For your info……
> > > > Day 1 ON at 2009 Xcel Pro Presented by Honolua! > Sunset is Overhead and Rising > > HALEIWA, OAHU, HAWAII – OCTOBER 31, 2009 – Day 1 is ON at the 2009 > Xcel Pro Presented by Honolua, kicking the North Shore winter season > off with a bang as Sunset is overhead to a few feet overhead on the > sets. > > A new, building long period NW swell has moved in and should > continue through the weekend, as tradewinds should stay moderate > today and Friday’s NW swell fades out. > > Competition begins at 8:15 AM HST with the first heat of the Round > of 80, and should run well into the Round of 64. Scheduled to > compete on Day 1 are defending 4X Xcel Pro champion Pancho Sullivan, > 3X world champion Andy Irons (1997 Xcel Pro winner), world champion > Sunny Garcia (1992 Xcel Pro winner), and Sunset specialist Makua > Rothman, who has made the Xcel Pro finals for the past 3 consecutive > years. > > At stake in this year’s Xcel Pro are a chunk of the $25,000 prize > purse and a Tahiti trip with entry into the 2010 VonZipper Teahupoo > Trials, with a shot at a wild card in the WCT Billabong Pro Tahiti. > > Official Xcel Pro merchandise is available exclusively online via > presenting sponsor Honolua’s Web shop at store.honoluasurf.com. > > Heat results, photos, and daily video recap will be available on the > official event Web site at xcelpro.xcelwetsuits.com. > > About the Xcel Pro > Celebrating its 26th anniversary this year, the 2009 Xcel Pro > Presented by Honolua is a 2-Star ASP WQS event with a $25,000 purse, > drawing pros and amateurs alike to world-class Sunset Beach along > Oahu’s North Shore. > > Honolua Surf Co. is the presenting sponsor of the event and is > joined by associate sponsors VonZipper, Kustom, and Surfline. Surf > News Network also supports the event as the official contest hotline > (808-596-7873). > > For more, please visit the contest Web site at > xcelpro.xcelwetsuits.com. > > About Xcel > Founded in 1982, Xcel International, Inc. (Xcel) is a global wetsuit > brand distributed throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the > Pacific Rim. Headquartered on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, > Xcel’s core wetsuit business focuses on the cutting edge of material > and design development. Xcel’s primary markets include surf, dive, > wakeboard, paddle, and sun (UV protection). In addition to its North > Shore office, Xcel has retail locations on Oahu, Kauai, and Maui; > and a warehouse/repair facility in California. > > To learn more about Xcel, please visit www.xcelwetsuits.com. > # # # > >

Just now getting light….. 8am….. Swell did pick up, should be W 10-13ft today @ 12 sec’s with am light S winds, picking up late morning to 25mph, then dropping off around trick or treat time….. Not a bad morning, air temp in the mid 50′s, little morning fog, and we will probably get some am light rain before clearing off for this afternoon….. Many a trick or treat downtown and at all the local merchants this afternoon, then the School has a Halloween Carnival from 5p – 8p…. Sea Ranch RV park at the N end of town will have trick or treats, campfire story telling and other treats going on from 6p-8p…… Bars will be open for adult party’s later this evening…
Surf on Sunday looking better, W 7-9ft @ 11 sec’s with light NE winds. Monday – Wed. looks like W 5-7ft with light NE winds until Wed. when it turns from the south..
High tide at 11:15am, Low at 6pm…… Have a great day!!! We will be doing kids and adult treats here at the shop….

Much warmer this morning… was 56 at 6am, and is supposed to warm up to 64 today. S winds blowing 25+mph, with some light rain….. Swell is much smaller than expected, W5-6ft @ 11 sec’s, high tide at 10:45am , low tide at 5pm. I did get some yesterday….. got out with “Hoppy”, “Bopper” , Dallas and a couple other old guys…. fun lefts…… well worth it. Might try again later this morning…… Saturday still calling for some big swell…. W 13-15ft @ 12 sec’s with SW winds 20+mph. 58 and light rain. Sunday, sunshine, 62, W10 with light E winds, and the swell dropping as the day goes on. Monday W 7ft with light W winds and cloudy and mid 50′s all week. Tuesday W 6ft with light NE winds. Wed. NW 4-5ft, Thursday SW 5-6ft…….
Saturday is Halloween, one of the best holidays to be in CB…. kids have a ball here, as the merchants all go out of their way to make sure they have fun…. bar scene is pretty good as well….. supposed to rain in the morning, and start clearing up in the afternoon….. lots to do in town this weekend…… Have a safe one!!!

South winds blowing 25mph this morning, swell looks about NW 5-7ft @ 8-10 sec’s. High tide at 10am, low at 4:30p. Going to take a drive this morning….. see what can be seen…… who knows!??? Friday NW 6-8ft @ 11 sec’s with S winds 25mph. Sat. W 12ft with W winds 20mph. Sunday W 7-9ft with Lt. NE winds. Monday W 6-7ft with light W winds….. next week starting to look pretty good….. sunday on…….
As usual, today is the “visitors blog” day…… not alot, but some pretty good quality…… First one is from another small business owner Wayne up in Beaverton….. I thought he wrote a pretty good story as it concerns current events in the world…….
“In 1980 during the Iran hostage crisis, I was studying for my PhD @ the UO. In my program was a member of the Royal Family from Saudi A. He was also the leader of the UO Islamic student union. He taught English @ King Faisal Univ in Saudi A. and spoke the most elegant English. He used to rally the few Islamic students to support Iran. After one of his fomenting rallies, I told him that I respected his right to free speech but I questioned his common sense as this was an emotional time in our history. His response then was a fore ?telling of what is unfortunately becoming all too true.
He said then 29 yr ago that the larger world was actually more Moslem than Christian and that should a war between Islam and Christians ever arise we would be crushed because his people will die for Allah. He said with some accuracy that the West has developed as an economic society and that our main political programs were largely economic, that democracy is largely an ideology based upon an economic foundation. There are no economic zealots?there are religious zealots and he asked me if I would die for money.
Now years later, I actually see his point and remember that my friend was actually very pro-America. He just spoke out against what was at the time called American Imperialism in the Middle East. People will not strap on suicide vests in the name of State Farm, AIG, Wells Fargo, etc. And I doubt that we won?t see too many Catholic, Protestant or even Jewish people committing suicide in the name of God? scary.
During my teen Vietnam years, back home we had a choice of watching Happy Days or watching Walter Conkrite report on the war. Most Americans chose Happy Days. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, there are no Happy Days. If you watched the Movie The Kingdom, the very last scene reveals some hard realities of our struggle.”
The next one is from my father. This past week, we lost an old family friend in Ireland, Father Dennis Henry, died of colon cancer, he was laid to rest in Sligo….. He was a good guy, and had I known that when I spoke to him about 8 months ago it would be the last time, I would have kept him on the phone longer…….. “Daddy wrote a poem, and wants you to read it…….
Today Dennis is put in the ground. The scrape of a shovel, the final sound. There must be more for this fallen saint, His face at least, be a portrait in paint. One thing for him, I wish to give…. A tear on his tomb, if there is room.

Damn cold…. took the “great white” out for a spin…. runs good, and the brakes work well….. so does the heater!! Surf was not as big as most reports were calling for today… NW 7ft, building to 10ft later @ 11 sec’s with light N winds. Air temp was 44. High tide at 9:30am, low tide at 3:30p. You can see alot of the sand being moved around, this should be good for the winter sand bars…. at least I hope!!! Thursday, depending on which report you want to believe….. I think I will go with wetsands…. SW 6-7ft @ 10sec’s with light SW winds. The other report is calling for NW 9-10ft @ 10 sec’s with S winds 25mph….rain and 54. so, guess we will see which is best on Thursday. Friday looks like W 12ft @ 13 sec’s with Light N winds and light rain, 60 degrees. Saturday W 12 @ 13sec’s with light N winds, rain 58. Sunday W 7-8ft @ 10 sec’s with light NE winds, partly cloudy 58. Monday W 6-7ft @ 14 sec’s with S winds 15mph, and rain… 57. Tuesday SW 5-6ft @ 13 sec’s with partly cloudy 58 and light S winds…… (Light at the end of the tunnel!!)
Thanks for all the nice emails yesterday…. we ended up having a quiet, very nice dinner at the Wayfarer behind the shop…. food, wine, everything was great!!

Just got a note from Pierre (manager of Linden Surfboards)…… seems that Gary will be honored this year at this event…… “Mark,
We had a good drive back thanks. Gary is still sore but I’m sure he will be ready to paddle out at Mavericks for the opening ceremony next Friday.
The California Surf Festival is in Oceanside Nov. 19 to 22nd. On the 22nd they will show Shaping a Life and honored Gary with the Silver Surfer Award (created just for Gary to recognized outstanding Blablabla …) – It would be nice if you made it…(however, I’ll make sure they don’t let you talk, since they are looking for people to introduce Gary!). ”
If anyone is going to be around there that weekend, make a point to stop by and flip our buddy Gary some shite!!! I wish I could be there…… he is a good friend.
mark mekenas cbsurf@cannonbeachsurf.com www.cannonbeachsurf.com | www.bfdsurf.com

We have had heavy winds, heavy rains, sun breaks, warmed up to mid 50′s, dropped to high 40′s, then had some hale…….. all this since 6am…. yesterday afternoon turned out really nice for a couple hours….. hoping some of that may hang around later today. W/NW 10-13ft @ 6-10 sec ‘s today with NW winds 20mph with gusts 30 mph plus….. and, all the weather patterns…. Wed. NW 11ft @ 11 sec’s with light N winds thursday W 9-13ft with S/SW winds 25+mph Friday W 14ft with S winds 15-25mph Sat. W 12ft with SW winds 20+mph.
Good day to get stuff done….. and to celebrate our 36th wedding anniversary….. damn, that Maria is one tough / good person…….. much bettter than I.

just got these pics of nelscott…. Gary Linden is in the Orange ……

mark mekenas
cbsurf@cannonbeachsurf.com www.cannonbeachsurf.com | www.bfdsurf.com

I spent quite a bit of time discussing the recall and other county issues with Ann Samuelson…. I hope like hell that the recall election flops! A waste of time and money for our county!

mark_ann

Had to wait until 8:30am for it to get light enough to take some pictures…… swell is not at all as big as the reports were calling for. Raining hard today, and earlier we had some NW winds, but now it is S/SW about 25mph….. Swell has a bit of NW in it, but the reports are calling for W 5-7ft @ 9-11 sec’s this morning, with the winds picking up to NW25+mph, and the swell to NW 12ft. High tide was at 8am, low will be at 1:20pm. Pretty junky out there, but the air temp is in the mid 50′s. So…. I took 3 different reports to write up this weeks forecast……. Tuesday W 13 ft, or NW 10-12ft @ 11 sec’s with Nw winds 15-30mph. Rain and 55 Wed. one report is NW 14ft, another NW 8-10ft with N/NE winds 5-10mph, or it could be N 30mph. P/cloudy 54 Thursday NW 11-15ft @ 11 sec’s withe SW winds 25mph. Showers 55 Friday NW 12ft @ 11 sec’s with either S winds at 25, or light NW winds…. showers 54 Saturday W/SW 12 @ 10 sec’s with SW winds 20+, showers 56 Sunday SW 12ft @ 11 sec’s with SW winds 15mph, showers 59…
I think someday, I might surf again……………………………….