Surfing Ruined My Life

September 2024 Surf Sessions

9-30-24 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 21
Miles Driven: 10
I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the surf getting into the Ship. Unfortunately I was less than enthusiastic about the heavy crowd that was on it.  To be honest a lot of the bigger sets were pretty stretched.  Hoping for a miracle I drove over to Hollywood but it wasn’t happening over there.  I bit the bullet, called Biz to come film and paddled the ship.  For once Bizarro was in good company as there were seven other filmers on the sand.  What a circus Strand has become, but then I suppose I’m part of the problem so I shouldn’t complain.  It was no matter, I got plenty of solid head high plus lefts off the Ship to stoke me out despite the crowd.   I was stoked to actually get some clips in waves over waist high for a change.  It’s been a very long flat summer folks.   I was hoping the crowd might die down but word was out and people just kept coming. When I quit there were easily over a hundred guys out.   Looked like everyone from Malibu, Ventura and Santa Barbara was getting theirs along with the regulars.  From what I heard it was good all day but also crowded all day.  It makes sense considering that Ventura Point, Ventura Harbor and Strand were really the only spots getting any swell from Malibu to Santa Barbara.  My afternoon was spent taking care of some office work.  

9-29-24 AM Session: 3-4+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1hr 15 min
Waves Surfed: 18
Miles Driven: 10
As good as it was yesterday that is how bad this morning was.  I should have figured as much since I had the day off and brought my wife along to film.  At the very least there was still size, chest plus, but conditions were all wonky, backwash riddled with some channel chop on it, not to mention crowded.  There wasn’t many options due to the angle of the swell so I paddled the Ship. That same clown was out with another group of groms giving a lesson or whatever.  Dude is a Malibu guy and a good surfer.  You think he’d know better.  I guess anyone will do anything for a buck these days.  The waves were definitely as difficult to surf as they looked, dangerous too.  It’s always on those weird days that I end up hurting myself.  Luckily I got my waves in unscathed and even scored a few  b-clips.  After the surf my wife and I did brunch before heading home to put up the Halloween decorations.  That’s what you do when you own a home.  You store boxes of holiday shit in your garage eleven months a year so that you can spend a month staring at this crap you bought cause you couldn’t help yourself as a consumer only to pack it up thirty days later for another year.  My life is sooo exciting.  We ended the day with our usual afternoon round of golf.  I was all over the place and shot a 64.  My wife beat me with a 63.  These scores are on nine holes.  We are definitely not shooting at the pro level.

9-28-24 AM Session: 3-5+ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 15
Miles Driven: 10
This morning was some of the best waves I’ve seen in months and the best Strand since May.  Unfortunately I had to be in Santa Barbara at noon, thus limiting my surf time.  The line up was also quite busy with easily 100 guys spread out from the Ship to the middle of the bowl.  I paddled the Ship and despite the crowd managed to get whatever waves I wished and the ones I got were very good rides.  Some dude was giving surf lessons/training to a group of groms.  I always hate when these guys decide to take their students into a crowded line up on the day of days.  There isn’t any regulation in the water anymore and I’m not the one to do it.  I always get my share of waves anyway.  I heard it was fun till around 3pm not that it did me any good since I was cooking and prepping for three weddings up in Santa Barbara.  After all that I accompanied my wife to her cousin’s traditional Mexican dance recital at the Majorie Luke Theatre.  I’m not one to be taken by amateur performances but they did an incredible job. Hopefully tomorrow will still be fun.

9-27-24 AM Session: 2-3+ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1hr 45mins
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 12
The surf had dropped a bit today though there were still plenty of chest high waves to be had in the Bowl. The problem was the majority of them were just dumpy close outs with nothing to grab onto.  There were some tubes but they were a little small to finagle your way out of.  I watched one random guy snap his board in half on his first wave.  I got hit with my board in the leg trying to force my way out of a tube.  The place wanted carnage. I fought the good fight for way too long telling myself I was going to get that one epic ride, which never came.  That being said it was still better than the majority of surf we had all summer.  The rest of my day was spent finishing up my ding repair cue for the week.  Got a board that needs repair? Hit me up.  I’m always taking ding work.

9-26-24 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 10
I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up and saw some real swell on the buoys.  Maybe it’s finally becoming fall after this very long surf drought.  The recent weather feels more like spring time than fall.  Every morning has had a thick marine layer. Some mornings it even felt like rain.  Then the afternoons have been very windy.  Maybe global warming really is happening.  The numbers looked alright for Strand.  Due to the west angle and period of the swell most sets were rather stretched.  I saw a few inconsistent lefts coming in by Tower 5 and paddled.  Good waves were few and far between.  At the very least I had the place to myself.  The majority of the crowd was focused in the bowl.  I probably had five really fun rides.  My afternoon was spent fixing dings and packing another box of boards headed to Florida. Looks like this swell is suppose to run through the weekend with a possible new swell to fill in the middle of next week. 

9-25-24 AM Session: 1-3+ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr 15m
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 2
During this two month long flat spell I never have let myself miss two days in a row.  So after taking off the past two barely surf-able days I decided to paddle the tiny knee to thigh high waves that were coming in off the south side of the pier.  There was some wind on it but the waves were still manageable.  Actually somehow I managed a four turn waist high right.  At the very least it felt good to surf.  Looks like there is some mid period NW swell that is going to fill in the next few days.  After the surf I had another full day of ding repair followed by packing up a box boards that is heading to Florida. 

9-24-24 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
Miles Driven: 2
I had hopes of surfing today but once again it was just about knee high.  Every now and then maybe a thigh high wave rolled in.  The shape was good and it was glassy, but the waves were too inconsistent and small to paddle.  Supposedly more south swell was going to fill in for the afternoon/evening.  I finally got garage door guy over to my house to replace my destroyed door after it fell off the track back in June.  Now I have this super cool door that is so quiet when it opens and closes I feel like I have a ninja garage door.  I got to work on ding repair and when the afternoon came around the wind was up and all the cams looked small.  I decided to just keep on working.  I’ll definitely surf something tomorrow.

9-23-24 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
Miles Driven: 2
Well what can I say today was just another god awful day too small to consider a paddle.  Hueneme was barely knee high, cold and rainy.  I got word that Harbor and Strand were similar.  I had errands to run this took advantage of the lay day.  In the evening I had to work a catering gig up in Ojai where the weather was a surprising 93F. Meanwhile when I left Hueneme it was barely 60F.  Looks like another tiny day tomorrow.

9-22-24 AM Session: 2-3+ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 14
Miles Driven: 20
Hueneme was on the smaller side.  I got word that Ventura Harbor had a chest high wave and drove over.  Sure enough there were some stretched out corners in the chest high range to be had.  I thought I saw a few lefts down by the River Mouth but once out there realized it was stretched.  There were easily thirty guys spread from the Knoll to Mouth.  Right after I paddled the wind came up to add injury to insult.  I forced a very frustrating hour before throwing in the towel.  After the surf my wife and I went to brunch over at Hollywood Beach.  There was an English car show going on.  We were stoked to check out a solid collection of British automobiles.  Our Sunday golf outing was on the chilly side.  Fall is officially here weather wise.  I shot a 67.

9-21-24 AM Session: 2-3+ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 14
Miles Driven: 10
There was enough wind swell to warrant a look at Strand.  When I walked up I saw a couple chest high waves off the Ship that sent me back to my car.  I knew with the impending six foot high tide my window was going to be an hour at best.  I got out there and smashed a couple.  The rights were better than lefts, a rarity for the that side of the beach.  After about a half hour the tide really began to shut it down.  Towards the conclusion of my hour I was pretty much riding shore break.  I probably should have surfed Hueneme and got a longer surf window.  It did feel good to catch a few Ship bowls. Surprisingly I had the day off, which is rare for a catering chef to ever get a Saturday.  My wife and I did brunch and we concluded the day with a sunset stroll on the Ventura Pier.

9-20-24 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
Miles Driven: 2
There was a small up tick in the wind swell just enough to allow Rockside to break through the extreme six foot high tide. There were a handful of guys spread out and some small but kill-able waist to chest high peaks up and down the beach.  It was nothing special but palatable at the very least.  Forrest was claiming that he found some head high barrels over at the Ship on dead high tide.  I was a little skeptical but who knows.  The rest of my day was spent working a wedding up in the Santa Ynez Valley.

9-19-24 AM Session: 1-3 ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 16
Miles Driven: 2
Looks like we are back into the extreme morning high tides again.  That plus small swell definitely didn’t bode well for my AM session.  As a matter of fact the only thing that was going for it was the light offshore winds.  The Pier had some waist plus waves peeling off both sides. My friend AJ was out on the south side and I joined him.  With the six foot high tide right snack in the middle of the surf we were basically surfing shore break.  I entertained myself by pulling into quick views before escaping through the back.  I did get one or two turns in as well.  It was fine since my time was limited having to be in SB at noon for a charity fundraiser I was catering. Just another sub par Southern California surf day in the books.

9-18-24 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1 hr 15 min
Waves Surfed: 14
Miles Driven: 18
Hueneme was unfortunately a sad version from yesterday and to add injury to insult the wind was south.  I cruised over to the Harbor where there appeared to be fun looking lefts up and down the beach.  Of course once out there I realized the waves were mostly walled with the very occasional corner.  I did manage a few fun lefts but they were scarce.  The rest of my day was spent fixing dings.  Why does it feel like we have went back into spring instead of fall?  It’s certainly been a very strange year.

9-17-24 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 27
Miles Driven: 2
Today was quite the surprise as I was greeted with clean chest plus peaks up and down the beach.  Rockside seemed to look the best.  Lucky for me when I paddled everyone decided to leave. I found a few tubes and countless kill-able ones.  I’m claiming the best Rockside I have surfed all season.  Every now and then the Hueneme window can work in one’s favor. What a super fun surf.  Too bad I didn’t film. The rest of my afternoon was committed to ding repair.  

9-16-24 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
Miles Driven: 2
I was hoping to surf today but all conditions pointed to no.  Early on a near shore gale was already whipping out of the WNW.  Little waves lapped into Hueneme but were hardly surf-able.  I probably could have found a wave at Leo, except I wasn’t in the mood to drive that far for meager surf. Plus I had a catering gig in Santa Barbara in the afternoon and I hate driving south to go back north.  Instead I caught up on some office work that I had been way too behind on.  Some really messy wind swell did pick up for the afternoon, but it was pretty junky. As far as the gig went it was a budget week day wedding, which means definitely small tippers.  Looks like some wind swell for tomorrow.  Photo from Surfline Ventura Point cam.

9-15-24 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 22
Miles Driven: 2
Once again I was pleasantly surprised with the unprecedented size of the surf on par with yesterday, maybe even a hair bigger.  The south side of the Pier tickled my fancy.  There was a left out by the life guard towers that peaked my interest.  When I walked up the beach I saw a couple of really sick looking right bowls off the pier that captivated my attention.  I pulled into a couple of close outs right off the bat.  Then the life guards decided to crowd me twice as hard core then yesterday.  This time they were like ten strong and too many for me to vibe off.  Rather then be pissed off for the duration of my surf I decided to paddle down the beach where I saw that left. My boy AJ was out and the two of us traded off lefts and rights for over an hour till the tide killed it.  After the surf my wife and I had a gander at the Oxnard Mexican Independence Day festival in downtown Oxnard.  It was all sorts of fun.  We ended the day with a round of golf where I shot a 57.  My best score yet. 

9-14-24 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 20
Miles Driven: 2
Thinking it was just going to be another tiny day of surf I told my wife to just stay in bed if she wished and not bother filming.  We have some many tiny days in the can I’ve lost count this summer.  I even brought my Clarks Surfboards Mr. Pocket Model with me over groveling on my Bizzle grovel shortboard.  To my surprise there were solid chest high waves coming through up and down the beach.  Rockside was crowded as it usually is on the weekends these days.  The south side of the Pier was on occasion doing its right bowl thing and the left going back towards it wasn’t bad either.  Of course in classic Hueneme fashion there were also plenty of stretched ones too.  I paddled the south side and was enjoying a solo session till all the life guards decided to paddle out and crowd me.  I wasn’t having it and was very aggressive about controlling the peak off the Pier.  I don’t mind sharing with regular surfers but nothing pisses me off more then when these beach jockeys all crowd the spot on their paid pt break.  Shit, my taxes pay for them.  Ultimately I got tired of playing that game, caught a solid three turn right and bailed.  My afternoon was spent working a wedding at a venue on top of Rincon Hill with a 180 degree view of the coast from the venue. You could see all the way to Ventura on one side and all the way to Santa Barbara on the other.  It was quite the spot.  I posted some photos of the venue on my Instagram if you’re interested.  Actually Rincon had a waist plus wave rolling down the point that from that vantage looked pretty fun, not that I could surf it.  The event was a plated affair for 152 heads and a bit more hectic than I usually like.  That being said the food service went off famously which is the expertise I am known for.

9-13-24 AM Session: 1-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 36
Miles Driven: 2
It was small but perfect shape and conditions coming into the south side of the pier.  As an added bonus no one was out.  Stoked I jumped in.  Though inconsistent there were some really decent pier bowls to be had.  My friend AJ paddled and the two of us ended up surfing it till the tide got too low.  As I was walking out I noticed that all the migratory shore birds had showed up for the season.  There were willets, wimbrills, least terns and elegant terns.  They were quite the sight and symbolize the beginning of fall.   The rest of my day was spend finishing up the most recent batch of Clarks Surfboards. 

9-12-24 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Silver Strand
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
Miles Driven: 10
This morning I was awoken by the shaking of 4.7 earthquake over by Point Mugu that got my whole house rumbling.  Lucky it was a roller and nothing besides my salt shaker on my dining room table fell over.  On top of that a 15ft grey whale washed up dead on Rockside at Hueneme. There was a definite bump up on the buoys in the form of NW wind swell, enough to warrant a look at Strand.  I got word that Emma was good but packed with every pro surfer in the area.  The Ship had a chest high bowl rolling off it with no one out. The ocean was choppy but the faces were clean.  I paddled with this dude Dave whom body boards and though on the weaker side there were some two to three turn runners.  The period on the swell was only six seconds making tracking down a good wave difficult as the waves were basically all over the place.  The 3.5 ft tide wasn’t making things any easier either. That being said it was still the best surf I have had in a week and the water was shockingly warm.  I was sweating in my 4/3 thinking the water was going to be as cold as yesterday.  The rest of my day was spent sanding surfboards. 

9-11-24 AM Session: 1-2 ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 12
Miles Driven: 2
It’s weird that the more years pass the disconnected I feel with the horrific events that took place on 9/11/2001.  It has been over twenty years but still it seems a bit callous that all I cared about was the minuscule surf on offer. No matter how bad the surf is I never miss two days in a row if I can help it.  The pier had some really junky wind swell coming through with the very occasional south set. I paddled the south side with three other kids.  The water had become very cold thanks to all the wind we had yesterday and of course I wore my comp suit.  The air was chilly as well.  The waves sucked and the water was cold.  I was having such a terrible time I didn’t even make an hour.  The rest of my day was spent sanding surfboards. 

9-10-24 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
Miles Driven: 2
Whatever wind swell had kicked up last night was all but gone this morning.  Hueneme was completely not surf-able.  I heard CC found some little ones at Malibu on the mid day hour and Jeffery surfed some meager, crowded, windy New Jetty. I’ll pass on all of that. I did a little bit of yard work that had been put off for far too long before heading back to the glass shop for a shorter day of hot coating.  Photo from Hueneme Pier.

9-9-24 No Surfing: 1-2+ ft
Miles Driven: 2
Not only was it small today but also windy.  Hueneme was surf-able but absolutely horrid.  I had three boards to laminate and decided to head into work early and maybe have a look in the afternoon when more wind swell was supposed to fill in.  As usual glassing took all day and although I could have found something at Emma Wood for the last hour of light I decided to cruise home feeling rather exhausted from a full day in the fumes.  Photo from the cstreet cam.

9-8-24 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 2
I was completely ready to pass on the surf today.  Then I checked the surf forecast for the week and realized that the horrible waist plus junky waves that were in front of me may be the biggest I was going to see for at least three to four days.  Reluctantly I paddled over on Rockside.  The left off tower 4 was kind of doing its against the grain of the wind thing keeping the face clean and some what rip-able.  That being said it was rather inconsistent and definitely low quality.  I must have made it look fun cause Rex paddled over.  I couldn’t surf too long as I had to be in Santa Barbara by noon for a catering gig.  Unfortunately the gig was on the whale watching boat the Condor.  Even though I had vowed never to do boat gigs again with the surfboard business a little slow my hands were tied.  I needed to take the work.  Of course there was a little bit of wind swell in the water, which rocked the boat enough at times to make putting together intricate canapés very trying.  At the same time my servers had to use all their prowess not to lose the food on their trays, while some guests were trying to keep the food in their stomachs.  All in all it was quite the nightmare.  Let me reiterate how I hate working on boats.

9-7-24 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Surfer’s Knoll
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 17
Miles Driven: 18
There was still a bit of south left in the water, unfortunately it was also coupled with a very short period wind swell and lots of channel chop.  Pat was in town and wanted to surf.  Surfers Knoll looked to be the best option, but upon paddling it was nothing more than junky close outs with no room to get anything off.  The surf was one of the worst sessions I’ve had in the past few weeks and that’s saying a lot considering how bad the waves have been lately.  I didn’t get anything worthwhile.  My wife was filming and I doubt I secured even a C clip.  After the surf Pat, my wife and I cruised to Best Breakfast in Port Hueneme followed by a romp at the Port Hueneme Beach Festival.  They had a super slide and since I haven’t been down one since I was a kid I decided to give it a go.  I can tell you this you go a heck of a lot faster down those things as an adult. Luckily I managed to come out unscathed.  I watched some lady go down after me and she hit her head pretty hard on the last bump.  We ended the day with a round of golf.  I played the worst game I’ve shot in over a month, an 88.  Oh well, at least the slide was fun.

9-6-24 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 19
Miles Driven: 2
There was a bump up in the south swell this morning. Shores was my first stop but it was a bit too small and the tide was already getting too high.  With limited time, I had yet another full day of work over at the glass shop, I decided to head back home to Hueneme and just paddle.  The north side of the Pier looked the most peaky and also had no one on it.  The south side and Rockside were both rather crowded by Hueneme standards and definitely not as good. Though a little walled there were some really fun lefts that were going against the wind grain.  I managed some two and three turn lefts and that is a rarity for Hueneme.  I would have surfed longer but work was calling.  If I had a free day I definitely would have went south down the PCH to LA.  I’d say it was some of the best, bad surf I’ve had in about a week.  Later I heard Jeffrey and Pat lucked into a fun window at Surfers Knoll.  Pat had just got into town from North Carolina.  As for me I had a very productive day in the glass shop.

9-5-24 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 17
Miles Driven: 2
There was still a bit of south swell in the water and there was also some local wind swell.  Hueneme was almost peaky.  The Pier wasn’t really happening so I paddled over at Rockside.  There were a handful of guys out. It wasn’t much more than dumpy close outs of weak shrinking shoulders, classic Rockside.  I got a few hits and turns in before calling it a day.  After the surf I had to cruise over to the glass shop as I had a new batch of boards I needed to begin glassing.  

9-4-24 AM Session: 1-3+ ft, Malibu
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 70
Hueneme was looking windy, crowded and a bit walled.  There were some south swell sets coming in that lead me to believe it might be worth going to Malibu.  I called CC and he was down so we cruised.  The water is like 75F right now there and beautifully blue.  The weather was a perfect 80 F, one of those immaculate Southern California beach days.  The only thing missing was surf.  We ended up paddling Third Peak with Zach and a handful of other guys. The lefts were better than the rights because it was so tiny the rights were scraping the reef the whole way down the line making it very dangerous.  I for one didn’t want to lose a fin in two foot surf.  I did manage a few but it was pretty grindy out there.  The rest of my day was spent getting some office work and some video editing handled. The new Clarks Surfboards edit is in the works. 

9-3-24 AM Session: 1-2+ ft, Port Hueneme
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
Miles Driven: 2
After not surfing two days in a row you can guarantee that I was going to surf something. The Pier had a palatable yet tiny wave on the north side.  At the very least it was bowly.  I got into a grove and began knocking the tops off of whatever came my way.  I must have had more fun then I thought cause when I got out of the water I had surfed for over an hour.  The rest of my day was strictly devoted to shaping.  

9-2-24 AM Session: 1-2+ ft
Miles Driven: 18
Today was another tiny day.  The Shape at Hueneme was a bit to be desired.  Strand had a wave in the bowl but I had just missed the tide window and Surfers Knoll was very tempting but still weak and as I watched a group of long boarders struggle to get down the burgery wave faces I decided to call it another lay day.  Actually I wasn’t feeling the greatest thus I welcomed the time off.  I spent the rest of the day resting at home. Photo from Hueneme.

9-1-24 AM Session: 1-2+ ft
Miles Driven: 10
I just couldn’t bring myself to surf the terrible small waves on offer today.  To make matters worse the wind was on it as well.  I could really use some good waves to recharge my stoke.  August has just been one bad surf after another and my stoke meter is rather low.  I’ve been forcing myself to surf but man I’m just not getting anything out of it as of late.  Instead I hung out in the yard with my wife.  We ended the day with a round of twilight golf.  Looks like it’s just another week of terrible waves ahead. Photo from Hueneme.