31C...traveling over the Russian... (April 16th..., 2010)

Siberian wilderness in route to Taipei...baby cries frantically and fatigued as grandma clutches and tries to sooth...we sit on the precipice to first class...Tylenol PM starts to fade but both of us got some sleep...about 3 hours till the end of stage one...about 3 hours till the end of stage one...a break in an unknown international pictures...I wonder what Kate is going to dream on the last leg of her trip...Balinese Dreams?

White sands, sweet tropical air, her first run? Clean sheets at the Keraton Legian? So funny to be in the middle stretch...so anticipated yet nothing to do but spend time with myself...tapping away a entry as the plane's future vector splits Tokyo and Beijing...out of the Russian air and into a brightening Oriental sky...goodbye my Siberian roots...and a good morning to my burgeoning tropical wings...110 dollars a small price to pay for my magic carpet ride to come.

Ulu...watu....ulu...watu....

It keeps cycling through my head, like a drum beat in a distant jungle, like some sort of drum line in a Jumangi movie...

Can't help but think that I'm racing across the date line, the time zones...to meet a swell ripping out of Antartica, a collision of vectors in a warm tropical Balinese sun...

Taking off for Bali This Late Thursday, Early Friday Morning (1:30 AM)

This is where we're initially staying in Bali...(first 3 nights), Legong Keraton Beach Hotel in Canggu...(link below), we take off Early Friday Morning, 1:30 AM...


A breakdown of the Surf area we are going to be in...


A sweet pic of a guy nailing a left in Canggu...

Saturday Go-Out Cottons, unexpected 5-7 foot SSW swell pushing through (April 10th, 2010)

As real as the first pitch at spring training...nothing heralds the approach of summer like that first cotton's go out...taking off on a ledging 6 foot slab, screaming fins engaged on the face and a s--t eating grin popping up as you realize you negotiated the take off and the line of surfers below...dialed into the peak and carving your way to nirvana...bring on that summer juice...long live the summer

The Patagonia Kingfish Sticker...

the Patagonia Kingfish Sticker that will be placed on the 2nd Bali Board to cover up that awfully boring Surftech Logo...http://www.fcdsurfboards.com/fcd-shop-stickers.html

Monday morning, March 29th, 2010...

Racing out the door to try to beat the sunrise I caught an amazing full moon setting off my balcony, glowing yellow as it moves closer to the horizon...for a second I am pulled out of the end of the quarter shuffle and reminded of the more transcendent parts of this race... I think of arcing turns under a tropical sky ...and grab my gear for a hopeful post-work paddle out before this next run of storms...

Srping Fever, 03/26/10

Spring is coming folks, the SW swells are in the air...can you feel it? I can feel the Boardshorts crying out from the back of the closet, begging to be freed from their winter prison...

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/west-coast-sees-end-of-winter-nw-swell-followed-by-here-comes-summer-sw-swell_42073/

April 19th, Northern Pipes go out...

Morning session Encinitas in cold glassy 4+ foot conditions, dropped into the 1st outside bomb then spent the rest of the brief session chasing the dragon...walked into work with that stupid s--- eating grin on my face...hello Friday...how you doin?

March 20th - T-Street Go out, write up on FB...

Great dawn patrol @ T-street...

just me and one other guy picking off the racier right break as the glassy cold water changed from that dark purple early light to it's regular hue...

the rare pelican leaning into the morning air as he glides low looking for a meal or an unencumbered flight along the coast...

when asked by ...the dude @ the car how was it...i meant it and smiled when i said, better this morning...

Great 5 minute video from the NY Times talking about the new scoring and Ariel movement in Surfing...

http://video.nytimes.com/video/playlist/sports/1194811622289/index.html?r=4039#1247467319842

Really worth the watch, I'd also recommend getting the movie from Amazon, Modern Collective...

- http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Collective/dp/B002YPX3IK/ref=reg_hu-wl_item-added

Yelp Profile... - Surf Reviews...

Recent reviews by Avi G.

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March 12, 2010, North Pipes go out...

Minimal 2-3 footers pushing through, fantastic shape, not so much on the power...

Got under the PMM 6'8'' a little better today and feel like I was lining up better given the boards hull displacement...maybe I do need to bring a Meatier board too...the 7'2''? Maybe the Al Merrick?

So freaking cold this monrning, happy for that E-Bomb hood and the F-Bomb suit...has made dialing in the Reef booties that much easier...

Falling Down the Liquid StairCase --> A Surf Haiku

Paddle into wave
Arched arms slung back in free fall…
Gravity’s embrace

North Pipes, South of Swami's go out...March 11th 2010

With a little salt H20 in my ears, I sit down for another day in the trenches...(and thoroughly am enjoying locking in the the flex characteristics of the new PC-7 Carbon fins, freshly locked into the 6'8'' PMM, or as it shall be called from here on out...the Bali Board... :) )

Email from 1st Bali Trip, April 2008

Hey hey...the gangs all in the thread...

Just wanted to give you guys and update...yesterday I made my first foray into Dreamland...that is the actual name of the break, I think it is Binang in Balinese...it is a sick death defying left that barrels and heaves for a very quick 50 yards...it only breaks at high and low tide so Kate and I had to hang at the beach baking under the umbrella for 2 hours waiting 4 the tide to turn on...

All the while, very nice and aggressive Balinese ladies kept offering us up shirts, sarongs and massage...(you big guy...want massage after you ski...(there word for surf...)

Kate was having a miserable time...which was a bummer since the beach was amazingly beautiful and would have been ridiculously wonderful had it not been so combed over by too many tour working Bali folks in the low season (read 2 many prospectors...not enough customers...)

Anyway, let's just call it the downside of heaven...

so at 3 o'clock after being there for 2+ hours the low tide starts to hit and the spot "turns on" it goes from a very gnar gnar pounding beach break (think the wedge) to a farther back make-able....very very hairy overhead and a half foot waves...and I am talking thiiiiiiiiiiick....

so yours truly who has been jonsing like a zeevush waiting for the wind to turn on at Wadell and I grab the 7'5'' dick brewer...say a shma under my breath... and paddle out...

me and 1 other guy at first...as it started turning on, the rest of the crowd joined us...I was waiting at the far left at first but saw that this meant a hairy short ride so opted on being slightly slotted behind the peak as I thought It would give me a bit of a longer ride...(more down to the left...if you're facing the beach...)

I watch and see some other guys making it and having to jump off or peel out before getting slammed on the sand bar...and finally the wave does what I want it to do and breaks a little more out...and hits farther down the break...

Me and another guy paddle for it but he is on a shorter board so I hit it jump up...the wave is crashing down below me and I find my footing...I take it right as it starts to close out left and hop off diving under the wave...

Ok...I'm still alive...Kate is crashed out not watching so I paddle back out and figure one more...

I hit the same spot in the line up and in about 5 minutes after some aggressive jockeying I hit another wave...this one peaks early and I pump up quickly...I aggressively hit it to the right and then started pumping it all the way in...this thing is barreling behind me big...I mean HEAVY....when I get done I do a couple more pumps then jump under the wave....and then walk in...

It was probably one of the most insane waves I have ever ridden...It was soooooo fast, and sooooo thick and sooooo gnarly....

I walked out shaking from the adrenaline and it took me a good 5 minutes to calm down...craaaaaaazy stuff man, I can't believe I surfed Dreamland...

I am off to Mecca...Uluwatu today which should be much less harry, we are hitting it during high tide so it should be safe as well...I am just looking for 1-3 good rides and I will consider our first trip to Bali a surfing success...

Anyway, thought you would like the update...we have been getting daily 1 hour massages...for a whopping 10 dollars (for both of us...), It is amazing...here...50 dollars a day and you live like a king...4 real...

Our hotel is Jimbaran is super chill and out of the way...we are only paying $45 bucks an night for a very very nice room...in the morning I walked and Kate ran on the beach as we passed fishing villages that take there boats out communally to fish in Jimbaran Bay and the ocean...it is beautiful here at Puri Bambu...(it is the the northern tip of the surfing coast...)

We are taking a driver for a 4 hour trip today to Ulu and then to see some temples and stuff, will send pictures when I can...only 3 more days and 2 nights left....

Love ya all, (Omsewesutu...May you have a life of peace and prosperity in Balinese...)

Avush