Surfing Ruined My Life

July 2021 Surf Sessions

7-31-21 AM Session: 0-1 ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 30 mins
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 72
It has been so long since I have surfed waves as small as I did this morning that I can’t remember. When I started this 365 day surf run I knew a day would come that would truly challenge me. So far that hardest day was a knee high windy day on high tide at Rincon back in February I think. Today was definitely the smallest. Still I managed to not ride a soft top and nailed a few turns and airs thanks to the amazing grovel capabilities of my Clarks Surfboards Pop Fizz fish. Considering it was cold and windy and my wife was hanging in the beach I opted to end under an hour this morning. Man, it was on the Great Lakes scale out there for sure. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office.

7-30-21 AM Session: 1-2 ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 24
Miles Driven: 72
I can’t believe it’s the end of the month already. July seemed to fly by. I did a lot of traveling, which is probably why. Just like that rent is due. If I wasn’t surfing everyday this year today would have for sure been one where I wouldn’t have even bothered to look around. I’m on the surf grind and hit the road. Harbor looked like bad Florida and that’s saying a lot. I had a look at Shores just to rule it out. It looked like the Great Lakes. At that point I was out of time and options and just grabbed my Clarks Surfboards Pop Fizz fish and paddled out. It was by far some of the worst conditions I have had to endure in a very long time. I got my hour and twenty four waves in. Somehow I managed to land a few airs. Water was still cold but I was smart and wore my 4/3 today. Rest of my day was spent at the Post Office.

7-29-21 AM Session: 1-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 24
Miles Driven: 82
It has definitely gotten to the point of the summer where the waves have begun to completely taper off. I guess I am finally working for my 365 day surf challenge. I got to the Harbor and it was borderline not surf-able. New Jetty looked too weak to even push the small groms on it. Jeffery hit me up that he was going to paddle Hueneme and that it was small but wedgy towards the Jetty. Misery loves company so I joined him. It was pretty weak off the rocks so I paddled about two hundred yards south and found some palatable albeit tiny shore break to entertain myself. The water was freezing making my choice to wear a 3/2 less then pleasurable. I bashed a couple of peaks for an hour and called it a day. The rest of my day was spent running errands and getting my house chores out of the way.

7-28-21 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Leo Carrillo
Time in Water: 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 10
Miles Driven: 118
My wife wanted to test drive Angers’ Jeep before making her final decision to buy. Since they are moving to Florida on Sunday we weren’t left with all that much time. The plan was for her to leave work early and then shoot down to Oxnard for the test drive then head out to the Thousand Oaks Mall for her to potentially find a dress for a wedding in August, finally end the evening with a surf at Leo considering the wind was wailing from first light. Everything went according to plan except that it only left me with less then an hour to surf. Leo was chest high and pretty wind blown. The tide was a bit lower then one would have liked. The only positive side was the crowd was very light. I jumped in and forced as many waves as light would allow. Some kook on a soft top kept paddling around me for all the sets, but then would paddle himself shallow when a wave came. I just waited for him to do that and then snaked the wave out from under him. Don’t hate me, dude was a kook barely able to get down the line.

7-27-21 AM Session: 1-3 ft, Solimar
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 72
Is anyone else fed up with the summer time grovel yet? I sure am. The wind decided to be on it from first light this morning and it appeared the swell was down a tad too. This made for a terrible surfing combination at the VTA beaches. Still I drove to Shores hoping it would be some what do-able. It was terrible. I debated going to the Point, but laziness and lack of time set in causing me to check Emma. The tide was still to low and waves too small to make it worthy. I found myself at Solimar staring at gutless rights and lefts coming in off the the inside reef rather uninspiring. With my Pop Fizz fish by Clarks Surfboards in hand I made the most of the meager weak little waves. I must have made it look fun cause I started out by myself and quit with seven guys out. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office.

7-26-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 18
Miles Driven: 72
Right back to our regularly scheduled grovel. I got word there was some alright south lines in the water and that River Mouth and Fruit Stands were both stretched. I headed to south end of the Shores where I have been having the most luck as of late. Angers was already suiting up as I pulled up. Of course I was going to jump in with my boy, even if he didn’t bother to call me. It was clean and bowly with the occasional stretched one, though not so stretched that you couldn’t hit it or boost. The wind crept up fast and coupled with the rising tide it didn’t take long for things to get very soft and crumbly out there. The sections were still very boost-able. Towards the end of my surf I threw up backside rotation and slipped on the landing and slid forward causing me to land ass first on the nose of my board. A butt hole raping ensued. Not to mention I landed hard on my left ass cheek first. Sitting down was rather uncomfortable the rest of the day and it made my first day back at work less then desirable.

7-25-21 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, Pico Creek, San Simeon
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 96 (from Monterey)
Today we had to head back Santa Barbara and return to the drudgery of our real lives. Not wanting to endure another surf at Asilomar I decided to hedge my bets and take my chances on finding some fun surf on the way back home. There was some fresh south swell in the water that definitely showed promise. Everything in Big Sur was either crowded or not fun. With the winds still light I bolted to Pico hoping for some south swell magic. Though not epic by any stretch there were plenty of peaks up and down the beach with a light crowd. I found my own little left off this out cropping of rocks and got to work. The first half of the session was fire as the tide approached dead low it began to get slow out there. Then a solid set came through I nabbed the third one, a clean head high left and threw down a full rotation alley oop, finishing the wave off with an end section hit. I had to quit on that. At my age you don’t get that many opportunities to stick a move like that. After the surf we grabbed dinner at Schonners in Cayucos. On the way back to the car we were walking past the skate park and there just happened to be a board hanging out on the ramp unattended. With a little provoking from my wife I jumped on the sketchy set-up (it was missing two bolts on the one truck and three on the other) and got a quick run in. Then some kid walked up and was like hey that’s my board. Glad he did show cause it was only a matter of time before I hurt myself. Finally we arrived home just before dark to witness the damage the e did to my yard while I was away. Apparently my idiot neighbors up stairs believed the ivy over growth, which gave me privacy on my patio was causing rats? I have lived there 12 years with no rat trouble. They had the gardeners chop all the plant life so far back they completely destroyed the ambience not to mention broke a number of potted plants. Of course I went up stairs and absolutely had a stage five Lisanti freak out on them. Luckily the cops didn’t come or I’d have spent the night in jail. At the very least they won’t try and fuck with me again!

7-24-21 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Asilomar
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 2
The wind swell had completely dropped out leaving very little on offer. A new south swell was forecasted to fill in through out the day. I decided to enjoy a relaxing morning with my wife. We make it a point to do something new every time we are in a place we frequently visit. This time we decided to pay the $10.75 and check out 17 mile drive. I had been in there working catering numerous time, but never got to experience it recreationally. I am sorry that I poo poo’d it for so many years. It really is a lovely experience with plenty to see and do. The Deli in the little village by the visitors center makes phenomenal sandwiches and considering where it’s located the prices were very fair. Not to mention the amount of surf recon I got to do as well. After the drive, which we spent four hours on we headed back to Asilomar where the south swell was showing. The wind was south making semi clean side shore conditions with four guys out. I must of have gotten it right a tide change cause it was super consistent and very rip-able. I got on a froth and nearly pulled a frontside full rotation air reverse only falling cause the weak section didn’t have enough power for me to pull myself back up. Following the surf considering we still had the original threads we brought to wear at the wedding we decided to get dressed up and enjoy a Saturday night at Cannery Row.

7-23-21 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Asilomar
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 11
Miles Driven: 2
Today was the big wedding for my wife’s cousin. We needed to be in Hollister at 2pm, but we also wanted to hit the Monterey mall to see if we could score better outfits for the event. It was an early start. I always forget how colder the peninsula is then Santa Barbara. At 7:30 I was very unmotivated to surf more weak junky wind swell. The wind was light south making it somewhat clean though still very disorganized from the wind swell. I jumped in and forced an hour. The good ones were very inconsistent, I was freezing when I finally connected one all the way to the inside I was over it and bailed. Since it was still early my wife and I cruised the mall and somehow scored amazing outfits for 75% off at Macy’s. I lucked into a killer linen pink summer suit that was a show stopper at the wedding. As far as the wedding went, it was a beautiful event and a fun time had by all.

7-22-21 PM Session: 2-4+ ft, Asilomar, Monterey
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 15
Miles Driven: 96
My wife and I spent Wednesday night in San Simeon with hopes of scoring either Pico or something in Big Sur on the way up to Monterey. Worst case scenario I knew I could always rely on Asilomar to serve up a shitty wave to ride. We had a look at Pico, though surf-able it was mainly weak waist to maybe chest wind swell. All my Big Sur waves were surprisingly underwhelming as well. Nothing was screaming for me to paddle that was for sure. Rather then beat a dead horse looking for bad waves I decided to take my wife up to Moss Landing so we could rent a kayak in the Elkhorn Slough where she could shoot some very unique wildlife photos while I paddled us around. We did a two hour tour around the slough and got to see lots of otters, seals and plenty of shore birds up close and personal. After that we had a quick look at Moss Landing since we were there. It was small and messy. From there we checked into our very interesting lodging, The Monarch Hotel in Pacific Grove. Let me tell you this place was one of a kind. They had their own little indoor jungle growing in the hallway between the rooms and. Strange dolphin sculpture that was once part of a fountain in the middle of the entire place chained to the wall. The statue must have weighed at least 500 lbs and would have been very difficult to steal, not to mention the tiny chain they used wouldn’t have stopped a bike thief. Like I said odd stuff. Our room was adequate enough with a King bed and fire place. Finally once settled in we heard to Asilomar for a quick surf. It was chest plus victory at sea Florida style wind swell. No one was out. There was the carcass of a fifty foot blue whale rotting on the beach that was none to pleasant to look at or smell. As per usual I made the most out of the trash on offer. Then it was dinner and relaxing.

7-21-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 2 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 41
Miles Driven: 72
I wasn’t expecting much more then another grovel to just get my session in. Upon getting up on the dunes at the Shores I was pleasantly surprised when saw peaky chest high bowls coming in. It was a bit mushy so I decided to take out my Clarks Surfboards Pop Fizz fish. Angers showed up and it was a Fizz fest. As the tide dropped the waves began to get way more consistent and the sets larger. It became a full on shred. I was bummed I didn’t have my shortboard though it was fun pushing my fish to the absolute limits. The session was so much fun we ended up surfing for over two hours. Talk about a froth. The rest of my day was spent packing up for my Monterey trip to attend a family wedding with my wife and of course do some adventuring as well.

7-20-21 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 27
Miles Driven: 72
I had to dig deep to find any motivation to surf today. The cams and buoys were very meager. I was also feeling very lethargic. My knees were also a bit tender from all the groveling the past few days. Harbor was trash with wind and terrible shape at Rivermouth. New Jetty was marginally better with it’s usually annoying crowd. With few options and time running out I gave paddling there serious consideration. Taking into account the luck I had at Shores over the weekend I decided to at the very least give it a check. Though a little soft it was way more peaky then Mouth. There were handful of guys out. Not wanting to bother anyone I walked to my own peak and had a surprisingly good time. It was way more rip-able then it looked. If my knee wasn’t hurting I probably would have surfed another half hour. On the way home I got murdered in traffic on the 101. Lately with all the construction going on I am losing over an three hours a day just driving to surf. It may be time to seriously start looking for residence in Ventura.

7-19-21 AM Session: 2-3 ft,Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1.5 hr
Waves Surfed: 27
Miles Driven: 64
I the swell had really come down on the buoys. If it were not for this 365 days surf escapade I’m currently on I think I would have not even bothered. Alas I found myself standing on the dunes at Ventura Harbor pleasantly surprised by clean little peaks up and down the beach. It was small, maybe just pushing chest high. The waves looked fun enough to me. I hit up Angers and paddled. For the first half hour it was very kill-able. I even poked my head into a few tiny little barrels. The wind slowly crept up out of the SW. By the time Angers showed up it was trashed. The bottoming out tide didn’t help either. Being a good friend I suffered through an hour of absolute crap. I had never been more happy to have to get out to go to work. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office.

7-18-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 1.5 hr
Waves Surfed:30
Miles Driven: 72
I was pleasantly surprised with what was before me while on the dunes at south Shores. The buoys and cams looked pathetic, yet there were some clean chest plus south peaks coming through and the lines were much cleaner then yesterday now that the NW wind-swell had dropped out. Pat showed up and we paddled. Though on the small side it was very rip-able and we had it to ourselves for nearly an hour. Then Angers showed up and jinxed us bringing both stiff NW and a crowd. Still it was fun to surf with all the Clarks Surfboards boys. With Angers moving to Florida at the end of the month there won’t be too many more of these days. After the surf my wife did lunch at Hugo’s in Carpinteria which is quickly climbing the charts as one of my favorite luncheonettes. They are definitely my favorite in Carp. The rest of my day was spent twirling my hands in the air at the Post Office. Definitely looking forward to heading up north again this week. This time it’s all pleasure and no business.

7-17-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed:31
Miles Driven: 72
Today was my first day back on the Post Office grind since my quick trip up north. Actually I will be heading back up the coast this coming Wednesday 7/21 and will be up around Big Sur/Monterey area through 7/25. If anyone up there wants to surf feel free to reach out. There was still a bit of south swell combo with some minor NW wind swell running. The tide was rather low so I headed to the Harbor. Rivermouth was looking very drained, walled and ugly with some light WSW onshore wind. Not too stoked I decided to have a look at the Shores where it does like steep south swells and low tide better. Fifth was a little better but hit or miss on the bars. I cruised to Almalfi. It was far from what I would call worthy. I was out of time and there were some chest plus windy bowls up and down the beach with a decent yet spread out crowd. The waves were definitely kill-able. I jumped in and got on a gnarly froth and before I knew it I had slammed thirty one waves in an hour. They were all short boost-able rides and it was very consistent with all the different swell mix. After the surf my wife and I grabbed some breakfast at the Golden Egg in Oxnard off Victoria before heading home and then off to work.

7-16-21 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Zeros
Time in Water: 2 hr 15 min
Waves Surfed:28
Miles Driven: 120
I woke up and was exhausted from the busy two day excursion up north and decided to sleep in till around ten. I wasn’t expecting too much out of the waves anyway and figured a quick afternoon grovel at Emma would suffice. It was clean but tiny at all the waves along Sea Cliffs prompting a check at the Harbor. There was plenty more swell to be had. There was also plenty more wind out of the WSW enough to trash River Mouth. New Jetty was alright, though packed with thirty guys and three cameras at the beach. I guess that spot officially is the Ventura Lowers except not even a quarter as good. I called Angers to see if he felt like cruising to LA. The last thing I wanted to do was drive another 120 miles round trip to surf after cover over 600 miles the past two days. I also didn’t want to waste a decent south swell so away we went. There was a bit of ugly wind at county, Deer Creek almost caught our attention and Leo was stupid packed. Then there was Zeros, with the higher tide the crowd was minimal, only about twenty strong and there were plenty of waves to be head. It also seemed that the sets were larger then Leo some well over head, though those were mostly close outs. We paddled. The wave was definitely a bit more tricky to surf then usual due to all the backwash and resistance from the incoming tide. That being said there were some kill-able ones and we went to town. Minus a few waves that got ruined thanks to the crowd I’d say we did the surf justice. This was my first session back at Zeros since my car got robbed back in September last fall. The robbery left such a bad taste in my mouth I had avoided surfing along the PCH in LA for almost a year. It’s shame how degenerate people can really ruin your good time. I heard they caught two women from Oxnard shortly after who were constantly robbing cars all of that stretch of highway. You can check out the September 2020 surf log, 9-10-20 entry to read about that ordeal.

7-15-21 PM Session: 2-4+ ft, Willow Creek , Big Sur
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed:19
Miles Driven: 108 (from Santa Cruz)
It was a long day of serious Clarks Surfboards meetings. A lot was handled and all I can say at present is get ready for an even stronger Surfboards and Clothing brand for Clarks as of 2022!! We didn’t get on the road till 3:30 and got murdered by rush hour traffic all the way to Monterey. We probably should have surfed something in the East Side and then got on the road after rush hour. The surf looked pretty lackluster and crowded over there. Besides we had our hearts set on more Big Sur juice, especially with a fresh dose of NW wind swell in the water. We kept cruising racing the falling sun. At 6:30pm we found ourselves at Willow Creek staring at chest to head high wind chop. There was some organization on the south side of the cove. Out of time we had to paddle. Angers and I jumped in as Biz filmed on the rocks. No one surfs junky wind slop as well as we do thus we definitely put down a few good clips. Then it was back on the road for the long trip home to Santa Barbara. It was a successful trip even if we didn’t get to do as much surfing as I would have hoped.

7-14-21 PM Session: 6-8+ ft, Fullers, Monterey
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed:6
Miles Driven: 201
I had some Clarks Surfboards business up in Santa Cruz. Rather then just make it all business I decided to take Bizarro and Angers along with me so we could at the very least get an edit out of the excursion. If haven’t seen any of our fun team edits go to Clarks Surfboards YouTube channel right now. There is some really fun stuff on there and it’s sort of live version of this surf log. We left SB at around ten and headed north up the 1 looking to shred anything and everything. The first decent wave we came to was Pico Creek in San Simeon. It was about chest plus, peaky and rip-able with a few guys on it. It was a bit small and after watching it for a while none of us was will to pull the stoke trigger. I think with so many more options to come no wanted to cash out so early in the drive. In hindsight we should have jumped in for a quick smash and grab. From there we had a look at Willow Creek in Big Sur which we thought after checking Pico would have been on. It was small and far from stoke filled. We had a look at a few other spots around there to no avail. At this point we were kicking ourselves for not surfing Pico. I told the boys about Fullers, this gnarly left reef/point that for the last ten years or so I have been denied each time I have attempted to surf it. The first few times I couldn’t even find it and I’m not telling you how either. Then when I did I started walking down the trail. I didn’t get even a quarter of the way down before being chased back up the path by three local heavies. About three years ago I had a look at it on the way back from a job in Carmel. It was triple to quadruple over head and scary. I didn’t want anything to do with that. Then in the last three years every time I checked it the waves were too crossed up or it was too small or closed out. Today it looked very surf-able with only one body boarder out. It was still pretty big. Definitely a couple of feet over head on set from our vantage point, very far away. We made the hike down. It’s a very gnarly poison oak riddled goat trail that winds down the cliff. The last two hundred yards are a steep 15% grade over loose dirt and stone. Finally you have to repel down a sheer cliff with a sketchy rope for the last ten feet. Once down on the cobble stone beach it was a lot bigger then it looked. Sets were double overhead plus and heavy. All the water was just sweeping down the point. The inside was lined with crazy sharp boulders. There was only one narrow entry point in and out. We jumped in. Luckily there was one dude out to give us an idea of where to sit. Still it was all over the place out there. Sets hit anywhere over a 100 yard area and there were plenty of ten wave macking clean up sets that were impossible to get under and sent us all the way down the point. I was way under gunned on my 5’10. Angers was too, but being a heavier then me he had better odds. I was lucky just to make it to the bottom of the wave and out run the white water on my first few. Angers managed a double over head runner he destroyed down the reef. Motivated by watching his wave I decided to charge the next set. I caught a deep double overhead bomb and couldn’t hold my rail on the massive drop. I swung into a huge bottom turn. I thought I had cleared the section and began coming up the face when I looked up and saw a thick monstrous lip cascading down on my head. It hit me like a ton of bricks and sent me all the way to the full length of my leash with my board tombstoning. I was down for over thirty seconds and when I came up I was just a few feet from the deadly inside rocks. I paddled back out and told Angers I was getting one more. I was ill equipped for such a heavy wave and didn’t want to get hurt or break my board. My last wave was a mid size wave maybe about ten foot on the face. I got into it and managed three fun turns to the inside. While paddling to the key hole out, which was not easy since all the water is sweeping down the point into the sharp angry rocks, I noticed the dude that was out with us on the rocks having words with Bizarro. He made Biz put away his camera. I guess it’s fine since we were assholes filming a spot like that anyway. I came in and listened to Biz rant about having to put away his rig. Angers caught a few more and called it. Good thing we didn’t try and challenge that local cause as we were leaving we pasted his entire crew on coming down the trail. It was definitely a bucket list surf for me and another California wave off my list. I don’t expect to try and surf there anytime again soon. Unless you are a skilled water man and big wave rider I don’t recommend you go looking for it either. From there we headed up to Santa Cruz and spent the night at Gabe’s new place on the Westside. What an adventure.

7-13-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, C-Street
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed:17
Miles Driven: 64
When I woke up the forecast looked very similar to yesterday. Hoping for a rebate session I met Angers at the Harbor. Of course the wind was already on it pretty good out of the WNW tearing up the River Mouth. New Jetty was a little better, but it had twenty plus guys on it and was very inconsistent. In absolute desperation we ran to Ventura Point and paddled. It was crowded, though rather manageable for that spot. Everyone must have been at New Jetty. The only downside was sets were inconsistent and all I had was an hour. I scrapped whatever I could. For what was on offer I definitely didn’t surf bad at all. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office. All I have to say is if you are shipping detergent or any breakable liquid pack it well. If you just throw it in a box I can guarantee it’s going to get broken and ruin other people’s packages as well. I cleaned up three broken detergent packages from the same ill equipped shipper tonight. Use your brains when you ship people cause the people handling your packages don’t use theirs and also don’t really care.

7-12-21 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 2 hr
Waves Surfed:22
Miles Driven: 64
Another morning where the wind was on it at first light. Quite the banner year we are having for wind. At least there has been consistent surf. The wind was out of the SW making it at least surf-able and usually when this is the case it will glass off for a short period of time before switching WNW and absolutely trashing it. There was a handful of groms being trained at the Knoll. No one was out a Mouth so I paddled. Angers showed up a little after and we did our thing. There were five swells in the water, a dying SW, a background SW, a new long period SW, a NW wind swell and a WNW wind swell. It was peaky as all hell and very shifty. The best sets were the new long period south every twenty minutes and they were very shifty and you could easily get stuck out of position for the whole set. It happened to me twice. I had a couple really sick ones and Angers and I scored a thirty minute window as the tide changed where it got crazy glassy, consistent and it was just us out there. We frothed thinking it was about to pump. Then a bunch of dudes showed up and it turned completely off. Finally the wind came up out of the WNW putting the final nail in the coffin. At least I got a few keepers and two ok tubes. Angers got the barrel of the surf. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office.

7-11-21 AM Session: 1-3+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed:23
Miles Driven: 64
I had to meet a customer down at the Clarks workshop at 8:30. Stoked to actually get to the beach before nine I cruised to Harbor after. Of course when I decide to wake up early to surf so does the wind. It was blowing pretty good out of the WNW tearing up Rivermouth. New Jetty was surf-able though it was weak looking. I headed to Emma hoping to take advantage of the incoming push. It was small with potential and only two guys were out. I wasn’t the only one looking to tap into the tide push cause before I even got one leg of my suit on there were fifteen guys on it. With out any really better options I grabbed my Clarks Surfboards Pop Fizz Model and motor my way through the weak bowls on offer. Actually I was managing a few good rights till some kook on a soft top who must have gotten lost on his way to Mondos ruined the best air section I saw the entire session. I yelled at him and sent him down the beach. It was the third time in less then twenty minutes he had gotten in my way. As the tide filled in the inside left got better. Still it was a cluster fuck of surfers packed into a very tight shifty take off zone making it difficult to catch a good wave and even harder to ride it. As usual I made the most of it before retiring home to a waffle breakfast. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office.

7-10-21 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1.5 hr
Waves Surfed:25
Miles Driven: 64
Same shit swell, different day. There was a slight drop in the swell though plenty of waves to be had. The wind was on it out of south. It stayed clean enough to surf and even cleaned up a bit during the session. I was having an off day out there just blowing everything. I put a few rides together but it was far from my A-game. I was throwing heat the entire Mexico trip so I knew a slump was coming. After the surf I headed home to check on my wife who was feeling much better though still under the weather. Hopefully I get spared and don’t pick up whatever it was she got. The rest of my day was spent at the Post Office.

7-9-21 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1.5 hr
Waves Surfed:18
Miles Driven: 64
The north west wind swell had dropped out leaving just this fresh SW swell. It was a bit more stretched then yesterday considering the westerly direction of the south swell. Besides that it was almost a carbon copy of yesterday. I was feeling a bit more like myself and surfed better then yesterday. Somehow I lucked into an odd ball little left tube, a rarity at River Mouth theses days. My first day back at worked sucked, not because it was trying, just because I hate my job and it sucked to have to be back at it. Too bad I didn’t go to Ireland instead of Mexico and captured a leprechaun to take his pot of gold. Maybe next time. While at work I got an urgent call from my wife that she was taken rather ill and had to leave her job early. She survived, though was in rather rough shape when I got home. That just about covers all the excitement from today!!!

7-8-21 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1.5 hr
Waves Surfed:23
Miles Driven: 64
Back to reality it was with on shore junky River Mouth peaks to be had. That being said there were plenty of waves to be had with the combo, light SW winds keeping it rather clean and a mellow crowd one could say my home coming surf was alright for July. I was exhausted from Blacks and the trip in general, which my surfing reflected. I fought the god fight and did my best all things considered. After the surf I had all sorts of errands to run before starting my work week tomorrow. Then I got home and my up stairs neighbor decided to bother me about rats he had been witnessing along the fence behind our building. He made a annoying request for me to cut back some of the ivy that grows along it. I humored the idiot though I personally have yet to see one rat back there. I fucking hate neighbors. So glad to be back in the good old USA.

7-7-21 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Blacks Beach San Diego
Time in Water: 2 hr
Waves Surfed:30
Miles Driven: 64 (from Las Gaviotas)
Angers and I were privy on getting an early session at K38 1/2 before packing up and heading back to the States. Upon checking the cam there were easily twenty guys on it and more paddling over. It was the first clean morning in days. We had a look at the reef out front. It was inconsistent and had about a dozen heads on it as well. At that we called it and decided to head home. My plan was to just surf an evening session at Blacks. This has become a tradition on the way home from all my Baja trips the past few years. Some how we managed to cross the border with just under an hour wait, which is unheard of these days. From there we met up with my wife’s sister for lunch and then chilled in her yard before heading to Blacks. There was NW wind swell and SW combo in the water. I figured it would be a score. My wife has yet to witness the real magic of Blacks Beach. Every time I take the waves are horrid. Today there was plenty of swell out there with overhead sets. What there wasn’t was very much shape. The majority of the big ones were close outs and the wind swell was rather weak and disorganized. There was a horrible drift south that forced me to have to paddle the entire session just to hold position. I did manage a few but once again it was hardly worth the walk down and back. After the surf we got a quick bite to eat and then headed back to Santa Barbara. Thus ended another fun little trip.

7-6-21 PM Session: 2-4+ ft, San Miguel
Time in Water: 2 hr 15 min
Waves Surfed:25
Miles Driven: 62
The coastal gale was still blowing hard leaving us with few protected options.  The call was after a mellow morning to head south to San Miguel and just surf the inside of the point again.  Unfortunately there was also the least amount of swell in the water since our first day here.  It was far from inspiring when we got there.  As the tide began to turn around waves began to wrap in though they were very inconsistent.  That being said we got about an hour window where we found some runners.  After the surf we cruised to Puerto Nuevo to gouge ourselves with lobster and celebrate Angers’s wife’s birthday.  We didn’t really score down here this trip but I’d say we did our best to utilize what the ocean served up. Back to reality tomorrow. 

7-5-21 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, Las Gaviotas
Time in Water: 1.5 hr
Waves Surfed:27
Miles Driven: 0
Today was the most windy day that we had yet to experience.  There appeared to be some kind of coastal gale blowing down the entire coastline.  With little options we decided to chill for the day and hope the wind would mellow out for the evening rather than spend the day on another frustrating goose chase.  We spent some time at the pool and hot tub and relaxed.  There was still a good deal of wind when the evening came.  Angers and I were going to run over to K38 1/2 but after consulting the cam it was pretty crowded for what was on offer.  We resolved to just paddle out in front.  Between the wind, wonk, backwash & high tide it was by far the worst surf we have endured this trip.  Las Gaviotas is a terrible wave but it was absolutely crap. Everything that came in was either flat, racy or closed out and not a boost-able close out either.  I got rather pissed off over the whole thing.  Post surf I cooked up some spaghetti Florentine with prosciutto.  It was Angers’ wife’s birthday so we decided to get her a cake as a surprise.  

7-4-21 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, San Miguel
Time in Water: 2 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed:26
Miles Driven: 62
With  peaking SW swell in the water we decided to have a look at a few spots a little north of us that like some more solid swell.  We left our wives at home since access to these spots was sketchy at best. On the way we had to go through a military check point. Usually I just get waves through when I’m with my wife but this time with just Angers and I they sent us to secondary.  Our wives, his being Salvadoran and mine Mexican are out Spanish speaking guides.  With out then we were now up a creek with out a paddle as four guys with machine guns took us out of the car and began yelling at us in Spanish while searching the car.  This went on for like ten minutes till finally an English speaking guard came over, spoke with us then cleared us to move on.  From there we ended up in this dirty little fishing village full on a Sunday. Angers ran down to check the surf while I circled around in the car being heckled by street vendor after street vendor.  All that to not surf cause the waves were just a little too close to the rocks for the size.  From there we cruised to another spot.  This one was in front of a semi abandoned hotel making access easy but gnarly.  I was ready to get stabbed at every corner.  This spot had potential though with the dropping tide there were too many rock hazards on the face to be worth the effort.  Overall it was some good reconnaissance but no surf.  On that goose chase we had wasted all the good wind thus found ourselves back at San Miguel where it was windy and crowded since it was Sunday.  The locals were out enforce and the wave up top was the worst we had seen it yet.  At the very least the burrito stand down there was open.  Not inspired by the surf we decided to enjoy lunch.  After lunch Angers and I saw some local walk down to the bottom of the point and jump in.  Curious we had a look and what we saw changed the timber of our day.  There were chest plus runners coming out of deep water, feathering off this small pile of rocks at the bottom of the point then screaming down the inside reef for two hundred yards.  We were on it and a two hour super session ensued.  We were so stoked when we got out that the burrito stand was still open that we decided to make it dinner.  Sometimes you can score even on a day that you had already wrote off.  As of right now I’d say this was the session of the trip. 

7-3-21 PM Session: 5-7+ ft, Las Gaviotas
Time in Water: 45 mins
Waves Surfed:26
Miles Driven: 0
I was left completely ornery after the morning San Miguel surf.  Sometimes the only way to hit the reset button is to surf again.  When we got back to the house I noticed that the ocean had glassed off for a change.  So far it’s been windy from 9am on the entire trip.  It also appeared that the new south was finally peaking with a rather light crowd.  The wave out front is a pretty soft shifty right reef break of average quality at best.  It looked chest to head and a fun mellow surf for the last hour of light.  I grabbed my Clarks Surfboards Fly Guy 5’7 and headed out.  Upon paddling it was definitely a bit bigger and more powerful then it looked.  A set came to the out side and a scratched into it only to find it was more like solid eight foot then head high. I took a left at the top of the reef and smashed the huge oncoming section.  I was going nap fast on the recover that my fins got completely swept out from under me and I ate it.  As soon as the white water hit me I felt my leash disconnect from my ankle.  Out front was nothing but sheer cliffs and cobblestone. My stick was fucked.  I swam as fast as I could and luckily beat the next wave from taking my board into oblivion.   Angers was on his Pop Fizz and both us were way under gunned as 8 wave 10 foot sets closed out 80 yards in front of us.  There were some angry corners to be had.  Some of the in between sets actually ran the reef on the inside.  Either way we were getting dished out some heavy bearings.  Angers landed an air on his fins and cut his hands.  I tweaked my ankle trying to clear a section floater, all to the cheers and jeers of spectators in their beach front homes and on the beach.  At this point we were the only two out there doing battle with the ocean.  It was quite the experience.  Talk about great moments in being completely under gunned. 

7-3-21 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, San Miguel
Time in Water: 2 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed:26
Miles Driven: 62
The plan was to try and get Salsapuedes on the dropping tide. But of course when we got there the wind came up out of hard out of the WNW. On the upside we saw a cool fossil in the rocks and found two abalone shells so it wasn’t a total loss. From there it was back to San Miguel, always a safe bet. It was solid chest to head plus with only three guys out. There was a bit of wind on it but very manageable. Angers and I jumped in and right away we noticed that there was a new swell in the water. It was like a totally different lineup out there. The energy pushing down the point was so strong that it was tough to grab on to a good runner that was actually more then a just a drive down the line. That being said there were some cherry ones. Towards the end of the session these two expats who lived up the road from the break and paddled out. At this point Angers and I had the peak to myself. These dudes were constantly back paddling us and being just plain aggressive and annoying. We still got out share. It just didn’t make any sense for the behavior. It definitely left a bad taste in my mouth.

7-2-21 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, San Miguel
Time in Water: 2 hr
Waves Surfed:27
Miles Driven: 62
Even though lighter winds were predicted today by 9am it was blowing hard WNW. With low tide at 10:30 we decided to cruise to San Miguel down south and give the reef there a shot. It was solid, chest to head plus on set though a bit cut up with the wind and a little crowded for what was on offer. With lack of a better option we paddled. On my third wave I went over the falls trying to do a reverse on a right hand close out and ended up going over on fins slicing a hole in my suit and cutting my leg in three places. They were only flesh wounds luckily and I was able to continue to surf. After an hour every one bailed leaving Angers and I out the back. Despite the incoming tide making it a bit gnarly on the rocks it was pretty kill-able. We frothed for another hour. After the surf we grabbed some tortas and then kicked it the rest of the evening.

7-1-21 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, K38 1/2
Time in Water: 1 hr 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 27
Miles Driven: 20
Of course my first day in Mexico was plagued with hard on shore wind. Angers, his wife and baby and my wife and I all stayed rented a house at Las Gaviotas in north baja for a week. We cruised all over from San Miguel to Rosarito with no luck. Finally we resolved to just wait for the evening and just paddle K38 the last few hours of light. It was chest to head with a bit of chop on it but fairly uncrowned. We sleighed it as per usual till dark. Then it was home where I served up a scrumptious shrimp primavera.