Ode to the Night

The Night Womp
Bright Moonlight.
Bring some friends,
Hoot and holler!
Three cheers for the Ocean.

Night Crew.
Night Crew.

Calm wind. Sheet glass conditions.
High tide pulls clean waves along the shore.
Sure, you can think about the creatures.
But its ok, nothing is out to get you.

Run and dive in.
Let senses explode!
Waves feels faster,
Even a few feet bigger.
Slight chill.
Nowhere is darker than under a wave at night.
The stark quiet of water and sand.

Moonlit tubes.
Psychedelic wonder.
Out of the darkness; glistening, moving water.
The inside of the barrel,
Glowing in LunaLight.

-KS

Rider: @nolanomura Photo: bautista_jeff
Rider: @nolanomura Photo: @bautista_jeff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swell Lines Magazine

Ode to El Niño

Warm Equatorial waters
Southerly jet stream
Conveyor belt of large storms,
Marching across the North Pacific
Barrier-breaking, big wave paddle sessions are the norm each week.

Busy Buoys: NOAA
Busy Buoys: NOAA

Week after week of weekend swells,
Building in through the day on Friday.
Pumping by Friday evening.
Peaking Saturday morning and still pumping on Sunday.
Overhead sets lingering on Monday.AR8A5568

It is difficult to finish this publication.
Sleep, swim, eat, swim, swim, eat, sleep.
Maybe some work, but mostly bodysurfing.
And thinking about waves.
And watching wave models.

StormSurf
StormSurf

And it’s world-wide:
Gold Coast, Aus point breaks.
Massive Europe.
East Coast USA: double overhead, 12ft and perfect.

Marathon sessions, full body exhaustion.
Lazy towards the end,
Not getting to the spot.
Going over the falls,
Not diving deep enough.
Beatings and poundings.AR8A6573

High pressure, sunny skies, 80°
Offshore or glassy in the morning
Minimal onshores through the afternoon.
Although, not enough rain.
We need more rain. 

But selfishly, we’re smiling.
Exhausted, sore, beat up…but smiling.
Spending hours underwater,
Taking exhilarating sets on the head.
Considerable amount of tube time.
Hope it never stops. 

-KS

 

 

Swell Lines Magazine

Ode to Autumn

Autumnal Equinox.
The season of the harvest.
Reap the benefits of multiple swell sources.
Harvest the tubes from the North and the South and the Tropics.

The South Pacific slows down, the North Pacific speeds up.
The Tropics still vibrate with energy.
Combo swells are some of the best swells.

Record breaking water temps.
Forgot what neoprene feels like.
Boardshorts worn ragged.
Light winds for most of the day.
High pressure, glassy conditions.
Moon sessions hooting with the boys.

Fire-free Santa Ana events. 
Kids back to school.
Parking and traffic loosen up.
Hot days, muggy nights.
But eventually the nights cool.
Because of the gray and gloom…
SoCal’s summer doesn’t start until fall.

The only real detriment to Autumn:
Darkness creeps earlier.
Sense it every night.
The light changes.

Winter is coming.
El Nino hype. El Nino anticipation.
Stomach full of butterflies.
Will it be 200ft+ all winter long?
Nah, but hopefully solid.
Don’t fret that yet…
Enjoy the autumn. SoCal Summer.
-KS

Autumn
Autumn

Swell Lines Magazine

Ode to Winter

Sure the days are short and morning’s cold.
But the Exhilaration!
Stripping off warm layers…
To enter a wet, clammy wetsuit…
in freezing offshore wind…
At dawn.

Big, purple blobs flood NPAC models.
The Harvest Buoy spikes…its coming.
Butterfly stomach excitement.
Impending glory rides…
…and poundings.
Wintertime!

The North Pacific Ocean.
The Polar Jet Stream.
Massive, spinning tempests.
Spraying swell from-
Hawaii to Alaska to California.

Entire weeks of head-high+ surf.
Consistent, pumping sets.
Lungs expand.
Surfed-out, thinning crowds.
80° weekends in January.
The thrill of enormous storm surf.
Delightful Winter!

Less traffic, more parking.
Dynamic weather.
Glorious, desperate rain.
Maybe, possibly, perhaps …
the run-off bacteria strengthens our immune system?

Shaka
Smile! Its time for winter poundings!

Swell Lines Magazine

Ode to the Pains

Weeks and months of good surf!
Cuts and scrapes and tweaks and rashes.
It hurts… but the pain is good.
It’s a reminder of pumping swell.
You have not been sitting on the couch.
You’ve been spending hours/days in the Ocean.

Hard rubber fins rubbing and grinding.
Hamburger feet.
Wear your foot ulcers like a badge of honor.
We all have them.
Some are worse than others.
But everyone that has bodysurfed hard knows the fun of gaping wounds on their feet.

Back of the neck, under-carriage, back of the knees, armpits…
Vaseline tried but the rashes are deep.
Walk awkwardly from boardshort rash…nod knowingly at the other bleary-eyed guy you pass
with the same painful stride.

Shoulders exhausted and sore from miles of swimming.
Neck and back tweaked from countless backwash bounces and wipeouts.
SPF 50 fought valiantly but your skin is still burned and cracked.

The human body is roughly 70% water.
The amount of water in your ears and head and sinuses has to push that closer to 80%.
Your sinuses drain down the front of your shirt at the most inopportune times.
“What? I’m sorry I couldn’t hear you. Could you please repeat that? What? Huh?”
Can’t hear a thing.
Its like holding a seashell to your ear except you actually have the Ocean in your head.

If you’re a wave-rider and none of these things currently afflict you…
Bummer, we’re sorry to hear that.
Hopefully you feel that good pain soon.
-KS
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Swell Lines Magazine