Surfing Ruined My Life

September 2019 Surf Sessions

9-30-19 PM Session: 1-3+ ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 22
Miles Driven: 64
Today was the first day of my monthly corporate client relegating me to afternoons only.  That means getting creative with finding surf and staying out of the wind.  The south wind was tearing up everything similar to yesterday.  Emma Wood and Father Johns were semi clean but tiny.  Ultimately I found myself paddling blow out New Jetty because it had the most size out of any place.  Robbie joined me.  It was basically a Florida session.    That being said I found a few that I made the most of and was actually surfing some what decent for a change.

9-29-19 PM Session: 2-4+ ft, Pitas
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 56
The winds were predicted to be light all day but instead they were up at sunrise blowing out all the beaches and adding channel chop everyplace else. It was a shame too cause there was plenty of swell. Given the lack of enthusiasm I had for the surf my lady and I headed for Strand to look at a few houses that we were potentially livable. After we went for sushi. On the way back I had a look around At the points. Pitas had the most swell but as soon as I jumped in on the wind went south trashing the line up and making it very difficult to surf. Once again I was on a grind of a session. I suppose it better then not surfing.

9-28-19 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Leo Carrillo 
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 28
Miles Driven: 118
Once again the wind came back with a bit of a vengeance  this morning blowing out everything.  Angers wanted to go to Leo and offered to drive.  Left with limited options I went along for the ride.  For whatever reason I thought it wouldn’t have been crowded.  There were about forty guys out and the line up was completely clogged.  After ten minutes of scraping the inside with twenty other guys I decided to just paddle over to the bone yard and that was where I spent the majority of my surf.  I guess I must have made it look too much fun cause two other guys decided to paddle over and give it a shot.  It was cool we all took turns  and had some fun conversations in between sets.  Then I paddled over to Leo and Angers was no where to be found.  I got one through and came in.  Turns out he ran some Asian guy over and dinged his board.

9-27-19 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 34
Miles Driven: 64
The wind was up as early as the sun today.  I had to work at 2 pm leaving me a bit of a window to find something.  I didn’t feel like doing the LA thing and have to race back to work.  New Jetty was peaky and somewhat surf-able despite the wind.  The crowd was light for once.  There was were some A-Frames in the middle of the beach and I attempted to get a few waves.  For the life of me I couldn’t produce any good rides.  The harder I tried the harder I kooked it.  Meanwhile everyone else out there seemed to be killing it.  I managed a few but over all I just felt as I have the entire week, absolutely out of sorts.  Maybe I am in a bit of a surf slump at the moment.

9-26-19 No Surfing: 3-4+ ft
Today was the funeral and reception.  I had to be both a guest and caterer making my job a bit tough.  Luckily Bizarro was nice enough to help me and together we put out an excellent meal to help comfort all of the grievous recipients. I could have maybe groveled something at Mesa Lane or the Pit, but I was in no mood for that.  I heard that the wind laid down before dark and there were waves at Ventura Harbor and Shores.

9-25-19 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 78
I headed back to Strand hoping there would still be enough NW swell for it to be fun.  It was only about waist high with side shore off shore conditions and was rather weak looking.  I headed over to the Harbor to have a look.  For whatever reason the wind was calm and River Mouth look very peaky.  Stoked I suited and ran down the beach.  As soon as I hit the water the wind turned hard SSW adding a fair amount of chop on it.  I was already in the water and forced a session out of it.  To my credit I made the most out of the absolute garbage that was coming in.  The rest of my day was spent preping food for my girl’s grandmother’s funeral reception.

9-24-19 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 78
There were supposed to be Santa Anna’s today. As usual with the first prediction it never materialized. Once again the only place with solid waves was the Strand. It was a bit walled and some what crowded at the Ship. I paddled just the same hoping I would find something. I never did. The entire session I was either in the wrong spot or picked the wrong wave. When I got a good one someone was always in my way. Then the wind came up and my session went from bad to worse. I managed a three turn left with an end section hit and called it quits. Rest of my day was spent shopping and prepping food for my girls grandmothers memorial on Thursday.

9-23-19 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 45
Miles Driven: 78
I had a brand new 5’10 Hacksaw model Clarks Surfboard that I was amping to try out.  Gabe and I made a modification to the tail that so far is feeling very good!!!  I started out at River Mouth since there was some long period south on the buoy.  At the Harbor it was mostly NW sets and stretched.  I headed to Strand where it had plenty of size but had a funky twang on it even though the wind was swirling between SSE and SSW.  I was undecided and decided to wait till Angers showed up to make the call.  While waiting I ran into my friend Norman and the two of us saw a few solid corners.  Enough to cause us to paddle.  The first hour and half of my surf was miserable.  Everything was dumping and closing out in an anger bad way, not a fun boost-able way.  Still despite the tricky conditions I was very pleased with how my new board was performing.  The crowd got gnarly too for what was on offer.  I was looking to get one more in when I got stuffed in the barrel and hit my head so hard on the bottom that I was hearing ringing in my head and saw blurry.  Initially I thought I was going to have vomit.  Since I was in no condition to drive out of there I decided I may as well keep surfing.  At that point I don’t know if it was the bodily harm sacrifice or what, I began picking off lots of fun ones.  Then I noticed that there were some breaking just outside of the Ship and rolling all the way through to the Life Guard Tower.  Those sets were very inconsistent.  I decided to just sit out there and wait.  I managed to get eight really decent three turn lefts to the beach before deciding to call it quits.   Thank you Silver Strand.  The verdict on the new board is so far so good.  It just may be a magic one.

9-22-19 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 48
Miles Driven: 78
Glassy and kill-able was the call at the Ship.  It was a bit crowded when I had checked it, but everyone was spread out and there were peaks from the Ship to the Bowl. By the time I suited and walked up the crowd had dropped to half.  Sage paddle the bowl.  I saw some solid tubes by the Ship and went there.  Though a bit on the dumpy side I managed fists full of tubes.  Everything from back doors, to head ducks, to chandeliers, to in and outs to doggy doors to gnarly shore dump throaty ones.  Whatever tube ride you could imagine was out there.  I had a blast and only got out cause I was exhausted and had a full schedule of open houses to check out at the Strand.  It was strange doing it alone.  My girl’s grandmother passed away suddenly Friday night and she was indisposed as a result.  After the house hunt Strand was still rather glassy for three in the afternoon.  I had to go suit shopping for the unfortunate somber occasion.  Macy’s was having a card members exclusive sale and I scored a very nice dark grey shark skin Calvin Kline suit marked down from $495 to $118 out the door.  Can’t beat those kinds of savings.

9-21-19 PM Session: 1-2 ft, Father Johns
Time in Water: 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 17
Miles Driven: 56
I had prep in the morning for a plattered canapé food drop and then had a wood fire pizza gig in the evening in Carpinteria. I got off around six leaving me just enough light to find a wave and wash the kitchen slime off. After checking everything from Rincon to Emma I just paddled Father Johns which had the most surf-ability. Truthfully I figured at the very least I could watch the sunset from the water. Minus a few dumpy south sets that’s all the surf was worth. Maybe tomorrow🤞.

9-20-19 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 34
Miles Driven: 78
I had a feeling that Strand would have waves this morning when I checked the buoys.  There was a healthy dose of mid period NW swell that screamed Strand.  When I got there I didn’t expect to be greeted with overhead bombers in the South Bowl.  Stoked I tore on my suit and jumped in.  Turns out it was a tad more walled then I had expected and super heavy.  I found myself getting my ass kicked by 3/4s of the waves I took.  I had some really decent views but was hard pressed to make any barrels.  I managed a back door on the inside, though I feel like it was more of a head duck then a real barrel.  My best waves were all rights.  It was nice to feel some winter style juice for a change.   For me it was a real wake up call that I better get my ass in gear cause the NW season is upon us.  The rest of my day was spent making canope for a food drop tomorrow.

9-19-19 AM Session: 1-2+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 26
Miles Driven: 58
Sometimes the mantra its better then it looks doesn’t work. Today was that day.  Actually it was worst then it looked and I should have just fished Ventura Point.  I paddled despite watching the group that was leaving as I was paddling struggle to make rides out of anything.  I really had hopes in the incoming tide turning it on.  It was just weak windy wind swell junk that was very remnant of Florida.  I had just resurrected my Clarks Surfboards Fly Guy after ripping all three fins out of it landing an air reverse on the sand at the Santa Maria River Mouth about three weeks ago.  If I had not had that board under my feet I may have had an even worse time then I did.  I basically spent an hour and half beating my head against the wall in desperation to find something to go home and call it worth a paddle.  It wasn’t as a matter of fact I was worse off for paddling.

9-18-19 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 43
Miles Driven: 78
There was a bit of Steep NW wind swell on the buoys and after a quick look at the Harbor I was pretty sure Strand would be fun.  Angers headed to Strand while I checked Shores just to make sure the combo swell wasn’t pumping there.  As usual the Strand won out.  The Ship side of the Bowl was where it was at with solid to chest to head high with the occasional plus set.  It was a little stretched, but very do-able if you were fast.  Ryan, Angers and I pretty much had the place to ourselves and the froth began.  I got a few really nice left tubes.  Angers was fairing quite well considering his shoulder.  I love Strand I can’t wait to call it home someday.

9-17-19 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 29
Miles Driven: 72
That SE tropical swell finally got into Ventura.  The quality at River Mouth looked pretty average so Ryan and I had a look at Shores.  The tide was a bit fat and swell not quite channeling into there.  Back to River Mouth we went.  He surfed by the Knoll, while I high tailed it past the Mouth where I found some really fun crossed up peaks all to myself.  The whole beach was about as peaky as it gets out there.  If the wind had been off shore instead of SW it could have been the barrel fest of the fall.  Still it was shred-able and I frothed.  It could have been a few feet bigger it would have been all time.  Later that evening the dinner went well I had to work, though later I would get an arbitrary complaint cause the cookies were wrapped in plastic wrap instead of in nice decorative bags.  Its not like you eat the bag!!!  The cookies tasted excellent.

9-16-19 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, County Line
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 31
Miles Driven: 112
I woke up this morning thinking I was going to take the day off.  It looked especially small in Ventura and Jalama was windy.  Angers just back from Florida hit me up wanting to surf.  I cruised south.  Ventura was already windy and terrible by 9:30.  We headed to Malibu thinking it may get some of that tropical in the water.  Plan was to rip Leo, but it was tiny when we got there.  Meanwhile county was taking solid chest plus lefts from the south houses to the middle of the beach.  Most were stretched, but there were a few corners and barrels.  I got two really cherry shacks that made it all worth while.  I also got my share of heavy beatings thanks to the backwash and unpredictable close outs.  It wasn’t epic, but I would say it was a score.  The rest of my day was spent preparing food for a seventy person dinner tomorrow.

9-15-19 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Jalama
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 31
Miles Driven: 126
The south cams and buoys looked tiny. There was enough NW swell out there that I knew Jalama had to have a wave. My lady and I cruised and we were stoked to go up there since I hadn’t been in a few weeks. Last time I was there the wind came up gnarly hard making it not surf-able and s difficult walk back. This time it was glassy and clean with fun peaks from the Campground to Cracks. I paddled between both Cracks and found plenty of fun ones. The rumors are true Jalama has gotten its sand back. I had blast. Definitely one of the most fun surfs I have had in awhile.

9-14-19 No Surfing: 1-3 ft
I had a wedding to work and had to start at ten.  Had the waves been good I would have got up early and sort out a session.  It was small at best and I didn’t miss anything.  The wedding went off with out a hitch.

9-13-19 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 35
Miles Driven: 64
I had one of the most prestigious events of the year and that I have ever worked at the Granada that night.  Luckily I had the morning free to get a surf in to clear my head and get in gear for the great task ahead of me.  Ryan said River Mouth was small but clean and he was paddling.  It was pretty tiny out there.  Coupled with the high tide it was rather slow too.  I found a fun sand bar past the roped off bird area and managed to snag a legit barrel.  It was small but kill-able.  Then the wind came up and trashed it.  The dinner I was working was a fundraiser for the Granada with Carol Bernette as a special guest.  I was in charge of the  canopy, which was spread between two floors and two separate kitchens for 300 recipients of the upper class Santa Barbara, LA and beyond had to offer.   During dinner my responsibility was the specialty meals on which was a filet mignon for Dennis Miller.   Finally I was dumped on family meal and when you put an Italian chef on family meal its going to be everything left over mixed with pasta.  At the end of the night everyone was happy and we were all exhilarated with what we had accomplished.  Its moments like that where I am stoked to be a  chef.

9-12-19 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
Another double shift left me with no time to surf.  From what I heard River Mouth was pretty fun.

9-11-19 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
I had to work a double shift, prep in the morning and a party at night.  I was only left with an early morning window to surf in Santa Barbara, which was completely shadowed by the south swell.  I heard Shores was really fun.

9-10-19 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 37
Miles Driven: 72
The south combo had jumped up a bit and there were some solid NW in the water as well.  River Mouth was walled and New Jetty looked not fun and crowded.  Gordo was at the Shores and said it was worth taking a look at on the south end.  Sure enough there were a few fun looking peaks with a handful of guys spread out.  We were on it.  I got shacked off my ass on my first wave, then followed it with a few rip-able ones.  Then got a three string down the beach that were fun.  After that I got out and ran back up the beach.  For whatever reason I got completely out of sync with the sets and had a hard time finding more good ones.  The out going tide and wind coming up didn’t help the quality till eventually it got borderline not surf-able.  I beat my head against the wall for another hour cause the south was pulsing super hard though it was impossible to nab a good one.

9-9-19 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 56
My day started with a breakfast drop followed by a surf. I had a look at Sands since I was right there thinking there might still be some windswell. It was tiny so I continued south. I had a look at Rincon but it too was small. I headed to Emma since it was decent there yesterday. Sure enough it was clean and about chest high. I wasn’t too keen on it but my friend Andy was looking at it and was amping. I jumped on his stoke band wagon and paddled. It was definitely fun enough. I snagged a few tubes before it got too low tide for the place.

9-8-19 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 22
Miles Driven: 56
I was representing one of the chefs I work for at the 38th annual Santa Barbara Taste of the Town. I didnt get finished till around six. There was lots of wind WNW wind Swell in the water that was unfortunately accompanied by south wind making all the points trash. Emma, though a bit disorganized was solid head plus. I jumped in and it was definitely the largest, heavy surf I have been out in since Mugu a few weeks back. The current was tough as were the rip tides and finding a good wave. Add a crowd of thirty to that and it was a bit difficult. Still I bided my time and got a few really good ones. I had one backside tube that was so deep I couldn’t even see out of it.

9-7-19 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Father Johns
Time in Water: 1.5 hr
Waves Surfed: 28
Miles Driven: 56
I had a wedding to work for none other then the daughter of Mr. NYPD Blue Denis Franz st his Montecito residence. He is some one whom it is always a pleasure to work for and I never hesitate when asked. I didn’t have to be there till 1pm leaving me some time to surf. Once again it was foggy as ever and after multiple surf checks Johns looked the best mainly cause I could see it from the road. As it turned out it was way more closed out and dumpy then I had hoped. With the exception of one tube the rest of the surf was a throw away. As far as the Franz wedding went it was a success as always cause I’m awesome.

9-6-19 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
I had a 15 hour work day, 8 hours of prep for a gig on Saturday and then an anniversary party for 40 people in Montecito. I was left with no time to surf and from what I heard it was just the same trash I had been surfing the past few days anyway. May as well make that money.

9-5-19 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Father Johns
Time in Water: 2 hr
Waves Surfed: 31
Miles Driven: 64
Another day spent chasing this mysterious SE swell that seems to selectively Show itself right as I check a spot and then never again. I had a look at Harbor, Rivermouth was all mixed up and showed no real potential what so ever. New Jetty was crowded and average at best quality. Ryan cruised to the Ventura Point while I headed back to Sea Cliff. Emma was to peaky and a bit crowded. Pitas was a bit high and also very crowded for what it was. Johns right as I pulled up got rocked by a very alluring SE set with only a few guys out. I jumped in and snagged a few quick little tubes. Then about ten other guys mobbed the place making it a bit tough to get a good wave with all the crowd. The decent sets were few and far between. Some dude hit the bottom on a close out and broke his nose. After that a large portion of the crowd left and the tide window for just right before high tide swallowed it for good and I frothed for about an hour before it became complete shore break. I heard Indicator was decent early afternoon. I suppose it best not surfing. The rest of my day was spent in the kitchen on prep.

9-4-19 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1 hr 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 30
Miles Driven: 72
More of the same swell was in the water.  River Mouth when I pulled up got rocked by a solid ten wave SE set that I thought was going to set the tone for the day.  The quality was not the best and considering yesterday I decided to go have a look at Shores.  It was small and very low quality there.  Not sure what to do I decided to just give the River Mouth a go.  Of course the wind came up as soon I paddled out and the SE sets never showed themselves again.  I hung in there and grinded through yet another terrible surf session.

9-3-19 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 72
I was pleasantly surprised by a phone call from Angers that he wanted to surf despite his shoulder injury.  I guess he cant mess it up any worse till surgery so why not surf.  I started at Ventura Harbor hoping that River Mouth would be fun again. There was a tad more NW in the water making more close outs then good ones.  I watched it for a bit and didn’t really see anyone get good rides either at Mouth or New Jetty.  Ryan said that he was paddling Shores near 5th street and that it looked bowly and fun.  Angers met me there and sure enough we saw a few chest plus south sets barrel and even spit.  It was a little tiny for how it was breaking, but we were down for some head dips.  Right off the bat I nailed five little tubes that took me down the beach.  I got out and walked back over to our initial bar and in that time the wind began to come up causing it to get more walled and dumpy with the incoming tide.  Set by set it just kept getting worse till it felt like we were just banging out heads against the wall or the sand in this case trying to get over the ledge on the tiny little dumpers.  It seems that this has been the theme to the majority of my surfs the whole summer.  Why not end it on the same note.

9-2-19 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
Miles Driven: 64
There was a small up tick in the South swell and once again the coast was shrouded in fog from Santa Barbara to Ventura.  I had a look at Everything down to River Mouth.  I walked down to the water’s edge and tried to squint out what was coming in through the fog.  I could make out some rip-able bowls and asked a guy getting out, who confirmed that it was pretty fun.  I ran into Robbie in the parking lot and we paddled.  Turns out it was really fun considering the sand has been so bad out there that I hadn’t surfed it since early August.  We frothed till the tide got too fat and the wind came up.  Overall it was still somewhat sub par with most waves either closing out or dying out, but it was fun to enjoy a peak with just a bud.

9-1-19 AM Session: 2-3 + ft, Guadalupe Dunes
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
Miles Driven: 152
With the same SW/NW combo in the water and holiday weekend crowds I wanted go someplace where I could get away from all of that crap and find a few empty waves to myself.  Jalama was tiny on the cam and I am sure it would have been packed there anyway.  In an effort to do something different my lady and I struck out to the Dunes.  Between the shark hazard and out of the way nature of the spot I knew the odds of finding other surfers was scarce.  I got there and it was pretty foggy making it tough to see the wave quality.  From what I could gather it was on the smaller side.  Not motivated my girl and I took a walk down to the Santa Maria River Mouth so she could shoot pictures of some birds.  There were hundreds of gulls, pelicans and other shore birds out by the mouth.  While this was happening the fog lifted and I noticed a rather fun looking bank getting chest plus south sets.  I ran back to the car, suited up and paddled.  Right off the bat I was getting solid lefts and rights.  Every now and then a head high one would push through.  I went nuts till my last wave where I landed an air in the shore pound and ripped all three fins off my board.  When I walked up the beach  my lady was completely surrounded by gulls.   There had to be over 500 of them.  I am talking a scene out of Hitchcock.  It was just the surf I was looking for.