Surfing Ruined My Life

July 2023 Surf Sessions

7-31-23 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Surfers Knoll
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 18
This morning was surprisingly fun and maybe the largest waves I have surfed in weeks. Bizarro and I were meeting a prospective grom team rider at Ventura Harbor so he could try some of our boards. The only thing I had close to his size were a few of Gabe’s old beaters that have been kicking around the shop. New Jetty was packed with every pro in the area out and few had also spread over to the Knoll as well. Not wanting to deal with all the hoopla at New Jetty we opted surf The Knoll which to its credit today looked really fun with peaky consistent chest to head high sets. The kid definitely held his own out there, dug our boards and we are excited to make him his first Clarks Surfboard in the coming weeks. He will be our first grom team rider ever. As for me I managed a few airs, hits and even snuck in and out of a quick little left tube despite the fact I was still adapting to surfing bare foot. The rest of my day was committed to ding repair.

7-30-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 18
Miles Driven: 10
My window was very limited this morning because I had to be in Santa Barbara by 11am for a catering thing. There was the possibility of grabbing a surf in the evening as well but with a seven foot high tide at 8pm I knew it was dangerous to wait. I got up early and headed to Silver Strand where there was a still some wind swell on the buoys. Though shore breaky I saw a few corners. I jumped in barefoot since the water has been so warm. That was a slippery mistake as I ended up blowing 60% of my waves. I don’t understand why I’m having such a hard time adjusting to surfing barefoot this year. I did manage one decent little shore break tube I was ok with. Besides that the session was laughable at best only because if you can’t laugh then you might as well cry and no one likes a crying kook. The rest of my day was spent working an appetizer and dessert party at some amazing home up in the hills above Carpinteria that showcased a 180 degree view of the ocean. The difference between the haves and have nots is real in Santa Barbara.

7-29-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 30
Miles Driven: 10
With yet another morning of some weak wind swell in the water I decided to head to Strand for a look. There was a chest plus wave coming through some what clean with fun looking lefts rolling down the beach with about fifteen guys on it. The crowd majority was mostly regulars and they appeared to be towards the end of their session judging by the amount of inside waves that were let go. I really wasn’t in the mood to go any place else anyway. My wife was with me and she hates to car surf. Right off the bat I got down to business finding lots of fun little sections to hit. Mostly the waves were one hit wonders though there were a few combos to be had, and even the rare tube. I couldn’t make it out of a cover up to save my life. Every time I pulled in the barrel it just filled up with water. Towards the end of my surf a crowd of groms and their Dads paddled out and for what ever reason they decided to throw all etiquette out the window turning the place into a non-stop paddle battle. It was at that point I wanted to get one out but instead caught a horrible case of last wave syndrome and as is usual in such a predicament I never really got the wave in I had hoped for. After the surf we went to brunch followed by a quick run to see if we could get a lighter driver for my wife to swing. We found a five wood she fancied. Since we got new clubs off to the golf course we went for a twighlight session. We are terrible golfers but both of us managed to shave a few strokes off our previous game. I’d say it was a rather complete day.

7-28-23 PM Session: 2-4+ ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 15
Miles Driven: 52
Car surfing is a past time I still can’t shake even though I live less then a mile from a surf-able beach. I had to pick up five blanks from Ventura after 12pm. Bizzaro itching to try out his new tripod decided to come along. He picked up a professional rigging for doing video that should help with all the shakiness in our footage. Look for some better quality on the YouTube channel soon. If you haven’t checked out The Clarks Surfboards YouTube channel I highly recommend it as many of the sessions written about in this blog are featured there. We started at Strand which in hindsight is where we should’ve went. It was about waist to chest, but overall weak looking and below average quality. Also it was a little more foggy than we would have liked. From there we headed to the Harbor where it was chest to head but completely closed out from Knoll to Mouth, New Jetty was packed and not much better. I got word from an untested source that Rincon was chest high. Bizzaro and I checked Emma where there were some fun looking peaks but had thirty guys on it. Not stoked we rolled the dice and drove up to Rincon. There was an occasional weak ass chest high wave up at Indicator. There was also twenty five guys out on a day that should have only had maybe a dozen at best. If there had been only a few heads I probably would’ve paddled but the waves didn’t warrant the headache. We went back to Emma, where it was still crowded and after watching the waves for a little bit I didn’t see anything worth dealing with that crowd either. Ultimately we ended up back at the Harbor in front of New Jetty. It was still pretty walled and junky but at the very least the crowd had dropped off. I opted to go with out my booties again and of course the water had chilled down a bit. My feet were cold and I couldn’t feel my board, couple that with lots of close outs and still a bit of a frothy crowd and I had a shocker of a session. I can’t remember the last time I surfed that bad. The best part is Bizarro got it all on film so that I can enjoy my sucking for years to come. After the surf I picked up my blanks, went home and began shaping. Just another day in the life.

7-27-23 No Surfing: 2-3 ft, New Jetty
Miles Driven: 60
Some days I just make terrible surfing decisions. Maybe it’s because I always have this flicker of hope that a fun window could exist even on the absolutely terrible days. My morning started at Ventura Harbor staring at windy, junky wind swell. The same crap I had been surfing for two days only with lots of onshore wind on it. New Jetty was the only option there and it was crowded and worse then the previous day. Over it I decided to head home, get some work done and shoot for the higher tide early afternoon. I did have a look at Strand on the way home but it was also just windy and small. I got into some ding work. At around 3pm Bizarro and I headed up to Hueneme which looked terrible. We were torn between going to Harbor or Leo. The wind was blowing super hard in Ventura which provoked an idiot mission south despite not really seeing anything on the cams. A wasted hour later we were heading home with our tails between our legs. The best wave I could find in LA was thigh high junky Zuma and I couldn’t get into it. Instead I went to Harbor Freight and bought a new respirator. Now that I’m back in the ding repair game I need a better mask because the dust coming off of fiberglass work is finer than that of a Polyurethane blank thus I was wanting of better protection. Here’s a photo of junky Ventura Harbor that I couldn’t bring myself to paddle.

7-26-23 AM Session: 2-3 ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 18
This morning was a repeat of yesterday and I wasn’t about to make the same mistake and paddle the knoll it Mouth. I had a look at New Jetty. It was still pretty packed and not that good. Jeffery was headed down from SB and I hung tight for his reports. He said everything was tiny and we decided to look at Dredge in the hope there might be some corners. It was un-surf-able leaving the Harbor as the only option. By the time we got back to New Jetty the crowd had subsided to only a few guys in the middle of the beach and no one off the Jetty where every so often the occasional left did break. Overall most sets were still rather stretched with limited scoring potential. I did get a few lefts I managed to combo though it was the first time I had surfed bare foot since lowers and I definitely need to get a bit more time in as I was slipping and sliding all over the place. The rest of my day was committed to shaping as I had two boards to get done, a mid-length and a step up.

7-25-23 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 18
There was a bit of NW swell in the water. Of course the only place it was showing was at the Harbor and it was all walled. Strand was tiny as was Malibu and north of Ventura. New Jetty was slightly better but crowded. I saw a few lefts breaking off a rip just south of the Knoll and stupidly decided to give it a paddle believing that I could rip it. Once out there I realized it was way more stretched than I had initially thought. The close outs were not easily hit. I did manage a few corners but over all it was a bad choice. The rest of my day was consumed in more ding repair.

7-24-23 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
Miles Driven: 20
The great July flat spell continued today leaving very little waves on offer. I drove and had a look at Ventura Harbor. It was terrible and windy. Over it, I headed home. My wife decided to take the day off from work because she worked on Saturday for her museum’s annual fundraising gala. Considering how flat the surf was we got some lunch then headed to the Getty Villa down in Malibu. I had never been and my wife hadn’t been in years. It seemed like the perfect day for such an outing. The Museum is cool and was based off an ancient Roman Villa that got destroyed in the eruption of Mount Pompeii in BC times. Inside it’s filled with treasures and artifacts from Ancient Greece all the way up to the Byzantine Empire. The grounds and landscaping is rather impressive as well. Admission is free and it’s only three dollars to park. I’d say it’s definitely worth a visit. Make sure you make an online reservation before going or you might not get in, we didn’t but got lucky that there was still some space available. On the way home I had a fish in my car just in case there was something to surf but there wasn’t. Here is picture of flat Hueneme.

7-23-23 PM Session: 1-3 ft, Ormond Beach
Time in Water: 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 11
Miles Driven: 4
My wife had gotten us tickets to see the final day of the X-Games today. Since the surf was nominal we decided to get an early start and catch the Women’s Park, BMX best trick, Mens Street and Half Pipe best trick. Out tickets were general admission and we were stoked. As a kid in the 90’s I was a huge fan of the X-Games but never dreamed I’d get to ever see it live. As soon as we got in we headed straight to the park course to catch the 10am start time for the Women’s comp. There was a gnarly line. 2 hrs later we were still on line, had already missed the women’s and they were about to start the BMX best trick. At this point we were only a few people back from getting in when the security guard closed the line and declared all general admission seating was full. Apparently they had one bleacher with maybe 200 seats for general admission and two for VIP and Super Fan admission, tickets valuing anywhere from $250-$500+. We were told we could go watch the event on the jumbo tron. Us and all the folks around us who had also been waiting for hours got pissed, borderline riot status. We decided to go over and try and get a spot by the Street course and maybe at the very least get to see that event. Once again the general admission area was already six rows back with six rows of VIP in front of them and the event wasn’t even starting for another hour or so. The majority of the street course was at ground level meaning at twelve rows back you weren’t going to see very much. Then I looked over at the Half Pipe and noticed there were only about twenty people or so standing around it. Sure that event wasn’t happening for another three hours but I figured our best bet of actually seeing an event up close today was to just go over to the half pipe and wait. That was just what we did. Three hours later we had basically front row spots to watch Tony Hawk and a handful of other great skaters compete for best trick. All I’m going to say is that we were very disappointed at the lack of events were able to watch with our general admission tickets. Who I really felt bad for was all the kids who didn’t get to see anything because the system was rigged for the rich as usual. We got home around five and Bizarro really wanted to go shoot some water to try out his new housing. Him and I ran out to Ormond Beach for a sunset surf. It was pathetic but every so often there was a waist plus south set. When all was said and done we did manage a few decent shots.

7-22-23 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
Miles Driven: 2
The buoys were about as small as small it gets. I had a look at Hueneme which was barely breaking. The word from the Harbor from C.C. who was giving a lesson there was that it looked like Virginia Beach. I had a wedding in SB at 4pm at the Moxi to work and was over it. There are only so many days in a row I can grovel bad tiny surf. Instead I did lots of organizational stuff I had been putting off. The wedding was just like any Moxi event a nightmare, three floors of fun. It was a grueling four to midnight thing that left me utterly exhausted. Pictured is flat ass Hueneme.

7-21-23 AM Session: 1-3 ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 10
There was still a tad bit of wind swell left on the buoys. I drove over to the Ship. It was decidedly smaller than yesterday but way cleaner, borderline glassy. Two guys were out not selling it. This body boarder I know was out and I saw him get a barrel that stoked me out to paddle forgetting the fact that it only happened because he was lying down. I should have grabbed my groveler but opted for my everyday short board instead. This was a mistake as the waves were super weak. I gave it my usual hour, did a few turns and hits and got my exercise fix. The rest of my day was employed in ding work.

7-20-23 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 min
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 10
There was a little bit of scrubby wind swell in the water. The tide was low early provoking me to have a look at the Ship. Though tiny there were a few waist plus waves to be had. The shape was average at best with mostly closed out corners. I paddled rather than waste my time searching around for junky waves. For the first half I basically had the place to myself. Then that same dude I had an issue with at Hueneme two days ago decided to paddle and got right in my face reiterating everything that passed the previous surf. Ultimately he was upset that I made him feel bad about himself, BFD. This went on for about ten minutes till he decided to paddle into the bowl unable to get the closure from me he was looking for. I love Gen Z, they want to do whatever they feel like and not face the consequences for their actions. New flash dude, you blew it and I’m over your bull shit. I finished up my hour and bailed. I had plenty more ding repair work to finish and the waves weren’t worth wasting another moment of my time on. Just another day of going through the motions. Man this summer is starting to get old.

7-19-23 PM Session: 1-2 ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 22
Miles Driven: 2
Today was definitely a full on grovel day. I got word early that the waves were not even ride-able at the Harbor. I got an early start on ding repair. Around 5pm I had a look out front. It was pretty tiny but I was hoping I could find a few bowls at Rockside. It was super small and the lower tide definitely wasn’t helping things. I had my grovel short board with me and made the most of the very weak sub-par wind swell/south swell combo. I’m not going to lie it was pretty grindy out there. I put my hour in, got some exercise and went home to cook dinner. The long range forecast is not looking good. Looks as though the dog days of summer are finally here.

7-18-23 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
Miles Driven: 2
I didn’t even bother looking anywhere but Hueneme today. Once again I started my day grinding through ding repair work. I will get these disaster Longboards out of my life by August if it kills me. Which is a reminder that I need to go pick up a new respirator. Around one I headed up to Hueneme. I ran into C.C. in the lot on his way home. He said it was actually pretty fun but a bit crowded. Rockside was my destination, only to be surprised that there were about fourteen guys out. I knew just about everyone out there and bulk of the crowd was a bit down the beach from the peak I had chose to surf. The waves were fun, inconsistent chest plus, clean, peaky bowls. It was one of those rare days for Hueneme where there are more make-able waves than close outs. I paddled out to a peak just a tad further south than the pack and was having a decent time. Then this dude paddled over whom I used to consider a friend up until last summer when I had an altercation with one particular Hueneme local who I have been dealing with for years. The surfer in question that I thought was my friend decided to not get my back and paddle over to the court of my offender. I’m Italian and in my culture we don’t stand for such a thing. Since that incident whenever I saw this dude he constantly acted as though we were still cool. Today I had it with him not getting the hint that I was over him. I explained to the guy that I had been harboring ill feelings towards him and that I was cool with him around but asked that he please leave me alone and not talk or even acknowledge me in the water. He got all bummed and couldn’t grasp why I was upset about what happened last summer. In my mind the fact that he didn’t get it was grounds enough to be done with him altogether. After that he paddled away and I enjoyed the rest of my session. I must say I did have a blast. It helped that I was surfing well. For once I was in sync with my board and the waves I caught. The rest of my day was spent finished up a little more ding work.

7-17-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 2hr 30 mins
Waves Surfed: 27
Miles Driven: 20
There was minimal swell in the water and basically a medium tide all day. I had a look at the Rivermouth early but of course there was already onshore wind on it and the lines seemed a bit stretched. Jeffery decided to paddle. I had some errands to run in the area and figured I’d take another look after I was finished in an hour or so since higher tide has been better out there lately anyway. When I got back it was more windy and not too enticing. I cruised home and got some ding work done with the plan to do Hueneme in the afternoon. Right as I parked everyone was leaving which could be good and bad. Not thinking to much about it I suited up and headed down to Rockside. There were about five guys out, all but one got out by the time I was ready to paddle leaving just two of us trading off fairly clean chest plus waves. The only drawback was that sets were very inconsistent which definitely led to my obscene amount water time. By the time I got my wave count I had been out there for two and a half hours. Thus the bulk of my day was gone in the pursuit of surfing. The waves were fun and the weather nice. Why not enjoy a summer day at the beach.

7-16-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 28
Miles Driven: 20
This morning was a repeat of Friday only a tad bit smaller where the Rivermouth produced some fun little waves. My wife had decided to come film for a change. We had a look at Hueneme which was ok but a bit walled and crowded for what it was. Saturdays and Sundays are always a little bit of a zoo out there. The wind was light and considering how decent the Mouth has been on high tide and small south swells I cruised there. Of course it was really foggy and hard to see when we pulled up. I saw a few at the Knoll that lead me to believe that the mouth could be alright. With thirty guys surfing the Knoll I wasn’t about to paddle there. We walked into the fog to the Mouth where I found three adjacent peaks that looked fun enough. It was waist to chest and totally kill-able. As luck would have it as soon as I finished stretching the fog completely lifted leaving us perfectly blue skies to film. I got into the zone and had a number of fun barrels and good combos. Unfortunately I couldn’t put down any airs to save my life. I was enjoying these peaks to myself when a group of about five guys slowly inched their way up from the Knoll till they were sitting right on me. There were easily 200 yards of similar empty peaks but they had to come crowd mine. Whatever, as usual it doesn’t take long for a group like this to realize that I was making the waves look better then they were and move on. As for myself I put in another thirty minutes before the wind came up and tide started to drain making it not as good as earlier though still very surf-able. My wife and I got some breakfast then stopped at Exteme Marine in Ventura to buy a few more snails for my fish pond in the yard. I got four trap door snails a couple weeks back and have been obsessed with them. Today I bought two mystery snails. Supposedly they are good breeders. Time will tell.

7-15-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 33
Miles Driven: 10
At this point in the summer waking up to foggy gloomy mornings had basically become the norm. So has getting slightly stoked to surf sub par surf. There was some minor NW wind swell on the buoys, enough to lead me to Strand. Though small there were some rip-able nuggets to be had. I wasn’t 100% committed till I got a call from Jeffrey that Harbor wasn’t very good. He met me at the Strand and we paddled. Shortly after we wee joined by Jeremy. The three of us made the most out of the fat tide borderline shore break close outs. I probably should have just went looked at Hueneme which with the tide and combo was the better choice. That being said I smashed a couple of oncoming sections and even got a little head dip. After the surf I had to cruise to Santa Barbara for a very elaborate 60th birthday party I was catering. I’d like to say there are some waves on the way but the forecast looks pretty bleak. Don’t let that out or fool you I never saw another wave like the one below the entire surf.

7-14-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 26
Miles Driven: 18
Talk about a surprisingly fun surf. Every so often I’m stoked out when what should have been just another lackluster day of going through the motions turns into a decent session. Initially when I was checking the surf I was borderline ready to bail as I didn’t see too many worthy waves. My friend Steven was paddling and then Jeffrey showed up and was all about it as well. If you can’t beat them the join them. Considering the fat tide I didn’t really know where else to go anyway. We ran down to the River Mouth where we were able to procure a peak to ourselves. Somehow we lucked into a forty five minute window of semi-consistent rip-able chest plus peaky waves. I got on a serious froth. There were air sections, barrels and runners. As the tide began to drop the lines began to become more stretched and the NW wind began to come up as well adding an unwanted bump to the face. I decided to start surfing my way back to the Knoll to my car. This was a mistake as the bars between the mouth and the Knoll are absolutely terrible and I never really got a decent one in, while back out at the Mouth I kept seeing fun looking sets. Oh well, either way I still got more then my share of fun ones. After the surf I went home to grab some lunch with my wife followed by and event which I needed to work in Montecito.

7-13-23 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 2
Today was another morning of sub-par surf with just tad more size than yesterday thanks to some very minor NW wind swell in the water. C.C. and I ran down to Rockside and gave it a go. The water was absolutely freezing. I’m talking bone chilling cold. The only thing worse then a grovel is a cold grovel. To keep things interesting we decided to do a gentleman’s 30 minute mock heat. Unfortunately the kick on my tail pad decided to come un-glued forcing a serious handicap. My two best waves were a two turn right for a 4.5 and a left bash for a 4. C.C. managed the combo of the heat on a left worthy of a 5 and then backed it up with a two turn right for a 4. Final score his advantage 9 to my 8.5. At least it wasn’t a complete shut out. After the surf I went straight into a long day of ding repair.

7-12-23 AM Session: 1-3 ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr 30 mins
Waves Surfed: 29
Miles Driven: 2
The surf was way down today and with an early high tide I decided just to run down to Rockside and get a few. Since it was tiny and no one was surfing Bizarro and I decided shot a little bit of water. We seem to get out best results at beach breaks when it’s smaller and Bizzaro doesn’t take as many shitty beatings. It was small waist plus at best. The only time Hueneme really shines is when it’s tiny anyway. I did what I could with minuscule oncoming section close outs and we did manage to get a few decent clips, one of which I posted on my Instagram last Friday. After the surf I had a full afternoon of ding work. My buddy Forrest showed up with another disaster longboard to add to the already growing stack and a Machado Fire Wire with a creased nose that he needed done by Friday. I don’t mind Poly rush jobs but EPS rush jobs are way more nerve wracking. All I can say is those Fire Wires are really cheaply build once you get inside them.

7-11-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr 30 mins
Waves Surfed: 27
Miles Driven: 2
After two days of driving I was not about to go crazy looking for surf. C.C. hit me up about surfing Rockside in the afternoon and considering the conditions it seemed like the call. I dug into some ding work. At the moment I have a couple of huge disaster long board projects that are every ding guys nightmare. I’ll always get at least three of these a year, longboards that people have just let go completely to shit thanks to years of neglect and irresponsible ownership. Then when they should just buy a new board they bring this wreck to me so that I can replace 80% of it with filler and resin making the board 80% heavier. But hey it’s a long board right? Money is money after all. Around 2pm I met C.C. and our mutual friend Guy at Rockside where it was surprisingly peaky and rip-able, a Hueneme miracle. The water absolutely freezing thanks to all the wind in the channel. I think I probably had more fun than I did at Lowers yesterday.

7-10-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Lower Trestles
Time in Water: 1 hr 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 29
Miles Driven: 197 (via Riverside to Port Hueneme)
I don’t know why I waste my time with Lowers. Chalk it up to sheer nostalgia of my younger days as a pro surfer from the east coast. Truthfully, I can think of at least ten waves I’d rather surf than Lowers. Yet every time I’m passing through or in close vicinity I am some how lead to the place like a zombie to the living. Today I drove an hour out of my way to go surf chest plus below average Lowers and dragged my wife along. We made the treacherous walk dodging speeding electric bike operators with a wreck less abandon. When I was younger the danger was worrying about getting attacked by some junkie lurking in the bushes, my how times have changed. We finally got there and though below average the crowd was rather light. Unfortunately my camera battery had mysteriously died so the only footage I got was grainy cell phone clips, which are also up on my Instagram. The real stoke for me was that there was this hour window with just seven of us out. What makes Lowers special is if the buoys have even the slightest south swell on them there will occasionally be a chest to head high set every so often and since the crowd was so light I got to sit out there and wait for the good ones and actually catch them uncontested. This window was short lived as the the next shift of rippers showed up after an hour. That was my cue to leave. My wife and I got some dinner at some fun spot in San Clemente called Pete’s burgers and hit the road. Talk about fitting a lot into a 48 he window.

7-9-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 10
My wife and I needed to make our way south to Riverside for a wedding today. This left me with two options, find waves close to home or try to surf something along the PCH on the way south. There was still enough wind swell to allow for Strand to be surf-able. It was only about chest plus with not nearly the shape of yesterday. The wind was also harder onshore adding a bit of bump and crumble to it. There were only three guys out and I was hoping that considering the drop in quality maybe less guys would paddle. My thinking was incorrect as within a half hour the place was packed. For whatever reason the pack was even gnarlier then yesterday. What happened was all the guys that heard they missed it decided to come out this morning and then were pissed the waves weren’t nearly as fun. On that note I did my requisite hour and bailed leaving plenty of time to get to Riverside and check into our hotel. Attending a wedding is a real treat for myself. I work easily fifty to eighty weddings a year so you know that when I show up as a guest to yours I’m coming out ready to eat, drink and be merry, not to mention dressing up to the nines. If anyone out there wants to invite my wife and I to your wedding I promise we will show you a good time. Three years ago when my wedding got downsized to a twelve person webcast service courtesy of the pandemic I made a pact with myself that the next time I was invited to a formal wedding I was going to wear my wedding tux. That is just what went down. You can see a full photo gallery of the party on my Instagram. The event was at a large national chain wedding venue where everything is done in house. The food was average and service a lot to be desired. Then again I always do forget that the outfits I work for are very high end and therefore we spare no level but the highest quality in service, food and presentation and I shouldn’t hold others to that standard. My wife and I had a blast dancing the night away till our feet were bloody stumps. Tomorrow we are going to head to Lowers on the way home.

7-8-23 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 14
Miles Driven: 10
Solid NW wind swell in July!!!! Yep, I was just as shocked as you. I even heard the points had some little waves. Not even nothing to consider any place else I headed to Strand full on expecting fun waves. What I got was decent chest to head plus lines with a bit of onshore wind and a solid crowd. I was borderline going to drive away except my spot loyalty made me paddle. All the boys were out and I definitely have a spot in the lineup among them. As a matter of fact it was strictly a regular crowd. Out of the thirty or so guys out I knew or at least recognized everyone. This can be good and bad. On one hand I’d rather be in a crowd of locals then a bunch kook ass donkeys. On the other hand when you know everyone out in the water you have to be super respectful. You don’t want to piss off a guy you’re going to see out there all year long. Also a crowd of regulars know all the same tricks you do for catching waves. Since there really hasn’t been any waves to speak of the past two weeks everyone was extra frothy and tensions were running high. I did manage a few sick ones and even one decent tube. The negative vibes out there were way too strong for my liking and ultimately I got over it and bailed. Later that evening I attended a birthday party for my wife’s cousin not far from my house in Hueneme, ate some awesome tacos and got down to some live banda music. Good times.

7-7-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
Miles Driven: 12
With a little bit south swell/NW swell combo in the water coupled with a low morning tide I decided to have a look at the Shores. It was nothing special but there were some peaky somewhat fun looking chest high waves coming through. I was about to cruise to the Harbor when I got a call from my friend Steven that it was small and junky there. He met me at at shores and we paddled. Despite the swell being a hair too small and tide steadily becoming too high for the bars there were some really fun waves out there. I got in the zone and had an almost magical session. After about an hour the rising tide had just about turned the place off. I had already got mine anyway. The rest of my evening was spent working a wedding in Santa Barbara.

7-6-23 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 18
Miles Driven: 20
I had a look around early all the way to Ventura Harbor and back. Once again Ventura was plagued with terrible onshore winds. I had a wedding to work in Santa Barbara in the evening leaving only a mid day widow. I went home and got some work done. Around noon I suited up and ran down to Rockside. There were a handful of guys out but as soon as I got there everybody left. The waves had plenty of size and plenty of close outs, classic Hueneme. The wind was offshore/side shore making it clean at the very least. As usual it was a patience game. If you wait long enough Hueneme will always throw you a bone. I had one solid backside air I was stoked on and then on my last wave managed to thread through a decent frontside tube followed by an end section hit. Deciding to take that to the bank I went in. It was pretty close to when I had to get to work anyway. As far as the wedding in Santa Barbara goes it went down with out a hitch.

7-5-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, C Street
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 26
Chalk a rare Lisanti appearance at Ventura Point on the board. I think that makes three for me. You know if I’m paddling the point every place else must be terrible. Basically all the LA spots had junk south wind and the tide was extremely low, the wind was already onshore at Harbor even though it was before 9am and it was way too low tide and too much swell for Hueneme to be any good. Out of options I just paddled CStreet. All the usual suspects were out and the usual kooks as well. The first half of the session I actually got into a groove and snagged a few decent rights and stuck a couple of airs. As the tide got higher and the wind picked up finding one that didn’t stretch out was tough. The water was freezing too. I was about to leave when Bizarro showed up with his camera forcing me to try and put down a few clips. We may have scored a few B-clips. By the time Ryan showed up I was completely over it. After the surf I had a laundry list of errands to run followed by ding repair.

7-4-23 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, Leo Carrillo
Time in Water: 1 hr 15m
Waves Surfed: 8
Miles Driven: 62
Once again I was up early to have a look around. Had the wind not been on it I probably would have paddled the Santa Clara River Mouth. But it was weak, windy and a bit crowded for the lack of waves coming through. I drove home and had a look at Hueneme. It was mostly closed out and on the smaller side. I cruised back to my house to see what my wife was up to. Over yet another cloudy marine layer day she just wanted to go find some sun. We got in the car and headed east towards Ojai. The plan was to take the route 33 as far we could go before the road block where the winter slides had forced the road to be shut down. When we got there it was sunny and surprisingly there was still a decent amount of water in the creak that runs just along the road there. The plan was to hike up the stream a bit. Not far in my wife and I came across this deep little pocket of the creek just above a small waterfall. It looked like an amazing swimming hole. The water was crystal clear surrounded by the green of the trees. The scene was too perfect not to warrant jumping in. After about an hour or so of water tomfoolery we were hungry and decided to get some lunch. I also want note that I was finally able to track down a Grimace Shake off the 33 after striking out at every other Mc Donald’s in Oxnard, costal Ventura and Santa Barbara. The shake was tasty but not worth all the hype. Finally it was late afternoon and I decided to try and get a surf in. Hueneme looked underwhelming. Considering the high tide and the hard NW I rolled the dice and headed to Leo. My thinking was just maybe everyone would be heading home to get ready for fire works, BBQ or whatever other Fourth of July festivities they might have planned and I could sneak some less crowded waves. My plan sort of worked as the crowd was very manageable. I got in the zone and managed plenty of good waves. Some complete kook decided to blatantly burn me and I let him have it. I even made George Clout’s Instagram video till he deleted it after I remixed it onto my feed. I’m completely dumbfounded why. It was a sick clip and I thanked and gave him credit. Maybe he was upset because I don’t ride a Roberts? My evening was capped off with a little back yard burger BBQ with Bizarro and my wife. We decided to pass on the fire works at Channel Islands Harbor due to the thick marine layer. Instead we enjoyed a screening of the film Independence Day.

7-3-23 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 22
Miles Driven: 22
There was a tad bit more south in the water. Hopeful I headed over to the Harbor. I figured at the very least if it was the same size and shape as yesterday I would be stoked. The wind was already on it completely trashing what meager waves were coming through. Over it I headed home. There was the promise of some fresh south swell and with an afternoon high tide I knew at the very least I could get a few at Hueneme. C.C. hit me up and we were supposed to go surf somewhere in LA early afternoon. That window came and went as the wind got rather hard around 3pm. Leo would be the only option in LA and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with that crowd. Ultimately I ran down to Rockside where it was almost completely closed out less a the odd ball section. I gave it a twenty wave run then called it a day.

7-2-23 AM Session: 1-3 ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 22
Miles Driven: 20
There was a little more small surf in the water courtesy of Tropical Storm Adrian. Not surfing yesterday I resolved on finding anything to grovel this morning. I had a look at Hueneme. Rockside was crowded and looked junky and from the south side of the pier to River Mouth looked marginal at best and had at least another twenty five guys out. Nothing like trying to surf on a summer holiday weekend. Over Hueneme I decided to cruise to the Harbor since the wind was still light. The surf was definitely smaller than Hueneme but the shape better. Still it was very weak barely pushing waist high. I found myself hard pressed to get motivated. There was one set that was maybe waist high allowing for my imagination to hope more would fill in. The Knoll had about ten guys on it with nothing spectacular. No one was out at the Rivermouth so I made the walk. It was definitely meager. My grovel ability is decent and even I was struggling. I noticed another surfer walking up in the distance. It was my old friend Robbie, well at least we had been friends for over ten years till we had a falling out three years ago due to a real estate deal that went sour. Since then our paths haven’t really crossed that often and when they did one of us was always coming or going. He watched me out there for a few minutes then was going to bail. I threw him a shaka and he paddled. It was nice to catch up and let all that past negativity become water under the bridge. I was also stoked to have someone else to surf with since it seems every year I lose a surf friend or two to either a move or life causing them to not have time to surf anymore. We gave it an hour then called it a day. There is promise of a new south filling in over the next few days, hopefully that will materialize.

7-1-23 No Surfing: 1-3 ft
July is off to a very auspicious start with very little swell in the water and even less in the forecast. For a change I was actually stoked it was tiny. Last night my buddy Dave had his going away party in downtown Ventura. Of course he wanted to do a pub crawl. Imagine embarking on a six hour pub craw with about a dozen navy sailors. It was exhausting to say the least especially since I haven’t really partied in about a year. Being out of practice even the nominal amount of drinking which I chose to partake in kicked my ass. After the second stop at place called Ventiki who’s drinks were gnarly strong I found myself hammered and floated from establishment to establishment for rest of the night. Thus this morning I found myself wondering just how I managed to drink and party to excess for so many years prior. I took some Advil, assessed the cams and decided to take it easy before making my way up to Santa Barbara to work a wedding. On the drive up I noticed some small wind swell around the Sea Cliff zone. For photos of the night check out my Instagram. Line up shot from Ventura Point.