Salad days 🥗

Planet Luella.

Moon unit.

Honk if you love the LogJam! Thank you to @bigsticksurfing crew for the latest edition to my perennial favorite, honoring the history of longboarding: old boards (built before 1970), no kook cords. Let's just say this enduring love affair has spanned multiple decades. My current "Lady Legend" division designation is an honor, sharing the lineup with my shred soul sisters, laying down style for miles. It definitely feels like a mile paddle back up the point after a perfect peeling set wave, but it's a price I'm more than willing to pay. Intergenerational community is so wonderfully rich and grounding. Grateful for this photo of me by @thesaltypaz . When you spend your life behind the lens, it's a sweet little gift and proof of life. Thank you to @aslbuck for trusting me with your classic 1967 Bing David Nuuhiwa Lightweight. She proved to be the perfect dance floor. Each time I ride a classic old board, I feel ever more connected to the wave and imagine the people who glided before me... if only that foil could talk! Always leaves me believing that longboard shapes haven't evolved all that much. Lucky for me, I had the chance to spend time listening to David over the years when I'd go down to the Oceanside contest. Big ups to @mamalasurf for keeping me warm and looking hot, @malibusurfingassociation competition team, and everyone who made me split my sides and snort with ribald laughter (mostly from brilliant Margo Oberg). And last but certainly not least, sending a big love balloon to sister @ashleylloydsurfboards for hosting me again. I am so honored and humbled by the power of my tight-knit community.

Out here raising hell. Photo @brookiebu

Everything magically aligned on this day of helpful hard offshore wind and some mellow fall west swell. Flying down the line powered by my 5-10 2+1 Andreini, I wasn’t thinking of a damn thing, only observing the elusive perfect green wave face standing up in front of me. Was it a “flow state”? Thursday evening during run club, had this exact discussion with a lovely running mate (has same Volvo in wagon format, understands the joys and perils of sport, will risk it for the biscuit). I was explaining to her how running makes me high and locked in to an automatic rhythm, dropping in a moment by moment state and things just click. “A flow state. Your body knows exactly what to do,” she offered. Then, “it’s science!” I thought back to when I raced bikes over steep, narrow paths deep in the woods, skied with reckless abandon down steep, icy New England slopes, doing creative and very analog things, like drawing with my India ink pen and painting. All of those actions share the potential for flow. If you were able to step inside my mind tomorrow, you’d most likely see chaos, which I think lives right next door to flow state. Over time, with fairly strenuous, probably Olympic level mental gymnastics, I’ve worked very hard to find a way to slip a little soft pink wedge of normalcy between the two. Most of the time I can’t believe the life I have lived and all its trap doors to hell countered by an embarrassment of riches in the form of my beloved son, my friends and quite possibly the big beautiful community in this small corner of the world. I hope you have experienced this flow thing. Drop a comment with your version of a flow state. I’m genuinely interested in yours, or lack of thereof.

August 2016, Surfrider Beach, Malibu, shot by the late, great Duncan McKenzie. Brooke and I were out there having a ball with perfect swell and a fraction of the crowd drama and floating photogs aka the new normal. Brooke would cruise down the line with a fistful of seaweed (there use to be seaweed on the reef!) ready to chuck at my head. She really thought it was the funniest thing. She had great aim and I had fast reflexes. We were a good match, me and my favorite little sister. Duncan was always there on the beach in his broad brimmed straw hat, capturing all the sweet moments. He gave all of his photos away, usually sending them over the evening after a day at the beach. He was so humble, talented, generous and our biggest cheerleader. It never entered our minds that we’d lose him a year later to suicide. No one could believe that he had a gun. I’d seen him at Rincon a few days before and he was good old Duncan, smiling and snapping away. More than a few times he told me to get back in the water, saying I had to get a long hang five before I went home. He wanted us to always to push our surfing, improve and revel in our special nerdy longboard community. Duncan just came up in a conversation last week. He’d post his shots from the day on Facebook with his famous tag line: Full screen it! We had a wistful laugh, missing him, reflecting on simpler times and his positive legacy. Duncan, you live on in our hearts and minds. We’ll never forget the good times. And if you were on the beach today and saw me get 3 so-so waves and get out, you’d turn me right around and tell me to get back out there and do better. I know you’re with the Lord now and your spirit is in a state of deep peace that painfully eluded you here on Earth. Someday we’ll meet again in the sweet bye and bye.

Stepping out of the office for a board meeting. Photos @amicablyalex

Stormy winter mood in 2023 for @mamalasurf featuring @catherinemaocatherinemao

The one, the only, @jensmithofaloha HBD, legend. This was such a special moment in time; a reflection of how much you selflessly invest in your community and how much we love you back. The 2022 Jen Smith Aloha Inviational Filmed and edited by Beth O'Rourke Filmed by Hayley Gordon @hayley__gordon Created and produced by Jen Smith @jensmithofaloha Produced by San Diego Surf Film Festival / Pierce Kavanaugh @sandiegosurffestival Watch the film at the link in bio. Feel the warm sunshine, gentle waves, and find out the true meaning of aloha. 🌺

Malibu wildlife party wave featuring birthday queen @star__delia

Check out our new blog - Mamala Would Go: Stories of Women Who Charge featuring @_bethorourke_ Beth is an award winning filmmaker, and artist that has been telling transformational stories since the early ‘90s, her love of the ocean and CA coastline shows up in everything she creates. We were so stoked for Beth to share her insight and answer a few questions for Mamala Would Go! “Nobody owns the ocean. She is a vast, mysterious wilderness that belongs to all of us and needs our protection far more than she needs our egos. And that’s exactly why she deserves to be approached with humility. So before you paddle out, read the room. Note the locals. Take a back seat even when you’re frothing. Sit wide, watch a few sets, get a feel for the pecking order. Every break has its own rhythm and its own community, and dropping in on that without a second thought is the surf equivalent of walking into someone’s garden, picking all the ripe vegetables, and leaving without so much as a thank you.” —Beth O’Rourke Video Beth O’Rourke Edit Mamala Self Portrait Beth O’Rourke Photo of Beth North Shore Brie Lakin #maytheworldbeyourocean #mamalasurfwetsuits