News from a Ship

Nobody wants to leave this

Before I left the island, Jammin and I had an amazing time camping out and getting our surf zombie on. We slept at the beach instead of driving less than 1km to Trout's place for a hot tub because we were too exhausted to lift our boards to the racks. The following day I surfed for 8 hours again,  and I'm sure Jammer logged 8 minimum.

For this

 Eight bus rides and four planes later I arrived in Jerez, Spain.  Then I spent at 30+ days in the punishment factory. Working the night shift always makes me feel a bit like a junkie. At least after a long shift we could relax and drink an ice cold forty of cruzcampo for the low low price of €1.15. The actual work itself was average to shitty. The food and air quality on this particular ship were garbage. All day respirator everyday garbage. They call it a revite for the ship. It certainly takes months, if not years off of peoples lives in stress, exposure to chemicals, and lack of sleep. (My ears are still ringing.) At 8 dollars an hour it sure is hard to turn down such a wonderful gig.  At 10 hours a day thats 80 bucks a day. By the time my bar tab was paid and I'd tipped my server I only had eight bucks left. On the plus side I was able to visit Cádiz again and we had a great crew of guys on the job.

Watchful eyes

Señor Gaz Bueno an I head for Morocco Oct 25th. Freedom beckons.

A Large and Boundless Place

Night time arrival

Well folks, I had a potentially dangerous trip stuck in my head. I rang everyone I knew, and nobody was available. At the last minute I called the Irishman an hour or 2 before departure. Given the short notice and lack of details Clover had no idea what he was in for. He packed for a walk in the park and was out the door 20 minutes later, busted flip-flops, his tin, and about 20 Amnesiac overfill bottles from the brewery. Within hours we were dining at Lees Fried Chicken. At this point I quickly briefed Clove on how to land an 18 foot kayak in the surf without dying, and he informed me that he had never really been in a sea kayak before. 

Fearless and optimistic we arrived under the cloak of nightfall, unloaded our gear onto the wharf and went to work on the Amnesiac. In the AM we boarded the ship. We passed Orcas and redneck logging camps. The sea was calm as it gets, and the air was about 25 degrees. By the time the crane dropped us in the water the afternoon westerlies were blowing full speed ahead. After a careful assessment of the conditions we opted to attempt covering as much ground as possible, and continue north to the destination the following day. As we rounded our first major point we got a feeling of how large the great ocean really is. Even with only a 1-2 metre swell and a light NW breeze waves will rebound off cliffs and form clapotis far off the coast. Four hours later and almost halfway to our destination we pulled in at sunset and set up camp for the night. A terrible redneck was attracted to our fire on the beach, luckily he didn't stick around long. 

Clover found a friend

Log dump

Shamu swam by

Getting ready for a shower

The next morning we were off again, zero wind and full visibility. We found a tidally protected route to paddle through a complicated system of reefs. The surf was 6-8 foot and solid. Several glorious hours later we caught sight of our destination. We had to paddle about a mile offshore to avoid the boomers. It was sunny, hot, and apart from the ehukai, the air was completely still. Rafts of sea otters chilled in the kelp patties. We discovered a relatively sheltered area and beached it. The place was absolutely covered in wolf, bear, and cougar prints. At any time 4 or 5 herons would be lurking around on the reefs. Of course eagles, seagulls, kingfishers, ravens and all the other usual suspects were present in numbers. My bird watching was obstructed and an obnoxious new objective arose, I was forced to save the lives of 2 obtuse hikers who went for a swim and wound up caught in a rip, set course for the obituaries. They were in trouble and oblivious to the fact that its impossible to swim straight into a river mouth that is flowing. They were being sucked right out into the great ocean and were desperate by the time I reached them, more that a kilometre out. Eventually I put one fellow on my surfboard, swam beside him and pushed him until he was clear of the rip. I took great pleasure in shoving him into a wave in the shore pound. The other fellow swam beside us and remained calm. Clover was enjoying a surf down the beach. Without so much as an obrigado they left 2 blue bucks at our campsite and carried on. After that encounter we saw no other humans.

Dinner was served. 

The fishing was great. Instant fish as soon as the buzz bomb hit the water. We had perch and chanterelle fried rice one night, cod tacos with beans and hedgehog mushrooms another. No fish and chips this time though. We forgot to bring breading. We probably didn't have enough oil for fish and chips anyways. For some reason Clover and I really skimped on groceries. We sure had a surplus of beer though, which isn't the usual camping experience. We spent the next few days surfing, playing horseshoes, bocce, and flying a kite. Also we hiked up a mountain. The time came to leave and thus began a series of dilemmas. The surf was now much larger than when we arrived and our semi protected area was now a full on  5-6 foot beach break. Over the next few days both Clover and I (mostly Clover though) repeatedly dumped our kayaks launching and landing. Upon exit from our main camp, and by the time we both had passed through the immediate surf zone and pumped the water out of our kayaks, the fog started to roll in. We had a dangerous and difficult reef to navigate and both decided that landing would be our safest option until visibility improved. We hit shore at a river mouth and within seconds had a blazing fire lit. We were soaked from our launch minutes earlier, and were feeling a bit edgy because we had gotten stuffed by the fog. Landlocked, we decided to round the point on foot and check the conditions. By the time we returned to our kayaks, yogi bear was attempting to steal what was left of our picnic baskets. Two hours later the fog cleared up a bit. Even with the poor visibility we still managed to slink in and out of reefs passing through the surf zone a couple times. It was hairy. Wide eyed and white knuckled we eventually made our way to our destination for the night. On our last day of paddling the wind came up strong NW. Between that and the swell it was a real mixing bowl out there. We were ecstatic to set foot on land again after that. We camped on a reserve in a nice little cove. The people there sure were friendly. 

Next stop fried chicken

Early morning Clover

I made this net. Its designed after a wizard hat and marge simpsons hair. 

Buck knife fillets aint pretty

Clove con espinas

The Locals

The boat is coming

 Next we spent what felt like an eternity waiting for the ship. When it finally arrived the captain was a real asshole. We rounded out the trip with more fine dining at Lees fried chicken. Today was the first time I've checked the Gordon's beach webcam in ages. If the Neah Bay buoy was working I'd check it too. I fly out for Spain next week.

Capt Crunchy pants

Supervisor #1

Supervisor #2

Later

Island Time

It sure is easy to get caught up in the mid summer blur. Looking back it appears I was very busy. At the time I felt as though my life was becoming just as dull as the next guys, possibly even more so. The warmish dryish weather issues a torrent of activity upon those who will allow it. There were stag parties, there were stagette parties, there were subsequent weddings, there were music festivals, farmers markets and garage sales, all finally culminating with the grand opening ceremony of a spectacular event appropriately entitled September.

Mary Mo and Jo Jo

Sam Shredding

Most of my time was occupied mid-island, but I did venture both southerly and northerly respectively. I struggled with an attempt to paint on the wet coast in fogust, and ended up quitting the most frustrating job that I never had. My folks came for a lovely visit after the Drades wedding. We explored a taste of the local culture, as well as the localized fog banks that so consistently blanket the region.

Joey Hangin a 5'er

Both fishing and mushroom picking were absolutely stellar. Roche was chilling out for a few days and we caught some waves, Joey and Mary hung out on the coast for a couple of weeks, and Sam came by for a visit too. We camped out in proximity to the pacific rim and attempted to surf. Once again the van struck hard times, and JB Weld is now holding together yet another crucial piece of van. Luckily, Steven Robert Murray, my yellow attorney and mechanic was partially there to oversee my red green approach to auto repair. A few blue bucks later and we were rolling down the blacktop again.

They'll sing it to you with a smile

Otalith music festival was a huge success. Everyone in attendance had a blast and the only audible complaint was that it ended too soon. Afterwards myself and a couple of goons stuffed the van to the brim and ventured northwards. Not too many aspects of our original mission came to fruition. Three quarters of the whole way past Halfberg we had Curtis on the roof with his Wyoming saw, cutting down overhanging alder trees that blocked the muddy goat trail we were attempting to force the van to trudge through. It was dark, pouring rain and muddy. Curt climbing the hood of the van in the middle of the night, in the rain, with a poncho on and a saw in his hand, was a a scene straight from a cheesy horror flick.

River Floaters

A wharf worth the drive

Once we hit that river things began to change drastically for the better. We smoothed it for two weeks, catching fish, catching waves, and catching rays of solar power. We feasted on alder smoked salmon and had multiple saunas on the beach. The entire time Ospreys and Eagles were pulling fish out of the river and the great ocean.  The van has completed yet another glorious journey.

Curt taking off

Nate Dawg

Custom cedar smoking rack

Curt sliding left

Nate getting some

This

And that

My rig

Thanks for watching, Tune in next month. 

Tuff Summer

I found this stray dog in the forest.

So I spent some time on the west coast between Ucluelet and Tofino, enjoying the simpler things in life; chip clips, multi-use cutting board/handplanes, and wood that catches on fire with the lick of a match. Did some paddling around the ocean, Lemmens inlet and "gods pocket" which could be called oyster farm pocket. Cori and I camped out at Kennedy Lake and paddled Clayoquot Arm. There used to be a great tree which could easily house a dozen people with guitars. Sadly a pathetic degenerate miscreant burnt it down. We did meet some interesting personalities, jammed with a great old guitar player, and hung out on a rainbow.

Rainbow

Arbol

Drades never fishes with pants on

A crew of the fellows and I took a boat out to Los Vargas Island. We had a wholesome time telling stories around the campfire. I dont know if ill ever have another burger again. Weez caught a Salmon. Drades also caught a few fish, and even Gabe, our token city slicker, managed to land a really nice fish.

The rest of my precious free time has been spent chasing waves and developing my custom cloud-vision glasses that cut right through the fog. My good friend J from the other coast has been working in the sound and we managed to hang out a bit. We surfed a few mediocre south swells at longbeach and wreck bay.

Thank You

Goodnight Y'all