Mini Missions and Vids

What a great first two weeks of November! Conditions have been tricky to nail down, but there have been at least 1-3 quality windows for surf every week. I recently ran two off the cuff surgical strike missions with my current roster of students who have purchased packages. Both times we scored empty waves for hours and they were huge successes overall. The first trip was to Asbury Park followed by lunch and a second surf in Long Beach. Both times we found a peak with no one on it and scored it all to ourselves. The second was a one day trip to Montauk where we went into full search mode, settled on a fun little beach break (again, no one out), ate steaming cups of clam chowder on the side of the road, and then traveled back to New York. I dropped everyone off at the subway stops I picked them up at (the Franklin 2/3/4/5 and the Bedford/Nostrand G) and went home and started editing video. 

In between these two extremely rad mini surf trips we had a great day of surf in Long Beach. That was Wednesday this week. One of my most dedicated acolytes, Beccy, got in a lesson in the morning before heading to work. I picked her up at the LIRR in LB at 6:22a and dropped her off at 8:30a. She charged hard and I managed to get her best waves on video. In a relatively short amount of time, Beccy has come a really long way with wave judgment and timing and overall surfing ability. After I dropped her off at the train I went back to the beach to try to get a few clips of the super smooth surfing of my friends Gus and Bennet, who were also getting in a session before they had to run off to their work life obligations. This I did and then I got so excited by their surfing that I had to paddle out again. My friends Bryan and Kyungmi joined in for the second surf and JP was also there. We took a short break in the middle of the day. I downloaded footage onto my computer and ate some bananas. Then we went for our third and final surf. The waves were still glassy and clean. We were joined by my great friend, Juan, who proceeded to shred it up all over. 

These little surf missions, along with more video, are definitely the direction that CSC is headed (along with lots of other cool stuff to be sure). In fact, this is a good example of how I plan for the Costa Rica camps to play out except that there will be a bit less driving and the water will be a lot warmer! There are still plenty of spots for the January camps, and I would like to get them booked asap. If you want to be cruising down the line by the time summer rolls around you need to get involved with these!  

And to cap off this post I'm going to leave you with two little edits that I have recently completed. The first is a compilation of the past two weeks, excepting the Montauk trip. It features JP, Beccy, Mariza, Paul, Bennet, Gus, Bryan, and Juan. The second was taken on a clean day the last week in October and features JP, husband and wife super team Maiko and Shigeru, and a local Long Beach guy named Justin. 



My Favorite Surf Flicks

As per the request of an esteemed student, this is a post about my favorite surf films. Admittedly, I have not seen every surf film ever made. On the one hand, one would have to define the category of "surf film" more narrowly in order to even accomplish that task because if you opened it up to non-published films by local savants the task would be beyond gargantuan. Surfing and photography/film go together like peanut butter and jelly or like mustard and pate, depending on your taste. The ocean and its waves are an endless source of photographic inspiration even for non surfers. This is because ocean waves and thus surfing are so phenomenologically dynamic and elusive. In its essence surfing is a sublime practice and human beings have always been in the business of trying to capture the sublime if only for the very reason that it represents the infinite that we feels ourselves to be a part but which at the same time seems to always elude us due to the consciousness of our finitude (that was a very Kantian formulation -- Kant was on to something there). We want to capture 'the moment' precisely because the moment passes. Furthermore, in the moments that we ride waves we do feel ourselves to be participating in some kind of immortality. Capturing these rides in such a way that we can see ourselves from outside of ourselves, or see others participating in that very act, that gives us so much joy and thus increases our capacity to access not only the memories we have of riding waves, but also the actual rides themselves. This is why video analysis and coaching is becoming such a huge part of my teaching method and my overall blog and brand output.

As most of my readers and students know, I've been surfing my whole life, so there's hardly a time that I can remember when surfing magazines and films were not somewhere in my peripheral vision, if not the objects of my direct attention. But watching surf movies did not really become a huge part of my life until 1991, when my surf obsession began to blossom into a full blown mania. Long before then, however, the local surfers established a Moss Locals Surf Film night at the Elkhorn Yacht Club, and a lot of my introduction to surf films was at this event. We would all gather together for a barbecue, raffle, and a screening both of slides and movies taken throughout the year in Moss Landing and there would also be a screening of a recent or popular surf movie. I remember one such night in 1992, 93, or 94 when they were screening Jack McCoy's Bunyip Dreaming (1990) and Luke Egan launched into a duck dive, a paddling maneuver that had been eluding me, and I turned to my best friend, Andrew Dolan, and exclaimed, "Oh so that's how you do it!" Our lives in the impact zone greatly improved after that night. 

You will see that a lot of the films listed below are from the 1990s. This is because in the 90s I watched the most surf videos in my life. I was ages 10-20 and had the most free time to indulge in a life dedicated mostly to surfing and watching surf videos. I remember whole summers where Andrew and my routine was to wake up at dawn and surf for 2-4 hours, go back to his place and eat breakfast, then watch 1-2 surf videos, then draw a little, then go back to the beach and surf again, perhaps till dark, then go back to his place and watch more surf videos (Andrew lived one mile closer to the beach than I did). At this time, however, I was most interested in what is now called 'surf porn' or 'hardcore surf films', which means nothing but high performance or new school surfing set to music, with a few adolescent male antics, and little to no awareness of issues to do with colonialism and imperialism and misogyny and corporate stench. Some did this better than others. Taylor Steele was and is the master of this genre and we ate up all of his flicks, beginning with Momentum (1990), like candy. I honed in on the Machado sections and emulated him as much as possibly could. For me Rob had the most style out all of Taylor's surf subjects, and I was keen to develop that over all of the other technical stuff.

Because I became (and still am) so obsessed with style, probably the most influential movie of the 90s for me was Andrew Kidman's Litmus (1996). In a recent SURFER magazine article titled "The Litmus Effect" (October 2015), Steve Shearer argues that wasn't just true for me, but that Litmus changed the way "high performance" surfing and boards are thought of more generally. That is to say, Litmus, is not just your thrash bash smash surf porn, but was a move towards a more thoughtful, reflective, and inclusive idea of who and what constitutes great surfing. Shearer writes: "In surfing's most conservative era, Litmus aimed to expand minds and quivers alike. Twenty years later, its impact is still being felt." Both Andrew (Dolan -- my friend) and I were particularly blown away by Derek Hynd's surfing at J-Bay on a variety of radical equipment. The lines he draws in that segment are so smooth and simple yet so radical, and he did the first ever frontside layback in a tube we had ever seen (and I haven't seen another since although I tried to do one last Monday in Long Beach). Slowing down and looking around to speed up became the new money in our game. 

I am starting to realize that, like most things I begin to write about on here, I could pen a whole book on the subject of how surf films have influenced my surfing and where they correspond to certain moments in my life. I suppose film works in this way generally for lots of us born any time in the past 100 years. But I realize that this is the internet and attention spans tend to run on the shorter side, so I'll wrap this up for now with a list on the most influential surf films in my life, with a few highlight notes. Some of these are hard to find. Some you can find on surfmovies.org or thesurfnetwork.com (the former is free and spammy and the latter has an annual membership fee and has a lot of films, but is also rather limited). Others you may find in your local surfshop or on the filmmaker's website or even on Amazon or Ebay. I'm going to list them in chronological order, even though I may not have encountered them in that way in my life. 

The Endless Summer (Bruce Brown, 1966)

However contrived it may be, The Endless Summer remains the classic surf adventure story. It's pre shortboards, pre board bags, pre roof racks, pre WSL and pre huge fashion industrial complex surf clothing companies. I am too skeptical to ever be a purist, but I do believe that there is something quite distilled in Mike Hynson and Robert August's surfing in this film. I find it extremely instructive to watch these guys surfing with the utmost ease and grace without leashes on 30+ lb boards in waves they have never surfed before. Just cover your ears when Bruce Brown says anything about "the natives" or women. 

Style Masters (Spyder Wills, 1979)

I was introduced to Style Masters while working at Aqua Surf Shop in SF in the early 00s. This is a classic compendium of North Shore style gurus. You want to learn to soul arch, barrel ride, and hand jive? This is the film for you. 

Bali High (Steve Spaulding, 1981)

 Bali High is actually the first surf film I have ever watched. My dad is good friends with Steve Spaulding, who hails from Monterey, and is an honorary Moss Landing local. From ages 6-15 it was in a solid weekly rotation with Top Gun (1986) and The Sound of Music (1965). While I learned to sing "Do-Re-Mi" I also soaked in Tommy Carroll's insane tube skills at Uluwatu. Really inspiring for a young goofy foot. But seriously, there is epic footage of unspoiled Bali in this film. Big, perfect, empty waves. Steve helped run the first resort at G-Land in 1979, something I have to pick his brain about very soon. 

Bunyip Dreaming (Jack McCoy, 1990)  

Despite what I said about Litmus in the introduction, overall, I might actually have to say that Jack McCoy's early 90s trilogy, Bunyip Dreaming (1990), Green Iguana (1992), and The Sons of Fun (1993) were in many ways the most influential surf films for me just for sheer amount of hours I spent watching them. Bunyip follows the alter ego of Mark Occhilupo, named Rocky, in a quasi aboriginal 'dream time' where he threads blue tube after blue tube and does the sickest hair whip gouges on boards that look to have little to no rocker. This cemented and made concrete the myth I had heard about in a bar in Costa Rica when I was 11 that Occy is "the greatest goofy foot of all time." (What was I doing in a bar at 11? Story for another time.)  Furthermore, Peter King's help on the soundtracks, turned me on to Concrete Blonde, which has remained my favorite band of all time. These are available in a triple DVD set on Jack's website. I own all three. They're in Costa Rica and we'll be watching them at our camps this January!

The Search (Sonny Miller, 1992)

 Oof, another one that gets damn close to the "most influential" prize. My Uncle Ted (my mom's younger brother) gave me this on VHS for Christmas in 1993. We were in Annapolis. It was snowing. I was wearing my Haut Surfboards sweatshirt, Quiksilver jeans, and Uggs, pretending to be back in CA. When I got this I immediately went downstairs to the entertainment room at my aunt's and popped it in the VHS player and my mind was blown by Tom Curren's psychotically smooth and radical surfing. "The Search" was a concept I think conceived by my hero Derek Hynd who did some work for Ripcurl at the time. Well, as usual, Derek nailed it on the head. Features an eclectic cast including a young Davo and an on his way to writer-dom Jamie Brisick. Hard video to track down. Tom Curren's blow tail with only one or two toes on the board is not to be missed. I must have rewinded and paused and slo-mo-ed that part over 1,000 times.

Momentum (Taylor Steele, 1990)  

Enter the NEW SCHOOL. Every magazine was writing about it. Kelly Slater. Rob Machado. Taylor Knox. Kalani Robb. Shane Dorian. Taylor Steele's Momentum defined the new light equipment, aerial focused, rad shred, southern California punk rock-inspired generation that would lead the way for all surf videos that were produced in the later 90s and early 00s. He literally made the formula for it. Now I can only handle 2-5 minutes of this kind of mindlessness, but when I was a pre-teen and teenager this was manna. 

Litmus (Andrew Kidman, 1996)

I think I may have said enough about this film in the preamble, but it is fitting that it comes after Momentum because there is a sense in which this film is the antidote to the Momentum/Modern Collective ilk of youth-focused, fast, intense, untouchable, radness. In an indirect barb at this kind of mentality, Wayne Lynch says in the beginning of the film, "Surfing has gotten older and it needs to grow up." Don't get me wrong, this is still a film that's pretty much just surfing set to music, but everything about it is toned down and a bit grittier. It offers new perspectives, and perhaps starts to lead us towards less fascistic surfing futures. Definitely a lack of the lady shredders though, which Kidman has sought to reconcile in his recent work with Stephanie Gilmore. 

Thrills, Spills, and Whatnot (Dane Reynolds, 2011)

What, Dion?! No surf films from 1996-2011?!! Well, yeah I guess so. There were tons of films made in that time period. I have seen a lot of them, but none really struck my fancy until Dane Reynolds started putting out films. First of all, this film was free, and came with a certain issue of Surfing Magazine, so good on Dane for that Robin Hood maneuver. Secondly, films just got too rad in the 00s and too slick, too edited, too nonchalantly colonialist. While Dane Reynolds is one of the raddest, if not the raddest, most untouchable, surfers skill-wise, he shows his human side in this film (and in all of his other projects too). He shows the spills and the whatnot that go to make up a majority of our surfing experiences. That's what we bog through to get to the thrills. I love that about Dane's approach to filmmaking. And the other worldly stuff he does on his foam/fiberglass finned contraptions, it's so awe-inspiring I don't mind one bit that I'll never be able to access those lines in my own surfing. Instead it pushes me to push myself to my own limits. 

Uncharted Waters: The Personal History of Wayne Lynch (Craig Griffin, 2014)

For where I am now in my life and in my surfing, this is the best surf film I have ever seen. I suppose I have been inspired by Wayne Lynch since Litmus, but he was never on my radar in a big way. There is so much I like about this film: the surfing, the story of Lynch's outsider role in the surf world, the political and historical sensitivity (i.e. the emphasis on the impact of the Vietnam War), the cultural respect shown for the aboriginal peoples of Australia, stories from great surfers, some whom are not mainstream or well known, just a ton of depth. You can learn very important lessons from this film because Wayne Lynch is a massively inspiring character.  Now I have to go back and see Evolution (1969) and Sea of Joy (1971), the two films Lynch starred in that solidified his idol status in the larger surfing imagination.

This list really reflects who I am as surfer and a thinker. It's very shortboard inspired/focused, so those of you looking to learn how to ride a longboard better, I will have to do a bit more research and write a post in the future about what I feel to be the hottest log flicks. I will say, however, that the films listed here are focused on surfers with great style and are thus highly instructive as to how to steer any kind of surf craft.  

Joaquin and related pulses

Dearest seekers of aquatic joy:

What a lovely past three weeks it has been to be a New York surfer! You know it's been good when you regret taking a day off from surfing just to catch up on work and home life and to let your muscles recover. I have surfed both in New York and New Jersey with a variety of crews, both free surfing and in lessons and various combinations thereof. Stoke and good will are flourishing. These are the biggest waves many CSC members have paddled out in. Beccy did a cutback the other day. Deb charged 6ft bombing Long Beach. Zeke bought an 8'6" Faktion egg I had made for the very purpose of selling it to a CSC member asap. I test drove the board before selling to make sure it was a gem. This was the first day of the swell and there was a hellacious rip pulling off the Long Beach sandbar I was surfing. I rode a few waves on my shortboard but it soon became apparent that I would tire quickly on such small equipment, so I brought out the 8'6" and proceeded to get drained from a few solid tubes. That was a great omen, so I sold the board to Zeke in hopes that similar luck will rub off. That was two weekends ago when Paul, who is determined as all get out to become a surfer, charged some solid Long Beach as well. He made it out the back a few times before getting pulled through the rocks at the next jetty down. He and the board came through entirely unscathed. Such things can happen when you miss waves and a swing-wide-set nails you on the head. Good to test limits and know that one can survive intimidating situations.

In honor of the good waves I made a little video starring mostly myself with a few friends making cameos. My bud, Jon Paul, unfortunately stepped on a piece of glass in the parking lot at National Blvd in Long Beach after a fun surf, rendering him on the injured list for the remainder of the swell. Nevertheless he was keen to get out there and so I put him on video duty. Most of the best waves were surfed on days when Jon Paul either wasn't able to come to the beach or was surfing or doing his own thing. So in many ways what you see below are really the scraps. But I think that overall they're pretty good scraps! 

In other news, the Costa Rica camps need to get booked! Please email me if you are thinking of attending one! We need to get the deposit and travel sorted out asap. I have a full rundown of how travel works on www.ranchodiandrew.com. So please head over there! 


Patience, Grasshoppers

Where did the waves go? Word on the street is that El Niño has taken all of the wind out of the East Coast's sails and puffed it into the Pacific, which has been active as all get out by the looks of the highlight reels on Instagram and Surfline. My Swell Info app is telling me we may get a few waves next week, but I'm not holding my breath. I check that app about 10 times a day and it is different every time that I do. The truth of the matter is that I hope it's right because if it is we're looking at 3-5 days of fun waves, and we could all really use that about right now. By this time last year we had named swells Bertha and Cristobal, which both produced pumping surf in the well overhead range. 

This brings us to the important topic of patience. You have to wait for swell. And then when it comes you have to wait your turn to catch waves. And if you're just a beginner (and by my standards this means a person with less than 3 years experience) that means you're going to have to do a lot of waiting. I have been noticing that people hire me to take them to next level in their surfing -- to start learning to judge and catch more waves -- but then when we get out in the water the reality is that they still belong on the inside, riding whitewater. When we go out the back I can help you judge waves but if you have not developed the paddling ability to go for them (commit to the vertical, as in a previous article), no one, not even me, can do that for you. You have got to want it and you have got to go for it. I am an expert coach but I cannot implant my knowledge in you as if it were a computer chip. And most of all, surfing takes a lot of time and dedication. You cannot only surf once a month, only rent boards, and expect that you're going to improve very quickly. You need to commit all of the way. Buy a board or many boards. Get your wetsuit game down. Go on surf trips. Buy a car for surfing out here or get a Zipcar membership. Go before work. Go after work. Surf all day on the weekends and paddle when it's flat. That's the kind of dedication required to get good at surfing. And when you're out in the lineup remember that as a surfer with little to no experience you're at the bottom of the food chain and not only must you catch scraps, but you must look for those scraps and hunt them down. The better you are at hunting and catching scraps the faster you will improve, hands down. 

I realize that I have just used the command 'buy' here many times. If you have already taken lessons with me then you know the power of putting your money into your surfing practice. It is just as with anything else: the more you invest the better your chances of returns. I cannot think of anything more rewarding to invest in than a life dedicated to riding waves (and getting good at it). To me that sounds better than a fat IRA. What are you going to do with all of that money if you don't know how to surf?! I know, lots of things, but still, they aren't going to give back in pure stoke wattage like surfing will. To my mind, it is just not possible. The other side to this is that if you do not invest in surfing then you only have yourself to blame for not getting good at it. And furthermore, once you start investing if you do not have the patience required to let it grow on its own you will also be disappointed and frustrated. For this reason you must revel in the small successes: paddling stronger, popping up more smoothly, watching the sunrise or set, dodging a huge set, or timing a perfect turtle roll. 

Speaking of patience, there have just been 4 (or 5?) long lay days at the Hurley Pro/Swatch Women's Pro at Lower Trestles in San Clemente, CA. I've watched a lot of the footage from the first few rounds and there's some exciting quarterfinal match-ups on both sides. My call for the men's champ is Gabe Medina and Carissa Moore for the women's. Action should be back on today. As I have written about before, watching the live events is a testament to the patience required to get good waves. I watched Nat and Owen sit for 16 minutes the other day and not catch a wave! Of course they paddled one another out of position for the first set, but still, even that proves that if you miss just one opportunity, that could be the last one in quite some time. 

There are still spots open for Montauk, the first weekend in October. Payment is required in full by next Saturday, Sept 26, to secure a spot. Payment for the CR January camps is due by December 1, and for the March camp by Jan 1. 

 

Fall is Around the Corner! Plus CSC EAST with Chris Blotiau

Oof! August hit like a pound of bricks. This was definitely the busiest month in Conatus history. We have had consistently small, fun, and surfable waves. I've been very impressed with the levels that students are reaching this summer. Lots of people catching green water and styling down the line. Others getting over difficulties with the pop. Some buying their own equipment and making the full commitment to a life filled with aquatic joy. I have even managed to get some great video clips of students doing their thing and will have an edit out by the end of the summer. Which brings me to a topic of great importance: fall is almost here! 

What does this mean? First of all this means NO MORE LIFEGUARDS, which means that WE CAN SURF ANYWHERE AT ANY TIME AFTER LABOR DAY in Long Beach or Rockaway. Those that have been surfing the crowded "yellow flag" beaches with me this summer should have great cause to rejoice. It also usually means more favorable winds and waves. We are, however, set to have a slow hurricane season this year, so let's keep our expectations low. Regardless of what the swells bring, I offer the same lessons and packages throughout the fall (Sept-Dec). Surfing is not over just because summer is! Do not fear for winter, as I have packaged the Costa Rica camps for January and March and will post about that in a few days. I also have arranged a special weekend excursion to Montauk in September. This brings me to some really exciting news: 

CSC is now working with Chris Blotiau, an expert surf instructor and sailor, in Montauk. I met Chris at my friends, Martine and Juan's, dj night at Ruschmeyers in the early summer. We did the whole "what is that you do?" spiel and it turned out that we are both surf instructors. When I told him about the Conatus Method he immediately complimented me and said that that's exactly how surfing ought to be taught, and asked me how he could be a part of the program. I love that kind of respect, inspiration, and initiative. Here's Chris' bio in his own words: 

    I was born on Long Island and introduced to the ocean by my father through sailing. My first diaper changing table was the trampoline of a Hobie 16. My father’s passion for sailing and the ocean was quite obvious and incredibly contagious. The first 12 years of my life, our shared passion and motivations were completely centered around sailing and being near the sea. Despite many struggles with living situations and finances, my father always found a place to fit passion in his life and it made him the greatest father and influence of my life. Passion for the ocean led me to discover surfing on my own and when I was 11 years old I started saving up my pennies for my first surfboard. Fast forward one year and I had saved $50, actually $42. My parents lent me the extra 8 bucks so that I could buy my first used surfboard from the Lido Beach Surf Shop (no longer there), a 6’2” Hotline, glassed on thruster setup. I didn’t have anyone in my life who encouraged me to try surfing, therefore I was left to learn to surf on my own. Desire and determination are two excellent characteristics to have as a beginner in anything and I was excited to begin the journey. Learning was a long road, but I eventually started making discoveries in surfing regarding form, technique, and timing. Love for riding waves leads a surfer to travel and even if it was only a short train ride to Montauk, travelling to surf introduced a new level of passion for me. I’ve fallen in love with many places, but Montauk called me and after many years of visiting, I finally made it my new home where I currently reside, surf, and design clothing for my lifestyle brand, Live in Color.

Chris has the style and the chops. 

Chris has the style and the chops. 

So how does a lesson with Chris work? It's the same as a lesson with me except it's in Montauk and that means you may be able to get through a 3 or 5 lesson package in a week or even a few days time. The pricing on all lessons and packages are the same and payment goes through me. You do not pay Chris in cash. We are currently working on getting card readers but those charge a lot so for now it's just the "old school" way. Chris and I are really into working with people for the long term and so we'll be putting our heads together to think of more comprehensive long term packages/tuitions. If you're interested in lesson with Chris simply say so when you email or use the submission form and we'll get you set up! 

I also want to stress that I have surfed with Chris and watched him teach and he is the real deal. I do not use my judgment lightly nor would I trust anyone who I do not feel is 110% capable of treating students and the ocean with the same care and respect that I do. So if you're planning a surf trip out there, he is your man. 

If my endorsement isn't enough, here's Chris with the king. 

If my endorsement isn't enough, here's Chris with the king.