What to do with your spare time......

Smythe Looking at the forecast....

This is probably what Smythe looked like while looking at the forecast and thought he could't go because of the donkey contest....

Travelers Yes | Forecast Readers No

For those that don't know, Smythe and Stefan are in the northern Guanacaste region of Costa Rica right now. They pulled the trigger on a last minute strike to go catch some surf. Their plan, last I heard it, was to stay up in north around Tamarindo and Playas Del Coco and make a multitude of strikes to Witches Rock , Ollies, and my favorite, "The Labyrinth". At first glance the forecast for all of Costa Rica looks great for today and the remainder of the weekend.... check it out.

"SSW groundswell (~195-205) will peak going into the second half of the week and hold fairly steady on Friday before slowly fading this weekend. Thursday sees exposed spots go head high to several feet overhead off the Southern Hemi swell, as a solid dose of SW windswell joins in for more size. However, steady SW winds, along with heavy rain, will prevail for mainly choppy condition. On Friday, SW windswell backs down as the SSW groundswell holds, still head-overhead surf on tap with improving conditions. Saturday morning will see fading SSW energy and clean surf in the 4-5'+ range.

Further out; a new S groundswell (185-190) fills in on Sunday and into early next week with some fun waves in the waist-chest-shoulder high plus range."

But herein lies the problem: the Guanacaste peninsula is shaped like a boot, and Ollies and Witches are up by the heel. The bottom of the boot takes a direct hit from this steep south, but the upper part of the boot just gets the scraps of the swell, almost nothing.

The only way for them to have known this is if they read beyond the basic forecast, and looked at the lola model and the surf spot forecasts;

I sent them both an email to this effect, but I think my efforts were too late, my email went out after their departure. Here is my email.

"you guys need to look at the surf spot forecasts and the lola nearshore swell tracking models..
It looks like northern costa is going to be completely blocked from the swell.. Tamarino / Ollies are going to be getting scraps..
Central and South Guanacaste will be getting the juice and are not in a swell blocked area. "

So here is my question to the other donkeys:

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Fiji Barrel Riding | Wiki How -To

Step One: crouch as low as possible, dig in, drag hand to control speed and "feel" the wave, lastly throw in a melon grab for style points.

Step Two: make sure the barrel is bigger than your head

Step Three: make sure you have plenty of luna bars stuffed in the back pocket of your rashguard so your buddies don't eat them in the boat.

38 Days Until Mentawais Islands Surfing

Are you doing everything you can to get prepared?

Donkey Contest - June 7th Instead??

I just checked the updated forecast, and it looks like the swell for next weekend is good enough to run the event however the swell direction is very steep and a majority of the swell will march right past san diego and hit in north orange county.

That being said, the forecast is also predicting a significant amount of consecutive swells for June 7th with a much better swell direction for northern san diego. I think we may have to wait until later in the week this week to make an official call. We will need to see how the steep swell is hitting the event site and what the weather/wind forecast looks like.

"Further out; a better and fun size S swell (180-185) looks to move in at the end of the upcoming week and top out over the weekend before slowly fading into early June. This is looking good for 2-4’ surf at the better exposed breaks, with possible larger sets at standouts (again North OC). Stay tuned as we continue to track this swell.

Beyond that, long range models indicate a return to a more cyclonically active western South Pacific; starting with a strong storm that is soon to develop deep in the South Hemi over the next 48hrs. If forecast charts hold true, then we could see a good run of SW groundswell starting around the 4th-5th of June and continuing for several days after. Keep checking back for updates."

Donkeys practicing for the 2008 Donky Patrol Championships

Who says Donkeys can't swim.....

Donkey Kegger and Wine Tasting Tonight

At the "Viper's" house

2894 woodridge circle
carlsbad,ca 92008

bringing wine is encouraged.

Free Timex Watch

Anyone in need of a new watch? Check out this site. http://www.returntotheoutdoors.com/Contest_Landing.htm

The grand prize is a trip to Moab... there are 5 weekly finalists and each receives a free Timex watch. To enter just gather up some photos that represents an excursion outdoors. The best representation wins. enter now while competition is slim

No Football for Old Men

Who's it gonna be?? Contest is on for May 31st!

We will be holding the 2008 Donkey Patrol Championships on May 31st at Campgrounds (same locale as last year). It looks like we will have a fun Southern Hemi swell on tap. Mark your calendars! More information to follow:

Surfline:
Beyond that we’ll see a modest bump move in out of the SSE direction (160-165) for select spots around the 28th-29th, with knee/waist occasional chest high+ surf at the good spots of North OC (although average spots are below waist high). A possibly better and fun size S swell (180-185) looks to move in around the 30th-31st. Stay tuned, we’ll see how that storm behaves in the next couple days.

Wetsand:
Friday the 30th into Saturday the 31st is when our next southern hemi swell is due. As you may recall from my earlier reports this week, this is from a system that broke off Antarctica and headed northward towards Easter Island. This should bring 180-degree energy with 14- 16-second periods, peaking probably on the AM of Saturday the 31st. Size is estimated at chest to head high for most south facing breaks.

American Airlines Travelers Beware

American Airlines recently announce that it would start to charge $15 for the first bag checked, they are going to cancel a number of domestic flights and lay off a bunch of people. Maybe it is time to find a different carrier to use for travel.... Is anyone using American to get to Kandui?

Full story: http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-american22-2008may22

Coaster Fare Increase

I know most of you do not use the Coaster very often, and I do not think any of you use the Sorrento Valley Shuttle, but when you do use the coaster you should know the coaster is about to get REALLY expensive. The cost to ride the Coaster downtown could end up being as much as $19 round trip. This is also going to impact those who use the Sorrento Valley Coaster Connection to work from the Coaster. You can voice your opposition here:

http://www.sandag.org/organization/configcomment/index.asp?pid=6

The deadline to submit your opinion is May 28th. @5PM

Hotel in Kuala Lumpur - READ THIS!

Ok fools, I have us dialed in for Kualu Lumpur. I was able to get us two more rooms reserved with my travel agent I.D. for $90.00 +tax. We will have 4 rooms total, which should be very comfy after the long, hell flight. This will give us a total of about $80.00 each for the two nights in KL at the Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel (Click on the title for the link). We will be in the heart of the city and have a swim up bar, etc. on the premises! Please let me know A.S.A.P. if anyone has an issue or is too cheap to pay the $80.00 total (for both nights) for a little luxury before our primitive habitations in Indo so that I may cancel.

Indian Ocean's Eleven

Well, Last week I mentioned that decision day was last Friday, and that I would give you all an update as to what I meant by that. Well there has been a little stuff going on behind the scenes with our trip and at one point a few weeks ago it looked like two people were going to drop out. One of the two had a legitimate reason and the other, well... not so much.

In the interim period when I was not sure who was coming, I put my feelers out for potential takers. Stefan and Summer wanted in as a pair, but that would have required both potential dropouts, then Geoff "Buckets" Brantley announced he wanted in as well.

It was determined last Friday that Ryan Seibring from Hawaii was not going to cancel, so that ruled out the Stefan & Summer option. Then Geoff called and asked if I could get him a guaranteed spot no matter what. I doubted it at first, and called Anthony @ Kandui to try to work it out. Anthony agreed to allow our group to grow to 11 if Ford decided to stick with the plan.

Well here we are on Monday @ 2pm and the final results are in. Ford is sticking with the plan, and we now have a group of 11 headed to the mentawais in 46 days. The final 11 are:

1. Conner Erwin
2. Ford Blakes
3. Bill Ivers
4. Tom Ivers
5. Chris Smith
6. Geoff Brantley
7. Todd Marquet
8. Ryan Siebring (1998 Mountain Dew Wakeboard National Champion)
9. Shea Varge
10. Marc Kozai
11. Josh Lenahan

Ryan Siebring is ready for takeoff

Decision Day

Today is Super Friday, and the outcome determines who will be getting elected into super tubes in a few weeks. I'll update this and explain it at the end of the day today.

In the mean time here is a picture from Kandui Yesterday.

The Pink Rashguard Arrives

Hi-Res Images available by request.

DP Mascot

Something to get you Donkey's fired up! By the way, who is "Anonymous" that keeps posting comments? Step into the light!

2008 DONKEY INVITATIONAL

Two donkeys looking quite timid before their first heat against last year's 2007 Champion, Josh "The Viper" Lagahan!

Attention Donkeys! Its that time of year again to put up or shut up! The Donkey Contest will be taking place between the end of May and sometime in June. We need feedback on possible dates and waiting period. We know that Blakes likes it small and Sheagas likes the "big ones" so we may need to have some patience. Please give feedback a.s.a.p. so that we may have the competition before Indo. Possible event locations: SanO (We can get a site on the beach), Camps (repeat of last year).

Billabong Pro Tahiti - Round 1 Today

Round one will start today at 7am Tahiti time. Waves today should be in the head high to a few feet over category. Larger swell expected for later rounds.

Will it be Teahupoo or Nopoo?

Tune in live and online @ www.billabongpro.com

Kandui Surf - Yesterday's Photos

This has Blakely, Seibring and Lenahan written all over it.

Stefan is going to be pinching himself on these.

Recommend a Surf Trip Prank

The first recommended surf trip prank has been put into action today as THE PINK RASHGUARD was ordered.

Some of you might have heard about the PINK RASHGUARD, but for those who have not.. here is the deal.

We have purchased a pink women's rashguard for our surf trip to Indonesia. At the conclusion of every day's final surf session, the group will vote on who was the biggest vagina of the day. The person voted the biggest vagina will have to wear the pink rashguard the entire next day of surfing.

Bill ordered the rashguard today and this is what it looks like, and the description from the website:

The Skins 6oz Nylon / Spandex has quick-dry, four-way stretch properties that will keep you in the water longer. The womens' skins provide a comfortable solution to rib protection and built-in support to keep you covered and charging.

Shea and I also discussed some other ideas to help make our trip more interesting for us and the viewers of the surf documentary "Drive Thru" style movie we will be shooting throughout our trip.

We need your help with some other ideas for this!

We are obviously going to run the donkey invitational surfing contest during the trip (but are open to new format ideas), and talked about some surfing games like HORSE, or Deepest Barrel, Worst Wipeout etc... but we are also looking for some nightime contests for while we are on land.

Please submit any ideas that you have for games, jokes, pranks or contests for during our trip.

Blakely's Gear for Indo

Do not fear Donkeys! There is still time to get some of the same gear that Blakely uses to protect himself from Smythe's spray! Speaking of protection, you may want to get some anti-venom or snake syrum for the the attack of The Viper a.k.a. "Lagahan!"

New kandui Video - Shot a few days Ago

Follow the link the see the recent video shot from Kandui.

Kandui Resort Balance Past Due

If you have not yet contacted Kandui to make your final payment your balance is now past due.

Please contact Anthony @ (714) 369-8121 or (714) 478-2487 to make your final payment. After your initial deposit of $500 your remaining balance should be around $1,940 dollars, and Kandui accepts various payment methods including credit cards.

If there is a reason you can't take care of your balance this week please contact me so that I am aware of what is going on.

Thanks, Conner

Sunway Lagoon Surfing -- Wavepool Reserved

The wavepool at sunway lagoon in Kuala Lumpur has been officially reserved for us for Sunday July 6th for 2 hours. This time is exclusive to us and it also includes our entry into the waterpark. We are a permitted to bring our own surfboards. The cost will be $80 per person for the 2 hours.

Since we do have a couple of people arriving into Kuala Lumpur on Sunday morning/mid-day we will have the time in the pool in the afternoon early evening, to allow for everyone to get there. I assume we will go to the water park early and do the water park thing prior to our surf session.
I am pretty stoked on it and it should help us shake the cobbwebbs off a little bit and be a good visual addition to the media coverage for our trip.

To see more on sunway lagoon check out these links:

www.sunwaylagoon.com
surfline article
surfing magazine article
Quiksilver Revolution

Kandui Payment Reminder

Just over 60 days until departure and your full remaining balance is now due to Kandui Resort.

If you have not yet paid in full, please contact Anthony Marcotti @ and

Make you Payment Prior to Friday, May 2nd

Kandui Resort U.S.A.
Kandui Resort
629 Camino De Los Mares Suite 101
San Clemente, Ca 92673
E-mail: info@kanduiresort.com
Local # (714) 369-8121
Mobile # (714) 478-2487
FAX # (949) 493-2770
Contact Name: Anthony Marcotti