Never thought I would see the day

[Tex]

Not really sure how to set this thread up. All I can say is that if you happened to be thumbing through the latest Surfing Mag on a two page spread (102-103) you probably would have shite your pants just like I did. Shock and awe would probably best describe it. Would rather you all get to experience this yourself instead of ruining the surprise. Given the fact that Surfing is probably the worst of the surf rags, many of you might miss this one. Let me know if you want me share more detail.

[Tatonka]

share more details, I don't read any of that shiit.

[Tex]

So this shot has to be taken from a roof top on main street in Manzanita. In the center of the shot is a barrelling right that must be 5-7 ft. given the distance of the photographer from the beach. Beautiful winter morning with blue skies. My old place of employement back in 94 the sand dune tavern is easily identifiable.

In all my years of surfing in the oregon coast...started in 86....I never thought that my old hometown would make it in a surf mag. Crazy shite.

[Quad Head]

Who's the photog?

[Tex]

McInnis...I think that was his name...can confirm tonight.

[wanty]

a nice shot indeed by our friend mcinnis...

although im sure its photoshopped...

[Quad Head]

Ah MC. Who woulda guessed.

Friend? He's prob got more enemies than friends these days?

[Doc]

Yeah, he's personally responsible for outing Oregon...
No one would have ever guessed there was surf up here.

Doc

[Spent]

It is certainly a beautiful shot. Looks like a classic OB shot if San Francisco was a small Oregon beach town. I have to admit I'd rather not see this in Surfing Mag but in theory it could be anywhere North of SF and South of Van Isle. No doubt many of us have tried to find such a PNW barrel and know it is not as easy to reach as the photo might make it seem...

[MC]

*if you've read any of my thoughts regarding the current and future state of our lineups, you needn't read...it's repetitive*

quad hit the nail on the head.

dec. 18th.

hardly photoshopped (although i wish it was, sans business names).

5-7? nah. look at the chick walking down the street and the size of the vehicles. sure, the telephoto lens helps with the compressing, but it was solid double overhead. easy.

if a person could have made it out to the peak and stayed in position they'd have deserved a merit badge. if a person then could have first chosen this wave out of the overwhelming amount of closeouts, made the drop and come out of the barrel, well, then they'd be as lucky as those seven pricks in new york. furthermore, if a person drives up here in search of "that" wave they'll be extremely disappointed.

certainly my goal isn't to "blow this place up". nor do i think my images will play a role in blowing this place up. sure, that even sounds ignorant to me. but when you think about it, there's a reason that the majority of our breaks are fairly uncrowded:

1) it's cold - wetsuit technology continues to evolve, sure, but most surfers of any threat to the locals that dominate our peaks aren't going to spend the time, energy and money to come here and 9 out of 10 times score blown out beach break. i've heard of a few pros rolling through on their way up to the CWC in Canada the past few years, but they're here and they're gone lickity split. in other words, i don't think that overcrowding is an imminent problem.

2) it's sharky - that's just a fact.

3) it's fickle - ditto

4) as previously stated, the coast of the pnw isn't exactly thriving with career opportunity. i would guess that the majority of surfers in the world - kids, teens, seniors excluded - do indeed have jobs. jobs near breaks much better than ours. jobs in coastal cities much less cold, rainy and windy than ours. jobs that probably pay better than ours (depending, of course), etc., etc.,

i mean, the population of SS has grown by 1,000 in 40 years. that's 250 people every 10 years, or, 25 people a year. i wonder how many of those 25 each year surf? probably not a lot. but maybe some. or maybe they'll learn. and that's just the actual sport of surfing's fault. why do we do it? because it's fun. it's no surprise that other people like it too. although it does suck and i wish that nobody would ever start surfing again, but that's incredibly selfish, outlandish and impractical.

last year the surfrider foundation surveyed 4,000 oregonians to found out which activities they participated in while at the beach (http://oregon.surfrider.org/blog/2011/0 ... use-study/). beach going took the cake with close to 65% and surfing finished last with less than 5% of the total vote, or, 200 people. when i think that blacks or malibu or rincon sees near that amount of people per day (on a good day), it puts things into perspective of how uncrowded it is up here. sure there are people surfing at shorties every single weekend, but not nearly as many just north or south of there. there is a lot of room up here still. especially at the beachies.

anyway, late and hazy and rambling again...

lots of mixed emotions right now. lots of hate. lots of praise. when genuinely good people are mad at you, you can't really feel good about yourself. it sucks.

on the other hand this is my chosen path and i knew that it would come with the territory.

stuck between a rock and a hard place. go figure.

looking back and looking forward, i'd rather just travel and shoot surfers for stories and what not and leave shots of the pnw to simply grace my walls.

hopefully that's how it all works out.

like with most things, only time will tell.

[MC]

oh, and SURFING magazine...

whether you like the magazine or not, and despite corporate ownership, this publication is put together by hands down the nicest, most down to earth, genuine group of guys that i have come across in this industry. no doubt about it.

[pro moe]

Really I have been hearing that same old line up here since the ‘70’s
yes its more crowded but its not the traveling hoards from the south it’s the inland and local surfer populations that really have had an impact as far the crowds are concerned
but all considered you can still occasional find empty lineups on good days even at the best spots
be honest if you wanted to do 5 page travel piece in my locale the chamber of commerce would fall over itself to fund it
and for Surfing mag it needs more bikini’s but I like it they keep sending it free and surfer has been costing me $10 every 3 years

[Tex]

MC...just wanted to clarify on my original post:
1. Love the picture, the shock of it for me was that a beach break I have spent years surfing was placed in a national mag.
Never seen any of my spots in those mags. When I was younger, I always thought it would be cool to see my surf world
represented in one of the main mags.

2. In my opinion the picture will have minimal effect on crowds. Just glad you focused on that particular part of the beach.

3. Interesting to hear about all the staffers at Surfing. Glad they are all so cool to work with.

[MC]

thanks, tex. i didn't think you were abrasive at all. just wanted to speak my mind on the matter.

pro, depends on where it is, but sounds interesting.

[Tex]

I would pay some good money to see the PNW shots you have on your walls bro.