September 2018 Surf Sessions
9-20-18 AM Session: 1-3 ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 56
Thanks harvest buoy for the shitty intel this morning. Thinking there was more NW wind swell then south swell and considering the fat tide I headed straight for Emma. Upon showing up there it was small and pathetic looking. I was out of time and either had to paddled there or go back and take my chances with Rincon. Hoping it would get better with the slowly dropping tide I paddled. Actually toward the end of my surf it did get almost fun. The whole surf there was way more south then NW. On the way to work Rincon actually looked pretty fun. Go figure.
9-19-18 PM Session: 2-3 ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 4
I had a lunch to work at the Womens Club and then some prep to do in the kitchen after. The prep ran too long for me to go south. That was too bad cause there was enough wind swell that Emma could have been really fun. I drove up to the Lane figuring I would get some junky wind swell and call it day. Instead I was greeted with what may have been the most crowded I have ever seen Mesa Lane. I counted easily 45 plus heads out there. Where do these people come from? The Lane is a terrible shitty wave that if I saw ten guys out I thought it crowded. Fuck, Leo had less people on Monday out and that is a world class wave. Once again I suppose these are the times we live in now and one must except it and make due or not surf. I paddled and picked off some insiders and deep ones till the tide turned that off. I noticed that Dorky’s Left to the south had some mixed peaks and only had three guys on it. Normally its pretty rocky over there, but today there was all sand out there. With this pleasant surprise I began thrashing with a reckless abundance. Somehow I managed a really solid tube then backed it up with a big FS tail drift. I had to call it on that.
9-18-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 27
Miles Driven: 64
The dreaded wonk continues. I stared out at New Jetty, which although the best of the worst was far from looking very fun. I should have ran down to LA and took my chances there. Today was my last day off possibly till November. I picked up so many bookings for the next two months it is about to get insane. I decided to get a few Ventura errands done and would have a look at Emma Wood upon completion. The surf was far from impressive. There was a fair amount of combo making waist to chest bowls coming through up and down the beach. I saw enough to lead me to believe it would be fun on my fish. Somehow I managed a few little double up barrels and few other decent ones. I lucked out and just got into the zone.
9-17-18 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Leo Carrillo
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 14
Miles Driven: 118
Just another day in the wonk that is Ventura at the moment. I had a few hours before meeting up with my parents and with little options Leo seemed like a plausible idea. It was a Monday, following days of swell. How crowded could it be? The answer was very very very very crowded. As a matter of fact obnoxiously crowded. I suppose that is just the way of these things these days. Too many surfers, too few surf spots and even fewer waves. Out of time and options Angers and I paddled. We started off at Bone yards, which was some what surf-able with the fat tide. It didn’t take long before the rising tide killed it forcing us to join the now 40 plus guys strong crowd at Leo. The timbre was dog eat dog out there. Lots of back paddling, burning and line up jockeying. What fun…Whatever I went and said the suicide spot just under the rock hoping for double ups or a last minute scrap if someone misjudged the rock. With this very dangerous method I managed a few alright ones. Then I took off super late on a double up and got washed into the rocks. Luckily I manged to not ding my board or myself. I got a few more, but both Angers and I were not feeling the crowd. Him and an enraged sponger, yes a sponger at Leo? Someone should tell him there are handfuls of wedgy waves that can only be ridden by a sponge both north and south of there. Over it we bailed just in time for me to meet up with my parent for their final day in California. We went up to Lake Cachuma. The water level was even more alarmingly low then the last time I was there. With less water then desirable we decided to head to Alice Keck Park downtown, where though a smaller lake it is also in a smaller setting and has ducks and turtles. This translates to fun for everyone. No visit to Lisanti Land is complete unless I cook a meal. It was harder then usual since my aging parents have many eating restrictions as does my sister. After much debate everyone agreed on a shrimp risotto and butternut squash bisque. It was very nice to have my parents back in my life for a week. It will be just as nice though to get my life back to normal tomorrow.
9-16-18 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles driven: 84
You know I have exhausted every possible option if I find myself surfing Hueneme. Although in the breaks defense from what I heard it was the place to be for the majority of the south swells this summer. Apparently since I left the 805 the coast has been plagued by ugly south winds and wonky mixed up conditions. This morning was more of the same. I checked everything to no avail. Angers suggested we go give Hueneme a desperation paddle and it was on. The north side of the pier had a wedgy crossed up close out that looked boost-able at the very least. Turns out it was way more heavy and dumpy then it looked making that air section a suicide mission. I did somehow manage to find a couple of in and out barrels courtesy of the cross up. I had on three turn right going back towards the pier that ended up being my best ride of the surf. On my last one I just about shot the pier. Basically we made lemonade out of lemons as only a guy from Jersey and a guy from Florida could with such conditions. After that I met up with my parents for a little Ventura breakfast. Then we all met up with Adela and went up to her family’s ranch in the Santa Rita Hills. Finally the evening was finished off in Solvang with wood fire pizza for all at Cecco.
9-15-18 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Willow Creek
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 18
Miles Driven: 74 (From Sea Side, Monterey)
Last night My family and I decided to go out on the town of Monterey. We hit up The Fish Hopper restaurant on Cannery Row, which going into I figured the food was going to be average at best considering how touristy the place looked and it’s location. As it turned out all of our entrees were wonderfully cooked and very tasty. They even made a special garlic free swordfish dish for my dad cause he is allergic. After dinner my sister, my girl and I met up with some friends of ours downtown for some drinks and shenanigans. When all was said and done everyone was feeling very good. It only took four bottles of Champagne and shots of Grappa. My sister ended up getting completely “white girl wasted” as they say, took a few spills and puked all over her bed making for a very fun clean up the next morning before being able to evacuate our Air B&B rental. As a result I got a late start leaving and decided to forgo looking for waves around the peninsula and find something in Big Sur on the way home. Our friends told us about a purple sand beach called Pheiffer Beach and we decided to take a quick detour and check it out. Though a bit longer then a quick detour, more like a 30 minute drive each way from HWY 1 and then a little hike, it was more then worth it to check out this beautiful pristine purple sand beach. There were even a few sea caves that shot out water when hit by a wave. The only downside was that it was extremely windy due its facing and wind tunnel like exposure. After that it was time to go find some surf. I had a look at Fullers, but it was about double over head plus and way too heavy looking for me to want to charge on my 5’10. All I can say is, besides being gnarly localized, having to traverse a steep poison oak riddled trail and dealing with all the boulders on the paddle out, the wave itself is no joke. Its definitely an expert only wave. I checked a few other spots before paddling out at windy but surf-able Willow Creek. Thanks to the on shore wind it was breaking even closer to the rocks then normal. Still I made the most of it and found a few fun ones. The real problem with Willow is that the best section leaves out dry reef if you boost or hit it and if you bring a turn too far into the flats you will end up on the rocks as well. From there it was the long trek back to Santa Barbara thus concluding another jaunt up north.
9-14-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Asilomar
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 53
After yesterday’s less then desirable surf I decided to have a look about at some of the other breaks Monetery has to offer. After checking everything all the way up to Moss Landing it had become quite apparent that Asilomar is the best of the worst on this particular south swell. I jumped in and today being the fact that it was a little bit larger I opted for my short board, which made the dumpy conditions a bit more manageable then my fish. I had a few boosts and hits, but it was pretty much more of the same as yesterday.
9-13-18 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Asilomar (Monterey)
Time in Water: 1 hr 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 29
Miles Driven: 15 (from Sea Side)
I woke up in our Air BnB in Sea Side and it was Sunny out, a rarity in this part of California. The wind was still down and with the minor NW/SW combo I decided Asilomar was my best bet. My sister and girl friend came along. Sure enough there were clean-ish waist to chest high bowls up and down the beach. The crowd was focused on two peaks on the north and south end of the beach. I saw some fun looking boost-able lefts in the middle with no one on it. I paddled on my fish and as it turned out the waves were way more closed out and dumpy then I would have liked. That being said I did manage a few good barrels and boosts before my time was done out there. From the surf my family and I enjoyed a nice meal in Pacific Grove followed by a trip up to Moss landing to see the otters and then we continued north to Santa Cruz to the pier. While on the pier we saw a group of grey whales jumping out of the water, not to mention enjoyed the usual antics of all the seals that live under the pier.
9-12-18 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 64
Talk about deja vu only slightly larger, more hallow and less crowded then yesterday. It didn’t take long for me to have my suit on and in my first deep barrel. My first four waves were all draining barrels. My fifth wave was a screamer and would have been the barrel of the day for me. I was a bit deep and stood up a little too early, coupled with the light off shores I found myself careening over the falls as a barrel you could have drove a truck through spun off with out me. I was pissed and immediately went on the hunt to redeem myself. As the tide got higher the good ones became more inconsistent and the barrels few and far between. The few drainers that did exist I found myself always either a bit too deep or shallow for. Angers decided to go to Leo and not get tubed. My parents were meeting me at my apartment in SB after 12:30 thus even though the wind was still down I called it quits. After the surf I met up with my folks and sister and we headed up the PCH through Big Sur to Monterey were we rented a house for the next few days.
9-11-18 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 64
Its nice to see that the morning off shores are finally starting to make their way back into the VTA. I was greeting by clean chest to head high barreling A-Frames. Angers was already there with his boy Tim from Colorado who had kindly obliged to film us. Stoked we ran down the the River Mouth where we found a host of fun peaks. A first I seemed to be out of position for everything. Then I stroked into a solid back door tube and from there on in I managed to be in the right spot every set. Angers on the other hand found himself always in the wrong spot or on the wrong one. Unfortunately our froth was short lived as the wind and impending high tide put a damper on our good time. Still we were both stoked for what we got. The rest of the day was spent gardening and preparing for the arrival of my parents and sister tomorrow. My sister has never come out to visit me in the twelve years I have lived in Santa Barbara.
9-10-18 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 28
Miles Driven: 64
I didn’t know what to expect today. Once again there was lots of combo swell brewing, but also a rather high am tide right smack in the middle of the morning surf. Emma looked small so I continued to River Mouth. Finally it was a clean morning for a change. The high tide had definitely made the bars fat. With the slight rise in the swell the sets were looking fun enough to rip. I paddled and Angers met me a little later. We focused on the bars directly in front of the mouth. Maybe I was tired from yesterday’s froth because I was very lethargic out there and had a very hard time picking good ones. Angers on the other hand got on a roll and kept it up the entire session. I got one over head bomb that I managed to nice top turn into the barrel and an end section hit. Besides that I was either too deep or too far on the shoulder to really make anything count. Then the wind came up and put the kibosh on the surf. The rest of my day I spent working. I got the privilege of taking all the salmon mouse cups from Saturday that were left over and taking out the mouse to be molded into a taurine. It was quite the irony. After that I had a high high end dinner party in Montecito to cook for.
9-9-18 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, Zeros
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 35
Miles Driven: 120
My girl wanted to do some shopping down at the Camarillo outlets. The plan was to surf first and shop later. A very thick and damp marine layer coupled with a shitty onshore eddy changed the plan to shop first, surf later. I figured with all the south swell I could definitely find something down in LA. I was also banking on the Sunday afternoon crowd reduction due to the Monday scaries. Unfortunately we finished earlier then I had anticipated and got to the beach in what was still the height of the crowd still. Leo was packed and very average looking with the drained out tide. Zeros was it’s usual whatever and it was packed also. I had a look south at Matador and the like, but those spots rarely ever look fun to me. Finally I resolved just to paddle Zeros. For starters I always surf that shitty wave well and get decent shots out there too. I called Angers and he met us. The surf was on. Of course as soon as we paddled the wind came up. Now that all the kelp is gone it doesn’t take long to tatter up the surf. On the bright side the crowd dropped to a very manageable size. Despite that people still found a way to get burn me or get in the way of my rides. Somehow no matter how bad the waves got I was on a tear and had a super session. Angers on the other hand had a hate session. All that chop and mush really makes it tough on the back hand. After the surf we ate at this horrible Mexican restaurant in Ventura. Hey, at least I didn’t have to cook.
9-8-18 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
I had to go into work to do some what I thought was going to be some light prep. I figured at the latest I would be done by five then go for an evening session. There was plenty of SW/NW combo in the water too. As it turned out I had to create some very intricate single portion Salmon mouse, caviar cups, 1,028 to be exact. End result I didn’t get done till 8 pm making it a solid 11 hour day. Like I always say, when I work I work and when I don’t I don’t and there is nothing in between.
9-7-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Leo Carrillo
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 12
Miles Driven: 120
Angers got to the Harbor first today and wasn’t feeling it. Considering yesterday’s score and the fact that there was even more south in the water made us decide to head back to Leo and hope for some tasty right walls. Instead we were greeted with gutless tasty mush burgers. The tide was still pretty high and we hoped for at the very least a push and paddled. I guess thirty other guys had the same idea we did and mobbed the place. The end result was a pack so tight at the rock it was nearly impossible for anyone to even turn around to catch a wave. I sat out the back for easily thirty minutes waiting for real set. Of course when it came the one I was in position for was a close out. Maybe if it wasn’t so crowded I may have been able to high line the face to the shoulder, but with twenty people bailing boards, duck diving and fleeing for the shoulder I was stuck doing a wide bottom turn fucking myself. After that I went to the inside and just started scrapping close outs and mistakes. Soon I noticed Angers had left. I figured he was just changing his fin configuration and kept surfing. A half hour past and he still didn’t make it back out. Since the surf sucked anyway I decided I might as well go make sure the guy was alright. As it turned out he stepped on a snail and its shell went all the way into his foot. He had to pull it out and then was left with an annoying deep puncture wound ended his run. I could have paddled back out, but I too had my share of the garbage and decided to right the session off as a loss. Oh and on another note why has it become perfectly acceptable to ride a soft board anytime, any conditions any where?
9-6-18 PM Session: 2-4+ ft, Leo Carrillo
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 135
Yesterday we were blessed with decent enough waves and wind, today not so much. The wind was on it from when I woke up. Angers had already told me not to bother having a look and just come to his house to go south. I looked anyway just to rule it out. New Jetty looked alright, but with twenty guys already out and another twenty in the lot, not to mention how fat it looked with the tide I was not frothy on it at all. The Mouth and knoll were just torn up, gutless and super fat. The plan was to head to Leo considering the wind. Of course the one day that Leo is the best wave in a 70 mile radius there happens to be a life guard surf contest. They were allowing surfing on the shoulder as long as you didn’t interfere with the competitor rides. Not really wanted to scrap their scraps we had a look all the way down to Surfrider. Nothing looked as good and the call was to just go back to Leo and take our chances with the contest. By this time there were a fair amount of competitors and others free surfing making the scrap even more annoying. We team surfed the shit out of the inside and for the most part unless burned got whatever managed to come through. Luckily the first two heats we surfed during were the women and their margin of error was high allowing us to pick off some very good second hand rides. After that the men were way more on it and we were stuck with inside close outs and the occasional error or wide one. It wasn’t the session we were hoping for, but we both agreed it was the best we were going to find today. As far as our personal heat went. we decided it to be a draw.
9-5-18 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth/Surfers Knoll
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 38
Miles Driven: 64
The south swell jumped up just a tad from yesterday and it was actually glassy at the Harbor, a rare anomaly these days. New Jetty looked alright and there were peaks from the Knoll to the River Mouth. It was still a bit fat with the tide and there were like twenty guys on it. I wasn’t super stoked on it, but figured it would get better with the tide. Looks like all of the sand has shifted to upper River Mouth and the Knoll. I started on the River Mouth end and actually got a few sick lefts, even found a barrel. It had all the making of a potential super session as the waves were only getting better with the tide. All good things have to come end, sometimes before they even begin. Today was one of those days cause three waves later the wind went south, which steadily trashed the session. There were still a few good ones here and there, but the thunder was lost. I got a few more and called it. Still, its good to be surfing consistently for a change.
9-4-18 AM Session: 2-3 ft, County Line
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 31
Miles Driven: 112
I had to cruise down to Ventura to settle up accounts with both my glasser and my blank cutter. There wasn’t too much on the buoy, but I figured between my two new fishes I would find something to surf. The Harbor had some SE pulses coming in. Unfortunately the wind was already beginning to take a toll on it. I called Angers to see what he thought about heading south. We were both in the hopes that more of the south energy would show there. It wasn’t much bigger then Ventura. County had a few lines coming in on the reef and a very light crowd. It was perfect conditions to try out my new Clarks Fly Guy model. Angers had his new Clarks Interceptor. It was time for a full on grovel fest. At first it was nothing but terrible low tide crumblers. As the tide began to fill in some fun chest high lines. I got in a groove and found a few really fun ones down the reef. This was short lived as the wind we fled up north had finally caught up with us trashing what small ride-ability there was out there. For once I took a heat at County Line, though a marginal victory at that. Good times.
9-3-18 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
What can I say for myself besides the fact that I got trashed at the Wild Cat possibly celebrating the successful completion of the latest Clarks Surfboard batch. Anyhow too liquor always leads to more liquor, which lead to me being pretty much useless the entire day. Angers had hit me up early and said conditions were not all that worth it any way. I had a look at Mesa Lane before dark and it was worth a grovel on my new fish. When I looked in my trunk I was out of wax, it was too late to buy any and new board and no wax incorporated with shitty waves just seemed like a bad idea.
9-2-18 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 29
Miles Driven: 64
After a pretty standard night out last night it took me a bit of time to rouse and get Gabe up and out of the house. The buoys had dropped a bit making Strand a no go. Angers we met Angers at the Harbor and though there were a few good bars by the knoll the wind was already getting on it. Emma had looked fun from the 101. It was also gang busters packed as well. With little other options our hands were forced and back to Emma we went. Gabe over it decided to get a jump of the boards at the factory. Angers and I put our battle armor on and went for a grovel. There had to be thirty guys on the Toll Booth Peak and another fifteen or so spread out along the rest of the beach. I started in the pack. It didn’t take long for me to get frustrated and work my way south till I was on the Life Guard Tower peak where I noticed a closed out wedge left that looked all kinds of boost-able. At this point my session turned on as I found myself launching airs bigger then the actual waves I was surfing. God holiday weekends suck. I went back to the factory to help Gabe wrap up the batch.
9-1-18 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 32
While working on boards I got a text from Ryan that Emma was solid and I should get there if I could. Around six we were just about wrapping it up and I headed to the Wood. He was right it was pretty much on, head high plus with solid sets coming through. There was a bit of a crowd on it, but there was also lots of waves. I paddled the most north peak and was getting a some really step racy rights. The problem was it wasn’t really hallow, but a bit too steep to rip the top off. Once again I found myself struggling to get any really good ones though I saw lots of good waves coming through. Still I found my way into enough fun ones to make it a somewhat fun surf. Then it was home for some dinner and night out at the Wild Cat with the boys.
9-1-18 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 30
Miles Driven: 39
It took a little bit to rouse Gabe and get him on the road. I had fielded multiple assurances that Strand had some waves. Judging by the buoys I had faith the Ship would be fun. Emma looked good again on the way down, but it was also packed. Gabe and I got to the Ship and sure enough it was chest plus with a light crowd with some fun looking lines. There was a bit of surface texture on it. The faces were clean and we were on it. Angers showed up a half hour later and we had ourselves a surf. The tide came up a bit fast causing a bit too much backwash and wonk. I was trying to learn a new board and the difficult conditions were not helping. Finally the tide got so high it was borderline not surf-able. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the shapping bay helping Gabe.
