Pumpkin Patch

Took a trip up north of town to the pumpkin patch off Coast Highway 1 to pick out pumpkins for our jack-o-lanterns.  Great way to get into the Halloween spirit searching around in the pumpkin patch for the hero pumpkin to carve up and make into an epic jack-o-lantern for welcoming trick or treaters and scaring away bad spirits.  We each found a nice pumpkin that fit what we were looking for to make the style of carving we envisioned, and had a lot of fun prepping them up for display on the front steps.  Happy Halloween!

Ocean view pumpkin patch

Selection section

Searched it out and found my pumpkin

My friend Jack

Happy Halloween!!!

Tortoise Time

Spent a few minutes hanging out with the neighborhood legend, a huge prehistoric dinosaur tortoise, while he was chilling in his yard.  As a fellow vegan, I decided to share some of my pineapple guavas with him, knowing he would appreciate some nature candy.  Sea turtles (and owls) are my favorite animals, so visiting with their terrestrial cousin was a fun time.  I appreciate how turtles and tortoises are never in a hurry, they just take their time on an easy cruising pace as they go about their day, eating fruits and veggies and enjoying the day with no pressure, just soaking up the sun's rays and savoring some fresh air, with their house on their back allowing them to post up and hide out wherever they might find themselves.  Good role models for today's society, people should take notes.  Pure inspiration :)

Legend status

The Daily Habit

A couple of months ago I was invited to join the Del Mar Housing Projects Team to appear on an episode of Fuel TV's "The Daily Habit" to feature some of our footage we have collected using the custom camera housings and mounts we have built out at The Projects' Secret Laboratory.  The DMHP crew that went up for the filming at Fuel's Los Angeles studios included myself, Erik Hjermstad, Tyler Reid, and Anthony Walsh.  They sent a limo to pick us up at sunrise, everyone at Fuel was super friendly, we had a great time on the show, and on the way home we stopped at Au Lac Humanese Cuisine, the best living food restaurant in Southern California, and possibly the world, for lunch and a secret elixir from the legend himself Chef Ito!  An all-time day!  To watch the Fuel TV episode click here.  I hope you enjoy the footage!

From L ro R: Limo, myself, Anthony Walsh, Tyler Reid, Erik Hjermstad

Erik and I in the middle of a serious business meeting on the morning commute

DMHP Team living large

Just another day at the office

On the set of "The Daily Habit"  Watch Episode

Master Chef Ito from Au Lac mixing up our elixirs

Fire In The Sky

Soaking up a beautiful sunset up north, absolutely amazing!

Living Raw Vegan Pesto

Pesto is one of my favorite recipes.  But not the traditional recipe with cheese, I prefer a raw and living vegan mix I make which is a blend of various nuts and seeds along with fresh basil and garlic.  I use a mix of pine nuts, macadamia nuts, pistachios, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds, but the special ingredient is to include Manitoba Harvest Shelled Hemp Seed.  Hemp seed is one of the best sources of complete protein (containing all of the essential amino acids), is easily assimilable, raw, vegan, and best of all delicious, and has Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) omega-6 and omega-3 in an ideal ratio for human consumption (3.75:1).  For more info on nature's superfood read hemp nutrition.  

First thing to do is to soak all of the nuts and seeds overnight (except hemp seeds and pine nuts) in order to remove the enzyme inhibitors and make them easier to digest.  I like to keep my pesto sauce a little chunky and thick, but my usual ratio is 1 cup of each of the nuts/seeds (pine, macadamia, pistachio, walnut, pumpkin, hemp) equal to that many cups of fresh organic basil, so for this recipe 5 to 6 cups basil, approx 1 to 1 1/2 cups organic extra virgin cold pressed olive oil, half a clove of organic garlic, and 2 tsp of sea salt.  Any of the above ratios are able to change based on your preferred taste, such as more garlic, less sea salt, or different nuts (almond, brazil, hazel) for a different flavor.  Rinse and pick all of the fresh basil leaves off of the stems, chop the fresh garlic, and add olive oil and sea salt to the nut and seed medley in a food processor and blend.  

Creating a raw vegan live food entree is simple.  The living pesto sauce can be placed on top of thinly sliced zucchini creating veggie noodles for pesto pasta, or used in veggie nori wraps (recipe to come soon), for a variety of delicious meals resonating with life!  Enjoy!

Ready to mix it up!

Brand New Day

Sometimes you just have to treat yourself right.  Yesterday I went for a surf with a brand new setup, a new Matuse 5/4/3 Hoplite Fullsuit and my brand new 5'11" Channel Islands Surfboard shaped by Al Merrick with custom bamboo fins from 101 Fin Co. built for use with Lokbox Fin Systems.  Epic day!

Matuse makes incredibly warm, comfortable, and flexible wetsuits, check them out!

5'11" Al Merrick w/ bamboo fins from 101 Fin Co and OAM traction pad

Neighborhood Fruit Foraging

Fruit foraging is a valuable skill, as it not only provides a source of food, but also a deeper connection to the rhythms and cycles of the seasons.  Every year I am so excited to celebrate autumn and the coming winter, with the crisp cooler air, the phenomenal sunrises and sunsets, the dwindling summer crowds, and especially the building North Pacific swell.  It just so happens that this time of year coincides with blooming pineapple guava trees, an abundance of Nature's candy ripe and ready for everyone to enjoy.  Despite their low key exterior, hiding inside is a bright translucent yellow and refreshing sweet-tart synergy of flavor, so incredible that the only thing keeping me from eating them all day is the inevitable lip trauma, like eating an entire pineapple yourself.  The self-regulating characteristics of these treats just means that there will be plenty around to enjoy throughout the season, a perfect breakfast or after surf savior snack.  Eating them reminds me what time of year it is, and they invoke that palpable anticipation created only by the approaching winter surf season.  

The key to neighborhood fruit foraging is to only pick fruit that is open to taking, finding a stocked branch or two hanging out over a fence onto public property, with ripe fruits scattered around the ground.  Almost always this fruit is above and beyond what the owners can manage with what lands in their yard already.  Instead of letting this resource rot and go to waste, eating the fruit completes the cycle, fulfilling the potential of this food as fuel for life.  

Nature Provides :)

Dream setup, corner tree with fruits everywhere

Ripe fruit ready for sidewalk harvest

Take notes, identifying leaf structure helps you know what to look for

Candyland :)

A solid 5 minute harvest will last 5 days

Nature's Candy

Jim Beam SurfTag

The Jim Beam SurfTag Qualifier #3 took place on October 11 at Oceanside Harbor's North Jetty under overcast skies with a small little south swell pushing in knee to waist high waves.  I was invited to join the Blue Collar Team by Chemistry Surfboards' Will Smith, to surf with fellow team mates Jason Bennett, Firewire's Chuy Reyna, and RAEN Optics' Jeremy Heit.  The format is super fun, with a tag-team setup involving 5 surfers per team all starting in a box on the beach, with one hour for the sequence of riders to each catch 3 waves, then come in and tag their next teammate back in the box for them to begin their campaign.  The second wave for each surfer is scored double, and all of the point totals are added to determine the team's combined score totals.  Extra points are awarded for being the first team to have all 5 surfers each with their 3 wave scores all back inside the box, and having all of the surfers from the competing teams together in one area leads to all time heckles and rousting from the battling teams, classic stuff!  Team Reef surfed impressively all day and took a convincing win with solid performances from all team riders.  With an average effort (excluding the stellar performance by Jason Bennett dropping a 9.5 on his double scoring "Powerwave") our team somehow qualified for the Championships, taking place November 13 & 14 at Huntington Beach Pier, stoked!

Blue Collar Team (minus Chuy Reyna) L to R Jason Bennett, Will Smith, myself, and Jeremy Heit

Team Reef's winning tag, with Pascal Stansfield from previous qualifier champion team "Happy Endings" looking on, and Reef's Heath "Nutty" Walker heckling Benji Weatherley from team "Man Sandwich"

Team Reef Qualifier #3 Champions L to R: Chris Abad, Nick Rosza, Chris Waring, Sean Marceron, and Teddy Navarro

Sacred Craft

The Sacred Craft Surfboard Expo took place October 10 & 11 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, bringing the craftsmen responsible for the tools of our art together in one place to collaborate new ideas, catch up with recent developments, and reminisce about the good times.  It was the best vibe ever, what I imagine trade shows were like a couple decades ago, with everyone genuinely stoked to see what cool things their contemporaries are working on, and everyone being such good friends that it held a reunion atmosphere.  Old friends, fresh faces, and new concepts provided a powerful dynamic that gave the whole show a picnic feel while being extremely captivating and entertaining.  I saw surfing legends chatting in the walkways, beautifully crafted surfboards of all different shapes and materials, and some of the most creative new surfboard ideas and designs.  Some of my favorite visions at the expo are highlighted here, keeping me inspired!  I highly recommend checking out a future show if you get the chance!

Daniel Thompson's Tomo Hydrofoil 5'8" Raptor V2 w/ Power Drive Keels

Channel Islands Surfboards had one of Kelly Slater's surfboard designs, a 5'6" Wizard Sleeve

5'9" Finless Thumb by Moonlight Glassing

Patagonia's Jon Peck Jr. w/ a 5'10" Lola Quad by Danny Hess

Kasey Curtis and I w/ Custom Bamboo Fins made by 101 Fin Co. for the Lokbox Fin System

Legends Peter St. Pierre and Joe Roper

The Man behind the popular Surfy Surfy blog and upcoming surf shop, J.P. St. Pierre w/ Peter

Patagonia Cardiff's Devon Howard and Jon Peck Jr.

4x World Champion Mark Richards and surfing legend Mickey Munoz catching up in the hall

Shapers to the stars Maurice Cole and Rusty Preisendorfer talking design

Looking forward to the next expo!

Samoa Tsunami Survivor

On September 29 at 6:48 am local Samoan time, an 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck approximately 120 miles south of the Samoan Islands, creating a tsunami that reached the islands within 15 minutes, killing at least 119 people and wounding numerous more.  One of my best friends, Neil Lumsden, was surfing an outer reef when the tsunami hit.  Read the story I wrote from info he told me about his hectic experience on the TransWorld Surf website.  My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone suffering from this tragic disaster.  

Samoa Tsunami Aftermath pic by Richard Betham

Tsunami Survivors Neil and Manoa Lumsden

Neil enjoying better days pic by Tyler Reid

Fig Harvest

End of the season fig harvest went down at my buddy Barry's farm, Koral's Tropical Fruit Farm, at sunset last night.  He has the absolute best fig varieties ever, including Variegated Panachee, Deanna, Brown Turkey, White Genoa, Osborn Prolific, Strawberry Verte, and Black Mission, among others, all grown organically with loving care.  There is nothing better than ripe figs bursting with flavor picked fresh from the tree and ready to eat, absolutely amazing!  

Nature Provides :)

New Videos

Just finished uploading some new videos, a collection of some amazing adventures, hope everyone enjoys watching!  Look for more videos coming soon! 

Video frame grab filmed by Brad Anderson