Sunday Reads: Biden’s tour of the Cement Ship, skimboarding’s far-flung family and a presidential week

What we (and Joe Biden) should know about the disappearing Cement Ship

(Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz)

Almost a football field and a half long, the Cement Ship marked a place and time of high enjoyment, until zapped by the twin forces of Depression and the Pacific. Come back with us 90 years and you can imagine what nature is slowly claiming. Wallace takes us on board a Santa Cruz County landmark.

➤ ICONS OF SANTA CRUZ: Peruse Wallace’s series on the people, places and things that are immediately identifiable with our county

Skimboarding might be surfing’s little brother in Santa Cruz, but it’s given me family across the world

(Via ADIAS)

Santa Cruz’s skimboarding community “might be relatively small,” writes Evan Quarnstrom, “but our small town plays an outsized role in the history and culture of the sport.” Quarnstrom grew up skimboarding in Santa Cruz and he’s used his passion and skill to meet fellow skimmers across the world. He explains how, and offers a primer on why skimming is harder than surfing. Read (don’t skim) his Community Voices opinion piece.

➤ BIG BROTHER, BIG WAVES: Riders on the storm: Santa Cruz surfers’ yin-yang relationship with historic megaswell events

Biden pledges full federal support for disaster recovery during tour of Santa Cruz County storm damage

(Susan Walsh / Associated Press via pool)

“The federal government is not leaving its responsibility until it’s all fixed, it’s done,” President Joe Biden told a gathering at Seacliff State Beach on Thursday afternoon after visits to Watsonville, Capitola and a helicopter tour of storm damage across Santa Cruz County. Christopher Neely and Tamsin McMahon round up the visit from POTUS.

➤ HISTORY LESSON: Biden the first president to visit Santa Cruz County since Bush’s stop after ’89 quake
➤ SCENES FROM HISTORIC DAY: Check out photos from Kevin Painchaud, Lookout readers and others

(Advertisement)