Last night my dear friend, Beth's dad, died suddenly from a heart attack. 

This struck a deep chord in me that life is truly precious and so short. It made me think about a lot of things in my own life. I try to live life to the fullest, but there are days when I find myself complaining about minute details that really don't matter. I am so blessed and I really want to cherish every moment that I have. I want to appreciate and love my family and friends even more than I do.

Today Jacob, Kyle and I surfed south of the Jetty. When I was in the water, I was completely content and found peace. My thoughts still lingered, but I was in the moment. When I connect with the wave, I find pure ecstasy. I want to have connections with my friends and family that only bring joy and happiness. I want to take this life and truly live the best life that I can because I never know when it will end.

Cherish Life,
J-Bird

Last night, our long time friend, Chris who went to college with us in Boston stayed over our place for the weekend. He lives in Lafayette, CA which is North East of San Francisco.

J-Bird and Chris after a surf session (picture taken by Luke)

We went to Cynthia's house to meet up with others for surf movies and pizza. We watched Modern Collective, Scratching the Surface and Endless Summer (1) because Jacob said he had never seen it!

At Cynthia's house, we all decided to go surfing in the morning. Before we met up with everyone, Jacob, Chris and I went to the surf shop to get Chris a new 5/4 wetsuit for the chilly Northern California waters. He is from Southern Florida so he doesn't enjoy the cold water. Afterward, we met up with Cynthia, Luke, Dugen and Kyle and decided to go to a place in HMB. Cynthia likes to call it "Rachel's Point."

 Chris, Jacob, J-Bird, Luke, Kyle (Picture taken by Cynthia and Dugen was on the phone)

I had never been there and it looked big and was really choppy. I tried for a wave and ungracefully tumbled. Chris and Cynthia were sitting on the inside peak so I decided to paddle and stay closer to them to catch my breath. Jacob caught some over head waves and looked great on his new board. Cynthia caught a wave that looked like she was stepping down a set of stairs due to the chop but looked like it was really fun. Chris was catching some fun ones and Luke caught some nice ones, but also had an intense wipe out resulting in a two wave hold down.

Chris came over to me and said that he rode by someone's board but didn't see a person near the board. I immediately thought it was Luke because I saw his wipe out and connected the two together. I saw him paddle towards the shore to take a break on the beach. I wasn't having much luck so I decided to paddle in to see if he was ok. He told me he was shot to the bottom of the reef and was held down. Soon after, everyone started to come in and we decided to go over to the Jetty where it was waist high, windy, crowded and less intense.

I definitely want to try Rachel's Point again when it is not as choppy and windy. I think I will have better luck when the conditions are better. I am really glad I went out and tried it because next time I will understand how the area works on a cleaner swell.

All in all a great weekend with all our old and new friends.

Ride Waves and Spread the Swell,
J-Bird

Yesterday, I finally retrieved my new custom board (based on my friend Beth's hybrid surf board) from shaper, Ward Coffey. When I saw the board with my design and purple all I could do was smile. 

(I know my bird design is girly, but I love purple)

I was so excited to get in the water to try my new shiny toy. I had to wait for the tide to go down so Luke and I got lunch and headed over to 38th. Cynthia was meeting up with us but I was too excited to say hello and ran ahead. It took less than five minutes in the water when i caught my first ride on my new board.

The board paddles really quickly, drops into the wave easily and turns so smoothly. My first ride filled me with so much excitement I couldn't stop smiling from ear to ear. Ward definitely fulfilled my expectations beyond my imagination.

Today I went to the Jetty with Jacob, Luke and Dugen. Beth took some great pictures of me on my new board:

Jacob and I went for a DP session south of the Jetty. When we arrived, we met a guy named Kyle. He was super friendly and mentioned that he met Luke and Darren last week. 

We all headed out to the big surf. It was over head on Jacob and Kyle and over head and half on me (does that even make sense?). The drops were really steep and intense.

Jacob caught the best wave of the day on a huge steep drop on to the shoulder. Jacob broke his leash in the white water. He waited for me on the beach as I caught a smaller one that turned into white water right away. 

Kyle caught a big one that shot him over the falls and on the way into the beach, his board broke in half! I am telling you, the waves were big and the white water was heavy. It was probably a little more intense than I like, but a good challenge to see how much size and heavy waves I can endure. I think this session was almost pushing my limit.

Ride Waves and Spread the Swell,
J-Bird

I met up with Dugen at LM for a surf session. It was so foggy that we couldn't see the ocean! Dugen asked a surfer that was coming out of the water if she was able to see the waves. She said she could and that it was chest high. 

We looked at each other and decided to go on her word. We caught chest high lefts and rights. By the end of the session, the waves were steep and closing out.

I have never surfed in such heavy fog or not knowing what the waves looked like before heading into the ocean. It was definitely the first time I have ever been in those type of conditions.

Ride Waves and Spread the Swell,
J-Bird