This is just wrong

I have no idea what the freaking haole's down south are thinking. Man they all should take a chill pill and relax. The ocean is for everyone to enjoy.

Here's why I'm venting. It's a news article from the San Diego Union Tribune. Idiots if you ask me. I'm a newly converted Standup Paddle Surfer and loving it.



Troubled waters
Traditional surfers say stand-up “sweepers” don't share the waves
By Terry Rodgers
2:00 a.m. December 28, 2008
Scott Bass is a former professional surfer, author and filmmaker who has helped popularize stand-up paddle surfing at Cardiff Reef. "The animosity out there is pretty thick and it's understandable," Bass says. - JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune
Pranksters have adorned a statue of a surfer on Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas in various costumes over the past 16 months, including a ballerina's tutu.
The sartorial sabotage perpetrated against the bronze artwork is a form of guerrilla resistance, a rebuff in this laid-back beach town to outsiders who try to claim surf culture as their own.
One morning, the statue appeared with a broom attached to the surfer's hand along with a sign that read “No Sweepers.”
To many, the sign was confusing. To those in the know, it was a protest against a burgeoning sport that some say is threatening to overwhelm California's already congested surfing spots.
The target of the protesters' ire? Stand-up paddle surfing.
The sport originated in the South Pacific and briefly flourished in Hawaii a half-century ago. In Southern California, stand-up paddle surfing was almost unknown until just a few years ago. There has been friction between traditional surfers and stand-up paddlers ever since.
Practitioners of the sport use extra-thick surfboards from 10 to 12 feet long, which they propel with a long-handled paddle that, from a distance, resembles a broom.
It's the paddle that prompts some traditional surfers to derisively refer to their brethren as “sweepers” or “janitors.”
“I wish they'd get them out of here. They're mostly kooks who don't know how to surf,” said Richie Cravey, 20, who surfs regularly at Cardiff Reef in Encinitas, a spot that attracts legions of stand-up paddlers.
Well, it's not necessarily true that they don't know how to surf.
Surfboard shaper Ron House, 61, surfed the traditional way for more than 40 years before switching completely to stand-up paddle surfing.
“I'm not inclined to lay down and wallow on my stomach anymore,” said House, who lives in San Clemente. “The stand-up thing is way more comfortable.”
The most pervasive complaint about stand-up paddlers is that they can dominate the water. By standing rather than sitting to wait for waves, they can spot swells before traditional surfers and then use their superior paddle power to catch waves first.
“If there's a sweeper who's pretty good at a reef or point break, nobody gets waves except the sweeper,” said veteran long board surfer Joe Ditler, 57.
“For a surf break to function properly, people have to share. Sweepers don't share.”
Stand-up paddle surfers say they try to practice the “aloha” spirit and often let waves go by that they could easily take.
But the temptation to grab the wave is almost irresistible when one has such an overwhelming advantage, said Scott Bass, a former professional surfer, author and filmmaker who helped popularize stand-up paddle surfing at Cardiff Reef.
“The animosity out there is pretty thick and it's understandable,” said Bass, editor of Surfer magazine's Web site. “And it's because, no matter how hard we try to share, we're almost always catching another wave.”
Bass, the host of a weekly radio show focusing on surfing, said he is on a personal mission to persuade stand-up paddle surfers to take the ethical high ground.
Stand-up paddle surfing was originally promoted as an aquatic “cross-country” sport that would enable surfers to access more remote surf breaks.
“It originally had this ethos of going off the beaten path,” Bass said. “People have forgotten about that.”
Considerate stand-up paddle surfers should avoid the most popular and crowded surf breaks altogether, he said, adding that they should also refrain from attaching an ankle leash to the board.
That way, if the paddler falls, he will give others a chance at the waves while he swims for his board. The double edge to that practice is that the massive boards, when separated from the paddler, are like redwood stumps rolling down a hill at deer-eyed surfers.
“I want to see the sport done properly and respectfully,” Bass said.
Stand-up paddle surfing, also called beach boy surfing, originated in Polynesian culture and spread to Hawaii. The so-called beach boys – primarily native Hawaiians who gave surfing lessons to tourists at Waikiki Beach – used handcrafted wooden paddles to propel oversized surfboards for fun and as a platform to photograph their clients.
The sport's resurgence began in the mid-1990s, when Laird Hamilton, the world's most renowned big-wave surfer and then-resident of Hawaii, incorporated it into his training regimen to build strength and endurance.
Stand-up paddle surfing was unknown on the West Coast until Hamilton showed up one day in 2001 at Malibu near Los Angeles with a gigantic longboard and paddle. His artistry captured surfers' attention and inspired admirers to give it a try.
In the past six years, the sport has quickly spread in the United States and internationally. Many pro surfers and Hollywood celebrities such as Pierce Brosnan have been seen paddling the jumbo-sized boards.
Although this year's U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach for the first time featured a stand-up paddle division, the sport has yet to gain general acceptance among longtime West Coast surfing clubs.
The sport's recent surge has yet to be documented by surf-industry trade groups such as the Surf Industry Manufacturer's Association or Board-Trac, an Irvine-based firm that tracks trends in the action sports industry.
However, based on board sales in Hawaii, at least 10,000 residents of the islands are stand-up paddle enthusiasts, said Reid Inouye, who plans to begin publishing a magazine devoted to the sport in January.
Most of the sport's future growth will be driven not by surfers but by fitness enthusiasts who will do their paddling on “flat water” venues such as bays, lakes and rivers, Inouye said.
“It's a huge market that's pretty much untapped,” he said.
Chris Wilson, 62, a professional fitness trainer who lives in Encinitas, said he took up the sport to get exercise and have fun even when the waves are tiny.
“It's just another way to enjoy the ocean and enjoy waves,” he said. “I don't experience any problems out there because I follow surfing's rules of etiquette.”
The primary rule is not to cut off another surfer who's already riding a wave.
“There was definitely a learning curve,” Wilson said. “I was a kook for a while.”
The sport's burgeoning popularity has salvaged the careers of several surfboard shapers who might otherwise have gone belly up. New boards range in price from $1,200 to $2,000.
“They are about the only thing selling,” said Dave Daum, 52, a stand-up paddleboard shaper based in Encinitas. His production has increased tenfold over five years, from 10 stand-up paddle boards in 2004 to 100 this year.
“It has opened up a whole new design frontier,” Daum said. “For me, it's been like reinventing the surfboard from scratch. Everything we knew about surfboard design has to be rethought.”
Terry Rodgers is a freelance writer in Del Mar.

Get Out There and Play Boys

We know you’re a soulful surfer, but did you really intend to be celibate? Are dates a wistful memory? The last time a girl gave you her number, did it start with 555? Have you decided that women are just too finicky, too flaky, too unobtainable?
You may be a surf monk.
You saw Beach Blanket Bingo and Blue Crush–surfer dudes get chicks. Like the Beach Boys Said “There’ll be two swingin’ honey’s for every guy, and all you gotta do is just wink your eye”–chorus “two girls for ev-ry guy.” So where’s yours? Instead of Frankie Avalon, you’re more like Jeff Spicoli. Chickless.
I’ve watched surfer dudes in the bars, trying to chat up the tourist chicks. The few that manage to make contact don’t maintain it long. Geeky software dudes have a better batting average. It’s all a little sad, but I know ALL about the problem, and I figured out the solution a long time ago. The knowledge does me no good, I married the coolest girl I ever met. And I’m not just saying that because she’ll probably read this (hi hon, love you). So I might as well tell you all about it. Sit down Grasshopper, and learn. But first let me present my qualifications as your mentor.
I once fell for the same jive: I figured if I rode a motorcycle I’d get the babes. I saw the advertisements. Chicks love bikes. I lived, breathed and ate motorcycles, but it started because I was a completely clueless science nut who lived inside his books and only dreamed of dating real women. Motorcycles would fix that, thought I.
I raced bikes, drove them on the street, worked on them until my nails were permanently black, understood everything about them. Didn’t buy my first car until I was 24. Looked, walked, talked and smelled like a biker (instead of a would-be physicist).
Women crossed the street to avoid me.
But the advertisements said…! Yeah, well about that. I didn’t wind up being a physicist, instead I spent the last twenty years in advertising. I’ll tell you that “truth in advertising” isn’t even an oxymoron. Just a happy accident. When we’re planning a campaign we don’t worry about the truth. We worry about what would make a 19 year old guy buy a motorcycle (or a surfboard). That’s simple–girls.
So they lied, get over it.
But after striking out with women in every way possible, I decided I needed to do something about it. I saw guys that didn’t seem to be that special doing just fine with the ladies. I was kind of grubby, but not despicable. I cleaned up okay.
What I did was study the subject. I’m really, really, awfully good at digging into things in a semi-scientific way. I’m the poster child for attention deficit disorder, but when something is important to me I can take it apart and figure out how it works as well as anyone I ever met. For you readers of the feminine persuasion, please don’t think I’m intentionally ignoring you, it’s just that I studied this as a guy, and there’s not much I could or would do about that.
So that’s my qualifications, sketchy as they might sound. But I did get very good at meeting women. I obsessed about it, did experiments, practiced constantly, took notes and observed the good, the bad, and the hopeless. I once bet a friend I could leave a bar with the best looking woman there in less than ten minutes. It took less than two. Of COURSE I cheated–that’s the point grasshopper–make it easy on yourself and get results. It comes down to two simple things.
So there you are, drinking a beer in the bar with your other surf monk buddies, complaining because there’s just no women that aren’t flakes, meaning there aren’t any that are interested in you. Here’s what you do about it.
Preparation: Look human. Sure, you’ll see some very oddly turned out guys with very interesting-looking women. But do you really need a potential handicap? Your knit bill cap might be your friend, and some girls will even like it–there are nine of them in the world. Chances of meeting them are not good.
You want to stand out–be a little outrageous, but you shouldn’t look like you might smell funny. If you’re totally lost, ask a friend’s girlfriend or even your sister to pick out clothes for you. If you get your head in the right space it will be more fun than you’d expect, and you’ll look the way a WOMAN wants you to look, which is what this is all about.
Step one: Immediate engagement. You walk into a place, scan to find the most interesting looking apparently unattached woman, IMMEDIATELY walk over and say hi.
“Wow, I can’t do that”, you say.
You must.
Why is this important? Here’s my observation (and I watched this hundreds of times–you can too, it happens in every party bar, every day). A guy walks into a bar and sits down by himself. Starts looking at the women. For about two minutes the women in the bar are mildly interested–who is this guy? What’s his story? Is he alone? But that moment passes as he sits around working up his courage. Not only is he no longer new and interesting, he’s a little weird. He settles on two women he’s interested in and starts looking at them more intently. By the time he makes a decision to approach one, she thinks he’s an axe murdering stalker–or might as well be.

The gals at the showcase appear to have spotted something interesting
Tell me this, if some guy started staring at you, how long would it take for you to start worrying about him? Even if it was a woman, unless she took action fairly soon you’d start twitching. Should you go over, what should you say? Is she a nut, on crack, looking for money? Is she trying to piss off her boyfriend so he’ll kick your butt?
Another reason is less visible, but if you’re honest with yourself you can detect it in your own actions. You sit there looking at the women. Slowly accumulating negative reactions that make it impossible for you to act. “Too pretty, she’d just shoot me down. Too loud. Three girls together–that can’t work”. And finally “there’s nobody here, might as well finish my beer and go home”.
So immediate action is the most important step. Absolutely. You can practice this until it feels normal. Go out with the express purpose of practicing. No real intent to engage. Pick women that are in a group. Walk up and say hi. Introduce yourself. “Hello, I’m Bill, how are you folks doing tonight?” You haven’t risked a thing–if they treat you poorly then it’s their insecurity and unfriendliness that caused it. You were just being nice. But nine point nine times out of ten someone in the group will be nice right back. And you start talking.
Step two: What do I talk about?Small talk is a lost art. A great conversation is something that stays with you for weeks, months, years–just because it’s so rare. Conversation is not stories about yourself–especially ones that aren’t true. Certainly not stories about your enthusiasms. Hey, you and I can talk about surfing until the sun comes up. But if the girl you’re talking to doesn’t have coral cuts on her feet and knots on her knees, she’ll glaze over pretty quick. It’s even worse here on Maui where bragging about surfing is like being proud because you breathe well. Here everyone surfs. Their grandma surfs better than you. Their uncle is Dave Kalama. Don’t bother.

Maybe you’d like to brag about your surfing to Ashley. Bad idea. Not only is SHE better than you, but her little brother, and everyone she knows is too.
I’m not going to try to reverse a hundred years of decline and teach you how to have a polite and stimulating conversation. So keep it simple and stick with the safest topic of all–her. Get her talking and just listen, dropping in encouraging questions whenever she slows down. At the end of the evening she’ll think you’re the most interesting person she’s ever talked with.
Let’s dispense with your criticism of this. Are they so shallow, egotistical and insecure that the only thing you can talk to them about is themselves? If the answer is ‘Yes” and she’s beautiful, does it matter? But of course it’s more complex than just that. Remember, we’re looking for a safe topic not only for you, but also for her. If you talk about things she doesn’t know about, how well is that going to work? The topic of her is safe for both of you.
You start with simple but interesting questions: What brought you to Maui? What do you love about it? What have you done here that’s really fun? Have you found any good restaurants? Do you like the beach? What do you do for work? Do you find it fulfilling?
You need to really listen. Look into her eyes and pay attention. Don’t think about what you’re going to say next, listen to her and think about what she is saying. You don’t need to be cleaver, you need to be focused.
Once you get someone talking about themselves, they’ll go on until they get embarrassed about talking too much–at which point you reassure them that you’re having the best conversation of your life. “Oh no, I’m having such a great time talking with you. This is SO much fun”. Say it like you mean it, and the truth is, it will be. Women are fun, especially if you pay attention to them.
One last thing about conversations–women don’t talk with their boobs, so don’t look there. Look straight into their eyes and smile a little fascinated smile. It might make them a little nervous, and I know it’s hard for you, but they’ll absolutely love it.
There’s a lot more of course. The trial close. Separating the twins (or not ). How to be aloof and make it matter. But we’ll save that for later. Two new things is enough for one session.
But we’ve got you started here, and if you really practice these simple things you’ll become very comfortable with them. Not only will you sometimes have a date, but you’ll also probably develop more women friends. They are delightful creatures. Who would you rather sit in a bar with, three women that you simply know and like or three of your grubby surfer buddies telling the same old stories. Even if they are all spoken for, no one can set you up better or faster than a woman friend. And things change. Friends become more than friends.
So here’s the weird thing about all this, and I’m not sure whether I should write this or not. This approach is pretty much exactly what your Mom probably told you when you were ten. “Don’t be so self-conscious, go over there right now and talk to that girl, don’t brag about yourself, you learn more by listening than talking”. All that basic manners stuff.
Go and practice those two little steps Grasshopper. You’ll be amazed.

No Soap 4 You

Surf Guest–That Soap Is Not For You

Once again this column is aimed mostly at guys. It’s not that I’m some kind of pig (though I am) it’s just that I’m male. The notion that I might understand a woman’s viewpoint about guest etiquette is laughable. I’m simply describing reactions and taboos from the position of dispassionate observer. Napoleon Chagnon observing the Yanomami in the dark heart of the amazon. Besides, the topic of this article is no help to women–they understand this stuff from birth. Though it may be useful to women to print a few copies, laminate them, and molly bolt them onto walls anywhere male guests might wander in search of a resting place, food, or relief of basic bodily imperatives.
So you’ve been invited to stay at someone’s beach house. It’s close to good breaks and therefore it’s a great place even if the floors tilt fifteen degrees. You’d like to come back someday. You’d like these people to still be speaking to you after three days of exposure to your habits. But you’re an untamed, natural creature, child of the ocean, at one with your true soul.
Well that ain’t gonna work. If you expose that dog to anyone with sensibilities, much less a woman, they will do anything short of burning the house to make sure you never cross the threshold again. This is a step-by-step plan for utterly fooling people into thinking you are remarkably civilized for a guy whose wardrobe consists of board shorts, rash guards, freebie T-shirts and a crusty hoodie.
You need to memorize this, so I’m going to keep it simple. No explanations–just rules. Besides, I don’t know why these are rules, they puzzle me too.
1. Case the bedroom: If the bed has a decorative cover, a sham (the ruffly thing that hides the wheels and dust bunnies) decorative pillows and/or stuffed animals you will not be sleeping there. DO NOT pull back the covers or disturb the pillows unless you take a photograph that enables you to put things back EXACTLY as they were. Either sleep on the floor beside the bed or try the front lawn.
2. Examine the bathroom: If it is a shared bathroom DO NOT undertake elimination after eating five Spam Musabe or even a single Chile Verde burrito. There is no spray, “aromatherapy experience” or amount of fresh air that will eliminate the lingering evidence of your gastronomic excesses. Lift the seat to pee, put it back down when you’re done. Seems like women could figure out if a toilet seat is up or not before they sit down, but apparently they can’t, and if you give them a surprise dip they will hate you until the sun is a black cinder.
3. The guest towels are not for you. They are easy to identify–they match, and they are brightly colored. You need to look for something in a drawer or cabinet that looks like a ratty beach towel, or perhaps something lifted from a holiday inn. Try not to get it too wet–it can double as a blanket when you’re sleeping on the floor.
4. The guest soap is also not for you. These are even easier to identify–they have probably never been wet and they are in some distinct shape–like fish or hearts. Again, search the cabinets and find a soap scrap with deep fissures, or perhaps an assortment of them that you can bind together with a little hot water.
5. If your buddy farts in front of his wife it’s not an invitation to a contest. Your best bet is a slightly pained and embarrassed look, like you’re not really sure what just transpired. Of course if she’s not around feel free to unleash your rendition of the 1812 overture.
6. Don’t offer to cook–a no win proposition. If it’s good you’re competing with the wife and upstaging your friend. If it’s bad you’re subjecting them to an unpleasant meal, if you make a mess you’re a pain, if you clean the whole kitchen you’re a neat freak who finds their housekeeping not up to your standards. When Suzy Homemaker makes you anything, including some strange casserole with green things and mushroom soup in it, act like you’ve just enjoyed the best thing since that crazy two weeks in Paris. Good idea to go for a walk afterwards (refer to rule five above).
7. Do the dishes. Takes twenty minutes, any fool can do it, and you’ll permanently be one of the good guys. You can screw up any of the rules above (except some parts of #2) and a bit of dish washing will put you back on an even standing–probationally.
8. Get lost. If you’re hanging out more than a single night you’ll be in the way. Unless your friends are a bit kinky they probably ain’t having sex if you’re hanging in the living room. A couple of days of that and even the kindest soul will wish you gone. Provide some space and make sure they know you’ll be gone for at least a couple of hours. Don’t come back early.
That’s about it. You can make life a lot simpler by staying with your bachelor buddies, but they usually don’t have much room, and their towels have hash marks.

SUP At Sunset

Five-year layoff doesn't hurt Kalama


By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer



Kamu Auwae of Nanakuli put in a "hard day's work," winning one division and placing second in another.

BERNIE BAKER Special to The Honolulu Advertiser




Kamu Auwae




Ikaika Kalama




Thanks to courageous performances from Ikaika Kalama and Kamu Auwae, the opening contest of the 2008 Steinlager Shaka Longboard Series will be a tough act to follow.

Kalama won the pro-am division and Auwae won the stand-up paddle division in rough conditions at Sunset Beach. Wave-face heights ranged from 8 to 15 feet throughout the day, but strong onshore winds made it difficult for the surfers to paddle into the waves.


"The waves were all over the place and it was real windy out there," Kalama said. "It wasn't the best conditions, but it was still fun."


Around 50 competitors participated yesterday, including most of the state's best longboard surfers. In the pro-am division, surfers had to ride traditional longboards; in the stand-up paddle division, surfers could use a canoe-style paddle to help maneuver.


Kalama surprised himself by advancing to the pro-am final. He is better known as a professional big-wave surfer, and rarely rides a longboard.


"This is my first longboard contest in about five years," said Kalama, who is originally from the Big Island, but now resides in Waialua. "I'm going to try and do more this year."


In the 20-minute final for the pro-am division, Kalama caught just two waves, but it was enough to prevail.


His first wave received a score of 8.0 (out of 10), and his second received a 5.7.


"I think everybody was out of gas by the time the final got going," said Kalama, 28. "I only got two waves, so I wanted to make sure I did as much as I could on those two."

Kalama received $1,200 for the victory.


But most of the buzz on the beach surrounded Auwae. He won the stand-up paddle division, and also placed second in the pro-am division.


During a one-hour stretch, he surfed in three consecutive heats without a rest break — the stand-up paddle semifinal, the pro-am final, then the stand-up paddle final.


He had to change his board after each of those three heats, and was given a few seconds to paddle out to the wave lineup.


"I needed the workout; Ionly surfed once this week," he said with a laugh.


In truth, his arms started to cramp prior to the pro-am final, and he thought about withdrawing.


"Both my arms started cramping when I was paddling out," he said. "The (waves) had some size today, so I knew it would be dangerous if I was to cramp up out there. But I just stretched it out and told myself if I made it this far, I gotta go out and catch at least one wave."


His opening wave in the pro-am final received a score of 7.5, but his second wave received a 3.5. He earned $600 for second place.


Kai Sallas was third, and Koa Enriquez was fourth.


Enriquez scored a perfect 10 in the semifinals for a rare barrel ride, but he could not find any similar waves in the final.


In the stand-up paddle final, Auwae won it by catching just two waves. His first wave received a score of 8.5, and his second was a 7.0.


"You only need two waves, so my goal was to get two waves, then come in and rest," said Auwae, 28. "Lucky for me, I got two good ones."


Dave Parmenter placed second, Leleo Kinimaka was third, and Noland Martin fourth.

Several surfers competed in both the pro-am and stand-up paddle divisions, but Auwae was the only one to reach the semifinals for both divisions.


Auwae, who is from Nanakuli, said his primary focus was on the pro-am division, and he entered the stand-up paddle division "just for fun."


"Quiksilver is paying for my entries, so I'm hoping to do good for them in the longboard (contests)," he said. "Today was a hard day's work, but I'm happy with it."


The contest was the first of five in the 2008 Steinlager Shaka Longboard Series.


The series also features age-group divisions for amateur competitors. The amateur divisions will run today at Sunset Beach.


For more information on the series, visit www.hspsurf.org.

FINAL RESULTS

Pro-am: 1, Ikaika Kalama. 2, Kamu Auwae. 3, Kai Sallas. 4, Koa Enriquez. 5 (tie), Duane DeSoto and Dino Miranda.

Stand-up paddle: 1, Kamu Auwae. 2, Dave Parmenter. 3, Leleo Kinimaka. 4, Noland Martin. 5 (tie), Kekoa Uemura and Brian Keaulana.

2008 Steinlager Shaka Series

Upcoming contests

May 31-June 1: Kaka'ako Park

June 21-22: Queen's, Waikiki

July 19-20: Ala Moana Bowls

Sept. 13-14 or 20-21: Hale'iwa

Finally!!! Go Giants!!!

Molina's clutch homers boost Giants
Catcher's second long ball of game a walk-off shot in extras
By Chris Haft / MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Bengie Molina had never hit a walk-off home run, and chances are the power-challenged Giants won't win many games in that fashion.
So Molina wanted to savor the moment Tuesday night when his 11th-inning homer, his second of the game, gave the Giants a 3-2 decision over the San Diego Padres.
"After I touched first base, I wanted to come back home," Molina said after the Giants (2-6) ended their four-game losing streak.
Molina's dramatics ended a gripping standoff.
"It was a little nerve-racking, as close games always are," said Giants starter Tim Lincecum, who struck out seven in six innings and bequeathed a 2-1 lead to the bullpen.
The Giants took that slender lead into the ninth inning, but closer Brian Wilson surrendered the tying run after walking leadoff batter Josh Bard -- which often launches a disastrous inning. Brad Hennessey (1-0) struck out three in two scoreless innings, but the Giants squandered opportunities in the ninth and 10th innings, moving runners into scoring position both times.
Molina ultimately rewarded the Giants by clobbering Cla Meredith's 1-2 slider into the left-field seats.
"He's so nasty on righties," Molina said of Meredith (0-1), who owned a 0.89 career ERA against the Giants entering the game. "I was just hoping he'd throw something middle-in and he did."
Having lurched through the season's first week, the Giants seized the chance to revel in this triumph by engulfing Molina at home plate.
Asked if this was how he envisioned his first game-winning homer, Molina replied, "It was way, way much better than I thought it would be. .... What's amazing for me was to see the joy, the happiness, the smiles."
In a way, Molina's feat wasn't a surprise. He established himself as the Giants' top hitter under pressure last year by hitting .338 with runners in scoring position and two outs. No wonder manager Bruce Bochy named Molina, who has three of the team's four homers this year, to be the Giants' cleanup hitter before the season started.
"Bengie's so clutch," Bochy said. "He's the guy you want up there when you need a big hit."
Molina insisted that he maintains the same approach regardless of the situation.
"I don't think about those things," said Molina, who opened the scoring with his second-inning homer off Padres starter Randy Wolf. "I told you guys from the get-go that I'm just a hitter. I'm not a fourth batter or a fifth batter or a seventh batter. All I'm doing is trying to hit the ball hard somewhere."
However, Molina was unrestrained in his praise of the Giants pitchers -- "That's more important for me that the pitching did well" -- and for good reason.
Left-hander Jack Taschner stranded a runner on second base in the seventh inning by retiring Adrian Gonzalez, who was 3-for-3 off him last season.
Tyler Walker marooned another Padre on second in the eighth inning by fanning Khalil Greene, a career .319 hitter at AT&T Park entering the game, and Scott Hairston, who tormented the Giants with seven home runs last year.
After Wilson blew his first save opportunity in two chances, Hennessey took over and rebounded from three subpar outings in which he recorded a 24.00 ERA and allowed opponents to hit .600 off him.
"He saved us tonight," Bochy said.
Earlier, Lincecum propelled the Giants with a typically energizing performance. He allowed two singles but struck out the side in the first inning, fanned Bard with two on and two outs to end the fourth inning and, with two Padres aboard in the sixth and a run in, struck out Hairston and retired Bard to finish his outing.
The Giants actually received a break in that sixth inning after the Padres loaded the bases with nobody out. Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff singled and Lincecum hit Jim Edmonds with a pitch. Greene lifted a fly to deep left field that Daniel Ortmeier dropped. Gonzalez scored but Kouzmanoff, believing Ortmeier had caught the ball, returned to second base and was tagged out. Had Kouzmanoff gone halfway toward third, as baserunners often do, he might have scored.

Had some fun yesterday

So I had a really fun time yesterday. Took the day off to hang out with Alan today. Man we started off pretty good. Had breakfast in North Beach at Mama's. The food was very tasty. Then we went to our favorite biker dive bar in the Mission for the afternoon. It was a nice sunny day. We had a couple of pitchers of Stella a Hamburger and ot dog. You gotta love a bar that has this sign!

So Tired this morning

Man I picked up my best friend from back home last night. He's staying here with me for a couple of days before he goes back home. I get the honor to take him around to get stuff for his upcoming baby event of his life! Congrats Al and Ina! Just in case you read this I had to throw that pulg in. SO I grabbed him last night fro SFO at about 10:20 and came back to the house. Did the usual. Had some beers and shot the shit for a couple of hours. Then I hit the sack to get up to go to work at 5 this mourning. I'm so FUBAR right now. Oh well. Let's see how I make it through today!

Alkaline Trio Concert in SF

Oh hell yeah. My favorite band is back in town! It's none other than Matt, Derek, and Dan.

Kelly WIns at Belle's!!!

This is going to be a knarly WCT season! I got this hot new realease from the ASP website. Kelly is starting to get on a roll.

Slater Steals the Show and Rings his Third Bell at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach
BELLS BEACH, Australia (Thursday, March 27, 2008) - Kelly Slater (USA) has further asserted that he is the best surfer on earth after winning the Rip Curl Pro pres. by Snickers today. Launching a huge air to earn a last minute score and beat Bede Durbidge (AUS)in the final, the 36-year old has claimed his 36th event win and rung the bell for the third time.“It feels awesome; it feels really good, ” Slater said. “The Bell is arguably the best trophy you can win in surfing. I do have a couple, but to get there and have the chance and get a third one feels really good. I’ve just joined my good friend Sunny (Garcia) with three, and I think MR (Mark Richards) and MP (Michael Peterson) have four or five – those guys are crazy.”Slater trailed Durbidge for the first 27 minutes of the 30-minute affair. Surfing his fourth heat of the day, the 8X ASP World Champion was tired and had all but given up.“I thought Bede had me,” Slater said. “I wasn’t trying to worry too much or stress – I was happy just to be in the Final – but before the heat I heard Rabbit (ASP President) say something about going up to Rincon so I thought I would sneak up there to see what I could find.”What he found was a ramp from which to launch a daring double-grab aerial. He was awarded an 8.83 (out of 10.00) for the massive maneuver and took the lead.“I was really surprised Bede (Durbidge) let me paddle up to Ricon by myself,” Slater said. “I thought that when I looked back, he would be 10 yards behind me, but when I looked back, he was still in the Bowl. Then that wave came that let me do that big air.”Claiming victories in the first two events on the 2008 ASP World Tour, Slater has now replicated the 2006 season-start that eventuated in his 8th ASP World Title. He confirmed that’s he’s made plans to attend the next event in Tahiti and is thinking about No. 9.“It’d be silly to say it’s not on the radar somewhere, but my whole approach and attitude at this point is just to have fun,” Slater said. “There is a lot of hype with Dane (Reynolds) and Jordy (Smith), and don’t think it’s just hype – those guys are the real deal. I know it’s got me excited to see what I can do on a wave and to push my equipment. The title thing is there to get, but at this point it’s more about pushing my performance to see how much I can do on a wave.”Slater retains the World No. 1 rating and fellow finalist Durbidge has moved to World No. 2 with the result.“There are murmurs of Bede being a world title contender and I would say he’s up to that challenge,” Slater said.Durbidge was disappointed with the loss but his performance at Bells Beach has positioned him as a clear contender. “It’s pretty frustrating, but he’s the champ and freakish things happen to him,” Durbidge said of Slater. “I saw him paddle up to Rincon and I just let him go. He just got one and went pretty freakish, did a big air, rode it all the way through and got the score.”Durbidge’s final berth today was the fourth of his four-year career. He finished World No. 5 last year after winning the last event of the year in Hawaii and started 2008 with a semifinal showing.“I’ve just been getting through heats and I’ve been going all the way to the end so it’s been going pretty good for me,” Durbidge said.Durbidge eliminated California’s Bobby Martinez (USA) in a one sided semifinal affair today.“I would have liked to keep on going but Bede stopped me in my tracks, Martinez said. “He deserved it he’s surfing good. I kind of got wave starved and was never really in it. If you are not on the good waves you’ve got a good chance of losing just because everyone surfs so good. Like I’ve said over and over again, anyone can beat anybody."Martinez has moved to World No. 8 after bettering his 17th place finish on the Gold Coast of Australia.“It didn’t start for me so good here, I’m glad it ended alright,” Martinez said. “It’s a Catch 22, because you are so close to where you want to be but at the same time, you failed. You’re happy but at the same time you are a little bummed out.”Taj Burrow (AUS) was also bummed out after his semifinal loss to Slater.“It was pretty frustrating to lose like that,” Burrow said. “I just couldn’t get a wave, it was really choppy out there. It was pretty hard to pick a wave, I don’t even know if there were any decent ones out there. Kelly had the right approach taking a lot of waves and maybe one of them would form together but I was trying to wait for that one and I couldn’t really find a clean face.”Burrow was runner-up to the World Title in 2007 and hopes to be a contender this year too.“Third is a keeper for sure,” Burrow said. “I was hoping to make a bit more ground on the guys at the top but I am stoked to be there mixing it up with them. It’s just all about the next one.”Dane Reynolds (USA) fell to Burrow in the Quarterfinals but still leaves the event with his best result in an ASP World Tour event. Sitting equal 11th, Reynolds is the highest rated rookie on tour and his performance in the Rip Curl Pro did not go unnoticed.“I think Dane might arguably the best surfer in the world right now,” Slater said. Just everything from barrels to airs to carves, he’s really got the whole bag of tricks and power and everything. He’s so well rounded, and I think that’s got us all pretty fired up.”The next event on ASP World Tour will take place in Teahupoo, Tahiti from May 8-18, 2008.Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Final Results:Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.63 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 15.16Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Semifinal Results:Heat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.50 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 4.50Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 12.33 def. Taj Burrow (BRA) 7.96Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Quarterfinal Results:Heat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.00 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.33Heat 2: Bobby Martinez (USA) 17.33 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 10.67Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.33 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 10.67Heat 4: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.34 def. Andy Irons (HAW) 2.80Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Round 4 Results:Heat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.03 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.60Heat 8: Andy Irons (HAW) 16.57 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 12.53Ratings after Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach - Event No. 2 on the ASP World Tour1. Kelly Slater (USA) 2400 points2. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 1908 points3. Mick Fanning (AUS) 1764 points4. Taj Burrow (AUS) 1476 points4. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 1476 points6. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 1464 points6. Andy Irons (HAW) 1464 points8. Bobby Martinez (USA) 1286 points9. Kai Otton (AUS) 1200 points9. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 1200 points

Now now. This is just a test of if this thing works or not. I'll be back soon to fill more stuff in as it goes.