agnoli

it's your life too, I'm just taking credit for it. 
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October 9, 2008

the pros get shacked, au revoir Hossegor, Ange arrives, hola Mundaka

                                                         

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the_pros_get_shacked_au_revoir.zip (3972 KB)

This morning Hossegor was bigger, colder, and offshore, reminded me a lot of ocean beach in the fall. paddled out with Woody from SF, the French weren't interested, they all went to le grav and south where the swell was smaller and peakier. After getting an ocean beach style beat down with relatively few rewards I can understand why.

To give you an idea of how excited everyone was, Someone had decided it was a good idea to shoot video from this remote control blimp. It was hovering over one of the peaks south of us.

We checked out of hotel Barbary Lane and went by Le Grav to check out the scene. 
A crowd had gathered at the shore watching the pros and not so pros go at it. Womping beach break into a foot of water, many broken boards, way to many water photogs, and too many surfers in the water. Chris Ward was killing it, Jeremey Flores was paddling out. Stedman, Dayan, and Kai were just coming in. Lewis and I were happy that we had surfed up the beach. The waves looked challenging to say the least.

Picked up Ange from the Bilbao airport and gave her the scenic tour of the spanish coastline replete with windswept church. Of course there happened to be an enitrely surfable rock pile directly beneath the church, perhaps the most scenic break on the spanish coast.

Returned to Mundaka. Its cold all of a sudden. My 2/2 spring suit doesn't feel so warm now. I have a couple more days of surf and then its on to Bilbao and then home for me. I'm looking forward to seeing the kids and California.

Filed under  //   andrea   hossegor   lewis   Mundaka   Surf  

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October 8, 2008

mmmmnnn, brains. france, a zombie's vacation paradise

                             

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I don't know what kind of brains these are, but they look great, all glistening with blood. and only 1.50 euro a piece, I'll take four. Wait, are those kidneys? I'll take some of those too!

Surfed nice inside barrels north of Estaniot this morning. Lewis opted to surf the south peak with the globe pros and film crew. Gretchen and I posted up at the north peak where the lefts broke into less than a foot of water. The sand was soft, but still a little daunting. collected seashells by the seashore for a few minutes. Gretchen got a ride back to Guettary with a friend she met out in the water.

Walked around Centre Ville, every label has its own store, Quicksilver, DC shoes, Billabong, Rip Curl, Hurley, even Carhart. 

Check out the chocolate fountain!

Filed under  //   hossegor   lewis   Surf  

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October 8, 2008

bonjour from hotel barbary lane

                 

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bonjour

I'm one day behind. Yesterday was a down day in Hossegor, it rained, lewis and i surfed shitty south wind shore break, while Gretchen drove around in the car. We eventually retreated to our lovely hotel and hung out in the room to no one's enjoyment. The environs are wonderful, but after the previous beautiful day of sun and surf, today was a letdown.
Lewis is crabby because he's got work to do and left his computer (at my suggestion) in Mundaka at our winter cabina. I told him he is responsible for his own happiness, but its not working. 
The bright spot in our day was eating breakfast here at the hotel, 8.50 euro for an all you can eat buffet of homemade pastries, eggs, yogurt, fruit, and cereal. Much better than most of the food we've had on this trip. Lewis thinks the main difference between the spanish and french girls is the butter content in their diet.

The whole of Hossegor is a relative ghost town. all the villas are shuttered and the summer shops are closed for the winter. Only the surfers are sticking it out, so we see the same old pros and non-pros where ever we go.
The downtown is still happening. There's a shop for each major surf brand, I'll get more into that next blog.

au revoir.


Filed under  //   gretchen   hossegor   lewis   Surf  

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October 7, 2008

hossegor rocks

                                             

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drove north to france and the beaches of hossegor, picked up gretchen, surfed, laid on the beach, surfed again. 
Hossegor rocks, epic waves, much better than the pictures show as the tide came in, much better than any OB session I've had in recent memory. Surfed an overhead reeling right bar at estagnots that lined up like a reef break. Lewis surfed the left across the channel and got crunchy insides.
Lewis says the pictures make it look like crap compared to how it was. 
lots of german car campers. I want to take the kids on a european vacation.
ate at napoli and ran into Jaime. had a great dinner. 
sleep, do it again.

Filed under  //   gretchen   hossegor   lewis   Surf  

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October 1, 2008

buy aapl - short gps manufacurers - Guethary recap (warning: temporal incongruity)

               

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buy_aapl_-_short_gps_manufacur.zip (968 KB)


The iphone google maps and pinpoint locator works in spain and france! awesome. no need for dedicated GPS no need for maps, now if I can only get data coverage in Chile...

Anyway, buy aapl, short all gps manufacturers, they are done.

Here are the photos from our caffeine fueled expedition into france. We met up with Gretchen and her friend Mara and delivered Gretchen's board; mission accomplished. 

We were hoping for some surf, but the flatness prevailed, hightailed it back to Mundaka for the contest at Sopelana, which never happened.

That last pic is of Lewis putting his fins in on the evening of day 2. I don't think I've ever been on "surf trip" where it took so long to get wet.

now back to the present...

 

 

Filed under  //   giovanni   gretchen   hossegor   lewis  

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September 29, 2008

No waves, whacked on caffeine

Lewis just had two cups of coffee. We woke up at 6, drove up to gettary, and are now sucking down coffee and cigarettes waiting for gretchen to come and meet us. Lewis wants to drive north to hossegor in the hopes that the surf is somehow magically Surfable there. It's dead flat here in gettary.

He's starting to freak, I'm giving him another 15 minutes before he cracks.

Oh, here comes gretchen. Everything is ok now.

 

Filed under  //   hossegor   lewis  

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September 28, 2008

getting there is half the fun...

                     

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We are getting better at traveling. Some of us still stress about getting our boards on the plane, and seat assignments, and connections, but by and large its now all routine.
Pack the night before, Wake up, Put the boards on the car, Go to the airport, Pray that the checker doesn't  count the boards, Smile and pay the board bag fee, Get on the plane, Goto sleep, Wake up in a foreign land and time zone (groggy but functional), Someone rents the car while the other waits for the bags, Load the boards in the car, Navigate to the surf spot, eat, sleep, its all automatic.

of note:
The French are civilized, they don't make you take off your shoes for the security checkpoints and their security girls are friendly.
CDG is a mess, Terminal 2G is a little airport unto itself.
The rest of the world loves Obama, I hope they send in their absentee ballots.
A coke in france is five dollars.
You aren't allowed to take pictures of european air travel infrastructure.
The Bilbao airport reminds me of something my dad would have designed if he was into pre-stressed concrete. A marvel of glass and huge over hangs.

 

Filed under  //   giovanni   hossegor   iggy pop   lewis   Mundaka   Surf  

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