667 new Gadget Images and a Solid Swell

Just added 667 images to the surfing gadget. The gadget is those changing images to the right of this blog. These cover south side HB pier, San Onofre, San Clemnete Pier, and some Blackies beach. You can add this gadget to your iGoogle page. You can also add it to your web site. Read more about the BuiltForSurf gadget here.

Oh, and the swell this week has been killer, with SoCal wave periods (Tp) consistently between 17 and 20 seconds for 4 days.

Laird Hamilton's Clothing Line: Wonderwall

Finally made my way to the *exclusive* retailer of the Wonderwall clothing line, Steve & Barry's. As I stated earlier, the nearest store is pretty far inland, so an odd choice for an exclusive retailer of a clothing line associated with a well-known surfer. I knew this chain was (is) in the dumps financially. Sure enough, the "$4.98 going out of business sale price" was plastered all over the store. However, it seemed that most everything in the store has a standard price of $8.98.

Using stealth cameraphone technology, I captured these shots of Wonderwall clothes and signs in the Steve & Barry's store...



If you cannot see the images above or would like to see larger versions, please visit the Laird Hamilton Wonderwall at Picasaweb.

Based on what I saw, the Wonderwall clothing line certainly falls into the category of "comfort" clothing. It includes polo-type collar shirts, lots of t-shirts, some decent flip-flops (aka go-aheads, thongs), and cargo pants galore in khaki and camoflage. Oddly, the shorts are rather limited in selection. I only found a few shorts made of sweatshirt material and what appeared to be hacked up cargo pants. Most everything seems to be made of cotton, and much of it has a worn-out look to it (not sure if this is intended).

My overall thought is this: Laird licensed his name to a company that achieves success (or failure) in finding dirt cheap clothing and associating a celebrity identity to a line of clothes designed by someone other than the famous celebrity to which the line is associated. I could just as easily have been looking at clothes in a Target, wal-mart, or Marshalls. Main difference being that everything is $8.98 (no, Wonderwall, at this time, doesn't seem to be caught in the $4.98 chapter-7 inventory firesale). I'd once heard some radio show dj in San Diego state "Laird's line offers high quality and durability at a low cost".

Sure, the clothes might be durable (most cotton is) and low cost ($8.98/garment), but I don't agree with the "high quality" comment. I kind of associate high quality with some degree of style and certain fabrics. I'd never be caught hanging out in shorts made of cut-off sweat pants and I don't wear any camo. Maybe I would if I were getting foodstamps and drinking Schlitz in my doublewide. None of the clothes push the envelope. There is an absolute difference between the generally mundane look of Wonderwall and things you'd see from Volcom or Lost (both of which seem way overpriced). I think Laird has good intentions of supplying durable surf or activewear at a competitive price so that real surfers can afford it, but something seems to have gone amiss here. Likely, the core issue is probably the lock-in with a chain like Steve & Barry's, which is NOT frequented by surfers. Or, is Wonderwall just another case of celebrity sellout to cash in before it's too late? Will we be seeing endless bottles of "Laird" cologne line the shelves of Big Lots anytime soon? I hope not, as this might be a weathervane for the direction of the surf clothing industry. Then again, my name isn't associated with anything, so who am I to judge. I'll say the beach and surfing photos in the store were kind of cool, especially considering the store.

History of Surfing in Orange County at John Wayne (Orange County) Airport (SNA)

The Surfing Heritage Foundation puts forth a lot of effort to keep surfing history alive. Often, they do it through live events with famous and/or key figures from surfing's history. Their historical board collection is insane. So, I was stoked when I was at the SNA airport today and found the exhibit that's all about the history of surfing in Orange County. A lot of sponsors (or donors) contributed some absolutely historical memorabilia. The exhibit occupies 5 or more glass presentation cases along the wall. The one drawback is that it's on the secure side of secuirty, meaning you can only see it if you have a ticket to fly. Seeing this history makes me super proud to have grown up in OC. Ends Oct 20.

Summer's Gone, and so is the blackball

Ahhhh, the day after Labor day. Always one of the best days of the year. This means the fairweather tourists are gone and the BLACKBALL IS DOWN!

Ocean Pacific OP...still pretty cool?

The late 70's is when my ocean life started. Op was huge and going to the Op Pro every year was just bitchen! I can still recall Tom Curren's boards with the big Op sponsor laminate on the nose. Back on 3/7/2008 in bfS Commentary, we asserted that Op has done almost nothing cool since the late 70s or early 80s. Mainly, Op stopped creating classic cord shorts and pants, and bitchen print tees. Only back then, it was really the style, not retro-is-the-in-thing garbage. Then the Op Pro was discontinued. Finally, some mega clothing company (likely based in the eastern U.S.) tries their hand at sustaining Op. This was certainly the end of an era.

Through the past few years, Op has been trickling stuff back into the retail stores. I honestly don't think, though, a single indepedent surf shop within a mile of a surfing beach actually carries Op clothes. So, in the past 4 years, I've seen Op at Costco, Wal-mart, and Nordstorm. The Op clothes at Nordstrom were excessivly overpriced, like everything at Nordstrom is. This was kind of like "re-introduce classic Op at nordstrom with exhorbitant prices so well-heeled metrosexuals can buy the stuff and pretend they surf". The Op clothes at Costco have generally just been very lame, except for a few shirts one time. Now the latest Op clothes have shown up at wal-mart. This effort is big, as evidenced by lots of web ads and relatively large floorspace in the stores dedicated to Op.



If you can't view this slideshow or want larger images, check out the Picasa album.

I've got to say, though, these Op clothes at wal-mart hold the closest promise to anything remotely similar to the Op clothes from the 70's and 80's. I think this is actually due to the latest trend that "the 80's are back in". Maybe Op actually hired someone who surfed back in 1976 for their expert opinion on design. While O'neill and Quiksilver are busy churning out retro plaid by the ton, Op seems to be getting back to their roots. Op has come up with some collar shirts that could be mistaken as leftovers (classic ones) from the 70s and early 80s. Op has also created some ladies tote bags that are way 70s looking (and they even look worn a bit). Still, though, no nut-huggin cord shorts and pants. Saldy, the Op bags are made in China. There are also some printed t-shirts with some old-school looking prints (hippy-ish surfers on, but no hot babes). Maybe this is kind of a sell-out, but the stuff looks kind of original (except for rather lame printed and sewn-on references to "1972", when Op was founded.).

I don't think we'll ever see anything as cool as The Op Pro again, Tom Curren's Op-sponsored boards, or Thomas Magnum-length cord shorts, but they are headed in the right direction. Finally. Ok, on to some photos of Op stuff...

Flat Spell Continues...and some cool stuff

The soCal flat spell continues. Yes, now we're really into summer, even though it's almost over (according to the school year). Instead of surfing this AM due to no waves, I added more images to the Google Surf Images gadget for your enjoyment. Just shy of 2000 images now, and a ton more to come (as time permits). Added still images of:

Honda US Open 2008 in Huntington Beach, CA (July 2008) - not a ton of stills since we were mostly doing video. Will probably grab some stills from the video and post later on. Includes some nice close-ups of Shaun Thompson, Mark Richards, Wayne "Rabbit" Batholomue, Peter Townend, all signing autographs in promo of Bustin' Down the Door. Being in the presence of these four legends, all at the same time, was awe-inspiring.

Volcom Totally Crustaceous Tour, Mandalay beach, Oxnard, CA (Nov 17,2007). Super blown-out day. All groms, but they handled the crap surf really well.

Perhaps by doing the good deed of adding more surfing images to the web, I'll be blessed with some waves later today when the tide starts to roll in.

As usual, no Surfing in the Olympics (2008)

Why are the following events in the 2008 Olympics, while surfing is not?

badminton

rifle shooting

ping pong

handball

synchronized diving (when was this introduced?)

trampoline

synchronized swimming

By the way, the IOC does "recognize" the sport of surfing, but just can't bring themselves to actually feature the sport in the Olympic games. The recognition is merely intended to appease folks like me who keep asking the question, "why is surfing not in the olympics?"

Swell Analyzer - Alpha release

We've made available the swell analyzer graphs. The graphs present a view of the swell data that the buoys off the coast of SoCal are reporting. Hopefully, this can help us figure out if a swell is on the rise in OC. It's updated every 2 hours. We tested the graph images in the Blackberry browser (widescreen models), and they look fine. You will now know when to leave work early to go surfing :) Check the graphs here (scroll way down).

Perfect Wetsuit Storage Bag

I always leave wet wetsuits in my car. They stink really bad after a while. But, I never want to be without my wetsuit and a board. My wife hates the smell. So, she found me this bag at Costco for $8.00. It's called a Keep Cool, and it's intended to be a plyable, crushable ice chest. Since it's watertight, has a strong zipper, and is made very well (outside is a strong nylon, canvas-like material), she got it for me to store the wet suits. This is perfect because I don't want to store a rigid plastic box in my car, as it takes up too much space. Sadly, it's made in China. I'd pay $20.00 for it, but is only $8.00 (probably b/c it's made in China). I've used it for the past 1 year and it's never torn or leaked. A much better deal than paying $50 to $100 for a bag that has branding all over it. Pictures are below.



If you cannot view the images above or want to see larger images, check out the Picasa web album of the KeepCool bag.

Only One Tide Flow Today - kinda odd

Kind of odd. For today, 8/9/08, most California tide measurements have a tide table like the following:

Newport Beach, CA, USA, 4.7 at 04:17PM

That's right, only 1 tide. It looks like a high tide, but with only 1 tide, it's impossible to say what it is. I wonder why this happens. Surfed this AM and things seemed ok. There are still waves and the coastline is not breaking off.

A Bitchen Summer for Swells (2008)

We've been blessed for the past couple months with some pretty consistent south swells, a few lasting for up to a week each. That's unusual for so cal, which generally isn't too good during summer. If this is due to global warming, bring on the heat!

Surfboards Made in China

Several Costco stores in Orange County, CA, have been selling genuine shaped-foam-and-glassed boards made in China for a few years now. First, there was Realm, and now Counter Culture. The short boards are usually around $200 each, while long boards are about $400 each. The models available tend to be like a fish, a "speed" board, a funboard, and a longboard. Costco is also the home of the $99 relatively stiff foam longboard (always and only in blue). Not bad for a beginnner or kid board, I suppose. You can see these everywhere in the water now, so they must be of OK quality. Anyway, all of these boards are about half the price of non-custom boards you'd find in a surf shop. Is this good or bad? What's your thought? Would you buy one? If clothing companies make clothes in China, shouldn't it be ok for surfboard makers as well? Do any local popular board makers do their shaping and/or glassing in China? Drop bfs a note and give us your thought.

The State of Surfwear, or fashion that's marketed to be surfwear

The following 3 observations pretty much sum it up.

• A Roxy canvas tote, made in China, $37. Proof that QS, Roxy, and most other mainstream "surf clothing" companies see fit to thoroughly gouge anyone willing to pay. A practice not in alignment with traditional surfer ethics. At least send the manufacturing to a country with killer waves and a need for jobs, like Nicaragua. Oh, get CAFTA benefits while you're at it.
• Laird Hamilton's new clothing line, Wonderwall. Distributed exclusively at Steve and Barrys, a retail clothing chain that seems to primarily sell cheap clothes to the homie-gang-banger-non-surfer-ghetto segment of suburban society. This chain has NO stores near the ocean, at least in Southern California ("near" is subjective, and in my opinion, is a maximum of 2 miles to a surfing beach).
• Op (Ocean Pacific) at Wal-Mart. So, this was an obvious move for a clothing company that has done almost nothing cool and truly surf-oriented since corduroy pants and nut-hugger shorts back in 1976, and sponsoring the Op Pro. (see a future post of why I say *almost* nothing cool).
  
  For an example of a REAL surf clothing company, that still sticks to what they do best, check out Birdwell Britches. They are still made in California. Note: This is not an ad and we bfS gets no $ for this link.

Surfing and The Blackball Flag - A Bad Combo

I know it's not fair to blame the lifeguards who prohibit surfing along stretches of beach. They don't make the laws. However, they implement it. They fly the damn blackball flag, post, and enforce other lame no-surfing zones, often until 7pm at night. Surfers who are at the beach year-round should be allowed to surf all of their beaches, year-round. The blackball, no-surf zone policies are intended to protect the non-local visitors who swarm the beaches like roaches 3 to four months each year. Most of these summertime visitors are a disgrace to the cleanliness of the beach. If you've ever owned and lived in a condo complex, you understand renters. The non-local beach visitors are like those renters. They are transient and don't give a shit about maintaining a nice, clean beach. In addition, the lifeguards never make any effort to keep the swimmers and spongers out of the no-surf zones, suggesting that lifeguards don't like surfers.