Today got off to a crap start when I woke up at 5am to watch the Hammers lose to Man City live on the internet. Yaya Toure gets paid 230 large a week but that’s still not enough. He has to go and score against the Hammers as well. I hate you Yaya Toure.
It got better with a little splash out the Backyards. Marcus and Sean from Surfline were out there and they both went in with red, weepy eyes after feeling the full force of SE.com’s backhand snaps in their faces. Sure Surfline, you may have the traffic, the forecasts, the exclusives, the proper journalism, the photo galleries, the multimedia, high band width features, the advertisers and the surfer’s phone numbers, but we both know who was the real winner today.
Afterwards, I went to a beach clean up at Sunset that local she-pro and model Anastasia Ashley helped put on. Mega good water shooter Daniel Russo was there, coz he’s her dude. GT came past on the bike path doing that speed walking thing where you wiggle your arms to burn extra calories that only birds do. I didnt think that dude could get any less cool until I saw the arm wiggle power walk and guffawed and chortled. Someone nearby might have said something like, ‘What a douchebag…’ Inexplicably, I neglected to either shoot a snap nor video the spectacle, despite having camera in hand. Surfline would have nailed that for sure. I suck.
A well-known surfer came by with a sizey cut under his left eye. “My girlfriend did it… bitch,” he explained. Then he offered to block waves at Pipe for $100-200 dollars a session for people wanting to get photos. “Tell the European surfers,” he told me. “I’d probably go 150 if they’re cool.” Then he made a joke about my shorts being similar to Anastasia Ashley’s which was actually pretty funny. Then he lined up for the free food that was being given away to those who helped clean up the beach. He went to the front of the line and got a plate. I didn’t see him pick up any trash from the beach, but he did put his plate in the bin provided when he was finished.

Yesterday the editor of Tracks who’s name escapes me had a horrific accident coming in through the shorey at Sunset and impaled himself on his pintail through the neck and was rushed to hospital. Fortunately for him, there was an ER doctor on the beach who administered emergency first aid before the paramedics arrived, without which he could have been in serious trouble. He is reported as being in a stable condition in hospital but with real serious injuries. It was only about 4-5ft yesterday, just goes to show how gnarly the ocean can be here.

Surf forecast is pretty shitty. Here’s what Surfline (gosh those guys are good) is giving it which means prob no Banzai masters tomorrow …