May 30, 2008, 3:49 pm : Mexican Shark Update

Filed Under: News, Surfing, Travel Tales, Uncategorized
Discussion: C[0]mments

If you read my recent piece on the shark attacks that have occurred down in Mexico, it turns out that Russell Canard, a member of my surfing email group, worldwidesurfers, was in the water just 30 feet away from the most recent attack victim when it happened. Here’s the details straight from his email:

Well 3 buddies and I are back and safe from our surf trip to Mexico (Troncones to be exact, about 5 miles away from Zihuantenejo/ Ixtapa). We are definitely excited to be back home. As many of you may have read in the paper and via online news there has been 4 shark attacks on surfers within the past 3/4 weeks within a 10 mile radius from where we have been surfing and 2 of the 4 have been fatal. One dude got attacked 30 ft from us while we were surfing. Totally insane story: it was early in the morning and we were surfing Playa Linda ( a place we surfed the whole day beforehand). Anyway, it was only us four out there and a guy named Bruce, he was on a shortboard (while we were all on boards over 9 ft); after about 45 minutes of surfing, he frantically came paddling over to us waving his hand yelling “shark”. We immediately bolted to the shore and saw him come in with a huge bite mark along his forearm and blood everywhere. We asked if he needed help and he just ran to his car and bolted to the hospital. Then this news came out. Needless to say we went surfing in a different area every day afterwards where there were many more surfers out and not as remote. It really hit home given the guy that got attacked was no more than 30 ft away and blood was most likely all over the place (attracting more sharks around us) and the shark that bit him was probably under our legs. Until you actually see something like this it really does not resonate how lucky we are and how mother ocean and all the creatures in the sea have the upper hand.

The following couple of days we had our feet high out of the water and tried to stay on the board at all times. Also there was almost like a strangeness among the many surfers there and little murmurs were everywhere, it was definitely the buzz and i think it had the same affect on us at it did with others who were all transplants whose main goal was to get in the water and surf. Needless to say, we still caught some of the best surf in our lives at a surf spot called, La Saladita, (just north of where Playa Linda is) and had a great time on the trip. In addition to the incredible surf, we each probably ate 2 and a half dozen avocados each and drank our fair share of cervezas and tequila- CHA CHA CHA….. But I think that each one of us will admit that the shark attacks and especially the attack on Bruce really affected us….it really puts some things in perspective. It definitely will not remove us from surfing, but it at least taught me to respect the $hit out of what exists there.

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May 27, 2008, 2:13 pm : PLAYLIST Magazine Feature- Sparky’s Flaw

Filed Under: Band Reviews, Music
Discussion: C[1]mments

Readers living in Maryland, DC or Virginia now have a singular source for ALL of the area’s local music in PLAYLIST Magazine. This is the first publication released by Catstone Press, with more planned in coming months.

The format is straightforward: A monthly, online music magazine featuring the local live music scene in its entirety. If there’s a venue with regular live music acts in MD/DC/VA, then it’s in PLAYLIST. With audio and video highlights, readers can easily listen to new musicians playing the local area. What better way to decide whether to get out and go to that show?

This month’s issue, just released, feature’s a review of Sparky’s Flaw, written by yours truly. Click on “Sparky’s Flaw” on the cover to go to the piece.

May 25, 2008, 11:33 am : Mexican Sharks and Bandits

Filed Under: News, Surfing, Uncategorized
Discussion: C[0]mments

Looks like traveling down below the border has gotten more dangerous on the land, and in the sea. The Baja crime situation is pretty well known by now, but a recent spate of shark attacks down on mainland Mexico is making authorities scratch their heads.

First they set baited hooks to catch the beast(s) responsible, but d’oh… it happened again. Of course, Mexican tourist officials are probably sweating this one big time, since the occurrences are all at the popular and widely used surf spots outside Acapulco.

Hey Mexico, need a shark solution? Consider Durban’s shark nets (fine, if you must, drumlines too). Now everyone remember, Mexico is a dangerous, dangerous place, where you will be lightened of your wallet by thieving banditos, then lose a much needed limb while in the water*.

*This last point has nothing in it trying to lure anyone away from going just because I’m trying to plan a trip there, sharks be damned!

May 21, 2008, 12:23 pm : Session Fuel- Music Review- ASG

Filed Under: Imagery, Music
Discussion: C[0]mments

Ever gotten that feeling, pre surf, where you know that what lies out there, what you will be taking on that day, is just a notch, or several, above your every day comfort zone? Maybe it was that solid hurricane swell that sent roaming double overhead bombs to your beach, turning it into Puerto Escondido for a day or two. Maybe it was that ledging reef dishing up quick, sketchy barrels, or even that trip to the islands where it felt like the whole North Atlantic was swinging right at you.

In those cases, there’s not much choice but to choose your music to match the mood. Enter ASG. Entrenched in the metal that they have developed into a precise and savage sound, they have improved their game over the last few years, leading up to the release of Win Us Over. This album is pure fuel for the adrenaline sessions. The kind you don’t really ever forget. Here’s to more of those sessions…

Pick up Win Us Over, these smart, dirt metal devils surf too, so they know what they’re doing.

May 18, 2008, 10:51 pm : Have We Finally Gotten True Dora Insight with “All for a Few Perfect Waves”?

Filed Under: Biography, Surfing
Discussion: C[4]mments

The recently released work by David Rensin is perhaps the closest the general public, or anyone for that matter will ever get to the “real” Miki Dora. The surf world at large has maintained a decades-long fascination, and has been waiting to read, to feel, to know just what, and just who this man was. Larger than life in both a public sense and narcissistic/sociopathic self-importance sense, he singlehandedly defined so many things that still resonate within real surfers and their general approach to life and the World today.

“All for a Few Perfect Waves” doesn’t strive to actually get us inside Miki’s head to gain clarity on his true self. Rensin knew better than to try for that, since it isn’t possible. Miki’s essence has always been, and will forever remain well protected. His ever-present approach to living the way he felt comfortable, which was to say with a high degree of privacy and privilege, kept him moving forward searching for his blissful surfing home, something he lost in Malibu many moons ago.

Never having written an oft talked about autobiography, Dora and the company he kept were put in the hands of Rensin, with the approval of Dora’s father. Rensin had written an article on Dora in the eighties for California Magazine, and although the piece was directly criticized by Dora himself, Rensin became the natural choice to compile the final closure on the man that in no small part defined surf culture, but will never be known. Dora’s father, Miklos Sr. gave Rensin approval since he felt that the California Magazine piece chronicled Miki fairly, so Rensin was again entrusted to be fair, thorough and as objective as possible.

This work does a terrific job of sorting out the players and themes in Dora’s life, but alas, readers get no closer to Miki than they were before. Isn’t that just the way he would want it? After all “The story on Miki Dora is getting the story on Miki Dora.” All for a Few Perfect Waves is very evocative and well written; nearly compulsory reading for real surfers.

All for a Few Perfect Waves: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora

-Jeff Schad