Author Archive for chris.ahrens
Last man, woman or child standing
I’ve already made my stand on stand up paddle boards, or SUPs, in the lineup. Simply stated it’s this: Someone with the advantage of a paddle on a surfboard should give way on a wave to someone without one. I feel the same way about longboards sharing the lineup with shortboards. The one with the […]
Big wave country draws its own group of devotees
Big wave riders are different than most of us, so I suppose it’s only natural they would have different dreams. To quote Bruce Brown from “Endless Summer,” the waves they ride could, “light a city the size of Honolulu for a week.” I am not so poetic, but I like to say that just one […]
Modern surf-sounds bring back memories of the ‘60s
In 1962 my sister came home from college with an album that would forever change my life. It was called “Surfer’s Choice,” the musician was Dick Dale, and we turned up our parent’s gigantic wooden hi-fi all the way. The enduring hit from that album, “Miserlou” provided a soundtrack to accompany a rush that only […]
The surf was good, but the industry was calling
Scott Bass got it right. Again. If you were at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9, you know that this year’s Sacred Craft was the best surf show since the 1964 Surf-O-Rama. If you weren’t there, you were probably doing what we should have all been doing, surfing the first good […]
I’d rather surf cold water than a red tide, that’s no joke
Red tide occurs when algae rapidly divide and release toxins into the water and air. The Fish and Wildlife Research Institute states that red tide is a natural phenomenon. Others don’t agree, believing it’s caused by polluted runoff. For sure, when local marine life ingests the toxin they can die off in great numbers. People […]
Please, do support your local surf shop
When I was a kid in the early ‘60s, surf shops smelled like resin and rang with the sounds of power tools. Surfboards were often the only item featured in the showroom. In the back room, you could watch as your blank and resin were transformed into a dream machine. These were not department stores, […]
All that was left was dust: a surfing tribute to firefighters who fell on 9/11
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, firefighter Brennan Savage had finished his shift at Ladder 137 in Southern Queens, the firehouse where he worked as a New York firefighter. He was thinking about the waves he would ride that day when suddenly he looked up across the bay to see one of the Twin […]
Hawk or Hosoi: you choose
Like chocolate or vanilla ice cream in the 1950s, the choices of favorite skaters in the ‘80s were basically limited to two — it was Tony Hawk’s rapid-fire technical tricks or Christian Hosoi’s stylish air show. As a follower of either Hawk or Hosoi you may have once lined the stands at the legendary Del […]
A good conservation is never flat, even when the surf is
Last weekend, the beaches were beautiful, warm and packed; the surf nearly flat. That’s no surprise for North County in the summertime, but it did spark some good conversations on the beach. Steve Clark was hanging out with his family, including his grandson who is just starting to ride Swami’s recently. Steve has been surfing […]
Remembering 100 years of Cardiff surfing
There are stacks of discount soft surfboards on mini vans — each driver, it seems, headed to Cardiff. Kids pour out into the water, laughing and screaming their way into summer. It’s nice to see that “stoke” still lives in this town. The only things I don’t like are the divers who just brought in […]
