August 2017 Surf Sessions
8-31-17 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 34
Miles Driven: 78
With ample wind swell on the buoys I had in the back of my mind the possibility that strand may be alright. Coming down there was a little wave even at Rincon. I was expecting to just surf Emma Wood or C Street again. Emma looked less then enticing from the freeway causing me to check the Harbor. New Jetty had a solid wave and it was the first time I actually considered fighting the crowd for a few. Before I was going to go for that I figured I may as well check Strand. For once my diligence paid off and when I walked up at the Ship I couldn’t believe my eyes, solid chest to head plus sets were coming in with a very light crowd. Stoked I ran back to my car and tore on my suit. As soon as I paddled out I swung around for an insider, missed it and proceeded to get taxed by the next two sets. After that I found a few sick ones right off the rocks that peeled all the way to the bowl. Shit I even got tubed on an insider. Then after about 45 minutes of feast the famine came with the low tide. For almost an hour sets were few and far between and the insiders were either closed out, died out or riddled with back wash. This lull just about cleared the entire line up leaving just two of us out. There were still a few sets and the wind was light. Being this was the best waves I had seen in almost a month I kept surfing. unfortunately the water had a bit of bite to it from all the wind swell and I eventually had succumb to frigidity of the conditions. Still I’ll take that to the bank
8-30-17 AM Session: 1-3 ft, C Street
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 70
There was a slight bump up in the wind swell/ south swell combo. From what I could see it was mostly NW wind swell with very little south. Once again New Jetty was packed. I don’t even know why I bother checking that place anymore. Sadly it used to be my go to spot when conditions were less then ideal. Since every pro, ripper and wannabe in Ventura have seemingly fallen in love with the place myself and my other OG New Jetty cohorts have been displaced forced into surfing spots like C Street. Though terrible there was definitely a wave up at Pipes that was worthy of my fish. Though crowded everyone was pretty spread out and after the first twenty minutes the bulk of the crew up at Pipe bailed leaving just myself and a handful of other guys out the back. Luckily my fish shines in the trash thus I had a semi-fun session.
8-29-17 AM Session: 1-2+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 56
Though there was still nothing spectacular on the buoys I wanted to surf and Surfline was blowing up what ever crusts of bread were supposedly coming in. When I got to Ventura there must have been an early morning gale down there or something cause the channel was all torn up and there was mostly wind swell in the water with a slight hint of broken up south. Considering all these factors I cruised to Emma Wood. The 9:30 low was just a 2.9 and then there would be incoming tide for the rest of the day. I had no intel on down south, but with all the evidence I couldn’t believe it was any better. I paddled the small knee to waist high weak crumbly wind swell on offer. I wisely chose my fish and actually stuck a pretty decent BS air reverse on my second wave. Of course that was the peak of my session and it was all down hill from there. The only thing I must credit was the fact that the crowd was light, most likely because the waves were so poor.
8-28-17 No Surfing: 1-2+ ft
There was a very slight bump up in the swell though let me stress the word slight. Monday is our only day for lunch at the Cheese Steak shop so if any day is going to be shit it may as well be a Monday. Business was rather slow, we are still finding our stride on Monday. The weekend was solid at least. After work Bizarro and I continued painting the apartment a task which I thought would have been finished a week ago. As is the case with any home maintenance job there is always more to do then one initially thinks.
8-27-17 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
Miles Driven: 64
The buoys had some small south swell/NW wind swell combo on them. Nothing to get excited about, though enough to lead me to believe that The Harbor might have something. The Point Cam was down and so was C Street leaving me in the dark. On a gamble I rolled the dice and lost. When I got there the wind was all over it destroying the tiny. mushy waist high grovelers. Any thoughts I may have had about paddling were vanquished by twenty something people still out at New Jetty despite how terrible it was. If winter sucks this year I’m moving.
8-24-17 Thru 8-26-17
Its by this time of a ten day flat spell in the middle of an absolute horrendous month of surfing I begin to lose my mind and get completely over everything. How many more entries can I write about how the waves were flat, I got piss off and spent the day scratching my ass and the evening getting drunk. Instead I am just going to lump all those fun filled action packed entries into this one nice compact space saving entry. Whooot So stoked.
8-22-17 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
More flatness with little stoke left on the horizon. Instead Bizarro and I began the pre-painting steps on the apartment. If it’s going to be flat I might as well get some chores done.
8-21-17 No Surfing: 1-2+ ft
Holy shit I got smashed at the pride week opening party at Wild Cat last night. I also had a freaking ball. I can’t remember the last time my chick and I danced so much. As a result I was less then eager to get up for a surf before work, especially one of sub par proportions. This Monday at the Cheese Steak window was our best lunch yet. I think it’s only a matter of time now before we have our break out run.
8-20-17 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
Miles Driven: 72
This summer is going to fucking drive me more mad then I am already. After yet another week of deplorable conditions, the south pacific decides to wake the fuck up right on the weekend. Once again it was another limp dick of a south swell. Last night was our busiest Saturday yet thus I didn’t get to bed till after 4 am. The morning cam showed waves packed as packed can be. Then a hawk decided to sit on the cam completely blocking the view for easily twenty minutes. I was resolute not to go back to River Mouth for yet another let down a surf. I cruised Sea Cliff, though a few corners was rather small and a bit crowded for the lack of quality. From there I settled on having a look at the Harbor where the wind had already began to take it’s toll on River Mouth. New Jetty actually had a lighter then usual crowd, most likely pertaining to the fact that it was inconsistent and mushy. The wedge peak had a wave also and was really the wave I was leaning towards. By the time I finished hearing about the bear that ran out of the River Mouth at Rincon Saturday morning a crew of twenty showed up and clogged it. At this point I got really frustrated and decided to drive back to the Gold Coast. With the dropping tide the swell had backed off quite a bit leaving the surf in front of me completely lack luster. Finally I drove back to the Harbor and was just going to surf the Wedge, but by the time I got back there it was terrible too. Over it my girl and I decided to grab lunch and have a look on incoming. After lunch it still looked like shit thus I bagged it. Fuck summer and fuck surfing.
8-19-17 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 30
Miles Driven: 64
For the first time in a while I found myself super stoked on what I was looking at. River Mouth actually had some fun looking chest plus bowls coming in with a very light crowd and the wind was light making conditions almost glassy. Stoked I tore on my suit and ran down the beach. Right off the bat I caught two sick ones on a solid south pulse. Not being warm I blew both. After that the session took a turn for the worst and the dilapidation just kept on. I think the gnarly tide changes as a result of the the eclipse caused what should have been a fun gradual dropping tide to go completely out in less then an hour. I went from flabbergasted, to frustrated, to angry to straight up disillusioned as I spend the next hour and a half beating a dead horse so bad it would have made Dostoevsky proud. Fuck this SUMMER!!!
8-18-17 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 64
Another shitty day at the River Mouth, but I suppose I knew going into it that the session was going to be that way. New Jetty was decent but a fucking circus, cameras, groms, trainers, coaches, pros and everyone else just choking the stoke out of the place. I was sure that Malibu would be fun again and debated heading that way again. Friday is no bargain either. Most likely I would just be trading one crowd for another. I saw some corners amidst the disorganized mess down at River Mouth with just a few guys spread out. I knew if I made an effort I could get a few. The wind came up as soon as I put my suit on making matters even worse. I did find a couple but most waves were just about negotiating the chop, mess, and back wash to maybe get a little bit of open face. There were a few barrels, though I didn’t get any. Just another shit summer day down in the VTA. It beats there not being waves.
8-17-17 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, County Line
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 39
Miles Driven: 116
I finally had a morning available to get some waves and the swell was still holding solid. Stoked I headed to the Harbor. Once again New Jetty was stupid crowded, and River Mouth was shitty as per usual. I drove over to Emma, but it was small. Angers had hit me up about wanting to surf earlier. Hoping he would drive I hit him up. He was down and we headed south towards the ‘Bu. Leo was a bit drained, mushy and crowded. I probably would have surfed it. Since I didn’t drive it wasn’t my call. Angers wanted to surf County line for the accessibility of wave options. He went up and paddled the middle of the reef. I started on the right at the edge of the reef. Then worked my way to the beach break left and right, then back to the edge of the reef, finally ending up on the mid reef with Angers. Overall it was average County at best, but the crowd on the reef was nonexistent making it worth a paddle. Is summer over yet, cause I’m ready for winter.
8-16-17 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 64
Bizarro and I had some unexpected work from an old friend of ours who basically throws us a bone whenever she is in town. We got off later then I had expected and had it not been for the terrible summer and this horrid flat spell I might have just backed it. I really wanted to surf and there as plenty of swell on the buoys. I headed south toward Ventura. The wind was light so I headed for the Harbor. Of course as I was pulling into the entrance wind came up. New Jetty actually had some solid lines coming in and was still peeling despite the wind. There was one guy out. I paddled and found a couple. With the incoming tide it got pretty weak and mushy fast. Then one by one the place got a bit crowded. I noticed a few guys getting some peaks at the South Jetty Wedge and paddled over. Though a bit closed out and inconsistent, oh wait that is pretty much how that wave is, there were a few. It was far from anything epic, but I suppose I was stoked I surfed.
8-15-17 No Surfing: 1-2+ ft
I thought that there was going to be some new south in the water. That ended up being a lie of great proportions considering nothing was showing this morning. I know the swell is on the way cause I watched it being surf at the Billabong Pro Tahiti over the weekend. You know what it was even slow to fill in there too. Hopefully tomorrow will be fun. I bet it will cause I actually have some freelance work to do in the morning.
8-14-17 No Surfing: 1-2+ ft
We opened up the cheese steak stand for lunch today meaning a morning session was out. Actually it did me a favor by saving me some gas. I heard it was small and crowded earlier and by the time I got out the wind was up and surf still complete shit.
8-13-17 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 31
Miles Driven: 78
The south had just about completely dropped out, while the NW wind swell was holding. Once again New Jetty was packed, actually double the crowd of yesterday and like half the size. River Mouth looked terrible. On a hail Mary I drove to Strand in the hopes that the ship was getting some of the wind swell. That was a waste of time. The place was completely flat. By then the tide had risen enough for me to give Emma a shot. I must have missed the window there by about thirty minutes. When I pulled up everyone was leaving and the wind, which came on like light switch had taken it’s toll. There were still a few decent looking sets on the north peak with no takers left albeit a few kooks. Knowing there was nothing but more flatness on the horizon I paddled. I should have surfed my fish and not my short board. Though I saw a few bowls the tide and wind had mushed it out to a very annoying point, where my fish would have thrived. Still I managed a few. Summer is almost over. I wrote a day or two ago how I have been having plumbing problems. One of my readers, Joseph hit me up that he was a plumber and would come over and try and help me out. What we hoped to be an easy snake job turned into a full on pipe replacement job. I was amazed at the work this guy was willing to put in to help me out. When he was finished and I offered to pay what little I had dude wouldn’t expect. Its nice to see that people actually will still help out other people in this day in age. If you are in Santa Barbara and are in need of plumbing I implore you to contact Joseph at Preffered Plumbing 805-570-3568. I highly recommend and stand by his work.
8-12-17 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, River Mouth
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
Miles Driven: 64
Finally there was a little bit of wind swell in the water and some mid period south swell. Had the waves been good all summer I probably wouldn’t have even surfed, but after a week long flat spell anything would do. Right before I left I got a call from my boy Cody, who for whatever reason needed a ride down to Oxnard for work. Since I was going that way anyhow I figured why not. The whole process took longer then I expected, then again should have. By the time I got the Harbor the wind was starting to show a bit. New Jetty had some solid lines coming through. It was also crowded with every grom ripper in the area on top other weekend warriors and locals. I saw a few peaks down at River Mouth and it seemed like there was enough south to cross up the NW making for some fun ramps. Upon getting out there I must have been fooling myself hoping to get away from the crowd. As usual the boost-able corners that were there were shifty as hell, add a steadily increasing onshore wind and the same annoying backwash that was fucking things up last week and it made for one of the most frustrating sessions I have had in some time. On my second wave I got hit in the face with my board denting it and smashing my nose. I spent the next hour paddling around getting pissed off while my chick took pictures of shore birds. Good times. I guess I should have just fought the pack at New Jetty.
8-11-17 No Surfing: 1-2 + ft
It looked like there was a slightly larger bump out there then we have seen in days. I was set to drive down. Gas isn’t cheap and each trip to deep VTA costs me nearly ten bucks. Its not a hefty sum and one I will gladly spend if it were surf-able. I sent out a few texts and couldn’t get a positive visual form any of my sources or their sources. The cams left me far from enthralled. Over it I pulled the plug. Looks like a chance of something mid week?
8-10-17 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
I woke up hoping that some of the wind we had last night would have kicked up a little wave to surf. It did not. I had booked some private chef work for Bizarro and I at Lotus land for the evening. The thing about working as a private contractor is the work is in most cases far more enjoyable, less taxing on the body and mind and far far more lucrative. The best thing I don’t have to deal with some dick head catering owner or manager. If the manager is a prick at least I only have to work for him for one night and after that tell him to stick it. This job was a a dream. The people in charge were super organized. The event properly if not over staffed and the whole evening went down with out a hitch.
8-9-17 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
More flatness. God I hate summer and this summer is with out a doubt one for the books in terms of flatness goes. August is usually bad, but at least give us a bone. Besides Lowers which has been meek as well I think one would be hard pressed to find a decent wave anywhere in southern California Its gotten to the point in time where I’m starting to bug. Looks like a little bump at best on Friday. Let me stress the word little. Bizarro and I took at failed stab at amateur plumbing in the bathroom. At the moment we are still taking shower baths. After that I gave the garden an overhaul. I thought my day was done when my neighbor came to me with the problem that she locked herself out of her apartment. Of course like everyone else she comes to me since I have become the unofficial super of this building, though you would think I would have a better hand at plumbing by now. Anyhow she live on the second floor above me. Normally (yep wasn’t the first time) when this happens I just knock on her neighbors door and climb around the balcony. Of course she had just moved out a few days ago leaving me to have to get the eight foot sketch ladder from the supply closet, extend from the top rung another six feet, where I had to reach for the ledge of the balcony. Finally when I had a good grip I pulled myself up and climbed over. My task was yet to be over. From there I had dangle over the ledge and climb over the lock outs balcony. Once on her side I had brief yet harrowing moment with the dog before opening the door from the inside and letting her in. My night ending with a dinner with my girl at Petrinis since I had a two for one coupon over there. As usual it was average at best Italian cuisine. One thing I will give them is that they kept true to American Italian fare with no fusion variation.
8-8-17 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
More shit surf. I guess I should have known I would have to pay for all the good waves I got last week with a good long flat spell.
8-7-17 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
It was absolutely flat everywhere with in a 100 mile radius of where I live. I could have driven to Lowers and found something, but that drive for maybe a chest high wave was out of the question. Instead I got lots of chores around the house done.
8-6-17 No Surfing: 2-3 ft
I got hammered last night. Full on black out. I wasn’t alone in my efforts. Both my chick and Bizarro found themselves at a loss to what happened at the end of the evening as well. I guess adding those two bottles of champagne on top of an already barrage of heavily poured mixed drinks will have that effect. Viva La…after all. Needless to say I didn’t make it out of bed till around one and wasn’t sober to drive till the evening. Ryan found his way onto the base and said he scored. Now it appears as though we are in for quite the flat spell.
8-5-17 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
I could have surfed early this morning, but after a late night at the cheese steak shop I wasn’t about to loose sleep over chest high average surf at best and not to mention deal with both weekend and Fiesta traffic getting back into town. My girl’s family was having a little BBQ gathering at Refugio and I tagged along hoping that I may be able to get a few grovelers there. I also made two killer plum bread puddings. These days I have so much leftover bread thanks to the cheese steaks I am always looking for fun uses for the excess. Despite being a tad chilly out it was a fine day for a beach outing. There was a little wave out at the point I could have groveled on my fish. There were also like six logs and another ten kooks on the inside making it most unappealing. Then it was home to get ready for one more fun night of Fiesta downtown.
8-4-17 PM Session: 1-2+ ft, Lead Better
Time in Water: 40 mins
Waves Surfed: 7
Miles Driven: 0
My girl and I decided to check out the Fiesta Parade after enjoying the previous night’s Latin dance show at the Sunken Gardens. It is my favorite time of the summer after all. During Fiesta Santa Barbara sort of comes to a stand still for the celebration. Viva La… as we say here. While walking back from the parade, where we actually witness a rider fall off and subsequently get trampled by his horse no more then five feet from where we were sitting, I noticed that Lead Better had fish-able wave. The tide was on the way down and I decided I would have a look at it on incoming later in the afternoon. Normally I wouldn’t bother with such a grovel, but the heat had made my apartment very hot. I needed to cool down and when I saw that there was an actual wave I figured why not paddle for no other reason then to cool off. I guess a bunch of others had the same idea. The line up was pretty clogged with kooks riding all sorts of fun stuff. I did my usual out there and stuck to the ones that hugged the cliff rather then the ones that break the reef. The ones along reef I find are just a tad too mushy for my tastes. This one kid on a long board was constantly burning myself and everyone else. Finally he got too close to me on one and I got his board out from under him. Normally I let this kind of thing roll off me. I don’t know if it was the heat or what, but I angrily sent his board in to the rocks as a lesson. You can bet the whole thing led to an annoying line up shout match. I think our bad vibes turned off the surf cause after that nothing else came in. The whole scene gave me a great idea for a piece on localism and elitism and if they still hold a place in today’s surfing society. Although on could say in this case I belonged to both considering I live in visible distance to this break and was the best surfer out there. According my adversary I don’t deserve waves cause “I was not born here”. The only thing I regret was throwing his board for whenever a line up disagreement ends in property damage or bodily injury it has gone too far. Luckily his board was unscathed when I offered to fix any damage caused from said incident.
8-3-17 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 28
Miles Driven: 64
You know you drive to much when you consider 64 miles a light day of driving. Last night was the Locals Fiesta Kick Off downtown. I love Fiesta after NYE and Halloween it is my third favorite special time of the year. Surprisingly despite having a few to many to drink I managed to get up and so did Bizarro. We headed to River Mouth for what I hoped to be a really fun surf. On photo it came off that way. What the pictures fail to show is how terrible grabbing on to a solid ride was courtesy of all of the atomic back wash. This session made the wash at Sand Spit look like kitten. Still I managed a few sick little tubes and some good rides. Then towards the end of the session a boat must have dumped its tanks close to shore cause all this gross fecal waste floated into the water making it a very unpleasant surfing experience. If I don’t write anything in a few days assume I died from some strange bacterial infection.
8-2-17 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Point Dume, Malibu
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 18
Miles Driven: 136
I had really hoped that I would be able to get some sick River Mouth barrels this morning. Upon checking the surf most of the sets were wall and riddled with atomic backwash. There were a few sick corners to be had, but they were few and far between and good luck being in position for one. The majority were just death close out pits with very dangerous back wash. I ran into Phil and Carlos in the lot and they were just as dejected by what was on coming in. I told them about my ‘Bu score yesterday and enticed them to drive. Phil volunteered and we jumped into his truck. After a little looking around Dume, although a bit more inconsistent then yesterday still had some solid bombs coming through with only six guys out. Paddling was no brainer, plus we got a spot in the tiny little sorry excuse for a parking lot. I had showing up with three guys anywhere, especially a wave as inconsistent and crowd sensitive as Dume. To be fair I paddled out next to the cliff, while my friends headed to the Bay this way all three of us were not descending down the line up all at once. I caught a few there. It was a little too high tide, average sand and a tough swell direction for the cliff after a few sets and two drop outs from the Bay line up I paddled over. The bomb sets were almost every half hour. Not wanting to do all that sitting for what was sometimes just a one wave set I frothed on the inside and found plenty of sick double ups that were barely clearing the reef, though left me enough room for the occasional gingerly placed big hit. Anytime I am out at an LA wave that isn’t already crowded I know it won’t be long till it is. Sure enough with in the hour the lineup tripled and by the end of the session nearly quadrupled with not enough waves to go around to half. By that time I had already got my share and so did my boys. I must say it was a very fun surf.
8-1-17 PM Session: 5-8+ ft, Point Dume, Malibu
Time in Water: 45 Minutes
Waves Surfed:6
Miles Driven: 82
After the Zero’s session, which was high impact enough to take quite a toll on my body I was all set to head back home. My girl friend wanted to go some place where she could go swimming and the waves not be so rough. I figured Point Dume would be my best bet in the middle of the bay where it’s a little more protected by the reef. At the very least it is a very pretty beach to visit. I took my board just in case there was something fun coming in. So far I have been skunked on every Dume attempt this season and wasn’t expecting to surf. We went for a swim and enjoyed the beach for a little bit. While I was hanging out I noticed that the point was firing and very consistent. It was crowded, but there were tons of waves coming in. I ran out for a quick few knowing that my girl was steadily getting tired and hungry. Right off the bat I snagged a couple of bombs, then got burned on a few. The crowd kept increasing with the after work crew. I managed a solid overhead one through the bay that offered multiple turn sections and decided to call it a day. With waves on tap for the rest of the week I think August may want to make up for the sorry excuse for a month that July turned out to be.
8-1-17 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Zeros, Malibu
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
Miles Driven: 60
My girl just fresh off her Tahoe trip decided to build one more day into her vacation to spend with me. We decided to go to Malibu for some waves, sun and fun. There was plenty of solid south swell in the water and all reports had it pulsing for the mid-day to afternoon. There were tons of waves everywhere, tons of people as well. Every spot was crazy crowded. Zero’s seemed to have the most waves per person ratio so I paddled. Sets though a bit inconsistent were well overhead. For me the real fun was on the inside double-ups where I did the majority of my damage. It was by far the largest day I have had out there this summer.