November 24th. 2020
I first met Jimmy Clifford in 1973 in the new world I had immersed myself into, small, very small town life in a isolated and raw part of the world. We chose "The Burg" because after spending twenty three years in L.A. we were so over the trappings of the big city; the smog, traffic, congestions, drugs, stress and high cost of living, everything that "The Burg" did not have. There were only three traffic lights, four cops and a population of around thirteen thousand. I could tell right off the bat that Jimmy didnt dance to the same tune as the rest of us! We all drove Volkswagons, Jimmy drove a very old Saab, the most of us wore our hair long, and Jim had this huge red fro-bomb. Jim was an artist, photographer, critical thinker, great surfer who owned "a parcel" and liked to smoke pot, was (and is) a bit of a recluse, so we immediately hit it off. Jim had a lot of friends that didn't live in the Burg, including this one cat from Santa Barbara, named George! Come to find out it was Greenough and he and Jim were very close surfing mates. Jim eventually owned a Greenough Ranch boat and went Surfing there regularily with George. Jimmy also acquired this amazing collection of Greenough "Velo" kneeboards. On this particualr day in January 1976 Jimmy called me and said "Lets Go."! So I immediately dropped what I was doing, which might of been feeding my Son Justin a bottle, and beelined over to Jims. He threw about two or three Velo's into my van, one wetsuit and a peanut butter sandwhich, and we were off. The swell was sorta large and making at Razors and Jim went out and caught two or three waves, and abruptly came in, claiming it was too crowded (maybe six people in the water) and that on his last wave he saw the largest shark he had ever seen, So we packed up a drove a couple miles further up to Little Drakes where Jimmy paddled out by himself, and after a while was joined by John Bullock and Joe Thompson riding inflatible mats. It was a fun shoot until the fog rolled in and sorted spoiled the colors. But, for forty four year old slides I was stoked when they re-appeared after being lost for that whole time. I am stoked to share this day with you! Remember my motto: "Stay Stoked, and Stay Forever Young." Da Lieb
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