The Blair Witch Surf Check.

Surfline is third in line on sites I check every morning.  First email, then Weather Channel, then Surfline.  Granted, I haven't surfed in an unmentionable amount of time, but I'm still on the lookout for that first day back.  It definitely isn't today.  Drizzly, cloudy, 1-2', AND it's Friday and let's not forget that 79% of South Orange County doesn't work on Fridays.  

So they run this 30-second video loop every day for the morning surf check.  I think they've been having a hard time finding someone to commit long term to getting up at the butt crack of dawn, stare at the surf in any conditions long enough to make an educated report AND video it. We're on round #32 of roving surf reporters and I think the qualifications for being an eye-on-the surf reporter have been drastically reduced to: 

a) must be able to write intelligently

b) don't start the report with a greeting in pidgin english

c) must have a pulse.

This is the first week of the new report and for weeks they've been apologizing for the lack of video and how they're working on it and it would be up this week with better quality.  That is up for debate.  Behold, the new video surf report.  Wow is one word for it.  Another thought is: the Trestles people must be angry.

Now, I have 101 responses to these video reports and all of them are sarcastic.  Here's the top 5:

1) I'm pretty sure my 5 yr-old niece can film better than this.

2) If people get video induced motion sickness and nausea, will they not go surf and the lineup will be less crowded?

3) One word: tripod.

4) If you're filming the surf, zeroing in on a pack of dudes bobbing in the middle of a gray, overcast ocean with no reference to shore or horizon and then losing focus and swaying like a tree branch in the breeze when a set comes in tells me nothing other than you have no idea how to work a video camera.

5) I'm pretty sure the crew of the Blair Witch Project filmed better than this, and they were running away from witches (also up for debate), not standing stationary on a shoreline.

I'm just going to stick with the written report and use my imagination on how it looks.  My brain doesn't fade out of focus or bob up and down like a buoy.