December 2023 Surf Sessions
12-31-23 AM Session: 6-8+ ft, County Line
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 7
Miles Driven: 38
Pat and August hit me up that they were stoked on paddling Hueneme. I had a look and wasn’t very stoked. It was do-able but a little too stretched for what it was with the best peak being the south side of the pier but there were already nine guys on that and more looking at it. County Line still looked like it was macking on the cam. CC and I cruised over there. Sure enough it was way overhead and bombing. There was a bit of SE wind on it adding a bit of bump but we couldn’t say no to waves of that caliber. We had to give it a go. The thought was to paddle out from the backside of the point. CC jumped in first and got completely murdered by nonstop sets. I ran to the front of the point and paddled out with ease though a longer paddle. I ended up catching two waves before CC even got out. Zach and Kai showed up and it was on. Unfortunately with the south wind chop on the face it was more survival surfing then fun. I had a couple of bombs but overall it wasn’t worth wasting a ton of time on, especially after I got my wife angry at me because I surfed all day yesterday. We kept it short and sweet. At the very least it was fun charging a few bombs. Later that afternoon my wife and I headed to Simi Valley to the Reagan Library where we were to attend their NYE bash. Instead of taking the risk of driving home at 2am we opted to get a hotel for the night. The party was fun. Dinner was surf and turf with an amazing chocolate mousse for dessert. How can I ever say no to dinner and dancing especially under the actual Air Force One that President Reagan flew on. Everyone in attendance was fabulously dressed. My wife and I had a marvelous time. For pictures from the night check out my Instagram page.
12-30-23 AM Session: 5-7+ ft, Malibu
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 18
Miles Driven: 70
I’ve said it a million times, you can’t repeat an epic day. Yet I always attempt to. I was woken up by Pat that Hueneme was bad and him and his friend August, whom was visiting from North Carolina were thinking of heading south on the PCH to try and score some waves. According to Surfline today was supposed to get as big if not bigger than Thursday. Stoked I jumped in the car with them and we cruised. We had a look at Dume which I thought was a very viable option especially taking the crowd into consideration. I couldn’t talk the boys into it and eventually we just met up with Kai, CC and Zach at Malibu. Unfortunately the wind was south and tide rather high for the first half of the session. Then we lucked into about a forty five minute window where the wind turned NW and it began to glass off a bit. During this time I caught my best waves. Once that window passed the wind became hard out of the NW and the crowd got intense. I had a difficult time picking anything off. Basically I managed a handful more waves of limited success before calling it a day. Once out of the water I realized I had been out there for three hours leaving a very angry wife at home. The rest of the day was spent with her scowling at me. Considering the mood I decided to go fix dings for the remainder of the day.
12-29-23 AM Session: 4-6+ ft, Leo Carrillo
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 50
I was torn on what to do this morning. Part of me wanted to chase the swell up north to my favorite points while my other thoughts were to head back south. The wind ended up going south early trashing all the north points, while it stayed clean down south. My wife and I headed down the PCH where we met up with her mother at County Line, who was interested in spectating the “big swell”. Zach had hit me up that the Trancas Point was solid. That wave can be super fun when it works. After a lengthy check I deemed it a little to stretched and fast to be worth anything. Also with the extreme high tide finding a good vantage point to film was going to be tough. Instead we went back to Leo where there were some solid fun looking overhead sets rolling through. Once out there I found it to be way softer then I would have liked. As a matter of fact finding a decent one was tough. Then when I finally did get a screamer down the line some idiot almost went on me and just missed landing on my head. Avoiding that ding ding successfully I looked up to see some kook ditch his board, which proceeded to come cascading down upon me. The board hit my arm then dinged my board. I lost it on the guy and threw him out of the water. I caught a few more and went in. So much for another score. From the consensus I got from everyone I knew everyplace was a let down.
12-28-23 PM Session: 6-8+ occ. 10+ ft, Malibu
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 9
Miles Driven: 70
Today was predicted to be the day of days. To be honest I was skeptical till I woke up to twenty texts from different spots that were going off the chain some even too big to surf. From the looks of it the majority of the Santa Barbara spots were too big and stretched or very crowded. I got word from CC that Malibu was popping. Considering we scored in last year’s mega swell there I grabbed Bizzaro and we headed south. As soon as we got around Mugu rock we could tell there was plenty of swell in the water. Even Super Tubes had the potential to be decent with the lower tide. We stoped at Point Dume and it was macking, easily double over head with lines stretched out across the entire bay. There were even sets breaking out past the headland of the point a feat I have never seen. It just looked like too much work and impossible to film. Biz and I finally arrived at malibu right as CC was getting out. As soon as we walked out to the trail to Third Peak we could tell it was solid over head. There was a crowd but also plenty of waves to go around. I paddled up at third and snagged an over head runner that ran through second. I thought that was the set wave. Then when I got back out a five wave 10 foot clean up set steam rolled through the line up. When I came up from all my duck dives there were only about ten of us left out there. The bomb sets really cleaned out the lineup especially of kooks, one of which o gave a stern talking to for bailing his board in front of me earlier. I told the guy if he couldn’t duck dive he had no business being out there. I got a few more over head ones. Then as I was paddling back out to third this bomb set of double overhead waves came through. The first two rolled through third and the third wave came right to me and stared doubling up. I was definitely under gunned on my 5’9 and was hesitant to paddle for it. Guys started screaming in the water and on the beach. At that point I had to go. I free fell easily ten feet to the bottom and more board was shaking so much I could barely hold on. As if I was bombing a hill on a skateboard. I got to the bottom and was going so fast I couldn’t get a proper bottom turn settling for mid face shuffle I started pumping down the freight train line. Finally around the kiddie bowl I got in front of the behemoth and began throwing down some turns. When I finished the wave I was at the Malibu Pier. What a incredible ride. I went from between 2nd and 3rd peak all the way to the pier!!! Later it would be known as one of the best waves filmed at the ‘bu that day. For the clip check out my Instagram profile and scroll down a few days. I caught a few more after that but nothing could compare. What a wave, what a day. Apparently someone drowned in Ventura and Santa Barbara. These big wave days are no joke and only the most expect of surfers should be out there. Remember “when in doubt don’t paddle out”.
12-27-23 PM Session: 4-6+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 11
Miles Driven: 24
Some days I blow it just by over thinking. This morning was one of those days. I found myself at Strand early not stoked on what was on offer. Then I drove over to Hollywood where I also couldn’t get into it. Thus I went home and got some shaping done. Around 2pm I cruised back over to Strand where there was a sick looking over head wave coming in by the Ship. The wind was light onshore and considering Surfline was calling for light winds all day I decided to paddle out. Of course as soon as I walked up the beach the wind went hard NW completely trashing it. The ship still had a low tide wedge off of the rocks. I forced out an hour of less then becoming waves before heading home. I just seem to be making all the wrong calls these days.
12-26-23 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 7
Miles Driven: 52
All reports that I got for the beaches was they were a bit walled. CC and Jeffrey hit me up separately that Rincon was fun and fairly empty. My wife and I headed north. I knew the crowd window was going to be short and didn’t dilly dally. It was a good thing that I did too because after about twenty minutes the line up got mobbed with about 150 guys. My first few waves were decent runners from high River Mouth to the top of the Cove. Once the crowd set in I couldn’t get a wave to save my life. I either got burned or back paddled. CC got so frustrated he bailed. What an annoying experience surfing has become as a result of the insane over crowding of every decent surf spot. After the surf my wife was eager to hit the golf course and try out her new set of clubs I got her for Christmas. An afternoon on the golf course is always a good way to end the day.
12-25-23 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 11
Merry Christmas to everyone hope it’s everything and more. The tide was on the higher side early and I was feeling a tad hungover from a bit too much holiday cheer last night. My wife really wanted to do presents first and all things considered I obliged. Around 11 we headed over to Strand. I had gotten enough favorable reports to head straight to ship. Conditions were chest to head plus but a bit too peaky and all over the place. I wasn’t super pumped but didn’t feel like going on a Christmas goose chase. I paddled more towards the bowl where the crowd was lighter. What ensued was the worst hate session. So much for Christmas cheer in the water. The crowd was intense and cut throat add to that very few decent waves to be had and I had a less then fun experience. I did manage one good tube but besides that the surf was a bit to be desired. The rest of the day my wife and I relaxed at home. Later that night I cooked us filet mignon and blue fin tuna streaks for dinner. Nothing like a little surf and turf for Christmas.
12-24-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 10
Happy Christmas Eve, my wife and I cruised over to the Strand where there were some chest plus bowls on the Ship side. It was clean with not too many guys out. I jumped in and actually got on a tear ripping everything that came my way. I even made a few decent tubes. As the tide dropped the crowd continued to grow and wind began to pick up onshore. I had gotten a bunch of fun waves and rather then beat a dead horse I called it a day and enjoyed a nice breakfast with my wife. Later that evening we went to my wife’s parents home in Goleta to celebrate Christmas Eve. Nothing like good old fashioned family fun during the holidays.
12-23-23 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Hollywood
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 12
Miles Driven: 12
As per usual on a Saturday Strand was packed and not that great to warrant fighting the crowd. Instead I drove over to Hollywood. It was all over the place with sets breaking outside. Little Sunset had the most conform looking lineup and there were even some lefts. One guy was out. The waves were glassy and sets were chest to head. I jumped in and realized that the current pulling into the bay was gnarly. I’m a good paddler and had to paddle in place the entire time just to stop from getting washed into Channel Islands Harbor. I fought the good fight but after an hour my arms were spent. I got a few but in hindsight I should have just surfed Strand. Later that afternoon my wife and I went to Underwood Farms in Camarillo where they do a little Christmas on the farm spread.
12-22-23 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr 15m
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 12
The rain finally let up. I got word Strand had some waves and drove over after a brief Hueneme check. There were some peaky bowls on the Ship side of the bowl. It looked like a cleaner version of yesterday. Salar showed up and we paddled. I had a few ok barrels and turns though picking the good ones was tricky. Overall it was a bit of an average at best surf. Then I snagged a head high sized right on my last wave pig dogged the barrel, came out and landed a clean air reverse. On that note I headed home. Talk about turning a session around on one wave. The rest of my day was spent Christmas shopping as I hadn’t got gifts for anyone yet. Nothing like waiting till the last minute.
12-21-23 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr 30m
Waves Surfed: 17
Miles Driven: 10
Last night Port Hueneme got dumped on with rain. Around 8 inches of rain fell in a few hours causing rampant flooding and chaos. As for me I woke up oblivious to all of this focused on where to surf. Word was Strand was looking alright. When I went out to my garage to load up I found myself standing in a three inch puddle of water. All of a sudden the flooding had become quite real. Biz and I got out the wet vac and cleaned up all the water in the garage then built a make shift dike to control the water flow. Luckily this worked but it took up the majority of my morning. By the time I got to Strand the tide was super drained and surf almost too peaky. I paddled, the crowd was light and I saw enough to lead me to believe I could get barreled. Instead I hunted around and came up short. I lucked into one decent left tube. Besides that the session was a bust. I heard it got better before dark but by then I was filling sand bags at the beach to replace my make shift dike with. The joys of home ownership.
12-20-23 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr 15m
Waves Surfed: 18
Miles Driven: 10
The wind was howling out of the SSE this morning just about trashing most spots. I wanted to surf and only had the morning available as I had to work my last party in SB for the year. Salar met me at the Ship and though far from decent there were some chest plus bowl coming through that looked rip-able. No one was out thus we paddled. The surf was mostly broken up peaks only offering one or two turns at best. We made the most of it but the session wasn’t worth much more then exercise. From the surf I cruised up to Santa Barbara in the pouring rain for Alan Parsons (the rockstar) birthday party. He did a birthday show at the Lobero Theatre with a bunch of his friends and afterwards we served him and 80 guests dinner. Everyone was stoked. My drive home on the other hand was super gnarly with torrential downpours and all sorts of minor flooding. Luckily I made it home safely.
12-19-23 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Hollywood
Time in Water: 1 hr 30m
Waves Surfed: 26
Miles Driven: 60
The magical and frustrating thing about surfing is that you’ll never see the same conditions twice. It may be similar but conditions are constantly changing. CC and I cruised back towards Malibu hoping for a repeat of yesterday. As we got to Zuma I had noticed a serious amount of south wind on the ocean. If you’re a goofy foot there is nothing worse then surfing a right hand point break with south wind on it. The wind makes the waves flat, sectiony and have terrible ribbons of chop on the face which are near to impossible to negotiate on one’s back hand. Whenever I get take an injury it is usually surfing a right point break with south wind on it. I made the call to abort the Malibu mission and head back towards Oxnard. Both the Ship and Hollywood take south wind palatable. Ship was crowded and small thus we headed to Hollywood and found a peak north of La Brea. It was a little fat with the high tide but if you lucked into the right wave there were definitely decent rides to be had. Zach and his crew showed up and we made the most of the less then stellar conditions. The rest of my day was committed to ding repair.
12-18-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Malibu
Time in Water: 1 hr 45m
Waves Surfed: 27
Miles Driven: 80
Some days thinking outside of the box pays off and these days with line up crowds at an all time high one must be very crafty if he is to get waves to himself. This morning there was a healthy shot of west swell in the water and with all the masses running to the points by me I set my sights on Malibu. Contrary to popular opinion Malibu will break on a west swell. In my experience a west runs the point up at Second Peak way better the a south. On top of that the slew had opened making a very nice sand bank. I saw some chest to head high sets and a light crowd on the cam, scooped up CC and cruised to the ‘Bu. We checked Strand first for good measure but couldn’t get into it. When we pulled up to the ‘Bu the wind was blowing light south and I had feared we were going to get skunked. Upon walking up the trail the waves definitely had more texture on them then I would have liked and about fifteen guys were out. We paddled and I was definitely pouty for the first twenty minutes or so. The wind cut the crowd in half and then it died. By the time the surf had completely glassed off it was just CC and I up at 2nd putting on a clinic in backside point surfing. We had a blast and both agreed it was some of the most fun we had in quite some time. The two of us would have surf another hour but I had to be in Santa Barbara to work a Christmas Party in Montecito that evening. What a fun surf. The funny part is that had Malibu looked like that in the summertime it would have had three hundred guys out.
12-17-23 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, Hollywood
Time in Water: 1 hr 15m
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 22
There was a bit of fresh WNW swell in the water with some light offshore winds. I picked up CC and we headed to Strand. The Ship was flat with all the swell getting into the North End. We both hate surfing over there and opted to have a look at Hollywood. Though do-able it was already looking too high. Surfline was predicting light winds all day thus the plan was to wait it out till the afternoon low tide. Of course Surfline was wrong and there was way more wind then we had hoped upon our afternoon check. I was borderline walk away from Hollywood, but CC saw a few that stoked him out thus we paddled. As it turned out the waves were way trickier then they looked and finding a good one was nearly impossible. Add to that a bit of backwash, some shitty rips and chop and riding even the waves that did come through was difficult to say the least. My best wave was a three turn left. CC comboed one to the beach. Besides that the session was just a bunch of hard work and heart ache.
12-16-23 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 22
Hoping to beat the mid morning high tide I cruised to Strand, but it was already too fat. On a last ditch effort I had a look at Hueneme where the waves were small and still too high tide. I came home and took my wife to breakfast. She was finally feeling up to getting out of the house after being sick all week. After breakfast we decided to commit the rest of the day to building a gingerbread house. Around 3:30 I went back to Strand for a look. The ship was small but the North End had a chest to head high plus wave coming in. It was a bit drained, shape below average and crowded for what it was. I forced the paddle sticking mainly to the jetty right. Overall the session was forgettable except an eight turn right I happened to luck into. So far this season has been consistently chest plus and junky with a few fun days in between. From what I hear the meteorologists are already claiming the El Niño event is beginning to break up.
12-15-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 15
Miles Driven: 12
This morning was yet again plagued with an excruciatingly 6ft high tide. I had lots of ding work and a shaped blank to paint. I got to it bright and early and planned to try and get a surf in before dark. Around 3pm I headed out with Bizarro. Before I could surf I had a few surfboard errands to run. We got to Strand around 3:30. The Ship had a waist to chest high wave in the south bowl. There was about a dozen guys on it and I wasn’t all that pumped but out of time and either had to paddle or forget about it. I paddled and Biz filmed from the beach. Though mostly walled there were some good ones to be had. The crowd was annoying. It was a group of college age guys about nine strong all staying in one of the AirBnB’s by the ship. They were loud, constantly paddling me and getting in my way. I’m tired of recreational surfers crowding a peak that I am trying to rip, while they do whatever it is they think is surfing. After watching them waste a handful of set waves I finally got one of my own and in frustration boosted and stuck a huge ally-oop. After that the pack left me alone. Besides that the rest of the session was laughable. At least I got the clip.
12-14-23 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 15
Miles Driven: 18
I guess I’m sort of becoming a Strand guy. How boring this must be to read when everyday is just Strand, Strand, Strand. Well don’t give up on me yet. It so happens that we haven’t had enough decent swell variety to allow me to go any place else. Considering the obnoxious six foot high tide this morning I decided to get a jump on some ding work and finish painting Miles’ custom Hacksaw I shaped yesterday. Around 2pm the board was dry and since it’s a Christmas rush job I drove it over to Ventura to my glasser. I also needed to pick up some blanks at Fiberglass Hawaii becausethey didn’t order the right amount I needed to finish the most recent batch I’m working on. Mistakes happen, they just seem to happen more often in the surf industry. By the time I got all of these errands taken care of it was almost four. I had a look at Ventura Harbor. It was solid chest high but super drained out and walled with the extreme low tide. Shores was my next stop but there wasn’t a whole lot of shape out there. On a last ditch effort I checked the Ship. It was tiny. I saw some water moving around on the North End. Upon checking it there was a waist to chest high wave albeit a little drained out but surf-able. I suited up and did a heat like session in an attempt to catch as many waves as I possibly could before dark. All was fine till my last wave which I took off on at almost pitch black. Not being able to see I hadn’t noticed the bottom of the wave had dropped out on my second turn causing me to get pile driven head first into the knee deep sand bar. I hit my head hard on the sand then got the back of my neck and spine bent over my head as the wave scorpioned me. How I didn’t break my neck or back is beyond me. I figured I was going to drown due paralysis in ankle deep water. Since I was out there in the dark all alone no one would even have known to save me. The risks we take for two foot garbage. Somehow the surf gods decided to spare this devote disciple to continue the surf struggle.
12-13-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1hr 30 mins
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 10
Due to the extreme morning high tide I got a bit of ding repair done before picking up C.C. around noonish. The Ship was our first stop. It looked fun, chest plus and peaky. The place looked like a skate park. There were about thirty guys spread out and it appeared from the vibes I was getting that most were at the end of their surf. We paddled off the Ship and just went to town destroying the kill-able little peaks. As I predicted the majority of the crowd bailed within the first fifteen minutes of the surf. We both had a blast and didn’t quit till the tide had finally drained it out to the point where it was a bit more dumpy then we would have liked. Still if one had come at that moment the Ship was ver kill-able. The rest of my afternoon was spent sanding and shaping.
12-12-23 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Hollywood
Time in Water: 1hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 12
There was a small NW swell in the water and though nothing major the Strand was completely packed. C.C. and I couldn’t bring ourselves to fight the 60 guys that were out from the Ship to Tower 4. The shape wasn’t that great either with most waves closing out. We cruised over to Hollywood. It was chest to head, peaky and clean with no one out. Sets were a little inconsistent and hitting all over the place. Part of me wanted to go check Rincon but my wife was home sick and I didn’t want to be too far away. We paddled and right off the bat I caught a sick left that I had a good tail free hit on followed by a hard fast sweeping round house. I thought that was going to set the tone for the rest of the session. The tide dropped crazy fast so the line up was constantly changing leaving me chasing another left and coming up wanting. CC kept managing to snag some nice right hand runners. My last wave was a decent right. Maybe we should have just paddled Strand. I heard the crowd died off a little later in the day. I spent the rest of my afternoon/evening sanding surfboards and checking in on my sickly wife.
12-11-23 PM Session: 1-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 10
I woke up this morning and my wife was rather ill, complaining about excruciating pain on her lower left abdomen. Needless to say we didn’t take such an occurrence lightly and rushed to the urgent care. After waiting three hours she was finally seen by a doctor for a total of 5 minutes where it was determined that she had a kidney infection. She was put on heavy antibiotics and sent home. By the time we got back to Hueneme it was after 3pm leaving me just enough time to run over to Strand for an evening session. The surf was tiny but conditions perfect oil glass. I saw a few waist to stomach high corners on the Ship side of the bowl and paddled. The tide was super drained at -.5 making it a bit on the dumpy side. I managed a few little tubes and some boosts. Overall it was just a beautiful night to be in the water. After all the stress of the day it was a much needed come down. I still can’t get over how warm the ocean is for this time of year.
12-10-23 AM Session: 1-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 15
Miles Driven: 10
Finally I had a stress free morning to take full advantage of the surf and as luck should have it the waves were near nonexistent. I drove over to Strand mid morning and it was tiny but I saw some waist plus bowls up and down the beach with a light crowd. I jumped in at Tower 5 in the hopes it might get better as the tide dropped. The wind came up just hard enough out is the NW to ruin what little ride-ability that was out there. The rips were really annoying too. I didn’t really get anything to speak of out there. The rest of my day I committed to yard work. Since I got back from El Salvador the place has been a bit of a mess and I finally devoted a few hours to the beautification of my yard. I guess that is the classic way to spend a Sunday afternoon when you’re a home owner.
12-9-23 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 1hrs
Waves Surfed: 12
Miles Driven: 12
Of course the Santa Ana winds decide to blow at the tail end of the swell on a six foot high tide. My only window was until 11am. Strand was too high to break and Shores was barely showing. I thought about going to the Harbor but the cam looked very stretched and there wasn’t anyone out, which led me to believe it must be not surf-able. I decided to wait out the tide about an hour in my car. At 10am I looked again. Sets were coming in very stretched and it was still in my opinion a little too high. I was out of time and paddled. The waves were difficult and just as closed out as they looked. I did manage to come out of one ok right hand tube and I quit on a head dip left. I heard Strand got somewhat fun on the lower tide. Today’s job was a piece of cake compared to yesterday.
12-8-23 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1hrs 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 17
Miles Driven: 10
My time was very limited this morning. Today was the big 300 person event in Santa Barbara I have been mentioning. We were in great shape prep wise. I don’t usually like to take on jobs of this caliber on my own. The work is from a regular client of mine and I didn’t want to let them down. I really only had time for the Strand and luckily Ship looked chest to head, peaky, clean and fun. The crowd wasn’t bad either. I paddled and there were some really fun bowls coming directly off the ship. Salar paddled and we had it basically to ourselves. I made one really cherry back door barrel that stoked me out and then got horribly clipped trying to make another one that beat the piss out of me. The surf was super fun and if I didn’t have to bail for work I could have surfed another hour. The event went ok. I did a six foot radius round Chucuterie table, and had twelve passed appetizers. I felt we got an adequate amount of food out and over all everyone was pleased. In the future I think I will hire an extra kitchen hand to allow me to take a more of supervisory role. I was really busy in the kitchen keeping the food moving which didn’t allow me to have as much control over my staff as I would’ve wanted. Besides that I’d say it was a success.
12-7-23 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 17
Miles Driven: 10
After yesterday I was less than enthusiastic about heading back to the points. All the intel I got from that zone wasn’t very exciting. The Ship had a head high plus wave and was super peaky. It was a little busy with thirty plus guys out. There were peaks up and down the beach and waves were very consistent. Zach was on the beach pumped and I rode the coattails of his stoke to paddle. I packed three fun tubes straight out of the gates and thought it was going to be a super session. The tide was dropping fast causing lots of strange rips to form. This made catching a good one difficult. At one point I got hung up in the lip on a bomb and got dropped from top to bottom six feet into the flats. Somehow myself and my board came out unscathed. As the tide bottomed out it got really inconsistent and even more weird further proving my theory that the ship has been better this season on a fuller tide. My potential super session was never realized. This swell in general under performed and was ridiculously crowded. I ran into a buddy of mine who said he surfed the Ranch on Wednesday and there were 50 guys at Drakes and anoint 50 at Razors. That kind of crowd up there is unfathomable. Is nothing in surfing left sacred? The rest of my day was spent engrossed in prep work for the big parties I’m catering this weekend starting with 300 guests on Friday.
12-6-23 PM Session: 2-4+ ft, Pitas
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 62
The “big swell” according to Surfline had finally arrived. The angle was good as was the swell size. Unfortunately the period was obnoxiously long coming in between 18-20 seconds. This left the beaches completely stretched and the points very inconsistent. The ship actually had a little bit of short period wind swell getting in. The crowd as light and it was clean. I should’ve just paddled there but I was dead set on surfing one of the points being caught up in the swell hysteria like everyone else. Word was Rincon had an ok wave and not too crowded. I did the loop. In the interim of me driving from Strand to Rincon the place must have got packed. I couldn’t find a place to park. Even Bates was parked out all the way past the train overpass. My next stop was Little Rincon. There four guys out and the wave shape was terrible. The sand at Little Rincon is some of the worst I have seen in years. My time was running out as I was supposed to be in SB at noon. I considered still paddling and making the most of it till I saw another fifteen guys show up and start changing. The wave wasn’t nearly good enough with four guys out let alone adding another twenty. I headed to Pitas. Jeffery had paddled out there and wasn’t stoked on it, but my options were getting limited. The wind was all over it and there were easily thirty guys out. I saw a few lefts at Hobson’s and went back there for a look. The left looked like the best wave I had seen all day. The tiny day use lot had no spots and the crowd was easily thirty guys strong with another twenty getting ready. The wind had began to die and I decided to get out of my early appointment giving me till 2pm to surf and wait it out a little bit. It was 10am at this time point. I killed an hour then looked at Pitas again. The crowd had dropped but the wind had really picked up out of the NW trashing the surf. Ryan and Even were over at Hobson’s and I drove back over there to meet them. It was also completely trashed and still had twenty guys out. By this point I was very frustrated. I was completely out of options but I also had spent so much time in pursuit of surf that I needed to paddle somewhere. I went back to Pitas and paddled the Faria section. Despite the wind there were some broke up lines good for three to four turns. Despite how bad the surf was there were still about twenty five to thirty guys out my entire session. I don’t mind surfing bad waves with out a crowd but I hate surfing crowded bad waves. CC surfed Rincon and said it was horrible there too. I had a feeling all the elements weren’t going to come together for this swell. The rest of my afternoon was spent working a Christmas party for some tech company in Santa Barbara.
12-5-23 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 12
There was a forecast for some weak level offshore winds this morning and with a healthy amount of short period combo swell I had beach break barrels on my mind. I picked up CC cause he was still having car trouble and we cruised to Strand. The ship was tiny with all the swell getting into the north bowl to the north Jetty and the shape over there was ok, albeit a little walled. Taking into account the offshore winds we drove over to Shores if for no other reason then to rule it out. I was also waiting on a Rincon report. Shores had some peaky looking waves but the wind had turned onshore. My Rincon report came back less then stellar making the call to go back to North Strand. I saw a couple of kill-able rights come in off the jetty and decided to paddle. There were only handful of guys out and sets were chest to head. North Jetty is always riddled by bad rips and a shifty peak. On top of that you really have to pick the right waves as many just mush out into deep water. For all the these reasons the crowd is usually pretty light. I lucked into three good ones off the bat. CC had less luck and paddled into the bowl for the left off Tower 1. Since I was doing alright I stuck it out by the rocks. Salar showed up and we had it to ourselves for about thirty minutes till we got mobbed by this crew of groms and their dads. They couldn’t hold pace with the rip and eventually floated out of position. I was just having a lucky day insync with the good waves. I did have more shopping to do for my events on the weekend, rather than waste a bunch of time I decided to quit while I was ahead.
12-4-23 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 27
Miles Driven: 10
Though the size was similar to yesterday the shape sure wasn’t. Today the majority of waves were stretched and backwash riddled. At the very least the crowd was light. I started out in the bowl but after about a half hour of limited success I paddled over to the Ship where I found a few more open faces. Overall most waves either died out or closed out. The only reason I even surfed as long as I did was because Salar paddled and we hadn’t really surfed together since I before I left for El Salvador. The rest of my day was spent shopping for these two big Christmas parties I am catering this weekend. One job is for 300 people and the other 150.
12-3-23 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr 15m
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 10
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. After two days in a row of Hueneme making me look like the fool I wasn’t even going to look at that temptress this morning. Straight to the Strand was my heading. My reward was very peaky chest to head high waves coming in up and down the beach with a somewhat light spread out crowd. Even if it had been crowded there were tons of waves everywhere and both the lefts and rights were decent, a rarity at the Ship. I paddled Tower 5 and had a pretty fun bowl to myself. It was one of those sessions where I was in the zone absolutely ripping. As the tide got higher I moved into the bowl and managed a few tubes. The surf stayed clean and the crowd dropped. If it wasn’t a Sunday and I hadn’t made plans to decorate the house for Christmas with my wife I would have surfed for hours. That being said I definitely got my fill. C.C., Zach, and Ryan all paddled later at different times and all scored as well. I guess it was just one of those really fun days at Strand. As far as decorating the house went it wasn’t quite a scene from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, but definitely a production.
12-2-23 AM Session: 1-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 14
Today was just another terrible call on my part and another day where I probably should’ve just surfed Strand. I had a look at Hueneme and saw some clean looking peaky waves on Rockside with a handful of guys on it. The smart money would have been to just paddle but instead I decided to cruise over to the Strand. There was a wave to surf over there. Unfortunately the tide was already looking fat and rising to 6ft by 10am. Taking into consideration that Hueneme likes the higher tide I cruised back, didn’t check it and just suited up. I walked up the beach and saw a few fun looking waves. There were small groups of guys on multiple peaks. Rather than crowd anyone I walked down the beach till I found one all to myself. It was one of those days where one peak wasn’t any better than the other so why sit on anybody. I caught two alright rights. Then the waves completely stoped coming in. Im talking dead flat. Everyone got out and I was left out the back alone to contemplate my poor life decisions, mainly ever getting into surfing. Most people would have cut their losses and got out, but not me. I decided to sit out there and see if Hueneme might bless me with another window. It did not. Instead I paddled to the inside and made the most out of some tiny knee high shore break. I did manage to land a backside air revers on my last one so I suppose the surf wasn’t a total loss. Oh Hueneme what a mysterious place you are.
12-1-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 10
Miles Driven: 14
Some days I let the crowd skew my judgement and rather than fight for my place in one of my own lineups that I have devoted my life to surfing I shrink away to some lesser wave in lieu of catching more waves hassle free. Sometimes this strategy pays off. Other times I completely shoot myself in the foot. This morning was the latter. I showed up at the Ship where there were some fun looking peaks from the Ship all the way to Tower 4. The crowd was heavy, close to fifty guys strong. With a rising tide and not a great wave to crowd ratio I decided to head back to Hueneme where I saw some alright looking chest high lines over at Rockside. C.C. met me and we paddled. Whatever we thought we saw came and went in yet another mysterious Hueneme short lived window. The waves were way weaker than they looked. On top of that with the short period wind swell it was mostly just drifty peaks down the beach with the power source always behind you. The surf continued to get progressively worse to the point where we almost had to paddle in. The rest of my day was spent shaping.