Surfing Ruined My Life

May 2018 Surf Sessions

5-31-18 AM Session: 1-3+ ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 31
Miles Driven: 56
The wind came back with a vengeance this morning after being a bit tame for the past few days.  There was still enough NW wind swell in the water to lead me to believe I could find a wave at one of the more protected points.  Rincon was my first stop.  It was pretty drained, broken up and small.  The only thing remotely exciting going on was a gang of vultures enjoy a breakfast buffet courtesy of a rather good sized dead female elephant seal that had washed up near the river mouth.  I did manage to find a grip of sea glass while checking it.  I cruised to Little ‘Con, which can at times focus small wind swell a bit better.  It was probably the best wave I saw.  The wind didn’t seem so bad and with the rising tide I had to take a quick look at Emma for no other reason then to just rule it out, which ended up being the case.  I figured my best odds if I was going to bother with a paddle was to just go back to Rincon on my fish, start at the top and surf my way down.  With the current set up of the sand and the short broken up nature of the wind swell this turned out to be a decent enough strategy.  I did two drifts down the point and surprisingly caught a handful of fun waves thanks to my fish.

5-30-18 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 42
Miles Driven: 60
I don’t know if the buoys were broken or the swell just snuck into the channel and rose super fast, but as I passed Rincon I saw a solid chest high plus set in the Cove that had me making the u-turn back.  Unfortunately in that time it took me to get back to the ‘Con a strong south east gale came up.  That plus the high tide sent me back on the hunt.  Ryan was on his way to look at the Strand and I began heading that way.  Just as I was passing Emma Ryan called and said Strand was a no go.  I turn around and headed back to Emma where I had seen what looked like some sick ones from the freeway.  It was glassy, bowly and fun, with chest plus peaks coming in up and down the beach.  There were some barrels.  The crowd was light and right off the bat I got into some really fun lefts off the life guard tower.  Then the south wind came up again adding a bit of chop to the face of the rights. The lefts were mostly unfettered.  All I can say was that it became a full on Emma rip fest the likes of which I have not experienced in a while. It was still super fun when I left. At that point I was too tired to surf anymore.  Dane paddled and I decided to go in watch the OG Emma Wood master slay a few.  What a fun day of surfing.

5-29-18 AM Session: 1-3 ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 64
Emma Wood again? It must be spring.  I actually did a fair bit of car surfing this morning ultimately settling on Emma Wood, though I should have just paddled out at Ventura Harbor.  I saw a few fun little glassy bowls with no one out at Emma.  I had high hopes for the Emma magic tide change push  and paddled.  It was smaller then it looked and it bit too bowly for its diminutive size.  When the tide change push began to happen the wind came up just enough to make the small faces a bit too chopped up to really take advantage of.  I beat a dead horse for an extra half hour then I should have given it.  I chose poorly.

5-28-18 AM Session: 2-3+, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1 hrs
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 56
Last minute I picked a up high end Memorial Day BBQ to work leaving me a limited amount of time to get a few waves early.  Emma Looked like it still had a fair amount of wind swell coming in and with a morning high tide I didn’t hesitate to paddled.  I don’t know if it was the holiday or that everyone was thinking the same cause it was packed.  There were easily thirty guys out and majority on long boards and alternative equipment, an oddity for Emma.  Despite the crowd I didn’t have much trouble finding waves and even with it being somewhat weak I had a solid go of it.  It was a quick heat for me, yet successful getting my wave count and surfing pretty decent as well.  The BBQ was at splendid Montecito estate with a somewhat who’s, who guest list.  Everything went well and the customer was happy.

5-27-18 PM Session: 2-3 ft, Little Rincon
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 40
There was an alright run of NW wind swell in the water to start the day out.  Last night I hit the Wild Cat with my lady and what was suppose to be a mellow night out quickly escalated in night of full on intoxicated adventures.  I heard Strand was good early, but there was no way I was crawling out of bed for that.   I banked on finding some point surf in the afternoon.  Though the waves lost a little bit of size and intensity Little Rincon still had some waist to stomach high plus lines coming through.  I wasn’t super sold on it as there were three guys out with barely enough for them.  As I was looking at it a friend of mine who has just got out was on the bluff and solid me on it and one of the three guys came in making room for me a form of respect few people give to line ups these days.  I was pretty sure with the low tide there were not that many options anyway.  I got out there and my first wave was a fun little runner down the point.  I got a few more and the remaining two guys got out leaving me the entire line up to myself.  Stoked I got on a tear and it stayed pretty fun even as the tide come up.  It wasn’t head high Strand, but I still had a good time.

5-26-18 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 12
Miles Driven: 64
Once again I found myself for the fourth straight morning looking at a disappointing Emma Wood.  The wind was already up leaving me hesitant to go have a look at the Harbor.  With the poor showing in front of me I was left with no choice but to have a look further south.  It was too windy to even consider the River Mouth so I had a look at New Jetty.  There was a somewhat mushy left off the Jetty with not too many guys on it and despite the wind it was clean enough.  Out of options I paddled.  Sets were few and far between and there was enough of a crowd that I was only able to get a wave every other set at best.  The insiders were not worth the scrap.  Basically it was classic summer time New Jetty.  It did get a bit more consistent as the tide dropped, but the crowd picked up too.  I found a few and then got the fuck out of there.  We just can’t get a break this year.

5-25-18 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, Leo Carrillo
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 69
Even though I got a few tubes I really didn’t feel satisfied with the Mugu session.  I have not been able to get on base for almost 8 years or so.  It did feel good to get back out there.  Being only 11 miles from the LA spots and plenty of south swell in the water I decided to continue on and see what I could come up with.  I was torn between Zeros and Leo.  Zeros still had a few too many guys on it then I would have liked meanwhile though a bit drained Leo had some solid sets coming through with no one sitting off the rock.  The choice was simple or so I thought.  It was not until I got out there that I found out that the entire line up is at the momentously completely inundated with kelp.  The weed was so thick I could barely paddle through it or ride a wave.  Even as the tide got higher it was very difficult to get a good one through all the kelp.  To be honest it was a little frustrating and I was a bit put off by my poor choice.  I did get a few more waves, but overall both sessions were average at best.  That pretty much summed up this entire south swell for me.

5-25-18 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Point Mugu
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 46
I found myself once again let down by onshore morning winds, and a little bit of new NW wind swell.  Emma was really my only option and it was surf-able at best.  I wasn’t too jazzed on it.  Out of all the days I surfed or checked Emma this swell this morning was the worst.  I called Ryan to let him know what was up.  He said that we may be able to get onto Mugu through a mutual friend of ours.  Stoked I jumped at the opportunity and headed down to the Oxnard gate.  Mugu is always a gamble.  It is rarely just alright out there.  Usually it can serve up either the best session of your life or the worst beating of your life or both simultaneously.  Today was one of those alright days.  There were some real gems though few and far between.  Unfortunately there was a little too much short period wind swell closing out some of the waves.  You really had to wait for those pure unaltered south sets.  That being said I found two really nice tubes and considering I have not gotten barreled in nearly a month I was stoked for what I got.  I took my share of heavy beatings as per the standard at one of the heaviest waves in California.

5-24-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 64
I should have surfed Rincon.  Indicator left looked pretty fun.  As I was about to pull the trigger on it Ryan called and said River Mouth was fun looking.  I had some time before work and raced down there.  There were some decent looking corners.  Right when I began to turn my suit right side out the wind came up.  Considering it was average shape at best out there to begin with I was not about to paddle with the wind.  I headed to Emma Wood hoping to just find something to desperation paddled and that was pretty much what transpired.  I have a great little board right now for sub average Emma Wood and made the most of the waist to chest conditions that were nearly too drained.  After about an hour it got way too drained as all the energy was being completely focused on the outer reef.  I snagged a few out there then bailed to work.

5-23-18 PM Session: 5-7+ ft, Zeros, Malibu
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 118
The first real south swell of the season was upon us and myself just like every surfer was physicked.  I woke up Biz to film and we headed to River Mouth.  When I got there it was pretty walled and drained.  There were a few sick looking tubes to be had, but overall it looked like one of those sessions where I paddled for three hours to catch one or two good waves.  Ryan had paddled over at Shores so I cruised that way.  Though a tad bit better it still looked a little stretched and all over the place.  I had no idea where to sit.  I made a hail Mary play for Emma to no avail and finally ended up at the Point watching average at best shape and quality with a ridiculous crowd.  With my back against the wall I pulled the trigger and headed for LA.  My first stop was Leo, but it was actually so big and low that the waves were closing out the whole bay.  It was literally not surf-able.  Next stop was Zeros where it was also closing out on the sets.  In between there were some head high plus ones that were peeling all the way down the point almost to the old bathroom house.  When we first pulled up the crowd was somewhat manageable.  Over the goose chase I paddled.  It took me a few waves to get in the swing of things and learn what to pick.  Good waves were few and far between and the crowd kept growing as the session went on.  Soon it became the four D’s of dodge ball, Dodge, Duck, Dive and Dodge as people were getting cleaned up by solid eight to ten foot close out sets.  I had one wave that I was dropped in on twice.  That is Malibu in summer.  I guess I better get used to it.  None the less we managed a few good shots and I had fun.  When I got home I went straight back on the garden project and finished it quit nicely.  I am very happy with how my new garden set up looks.

5-22-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Pitas
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 46
It was yet another day of May grey and minor NW wind swell/ sw combo swell in the water.  I had a look at Little Rincon and it was small.  Ryan called and let me know that it was windy and shitty at the harbor.  I had a look at Pitas.  Though nothing incredible there was a waist to chest plus wave coming in up top.  It was a bit short, fast and bowly due to the southerly direction of the swell.  I figured it for best of the worst and paddled.  I found a few good ones here and there.  it was a bit of a bummer that water dropped in temperature again.  Then another five guys showed up and clogged it a bit, being there was barely enough waves coming in for the three of us that were out there.  Everyone at least took turns for the set waves making it manageable.  Just another junky 2-3 ft day.  When I got home I began work on a project to restructure my back yard garden.

5-21-18 AM Session: 2-3 + ft, Little Rincon
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 32
Miles Driven: 82
After last night I had Strand on my mind.  I woke up, looked at the cam, saw it was glassy and headed straight for the Ship.  As soon as I got off the freeway I could tell it was windy at the beaches.  Still I drove up for a check hoping at the very least the North Side could have some palatable peaks.  There were a few weakish waist to chest high waves coming through.  There were a handful of guys out and no one was selling it.  The Ship was all torn up.  I saw some white water lines at both Pitas and Little Rincon on the way down and decided to just head back there and hope for the best.  Pitas had a chest high wave up top, but had a bit of wind and chop on it.  I cruised back to Little ‘Con and though a tad bit smaller it was clean with some alright looking lines.  Ryan wanted to surf and met me there.  I started out on my step down.  The meager wind swell was a little too weak to push down the sand bar with any kind of intensity.  After about ten gutless ones I decided to go back to my car and grab my fish.  While I was changing equipment Gordo and two other guys paddled.  There was hardly room for five guys.  With the wind swell just enough came in so everyone got waves with out any hassling.  I actually got my best waves from the inside double ups and growers.  I should have just paddled North Strand.  I think I would have had more fun.  A day surfing beats a day working so who am I to complain?

5-20-18 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 11
Miles Driven: 78
At the very least the wind has been consistent, consistently shit, but consistent.  I got to Strand and it was all blown out and pretty drained with the tide.  My girl was wanted to get breakfast and considering I was far from pumped on what was in front of me I agreed.  After a relaxing Sunday repast we headed back to the Ship, which had the most size of either end.  It was still pretty messy, but with the high tide the faces were clean enough.  Not wanting to go back to Emma only to find that it could be as terrible as yesterday I paddled.  Sets were far apart, but head plus when they came in and ran from the Jetty past the life guard tower.  Considering it was cold, windy and miserable on the beach after I got a few good ones I decided to quit rather then force my girl to continue braving the elements.  I got one left that was probably the best wave I have rode all week not that it is saying much.

5-19-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 78
Another day of shitty waist to chest high gutless surf on offer.  I had just recently purchased a new camera and lens and was eager to try it out.  My girl and I headed to the Harbor.  Though plenty of swell it was rather windy and the shape was trash.  Hoping there was enough NW wind swell in the water I looked at Strand.  The ship was in hindsight the best option. I thought I saw some solid ones at Emma on the way down and with the incoming tide figured it was my best bet to score.  The sand is absolute shit at Emma Wood making whatever comes in to be gutless and terrible.  Out of options I paddled thinking it would get better with the tide.  It didn’t and it was way weaker then it looked.  The camera worked great.  Too bad the waves didn’t.

5-18-18 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
Miles Driven: 64
Why is it that the whenever I get up early I end up getting skunked.  I left my house at 7:30 and headed to the Harbor. It was glassy on the cam and I was eager to get some crossed up beach break bowls.  Of course when I got there it was windy, closed out, small, mushy, shitty and crowded.  I had a look at Ventura Point, where it equally sucked.  Emma was drained and terrible.  Pitas may have been the best and that was not saying much cause it sucked there too.  Ultimately I decided to just go to work early and make back the money I just wasted on gas car surfing.  Is another day to drive around for crap surf.

5-17-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, C Street
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
Miles Driven: 67
I finally had a full day off.  No work, hassles or obligations of any kind.  Actually that is not true at all.  I did have some Clarks Surfboard errands to run down in Ventura.  I got to the Harbor and it was all mixed up.  Once again there were a few corners to be had.  At this point in my surfing life here in the 805 I know better then to mess with what I was starring at.  The LA cams showed the same channel trash on them leading me to save my gas.  I decided to get my errands done, let the tide fill in and have a look at Emma on the way home.  When I got to Emma it was tiny, terrible and had like seven guys on it.  Over it I headed to the Point with my fish.  It looked pretty god awful there too.  I wanted to surf and paddled.  When I first jumped in I got rocked by a ten wave head high set that had me wishing I had brought a different board out there.  I don’t know where that came from, maybe it was a front runner of the new swell that is suppose to fill in.  Whatever the case it was the last of its kind for the duration of my surf.  I chipped at the block till I got wave count and bailed.  Nothing like another day of lack luster stokeless surfing.

5-16-18 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 15
Miles Driven: 30
It has been confirmed that there must have been something bad in the water over the weekend.  After consulting with a few of my hard core surf friends everyone had some kind of dirty water related ailment at the start of this week.  Currently I still have a slight ear issue that is slowly working itself out.  I suppose that is the price we pay for playing in natures cesspool.  I had to work in the morning and had to cook a high end donor dinner at UCSB chancellor’s house in the evening.   I was left with a three hour break of time in the early afternoon, where I foolishly ran down to Indicator Left hoping for a bone.  Had the wind not come up like a bat out of hell I think it would have been alright.  As soon as I walked down the steps the heavens bellowed out of the NW trashing what little was on offer.  To salvage the session I floated down to low Indicator and rode what strange south swell / NW wind swell peaks dribbled in.   I should have just stayed home.  I heard the morning was pretty fun though a fat lot of good it did me.

5-15-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 64
Will the channel ever relax?  Today was another day where there was absolutely no wind locally, but out in the channel it must have been whipping cause the surf was all mixed up.  I had a look at the Harbor first.  There were some corners, but it looked one of those days where I end up paddling around for three hours getting frustrated.  I thought about driving to LA, but it was my girls first day back from Hawaii and I wanted to spend the afternoon with her.  I saw a few at Emma on the drive down and went back there.  It was far from anything exciting.  From the way it looked and the incoming tide I hoped it might one of those Emma sessions that just keeps improving while your were out there.  It actually went the opposite way.  After my first few waves it seemed conditions degenerated and finding the right place to sit became nearly impossible. It was a rather frustrating surf.  Later on I got some photos of me back from the session a Ventura photog took of me and from the looks of them I must have caught a few alright waves.

5-14-18 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
I had work early in the morning.  Then then wind came up shitty as all fuck.  As the day wore on I began to feel rather ill from what I am only guessing was from exposure to some bad ocean water quality the past few days.

5-13-18 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 29
Miles Driven: 78
Gabe was leaving and before he did we had to handle some last minute organizational business.  After that my surf check was a carbon copy of yesterday.  The only difference is that North Strand was better then the Ship.  I paddled on my step down again and for the first hour and half had a full on blast.  The crowd was light and though a tad on the smaller and mushy side there were some really fun sections to hit.  I am really loving this board and the way it allows me to utilize poopy soft waves.  Towards the end of my session the crowd doubled, the wind came up and the drained tide really took a toll on the consistency.  I got a few more and bailed.  I had already got mine anyway.

5-12-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 32
Miles Driven: 78
What little NW that was still in the water was a bit meager at the points with the exception of C Street, where there was a contest.  I looked at the Harbor, but it was mostly closed out. I got word that North Strand had a wave and headed that way.  The north end looked a bit soft and I noticed waves at the ship while checking it and drove over.  Though far from epic there were chest high plus rip-able looking peaks from the Ship to the bowl.  Over searching I paddled.  The water was crazy clear.  I could see the bottom and it was super warm too.  I am guessing close to 65 F easy.  I rode my step down and for the first hour frothed in the south bowl.  As the tide continued to drop it got more soft.  There were two kids getting some left wedges right off the ship and I headed over.  Though some decent ones were coming through it was rather inconsistent at best and for whatever reason was getting softer by the minute.  Right off the rocks there were these two grey whales going nuts.  They were breaching, slapping both there side fins and tails out of the water.  It went on for the last half hour of my session and was still happening when I left.  First time I have witnessed that go down so close to me and for such a duration.  The whales have been much more prevalent this year then I have ever seen.  After surfing I cruised into the shaping room to help Gabe finish up the batch and take some promotional photos and video. As I was leaving the shack I got a call from Ryan that Emma was fun. Sure enough there were some solid ones out there.  The sand bar is still pretty shit and I was exhausted and ultimately decided to head home and get ready for a boys night out to celebrate the most proficient and expedient batch of boards yet.  I am feeling really good about Clarks Surfboards and my endeavor there.

5-11-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Little Rincon
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 27
Miles Driven: 40
I woke up and it was all grey and shitty out.  I fed my cat and went back to sleep for what I thought was an hour, but when I woke again it was almost past ten.  Damn marine layer.  The tide as bottoming out at 1 pm at .3 ft and the swell was receding.  Rincon was unimpressive and I cruised on to Little Rincon.  There were five guys out.  It was glassy, chest high plus and decent lines.  I was hoping to get Strand report, but none of my contacts had one.  Not wanting to go on another epic car surf I paddled.  Fuck it was fun enough looking.  Since it was a bit on the smaller side I rode my little step down.  Turns out the lines were not as perfect as they looked running from steep to flat sections and being rather unpredictable.  That being said I managed tons of super fun ones.  I couldn’t stick an air to save my life and even skegged myself coming down on the fins on a failed gap air.   Cant win them all I suppose. When I got out I got a text from Ryan that Strand was solid overhead.  If I hadn’t been so sore from yesterday I probably would have ran down there for an afternoon session, but I was afraid I might do myself an injury if I pushed the envelope two days in a row.

5-10-18 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, Little Rincon
Time in Water: 4.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 48
Miles Driven: 48
My job finished at noon and I headed down south for a surf.  Once again the devil south winds were all over it.  I car surfed down to Tanks, looked at Rincon twice and ultimately settled on Little Rincon, which was the best of the worst and least crowded of the crowd.  All my friends who were leaving claimed it was a lot better then it looked.  I was out of options and over driving around anyway.  I paddled and though funky there were some decent long ones and plenty of head high plus sets.  I ended up surfing a solid three hours before decided to bail.  The whole surf I felt a bit out of sorts.  I was on my least favorite board since I broke my other two the last run of real swell and just couldn’t kill the wonky conditions.  I changed out of my suit and was hanging in the lot when this dude from Hawaii, CJ pulled up.  I had not surfed with this dude in like ten years easy.  We took a look at it and the wind had died and it glassed off a bit.  Even with the fat tide coming up there were some sick ones.  We got stoked and since I had a dry suit in my car I decided to paddle out again.  I am glad I did cause I got all my keepers in the second go.  My first wave back out I snagged an over head bomb that allowed me three huge hits and ran to the Hotel.  I surfed till my body could no longer surf.  Solid point surf in May?  This year anything is possible I guess.

5-9-18 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 45 min
Waves Surfed: 15
Miles Driven: 56
I actually didn’t think I was going to get to surf today.  I had work in the morning for a corporate lunch and then in the evening I was cooking abalone for a UCSB fundraiser that Anthony Bourdain was the key note speaker at.  Turns out the regular tables were selling for ten grand a table and the VIP tables for twenty five grand.  Needless to say it became a who’s who in Santa Barbara event.  From what I heard Katy Perry was there, but I didn’t see her.   I got out of there as soon as cocktail hour ended around 6:45 and decided with the new nw wind swell showing I would high tail it to Emma Wood.  When I got there the wind was pretty cross shore out of the south tearing the faces up a bit.  The surf was solid head high plus and out of time I paddled.  The line up was super tricky to get good ones and then it got dark and I was out there floating around just waiting for a shark to bite off my legs.  I should have just stayed in town and surfed Sand Bar or Mesa Lane.  At leas I got a few.

5-8-18 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
Surf stayed super small and wind was on it when I got off from work.  I decided to save my gas and wait for the new swell to fill in later in the week.

5-7-18 PM Session: 1-2+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 22
Miles Driven: 64
I had work early not that I was missing much.  The buoys had a bit more swell on them and when I checked the cam at the end of my shift it looked clean and somewhat surf-able. I headed south to the Harbor.  Of course the wind was on the rise as soon as I got there.  There was some potential and maybe if I had gotten there an hour earlier I would have paddled.   That was not an option now.  Coming down I noticed a few at Emma and headed back there.  Right when I pulled up a pack of groms just paddled out clogging the few peaks that were coming through.  It wasn’t so good that I had to get out there and with a rising tide only going up to 3.5 ft at 6 pm I was more then willing to chill in my car, read my book, “A Call to Arms” by Hemingway and wait the kiddies out.  After about forty five minutes they began one by one filing out of the water.  I suited and paddled.  It was way worse then it looked and a bit too crossed up.  Really the problem was and has been there that the sand sucks.  I did my twenty waves and got out of there.

5-6-18 No Surfing: 1-2+ ft
It was already windy when I woke up and the swell was no better then the day before.  I was not about to waist anymore gas trying to surf trash.  Instead I spent the day watching the Founders Cup while my chick packed for her family Hawaii trip.

5-5-18 No Surfing: 1-2+ ft
Miles Driven: 78
This flat spell has really come back with a vengeance.  When I woke up there were some clean little waves at C Street on the cam.  Hoping that I may be able to find something to surf I headed south.  Just like yesterday the wind was already on it when I got to the Harbor and there was a contest at the Point.  Over it I turned around and headed home, but not before wasting just a little more gas to check Strand.  At least I had some catering work I picked up at the last minute to help cover my daily obnoxious gas bill.  Before work I watched a portion of the Founders Cup at Kelly Slater’s wave pool.  Look for a blog on this coming soon.

5-4-18 No Surfing: 1-2+ ft
Miles Driven: 72
After hearing about Ryan’s score I decided to get my lazy ass out of bed this morning and head down to the Harbor for a pre-work surf.   Even though the cam was glassy  when I left SB, by the time I got to Ventura it was all blown out and shitty.  I could have taken my fish to the point.  Instead I just went into work earlier and got all my work done through the weekend so I don’t have to go in tomorrow.  Please come back soon waves.

5-3-18 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
Small waves left me less then motivated to get up early to get some waves before work Ryan paddled the Harbor on the incoming tide and got a few fun ones. The flat spell begins.

5-2-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 31
Miles Driven: 78
For about the six straight day in a row the wind was on it yet again this morning before I even woke up. I was temped to not even surf. This impending flat spell looks serious amd therefore I am not about to take anything to surf for granted.  So when I am bitching about it next week at least I can’t feel like I didn’t take full advantage of what was available to me now.  It was super small on the drive south.  I stopped at Ventura Harbor first.  It was windy, choppy and shitty.  I noticed a few off of New Jetty that I could possibly ride on my step down.  Still there was no way I could live with myself if I didn’t look at Strand.  That “what if” factor.  Strand sucked and was actually more windy.  I went back and desperation paddled New Jetty.  I don’t know if it was because the water had warmed up or I was just in the groove, but for how bad it was I actually had a lot of fun.  Then again I managed to ride small shitty waves better then most thanks to my East Coast roots.

5-1-18 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr 45 min
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 78
Today I came  to the realization that my cars is not even a year old yet and I am already at 18,000 miles on it.  The amount of effort it takes to surf the best possible waves up here is ridiculous.  I would rather drive and surf decent waves then settle for garbage close to home.  That being said most of the time the surf I find is the equivalent of a polished shit. The wind was finally light at my house when I woke up this morning.  The buoys showed plenty of NW wind swell in the water though a tad steep.  Rincon was tiny.  I pulled off at Little Rincon cause it sort of looked fun there on my way home yesterday.  There was a clean waist plus wave there and if I had to go to work I may have paddled on my fish, but I was sure I could do better at Strand.  The was actually blowing pretty hard WNW in Ventura. I checked the North End first.  It looked just like yesterday and since I didn’t have the greatest time then I decided to just have a look at the Ship. The waves were solid over head plus on the South End.  Conditions were much more disorganized.  There were three guys out and after watching them get worked and not get great rides for about twenty minutes I decided to just go back to the North Side and paddle.  Though the conditions were a carbon copy of yesterday I was on it today.  I learned which ones to pick and for a solid hour was in a groove getting a handful of really fun waves.  Then the wind came up a bit harder and I got out of sync and then cold.  I still managed a few, but my mojo was gone and I quit.  The water, still freezing was slightly warmer then yesterday.  Looks like a long flat spell is coming so I better get these last few sessions in while I can.