surfing (197)

The Most Wonderful Day of My Life

January 17, 2015 at 7:46 am

I realize that I am afflicted with over-enthusiasm, especially when it comes to communicating my experiences as i move through life. That said, this was just about the most perfect day I’ve ever had.

I was a water person in earlier years, starting at 4 years of age when I fell in a lake and while underwater until my dad fished me out, enjoyed the experience. In high school I swam competitively and one day after a swimming meet at the great Fleishacker salt water pool out at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, a swimmer named Jim Fisher and I went out across the Great Highway to swim in the ocean. I couldn’t believe it. The waves, blue water, invigoration. I was hooked.

Had my first surfboard ride at age 18, then changed my major at Stanford so I was through every Thursday at noon and able to head to Santa Cruz until Sunday night. I was a lifeguard, taught swimming, and then somehow over  the years, drifted away from the beach in comparison with my serious surfer friends.

WELL — I’ve come to this small island of Kauai to get back in the water. Today I was in the ocean 3 times — a little bodysurfing, mostly swimming (the last time in the rain tonight) and in a fresh water pool 3 times..

A barista coffee shop on wheels with wonderful coffee, muffins, and vibes. A hostel on the beach with rates (in this expensive resort area — Kapaa –) of  $40/$80 per night for shared/solo rooms. A guy in the country with about 300 beautiful roosters and tangerine, grapefruit, macadamia and lychee nut trees.  A day of clouds and sun and clouds and rain. This island like a large boat in the Pacific Ocean. A Mexican restaurant that feels like you’re in Mexico with delicious food and 3 TVs with Mexican soccer games.

I’ll try to get around to writing it up (with photos) before long…

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Lloyd’s Camping Vehicles, Part 2

November 10, 2014 at 8:19 pm

These days I’m doing less posts on this blog and more on The Shelter Blog. I realized that I had a lot of build-garden-homestead-forage experience (and assemblage) to communicate and liked the idea of putting it all in one place.

I’ll cross-reference some of my posts on the new blog with this one, such as this:

1983 Toyota 4×4 Pickup Truck Used on Baja Beaches and Desert

I bought it used from a builder friend. It didn’t have the “Xtra cab,” so the bed was 8′ long.

Tarp for Shade:  I had a Yakima Rocket Box on racks on the camper roof, with a flea market tarp (12’×14′) folded up inside. The frame was 1″ electrical conduit, with special connectors tightenable with wingscrews. The tarp was aluminized fabric. It was weighted down with canvas bags filled with sand and hung from each corner (ingenious!). Took maybe 45 minutes to set up. I’d place it butting up to the truck bed.
Read More …

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Another Toot With Louie in San Francisco

November 4, 2014 at 11:30 am

No, no, a different kinda toot: see https://www.lloydkahn.com/2013/02/17/a-toot-in-san-francisco/.

Louie and I went over in the morning, went to the Cliff House Bistro at the beach. got a couple of Irish Coffees at the bar, then a great breakfast sitting at an ocean-view table AND the surf was big. There were maybe 50 surfers out, peaks everywhere, and everyone was getting rides. “We’re in ’em,” said Louie as breakfast was served, a salmon fishermen’s expression for being in the midst of a school of salmon.

We went into the unique vintage camera obscura (anyone see “Tim’s Vermeer” documentary?), then to the Academy of Sciences in the park to see the spectacular “Skulls” exhibit, then dinner that night at Camino, the wood-fired restaurant in Oakland. For desert we stopped at Mel’s on Lombard, split an, ahem, chocolate malt, and played Otis Redding on the juke box. We’re so bad.

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Tuesday Morning Fish Fry

September 9, 2014 at 5:45 pm

Blog Posts I just did 2 posts for our new blog — they’ll be up within a week — https://www.theshelterblog.com/, as I transition to a different blogging mode. Not as much stuff as this (although I can’t resist blabbing now and then). More material on building, the home arts, gardening, farming. Especially building.

I feel like I have a lot to communicate with builders after all these years of non-academic study of carpentry and other methods of construction.

Back in the saddle with this new blog.

Coming off 5 years of building domes, I set about to learn the most practical methods of building homes, small buildings, and barns. It can be so simple.

Sample future posts:

•Drawings of 5 tiny homes (including every stick of wood in framing (from Shelter)

•Barns of my acquaintance

•Timber Framing

•Master Builders of the Middle Ages

•Architecture: architects need to know that the definition of architecture is “…the art and science of building.” Building.

•Dwell magazine: occasional comments on this paragon of soulless living

•Rad Rigs: More tiny homes on wheels

I’m really excited to be shifting to this mode. I have something like 70,000 photos, both film and digital, to draw from.

Today’s New York Times has a terrific science section, including a stunning photo of the moon by the Lunar Orbiter V, and an article about a combo robot/man diving suit that will be used to explore a Roman ship believed to have sunk in the 1st century BC, and which carried “…the Antikythera Mechanism, a mechanical device for predicting celestial movement.”

Serena was just superb on Saturday. Power and grace. Beautiful.

Surfing Without Catching Waves Went out on my 10′ Haut Surftek board the other day, too many surfers for me, just got a couple of krappy rides in the foam. Then a few days later could not get out through 6′ surf with my surf mat BUT as I get older I settle for just being in the ocean AND I’m gonna get waves — going to Kauai in November with surf mat and fins.

Over & Out I’m leaving tomorrow for Pittsburgh, then to Seven Springs, PA to do a presentation Friday,  Sept 12 at the Mother Earth News Fair. Anyone know if Pittsburgh is worth exploring?

Photo: grapes at Louie’s

I've Got You Under My Skin by Diana Krall on Grooveshark

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Home is Where You Park It by Foster Huntington

July 12, 2014 at 10:30 am

This is Foster’s account of 75,000 miles on the road, a lot of it on California and Baja California beaches, photographing all types of homes on wheels: pickup trucks with camper shells, vans, trailers, and motorcycles. It’s surf-centric, and a book that flows as smoothly as the waves in San Juanico. This is Foster’s tribe of nomadic wanderers, beach-oriented and minimalist. Expensive, but short run color books in small quantities are expensive to print. NOT available thru Amazon.

Click here.

(Foster’s latest vehicle, a 6-speed, Toyota 4×4 with expandable lightweight camper shell, is in Tiny Homes on the Move — it’s the best vehicle I’ve ever seen for serious beach/surf/desert/on-and-off-raod travel.)

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Santa Cruz’n

July 11, 2014 at 8:11 pm

We drove down the coast Wednesday afternoon; there were practically gail force winds flattening the waves, swirling the sand on beaches. When we got to Davenport Landing, the wind had dropped, and in Santa Cruz, it was glassy (and flat).

   I love Santa Cruz. Even with all the heavy duty changes since I lived there off and on in the ’50s, it’s still my kinda town. The temp and the water are 5-10 degrees warmer than San Francisco, just a touch of SoCal…makes me want to get on the beach, in the water.

   That evening, my son Will took his 3-year-old Maceo on one of his (Will’s) longboards, and the 3 of us skated down a gentle slope. Will put a pic of us on his Facebook page, here. A couple of his neighbors were out watching us and Will told them, I don’t know if I’m more worried about my 3-year-old son or my 79-year-old dad.

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Graffiti in Bushwick, Surf at Rockaway

June 2, 2014 at 3:44 pm

I took the subway out to Bushwick yesterday. I’d read that it’s the new Williamsburg, but it’s not nearly as gentrified and cute. A lot of the area is still industrial, graffiti (huge murals) abounds, the art is edgy, sidewalk vendors have interesting objects, many unique. Then I caught the train out to Rockaway Beach, where the surf happened to be about as good as it gets on the east coast. Took a lot of photos, here are a couple. Gotta get to JFK for the flight home.

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