Surfing Ruined My Life

December 2025 Surf Sessions

12-12-25 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Hollywood
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 10
A slight uptick in WNW swell energy coupled with low tide took me to Hollywood.  My window was short luckily it was pretty consistent with lefts and rights up and down the beach.  There was even the odd ball tube to be had.  Little Sunset was packed as has become the norm over there.  Unfortunately the south wind came up and steadily trashed the surf.  I can’t get over how much south wind we have had to endure this season.  I had a Christmas party to work for Direct relief in the afternoon into the evening.  My wife had to attend her Museum’s member appreciation party.  Poor Adagio was left with the nanny for ten hours.  When we got home he was super appreciative of us.  Maybe we should leave him more often so he doesn’t take us for granted. 

12-11-25 AM Session: 1-2+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 2
The tide was extremely low early with just a little bit of swell getting in.  I decided to do some glass work early and let tide fill in hoping that the pier would get fun on incoming.  The surf was still pretty small when I looked around 11am.  Though tiny the waves looked rip-able enough and it was oil glassy conditions.  The look was too beautiful to pass up.  I have a knack for making the smallest of surf fun.  My afternoon was spent sanding surf boards.

12-10-25 AM Session: 1-3 ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 26
Miles Driven: 2
This morning was almost an exactly copy of yesterday except maybe a tad bit more stretched.  Unfortunately the sand from the dredge project is filling in fast and has moved down to the pier.  Currently the inner bar is completely exposed even on high tide leaving a deep water to shallow shelf sort of thing happening, which is mostly causing the waves to be dumpy.  The days of the fun pier bar may be over for a while.  I guess I’ll have to go back to strand. My afternoon was spent sanding the boards that I had just glassed.

12-9-25 AM Session: 1-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 2
One thing you can count on at Hueneme is that if it’s small and high tide it will be at the very least surf-able.  This morning was a bonus being that it was also super rip-able.  I got on an absolute froth on the south side of the Pier.  My afternoon was spent glassing surfboards.  

12-8-25 No Surfing: 2-3 ft
When I woke up this morning something was really off.  My head was spinning, I was nauseous and had a pounding headache.  If I didn’t know any better I would have thought I was either hung over or hit my head really hard.  The latter I knew wasn’t true cause I haven’t gotten drunk in over two years.  The former could have happened but if that was the case then I must have hit my head so hard I didn’t remember the incident.  Whatever was going on I was in no shape to surf or do anything.  I slept till about 11am.  I still wasn’t feeling all that great but forced myself to get out of bed.  Bizarro was in the kitchen and gave me some of his migraine medication upon which I felt better though I still took it easy for the rest of the day.  I heard the pier had some small but fun waves.  Hopefully I feel better tomorrow.  Photo from the Ventura Point cam.

12-7-25 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 2
Lately thanks to Rockside being completely filled in with sand courtesy of the dredging project the only places to surf in Hueneme are both sides of the Pier, the bars south of Tower 6 and the slew bars to the southern most border of Hueneme.  As a result to my dismay the pier has gotten rather busy on the weekends.  I started on the north side where the crowd was less intense than the south side.  It was also a bit more stretched.  I figured I would wait the crowd out and catch some racy chest high rights and lefts then paddle over to the south side as the morning crowd dropped off. I managed one incredible backside barrel that was like pulling a rabbit out of a hat.  I have no idea how I threaded the needle to come out.  After my surf my wife and I took Adagio to breakfast with Santa put on by the Port Hueneme recreation center.  Breakfast was two stale pancakes and a glass of orange juice.  It was a free event.  They had real reindeer borrowed from a ranch out in Santa Clara the specializes in training movie animals.  According to the trainer anytime you see reindeer in a movie or commercial it was most likely one of theirs.  Adagio surprisingly didn’t cry on Santa’s lap.  He laughed instead leaving me to wonder if the kid is brave or just deranged.   My evening was spent working a catering job for the opening of a Bentley dealership in Santa Barbara.

12-6-25 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 26
Miles Driven: 2
All the reports claimed flat and after perusing all the cams I was satisfied that there was nothing to surf out there.  Instead I went up to the beach here at Hueneme with my wife and baby, for a walk.  Once up there I saw a number of fun looking waves off the Pier.  You can never discount Hueneme.  My buddy Pat used to call it the “wild card”.  When everywhere is flat it will be chest high then on the other hand when everywhere is firing Hueneme will be flat.  You can only guess that the walk was cut short as I scrambled to get home and get my stuff. The south side of the pier was super fun chest high and  rip-able with just CC and I trading waves.  We had a blast.  My afternoon was spent decorating the entire house inside and out for Christmas.  Every year I’m amazed at all the holiday crap we have.  T’is the season. 

12-5-25 No Surfing: 1-2+ ft
How we lost all that swell over night is beyond me, but this morning it was barely knee high with a 7ft kind tide.  It worked out for me since I had to work a lunch for 300 people in Santa Barbara.  I was hoping to fit a grovel session in before dark but I got a call from my wife that Mazda of Oxnard was willing to work with us on the bum Toyota RAV4 they sold us.  Ultimately they let us take the money we put down on the RAV4 and put it towards a new Mazda.  We got a white CX-30.  We got there at 5:30 and didn’t leave till almost 10pm.  Car buying is exhausting, especially this time around.  I’m just happy we got the whole thing sorted out and we now have a safe car to transport my son in. Photo from the Ventura Point Cam.

12-4-25 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Hollywood
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 26
Miles Driven: 10
The reports were claiming that the swell was down today, yet I found myself looking at solid head to overhead offshore lines at Hollywood. Stoked I jumped in and immediately started packing barrels.  Unfortunately the majority of the waves were pretty stretched so you had to be choosy.  That being said I definitely got my share of deep draining barrels.  It was refreshing to surf waves that weren’t in the life threatening realm.  My afternoon was spent glassing surfboards.  Any day glassing you are able to walk away not being asphyxiated is a successful day.

12-3-25 AM Session: 5-7+ ft, Hollywood
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 14
Miles Driven: 10
The rule at Hollywood is however big you think it is it’s probably bigger.  Something about how far out the waves break or the vastness of the beach, but it’s nearly impossible to gauge even when people are out.  The wind was offshore and it looked like there was the possibility to get some amazing barrels.  Once out there I realized I was completely under gunned as I attempted to drop into a left bomb that would have been the barrel of the day if I had more foam under my feet.  Instead I airdropped to the bottom and got clobbered by the white water.  I did manage to get a few decent ones before the south wind came up and trashed it.  After today and yesterday I think I am going to have to get my act together and make myself a step up.  My afternoon was spent glassing.

12-2-25 AM Session: 6-8+ ft, Ventura Point
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 11
Miles Driven: 48
There was some really solid NW swell showing this morning.  The Ventura point cam was easily pushing double overhead on sets.  I was hoping Hueneme was going to be fun but with the steadily dropping tide I could tell I had already missed the window at the pier.  I decided to head up to the points figuring they were going to be solid.  Rincon was packed and an inconsistent head high.  Little Rincon and Pitas were crowded and terrible.  Jeffrey and I decided to just suck it up and go surf Ventura Point.  All I had was my 5’9 because I sold my Step Up last winter to get some cash flow to buy blanks.  Despite being under gunned I still managed a handful of bombs.  My best wave was way overhead and I rode it from where the stadium at the Fairgrounds starts all the way to the top of the Cove.  It was hell of a ride, maybe the longest, largest wave I have ever caught out there.  Unfortunately the wind came up out of the south adding way more bump on the face than I would have liked.  On my last wave I managed to get one from Stables to the stairs just before the pier.  My legs were done and since conditions were no longer ideal I called it day.  My afternoon was spent glassing surfboards.  Later that evening my wife and I took Adagio to the Port Hueneme town tree lighting at the Police Station.  I’m not super into such activities but when I saw the little guy’s face when they lit the tree it was totally worth it.  Then a few seconds later he threw a fit and we took him home.

12-1-25 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Malibu
Time in Water: 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 9
Miles Driven: 70
There was SW/NW combo with a fast draining low tide.  I heard the north points had waves as did the south PCH spots.  CC thought County Line was the call and I decided to jump in with him and head that way.   When we got there nothing was really coming in.  It looked like the draining negative tide had already taken its toll.  We had a look at Zeros but it was crowded for what was coming in.  Upon review it looked as though there were some chest plus waves down at Malibu on the Third Point cam thus we made our final attempt to surf there.  My first few waves were fun with three to four turns on them.  As the tide dropped the sets got more and more inconsistent, stretched and small.  We borderline had to paddle in.  What a bust.  I hate these days where the tide changes are extreme. I did some ding work in the afternoon.  When my wife got home we went out and bought our Christmas tree.