Montara Before the Storm

Ian snapped these shots with his little water video camera on Saturday just as the big swell was filling. Henri, Ian, and I got a couple hours of surf just before the storm. Montara was the only break not feeling the wind. Great location, granite, mountains and misty rain.

Ocean Beach Going Off

Picture taken from the deck this week. I was home sick watching these bombs come through. I healed up enough to catch the tail end of this brilliat swell.

Another Sunny Weekend

SILAS SAYS: Standing up on the surfboard was so fun, but I have only done it three times in my life. I was able to stand up on the board today because the waves were small and I was trying to stand up quicker. Before I took my ride on the wave to stand, but it was easier today because I got up quicker. We made this giant merman it was about 5 to 6 feet tall.



JASPER SAYS: I feel glad because SySy is learning to stand up surfing. Over the weekend we went to the beach almost every day. One day we went to the beach and made a giant merman king and the next day we just went to the beach and surfed and boogie boarded. George, Rachel, Leah, and the Horowitz family came to the beach with us both days. It was very sunny that weekend. When I was surfing for the whole weekend it made me super dooper dooper dooper tired. Goodnight.

Silas Beach Day

SILAS SAYS: I got this giganto rash on my neck. I actually stood up on a surfboard. On my first wave I fell over to the side. On the second wave I almost stood up. On my third wave I pearled, which means I went off the board and tumbled and turned over. On my very, very last wave I stood up. When I standed up to surf, I have never standed up on a surfboard ever, and I actually figured out how much fun it was. I also took two waves boogie boarding. I am going to surf more now, but my boogie boarding kind of the same. And I played with Lukie. And I found this crab shell and it actually had eyes.

Big Sur(f) Spring

Big Sur was amazing. We went to the southern part of Big Sur to Plaskett Creek campground. I had been here a year an a half ago and froze in the wind and fog. For this trip it was all sun. 7 dads and 11 kids and 3 days of sun. nice gentle breezes, wonderful remote surf spots, including one BIG day at Willow Creek. We also planted 2 letterboxes and found seven on our way down in Carmel and along the Big Sur coast. We packed the car up at 9am on Tuesday and then it started to rain. We made it to Carmel and then heard the storm closed the road. It was a blessed trip.

New Wetsuits and Surfing in the Rain

Before:

JASPER SAYS: It was fun going surfing in the rain. I got a new wetsuit and a new hood. The way I got my new wetsuit was we traded in the old one and got half off the new one. We were surfing in Santa Cruz and we were with Si Si, Noah, Gabby, Maya. Mathew and my Dad. Surfing in the rain is like getting wet on wet.

SILAS SAYS: It was the like the best time at the beach because it was a lot of waves in row. It was so cool because its like straight and then it is a big hole and then straight and shallow again. When you look at the before and after pictures you can figure out the difference if you look close. I was much warmer because my Dad got me a new hood.

After:

Two Best Friends and Their Stunts

SILAS SAYS: This was a really fun sport that my Dada invented. The sport you can see in the video. I will tell you a little about the sport. It is about you go on a boogie board and you hold on, then my dad pulls me straight and then really quick he spins us around. The videos were on the day we did this. I did this sport with one of my best friends named Lukie.

SILAS:

LUCAS:

Fall is Our Summer

Last week we had a run of 8 days of sun and great surf. Hundreds of people out in front of the house. Of course the CrockerBoys could not stay away. Silas finally took to Boogie Boarding his "new favorite water sport." Jasper continued to get better at surfing. And, Dada surfed until he could not move any longer. Great days with the Sunset neighborhood kids. What a weekend: Clone Wars, beach, BBQ, Dim sum, clarinet, and friends.
Silas and Lila after a great boarding session.


Jasper enjoying using Dada's board.

Jasper on the wave. No help from anyone.

Silas on a long cold roller the first day of Fog on Sunday.

Rottnest, Quokka, and Cook

Caught the early morning ferry from downtown Perth this morning after a fast pace week of meetings in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. Ferry headed west down the Swan River to Freemantle where we changed to a faster boat out to Rottnest Island. Rottnest is just over 8 kilometers long and sits in the warm Lewellan Current. So unlike the mainland 10 miles away, it is warm water, coral reefs, and quokka. The dive and surf shop was closed for repairs during the low season, so I was lucky to have the one fin I have been carrying all week. We rented beater bikes in the settlement area of the island. I chatted with the nice lady renting the bikes and jokingly asked if they had a boogie board or surf board I could use. Sitting in the corner was a tattered, but usable boogie she lent me at no cost, because I was nice. I was told Strickland Cove is the best surf on the island, and that the locals often tear down the sign, so look for the sandy track after Green Cove.

Beautiful bike ride to the break first seen over the scrub covered dunes as three kite boarding kites dancing. Over the dune to a crystalline white sand beach with a strong swell and winds. The kite boarders were winging themselves into the fast break and surfing it like regular surfers. I had no wetsuit and the wind was a bit cold, but the water was warm enough. I crawled over the reef and managed to get a large set wave right off, see the picture near the end of the ride. But alas, my tattered boogie leash broke and I was left to swim in over the reef. My work buddy spotted the board blowing down the reef, so I ran along the rocks and sand, climbed over another reef and swam out to my waiting board. After 15 minutes to warm up I paddled in again and got many great waves. During the lulls I hung low in the water to avoid the wind, but the cold eventually won and I went in.


Captain Cook's English cottage in Melbourne, presented to Australia as a gift and brought over brick by brick.

Tennis Anyone

JASPER SAYS: We went to Santa Cruz for the first day of summer. When we were there we went to a tennis court and played tennis. I thought it was very very fun. We had a match, Gabby and I versus my Dad and Matt. I liked it so much and this summer I am going to tennis camp. Today I got my first racket and after we got my racket we went to a court in San Francisco and played tennis.

Jasper on the court

SILAS SAYS: It was really fun at the beach when we played. The waves crashed and then all the tumbling stuff after the wave crashed. We went in to see if it tumbled us around. If it did it was a Roller Coaster. If it didn't it was a Mousa Coaster. It was the first two days of summer vacation. I got a new wetsuit and booties. It was a whole wet suit it covered my whole legs and my whole arms and I got new booties. They kept me warm a lot, a lot.

Silas (right) and Maya play in the waves.

Gs and Cs in SC. See new wetsuit and skimboard.

Four Sports in Four Days

Packed the car to the hilt with camping, climbing, biking, surf, and skateboard gear and headed to SC after school on Friday. Got an evening of surf and then off to Pinnacles with good old friends and Ernesto the "Italian Stallion." who joined me in Red Rocks the weekend before. Great ocean time and then a full day of climbing with the kids. Found a great long wall with plenty of holds and not too steep. The kids all just ate it up. Then Ernesto and I headed to some Pinnacles classic routes: Ordeal, Swallows Crack, and Wet Kiss. I had not been to Pinnacles in 14 years. It felt like home again and brought back many good memories of beginning to climb in college in SC.

JASPER SAYS: Our Spring Break was really fun. We went to Pinnacles and camped and we rock climbed and we went caving. At camp it was really hot in the day and really hot at night. On the first night we gnocchi and sausages. For dessert we roasted marshmallows and we made Swiss chocolate s'mores. The next day we had macaroni and stake and then we had chocolate cake. The Easter Bunny came and we got a bucket with chocolate eggs, gummy banana slugs, a giant chocolate bunny, and hen gumball dispenser.

On the second day we were there we went rock climbing. We set up two top ropes and I climbed both of them. I climbed the blue rope 3 times and the orange rope 2 times and it wasn't scary. Our friends Gabbi, Maya, Morgan, and Veronica climbed with us. The caves were really fun because you got to climb around rocky and dark places and you had to bring a flashlight in because it was dark.

Before and after we went to Pinnacles we stopped at Santa Cruz. the main thing we did in Santa Cruz was surf. The surf was really fun and I got pounded by a couple of waves on my boogie board.

SILAS SAYS: We went to a campsite and when it was Easter we got chocolate eggs, gummy banana slug, and small gumballs and a mother chick and you took of the head and you put the gumballs in and then you put the head on and then you push the feet down and the gumball came out. I climbed the First Sister at Pinnacles. I liked it.

Big Waves, Little Chipmunks

CrockerBoys headed south Saturday morning for a visit to our other family in Santa Cruz. We arrived to a house filled with five 7 to 10 year old girls in the middle of practising their Alvin and the Chipmunks five song dance routine. Jasper became the iTunes technician and Silas bopped around while dada hit big surf at Sewers Peak at pPeasure Point. Long right point break and big drops, paddled until my arms failed. When I returned we got to see the dress rehearsal of the girls performance... BRAVO ladies. Then I took the GerGirls and the CrockerBoys to see the Alvin movie, even dada laughed, and we all ate too much popcorn and skittles.

The Alvin dance company.

Today we hung with the Gerlachs, dada's arms were worked from two hard days of paddling so we focused on breakfast and skateboarding (expect new review soon). Cori was lamenting we needed some Mexican food when an older man with a cooler on wheels hollered "tamales 99 cents." We ordered seven and then saw him on the way home and ordered a dozen more. Good to be with loving friends and enjoy a sunny weekend in Santa Cruz.

Those young forties.

Cold Big Sur(f)

I joined Joel and a high school buddy of his, John, for the annual pilgrimage to southern Big Sur. The weather was unstable but we braved it anyway. Met two of Johns friends at Plaskett campground. First day, very cold, huge surf and strong winds. We combed the beach for jade, a Big Sur tradition. I found lots of green rocks, but I don't think any jade. I needed to get some surf and get pounded so I paddled into a frothy pit and scraped for a few waves, but got the pump and felt much better. Saturday was lazy. Long breakfast, check the surf spots, still too messed up, then a drive deep into the Big Sur back country and a hike down to a creek. Another evening jade hunt and more beef and whiskey. Sunday, so much warmer, no wind, and smaller, but still strong, surf. Nice mid-morning surf at Willow Creek: big faces into shallow boney boulders. Here are additional pics from the TRIP.

John and Joel "sharing" Willow Creek.

Get it While You Can

Joel, Elijah, Jasper and I have been charging the wonderful Fall surf, conditions are always much better at the Beach in the Fall and we still have long days. We made it out after school and work twice this week, an activity that will be harder to pursue mid-week once the time change comes. Just mention surf to Jasper and his eyes light up and he stops what he is doing and says "let's go." Elijah and Jasper are really improving fast. Elijah has great paddling form and can catch waves that are just breaking and Jasper has intense persistence and loves to ride waves all the way to the beach. They are both beginning to really get turning the board and standing up sooner. Joel and I are all smiles.

No Labor on Labor Day

Surf. BBQ. Surf. BBQ. Repeat. Great three-day weekend for the CrockerBoys. Saturday surfing at OB and BBQ with man local friends. Sunday drive to HOT SantaCruz for more beach time and BBQ. Daddy got great south swell at 26th Avenue and Jasper got real shore pound tube rides, punished, and back out for more.

Our Santa Cruz family.

OB Surf Rat Groms

Great evening at the beach with Joel and company and my friend Birgit from New Zealand (thanks for the pictures). Jasper and I paddled out to the outside break, where the big waves are. I was scared for him a bit but he was all smiles even when he got knocked off his board. I held him back on one wave I thought was too big and he got mad at me for not pushing him into it. Silas also went boogie boarding. He has been shy about this, so we took small inside waves and he kept saying "do it again" and "this is sooooo fun". One insider knocked him off for a two wave hold down. He came up wanting to cry, but realized he was okay. He said, "I just held my breath." Then he went back for more!

SILAS says: I was boogie boarding and I wanted to do it again and again. Because it was fun. I got knocked of by one wave and then I got a breath and I got hit by another wave. My wipe out, I was like under for 2 minutes. After my wipeout I took one more little wave.

JASPER says: I took two big waves out where Dada takes them. They were about eight or ten feet tall. One of them was so fast I could hear the fins in the water. It broke at least five times but it did not break on me.

Bop, Noodle, Goober, and Moo

Another great overnight in Santa Cruz with the Gerlach's. We were blessed with sun burning through the fog early in the day and we headed to Cowell's a great longboarding spot with slow moving waves and long rides. Except that today there was no surf. Jasper, Gabby and I paddled out together and enjoyed just being in the water and for Jasper and I it was great recon for our next visit when there is hopefully more surf. Thanks again Gerlach's for your love and friendship, you all mean so much to us!


Bop, noodle, goober, and moo. Girls all dressed up for dance recital pictures.

Silas says: It was really fun when I was at Santa Cruz. Because I got to go to the beach and Maya painted my face. I loved watching movies too.

Jasper says: Cowell's surf was little and I did not like it. I would want to go back some time if the surf was better. We went right in front of there house to the beach and there was big surf. I got really knocked around. I rolled over twice and I hit my head twice and I hit my bottom once. It was really fun. I liked surfing with Gabby and I would like to do it another time.


Goober and Bop getting ready for Cowell's. Note the large surf in the back ground.

Dad I'm Board

I went down to Santa Cruz to see Matt and Cori, get some south swell and hit the O'Neill Memorial Day sale where I got Jasper a new surf board. He has been using his buddy Elijah's 6'0" Softops surfboard. By getting a new board, Elijah and Jasper can hit the surf together. So yesterday, after dinner, we met in front of the house and the boys surfed the fast inside with the help of the dads.

Even after a long day at school, Jasper was excited to get on his new board. The water was cold and the wind was up, but he charged it. He got at least 10 waves with over half being great cold water wipe outs. Every time he wipes out and tumbles under the water he comes up smiling. I am one happy father!

Seven Year Old Stands Up

All of a sudden he got it. Jasper stood on a wave and then every other wave after that. Once before in San Francisco on Ocean Beach he connected with a wave and stood for a ten count. This time he stood for a ten count ten times! I was in the water with him and thankfully Uncle Lars took a bunch of pictures.

Jasper says: surfing was fun and can stand up for a long time. I caught about maybe ten waves on the surfboard. Then I boogie boarded for a while afterward. I surfed for maybe 2 hours.

Del Mar Daze Begin

Landed in Del Mar today, only two quick hours from Chekka's house this morning. Listened to a couple more chapters of Dragonrider from the iPod. Immediate jump into surf for dada, Del Mar felt like Ocean Beach... lots of duck diving and shifty peaks. Jasper was on his skateboard or in his wetsuit the entire day. He and Elijah really enjoyed athletic company together. Silas and Lucas did fantasy play. I saw them on a bed with a flash light pretending they were performers.

Stocked the house with food and it took 3 chickens to feed the mass of humanity that came through. Westons, Crockers, FinkleCrockers, Horowitzez, Marones, and Lars. Eve and Ben stopped by too. The boys were in family and friend heaven. Here are some shots:


Silas drags a seaweed buch to throw on the rocks


Japser's after dinner surf in pounding shorebreak... smiles


An interesting cross section of my family and friends. Dada with Lars and Shaq (Hayden Crocker).