I love this stretch of coast. It can get pretty wild at high tide and quite tame at low tide. Late afternoon I took my camera for a walk. In case you missed it, yesterday I shot big surf video at the pier and challenged the camera’s reputation for being slash proof. It worked fine today for both stills and HD Video.
We call this area Boat Docks. Is sits at the base of an area called Pedro Point. It’s one of my favorite buildings in town. Today, toward sunset, the tide was low and returning. Gulls bathed in the fresh water from San Pedro Valley Creek as it emptied into the Pacific. This morning, at high tide, I would have been standing in 3 feet of water taking this shot.
Today my spirit was buoyed by a large ocean at high tide. The pier was closed as huge surf pounded the coast. Our local KPIX TV camera crew was on hand, and got wet as wave after wave breached the sea wall. They interviewed me with my wet camera in hand. You can see the video here.
About the wet camera. I got a new Lumix camera that has a “Worry-free splash proof / dustproof” body. Guess I’ll find out about the splash. A few year back I lost a Nikon D200 when large surf caught me by surprise and buried me and the camera with one big blast.
Today a man in full rain gear held the sea wall guard rail tight. I caught a shot of one large wave completely cover him up. Then I ran, but not fast enough.
Victoria British Columbia left its prints on me. I was only there once, back in 1973, on the return leg of a leisurely jaunt through B.C. and Alberta. The place seemed magical. I saw my first Belted Kingfisher in Victoria. It was on the west coast. There were Bald Eagles too, but the Kingfisher is the bird I remember best. There were two and they sang. They danced in the air. They flew high, and turned hard. It was a courtship of sorts, and it brought the coast alive.
We spent the late afternoon and evening at Buchart Gardens touring the grand landscape while waiting patiently for the sun to set so we could bask in the garden’s luminous evening light. It was as promised.
I hadn’t been to England yet, but in retrospect, Victoria reminds me of the quaint bits of London. Very proper, yet ever so enchanting. And they have Stand Up Paddleboarding, from flat water to surf.
Today, I’d stay at Ultimate BnB on the West Shore. Within two blocks you can SUP the lagoon or the ocean. The BnB is gorgeous, and the owner loves the water. There are board rental shops at several locations including SUP Victoria and Ocean River Sports.
And there’s great surfing up the west coast at Tofino. You can rent gear at Tofino Paddle Surf.Check out the Tofino SUP Surfing video.
If you have 8 minutes, check out the Naish SUP trip into the northwest. They paddled in flat water, SUP Surfed in Tofino, and paddled by bears. Naish has a full line of stand up paddleboards for flat, surf, downwind, and more. You can s
Tonite the sun begins its return. Today it rained. A lot. That didn’t stop me from getting a walk, nor did it stop the Nor Cal Surf Shop guys from getting wet. The ocean was wreaked, so, they grabbed their SUPs and headed up the creek, with a paddle. Check it out.
I’m still under the weather, and it was raining, but I had to hit the waves with my camera. Mind you my better gear is not rain friendly so I used my little Lumix pocket cam which takes full HD video though its zoom lens is tough to hold steady hand held.
Today there were three paddle boarders in the surf. I met one of them, Rick, after his session. To be fair, he caught a few nice waves while I walked from my car to the rocks where I recorded one good wipeout and the last ride he rode for the day.
This is not your theme-park-man-made wave. It’s the perfect barrel that all surfers fantasize. Whether you have the skill to ride such a wave is another story altogether. The wave is for high-level riders who can keep up with a very steep, ever-charging barrel.
The Kelly Slater Wave Company took this from idea to delivery in 10 years. It’s located at a secret spot some 100 miles from an undisclosed coast.
Kelly has been crowned World Surf League Champion a record 11 times. Check out the inaugural spin on the coolest man-made wonder wave.
Winter solstice is right around the corner and the late afternoon light is kind of errie.
My cold/flu/virus/tired-to-the-bone “whatever it is” seems to be waning. So I walked the 3/4 of a mile to the spot where I’d seen one stand up paddle boarder from my window. He was still there.
The tide was just starting to ebb so some of the wave’s punch was pulled back. BUT, there were surfers from one end of the beach to the other. The light kept slipping in and out of the clouds. One moment it was on the water, then on the hills, then gone. I sat on a piece of plywood someone had left on the rocks. I didn’t take the time to anchor it so I teetered and tottered a bit, which makes shooting video with a long lens a challenge. There was one guy on a fat orange board who caught one wave while I was watching. Mostly I was happy to smell the salt air and hear the hollow roar of waves crashing.
I got one shot of the scene as the light lit up the Rockaway Headlands. That was the last of the light, so I headed home.
One of my Bay Area friends posted this clip on Facebook yesterday. It’s from a group called The Inertia. I watched it twice, then showed it to my wife. I’ll watch it again.
For one, the guy is so graceful, but the dogs. OMG the dogs are adorable. And the wave is way longer than the rides I usually get. Way longer.
My goal is to be as relaxed and balanced as this guy, but without the dogs.
It was a long day and the surf was outstanding, but I wasn’t near the surf until sunset. I still had chores to complete and no time to get my “real” camera so I walked in close to the shore and shot some SUP footage using my iPhone 6S+. The only paddleboarder in the water caught a couple of waves while I watched. Add a little music, a little creative editing license and voila. A short video. A very short video.
It’s been a head’s down week at the WHAT SUP site. Blogging instruction, blogging compatriots, blog posting, all to make a better blogging experience. I even made a blavatar, which is the little square graphic that shows up in mysterious places, like the little N for Netflix.
So how do you end a week like this? Stand Up Paddleboarding at sunset seemed so simple an answer, even though I spent a bit of time upside down. Check it out.
Winter solstice is right around the corner and the late afternoon light is kind of errie.
TomAdams.Ink 