Venice Surf Report 07/25/08 The Boyos In The Bushes

Venice Surf Report Surf Report Southern California

There is some swell in the water, but the surfers in the water probably wouldn't say so.





Lowish tide and a very disorganized swell mix just have it plain junky, mixed up and shifty. I watched for a solid fifteen minutes and neither of the two guys out on the north side got into anything at all.





It might be (shit, has to be) better up north, especially given the tide, maybe we will see oil continue to drop and those trips will get a little bit more affordable.

Sun making an early appearance, plenty of street parking left, two out, one more getting in, overall grade a C-.

Saw Tommy early this morning.

As you can see he is reading the LA Times just like any other man of leisure, striking a rather elegant pose as befitting a man of his position.





It is a bit curious that he would be perusing the movie ads as he has no money, and even if he did it would be a tough sell getting anyone to sit next to him in the close confines of a movie theater for 2+ hours given his (lack of) personal grooming habits, but I guess a man can dream, eh?

I went over to talk to him and he had a rather interesting story to tell.



"Hey, Tommy, what's happening?" I asked.

"Not much" he replied.

"The boyos over by the bathroom?"

He shook his head and pointed over towards the bushes.



"No, they're sleeping over there now" he said. "The guys that clean the bathrooms were making them wake up too early so they moved over to the bushes, but then they were having a problem with the sprinklers turning on first thing in the morning."

"Really?"

"Yeah" he replied, "but they thought they had it figured out yesterday when they found a water valve and turned the thing off in the hopes of killing the sprinklers. Turns out what they had turned off, though, was the water supply to the bathrooms and showers, and once they had it closed couldn't get it back open. DWP came down and it took them something like 6 hours to figure out the problem."

"What about the sprinklers, they get them off?"

"Nope. But I guess they just don't care."

"I guess not" I replied.

Oh, those boyos, there's just no telling what sort of mischief they'll get into!

Venice Surf Report 06/17/08 Day #1 of Boyo Week

Not bad, for low tide Venice.

Head high+ on the sets, which are still infrequent, but there are some 'tweeners that should keep you occupied during the lulls.







Would it be alot better up north? Absolutely. But if you don't want to burn the gas it should be worth a paddle here. Oh, and it will get better as the tide fills in.

10-12 out on both sides, a few more getting in, street parking still available and the sun making an early appearnace, light/variable winds.

It was day #1 of boyo week yesterday - and what a day it was.

Went down to the pier around 5 o'clock with the dual mission of seeking out the boyos and trying to get some exercise/limber up the 'ol ankle, and I was not dissapointed, for sitting right at the picnic tables was none other than Randy, Chug-of-War Gold Medal Winner of the 2007 Venice Pier HobOlympics

He was sitting with this very, very weird looking dude who had on like a hundred pieces of flair.



Flair not withstanding something tells me that server job at Flingers may remain just ever so slightly out of his reach.

Here you can see Randy doing his trademark mugging for the camera with his new buddy who goes by the name Jingles.



"So, Randy" I said, "whatcha been up to?"

"Oh not much, Matt. You know me, same ol same ol - drink, get drunk, wake up, do it all over again."

"Sounds like the story of my life" I replied.

"Well, we're always looking for a few good men; why don't you quit all that corporate shit and come on down and live at the pier with the rest of us? Hell, I'll even give you some room to store your shit in my buggy..." he said, not jokingly I think.

"Randy, that is a tempting offer, and I am going to think about. How about I get back to you tomorrow morning?"

"Sure, Matt, you take your time - you know where I'll be. Ha!"

At this point the group had just finished their last beers and so, feeling magnanimous, I offered to go buy a round.

"Anyone want a beer?" I asked.

"Hell Yes!!!" the entire group shouted at once.

So, I go to Nick's and soon return with a satchel full of Steel Reserve 211's which were promptly distributed amongst the crew.





You may remeber that Randy recently went to the hospital after suffering from a couple of grand mal seizures, most likely fromdrinking too much. I decided to ask him how he had been since.

"So, Randy, you turn pro with that seizure thing yet or what? What's the story?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean "you don't know?" What happened the last time you went to the hospital?" I asked.

"I don't remember. I think I just got up and left the hospital when they were in the middle of treating me and, as far as I recall, I just got up and left right in the middle of it."

"Oh" I said. "Did they give you any medicine or anything?"

"Not that I know about."

"Don't you worry, you know, that you could ...uh, you know, like....uh, die?"

"Not really. Everybody dies."

"But not everybody lives, right?"

"What? No, that's stupid. What are you, fucking Braveheart or somethin?"

I guess he's not a Mel Gibson fan.



At any rate, at this point he just kinda stared off into the ocean and took a few long pulls off his beer. I could see the gears spinning up there and it made me think this is why I never ask these guys about serious shit. They aren't stupid, they know they're killing themsleves, so why rub their noses in it?

"Randy, how about another brew?" I said.

"Yeah Matt, that'd be nice."

As he grabs the beer a big grin lights up his face and soon all is well with the world again.

At this point I noticed a few guys out in the water so I said I wanted to try and grab a few pictures of whoever would be out in such a walled up, closed out, onshore day at Venice.

So - you wanna surf Venice, eh? Well, bring your paddling arms and some healthy lungs and welcome to a little photo sequence I call Venice Afternoon Onshore Delight.

I think it speaks for itself.......



















Looks like fun, no?

As I walked off the pier I take a long range picture of the group just chilling at the tables.



As I walk off the pier I go over to say goodbye to Randy; he is just cracking the last beer.





Say what you will, call em a bunch of worthless drunks, whatever, but Randy got everything he wanted today. Did you?

Finally, as I was leaving Jingles calls me over and asks what the thing around his neck is called.



"Scrimshaw, I think" I replied.

"Oh - I thought it was like ivory" he said.

"No, not ivory, scrimshaw."

"Cool - thanks man!"

"You got it. Take it easy, Randy"

"See you Matt."

And Day One came to a close........