Some sports are like foreign languages — infinitely easier to learn when you’re younger. Once humans reach a certain age, our hips, knees and balance operate as they always have, and it’s much harder for our body to move in new, contrasting directions. For example, if you are a runner or a cyclist, your joints […]
surfing
Posted inArts + Scene
Butch Cornelius’ Surf Art History
You may never have heard his name but if you are a surfer — particularly a surfer of a certain age — you have surely seen Butch Cornelius’ work. Raised alongside elite surfers and surf artists of his day, he brushed against fame yet never really had it. Still, the aesthetic of the former graphic […]
Posted inNews
Photos: Paddle Out for Justice
On Sunday, June 6, some 50 people gathered on the Samoa Peninsula, on un-ceded Wiyot land called Twaya’t, for the second Paddle Out for Justice. Event Organizer Melissa Meiris started off the roster of speakers who addressed the crowd on the beach, discussing social justice issues ranging from families separated at the U.S-Mexico border, racism, […]
Posted inLifelines
Ken “Rotch” Rothschiller: 1947-2021
Throughout his life, the artistic sensibility of Ken “Rotch” Rothschiller manifested in many forms, Rotch was best known, and beloved, for being Humboldt County‘s first surfboard manufacturer, shaping and glassing beautiful, functional surfboards that were invariably works of art. A longtime resident of Manila, Rotch was born in Klamath Falls, Ore. His family moved to […]
Posted inNews
Surf’s Up, California: With 2019, Come New Laws
Hundreds of new laws took effect in California today, regulating everything from drinking straws and bicycle helmets to worker pay and kids’ meals. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the important, noteworthy and quirky things that took effect New Year’s Day. Minimum Wage Hike: As the state continues its march toward a $15 minimum […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Sharktober, Part Four
The Sharkbanz, a chunky wrist-worn device advertised as “a convenient and effective shark deterrent for the beachgoer, swimmer and surfer,” sits on my dresser next to a stack of bills and behind the floral fabric pouch containing my father’s ashes. I was supposed to try it out back in the spring, write a little something […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Sharktober: Part Two
If you lived in Humboldt County in October of 2012, you heard about the encounter. For me, the word came via my cell phone, which blew up with news that someone had been hit and it was bad. Really bad. Rumors abounded on Facebook that the victim had died. Nobody knew who the guy was, […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Sharktober Part 1
The first person I knew to be hit by a great white was this guy Casey. That was in 2000, the same year I’d started surfing. A couple years later, Reed. Then in 2004 a shark not only knocked my friend Brian off his board, but came back for him. The next year it was […]
Posted inStories
Fiberglass, Rubber & Adrenaline
Humboldt winter brings dark mornings with chilly temperatures, ferocious winds, eerie skies and rainy predictions. For some, the winds are reassuring. They mean a storm is brewing — one that has traveled thousands of miles to greet our shores with waves. While everyone else is hunkered down with a hot beverage, watching movies or staring […]
Posted inNews
Wavesgiving
On Saturday, Nov. 19, while some of us huddled inside and watched the rain, Humboldt surfers woke before dawn and headed out to Trinidad State Beach for the second annual Wavesgiving Surf Contest. Some 20 contestants zipped into their wetsuits and hit the water to compete for cash and salty glory. Photographer Sean Jansen was […]
Posted inNews
Not All About The Shark
Just wind, waves, sun and eye-aching blue sky today out at the beach. Slight breeze, biting sharp. Not far from the Bunker Road parking lot, north of the North Jetty, surfer Bill Lydgate had parked his truck on the waveslope. His surfboard jutted out of the back end of the camper, and he was scrubbing […]
Posted inNews
Details Emerge About Gruesome Shark Attack [Victorious Shark-Punch Update]
UPDATE #3: The surfer has been identified as Scott Stephens, a 25-year-old from Manila. Rumors of his death and errant intestines appear to have been exaggerated. He’s looking good today and apparently feeling well enough to give KIEM an interview. Stephens reportedly told reporter Kelly May that in order to escape the shark, which researchers believe […]