Frazz by Jef Mallett for August 25, 2013

Only a few days are possible on the Great Lakes….And half of those are in November and March…….Usually kind of chilly….

And not just any coast.

Up here in Northern California there are a few places where you can surf if you’re really an expert…but it’s dangerous…

What you DON’T do in a dry year like this is waste all that precious water, by pouring it on the sidewalk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZsuQXKkPdw

http://www.spitcast.com/surfing-spots/county/santa-cruz/

http://www.thesurfingsite.com/Surf-Spots-Northern-California.html

Thehag…. I said “up here”….

I’m about 150 miles north of Santa Cruz….

Sure, people surf there, and Half Moon Bay, even up in Humboldt County…but even experienced surfers have been hurt.

Mavericks is closer to me…. about 75 miles south…. and very dangerous….

The coast of Sonoma County, whiich is where I live, is wild and mostly rocky….

There are days, mostly cold ones, when the waves are high….and people find coves and beaches to surf but I wish they wouldn’t.

Every year somebody dies…. and one year it was a friend of mine.

They’re NOT places for a beginner…. much less for a kid like Caulfield.

And Endless Summer was filmed all over the world, AFAIK not around here.

I grew up surfing in NJ. No obstacles except an occasional jetty. The Gulf Stream brought warm water up from the south, eliminating the need for wet suits. It was fun, but the local authorities limited the areas where one could surf pretty severely. Early morning and late afternoon were the only options.

In New England, the best surfing seems to happen during the wild storms of November and into the winter, which requires a wet suit and a LOT of devotion to the sport. Brrr.

kid pull a mike fox, get frazz to drive a van, get up on top and surf usa

Or he can put wheels on it and go “Sidewalk Surfing” with Jan and Dean. lol

I’m surprised nobody has commented on the Dick Dale reference. He is now 76, and still going strong. His influence on music is tremendous.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIU0RMV_II8

When you’re that size all the waves look that size.

Yo, Caulfield dude, come visit us and we’ll walk down to Trestles or up to Doheny. You’ll have rides you’ll remember for the rest of your life…

Then there is this:

The Euclid Beach Band-No Surf In Cleveland

I live in Santa Rosa…. 25 miles inland from the coast, and we’re definitely Northern California!

About 1/4 of the distance from Oregon to Mexico puts it right in the middle of the Northern half….

And thanks Fritzoid…. I was going to have to type a lot of what you wrote.

I do disagree that SF has little in common with points north…. I’ve lived and worked in SF, Oakland and Berkeley.

Santa Rosa is part of what’s called the North Bay, and has a much more “Bay Area sensibility” than LA does.

But a lot more redwood trees and cows. LOL…

Anyway…. there are beaches, all up and down the north coast…. but surfing beaches are another thing altogether.

One problem is that they get low, easy-looking waves most of the time, nothing big enough to surf…

Tourists think they must be gentle places to swim…instead they’re treacherous. Strong, invisible undertows drag a couple of travelers out to sea and drown them, every year.

And in winter, especially, when the big waves come in, both the breakers and the undertow get violent…Surfing Mavericks looks easy in the movies,, but in reality it’s NOT like Malibu.

And thanks, A.Ficionada…. Yeah, it was someone who never believed Marin County was a dangerous place to surf.

Dick Dale is THE guitar man.

Ever notice that Dick Dale looks kinda like Steven Segal? (Though Dick Dale is definitely the better showman/guitarist.)

COOL Frazz has a Dick Dale CD. Hot dam