Seal!

So we hit the Santa Monica beach break at a place called chet this weekend. Saturday and Sunday were really nice peaky rollers that allowed for great lefts or rights sometimes all the way to the beach. Due to an achy shoulder I took out the eight foot fun board which was great. It picked up the waves nicely and no last second hard paddles which is usually where my shoulder gets tweaked.

Halfway through the Sunday session one of my compadres pointed out a dark triangle that was poking out of the water about a hundred yards out. Everyone saw it and after the shark sighting a few days earlier we thought that it deserved some looking in to. Lifeguards are cool people in general and they have all sorts of neat stuff in there little huts such as oh, binoculars. I went and asked them to check it out and in stead of a killer shark (!) it was a chiller seal(.).

Who me?

This guy was just bobbing around enjoying the summer sun kind of like us.

Yeah you!

Never hurts to check.

Shark!

So relatively flat surf and busy days have kept me in from surfing lately. We had a great session at a place we call Chowders that was reported to be 2 foot surf and blown out. It turned out to be 5+ foot and really fun! Keep up the good work Surfline! Been back to Chowders since then and it hasn't been as good.
I was going to go for an afternoon session at Sunset so I checked the surf report and found this!

http://www.sunsetsurf.com/sharks.asp

Yikes! Big shark equals good news for Bella. We went on a long walk instead.

Shark^

Dolphin^

Here is some good information on sharks and some flimsy advise on what to do in case of a shark sighting.

http://www.sunsetsurf.com/sharks2.asp

In case of a shark sighting I would advise to:

#1 Warn others
#2 Scram!
#3 Go home caffeinate and watch Jaws! with a new sense of terror!

Shark sightings are like rain days. Stay out of the water the next few days and you should be fine.

In case you or someone you know has any sort of an "unfortunate event" start here:

ABC'S in case of emergencies are alway prudent.
Airway
Breathing
Circulation'
Spine

Pressure points are better than tourniquets unless the entire end of the limb is missing. Pressure points are usually where you find the pulse on a patient Femoral Artery, Brachial Artery etc.. Putting serious pressure on these should slow bleeding down without cutting off blood flow in and out of the rest of the limb.
Cutting off blood flow completely for an extended period of time could be dangerous and actually cause loss of whatever limb is left or sepsis. Sepsis is basically poisoning of the blood stream by, in this case untying a tourniquet and letting dead red blood cells back through your circulatory system.
Tangent.
Oo oo oo.

Just clicked on the following link

http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/pacific_coast_shark_news.htm

Cool!

Fly Fishing the Eastern Sierra

So I've been threatening to do a fly-fishing video for a while. I guess it was in the stars because I made this one by default. After switching cars and driving to our destination I had realized that my still camera was still in the truck. So here is my first attempt at taping fish! I had a video camera hanging around my neck and stuffed in my front pocket. Big pocket. So once the fish were hooked I'd pull out the camera and then switch it on and let it dangle. The video I cut out was a little nauseating. Kind of like the last Bourne Identity movie. Shaky Cam to the max. Some of the shots I was holding the camera some it was just hanging from my neck and I was trying to get the fish in the shot. Kinda fun.

Also the soundtrack is a tune that I wrote while my friend was in town with his pretty little daughter Amelia. Thus the songs title.

Hope you enjoy. It was fun to make and I think does a good job showing off some of the prettiest fish on the planet. Each one is like a canvas that is painted differently. A few of these fish are hybrid goldens. Such as golden browns, and golden cut throats. Beautiful. It's a little over 3 minutes long.

I have just viewed it online and the detail is pretty poor. If someone would like a DVD of this vid let me know and I'm sure we can come to some sort of an agreement. It's not high def. But the detail comes through.

Mammoth Blues and Brews

http://www.mammothbluesbrewsfest.com/breweries.html

Great weekend.
Mammoth 5.5-6 hours North on the 395. Their is about 2.5 hours of desert driving so wear a long sleeve shirt and long pants or suffer a wicked farmers tan. Also I brought along my plant sprayer with water in it that I sprayed on my sun exposed parts while driving. Evaporative cooling is great and yes it even helps with the AC on.

The Blues and Brews setting is out in a stand of pine trees. There are more breweries every year and the bands this year were great. Even though it was hot out, there was ample shade and a cool breeze blowing. Their were plenty of choices for food booths and they have added additional porta johns which was great. As per my M.O. (5th year running) I ran around to try different brews for about the first 45 minutes. The goal is to find a new or interesting beer that is clean dry, crisp and properly hopped for it's style and their was a lot of them. Getting slightly intoxicated is not a goal, but it is a pleasant side effect.

I was impressed with Huntington Beach Beer Co. it was a really quality I.P.A. Russian River, Lagunitas and Bear Republic are always putting out a quality product and it was a pleasure to see that and San Diego had 5 or so breweries represented including Stone! My So. Cal. favorite. The guys and girls from The Kern River Brewing Company were there and it was great to check in with them and taste some of their great brews.

After the first burst of tasting (which usually includes some serious smile at the brewer and dump the beer at the nearest convenient tree) I settle in to EJ Phair and enjoy just pouring and shooting the shizzle with whoever comes by the booth. JJ had brought an English IPA and Shorties Revenge which is a strong amber ale. He puts out some of the best beer that I have had and if your in the East Bay Area, Concord to be specific look up his Ale house. I'm not just saying this because he's a good friend but the food is great and the beer is better and it's close enough to a BART Station that you don't even need to risk a dumb drive home. The night ended with dinner at Nevados (really good quality and tasty but spendy) and a cigar under the stars at Mammoths upper lodge. Somebodies got to do it...


Than there was the fishing... Next Post.

We Do Special Requests!

These prototypes were made for a great company that has stated that they will highlight our product in their booth at the annual Veterans Administration Trade Show this year.
(Bella not included)
Pretty snappy no?

The camo cases are to make the pillow available to medics in the military. Keep your fingers crossed!