Hurricane Norman Weakens to Cat 3, Modest Swell Reaches SoCal
Norman has weakened a notch through the day, dropping to 110kts, losing some of its visually impressive structure along the way. The cyclone is now asymmetrical with a closed eyewall as shear impacts the northeastern part of the storm. A gradual but steady decrease in intensity is forecast through the period. Norman poses no threat to land at this time, tracking westward away from the mainland. Remember that Norman is a small cyclone, well over a 1000 miles from SoCal and moving in the wrong direction -- all strikes against swell reaching back into SoCal.


Latest visible satellite image of the Eastern Pacific shows Hurricane Norman in the center, Hurricane Miriam off to the west, and a low pressure system to the east of Norman that is forecast to become Olivia next week.

Latest Storm Info

Norman is now a top-end Cat 3 Hurricane with 110kt sustained winds in Friday's 2pm PDT advisory. Norman is over 750nm west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas, heading west-southwest at seven knots and is no threat to land at this time. Norman continues a gradual weakening trend as shear impacts the cyclone and it moves over cooler surface waters.


Norman is expected to remain a hurricane through the official five-day forecast period, potentially losing that status around the end of the forecast period. Expected track continues to the west-southwest before turning back west-northwest over the weekend.

NW/S Swell Combo; Is Norman a Factor?
Surf heights for northern, central and southern California on Saturday morning.

NW windswell and South hemi swell combo lingers over weekend
Winds dicey for many areas with onshore flow, even in mornings
Hurricane Norman provides some surf for select exposed areas
South Pacific showing some activity worth watching in long range

Check out some local surf & skate photography at Amiga Wild's Last Fridays Art Party.

2124 Lincoln Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291
323-628-2144

The Volks Gallery is in Malibu, CA to meet up with Sean Colburn and his Gypsy camper bus. He is known as @MalibuVWbus on IG. Sean is a surfer and well known VW photographer in Southern California. His Bus sat in a Barn for 30 years before he rescued it from Oregon. It is 1 of 3 Gypsy camper buses known to exist..

The SurfAid Cup returns to Malibu this year on September 8th with former Baywatch star and Malibu local David Chokachi as SurfAid Ambassador.

SurfAid is a tag-team surf competition open to long or short boarders who raise funds in order to compete. Each team is made up of four amateurs and one pro. The team that raises the most money gets the first pick from an impressive line-up of pros and local legends.

The event has been supported by some of surfing’s most iconic and recognizable legends including Tom Carroll, Shane Dorian, Mark “Occy” Occhilupo, Layne Beachley, Rob Machado, Owen Wright, Simon Anderson, Sally Fitzgibbons, Luke Egan, Laura Enever, Lisa Andersen, Joel Tudor, Strider Wasilewski, Nat Young and Taj Burrow.

It's looking slower this week for surf on the West Coast and in Hawaii, so you'll need to be on it to find fun surf over the next few days. The tropics are still fired up but they won't come to the rescue during the week but the extended range could be a different story. There is some Southern Hemi energy in the water and the North Pacific offers more pre-season swell.
They might not do much for swell during the week but the tropics are still very much in play. Here we see Miriam (bottom center) and the likely-to-become Norman to the east, off Mexico, with potential for more development behind these storms.

Modest Swell Blend; What About Tropics?
Surf heights for northern, central and southern California on Tuesday.

Small/modest NW windswell and S swell early week
Fresh NW windswell and WNW swell mid-late week
New S swell also mid-late week, peaks on weekend
Some tropical swell possible in early September

RIDER SHACK
13211 W Washington Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90066
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877.57.SHACK (74225)

Beyond The Borders Of Era: Natas Kaupas Designs Handcrafted Surfboards With Shinola



He is known around the world as a legendary skateboarder, but there’s nothing Natas Kaupas loves more than creating, whether it’s for wheels–or waves.

In Santa Monica, surfing has always been just as important as skateboarding. Skating and surfing are a natural way of life, and growing up in this community led Natas to the art he creates today.

“Growing up and using local shapers, you’d get custom boards. You’d always think of the designs, the airbrushes and the colors. That part is pretty natural—deciding how you want your board to look,” he says.

Santa Monica was nurturing in that way, Natas says. He began surfing and skating both at a very young age, and he loved watching the locals, skating pros like Jim Muir or Jay Adams, zoom by.



“It was almost like a bigger brother kind of feeling,” Natas says. “There was some mentoring, especially on the art side. Wes Humpston, one of the original Dogtown artists, would give me pens and little pointers.”

Despite watching the local pros skate around Dogtown, Natas developed as a skateboarder much on his own. He recalls spending time alone, experimenting and woodshedding tricks.

Nowadays, Natas finds inspiration in the community and collaborates with many artists and craftspeople on various projects.

“These sports are very expressive, and a lot of people consider it an artform. There’s a lot of creative people involved in surfing and skateboarding. And you have this perfect canvas,” Natas says. “You have this tradition of silk screening and adding graphics to skateboards and colors on surfboards. I find it inspiring.”

His latest creations, in collaboration with Shinola , are limited-edition surfboards and beach towels. The two share a similar design—two Ws that pay homage to West Washington Boulevard, the previous name of what is now Abbot Kinney Boulevard and the location of the Shinola Venice store. Natas describes the style as a bit looser, drawing inspiration from traditional 1960s boards with a resin tint and acid splashes.



“The thought was to bring a little bit of that without looking overly traditional,” Natas says. “I wanted to push that a little bit.”

Natas likes to draw from the past, often turning to hand lettering and vintage books for inspiration. He sees today’s great skateboarders—or “rippers” as the skateboard community calls them—learning tricks from history.

“I really love watching this current generation of rippers that pick and choose of era. They don’t stick to just one,” Natas says.

Curating this artform—pulling from tradition while simultaneously challenging it—is no easy task. Natas notes that crafting in traditional ways is a slow and difficult process. These surfboards require a lot of engineering, and shapers and glassers have many variables they must take into account. With hydrodynamics, every detail matters, from the contour of the bottom to the shape of the fin. Crafted by hand with a planer and a saw, these boards require the expert eyes and hands of the shaper.

“There’s a lot of craftspeople involved, people you need to trust and communicate with. Up to a fraction of an inch will make a huge difference,” Natas says.



This kind of commitment to quality drives all of his creations, and it is one of the many reasons that drew Natas to collaborate with Shinola .

“I’ve been doing projects with Shinola for a number of years now, and I really get along with the way they operate—the transparency and the honesty,” he says.

For Natas, quality hinges on reliability, especially when you’re skating the streets or surfing the ocean.

“I’m attracted to things that are of quality because of the reliability. When I go surfing or skating, I don’t want to wonder if this thing is going to break in my hands or not perform the way I want it to,” Natas says. “With quality products, you don’t get left high and dry, and you get to enjoy things to the fullest.”

Quality doesn’t come quickly, but it’s always worth the wait. Shaping can take a long time because of the many elements involved in the creation, Natas says, and shapers are notorious for taking longer than they say.

“It’s a running joke in the surf community: ‘Is my board done yet?’” Natas says.

One thing that is never done for Natas is creating. Whether it’s a new project, painting for fun, or making crafts with his toddler, Natas lives for it all. And though this leaves him with little time for waves or wheels, he still tries to sneak in a surf or a skate whenever he can. Because for Natas, life in California—surfing, skating, creating—never gets old. More at Shinola