Board Meeting

A couple of weeks ago Hubby and I went to visit the Surfing Heritage and Cultural Center in San Clemente. 

The centre has a very large collection of boards lined up with labels that trace the various developments in surfboard design and innovation.

These two boards are reproductions of the early Koa wood boards used by Hawaiian surfers.

This board was made in 1907.

Those below are other early boards which are very heavy.

Duke Kahanamoku was an Olympic swimmer who is credited with popularizing surfing.

Here is the very board from the photograph above.

The size and shape of boards changed as did the type of wood used.

This tail end of a board was used by a friend, Barrie, and her surfing partner, Pete, as champion tandem surfers.

Snarks and surfers often share the same water and not always in a friendly way.

Eventually, lighter-weight materials for surfboards were developed and they became more colourful.

The Weber Performer design is still widely ridden by surfers.

A mock-up of a board shaping workshop.

Barrie and her next surfing partner, Steve, (whom she married) continued to win surfing championships. Their surfboard shop Infinity Surfboard Co has been a fixture in Dana Point for many years and is the home of continuous innovation in surfboards, stand-up paddle boards, and other boards. Steve (aka Master Boehne) made me a custom board, part wave ski, part stand-up board especially for paddling sitting down on flat water.

Elephants on Parade 7

The word was that all the elephants were gathering in a Dana Point park before being sold at a charity auction so I headed out to track down the ones I hadn't photographed yet.

It was just after 8am and there was a beautiful light over the ocean.

However, not all the elephants were there. Apparently some of them were reluctant to leave the resorts they'd been staying at.

Thanks to the nice people at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott & Spa I was able to go into the resort and photograph a few more.

There was also a display of miniature versions of elephants from previous parades.

Elephants hanging out in the park.

There are still there still three elephants I haven't photographed but, at this stage, I'm not sure if I will be able to but tracking down wildlife can be so unpredictable.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

Southern California doesn't get the same degree of seasonable changes as some areas of the United States do. However, you can find the visual signs here and there.

Tar Very Much

This week Hubby and I went up to a Los Angeles art museum with some friends. Right next door are the La Brea Tar Pits which I'd heard of but never seen. 

They are, as the name suggests, tar pits and they were formed by tar seeping from underground up to the surface over tens of thousands of years.

What was really interesting, and a little weird, were the bubbles, caused by escaping methane gas which make it look like the tar is boiling. 

The nearby museum tells the story of the tar pits and presents the results of the on-going excavations. Sadly we did not have time to visit it.

There are various models of animals around the site whose fossils were discovered in the area.

Pit 91 shows how some of the excavations took place and what was found there.