YONDER BREAKS

It was another boring day at work, punching the keyboard and staring at my screen. But then I received an email about one of my favorite bands, Switchfoot, on tour to support their new album,  Fading West . It turns out they wrote the album while also making  a movie  of the same title, so I watched the trailer and something about it put a spark in my mundane day that could not be denied. They travel the world to surf and play music? Are you kidding me?! What a life! After dreaming about some of my own adventures I'd like to go on in life, I went and watched the movie... "The dream would have been to be a pro surfer, but it didn't work out, so I'm in a rock and roll band instead." Rub it in, why don't you, Jon Foreman? At least they shared it with us in this awesome movie.   First off, what a concept!  Surfing and music  go together like pancakes and syrup; and if you're in a rock band that travels the world, why not go to really awesom...

It was a rainy day after Thanksgiving, and a friend had tipped me off to an incoming swell that would hit our home break. I didn't expect much, though, as the beach we often surf is rarely outstanding, but surfing sounded better than Black Friday shopping, so I headed to the beach. Apparently my fear of water is greater than my fear of people's opinions, because I ended up grabbing my sister's  NSP  (I like to call it the Butterfly Racer - pictured below). It's wider than my short board, which helps in smaller waves, but still responsive enough to do some carving. I wouldn't advise you to go out and buy one by any means, but I've been surprised at how much fun I've had on this thing. Riding the "Butterfly Racer" at Trestles...don't judge me. When I got to the spot, I was surprised to find a guy dropping in on a head-high left - a rare sight at this break. I watched a set come through ( key to paddling out  on days like this) and head...

There's nothing quite like driving up the Pacific Coast Highway and listening to Jack Johnson to me; or riding with friends to a foreign break, jamming to Sublime as we anticipate the unknown session ahead. Music and surfing go hand in hand, and so I thought I'd examine the sounds of surfing as a little history lesson, and to inspire your next ride out to the beach. Music is a tricky thing in that it's tough to pin down where a certain genre began, usually starting in some hole-in-the-wall club where another artist hears it and then makes it popular. As far as we know, one of the major pioneers of surf rock is Dick Dale, who claimed that signature lead guitar sound found in his most popular tune,  "Miserlou." A parody of surf music from the film "Top Secret!" This instrumental sound continued for a few years before acts like the Beach Boys and the Surfaris added their multi-part vocal harmonies to really nail down that 60's surf sound....

...killing yourself? This commercial premiered during the Olympics, and I just can't get behind the message... He says we don't work hard for stuff, but because we're "crazy driven." I'm all for drive, accomplishing goals, devotion and discipline; but you always have to count the cost. Here are some statistics from  Washington Post : The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that Americans work extreme hours, averaging 50 or more hours per week. Compared to 1976, the average American works about one month more a year...leisure and sleep time have fallen steeply for those with college degrees...Gallup estimates that 70% of all workers are disengaged from their jobs, costing between $450-$550 billion each year in productivity. Most employers voluntarily grant American workers two weeks of vacation, and in a telling annual report called the "Vacation Deprivation" study, travel company Expedia found that Americans didn't use 577 m...