Surfing Ruined My Life

Surf Sessions For July 2011

Summary of July Surfing

7/31/11 No Surfing: 1-2ft
Meager conditions left me with a day with myself to consider what a time I just had.  My old roommate Bryan was moving out and My new roommate Nick was about to move in.  I needed some time to thing about some recent changes in my personal life and sort out how to proceed about them.  A beach walk made the most sense.  The tide was low allowing me to walk west from Lead Better all the way to Mesa Lane.  I found a bunch of sea glass, saw some bum pull down his pants and take shit and got to play with two yellow labs.  As far as what I was out to think about I don’t think I came to anymore of a resolution then when I started out.  Oh well.  Guess it needs more meditation.  On the way back the tide had come up a bit and I ended up getting soaked in my attempt to get back around the point at Leads.

7/30/11 No Surfing: 1-3ft
I was exhausted from the long journey home and all reports pointed to it not being worth my while to bothered groveling.  Honestly it would be a shame after the session I had the day before.  See Blog: A Sea Going Voyage Part III; I Didn’t Expect that to Happen. 

7/29/11 AM Session: 4-6+ft, Some Where in the Channel Islands
Time In Water: 4 hrs
Waves Surfed: 39
See Blog: A Sea Going Voyage:  Part II; Quality Ocean Time for details and See Blog: A Sea Going Voyage Part III; I Didn’t Expect that to Happen. 

7/28/11 No Surfing: 2-3ft
See Blog: A Sea Going Voyage: Part I; Gearing Up for details.

7/27/11 AM Session: 2-3ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 36
I got up at 6:30am with the hope that Rincon was still going to have a wave.  I checked the buoys and sadly they had dropped three feet meaning the potential for scoring the points just about nonexistent.  On a hail Mary play I pulled into the lot and gave it a check.  Sure enough it was too small to surf, but I found six pieces of sea glass while checking it, score!  From that intel I b-lined it to Ventura Harbor where River Mouth had a small wave.  There was one guy out and he was not really selling it to me.  Then I saw him a catch a rouge chest high wave.  River Mouth is one of those spots that will nearly 345 days a year always have a chest high wave every twenty minutes if you feel like waiting for it.  I am not saying it will have any quality, but it will be chest high.  With that in mind I took a walk down there and there were definately some fun glassy waist high with plus sets and the occasional chest wave.  It was oil glass, there were dolphins swimming all around me and besides one other guy who was surfing a completely different peak then me I had the whole place to myself.   

7/26/11 PM Session: 2-4+ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 1hr 45mins
Waves Surfed: 22
A few days ago my boy Ryan sent me on a wild goose chase in search of an illustrious chest high New Jetty session that was not to be.  Well today he completely redeemed himself.   I was sitting on  my couch at about a little before 4pm handling some office work (here is one of those handed to you UCB topics, ask me exactly what office work for Chris Lisanti means, a man who has never worked in let alone stepped foot in an office in his life).  Ryan called and told me I should drop everything and come to Rincon cause it was head high.  You dont have to tell me twice.  I jumped in my car and high tailed it to Rincon and it was all he said and more.  Im talking winter time style ‘Con with only a twenty crowd, all locals up at Low Indy to River mouth.  I was easily getting 8-10 hits on my waves.  That is the second NW swell we have had this July.  Man oh man I think the world’s climate is changing.  We will have to get a ruling from Sindia on that one since she is the expert.

7/26/11 AM Session: 1-3ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 34
Four days of waves below waist high, four days!! Not to mention the fact that it has been windy as all fuck up north.  There was the slightest bump up in wind swell this morning so I set forth to get a little grovel on.  I got to New Jetty all jacked up on FRS and a banana only to find it barely breaking.  In desperation I went to Emma and although mobbed with 15 guys vying for one wave every ten minutes I decided to give it a paddle.  I hate being an aggressive prick but when the resources get limited I still need to get mine and my surfing Darwinism instincts set in.  I’m pretty sure everyone’s wave count went down by half upon my stepping into the surf.  Surf was the most miserable waist to stomach high dribble I have surfed in a while.  The sun was shining conditions were glassy, the water was a gorgeous blue making it just a wonderful day to sit out in the ocean and take it all in.  Oh did I mention on my last wave I managed to pull a tail free vertical BS snap recovering it backwards followed by a nose pick BS air reverse that I rode the remaining face of the wave backwards on before spinning it around.  Like I said I always get mine.

7/25/11 No Surfing: 1-2ft
Another day of bull shit no surf.  This is by far the worst summer I can remember out here in California. I almost was desperate to enough to go grovel Mesa Lane, but then opted to go bombing up in the hills instead.  It proved to be the far better choice.  It looks like there may be some minor wind swell for the morning and possible south swell for later in the week with favorable winds for Jalama.

7/24/11 No Surfing: 1-2ft
I started the morning off with a 9am band practice which lasted till just about one.  I was not even planning to surf except that my boy Ryan who is usually very reliable was claiming it was worth my while to drive.  Now I only had a few hours in between practice and sound check, but I decided to hustle to New Jetty.  I got there and it was barely ride able and windy. I cruised to Emma Wood and that was terrible as well.  Normally if I drive I surf but I did not have the time to even consider a grovel sess.  I got to sit in about an hour of traffic getting back into town.  Hooray for car surfing.

7/23/11 No Surfing: 1-2ft
More meager conditions kept me out of the water.  I just don’t have the motivation to grovel right now.  I spent my day practicing for Sunday’s show.  Then I went for a walk on the beach all the way out to the end of the break wall at Sand Bar and took a nap on that nasty little beach at the end there that sticks out into the harbor.  Finally I capped my day off with a nice repast of stuffed shells for one and a three glasses of a very nice Beaujolais.  I know that sounds like a lot of wine but this bottle is so good.

7/22/11 No Surfing: 1-2ft
I was suppose to go to Jalama but then a night out had a new friend and I cooking a complete Italian meal at 2:30am  thus I did not find my way to bed until after 5am.  It was a great night and totally worth it, especially since the waves sucked anyway.  I woke up at ten had to be at band practice which is  nightmare when your that hung over.  After that I had to work til 7pm and by then I was over it.  Oh and somehow I managed to bake a chocolate cake from scratch last night perfect.

7/21/11 PM Session: 2-4+ft, River Mouth
Time in Water: 1 hr 45mins
Waves Surfed: 33
I knew just by the look that the conditions were  going to be very tricky for River Mouth.  I was leaning towards a smaller but more manageable New Jetty.  Lindsay the more unlikely of the two of us to want to go surfed doubled up borderline closed out River Mouth was frothy on it.  I saw a couple double up and spit and figured If I made just one stupid barrel it would all be worth it.  As soon as I got in front of it all I saw was below sea level suck up death pits.  I got frothy and ran down the beach.  I took plenty of heavy beatings and my share of close outs.  I made three sick deep pits that made it all worth it.  It was the first time I got barreled in like two weeks or so.  Lindsay was pretty frustrated and my boy Ryan quit after his first wave.  I guess I was just in the mood for more PGCBs.

7/20/11 AM Session: 1-3+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 48
I really wanted to surf this morning.  The buoys had a slight bump in NW on them so I pulled the trigger on it.  New Jetty was trash and so was River Mouth.  I decided to cruise back to Emma Wood where I noticed a few low tide wind  swell nuggets.  Emma always takes minor wind swell better.  There was a nice little right  bowl coming in just by the main entrance with about six groms on it.  Then after the first half hour another 15 showed up.  Nothing makes groveling more fun then when you get to do it with a bunch of frothy groms.  My only hopes lie in the fact that there maybe a Jalama session in my future either Friday or Saturday or both.   

7/19/11 No Surfing: 1-2ft
I was going to go grovel Emma Wood on the mid-day high tide, but then ended up scoring this new ridiculous job, like only I could find.  There will be more about it in a later blog.  Then I considered going down after work, but got lazy on it ending up cooking a banging ass original meal for my roommate and this woman who came to see the room I have rent.  I had the extra food and in Lisanti Land its always the more the merrier.  She did not take the room, but did enjoy a nice meal none the less.

7/18/11 No Surfing: 1-2ft
The buoys were so small and all short period.  I could have maybe found a terrible knee to waist high wave, but I am not that desperate yet.  Give me a few more days of these meager conditions, which the report has foretold and we will see how grovely I get.  Wow, thats not a word.  I love how as surfers we make shit up by just adding an “o” or “ly” to the end of it.

7/17/11 No Surfing: 1-2ft
A 13 day streak broken.  I probably could have went for a grovel today, but it just did not seem worth spending the gas money.  Instead I went for a hike with Lindsay and definately got more exercise doing that then I would have trying to rip knee high Emma Wood.  Unfortunately it looks like this week is going to seriously hurt for surf.

7/16/11 PM Session: 1-3ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 21
Some days are best left unsurfed.  Today that should have been the case, but alas I had nothing better to do (well thats not entirely true) and after my friend Ryan called me claiming a friend told him it was chest high at the jetty I decided to give it a go.  Lindsay joined me.  Nothing makes terrible surf more fun then to share your frustration with a friend. At one point we broke into a rendition of “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story.  It was deplorable.  Windy, weak, mushy, semi-crowded and completely kooked out. I felt like I was groveling in summertime Jersey surf except I was void of my old crew and our juvenile but entertaining lineup antics.   I still managed to get a few nuggets and as Lindsay put it “look at it this way it will be years before I will ever be able to have a throw away session like you just had”.  Its always better to get wet right?  Too bad I know its going to be absolutely horrible for the next five days.  Man I need to get me some other hobbies.  

7/15/11 PM Session: 2-3ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 35
It was one of those terrible days, little residual swell and hard winds.  I just had to surf though.  I am trying to get in the water as much as possible no matter what.  I guess you could say I am becoming a grom again. Conditions were deplorable but I saw a few boostable sections and was all over it, plus there were only around three guys out.  I ended up frothing and having an incredible session.  You know the ones where you cant do anything wrong?  I don’t know why it always seems to be the case that I have these amazing session in two foot blown out Emma Wood, but that is the case.  I was just born to shred the trash, like those race horses that run in the slop, mudders.  I am the surfing equivalent of that.  Whatever the case I stuck the first full rotation frontside air reverse I have ever landed.  It was super clean full 360 in the air landing clean in the white water and riding it out and the whole thing went down on a wist high wave.  Money baby!

7/14/11 AM Session: 2-3ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1 hr 45mins
Waves Surfed: 30
I woke up early all ready to get some glassy conditions, Lindsay joined me.  Sure enough as soon as I got to New Jetty the wind was all over it.  The surf looked pretty trashy and far from inspiring.  I drove, so I surf that is the rule.  At first with all the wind, fading swell and rising tide things were going pretty slow.  I sat off the jetty and was picking off some really mushy pathetic lefts.  Then I went to the inside and started snagging these blowly, back washy, double up close outs that I enjoyed very much (see “I Heart PGCBs” for more on that).  I got my requisite 20 waves and was more then over it.  We were going to quit when all of a sudden this half hour flurry of sets rolled off the jetty and peeled all the way to the middle of the beach.  I ended up getting an handful of sick ones.  Sometimes its the days you expect the least out of that you get the most.

7/13/11 AM Session 2: 2-4+ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 37
What I thought was going to be a forced paddle out just to spend some time with my boy Ryan ended up being a super fun session of windy but throaty lefts that on the good ones were running an easy forty yards down the beach.  I had tons of really fun waves.  Crowd got on it a little bit but after two days at Lowers it was nothing.  As a matter of fact I accidentally was still stuck in Lowers mode and sort of pissed more then a few guys off resorting back to bitch paddle tactics to enhance my wave count.  Sorry everyone, I promise to be more considerate tomorrow.

7/13/11 AM Session 1: 2-4+ft, Fruit Stands
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 10
Thanks to much goading from my friend Ryan I ended up driving away from fun looking River Mouth for Fruit Stands.  It would have been fun there had the wind not got on it as soon as I made the trek all the way from the street, through the oil field, over the dunes, across the stagnant water bank, over the beach to the water.  There is nothing more awesome than going over the hill and through the woods to grandmother’s house only to find out that grandma is dead.  Ryan was suppose to meet me there shortly.  An hour later he showed up and when I saw him I got out of the water and suggested we go to New Jetty cause it was trash at the Stand.   

7/12/11 PM Session: 3-5+ft, Lower Trestles, OC
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 20
See Orange County Can Keep Lowers Blog for more details.

7/11/11 PM Session: 6-8+ft, Lower Trestles, OC
Time in Water: 1.5 hours
Waves Surfed: 9
See Orange County Can Keep Lowers Blog for more details.

7/11/11 AM Session: 6-8+ft, Lower Trestles, Orange County
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 19
First session at Lowers, after three hours in the car it was refreshing to be greeted by a somewhat empty lineup.  The wind was far from the best for the place, but still I got mine.  See Orange County Can Keep Lowers Blog for more details.

7/10/11 PM Session: 2-4+ft, Fruit Stands
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 33
Fruits stands is sort of a secret spot on the Oxnard/Ventura border that everyone knows about but thanks to an inconvenient hike  and no easy way to check it the place is seldom surfed.  This was actually the first time I ever surfed the spot always opting for the more easy access waves.  My boy Ryan called me and said there were killable little bowls coming through and surf enough the place was a fucking chest to head high skate park.  It was a little windy but for a 45 minute window I had a blast.  Did I mention Ryan and I had he whole place to ourselves on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon?

7/9/11 AM Session: 2-3ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1hr 40mins
Waves Surfed: 20
Well whenever you see twenty waves for the count you pretty must almost assume the conditions were trash.  My new rule for this year besides if I drive I surf is if I paddle out for a forced session then I must stay out for the duration of twenty waves or an hour and a half depending on my level of frustration.  The funny thing is it looked fun when I was checking it, but everyone out was kooking it.  Then I got out there and blew just about every wave I surfed.  Turns out the back washy, mixed up SW/NW wind swell combo and the onshore wind was making conditions very tricky.  Add being a little slow courtesy of drinking too much last night at the Wild Cat and you have a surf session from hell.

7/8/11 AM Session: 1-3ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 32
I forgot that I had turned all my alarms off the previous morning, thus naturally waking up at 8am.  There is no greater feeling then waking up, looking out my window and observing the wind already on it.  I think every surfer loves that scenario.  Today was the first official day of the new and improved Chris Lisanti, read The Commitment Cut for more on that.  What better way to start a rejuvenation then with a surf.  I got down to Ventura harbor and it looked like had the wind not been on it River Mouth would have been fun, except with the wind it was just plain trash.  I wanted to surf New Jetty, but alas as I was about to pull the trigger on it five guys who I surf with there regularly, pulled up all frothy and began dressing.  I don’t mind competing for waves with these guys when its fun, but I was not about to mix it up for inconsistent windy grovel waves.  On the drive down I noticed while blowing by at 80mph that Emma had some little low tide bowls courtesy of a minor NW wind swell.  I struck out for that and was far from frothy on it.  I saw a couple of groms getting some killable ones and forgetting they were all of 4′ tall I went for it.  It was rather pathetic, yet still I managed a few nuggets.  Its always better to get wet, right??? Or in Nick the Kook’s case, Stay Wet.

7/7/11 PM  Session: 1-3+ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 29
I got a late start thanks to another night at the Wild Cat.  Enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before calling my friend Ryan down in Ventura to see what the ocean had in store for the day.  He said there was a small wave at New Jetty and I was on it.  The surf was about waist to chest, a bit windy and the tide was sort of fat with plenty of backwash.  It reminded me of Jersey.  The water was nearly 70 and the air 80 and muggy.   New Jetty=New Jersey except if Jersey had today’s waves in July everyone would be stoked.

7/6/11 AM Session: 1-3ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 22
Ok, I pushed the envelope a bit this morning.  The swell was a bit down from yesterday, but conditions were still very clean and there was the occasional chest high set coming through.  I started in The Cove because I saw a great set come through. As it turned out they were few and far between.  Still I managed to get three that I was able to hit about 8-10 times.   Then the tide bottomed out so I paddled up to Low Indicator and snagged a bunch of really fun ones up there.  Minus the consistency it was a great day to be surfing.  The water was crystal clear, the crowd super light and mellow, ocean temp was hovering just under 70F, air 80F.  It was a beautiful morning. 

 

7/5/11 AM Session: 1-3+ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 1hr 45mins
Waves Surfed: 25
Rincon in July!?!???!! I know its crazy.  I heard rumors all weekend that there had been been waves at the ‘Con and not just the usual little long board waves typical of summer, but actual short board-able waves.  This morning with the near negative low tide and some time for a change I thought I would give it a look.  Sure enough there were really fun waist to chest high waves coming through.  I was pumped.  I always forget how good Rincon is, even on the bad days.  I spent the entire session up at Low Indicator and High River Mouth.  If it were winter I would not have even entertained the session but in summertime with near piss warm water and 80 degree sunny weather, why not.  I was burning up in my 4/3 and almost shedded it for the trunks I had in the car.   Have I mentioned how much I love Rincon on this blog yet?  One thing is that will always hold true is that she will never leave me for some unworthy dufuss.  Yeah she is a whore, but she always sets aside her best for me.  

7/4/11 PM Session: 1-3+ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 27
The initial plan for today was to spend its entirety ensconced in a drunken stupor.  Instead I managed to go out and surf the first double session I have had in nearly two months.  Truth be told after Surf Beach I came back and was doing some odd jobs around the house.  My roommate Bryan came home and he convinced me to go down to Leadbetter with him to taking in the fresh air and festivities.   Being there just depressed me more seeing all these happy people with their loved ones enjoying a special day.  Meanwhile I was all by myself with out a person around who even gave a fuck about me.  It should have been the happiest day ever, Adrienne and I’s two year anniversary.  Instead she was cozy with her new guy today.  I know I said I would not cry anymore, but today I believe is a special exception.  Anyhow its not like anyone looks at this section of my blog.  I was feeling rather alone and ready to booze it up.  Making a more mature decision for a change I chose to go for another surf instead.  The waves were average at best, but it felt good to leave my problems on the beach for a spell.  I promise no more lamenting about Adrienne again.  Ade’s if you happen to read this, which I know you never will I hope you had a wonderful day.

7/4/11 AM Session: 4-6+ft, Surf Beach
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 8
See blog: The Return to Surf Beach

7/3/11 No Surfing: 1-3ft
The report was calling no swell down in Ventura and since I was on night three of rashing at the Kitty I decided to sleep in.  As it turns out Mesa Lane was fun again and I even got word that Rincon broke!!!  Someone is rigging the surfline.com reports.  I had work till 4pm then I had to cook for a pot luck dinner thus consuming all of my daylight hours.

7/2/11 PM Session: 2-3ft, Mesa Lane
Time In Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 45
I had not even planned on surfing.  Another late night at the Wild Cat had me waking up rather late and a less then motivational report kept my head on the pillow and out of the water.  While schlepping energy drink all over town I got a phone call from Lindsay who was claiming Mesa Lane was chest high and fun looking.  Now I knew there was NW in the water but the swell angle was super steep for town to get anything.  I was sampling over at East Beach and definitely noticed some better then normal shore pound.  Luckily we had an earlier day then usual allowing me to snag a more then adequate evening session.  It was the first time I had surfed in days since injuring myself and although still a bit tender I managed to snag a ton of really fun waves.  Waves right in town in the month of July is borderline unheard of.

1 7/1/11No Surfing: 1-2ft
Super tiny conditions kept my surfing under raps for the 1st of the month.  Summer time woot!