Surfing Ruined My Life

November Surf Sessions 2010

11/30/10 – 1-2-ft, No Surfing
Today was literally near flat.  This is terrible, its cold and its flat I might as well be back in NJ FML!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11/29/10 – 1-3ft, No Surfing
As fast as the wind swell came up that is as fast as it went down.  I heard there was some ridable surf in the morning although far from good.  I was going to go and grovel whatever in the afternoon but got stuck having to grill 300 steaks at the end of my shift keeping me there till four making it too late with the early sunset to go  surf.  From what I heard I was better off anyway.

11/28/10 – 3-4ft, No Surfing
Today was one of those strange wind swell days where it was flat in the morning which was my time to surf being that I had work from 10am-6pm.  Surf came up in the afternoon, heard Rincon was alright, but I was making food instead.  Welcome to the real world boys and girls.

11/27/10 – 1-2-ft, No Surfing
Barely knee high and cold left me less then motivated to don a wettie and go for a paddle.  Surf God why have you forsaken some of your greatest followers here in California?

11/26/10 – 1-2ft, No Surfing
It was pretty much flat across the entire state of California today less a few grovelers of which I had no desire to surf.  Looks like some wind swell for Monday.

11/25/10 – 1-3ft, River Mouth
I woke up this morning, looked out my window and saw what a beautiful day it was although very cold just hovering around 50.  My back still hurt a bit but I really really really wanted to surf.  I knew it was small, yet winds were offshore and the buoy had 6 feet of NW on it leading me to believe there would be something at the harbor.  I called my boy Devin up and we met on the usual dunes that give us a quality vantage of all of the surf spots that encompass the harbor.  New Jetty, which to our chagrin has become the en vogue spot to surf lately and had a crowd of more then ten guys scraping for meager peaks.  We were not about to go have a grovel battle at a wave that two years ago we would have wished for someone else to surf with at.  We saw some spray being blown in the air from sets down by River Mouth and figured why not give it a walk and a paddle.  It was mostly small but killable shore break and my back definitely has a long way to go.  It was ok surfing the wave but standing up was a bit slower and tougher then usual not to mention I only have half of my normal range of motion available to me.  Still I stupidly pulled and stuck an ally oop and got in a few turns before my back read me the riot act.  I got over an hour in and had a good time.  Sometimes when you go with out for so long it only takes little to please.

11/24/10 – 2-3ft, NO Surfing
So much for surfing more then ever.  I probably could have surfed today.  My boy Devin was calling Emma Wood chest high and fun and with the wind swell on hand Im sure it was.  My back felt a little bit better but not what I believed to be surf ready.  Since I knew there was nothing spectacular to surf out there I opted to rest another day as frustrating as that decision was.  Surf looks like its going to be down the next few days leaving me thinking I may just sit out till Sunday or Monday when some promising new swell will maybe show its face.  Hopefully by then I will be back in action.

11/23/10 – 1-3ft No Surfing
Another day dry.  This is started to become noxious. Surf was small and windy most places and although my back is not as bad as yesterday I felt another day off made the most sense considering I was not missing anything.  I may try and surf tomorrow back depending…

11/22/10 – 2-4ft No Surfing!!!!!!
I know I could have found some fun windswell somewhere between Santa Barbara and Ventura, shit I even bet Sands was fun tonight.  Why didnt I surf you ask?  Thats a good fucking question.  I had been looking forward to a paddle for three days while cooking mass quantities of food (see “The Way It Is blog” for more on that) or sanding surfboards.  Today was suppose to be my surf afternoon. Of course after all the hard labor the past three days, last night my back was hurting pretty bad when I went to sleep.  It was a three ibuprofen night and if I could have got my hands on a perk I would have been all over that.  I awoke this morning to so much pain I was not sure if I was going to even be able to get up.  Yet I crawled out of bed and made it into work because if I dont show up I dont get paid.  My poor ass cant afford that.  Today had to be one of the most painful days of work ever.  When your back hurts it fucks with your whole body.  Sindia can attest to that fact Im sure.  I knew surfing was out of the question for the afternoon and with a potential approaching flat spell lord knows the next time I will get to surf.  I have not went this long with out a surf since summer time.  I swear to god if I dont get to go get some waves soon Im going to decapitate someone with my new 12″ slicing knife.

11/21/10 – 1-3ft No Surfing
More bad winds, some crazy hail? and extremely cold temps made me almost glad that I had no time to surf today.  For those of you who are wondering (all three of you who read this post) where I get the wave heights for the days I dont surf the answer is I take them from the surfline.com Cstreet report for the afternoon of that day.

11/20/10 – 1-2ft No Surfing
Bad winds, Rain and dirty water not to mention more ding repair and work led to another down day.  Looks like there is some wind swell coming though.

11/19/10 – 2-3ft No Surfing
I probably missed out today on some fun small scale surf some where in Ventura but unfortunately I had to cover for one of the guys at work and then directly after that had to go sand surf boards at J7 so that I can earn enough credit for my new board thats coming in.  Its pretty ironic not getting to go surf so that you can buy a new surf board you dont have time to use.  Fucking Catch 22.

11/18/10 AM Session – 3-6ft, New Jetty
The buoys were down only reading about 5ft out with combo NW and SW swells.  This time of year all you really need is four feet of NW ground swell for the harbor to get cooking.  Sure enough upon pulling up Lindsay and I were greeted with light winds, clean conditions a small crowd and what looked like left and right corners up and down the beach.  It looked super playful till we got out there and I took my first wave, a smaller one just to get warmed up.  The thing doubling up and bottomed out.  I was forced into an air which directly after landing got ran over by the falling lip. Then my next three waves kicked my ass too.  My fourth I pulled into a huge deep backside tube that I got clipped on in the last moments.  I looked at Lindsay and said “its pretty serious out here”.  Soon after the first half hour though it got super walled with big close outs and then the wind came out completely shutting it down.  I had a few but mainly just got my ass kicked the entire session and the water was cold to add injury to insult.

11/17/10 PM Session – 2-3ft+, C Street
See Some Noteworthy Surf Sessions for more details.

11/16/10 PM Session – 2-3ft, Emma Wood
See Some Noteworthy Surf Sessions blog for details…..

11/15/10 PM Session – 2-4ft, New Jetty
After a long work day I was rather eager to get a surf in despite the fact that I had gotten two less then stellar surf reports.  I knew it would be small in SB so I figured with the high tide and the light southerly wind that the Ventura Beachies could be the call.  Sure enough I pulled up to New Jetty and there were definitely a few chest to head plus corners on offer.  There were only three guys out and for sure it was my best bet.  Turns out it was a fucking skate park out there with some of the most puntable sections I have seen in a long time.  Virtually every wave had an air section, boostable close outs galore.  I nailed a huge full rotation alley-oop and threw up a few huge air disasters.

11/14/10 AM Session – 2-3+ft, Rincon
The buoys were reading 11ft at 14 seconds at 315.  It was a steep swell but I had faith that Rincon would pick up some of it.  I did the drive by figuring worst case scenario I could always just keep on cruising to Emma Wood.  There were a few lines caressing the point coercing  me to make the U turn.  I ended up surfing up around the River Mouth and Low Indicator the entire session.  It was nothing special about chest to occasional head but really glassy although a bit fat.  Overall the session was on the slow side courtesy of long lows but I did manage to snag a perfect ride.  You know one of those waves were you could not have rode it any better.  I dropped in up a low Indicator and traversed the first 50 yard section.  As it was bending back toward me I decided to hit the breaks and go for the tube.  I got a nice little cover after which I came out and hit the lip top to bottom three times ending the wave with a backside air reverse off the foam ball.  There were these three grommies hanging out at low River mouth and all three of them were screaming for me and throwing shakas when I kicked out the back.  It definitely helped me get through the work day.

11/13/10 PM Session – 2-3ft, Emma Wood
Surprise, surprise the NW that was suppose to steadily fill in for the afternoon took the evening off.   Thanks to the fucking time change I had a very limited window to surf not getting out of work till 4pm.  Rincon was too high and bit small so I headed straight for Emma where I did not expect to get much more then knee to waist windy crap.  When I got there it was about waist to chest and pretty clean with fun workable left and right bowls with what looked like plenty of rampy sections.  Crowd was light with only about ten guys out spread out on a few peaks.  Repaired board take 3 was still very disappointing.  I found the extra weight to be very boggy causing me to blow maneuvers that I would normally stick no problem.  Its looking grim for the Alfie board.

11/12/10 AM Session – 2-3ft+, Rincon
After last night’s Rincon sampler I wanted more so I decided to get up bright and early and take advantage of the morning tide push.  Swell had dropped but the period had increased so there were some really perfect chest high plus lines filling in through the cove with only about eight people out.  The first hour and half the cove was great and I got a number of waves all the way through.  towards the end though it got crowded and a bit swampy forcing me to take a paddle up to River mouth/low Indicator, plus my boys Kevin and Trey were up there and I wanted to say whats up.  I got up there and it was kelpy and very sectiony.  I said my hellos to my friends and then took my  next good one out.  I rode my newly repaired board again and unfortunately I think all the extreme repairs it endured has made the board a bit too top heavy and unevenly weighted.  Im still in the trial phase but I think it may be the end for this once fine soldier.  I ran into Corbett in the cove as well and he was all stoked from just getting back from a trip home to NJ and lucked into that south swell that everyone there reaped the benefits of.

11/11/10 PM Session – 2-4ft, Rincon
Usually on my days off I get in two sessions but today I was bogged down with ding repair so I opted to wait for the afternoon with the foretelling of a building NW ground swell.  The night before I got a call from my old friend Tripod from back in NJ.  Turns out he has been kicking around the Ventura/SB area for the last three weeks only looking me up now, the last day of his trip.  I called him and as it turns out he had not surfed Rincon at all.  That had to change.  I drove down to Ventura and scooped him up, delivering him to my mistress with all intentions to share her.  She is a whore anyway so why not let an old friend get a piece of the action too.  It was far from epic Rincon being a bit too high and a steep swell angle but there were definitely a few head high waves or so up at Indicator.  In classic Rincon fashion I lost track of Tripod after my first string of waves not seeing him again till a rendezvous back at the car.  I wish dude would have called me earlier in his trip so I could have gotten him into some real good surf, but average Rincon is still better then really good most places.

11/10/10 PM Session – 1-3+ft, Santa Claus Lane
Local wind swell in Santa Barbara is so aberrant it makes finding the right place to surf a little mission.  One day Rincon will be head high the next flat.  The thing about wind swell is that the angle is always changing making certain spots that never break fun and the standards poor.  It all comes down to how hard you want to search.  Today I was not in the mood nor did I have the time to go on a proverbial goose chase.  I headed straight to Rincon after observing some solid swell at Santa Claus yet when I got to Rincon the wind was South although it was NW and offshore up at Santa Claus.  I decided to just drive back there and see what there was to surf or if it was just a freeway mirage.  Turns out it was offshore/side shore three heads spread along the three mile long stretch of beach, waist to stomach high with the occasion chest high nug. Overall it was mostly walled with some racy corners.  I had one really fun Backside tube and brought down a good backside air reverse and a front side ally oop that I was pleased with.

11/9/10 PM Session – 2-3ft, Rincon
For whatever reason I was over being at work at around 3pm today.  I was suppose to work till 3:30 but had finished everything I needed to do so rather then just mill around for the next thirty minutes and pretend to work I decided to just punch out and leave.  The $5.50 was not that important to me.  Lindsay tipped me off that Rincon was the best spot around.  It was small around waist to chest up at Indicator where I spent the duration of my session.  The crowd was super light, maybe 15 guys at the height of it all and it was oil glass.  As far as Rincon goes it was what I would consider a throw away but there were a couple of four or five turn waves and I stuck a decent backside air reverse that I was pleased with.  Whatever the case it was a beautiful afternoon and a breath taking sunset.

11/8/10 PM Session – 1-3ft+, Rincon
Yesterday I wrote a blog about the top five sessions from last October.  Number one was one of the best days at Rincon I have surfed (see October 2009, Oh How You are Missed).   Ironically this afternoon session was a carbon copy of that day only about six feet smaller.  It was about waist to stomach high with the seldom bigger set with offshore/side shore winds and only around a dozen or so guys out, definitely some nuggets.  Sure it could have been overhead and barreling but it was better then nothing.

11/7/10 AM Session – 3-4ft+, Rincon
Thanks to no more daylight savings time my afternoon sessions on the weekend have went from short to nonexistent.  Rather then give up and not surf I have just switched gears into extreme early morning mode.  After all the sun may set at 5:30pm now but it rises at about 5:45am giving me a solid two hours to get wet before work.  I guess Im an official member of the Saturday and Sunday Rincon breakfast club.  Surf was actually pretty good this am solid chest to head plus, oil glass and only about 15 guys spread through the entire point.  I started in the cove and got a solid hour in before then tide swamped it.  Then I moved up to River mouth where it was still pretty fun.  By the time I had to go to work my legs were shot from all the many turn rides.

11/6/10 PM Session – 3-5ft, Rincon
What a day.  I could not believe my eyes when driving by Rincon this afternoon that it still had waves and better waves then the day before with better conditions.  I started up top at River Mouth looking for the barrel but although I found some pretty ridiculous ones that I managed to connect from River Mouth through middle Cove I did not find that barrel I was hunting.  After an hour up top I made my way into the cove which courtesy of the negative tide was pretty much flawless with plenty of consistency and only about forty heads out. Most were visitors giving me the local edge.  I only got about a little over an hour and a half but my legs were spent from all the long rides anyway.  As I got out of the water towards dusk I contemplated the fact that every wave I caught this session even my throw aways (meaning I only got eight turns on them) could probably have been the best wave of someone’s life, but for me it was just another day at Rincon.  Im pretty fortunate to have the life I live.

11/5/10 PM Session – 2-4ft, Rincon
As I was driving back from the previous session below I saw tons of waves peeling down Rincon with a very light crowd, maybe fifty guys along the entire point.  Needless to say I pulled off the highway got dressed and powered a second session.  The cove although fun looked pretty long boarded out and smaller then the top.  I went up to Lower Indicator/high River Mouth and snagged a bunch of great five to six hit waves.  I even managed a back door barrel through lower River Mouth.  Then after about an hour and a half that south wind caught up with me and so did the crowd.  It was all good I was pretty much over it by then anyway.

11/5/10 AM Session – 3-5ft, New Jetty
I got a late start sleeping in after a terrible night sleep.  I checked the report and saw it was offshore in Ventura and decided to give the beach breaks ago.  It was semi walled but with some corners.  New Jetty had some rights and lefts with only about ten guys out spread amongst the  whole lineup.  I found a few nuggets sticking two really decent backside airs.  By noon the wind went hard SSE making it lumpy and the lower tide began shutting it down and the crowd had doubled making me pretty much over it.

11/4/10 PM Session – 4-6+ft, Little Sunset, Oxnard
My plan was to take advantage of the negative low tide and left over NW swell at one of the points.  With the exception of Little Rincon all were rather small and inconsistent.  I was getting ready to make a forced paddle out at Lil’ Con’ when my friend Ryan called me and said he was thinking about going to a beach break in Oxnard that may hold the swell.  He said he would drive if I met him in Ventura and he is a big guy so I knew I would be pretty safe if I should find myself at the hands of angry locals like last time I was there (see “Another Altercation in the Line up” blog).  We got there and it was solid and looked about head high and fun.  Then someone dropped into a wave and it was well overhead like 3-4ft over on the sets.  There were plenty of corners and it was oil glass.  It was still very shifty and there were definitely a few close outs but it was still better then groveling and fighting the crowds for crusts of bread at the points.

11/4/10 AM Session – 2-3+ft, Emma Wood
It was a fact that the morning high tide was going to have all the points swamped and most likely there was too much swell still for the beaches.  I almost decided to sleep in and try Rincon at low tide when I checked the Cstreet cam and saw the wind was offshore.  I figured with the tide and the wind there may be a corner or two at the beach breaks.  I got down there and it was pretty walled and solid eight to ten foot.  There were a few occasional corners but they were not worth taking ten massive close outs on the head for.  I checked Cstreet it looked swamped mushy and crowded.  I went to Emma Wood where it was closed out and crowded and as soon as I put on my suit the wind went a bit onshore although it died out with in the first half hour.  Over all with the exception of two front side barrels and an ally-oop I could have easily have stayed in bed.

11/3/10 PM Session – 3-4+ft, Little Rincon
I knew I was going to be in for a surfing crowd shit show after work.  I checked my cell phone and it was blown up with txts/voice mail/missed calls all saying Rincon is great but 300 guys on it and everywhere else is shit and crowded too.  My boy Devin said he was paddling out at Little Rincon so I decided to start there as a point of reference.  As I drove by Rincon I did the look back of death only to be nauseated at the sight of more black dots then blue water making a thick black line from the bottom of cove all the way up to indicator.  I think one could have jumped from head to head all the way up form the point and not gotten a drop of water on them. Fuck you surfline.com.  I got to Little Con’ and it was far from good and far from empty.  It was about chest to head with bigger sets but mainly closed out or sectiony there were a solid thirty guys spread along four or five take off spots.  I saw a few go by un-ridden but was for the most part rather uninspired to go out.  I was about to get in my car and drive away when I asked this old dude who was changing if it was worth a paddle.  He claimed he had tons of fun and then added “I will tell you one thing it sure beats sitting here in the parking lot contemplating it for twenty minutes”.  He was right more likely I would just end up driving around for another hour burning up gas and getting more frustrated.  I took his advice and paddled out.  It was about as bad as I thought but it was fun to catch up with my friend Devin and make fun of everyone out there.  At the end of the session I ended up snagging a few worthwhile ones anyway.

11/2/10 PM Session – 2-3ft, Hammonds Reef
We should always trust our better judgement and never second guess ourselves.  I know every time I do at least when surfing is involved I get screwed.  I got out of work and called my surfing life line down south Ryan to see what the new “super” swell had in store for me.  Sure enough there were plenty of lines filing in.  He claimed someone had told him that Hammonds had a head high wave.  With the steadily rising high tide and new swell not to mention a strong affinity for the spot I decided it could only get better and might be my only chance at escaping the crowd.  On these hyped up swells its more about escaping the crowds then getting good wave anyway.  I pulled up, checked Mira Mar, which is a good indicator if Hammonds is worth the walk being it is not in plain sight of the parking area. Mira Mar was solid chest high so I figured Hammonds had to be on.  I got dressed and ran up to the trail only to be horribly disappointed upon my emergence staring had waist to chest high poor form waves.  There were  only three guys out and with the rising tide and swell I still hoped it would get better.  In the first half hour I managed to take a left close out, pulled and air which I landed right in the flats on top of a rock thus dislodging my fin on the board I had just fixed from the Pitas Incident (see “I hate Idiots blog details on that one“).    You think after all the colatorial damage I have taken surfing the left close out at Hammonds I would learn my lesson, breaking a board there last year and busting a fin out the year before. It was my first session back on the thing.  I ended up fucking both plugs but the fin was still in there solid allowing me to surf the remainder of my session which got better but very crowded as well.  I hate bull shit hyped up swells.

11/1/10 – 1-3ft, No Surfing