Giant Squid in the House!

Reader Irena Guilmette sends us this picture of her husband John in the water today at Bolsa Chica State Beach Tower 18 with a Humboldt Squid found in the surf line. This squid was estimated to be about three feet in length and weighed about 15 to 20 pounds.

“My husband was surfing … when he noticed all the kids on the beach gathered around the squid. The squid was washing to shore, but still alive, my husband grabbed it to take to back to sea,” Irena writes.

These powerful and sometimes aggressive “jumbo” squid usually dwell in deep water (600-2,300 feet), but they’ve been making an appearance recently along the OC and San Diego County coasts. In a story on the phenomenon this week, the Orange County Register’s Pat Brennan noted that scientists who study the Humboldt squid say they appear periodically in large numbers off Southern California for reasons that still aren’t clear.

Beach Blogger Laylan Connelly reminds us that in 2005, about 1500 of these squid washed ashore on OC beaches in January of 2005.

Some attribute the Humboldts’ current near-shore activity to a recent earthquake, others say the squids’ appetite for grunion causes the creatures to be so close to shore. Whatever the cause, the big squid — with their barbed suckers, sharp beaks and aggressive ways — are back in the neighborhood.

A view from above San Onofre

Can you believe this? A model airplane shooting an aerial assault on the famous surf spot San-O. The video footage was shot by the aerial genius known as Warz earlier this week. The surf was pretty small, the conditions were nice, and the crowd was at a minimum. This gives a great view of the lay of the land and the water that makes up San Onofre. Check out Church's and Lowers in the distance to the north. If you look close you can see the nuke plant south of Dogpatch. Stay tuned for more views in the near future.

Twitter Aflutter With Toll Road Talk

Twitter aflutter with toll road talk 

Here’s a sampling of what people were saying on Twitter yesterday about the toll road decision:

@dodgemedlin: A win for surfers, environmentalists - federal agency rejects plan for toll road through San Onofre State Beach. http://is.gd/cnGr (12:26:06 p.m.)

@chriscote: We Won!! the fight to Save Trestles is over. Check transworldsurf.net in a few for the whole story. (11:58:13 a.m.)

@Steve_watkins: Awesome! The toll road expansion that threatened Trestles has been killed - http://tinyurl.com/4pbwz5. (
11:54:18 a.m.)

@klenlaundry: is amped on the Trestles Victory! (11:53:25 a.m.)

@sdradio: @hilahil @andrewwp This is a good day: closing Guantanamo prison; and Trestles SAVED.
(11:49:38 a.m.)

@lkilpatrick: @SaveTrestles your going to need to change your name to Saved Trestles!  (11:46:49 a.m.)

@JonathanDuarte: Congrats. Surfrider… another success. Toll road Dead!http://ff.im/kFA9 (11:39:13 a.m.)

@lkilpatrick: WOOT TRESTLES SAVED!!! Finally something good from the credit crunch!http://tinyurl.com/3fm6zv (11:37:50 a.m.)

@UkuleleJammin: Toll road through Trestles DENIED!!! http://tinyurl.com/4bmdfu (via @10News) (11:32:38 a.m.)

@chris949: Trestles has been saved! thank you Dept. of Commerce & Ca. Coastal Commission! http://tinyurl.com/3l7m82 (11:23:24 a.m.)

@degroodt: Totally stoked to see the “people” getting their way finally. Toll Road has run rough shod over OC for years. http://snurl.com/8ud5w (11:15:15 a.m.)

@brianschoening: The Toll Road is dead! Trestles lives to be surfed another day!!http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/12/tollroad.html (11:14:46 a.m.)

@tierranet: RT SaveTrestles http://cli.gs/241 South Toll Road Extension STOPPED! WE SAVED TRESTLES!!! Nice work everyone (11:10:00 a.m.)

@nique22: YAY!!! RT @swelldotcom: TRESTLES SAVED! THE HIGHWAY TO HELL CRASHES!: The Trestles toll road crashes today . http://tinyurl.com/3g6lyg (11:08:50 a.m.)

@formatted_dad: @NeonSurfer . Great news. Lets hope this is the end of the toll road plans. (11:07:53 a.m.)

@locustfist: RT @SaveTrestles: http://cli.gs/241 South Toll Road Extension STOPPED! WE SAVED TRESTLES!!! Nice work everyone! (11:07:35 a.m.)

@SaveTrestles: http://cli.gs/241 South Toll Road Extension STOPPED! WE SAVED TRESTLES!!! Nice work everyone! (11:06:07 a.m.)

@scorpusmaximus: WOOT! We saved Trestles! (for now): http://tinyurl.com/4pbwz5(10:55:15 a.m.)

@NeonSurfer: WE SAVED SANO!!! http://cli.gs/241 Toll Road Extension KILLED!!! (10:52:31 a.m.)

@Foa.m.EZ: [What the blank???] Trestles Saved! 241 South Toll Road Extentsion Killed (10:50:42 a.m.)

The 5-10RP Fish Blank by US Blanks

We've been waiting for this one since Clark Foam went out of business in December 2005! The 5'10"RP by US Blanks just arrived in our shop and we're stoked to have it. This polyurethane fish plug was shaped by San Diego legend Rich Pavel. He is one of the experts and innovators in the revolution of the Fish board. Rich has been deeply involved in the "Fish Fry" events around the world which are his inspiration for this blank. The blank is versatile enough to be able to shape short high performance fish as well as traditional fish boards up to 5'10". This blank is thick enough to yield 2-3/4" if you're trying to recreate an old school design.

Come in the shop and check them out.

See you soon-

Brad

Seal Beach and Long Beach Surfing Pioneers

What an awesome night in the history of Seal beach! Thursday September 25th at 7:30pm some of Seal Beach and Long Beach's earliest surf pioneers got together for a Q & A session. Some of the panel members included Harold Walker, Bob "Ole" Olson, Harry Schurch.

Harold Walker of Walker Foam was one of the pioneers in making polyurethane foam cores back in the early sixties. He competed with Clark Foam for forty plus years until finally going out of business in 2007. He is now working with Ice Nine to try to perfect their foam formulas.


Ole is famous as an early master craftsman of surfboards in the beginning foam era. He still makes surfboards in Maui under the Ole name. Ole flew out to Seal Beach to join his old buddies to talk about Seal Beach surfing days.

Another of the legendary crew is Harry Schurch. He was involved in that first attempt at surfing Waimea Nov of 1957 with Greg Noll, Micky Munoz, and Mike Stange. They all paddled out in 15 to 18 foot Waimea Bay on 40 pound planks in an attempt to survive the massive drop.

Shaping and Seal beach legend Rich Harbour attended the discussion that included many hilarious stories from the boys. Of course everyone had something to say about the notorious and ever present Sphinx. It stood on top of Blackie Augusts (Robert Augusts' Dad) house for some forty plus years. They told about how they would show up at the beach to go surfing and there wouldn't be anyone else in the water so they would have to wait until a buddy arrived to adventure out. There were endless classic stories from this eventful Seal Beach night. Unfortunately two guys from the main crew ,Jack Haley Sr. and Lloyd Murray, were not present (having passed away in recent years) but they were memorialized in the many stories.

Foothill-South 241 Toll Road Fails to Meet Criteria for Bush Administration Override

Elected Officials and Save San Onofre Coalition Voice Strong Opposition To Toll Road Through San Onofre State Beach

DEL MAR, Calif., Sept 22, 2008 In an eight-plus hour event and with more than 3,000 toll road opponents in attendance, state and local elected officials and members of the Save San Onofre Coalition spoke before three Bush Administration officials overseeing a Commerce Department hearing on the Foothill-South Toll Road.

"The people of Orange and San Diego Counties reject this road," commented Bobby Shriver, Santa Monica Councilman and former president of the California State Park and Recreation Commission. "They have proved that by showing up in huge numbers at the Parks Commission hearings, at the Coastal Commission hearing and again today at the Commerce Department hearing."

Testimony focused on how the toll road fails to meet the Commerce Department's specific criteria to overturn the California Coastal Commission's Feb. 2008 decision against the project. Some notables testifying included: California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer; State Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego); Santa Monica Councilman Bobby Shriver; Irvine Councilman Larry Agran, who as a TCA board member cast a vote against the proposed toll road alignment; and San Diego Councilwoman Donna Frye.

"There is no compelling national interest to over-ride the California Coastal Commission, the toll road fails to meet the criteria for an override, and the proposed toll road's adverse impacts outweigh the purported and questionable benefits of this project," Lockyer stated in his testimony at today's hearing. "Reasonable alternatives exist that both TCA and the Federal Highway Administration have refused to explore adequately."

"No credible basis exists to believe the TCA's 11th hour claim that its project is essential to national security. The Marine Corps has publicly rejected the claim, presumably because running a toll road through Camp Pendleton would inevitably impede, not improve, our military readiness," added Lockyer.

"The TCA and the politicians comprising its board provided no new information that supports a Bush Administration override of the State of California," stated Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the California State Parks Foundation and member of the Save San Onofre Coalition. "For the TCA, a single-purpose agency focused solely on building and operating toll roads, to select a route through the 5th most popular state park in California is a bad idea...one that must be stopped."

Big Props to all those who went to the hearing!!!
.

Aloha Midget

Quote: "I'd like to think that I've steered a couple of guys to the right path on their careers … like Dino Andino and Andy Fomenko, two guys that actually wound up having a career and making some money at it and turned out to be really nice human beings." -Jeff 'Midget' Smith