GOODBYE GOOD NIGHT

BSTN

im leaving on a sailing trip for two weeks. my new home will be on the decks of the coast guard cutter eagle. i took this as the clouds broke before sunset. we sail on monday. looking forward to being back at sea, if only for a short time.

AVLA

its cloudy today. dug through some pics of my last trip home. missing the golden state and patiently waiting for a strike home in october. 

DAD

another one from the dusty archives of when i thought i wanted to be a writer. circa 2009, fathers day. 

A lot of dads surf. Mine doesn’t. But, the lack of having him in the water with me makes thoughts of him ever more present. I think of it when, after a session I see some kid peeling off his wetsuit with his dad there helping the cumbersome process. In the water the father-son bond is even more prevalent. Hooting your progeny through a floater, or even sharing a wave with a parent, evokes feelings that I haven’t been able to feel. The bond between son and father is multiplied when the medium through which they are connected is something as spiritual as the ocean. 

You could say i'm jealous, maybe even a little cynical towards the family surf session. But more than resentment i've learned to show my father what surfing means to me. He may not be in the water, but he is still there in spirit. Ill tell him about the waves I caught, the dolphins I saw, or the new friends I made. I explain swell, wind and tide to try to paint a better picture for him. And slowly, my dad starts to be there with me. The post-surf briefing no longer starts with a comment from me. He engages and asks about the conditions, how I did and what I saw.

He may never get to experience what it feels like to get tubed or the first breath of air after getting held under, but he can live those things through me. No longer do we search for that common ground for conversation. We have made our own ground, and found it with the sea. I am a surfer, and my dad is not. And, we can still be stoked together.

ross

RHODY LOVE

since moving from hawaii to the east coast, ive been missing the laid back vibes of home. fortunately, in rhode island, there is a like-minded group of cruise people I can call friends. not to mention, its pretty as hell.

BLK ISL

my friend carl took me to an island this weekend. we surfed alone all day. i took some pictures. i surfed. it was a good day to be a human in the water.

AS THE CROW FLIES

I wrote this when I was in photojournalism school in 2011/2012. A hard time for me, but in the end I learned a lot and even surfed some new waves.

Its over 135 miles to the ocean from my classroom. And I’m the only one who cares. See, I was born in California, raised in Hawaii and I’ve always had the big, blue security blanket of the Pacific. My classmates haven’t. They’re from Minnesota, or Nebraska or Iowa. Someplace with no ocean, no break from the sea of land.

Some of them have never even seen an ocean. A thought that blows my mind. It must be easy for them, coming to class every day, not thinking about the waves, the wind or the tide. Focusing on the task at hand and not wanting to dip a toe in the water and rinse off the day. It must be easy.

It’s been almost two months since I’ve surfed. My last session was in Hawaii, a quick hour at a small reef pass on the south shore. I rode a few waves, watched the sun set the sky on fire over Ka’ena Point and walked the two blocks home. Tradewinds drying the salt on my skin.

That night I got on a plane to come here. The East Coast. Might as well be Mars. Cold weather, cold people, cold water. I brought boards. I brought wetsuits. Fins, and leashes, keys and wax. And I haven’t surfed once. It’s too far, and it gets dark too early. But I think about it all the time. It hurts my heart.

After this, I’m moving to Boston. Definitely not Indonesia. More cold water, more cold people. Surfing doesn’t even register to most over there. Sports and drinking and BMW sports-cars. Money. Not surfing. Like in Hawaii? Yeah, like in Hawaii, like at home.

My quiver of North Shore pin-tails and South Shore fishes. Quads and Singles. All packed up in a little cocoon of foam, and bubble wrap. I’m sure they’re cold, traveling 6,000 miles. Not sure where they are going or why I haven’t played with them in such a long time.

I haven’t given up, I heard there’s something called a “Nor’easter”. It blows wind really hard against the Atlantic and makes waves for us over here. And people surf them. I hope they will share the wind-waves. So I can feel at home again. And think about the ocean.

-ross

TRK

WEST COAST // HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

LST/FND

This is a short film my friend made about me after I had moved to the Northeast from Hawaii. The transition hasnt been easy. But, despite all that rubber I have found warm aloha outside of the Islands.

FLM

I mainly shoot with my digital Nikon, but shooting manual film is still fun. Here we have a few I shot the old fashioned way. Nikon FM-2.

DIGGR

There are times when the surf isnt great, and to get stoked, I look at old pictures Ive taken of good days from sessions past. This was on my first trip home to California in over 2 years. I was welcomed with sunshine and offshore winds.

SMMR

Summer is flat where I live. Its hot too. So to keep from going crazy I take pictures of the sunsets.

INTRO

My name is Ross and I like to surf. I enjoy looking for good waves and taking pictures of them when I find them. Here are a few from the past.