So I’ve been way into trying to learn the ins and outs of blues on the guitar. I’ve been spending hours every day when I’m not surfing or the waves are flat playing guitar and watching old videos of Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Robert Johnson, anything and everything blues really. This video of Hendrix jamming on his 12 string is one of my favorites. It’s pretty crazy how so much amazing music is spawned from the blues…
Surfing Magazine recently did a rad article in which Bobby Martinez interviewed several surfers about surfing and where they plan to take their lives after surfing… I thought it was a super cool idea and Bobby created a super interesting story around the topic. Surfing is not going to last forever, but many of us become so entrenched in it, because it’s such an amazing sport, that we don’t think about our lives after professional surfing. Obviously I will love surfing forever because it’s my passion, but it’s important not to put all of your eggs in one basket. Here’s a little video they put together on the issue which includes pieces of the interviews.
Well, I’m currently in Virginia Beach for the 2013 ECSC event. Within this event there is a pro junior that is in correlation with a 4 star WQS event. For me, I came in high hopes of getting a result in the pro junior and qualifying for the ASP World Junior Championships, however, as of yesterday ago that dream was shattered. And let me tell you, this feeling of losing what you work all year for absolutely sucks. I fell victim to poor wave selection and a slow heat. Throughout this year I have had some close calls and some mistakes, so at this point I’m just trying to learn from them and get better. I guess that’s why they call this the “junior series”, so we can learn from our mistakes so when we are doing the real deal we don’t make the same ones. More so than being mad, I think im more just genuinely sad. I had a good feeling going into that heat and I just couldn’t get it going. But hey, as Michael Jordan once said, “Until you’re broken, you don’t know what you’re made of. It gives you the ability to build yourself all over again, but stronger than ever.” This is what is keeping me psyched and that’s what I plan to do. I’m in the round of 32 for the WQS event so I am here for the rest of the week. GRIND TIME 
This is a 5’8 19 2 1/4 Epoxy Fred Rubble with a twist. I say a twist because it is a modified version of the Fred Rubble which we created for super groveling. A la US Open, Virginia, Lacanau. The fin set up is Future fins. They are just a standard AM1 template but made out of fiberglass only. This is basically the board i can grab when the waves aren’t really ride-able and still ride them. I rode this board the last two days of the US Open and won the Pro junior on it and then took it to Lacanau and rode it in the 5 star there. This board is so fast and the width makes it super skatey over the super flat spots and mushy little waves that we are faced with on the QS. I don’t ride many epoxies but this one goes INSANE. It literally can ride anything. This board is probably my favorite board in my quiver and i actually get psyched when the waves are small enough to ride it.
I’m here in Lacanau for a 5 star WQS event, but the last two days have been really flat. So, we had two lay days. My trip has turned more into a summer time french vacation than a contest trip. And let me tell you, there isn’t anywhere you’d be than walking down a hot french beach in the summer time on a 4 day weekend (some sunny side up eggs if ya know what i mean!!) haha. Today we did a little Hurley Rip my shred stick/hang out down at the beach and we made a few new friends. It was a blast. I ended up taking a couple of really rad girls surfing and we had some pretty awesome tandem situations. Here’s a few pretty classic photos from today. The comp should be on tomorrow…
