I just got home with my new toy, a video snapshot. Its a pretty cool toy, it grabs still shots from a video camera or any other similar device. So the possibilities for my image archive are endless. The only problem is that I don't know how to work it very well, yet. The pictures in this Volume are the first ones so many of them are sort of blurry. The other problem I have been having is with my camera. It doesn't pause so well any more. Ever since it fell off the roof of my car on Pacific Coast Highway its been making all sorts of weird sounds. It might be that screw that I mistakenly dropped in there while I was gluing it back together??? Anyway, I should be getting a new camera around the tenth of January, so bear with me, the quality will improve. Also you'll probably notice that almost all the pictures are of me and my friend 'Chia'. This isn't intentional, its just that that's who I happen to have the most video of. I'll try to have a wider variety of skimboarders in the future. Oh yeah, one more thing, all of the pictures in this volume were taken at Aliso.

   This was the first day that Aliso sider broke in over a year. It was so good that nobody wanted to video until low tide. George and Bill Bryan came down late in the day and made some unexplainable connections. The Bryan's are like that, just when you think their going to sink, they pull off some magic trick and blow everyone's mind. Unfortunately I was skimming the whole time so I didn't get any video of them. This is a picture of me busting a little backside air. Did I make it? Well, almost... 

   This was taken on the shittiest day of the year, hands down. It was September, the wind was blowing out of the north at 20 miles per hour, and the waves were 6-8 inches on the sets. I didn't skim, but Chia thought it was worth it. Did he make it? He landed it 180 and then spun around to 360 as he slid onto the sand, very smooth. 

This was another one of those days that was so good that nobody wanted to video. After skimming for about 4 hours, one of my friends finally gave in. He was too tired to go on. Too bad the tide was getting too high. I still got this wave though. I'm on my way out of the barrel in this shot. 

This is the same day as the first photo. This is one of the only shots we got of George. The quality really sucks, but the wave is unbelievable, especially considering where he came from! He rode the sider out, had plenty of speed and was at the top of the wave when all of a sudden he grabbed his rail and tore apart the wave with his frontside wrap. The picture is grabbed just before he comes out of the barrel. After he comes out he stands upright and does a shuvit onto the sand. 

This picture just goes to show that I have a lot to learn with this video snapshot thing. The quality of this picture bites but it was a damned good wave. The day was windy small and too high tide. But the sets were pretty damned good. This wave I rode for about ten feet after the snapshot... now that I think of it, that wind was blowing offshore... 

The main reason I snapped this picture was because of how well it paused. The wave isn't that special but I think its the first good quality video grab I've gotten. Hopefully when I get my new camera, they'll all look better than this. 

This was the same day as the last picture except much later in the day and its Chia skimming instead of me. Chia's one of those skimboarders who doesn't get noticed even though he's going off. I thought he was lagging this day until I saw the video. The still grabs just look so much better than it does in full motion. 

This is the wave right after the last one. Not bad for two waves in a row on a terrible day! Did he make it? Well, not quite, but he did come real close... 

This is me doing my regular foot impression of Georges wrap. This was the only connection either of us (me and Chia) made this day and we skimmed the sider for over an hour. But then again, this was during the summer of 95. The worst summer for skimming in a long time in Laguna Beach. 

Chia got pretty worked on this wave. He even had to sit it out for a few minutes which is a pretty rare thing when the waves are good. Normally we don't have video of good days because everyone wants to skim but this day we grabbed some kid on the beach and told him to video. That's why we only got one shot out of such a good day. The kid could barely keep us in the frame. Did he make it? Well, he's still on his board in the picture believe it or not.