Surfing Ruined My Life

December 2021 Surf Sessions

12-31-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Pitas
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 56
There was some steep wind swell in the water. I got word that all the VTA beaches were jumbled and already had wind on them. I had a look at Rincon. It was tiny in the cove and junk up top. Little ‘Con was weak too. From there I headed to Emma. There were some peaks but it wasn’t really doing it’s thing. I saw a few guys at Farther Johns and went back for a look. It was too jumbled to be worth it. Pitas had the best wave I had com across though was also a bit jumbled and had a light south cross wind up the face adding extra unwanted chop. I paddled and soon decided that the lefts were far better then the rights thus focused on that. When I paddled in I had surfed finished my quest to surf every day in 2021. I felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. As I climbed up the rocks my wife was in tears. It was a real accomplishment. At the time when I made the decision to do this back on January 1st 2021 I had no idea just how difficult and how much effort such an ordeal would take. I will definitely be writing a blog to elaborate more on this soon. After the surf I had to work. I knocked off early so I could get ready and head on down to the Wild Cat to ring in the New Year. If you check out my Instagram (@lisantiruinedmylife) there are pictures from last nights festivities and a cool highlight reel of my 365 day journey.

12-30-21 PM Session: 1-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 78
There was a local SE wind swell in the water. Though tiny many spots had dredging little waist plus left runners coming through. The water was pretty brown and ugly with the pouring rain at most spots. The water is a little deeper at Strand so at the very least the water usually stays blue. It’s probably not any cleaner but it allows me to believe it is. The ship had these perfect micro tubes just running up the beach. If would have been head high it would have been epic. The waves were around waist plus. I jumped in and actually scored a hand full of super fun head dips. I would have surfed longer except my wife was with me and waiting in the car due to the rain. After the surf we were on a mission to find the perfect outfits for NYE. I had actually ordered a tux a month ago and it never made it on time. My wife being a bit of a procrastinator always waits till the last minute to find a dress for anything. After hours of shopping we both found adequate garments for tomorrow night.

12-29-21 PM Session: 1-3 ft, Surfers Knoll
Time in Water: 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 64
It was yet another day of cold rainy weather out there. We need the rain but if this keeps up I’m going to have to build an ark. The surf was super tiny too with stiff off shore winds in Ventura. I had to shape a few boards to close out 2021 and headed south. The surf was super tiny and drained with the low tide. With the hopes of slightly better waves on the tide push I decided to head into the shaping bey and have a look just before dark. At four I headed to the Harbor. It was pouring, freezing and still terribly small. There were a few groms out by the mouth. I wasn’t about to go anywhere near there with the very suspect water quality. Instead I just jumped in at the Knoll on my Clark Surfboards Mr. Pocket model, my new knee high and below wave killer. Thanks to the board I managed to make the most of it. Taking into consideration the wind, rain and weak surf it was definitely one of the hardest surfs I’ve had in my 365 day lerk. After the surf I had one more board to bang out before heading home to a beef short rib dinner.

12-28-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Surfers Knoll
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 64
We are just about looking at three more days of consecutive surfing before I reach my goal of surfing every day in 2021. The ocean isn’t making these final days easy on me. It’s been as cold as it gets around here, small, windy and crowded. Luckily my ability to think outside of the box has always taken care of me. There is also only three days left to take advantage of the Clarks Surfboards 10% off sale on all custom orders. As the owner of the company I can assure that due to inflation within the industry and the US that our prices will never be this low again. Hit me up or go to www.Clarkssurfboards.com to order. My apartment had been freezing. The heat broke and my landlord won’t get anyone out to fix it till the New Year. When I wake up in the morning it is very cold and hard to motivate. This morning the wind was howling out of the NW and word was the VTA beaches were all trash. I cruised to Rincon mid morning with my small wave gear figuring I’d just mess around the point. It was very tiny and the wind switched SE while I was bumbling around the rocks. I got word that the wind had went off shore in Ventura. I checked a few other spots on the way down before making it to the Harbor. Yesterday must have been the anomaly cause New Jetty was packed with the usual groms, pros, trainers and everyone in between. Maybe they all read my post from yesterday and decided it was the place to be. I would rather them crowd there then Strand. New Jetty wasn’t worth the crowd. The bar at Rivermouth was super outside and had no shape. Nothing had any real shape for that matter cause it was all short period local wind swell. Jabe was out destroying a mix of peaks on the south side of New Jetty by himself. I hated to crash his party but I was out of time and he sold it to me. It was a lot more weak then it looked and my old ass couldn’t make very much out of it. We must have made it look fun enough cause another six guys showed up and crowded the spot we were surfing ironically to avoid a crowd. The waves were all over the place so catching waves wasn’t the issue. The surf was so erratic that guys would be in the way including myself at times. I managed a few fun ones. Traffic was heavier then usual on the way home. I think people decided to travel today rather then brave yesterdays rain or the upcoming storms. The rest of my day was spent on a ten hour grind at the Post Office.

12-27-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 18
Miles Driven: 78
The day I go to New Jetty to beat the crowd is when you know Strand was shit house packed. Not only that, but the surf was absolute junk as well. I met Pat at the Ship. It was chest high, dumpy and crowded. I couldn’t get into it. From there we looked at Hollywood. No one was out and it was slightly bigger. It was also all over the place. At this point my time was getting scarce and I needed to surf something. On a Hail Mary we checked New Jetty. It was nothing special. There were some chest plus lefts and rights breaking in the middle with only a few guys out. Once out there the surf was way more weak then we had anticipated and time between sets was considerably long. We made the most of it. Pat was on fire throwing real heat on his backside turns. I did my usual thing. Though nothing special we ended up having more fun then we initially anticipated. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office.

12-26-21 AM Session: 1-3+ ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 30 mins
Waves Surfed: 7
Miles Driven: 56
It was freezing when I woke up this morning and once again the surf was a bit to be desired. The only thing the morning had going for it was that the sun was shining. My wife and I got a later start and headed south. There was wind and jumble on the Ventura beaches so I checked Rincon. The top was a jumbled mess, while the cove had perfect little lines around waist high. Hoping for more I decided to have a look at Litttle ‘Con but it was too small and too high for it to be any good. Still hoping I cruised to Emma. The water was an ugly brown and it was pretty terrible. I resolved to paddle the Cove on my Clarks Surfboards Mr. Pocket Model. That board thus far has made the smallest of conditions a blast. Today did not disappoint. Normally when the cove is below chest high it’s nearly impossible to get waves off the long boarders. Between the paddle speed and how fast the board gets going on so slow a wave I had no problem. I got seven to the freeway and that was enough for me. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office where a sewer line busted open spilling countless gallons of scum water all over the main office. You can only imagine the nauseating clean up that was involved with that.

12-25-21 AM Session: 1-3+ ft, El Capitan
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 15
Miles Driven: 41
I’m not going to lie I was pretty hung over as was my wife from all the Christmas Eve celebrating and indulging. If you follow me on Instagram, @lisantiruinedmylife there are some pictures from the nights festivities. We didn’t get our acts together till around noon, ate some breakfast and sat down to open presents. Outside the weather was ugly as were the waves. Still feeling behind the eight ball we decided to watch “A White Christmas” my personal favorite Christmas classic. Around three we headed out. There was some local wind swell kicking around. I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of Christmas people doing Christmas things and headed up to Gaviota . After a bit of searching El Cap was the best option. It was about waist high with four guys out and a bit of ugly south wind on it, though still holding shape through the Cove. I had wanted to do some Santa hat promotional stuff on my red Mr. Pocket model for Clarks Surfboards and this would be the perfect place for it. By the time my wife and I made the hike in everyone was getting out leaving the whole place to us. The surf was absolutely terrible. Lucky I had the right board for for the job and we got a couple of clips. There is a reel of the session on my Instagram. The sunset with all the rain clouds and choppy seas was intense. The only bummer was it started to rain on the walk back. Luckily we packed our rain gear. The rest of the night I cooked us a wonderful seafood dinner keeping with the traditional southern Italian seven fishes. I know it’s usual done on Christmas Eve but I was previously engaged and did it a night later. I’d say as per usual we made the most of yet another Christmas.

12-24-21 AM Session: 1-2+ ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 3
It was Christmas Eve and once again the waves were lacking and water quality seriously suspect. All the cams down south showed the dirtiest brown water I had seen in a long time. There was some local wind swell in town and I decided to just jump in at the Lane for a quickie. I rode that Mr. Pocket Model again that I was raving about from Tuesday’s Hammonds session. I was especially interested to see how it would fare in junky beach break conditions. It was trashed and gutless yet the board went above and beyond my expectations. The Mr. Pocket may just become my favorite crap wave board. I was supposed to go to work, but decided to call out and spent Christmas Eve with my wife’s family. Time is priceless and once we spent it, we don’t get it back. It was a wonderful evening and I don’t regret my decision at all. Shame on employers and patrons who expect people to work on a high holiday. Maybe we need to rethink the whole system. Was there anything any of us really needed on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day that we couldn’t have gotten on the 23rd?

12-23-21 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Surfers Knoll
Time in Water: 1 hr 30 mins
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 64
It was pouring pretty hard when I woke up this morning leaving me tad unmotivated to get out of bed. Also my wife didn’t have to be into work till noon thus we enjoyed a lazy morning in bed. I fixed us a nice home cooked breakfast. Around noon I finally got on the road. There were two accidents and between that, the rain and extra holiday traffic it took me over an hour and a half to get to Ventura Harbor. There were some mixed peaks up and down the beach of no real consequence in the chest plus range. About eight guys spread out from the Jetty to the knoll. The water was surprisingly green. Pat showed up and we paddled a peak to ourselves for about an hour. We must have made it look too much fun (it wasn’t) cause by the time I got out there had to be twenty five guys out to surf wonky closed out side shore/offshore conditions. Before shaping I needed to finish a little last minute Christmas shopping for my wife. As a result I didn’t get into the bay until nearly four. It was freezing and after three hours I decided to call it quits. I guess I’ll have to be on it on my days off next week. If you have a board on order this will not delay it any.

12-22-21 PM Session: 2-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 64
Today was just one of those days where nothing was looking to go my way. I cruised south hoping to get a quick smash and grab surf somewhere then go shape. Instead I left my house at 9:30 am and didn’t surf until 1pm. I decided to check every surf spot from Hammonds to Strand, where I ultimately paddled. Basically I spent three and a half hours looking for waves and then one hour surfing them. One realization I have come to is that car surfing is the equivalent of surfing all day when you get older. When I was in my twenties I would have surfed whatever I could find in the morning. Eat something then surf another session, eat something and then squeeze one more in before dark. I didn’t spend a ton of time on the hunt cause I knew if it sucked I would just paddled else where later. As far as the surf goes it was looking pretty grim. The high tide and lack of swell left me staring at very weak North Strand. I noticed a few waves breaking at the Ship and decided to have a look. The tide was still really high but it had potential so I paddled. In the time it took me to put on my suit the surf had already improved exponentially. I jumped in and a solid head high right came to me. It threw out square as I was dropping in and I got rocked. Immediately after that one I managed a reprieve right and got a full on shack. The first thirty minutes of the surf played out just like that, before slowing down a bit in the latter half. Still it ended up being a way more fun surf then I had expected. By the time I got out of the water it was almost three. My wife and I had tickets to go check out Tierney Sutton at this Jazz Club in Ventura called The Grape. I had to drive back to SB and get her before heading back to Ventura for the show. Shaping was out for the day. As far as the performance went, live jazz in a small setting is always a good time. More then anything I am really stoked to have a place in Ventura to go see live jazz at, considering I’ll be moving to Port Hueneme in a few short weeks.

12-21-21 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Hammonds
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 24
Miles Driven: 30
Though small there was a very west swell with a perfect period for some of the more rare spots around the channel to work. I started at Rincon. There was a mushy waist very occasional chest high wave coming through, definitely fat with the tide. I would have paddled except the crowd was a bit heavy with thirty guys up top and about another thirty or so in the Cove with more coming. Considering the conditions I’d only be happy paddling if it was less then half that number. I got word that there were waves in town and headed back with my sights on El Cap. I missed a number of sneaker days out there thus far and was hoping to maybe get mine today. As I was heading back to town I got word El Cap was tiny with little potential of getting better in my window. I saw some white water up at Hammonds on the drive and decided to pull off for a look. Hammonds is one of my favorite waves in town, let alone Santa Barbara. I have logged more then my share of hours there over the years. The past few years it’s gotten crowded and a crowd that seems to be a bit too wealthy for my tastes as there are more BMW SUVs, Teslas and Ranger Rovers in the lot then I have ever seen. The attitude translates directly into the water. This morning there was no one out and some fun, clean waist to stomach high waves coming through. I have this Clarks Surfboards Mr.Pocket model I built just for such days that I had yet to get wet. For those not familiar, The Mr. Pocket Model is a souped up modern version of a Mini Simmons. I was unsure if I’d even like it. I rarely ride alternative equipment, but I have been slowly building myself versions of the Clarks catalog for both promotions and R&D. By the time I suited up and got to the reef there were three guys out on long boards. I knew them, they are regulars and there was enough waves for all of us anyway. I took my first wave, barely waist high and the board just took off. I threw some serious turns on a wave I would have been lucky to even get down the line on my conventional shortboard. The rest of the surf was mind blowing how fun this board rode. It’s a new small wave favorite for me for sure. Can’t wait to get more sessions on it. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office. It was our holiday party today. The management gave us one hour to eat and be merry then it was back to the grind. The food was decent enough. Minus having to clean it up I’m appreciative.

12-20-21 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 64
It was back to the Harbor again today. There was a tad bit more swell making it a tad bit more closed out. It was also shit house packed. Over it I decided to run down to the River Mouth to suss out the newly formed bar from when it opened last week. At the very least no one was out and it wasn’t like there were any really choice waves where the crowd was. On the walk down I ran into Ryan and Evan and they decided to go with me. I was the first one out there and soon found out how wide the bar actually is. It is definitely about two hundred yards from end to end with a left on the north end and a right on the south end of it. In the middle is a peaky close out. None of these waves are all that good. With a stiff rip pushing out to sea and currents constantly pushing you to the middle of the bar getting waves out there is not the easiest. The waves we did caught weren’t worth the effort. Rain is forecast the next few days so hopefully more sand will help shape the bar. I’m glad I gave it a go. The bar is totally worth watching. After the surf I raced home to meet a few Clarks Surfboards customers so that they could pick up their boards. AJ was among them and it was nice to see him after he has been working up in Northern California for the past eight months. I’m looking forward to surfing and filming with him soon. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office.

12-19-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Surfers Knoll
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 64
It’s looking like a pretty rough next couple of days swell wise with a bump up around Christmas. This morning was no exception. There was a small long period west on the buoys. The tide was extremely high leaving very few options. I cruised to the Harbor where I was surprised that there were some chest high sets. Thirty guys were spread out on four peaks at the Knoll, while two guys were giving the newly opened River Mouth bar a try. I watched that bar for a few sets. There is definitely potential but today what I saw didn’t warrant the effort. I jumped in with the crowd in front of the Knoll. Waves were breaking all over the place with no rhyme or reason with the occasional long period set that basically closed out the whole beach. The crowd was definitely annoying. I got burned twice, back paddled more times then I could count and had more then one section ruined by someone in the way. The only maneuver I did worth anything was a backside reverse that I basically forced in the flats. I suppose it beat not surfing, though just by very little. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office.

12-18-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 78
Once again another morning where I probably should have saved my gas and just surfed Emma Wood. I decided to go on the hunt and found myself at North Strand out of time. Pat and I after weighing out all the mornings options settled on this being the best of it all. The shape and size were alright. The actually waves were weak and gutless with the high tide and minor background combo swell. We both donned our trusty Clarks Surfboards Bizzle Models and got on the grovel. Between the stiff side shore/offshore wind and the fat waves it was a real struggle out there. I managed a few running lefts and rights I got some wiggles on. The cold air coupled with the cold water temps and wind chill left me freezing and looking forward to a nice hot meal at Hugo’s in Carpinteria which has steadily become my favorite luncheonette in the area. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office cleaning up broken packages and handling the dirty work they don’t tell you about on the job application.

12-17-21 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 78
Just like that my short weekend was over. I got word Rincon was fun and started my hunt there. The Queen had some lines. Overall it just wasn’t big enough or strong enough, plus I had a feeling it was going to get worse with the drained out tide. I headed to Strand. As soon as I got there the wind began to come up out of the north. The wind was predicted to go WNW at some point in the morning. I decided to gamble and paddle with the hope that the wind would stay manageable in the hour window I had. For the most part it did and as a bonus the wind also kept the crowd light. I got in a zone and threw down a number of technical airs and pocket turns. Some how I managed to land hard on my inside nose rail bringing down a frontside air into the flats and blew out the entire rail. Hurt my ankle a bit too, though nothing major. I guess I’ll have to pull my favorite Clarks Surfboards Hacksaw model out of circulation till I find a moment to repair it. Luckily I have a few spares. It’s always good to have a spare or two of your favorite board. Currently with our 10% off all custom orders in the month of December it has never been cheaper to order a new custom Clarks Surfboard. Go to www.clarkssurfboards.com to learn more about all the different models available.

12-16-21 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 78
There was still a bit of swell in the water. The points were small and tide too high to really bother with them. I did have a quick look at Rincon just to rule it out. Ultimately I met Pat at the Ship where there were chest plus peaks up and down the beach. There was a stiff crowd, but lots of waves and everyone was decently spread out. I started at Tower 5 and Shit Pipe. I wasn’t getting shit there. As the tide dropped I migrated to the Ship and just patiently waited for the odd left that would peel off the Jetty. I wasn’t feeling so great after my near run in with freezing to death last night and was very lack luster and couldn’t stay warm at all. I grinded out an hour and called it day. I wanted to shape, but considering my health and at the urging of my friend CC I decided to just go home and rest. Later that night for dinner Bizarro and I served up some tasty beef short ribs.

12-15-21 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Pitas
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 41
I got all sorts of reports from both north and south. The consensus was to just surf one of the south points. Rincon had long lines but was a bit soft and slow. The crowd wasn’t bad though I knew it wasn’t going to be long before it got packed. Little Rincon would have been enticing had there not been twenty five guys sardine canned into one take off zone. Then there was Pitas. It had the most size of any of the three. The tide was a bit high still but it had potential and a light crowd. I must have not been the only one with that frame of mind, By the time Bizarro showed up with the camera and I put my suit on thirty guys were out with only two inconsistent peaks working. My suit was on, my filmer in place, thus I was committed. There were some decent waves out there. Unfortunately the crowd was so dense and stupid that more waves got ruined then actually ridden. I stayed on the inside and scrapped whatever went by the pack making the most of it. I’m sure we got a few clips, but it was definitely not what I was hoping. End result, I was freezing and left wanting. Later that night I met my wife at El Paseo restaurant in downtown Santa Barbara for her Museum staff Christmas party. It was nice gathering but as usual the food was absolutely terrible. I am convinced the only reason that place stays in business is because of it’s location and atmosphere. After the party we decided to poke our heads into Wild Cat for a drink or two. Apparently I must have passed out on the couch. I woke up at 4:30 am so cold my lips were blue. Another instance in my life where I just barely beat hypothermia.

12-14-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 30
The urge to stay in bed this morning was seriously intense. Outside it was freezing and raining, inside it was freezing due to my heater giving up on me and the gas company not coming out to fix it till the 22nd. Good thing I don’t live in Minnesota or I might freeze to death. I got out of bed and thanks to modern times I was able to check a handful of spots on my phone, the double edged sword of Surfline.com. Sand Bar had potential, as did a number of other spots in my window. I got word it was small up north and I didn’t really like how the shape was at Sand Spit. Hoping for a little more size and organization I headed to Rincon. It was a mess. The wind more west then north and breaking all over the place. All that south wind swell was making it look more like a beach break then a point. I was out of time and paddled. My first wave was a chest high runner I connected to the freeway. Stoked I thought this was going to set the pace of the entire surf. After that I did four drifts catching just a bunch of quick short rights and the occasional left till I got to the bottom of the Cove. Then my last wave was an alright one that ran all the way through. Supposedly the swell was to fill in through out the day. When I left at noon it showed no signs of any major rise. How did you make out today? Feel free to respond in the comments. The rest of my day was spent cleaning up spills from the leaky roof and wet mail equipment all over the postal plant. There is a fun new YouTube edit of Kevin Angers and I on the Clarks YouTube channel. Use this link: https://youtu.be/jvhP1UTJL6k to watch.

12-13-21 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 30
Miles Driven: 78
I was pleasantly surprised to see the wind offshore this morning despite the impending rain storm. I got word Ship has waves. The wind was forecast to go south by mid morning, which was dab smack in the middle of my window. The Ship was solid chest plus with lefts and rights up and down the beach. There were about thirty guys spread out with lots of waves coming through. I saw a couple of decent ones rolling right off the Ship and paddle. My first few waves were really fun with some little tubes. As the tide dropped the swell backed off and the good ones were few and far between. I got a few more then bailed. I was freezing anyway with the hard wind, lack of sun and frigid water temps. The rest of my day wa spentDDealing with a leaky roof at the Post Office.

12-12-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 72
A south swell in December? It’s not completely uncommon. I remember a winter about eight years ago or so where December had better south swells then August so it can happen. I headed back to the Shores this morning despite the annoyance of the Oxnard 5k race. I get that regular people enjoy special events to break up the monotony of their mundane everyday lives, but for me it is real inconvenience to my everyday eventful existence. Say that three times fast! Another note on these 5k runs is that the majority of the entrants are people who are completely out so shape, do zero exercise or preparation thus end up walking the lot of it holding up traffic that much longer. It would be like a bunch of complete kooks entering a pro event clogging up the bottom tiers and a surf spot for extra days while they fall and flail. Let’s leave the competitive aspect of sports to the people who actually train. The surf was a bit more weak and way more inconsistent then yesterday and the wind came up earlier as well. All this made for an average session at best. The water dipped a few degrees and I was a bit tired leading to a real lack of motivation out there. Overall I caught a few waves but never really got into a groove. Looks like all sorts of rain, wind and interesting weather through Thursday. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office. You can thank me for your Christmas presents arriving on time. That’s a lie. I actually have nothing to do with the delivery of any packages or mail for that matter.

12-11-21 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 18
Miles Driven: 78
What a perfect winter day it was this morning. The wind was offshore, visibility was as clear as it gets, the sun was shining and it wasn’t very cold. The only thing lacking was the weak NW wind-swell/SW combo coming through. To give credit it was a very rip-able chest high. I cruised to the Harbor first. There were peaks up and down the beach with forty plus guys spread from Knoll to River Mouth. For all those guys out I saw lots of waves not being caught. On the contrary everyone appeared to be out of position on every set. From there I cruised to Strand. It was a tad smaller but more powerful. There were thirty guys from tower 5 to tower 3 and the shape was poor with mostly close outs. I bailed. I got word from Jeffery that Fruits was fun. I didn’t have anytime left to check another spot, thus headed to the Shores and paddled. It was far from epic, but fun clean chest high peaks up and down the beach. I got on a froth and went to town. Good times in surf land. It was such a beautiful day I wish I could have enjoyed the whole day, but alas work called. The rest of the day was spent at the Post Office doing my best to be Santa’s perfect custodian.

12-10-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 78
I went to bed excited from some solid wind swell in the morning. Bizarro was left on standby to film. Upon waking up even though the buoys were through the roof the swell was small and weak. It was freezing out, maybe fifty and by far the coldest morning yet this season. I decided to be nice and let Biz sleep in. I cruised straight to the Ship. It was packed with easily fifty guys from tower 5 to tower 3. Very crowded actually for how poor it was. I was short on time and saw a few off the ship with no one really on it and paddled. My first wave was my best, a deep ship shack. After that I had a few head dips, an air or two and some average turns. I was glad I didn’t bother to bring Bizarro cause besides that first tube it was nothing but B-clips. I left early to leave a little time to hit the mall and get my wife something for Christmas. Macy’s is running a decent sale through Sunday if anyone is interested. Then I got home and bought homeowners insurance before grinding out eight hours at the Post Office. There was a bit of excitement that took place tonight. I got a clean up call to one of the package machines. When I got there thousands of legos were all over the floor. I guess some clueless grandma shipped a poorly closed package of loose legos to her grandson. Normally I would have swept up all of it and tossed it. On the package was this heart felt note to little Jimmy from grandma. In the holiday spirit I spent almost an hour sweeping up every last lego and putting them back into the package so that the morning damaged package guy could tape it back up and send it out to little Jimmy. He may get some bonus floor dirt, rubber bands and other miscellaneous things that got swept up, but he will at the very least get his legos. Every now and then even a cold hearted bastard like myself will do a nice thing. Don’t forget we are taking 10% off all custom orders at Clarks Surfboards for December. I will even honor the discount on a gift certificate for a custom board.

12-9-21 PM Session: 1-2 ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 24
Miles Driven: 3
The surf was about as bad as the surf gets around these parts this morning. Jeffery scoured our entire zone and came up empty handed. Between the south wind, high tide and meager conditions I wasn’t leaving my house. The wind was predicted to come up hard out of the NW at the passing of the front. There was a chance for some messy wind swell before dark. Around three I decided to save my gas and just paddle Mesa Lane. It was small, windy, cold and all sorts of terrible. I always forget that Mesa Lane always looks bigger from up at the top of the stairs and gets smaller every flight you walk down. What I thought was a solid waist high was a weak, crumbly knee to thigh high at best. I groveled hard as any East coaster could. I came to a realization that it might have been the last surf I will ever surf at Mesa Lane considering once I move to Hueneme I definitely won’t drive up to surf the Lane. After the surf my wife and I had a zoom meeting with our mortgage guy to go over the final steps in securing the loan. I don’t know about other first time buyers out there, but man is all that number talk confusing and overwhelming. It left me wondering if I really wanted to be a home owner. Finally we ended the night at Lane Farms in Goleta picking out the last Christmas tree we will have at our apartment, The Lisanti Palace, on the Mesa. Life is ever changing and you can either change with it or get left behind.

12-8-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Surfers Knoll
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 82
With minor SW/NW combo I headed straight to Ventura Harbor where Surfline just installed a cam at New Jetty that has everyone in an uproar. I don’t know why. That place was over crowded before the cam. It won’t be long before there is a cam at every wave in California. Welcome to the era of the eternal kook. There were some peaks in front of the Knoll with about twenty guys on it. Way too crowded for my liking. I noticed a fair amount of south swell getting in and decided it might be worth looking at Hueneme. It was rather tiny leading me back to the Harbor. By this time the high tide had really taken its toll. Now there were three shore break peaks to choose from. I paddled the furthest north peak and until the wind got hard actually found a few fun ones. After the surf I cruised home to get ready for my wife’s museum’s holiday party. Adorned in my Christmas best my wife and I enjoyed a fun little evening out and about. You can visit my Instagram, @lisantiruinedmylife for pictures.

12-7-21 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 30 mins
Waves Surfed: 27
Miles Driven: 82
There was some fresh steep wind swell in the water. There was also a six plus foot high tide at 11am basically making it high tide for the entire day. I had to be in Hueneme at 2pm for the structural inspection of the house I just bought just to make sure there wasn’t anything majorly wrong with it. Bizarro and I headed down around 11. Everything was basically shore break with the high tide and Hueneme was micro. The call was to just run back to Strand and film a quick session of me flailing around on my Clarks Bizzle Model in the shore break. Just a quick FYI all custom Clarks Surfboards orders are 10% off for the entire month of December. I jumped in by Tower 4 and basically went spastic in an all out smash and grab half hour session. We definitely got a few clips. The inspection went well enough. There were a few issues that are currently being negotiated, though nothing too terrible. After Biz and I did a little grocery shopping. We stopped at the dollar tree for some cat food and other odds and ends. As it turns out they raised their price to $1.25!!! So inflation went up 5% gas went through the roof, the dollar tree went up 25% and all I got from the Post Office was a lousy ninety two cent an hour raise. Things totally don’t add up.

12-6-21 AM Session: 1-3 ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 82
I should have just surfed Emma and saved my gas. The buoys were down when I woke up this morning leaving me in the dark. There was another seven foot high tide at 10am swamping anything that may have been able to help the meager swell in the water. Considering Hueneme was surf-able all weekend I went back. It was way worse this morning. The swell was a bit too steep to the beach causing most waves to run almost parallel to the beach leaving very little work-able face. Either that or they just closed out too fast to even find a sections to hit. I got bored and began shooting the pier from one side to the other. The forecast for the rest of the is looking rather bleak. On an up note we have officially started escrow on our house. The whole think is rather overwhelming. My whole life has been based on never having anything you own that you couldn’t easily walk away from. I’m now one of those “normal” people in this respect anyway. Don’t get me wrong I’m stoked, just in awe at the moment of how life changes. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office.

12-5-21 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 82
Somehow after work last night I mustered up the strength to throw on my Tuxedo and go to the Wild Cat to meet my wife who was out for her cousins 21st birthday. I got there at midnight had drink, toasted the newly damned to drink and party for a prolonged period of time youngster, caught up with a few old friends then headed home. Of course I still didn’t get to sleep till almost three. Luckily the surf was tiny and a 7ft king tide at 8am didn’t force me to be racing down to the beach. Pat had checked just about everywhere when I met him at Hueneme. There were some small lines about a hundred yards or so off the north end of the pier with littler other option we paddled. It was a Clarks surfboards Bizzle affair since he is the one that stoked me up to make a Bizzle for myself. There was about a thirty minute window where it was almost fun before it got too dumpy. Some WNW must have been getting in cause on the drive home there were definitely some little waves on all the points. The rest of my day was spent on a ten hour grind at the Post Office.

12-4-21 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 82
To think in not too much time longer I will be driving less then a mile round trip to go surf Hueneme. Of course today wasn’t that day. The best of it this morning in my window might have been Ventura Harbor, where there were chest plus close outs with the occasional corner dumping just off the beach. Had there not been over forty guys on it from the Knoll to the south side of New Jetty I would have paddled, but that crowd for those waves wasn’t going to happen. While checking it I ran into a friend who said Hueneme was tiny and Shores wasn’t breaking. I headed to Strand hoping for at the very least what I surfed yesterday. Ship side was waist high shore break and the North End was smaller, weaker and more crowded then yesterday. These damn king tides are a bitch. I cruised to Hueneme, where there was a waist to occasional chest high bowl on the south side of the pier. The wind came up out of the NW right when I showed up, which sort of worked out cause there were six guys out when I checked it and by the time I suited and paddled there were two. Right off the bat I got a handful of fun waves, still loving that new Clarks Bizzle model I made. The tide receded so fast that it got too low by thirty minutes into the surf making it so closed out and drained it was borderline un-surf-able. Luckily I frothed pretty hard at the beginning. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office on a ten hour grind, which thanks to the holiday season will be my reality all month. At the very least I’ll be make dollar bills.

12-3-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 22
Miles Driven: 78
There was some fresh NW swell in the water. Of course it was coupled with a 6.9 ft king tide making finding a place to surf before work this morning a tad tricky. At the very least the wind was light offshore making for clean conditions. I headed straight for Strand. Ship was just small shore break. The North end had some chest high fat mushy peaks. There were a few more guys on it then I would have liked, but my window was short and I was out of time. I needed to get a little ding repair done before work. I grabbed that Clarks Bizzle I keep raving about and once again it turned what would have been a rather lackluster surf into a fairly good time. Then it was a race home, where I steadily banged out the dings I needed to fix, unhinged my jaw and swallowed my lunch whole, before racing to work. I suppose I’ll sleep when I’m dead.

12-2-21 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 78
My wife took the day off so we could go to the Santa Barbara Zoo and check out the new Baby Leopard Martha. They only have her out in the mornings so we went first thing. It was freezing but totally worth it. She was eating a dead rabbit when we got there. We did the usual zoo thing, which is always fun. I have a sick twisted affinity for looking at animals in cages. After the zoo we headed down to Ventura for some lunch and then a surf. Once again I was back at the North Strand. It was super drained out with the afternoon low, inconsistent and crowded. I grabbed that Clarks Surfboards Bizzle I was talking about in yesterday’s post and went to town. It went even better today now that I had a full session to get the hang of it. When we got home we found out that the seller accepted our offer on the house we wanted in Port Hueneme. Very exciting stuff. I’m sure there will be much more on that later. For dinner we cooked up some yummy chicken piccata. I’d say it was a pretty good day, not to quote Ice Cube.

12-1-21 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 2hrs 15mins
Waves Surfed: 29
Miles Driven: 78
I got word that North Strand had an alright wave. I had a quick look at the Ship just to be sure nothing was happening there. It was pretty much just dumpy shore break. I ended up paddling the North Strand on my new Clarks Surfboards Bizzle Model. This board is a real difference from what I normally ride. It is short and stubby like a dumpster diver but with a real curve into a wide squash tail and the board has lots of volume up front to allow for extra glide on flat sections. I made a few for my friends and they have been pretty stoked on The Bizzle so I figured it was about time to give it a go for myself. The board turned out to be a real trip. Super fast and skatey, I couldn’t believe how easily it took to the air. The waves were absolutely junky wind blown mush. I don’t know but I may have a new favorite groveler board. I’ll tell you what if you’re looking for the style of boards that guys like Matt Meola, Ethan Osborne, Chippa Wilson and that whole air crew rides this is definitely the board to order. It definitely turned what would have been a whatever surf into a blast for me. The rest of my day was spent getting some chores done around my apartment. My wife and I made homemade gnocchi for dinner out of the left over mash potatoes from Thanksgiving.