach only to find a bunch of white water mush... Well it sucks even more when you wake up at 5:00 am, get everything you need ready for work, make the drive to work, and see that everything is still blown out in the morning.I hoped to have an awesome morning surfing post for you today but it doesn’t look like that will happen just yet.  I am debating whether or not I am a “dawn patrol” kinda person or if I should just continue to try and surf after work...

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The Weather In SoCal Continues To Disappoint - Running

I really wanted to log some time on my surfboard yesterday but when my friend and I got to our surf spot we discovered the waves were small and completely blown out by an on-shore wind.  The surf break that I surf right after work is right next to my job and about 25 miles north of my house.  Plan A is always to surf and Plan B is whatever other activity I can pull from my list that best compliments the weather outside and my current mood.  That is one of the main driving points of this blog btw, options.  So, based off the conditions we decided to skip surfing and I made the long drive home and decided to go for a run on...

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New Phone - General

I just got a new android phone!  I downloaded the blogger app so i can blog on the go.  So far i am impressed.  I am able to post a blog without having to log into a web browser so i should be able to post content no matter where i am.  i love it so fa...

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A Modest 2 Miles - Running

I went for a run on the beach today. I figured if I live this close to the beach I might as well take advantage of it. It did the trick too; the running went by much faster because the environment was so beautiful and relaxing. My journey to becoming a runner again is going to be a long painful one. I have had two knee surgeries in the past, one on each knee and it’s been hard to get motivated to run. I found out about these cool new running shoes called Vibram – Five Finger Shoes. They basically try to simulate the act of barefoot running. There is a movement on the web, with supporters on both sides, regarding barefoot running. I plan...

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Why Not Just Use Your Foot?! - Land Paddling

Land Paddling is relatively new but seems to be catching on pretty fast.  The basic idea behind it is using a long stick with a rubber knob on the end to push you along while riding a longboard skateboard.  I know… Land paddling sounds completely ridiculous, but give it a chance.  I can’t put into words how much fun it is.  My roommate and I got into this activity about a year ago after seeing an ad on Facebook for the Kahuna Big Stick by Kahuna Creations.  Kahuna Creations is a company that manufactures the stick you can purchase online from their website.  I bought one myself and love it.  They have a few...

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Blog Version 2.0 - General

I made A LOT of changes to the layout of the site today!  I am very happy with the way it turned out.  I finally figured out a way that I can categories my posts!  This is something I have been trying to figure out since I started this whole project and I just happened to stumble upon it when I found out how to attach labels to your posts.  It took me a little time to retroactively add all of the proper labels to my previous posts but it was worth it because I have a solid categories section on my page. I also added a featured post slide show on the main page.  I love this feature because it allows me to showcase what I consider some interesting posts.  In addition to the slide show, I added a link to a featured site page on my blog so you can quickly scroll through...

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Collapsible Carbon Fiber Surfboard - Surfing

I came across this article and could not resist sharing.  This is a collapsible carbon fiber surfboard designed by Nicholas Notara.  The frame is made of carbon fiber making it incredibly light I am assuming.  The carbon fiber design, to me, is not even the best part.  The kicker, is that you can break it down by engaging a quick release lever and then flipping two pins on top.  This will break the board down in half after you remove what looks like a center strut pole from the middle.  The bar appears to insert into both halves providing a solid backbone for the board. The board also has 5 fin slots, allowing...

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Blogger Hates Me - General

Blogger went down yesterday and took a lot of the formatting I did with it.  I will be working hard all weekend to get everything I have done back so if you saw something that looked cool before, don't worry it will be ba...

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Changing Blog Design - General

Hey everyone!  I am messing around with the design of this blog today so you may see some strange things.  Keep checking back though, I hope to have it sorted out by the end of the day toda...

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Choppy Day - Surfing

So the conditions were far less than ideal today for my surf session.  The waves were about 2-3 feet, completely blown out, and choppy.  My friend and I took one look at the conditions and said “Oh well, let’s do it”.  It took a while to paddle out today because of the chop.  You really couldn’t judge the wave frequency or direction because they seemed to be coming at you from every direction with no consistency. I caught a wave at the point break instead of the inner break where the white water is, which was great because I have not done that before.  The wave came out of nowhere so I got a late start at it.  This didn’t matter because I was on the longboard so after hitting the turbo button I was being pushed along with no effort.  This wave felt different...

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The Weather Outside Sucks Today - Running

Since the weather outside is not ideal for surfing today I decided to go for a run instead.  Running has got to be my least favorite activity.  I have had two knee surgeries in the past which can make running a bit painful so I absolutely despise it.  When I first started this blog I was determined to leave running out of it.  I declaring the activity something I call "scheduled movement" until I gave it a little thought and determined that it is still a useful activity to invest some time into. I haven’t gone running consistently in over 5 years and man does it show.   I just ran about a 12 minute mile. ...

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New Blog Addition - General

This post is just a quick FYI that I added a useful links section in the navigation bar on the right hand side of this page.  As I find useful websites in any topic I will be adding them there.  Thanks...

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No Waves - Surfing

I brought my friend’s 9’0’’ longboard home from work on Friday with the intention of taking it out to the beginner break either yesterday or today.  Unfortunately, I drove out to the break and found out that the waves were very small and blown out by the wind.  Oh well, I just need to find something else to do instead of surfing this weekend I guess.  I haven’t checked the surf report for today yet but judging from the weather outside I am pretty sure it will be the same as yesterday.  I still need to take a picture of the three boards I am using so you can get an idea of the range of boards I am testing.  I hope to get that done in the next week or so.  The only thing that is holding me back on this is the fact that I do not have a good digital camera yet. ...

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I Stood Up! - Surfing

Yesterday I went surfing right after work again.  When we first got there the wave conditions were not that great… But I am a beginner so I really didn’t care.  The waves were about 2 to 3 foot and it was blown out.  Blown out means there is a lot of wind that collapses the face of the wave which causes it to close out.  This is ok for me because I decided to focus on catching the mushy white water instead of trying to paddle out to the point break.  My co-worker let me borrow his 9’ 0’’ longboard and man what a difference that made!  I actually caught a wave and stood up for about half a second!  This was the first time I have ever been able to stand on a surf board with a wave behind me. I did have a few scary moments this session however.  While I...

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Finally Got To Surf! - Surfing

I finally got a chance to go surfing yesterday!  My co-worker (the experienced surfer) and I went to a local surf break that is only a block from our job.  I was a little nervous to go out because I have only attempted to surf a few times in my life and it was not consistent so I was basically starting over. I took my 7’6’’ board out that has a lot of “rocker” and sufficient girth in the middle to float me properly.  Even though I took my larger board out I still felt like I was fighting the board the entire time.  I had a hard time locating what surfers call the “sweet spot” on the board.  This means the location on the board where you are not too far back or too far forward.  My pseudo instructor told me that you should be positioned so that the nose of the...

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Strapped On The Running Shoes - Running

Today my surfing buddy said the waves were too small so we did not go out surfing like I was hoping so I was left to pick another exercise to try.  After debating it for a bit I decided to do something I have not done since my two knee surgeries, run!  I have not been able to run for a long distance in a while without my knees filling up with fluid so I was a bit nervous to see how this would go. I decided to just go for so I went down to my local running shoe store and they directed me to a Saucony running shoe that was in their “Stability” category.  The shoes were not that expensive considering the quality.  I got them for about $80 before taxes after I joined their “VIP” club.  They also talked me into buying some new inserts with extra arch support and man I am...

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