wood is good

hobie split

There are a lot of beautifully maintained hot rods and busses around california, a lot of occasions when i wasn't quick enough with a camera as they drove past. This beautiful splitty resides outside the main hobie store in Dana Point most of the time though so it's an easy target.

This weeks essential reading is "uncle Skello's what's hot and what's not" published every thursday on the Gulfstream blog. Everything you need to know to chart your way through the sartorial and cultural minefield that is staying cool,

Remember, support your local otter..... shaper, sorry!

refugio

What the Santa Barbara area might lack in year round swell, it more than makes up for in potential for fun when the swell does come. This is Refugio, yet another friendly right hander about 25 minutes north of town. Tiny but perfect fun!

going right

rolling in SB

Beach cruisers on the boardwalk are a classic californian stereotype in the world at large but the reality is that they are ridden by huge numbers of locals completely without irony. As i've blogged before, cruisers are fun to ride (on the flat) and a sunny beach side path is just about the best place to ride one.

This is a schwinn that i rented in Santa Barbara, a company that have been making these bikes for a long time. Not quite as nice to ride as my electra but a couple of hours cruising the coast path  in SB on this one was one of my favourite parts of the trip.

trim kings....

One really cool thing about surfing in california is the amount of natural life in evidence all around you. Perhaps thats more true of the slightly less urban beaches but there are seals and dolphins swimming through the line up, kelp fronds grabbing your fin and smoothing out chop, lizards scurrying past you feet as you walk down the beach paths and of course the pelicans.

There's something really pleasing about watching a group of pelicans glide past, in formation like WW2 bombers on a mission. The way they glide with wingtips mere millimetres above the water surface, never touching, harnessing the updrafts along a walling wave before climbing high, folding their wings and dropping like an arrow into the water to bob up seconds later, nonchalent and still.

They make our honking seagulls seem yobbish and louche and i never once spotted one attacking a beachgoer for his sandwich!

the open road

There's something exciting about the start of a road trip. The anticipation as the leaving date approaches, the loading as you try to cram one too many essentials in a little too little space, obsessively checking the forecast. Then the off, the road and the possibilities stretching out in front of you, a map and a hunch and a bunch of cd's..........

norwegian wood

swan lake...

a couple of randoms...

A couple more shots from the scenic cycle route to our local beach. I'm sure it's pretty obvious that i'm heavily influenced by all things californian and i love everything i've seen of the coast there so far.  One thing they don't have in abundance is lush green rolling countryside, far from busy roads, hiding small coves and rocky bays, some with great waves. I'm really hoping our Californian friends make it over next year so we can show the place off. I think they will love it, narrow lanes, tractor caused traffic jams and all!

 

the lookout..

Overlooking a certain righthand point, this might be the coolest place to live round here, also the coldest right now, probably lucky the current resident is off in warmer climes

the waiting...

I think this was the last time we had a proper fun little swell up here, feels like months ago.