January 2018 Surf Sessions
1-31-18 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, Jalama
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 126
There was a slight push in the swell coming from the NW. On the buoys it looked short period and steep. Judging from what I could see on the cams I decided to go up to the “J”. On paper it seemed like a great decision. The wind was right, tide ok, and there was swell. I skunked on the drive getting stuck behind a slow poke on the windy Jalama road. When I got in plain sight of the ocean the lines were all broken up looking very windswelly. On top of that there was an ugly channel chop cutting the swell up. Adding injury to insult the larger sets were just dumping on the outer bar and then rolling through the inner bar with out any good reform. I paddled out at Tarantulas where it looked like the reef and kelp were smoothing out the lines a little bit. The left was ok at best, the right looked sick. As soon as I got out there I realized the right was way faster then I had thought and the take off was super shifty. I gave it a half hour then moved over the left. There was as little too much chop on the face causing the wave to almost double up too much to even paddle into and then the best part of the wave pretty much just folded up over itself. I did about half hour there too before paddling over to a bar that that formed just south of the second crack. What looked alright from T’s was absolute crap causing me to paddle back to the left at Tarantulas. I actually did manage my two best waves in this time. Then out of no where and with no wind all this ugly chop came in and basically destroyed what garbage was coming through. I was definitely a little bummed since I thought I was going to score, but that is the way surfing works out sometimes.
1-30-18 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
Looks like we are going to end this month the way we began, in the midst of a flat spell. What a whirl wind of a month it was been with all sorts of swell, wind, rain, mud slides. Hopefully come February things can get back on track. The buoys were about as small as they get and with a deep am high tide little options were left. My back has been pretty sore since the weekend thus I had no problem taking the day off. At the moment reports look somewhat meager over the next few days.
1-29-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Jalama
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 41
Miles Driven: 126
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that surfing isn’t a sick addiction. I was going to take today off considering that I have been scoring waves for the past five days, the buoys were down and my body was sore as fuck. Upon checking the cams this morning I saw enough swell coming in at Jalama to entice me to make the drive. I have not been up there in almost a month and Jalama is never a bad idea. I cruised and sure enough it was glassy and about chest high plus with no one out at Cracks. Stoked I paddled into the perfect oil glass water and proceeded to dismantle any wave that came my way. All I can say is that the sand is now perfect out there. I can’t say how it would be on a large swell, but nearly every wave that came in was a peeler. It was enough to stoke me out.
1-28-18 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 78
Finally there was a return of the Santa Anna winds. Unfortunately they decided to grace at the tail end of the swell. The only thing worst then hard off shore winds on small surf is hard onshore winds. I checked beach break with no avail. On a last ditch effort I had a look at the Ship despite being told by Ryan that it was tiny. All things considered it was certainly the best of the worst. I saw a few fun looking waist to chest high waves out there while I was checking it to convince me to suit up. The crowd was rather light and there were plenty of small waves for anyone interested in getting blasted by wind, sand and water. My girl was on the beach getting pelted by sand thus I did my twenty and left. After surfing my chick wanted to check out Ojai and spread some money around after all the fires. We spent the afternoon doing the Ojai Valley tourist thing. I was even lucky enough to get yelled at by some tweaker for looking at him. Good times.
1-27-18 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, County Line
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 18
Miles Driven: 82 (from Thousand Oaks to County Line, to Santa Barbara)
Paradise Falls, though far from my idea of paradise was a decent enough area to hike about. Unlike the majority of Southern California water falls this one actually had a fair amount of water coming down it. Swimming was prohibited as a result of too much city sewer run off. Paradise? I think not. On the hike back we took a different route that followed the stream back to the parking lot and it was a rather nice stroll. I wouldn’t go out of the way to visit the place. If you are in the area Paradise Falls is worth a stop. While we were in the parking lot I noticed the wind was off shore and wondered if it would be at the beach. I checked the C Street cam and it was still on shore there. My girl had never taken the canyon pass to PCH and I figured worst cast scenario we get there and its shitty at least we could enjoy the sunset. If by some stroke of luck the wind is right and there are waves well score for me. Sure enough when we got to County Line it was about waist to chest and off shore. It was far from epic and if I had gotten a fun morning session in I doubt I would have paddled. All things considered I was on it. I surfed deep on the reef to avoid the crowded kookery and find a few peaks to myself. The sunset was nice and I got a few more waves under the belt. We ended the night with a nice dinner and finished up watching The last of the God Father Trilogy. Yeah I know everyone hates the last one, but if you watch as a stand alone movie and not as if it followed the last two its still a damn fine film. “Don’t ever go against the family”. That my friends was one full Saturday.
1-27-18 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Hollywood by the Sea
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 17
Miles Driven: 34
The swell had dropped a bit from the previous night and with the a fat morning tide plus light off shore winds the beaches seemed a prudent spot. Strand was packed, Saturday after all, and all the other beach breaks looked like shit. I probably should have looked at the points, but by the time this intel came to me I was already in Oxnard. I had a look at the Shores. It was a little bit stretched and all over the place there. Hollywood had some mixed peaks up and down the beach with a light crowd. Over looking around I decided to paddled. The line up was all over the place and with out a real crowd and a shitty south drift staying in position or evening finding the right place to sit was tough. I had a few alright ones till the wind came up making things go from bad to worse. Though Surfline said it was suppose to be variable west all day the weather decided to disagree and the NW wind came up like a fucking light switch. Being that the water was freezing and the waves were shit I got a few more and quit. I promised my girl we would go check out Paradise Falls in Thousand Oaks. After a brief repast that was where we found ourselves.
1-26-18 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Pitas
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 18
Miles Driven: 30 (from Rincon back to Santa Barbara)
How many miles do you think I surfed today? Every wave I got at Rincon ran all the way from High Cove to at least the Freeway close to a 200 plus yard ride. At Pitas I got at least three to Mondos, plus a host of fairly long ones as well. I bet I surfed easily close to two miles in distance. Pitas was exactly how I thought it was going to be, solid. Ryan met me and we paddled. The Faria section was on and when that is working there is almost an endless length of ride. Really the only limit is how long your legs can hold out. I had a few sick leg burners and a couple of tubes. All I can say is today was a rather great day of surfing, one that people would travel the world in search of. I got to have it right on my door step.
1-26-18 AM Session: 4-6+ ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 10
Miles Driven: 15
I was kind of in the mood for some point break action after taking a four day hiatus at the beachies. Between the buoys and all my indicators I knew Rincon was going to be on. I got there and it was solid except for some strange SW chop on it. Still it was well over head on set, low tide, the Cove had some double up bombers and the crowd was super light. I paddled and at first I was picking the wrong ones with lots of chop on the face. As the session went on the wind began to go NW and subsequently the waves started to smooth out. At this point I was picking off killer ones that ran all the way past the call box (yes I know it isn’t there anymore). After a handful of ten to twelve turn runners like that I was considering leaving. Word must have got out cause the crowd doubled from the last wave I had to when I walked back up the point. It had reached the 100 person mark. I got one more absolute gem of a set wave and bailed. I had an inkling that Pitas might be good and headed over there. Luckily I had a two pack of pop tarts in my glove box to power me through.
1-25-18 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
Miles Driven: 78
It was my lady’s birthday and we had planned to go down the Ventura do a little surfing in the morning and then enjoy a day and evening of fun filled activities. Of course the wind and surf was all fucked up early leaving nothing really worth getting wet for. Instead we went to breakfast followed by an insider’s tour of the Museum of Ventura County on Main Street. Having a girl who works in the industry does have its perks. I must say it was a cute little museum and totally worth a stop if you are in the area. After that it was off to the mall to do some birthday shopping!! I managed to find the pea coat I have been searching for all season for 75% off. I would have snatched it up had it not been for the dreadful financial hit I took these past two months between the fire and the landslide. Fuck I may have to get a job soon. From the mall it was time for some good old fashioned Miniature Golf. I managed to come just two over par and that is only because the last hole was absolute bull shit. The fix was in. Finally the evening was capped off with dinner at none other then Red Lobster. It was a white trash fantasy kind of day. Good times, but my girl was happy and it was her day and there for I was at her disposal.
1-24-18 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 35
Miles Driven: 78
Sometimes surfing is like a sixth sense to me. Today was one of those days. I met Ryan and Gordo at the River Mouth hoping that it would be alright with the light off shore winds. The sand bars are just trash there at the moment. They have potential, but definitely are not worth a moment of anyone’s time. Those guys were going to bag. I decided to just drive over to the Strand to rule it out. Worst case scenario I would just end up fishing Rincon anyway. When I walked up the beach on the South End there were solid lines pushing through with a some what minimal crowd for how fun it looked. I called Ryan and told him to get his ass down there and paddled. Though a bit inconsistent shape and overall quality was twenty times better then yesterday. I surfed till I was completely out of gas and it was still solid when I split leaving me to consider a second session. I had some pressing chores to do around the house. One in particular was to hand my girl’s bird feeder in the back, which no bird has yet to eat from.
1-23-18 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 32
Miles Driven: 78
The buoys had some fresh short period NW swell showing. My first stop was Rincon. It was smaller then I would have liked and there was some shitty channel chop on it. Ryan said he heard Strand was decent and that the wind was off shore. In that direction I went. The ship had some fun though for from epic looking peaks. The crowd was manageable with plenty of bowls for everyone. Ryan and I jumped in and the wind was side/shore offshore and it was almost too peaky. Not to mention the sand is all fucked up. By the time Angers showed up the wind had went completely north scalloping out all the peaks. I was determined to get a few good ones and continued surfing. The crowd dropped to just six of us and then the wind decided to go back off shore for another half hour. It was at this point I snagged a quick in and out left tube and a few other choice ones before the wind finally went onshore for the day. It wasn’t great, but I was stoke to have a real surf.
1-22-18 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 12
Miles Driven: 78
Finally after two weeks and change the 101 through Montecito has re-opened. It couldn’t have come a moment sooner too considering the swell is to be on the small side all week. Also I had to get to Ventura to give my glasser more lineaments. Ryan was heading to Strand and I met him there. From the looks of things all of that nice high tide sand we had benefited from all fall and December is now gone. On a last ditch effort we headed to Ventura Harbor. New Jetty was fat and terrible. There were a few awkward looking bars at River Mouth. Upon further inspection we decided to paddle. There were some good lefts, though the majority of the time we were sifting through close outs and dodging walled outside sets occasionally finding one. Post surf I headed to Ryan’s house to check out the new mini ramp he scored for his kids free off Craigslist.com. Minus needing to be resurfaced I would say he made out for sure. Actually I am sort of stoked to go skate the thing. We also went over the location for a potential shaping shack in the yard too.
1-21-18 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Naples
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 34
Last night we made the decision to party at the Wild Cat and subsequently throw a small after party. With all that happening there was no way I was going surfing in the morning. The swell was looking rather meager and it was freezing out. My girl and I headed out to Goleta to check in and hang with her childhood dog. For the most part I was rather surfed out and not that motivated. Around four I headed north figuring I would just walk into Naples and find something to surf. Though small there were plenty of peaks up top. I started at Naples Reef and worked my way down to the Crack Peak, where I found my best waves. The surf was certainly nothing to write home about. The sunset was breath taking. The other day my lady and I were talking about if one could ever get tired of looking at sunsets. I don’t think I ever will. This one in particular was rather special.
1-20-18 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, Naples
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 34
I woke up super early again to look at Sand Spit. Though there were a few I just didn’t have it in me to go out there in the cold. My phone said it was 44 F. No thanks, not for sub-par Sand Bar. Instead I slept in till ten, got breakfast with my lady and finally headed to Naples. The wind was a little more west, but I was hoping that the kelp would keep it clean enough to surf. Finally for the first time in a week there were no cars parked in the lot. It was about time I got my surf spot back. When we got there the tide was a bit high for Seals and up top was pure wilderness with chop. It was a nice day out so my girl and I took in the sights and kicked for an hour till the tide got right where I wanted it. Three stus paddled out and we watched them kook it a bit. I jumped in and got a few solid set waves. Then the wind went straight west and it got all jumbled and crappy. Still there were a couple. After about a half hour of that that it turned back around and I thrived. Being that it was pretty cold on the beach and I had already got mine I decided to head in and enjoy the rest of my evening with my girl.
1-19-18 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Refugio
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 58
With the south wind I wasn’t sure what an afternoon surf would hold for me. Knowing that the swell was finally on the way out I knew I had to try and surf again. Around two the wind switched straight north, off shore for the majority of the points around here. I headed north. There are a few off the beaten path spots I had in mind. The low tide had made all of those less then perfect. From the looks of it had I gotten there earlier I may have scored. Now I was out of time and out of options. As I was driving past Refugio I saw a sick set break on the outer reef. Could you believe no one was out. I guess everyone was at El Cap and Naples. I decided to walk in and see if it was true. Sure enough there were some solid sets with only two guys on it and plenty of waves for everyone. Stoked I paddled and had some sick ones. It wasn’t worth much more then a barrel and two turns or three turns on the outside before the wave ran into deep water and died out. Right at dark the wind decided to switch more NW trashing the outer reef. Still I got mine. Later that night my lady brought her childhood dog over cause we got stuck dog sitting while her Dad was out of town. Everything was fine till I decided to let Alfie out of the room. The carnage that ensued was gnarly though mostly on my chick and I as we were pulling the two apart.
1-19-18 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Sand Spit
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 22
Miles Driven: 2
There are few surf spots or even waves that get me excited these days. There are even fewer that I will get up while it is still dark out for. Sand Bar is one of these. With just the right tide window and swell I found myself in the parking lot at 6:30 pulling on my suit. Of course as has been my luck this swell by the time I suited up another ten guys had pulled up and got ready. When I got to the end of the break wall there were easily another eight guys out making the morning crowd a solid twenty. Luckily there were a fair amount of waves coming through with the incoming tide. I used to surf out at Sand Bar on a regular basis between the cam making the crowd impossible and the sand not being nearly as good as in the past I rarely paddle unless its decent. It took a few waves for me to get back into the swing of the spot. Apparently most of the crowd kids trying to get a few before school and by 8:30 the line up dropped to just about six of us. At this point I got a few good ones from behind the wall and managed two really decent barrels I was stoked on. Honestly once I get a solid tube out there I am good. By the nine the wind had turned south and the backwash from the impending five foot tide pretty much turned the place off. I kooked it getting out and got washed up the break wall. As luck would have it myself, board and wet suit came out unscathed.
1-18-18 PM Session: 2-4+ ft, Lead Better Beach
Time in Water: 1 hr
Miles Driven: 0
Waves Surfed: 10
I wasn’t expecting to surf at all today, faced with another 12 hour day. We ended up getting super ahead at the kitchen allowing me to get an hour and half surf break. Leads looked alright enough at chest plus to run out with my fish for a few waves. My first mistake was paddling out there instead of Mesa Lane. My second mistake was leaving my fish in its tri fin set up instead of quad. The wind decided to rear its ugly head from the south and with the tide dropping and crowd increasing things only got worse from there. I got a few runners, but they were super weak despite their size. I think Lead better is best in the 1-3 foot range. After that it just gets super soft. Some how I stuck a bs air reverse. Besides that the session was hardly worth the price of admission. The gig went well too.
1-17-18 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Shit Holes
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 48
Bizarro decided to come with me after work, delaying my process a few minutes. We headed for Naples, but once again it was super packed. El Capitan was the same and so was Refugio. By this point my car was running on vapors. There was no one out at Shit Holes and there were a few lefts. Out of gas and time I paddled. Two other guys did as well, but it was pretty consistent and shifty allowing for everyone to get their share. As per usual it looked lots better then it was. I made the most of what was on offer and at least I had some breathing room.
1-16-18 No Surfing: 7-9 + ft
What can I say. I had to work a 12.5 hr day starting at 8 am. I had a look at Sand Spit at first light, but it was a little small and high for me to jump in for an hour and then be all tired for an already long day. My gig went good and it looks like there will be enough work trickling in over the next few weeks to keep me a float.
1-15-18 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, Shit Holes
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 11
Miles Driven: 52
Talk about a trail of tears. Now I know how the Native Americans must have felt. I had work till 3pm. My plan was to go score some Naples with the new swell coming through. I guess that was everyone else’s plan who lived in Santa Barbara and slow. Every line up from Naples to Refugio was packed. I couldn’t even find spot to park my car at Naples. El Capitan was a zoo and didn’t look all that fun. I went for a Hail Mary check up to Poison Oak, but that was flat. Finally I settled for Shit Holes cause I was out of time and at least it was a left. There were three guys on the left and four on the right. As I was changing a five pack pulled up and all descended upon the left. I was already in the water by that point. At the height the crowd was easily ten strong on a peak that is lucky to support five and on most days that is considered a crowd. The thing about Shit Holes is that apart from being located in front of a giant refuse outlet it really is a shitty wave. The right is basically a sectiony close out with no determinable take off spot. The left is shifty as fuck, back washed riddled, breaking over a shallow reef and one out of three are close outs. It always looks enticing from the bluff, yet I seldom have fun out there and only paddle it when every where else is way too crowded. Take all these factors, then add the crowd and the fact that I grabbed my old suit thus was freezing and I think you can guess the way my surf went. I hate Surfline, I hate solid swells, I hate people who only surf when there is a predicted swell, I hate surfing and I hate Shit Holes. Oh and one of the guys from the five pack had the nerve to ask me if I surf there a lot. Classic.
1-14-18 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Naples
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 34
Usually Sunday is my requisite day off. In trying times where work in Santa Barbara is rather scarce one must do what he has to in order to survive. I had work at 10 and nothing out there really stoked me out for a paddle before. My hope was to get off by two and cruise up to Jalama where I knew it was going to be super fun. Unfortunately that didn’t happen thus I stopped home scooped up my girl and headed back to Naples. There were a few cars in the lot and a handful of guys on every peak from Naples Reef all the way down to Green Awning. Only one guy was out at Seals and since I brought my fish I decided to paddled it. Unlike Friday the tide push actually pumped and I wish I would have had my short board. My Clarks Surfboards Pop Fizz performed like a champ allowing me to have a ball out there.
1-13-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 4
I guess I felt like getting back to my roots at good old Mesa Lane. Not being able to surf south of East Beach will do that to you. I feel like its 2007 when I didn’t have a car because for whatever reason I thought I could find plenty of fun waves while staying in town. Last night we made an appearance at the Wild Cat, Biz, My girl and I. After last night’s less then stellar Naples surf I didn’t feel like making all that effort again for average at best surf. My lady wanted Mc Donalds so I figured I may as well just have a look at the Lane. The tide and swell were right. There was a classic crap A-frame coming in off the reef with a handful of guys on it. Not really in the mood to drive around aimlessly looking for waves I paddled. Ten other guys must have had the same idea cause it instantly got really crowded for how shitty it was. Fuck, I used to surf that place with no more then three guys not too many years ago and that was considered a crowd. I got ran over by the same kook twice. Hit by an idiot on a soft top once and burned at least three times. Somehow I did manage a couple of rights and lefts to satisfy my fix. From there my lady and I decided to go up to her family’s ranch in the Santa Rita Hills. Her grandfather said that there were five new calves and its always fun to go up and check them out before they get to be cows. I would say it was a rather fun day.
1-12-18 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Naples
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 29
Miles Driven: 34
I finally had a little bit of work. Luckily a very steady corporate account had booked one of the caters I work with for the up coming week, plus I had a few other parties coming up as well. After work I just decided to cruise to Naples with low expectations. It was pretty small and inconsistent and left me wishing I had brought my fish. I hiked in the last two days with two boards and man that is exhausting. After a full days work I was not about to schlep both sticks. I surfed Lower Crack Peak were there was about a waist to chest plus suck up good for three or four turns. I even found a few little barrels. A buddy of mine was sitting higher up on the reef where it was a tad more consistent. There were already three guys on that peak and just enough waves for them. Not wanting to be a buzz kill I stayed on the lower section by myself. When the upper peak thinned out I paddled up just to say hi to my bud and see if it was any better. Though more consistent it was a bit more closed out, thus I paddled back to where I started. I had high hopes that incoming would be fun. Instead it just sort of got less make-able due to it being too deep to focus on the outer reef and too shallow for the inner reef. Still I got few.
1-11-18 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Naples
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 26
Miles Driven: 34
I was at a loss on what to do today. The buoys were small for town and driving out of town was near to impossible. I thought of all the possible ways to get to Rincon with out a boat and none of them seemed feasible. There was always Mesa Lane and Lead Better, but I was not about to secede to town options that easy. Instead I decided to drive up and check Naples from the hill. If I saw anything that looked remotely surf-able I would walk in. Sure enough there were enough lines to sell me on it. Not knowing how big it was I decided to take both my fish and short board. I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the buff and there were still plenty of chest high sets and the odd ball head to overhead one. So much for needing the fish. If carrying a fish with me guarantees waves then I will always take it along. There was a bit of south wind on it tearing up seals. Up top looked a lot more consistent and cleaner. I paddled the Crack Peak, which I had to myself for a solid half hour before one other guy joined me. Low tide was settling in so were the obnoxious lulls that come with it up in Gaviota. I was patient and every ten minutes or so a decent one would come in, every thirty a really solid set. Conditions were glass, it was warm out and I had nothing else to do. How could I complain. After yesterday’s intensity it was nice to just chill. I got my share of the brown town specials. As I was leaving I passed by one guy walking up with a board. He had the entire place to himself on the verge of a nice tide push. Dude had to be stoked.
1-10-18 AM Session: 4-6+ ft, Naples
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 37
Miles Driven: 34
To say that the water quality out there was questionable would be an understatement. Rumor had it that the county of Santa Barbara in and around the SB metro area was imposing a $300 fine for anyone found surfing, swimming etc for the next 48 hrs. Upon checking the Sand Bar cam when I woke up I saw a handful of guys on it. That wave is dirty even with out rain. I figured if I tried and surf north of town I would have the best chance of the least dirty water. The fire ash line stopped just at the the Goleta border and the current flows north to south pushing the bulk of the trash water away. Of course in Gaviota one still has to deal with all the cow and ranch run off. I suppose it was a double edged sword either way. The swell was a really nice west angle and solid. It seemed a crime to let that go to waste on some dirty water. Gabe and his friend Joel decided to meet up with Bizarro and I for an all Clraks Surfboard shoot. We were a little concerned with the hard NW wind walking up, but when we got there it was more side shore/off shore and seals was well over head , albeit a bit disorganized. None the less there were plenty of sick ones coming through and we were on it. For the next two and half hours the three of us took turns tearing what ever came through to pieces. By far it was the biggest Naples I have surfed this year and the first time I have legitimately surfed Seals. I don’t know if we scored, but it sure was a blase and as of press time I have yet to get sick.
1-9-18 No Surfing: 3-4 + ft
Torrential down pours, mud slides, the 101 being closed from Montecito to Rincon and some of very terrible water quality kept me at home today. In Santa Barbara the wind was shit all day as well. The swell never really materialized. At press time there are 13 dead from the flash floods and slides with many more missing. Santa Barbara is having a very tough time at the moment.
1-8-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 38
Miles Driven: 76
Rain, rain go away please come back some other day. Seriously, and tomorrow is suppose to rain as well. Normally on a rain day I take my sweet time getting down to surf. It had yet to rain hard and as soon as it does the ocean is going to be toxic from all the left over debris from the fire. In reality it may be my last day to surf for a few days down south. The wind was off shore and there was enough swell in the water to lead me to believe that I could find something on the beaches. I took my fish along so that C-Street could be my fall back. Considering the lack of size on the way down I went straight for Ventura Harbor. New Jetty was pretty empty for a change, though a bit small and weak. River Mouth had tons of barreling peaks up and down the beach. Some of the sets were a bit walled, which led me to have a look at Shores. It was small and mushy there and with the tide on the rise I pulled the trigger and paddled the mouth. Gabe met me. Though only about chest plus there were some throaty tubes, especially when the back wash got it. Most days when it’s off shore in the winter River Mouth is just big, closed out and gnarly. It was nice to enjoy a playful day out there. I had some really fun deep little left and right tubes. Gabe got his fill too. As fun as River Mouth was one can never underestimate her. She is still one of the heaviest beach breaks in the 805. Towards the end of my session I pulled into a chest high left tube and as I was pumped through the back wash hit me and smashed my knee into my chin. I bit my tongue and then subsequently punched myself in the face. I made the barrel but at press time my tongue is swollen, my jaw hurts, my check bone bruised and I found sand in every orifice of my face and wet suit. We enjoyed a victory lunch at where else but Denny’s for tea, hot chocolate, chicken fingers, french fries and pancakes. I would say it was a pretty awesome day, especially since I didn’t bite my tongue off and swallow it.
1-7-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 32
Miles Driven: 78
What is this like five Strand days in a row. I should just move there. Actually I did proclaim earlier in the season that judging by the way the majority of the storms were tracking that it would be beach break winter. I really do enjoy surfing Strand. Its one of the few places I never regret driving to. Gabe, Ryan and I showed up expecting it to be still pretty solid. Whatever bombs were coming in last night had all left town. There were still plenty of chest high plus peaks coming in from the Ship to the Bowl. The bowl was a bit walled and thus we focused our time by the ship. The crowd was pretty light and after about half an hour as the tide rose the crowd dissipated till all that was left was the three of us. We happily traded empty peaks at a spot where that opportunity rarely happens. The rest of the day I ran errands with my lady before settling in for a relaxing evening on the couch.
1-6-18 PM Session: 4-6+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 78
I swear this weather is going to be the death of me. I left the East Coast to get away from days on end of gloom. At the very least there are waves to surf and its not below freezing. I didn’t really know where to go surf. I was super lazy and slept in cause the fog was so thick on the cam I could barely see the parking lot let alone the waves. I woke up mid-day and made some nice Ham, mushroom and cheese omelets with russet and sweet potato home fries for my girl and I. In the middle of that I fielded a call from Pat, who , though looking at clean Hollywood did not give the most enthusiastic of reports. With that in mind I took my time and didn’t leave my house till just before two. All my intelligence said to stay away from the beaches making Rincon my first stop. Though just the bottom lot was full the line up still had about 80 guys spread out along the point. The tide was pretty fat, swell a bit on the small side and inconsistent. I couldn’t get motivated for that. From there I checked everything south till Strand to no avail. Gabe was looking to take a break from shaping for a little bit and met me at the South End. There was a bit of WNW wind on it with a few guys out. At first glance it looked pretty poor. I was going to surf something and knew it was the end of the line. With that in mind we watched for a bit and saw some solid bombs and even though it had some chop on it the ride-ability looked decent enough. Pat decided to join us and we paddled. As it turned out the sets were way bigger then we had thought some pushing eight foot plus. When a set came it was easily ten waves strong. I got washed into the beach three times while paddling back out from taking inbetweeners before I wised up. Actually it reminded me of a fun fall day at Jenks from back home in New Jersey. We all got a few good ones, I even found a solid double up barrel on the inside. We all took plenty of beatings as well. Following the surf the three of us headed back to the shaping bay to look of over some of Gabe’s new shapes and discuss making a stick for Pat.
1-5-18 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 78
Yet another day of car surfing for a big let down prevailed. There is nothing more I hate then when I decided to wake up early, drive around for hours, wait around only to surf a garbage desperation session in the afternoon. Fuck, I could have just slept in and had the same results. One can’t score with out diligence and the day you sleep in is the day you should have been there. Surfing is such a fucking paradox. Most days of the week I highly question my devotion. My plan was to head to Rincon for an uncrowded high tide session. Unfortunately 100 other guys had the same plan and it was not nearly good enough or consistent enough for me to paddle and hate my life the entire time. After that I scrambled to check everything else north of C-Street since that looked average and crowded on the cam and I heard from second person sources that both Hollywood and Strand were not all that good. Nothing panned out and I ended up at both Hollywood and Strand respectively. Strand was high, but there were a few fun looking corners in the bowl with only a handful of guys out. That was what I should have paddled. Instead I decided to go back to Hollywood, which looked ok when I checked it. In this time the wind had come up a bit and so did the tide. Now it looked like complete crap. I thought I might as well get my surfboard errands done in hopes that the wind would stay relatively down as it has the past few days and things would improve on the out going tide. An angry cloud of fog moved in and with it came a shitty WNW wind. Still being stubborn I hung around South Strand hoping it would be fun. Around 1:30 the tide was right, the swell was there, but the wind was still shit and conditions pretty torn up. A sane man would have called it a day and moved on with his life. Not me, I always have to be Captain Ahab and sink my ship to not bag a whale. I paddled for a miserable hour. Actually I did manage a few alright overhead lefts that ran down the beach. It was too little to late and I left disgruntled and unsatisfied. I suppose that what gets me out of bed the next day looking for a gratified satiation. Don’t let the photo fool you I took it in the morning before the wind came up and then the fog was too thick to get a picture before or after I paddled out.
1-4-18 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 48
Miles Driven: 78
First off if you were surfing on the North End then you already know that it was easily double over head plus there. I had look over that way. Expecting to surf one of the points I had not packed my step up. Sure I could have charged it on my 5’10, but that was way more work and excitement then I was looking for this evening. Instead I paddled the bowl side of the south end where there were some fun waist to chest high plus, glass sets with only five guys out. It was the best I had come across and over it I surfed. At first it was very drained, walled and small. As the tide continued to drop the next bars out began to break allowing for longer rides. Also the period dropped a tad allowing a few more sets to make it down my way. At the end of the day I still surfed tons of fun waves that were clean with just about no one out. I think it is ever hard to shake a stick at that. I though I was just going to do 20 set and just about surfed till dark.
1-3-18 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Hollywood by the Sea
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 78
Talk about a day of bad calls. That being said with a crazy 12 foot king tide swing and a very temperamental small WNW I am not sure in anyone really scored today. I was in between heading north to Jalama or south. Laziness got the best of me and I just sort of farted around my apartment the majority of the day. My intentions were to head to Rincon with my fish and make the most of what was on offer. Apparently I wasn’t the only one with that idea in mind considering that there was a solid twenty plus pack of guys in the Cove for very meager offerings and another fifteen up top. I was not about to battle for barely waist high waves. I continued south on a trail of let down as I checked everything down to Silver Strand. I actually think if I had gotten down to the beaches around and hour and half earlier I may have gotten some fun ones. By the time I was looking at it everything was pretty drained. Hollywood had the most potential for both crowd and tide though far from anything great. There was a SSE wind on it. I paddled over by Little Sunset, which takes that wind best. I had a few lefts and rights. It was rather weak and I just was not really in the mood for that shit quality of surf. I suppose it beat not surfing. I got exercise right?
1-2-18 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
Another day of really tiny surf was on tap. The reports were showing a possible chance of seeing some new NW swell late in the day. Though a small amount did show it was not nearly enough to get me into the ocean. There was plenty of clean up to do in the apartment after the NYE bash we threw. Looks like lots of waves over the next few days.
1-1-18 No Surfing: FLAT
The report literally read Flat this morning. Not that it really matter cause after partying the majority of the night away as per usual on such an occasion I was in no condition to try to surf anyhow. I must say that NYE 2017 was not a disappointment. My camp and I had an excellent time. I couldn’t have thought of a better to end 2017 and welcome 2018.