April 2012 Surf Sessions
4/30/12 PM Session: 2-3+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 28
I really need to get myself a girl friend left to my own devices its just plain bad news bears. Lets just chalk things up to another night of getting black out drunk at the Wild Cat, revisiting a certain female friend for another round and overall hating myself in the morning for all of it. Hey at least I got to surf Emma Wood. Surf was in the waist to chest range with a slight texture on it. Things were a bit fat and a little crowded for what was coming in. I watched it a while before forcing myself to paddle. I timed it just right cause the crowd began to thin and the tide began to drop allowing conditions to get better all session long. I had a few really decent lefts. Way better then how I began my day.
4/29/12 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Pitas
Time in Water: 1hr 20mins
Waves Surfed: 27
I woke up and saw plenty of WNW wind swell on the buoy. Rincon looked a bit on the smallish side for me and the day before I heard that Pitas was fun so I decided to cruise there. Pitas likes short period swell being it is more like a reef break on top then a point on most occasions. There were five of us out, it was glassy, chest to head and super killable. I unloaded some heavy turns and airs. I must say it was a rather fun session. Did I mention I did not drink last night. Oh yeah!
4/28/12 No Surfing: 2-4ft
Yeah I said Saturdays are a usual no go for me. I got hammered at the Kitty by accident last night. I went up to this attractive chick that was double fisted and started making conversation. Next thing you know I was drinking the other drink which as it turns out was pure tequila with lime in it. I am not talking a shot either. I am talking a regular size mix drink glass. Needless to say I pretty much stumbled homed passed out with my clothes on. Apparently there was some mixed up very short period wind swell that I may or may not have missed out on.
4/27/12 AM Session: 2-3+ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1hr
Decided to give the morning session a go with a small increase in the buoys. I rolled to harbor where it was rather weak looking but only a few guys out on the Jetty. I saw a few sections that look worthwhile and besides I drove. Overall it was more work then worth the effort although I did manage a few fun lefts and stuck a nice fs air.
4/26/12 PM Session: 1-2+ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1hr 15mins
Waves Surfed: 25
I really have no idea what I was thinking even bothering to paddle out. Mesa Lane is a bad wave to begin with, add super short period wind chop and no tide and your looking at a real let down. The thing about Mesa Lane is that you check it form easily a hundred feel up and every surfer knows how much better the waves look when your looking down on them. Then you get to beach level and its all “Woant Wount”. I totally just put down pure gibberish. If you surf with me I think you know the sound effect I was trying to put down. I had just got off a ten hour day, the sun was out and I figured the worst that could happen was I get a little bit of exercise, maybe even see a whale or two since it is that time of year here. It was just about as terrible as I figured but I did almost stick a FS air reverse that was about a foot higher then the actual section I boosted it in. Whooooooooooooot! Looks like some marginal better waves for the next few days.
4/25/12 AM Session: 2-3ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 36
I finally got off my lazy ass, took some action and went surfing. It had been five days and I was beginning to lose my mind. I am actually kind of happy about that cause it shows I am almost back to my old self. I think this is the first time since I broke up with Adrienne that I truly missed surfing. Also this is the first run of not surfing that was entirely due to lack of swell and not just laziness, depression or just plain being too drunk. Is this the start of new things? I don’t know? It is the “Summer of Alf” in just a few weeks, which I also still really don’t know what that means. I decided to drive south in search of something to grovel. It was pretty much flat all the way to Ventura Harbor. I pulled up to the dunes and there were all these annoying groms that this Japanese guy trains getting dressed. Sure enough there were some decent little waist to chest high waves coming in. The insta-crowd was going to New Jetty, there were three or four guys surfing the peak in front of the Knoll. I saw a nice looking sand bar all the way down by the actual river mouth and trotted down there. I was greeted with really fun rip-able surf and my own private A-frame, the left being the better way. I had a ball on the tiny little waves and even found a few shacks. Then the wind turned on hard out of the NW and turned it into a completely different ocean than what was a front me two hours prior. Good times.
4/24/12 No Surfing: 1-2ft
Oh this flat spell is atrocious. I mean I was really beginning to enjoy surfing again too. Fuck, C’mon. I am starting to loose my mind. Looks like some tiny grovel bullshit in Ventura tomorrow and since I have not surfed in over a week I guess I am just going to have to force myself to get wet cause the forecast still does not look all that promising till Saturday and we all know what the likeness of me surfing on a Saturday is.
4/23/12 No Surfing: 1-2ft
More flatness. So what did I do today? Absolutely nothing. Got hammered at the cat last night, then propositioned by my cab driver “hey if you want to jump in the backseat with me for 15 mins your ride will be free”. I woke up at 1, went to class came home and cleaned my house. Now Im drunk off a very good bottle of Syrah.
4/22/12 No Surfing: 1-3ft
The flat spell continues. I guess this is a preview of summertime. If that is the case I might have to do something drastic. I don’t mind a break from surfing on occasion, but days on end of terribleness need to stop. I just started getting into surfing again too. Go figure. Report is looking bad for the next few days. Maybe a small bump on Tuesday. Boooo hooo.
4/21/12 No Surfing:1-3ft
I got fucking hammered last night. Hey I had a good time. I woke up, it was foggy. I heard later from Lindsay that there were some small wind swelly waves in town.
4/20/12 No Surfing: 2-3ft
I woke up and it was cold and foggy and the buoys were not at all appetizing. Throw in a high tide and I was all about pulling the covers back over my head. Looks like no surf for the next couple of days. On another note I am getting ready to blog again. I have come to some really interesting conclusions that have as usual opened up more cans of worms. I have somethings I want to get into writing. Look for a really interesting blog in a day or so.
4/19/12 AM Session: 1-3+ Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1hr 40mins
Waves Surfed: 22
It was a good run of surf while it lasted. Looks like conditions are going to steadily deteriorate over the next five days or so. Once again another day plagued with devil winds. I got to Emma it was foggy, cold and small. Hello summer I guess. I decided to give it a paddle anyway. I found a few but overall it was a terrible grovel session. Looks like I should get used to those.
4/18/12 PM Session: 3-5+ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 16
My intentions were to surf Rincon after my purchasing class this afternoon. That class is literally the equivalent of getting hit with a shovel for two hours for me. When I got to Rincon it was a bit fat with the rising tide and the south winds were just killing it. I kept on cruising south, Little ‘Con was beat, Pitas looked fun but like it was about to get too high and there were about ten guys changing in the lot. Emma had a few fun glassy peaks but was a bit too crowded with frothy groms and after work guys for my liking. The wind seemed to really be slacking off in Ventura so I decided to cruise to New Jetty and have a look. Lindsay said she scored it fun last week. Sure enough there were some chunky, back washy bowls coming in with a light crowd. Turns out it was a fun session and I some how managed to get a ton of good ones and even stuck a nice frontside reverse.
4/18/12 AM Session: 2-3+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 21
If only I got there about an hour earlier. I had class early then an appointment to get my hair cut with my lovely goddess of a hair dresser. When am I going to get my head out my ass and ask her out? I will tell one thing it may be sooner then you think. Anyway I got to Emma right on the cusp of the dropping tide. With the terrible south winds that plagued us the entire day it was one of the few spots that was rather clean. I watched Matt Mc Kay get a sick one and then stick a solid full rotation air reverse. I got out there and on my first wave motivated by his prowess went for and stuck my own backside full rotation. I also had two really nice backside tubes as well. Things were shaping up to be a sick session till the tide dropped out sucking all the swell to the reef on the overhead. Still I got a few.
4/17/12 No Surfing: 3-4ft
The key word here is opportunity. Sure there was some surf today and the NW season is steadily coming to a conclusion. If I have learned anything in the last few years its that tomorrow is another day and there will always be more waves to surf. I spent the larger portion of my life in the belief that one had to surf every moment possible and every swell cause you would never see that same wave again. Of course I also grew up on the east coast where really good waves are few and far between. These days I have come to realize I have had the lucky fate to surf tons and tons of amazing waves. Waves most surfers can only fathom in their dreams. Sure I still will drop everything and surf on a really good day, but it has to be really really good, I mean epic. Today there was a free open house to go check out these amazing gardens up in Montecito, called Lotus Land. They offered free tours for all Westmont Students and Employees. My co-worker Chantelle and I went. I must say it was worth the missed session and being an hour late to work. Look for a blog about the place soon.
4/16/12 No Surfing: 2-3ft
Last night was a 70’s disco dance party and drag show at The Wild Cat. Full on knowing the situation I made it a suit night wearing this custom Armani I bought off some eccentric rich dude in Montecito for $50. This suit looks great on me. I was rather excited not just for the party but also cause the Dutch girls were going to meet up with Mark and I there as well. They were really fun and I was ready for round two. I get in there and it is packed with all the regulars and then some. Everyone is well dressed. Some are themed for the occasion and all the drags were there doing their thing. In the usual stellar fashion The Kitty put down a 70’s disco style lit dance floor. The music as killer. I mean there are some good songs today, but overall most of what get played is trash and most of it barely dance-able. Not last night. I almost never left the floor the entire time. It certainly helped to have four gorgeous Euro ladies to dance with as well. End of the night I threw one of my usual Sunday after parties at the Palace. Unfortunately one of my friends drank a bit too much and got sick. She was a champ about it. As far as the surf went it was deplorable. All my Ventura connections said not to bother and that was fine by me. Been getting plenty of fun surf as of late.
4/15/12 AM Session: 2-3+, Hammonds
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 16
I partied like a rock star last night, literally. I met these random Dutch woman from Amsterdam at EOS part of my new pro-active program. Look for a blog on that soon. Some how I found myself chugging red wine at some after party in a ware house in the funk zone. I am talking full DJ and dance floor and everything. Needless to say I woke up late. Hammonds had a small wave so I decided to get a few before work. The session was forgettable but the weather was amazing, and there were four grey whales just chilling outside the lineup. Could not think of a better way to start the day.
4/14/12 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Mira Mar
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 15
I wanted to surf Sand Bar, but there was some running race going on that had getting to the harbor straight up impossible. With limited time before work I cruised to Hammonds. Unfortunately it was well overhead yet washy as hell. I checked Mira Mar and there were some side shorey chest to head high rights coming in. I jumped in for a few waves. I was instantly reminded what an average point that spot is. I wish I could have surfed Sharks but did not have enough time to make the walk. I hate settling on an average surf spot when I know someplace else is firing. I guess that is growing up.
4/13/12 No Surfing: 2-3ft
Small scale surf, bad winds, cold and rainy conditions had me crawling a bit deeper under the covers this morning. I had to Adrienne today to give her some mail. Why is it one year later I am still enchanted to see her. Of course I only get a few moments and then she leaves. After which I want crawl into a ball and cry. I miss her so much. The thing is no cares anymore to listen to me about it. I have to keep it all inside. I read this thing about this man who fell in love with a woman in a concentration camp during Nazi Germany. He was married and they all managed to survive the ordeal. He ends up leaving his wife for the woman he met in the camp. His wife never met anyone and died alone in an assisted living facility. I cant help thinking what if Ades was it for me. I have been trying to meet someone else but no one compares. She knows how feel about her still so I assume that if she wanted to try again she would this I no it is never meant to be. People tell me I should not need someone to complete my life. Well I do. I hate being alone. Tonight, its cold and windy and I wish Ades here cuddling up with me on the couch. She is not and probably cuddling up with some other guy. Instead I will go to the Wild Cat and drink my miseries away with all the other regulars.
4/12/12 PM Session: 2-3ft, La Conchita
Time in Water: 45mins
Waves Surfed: 15
I was not even planning on surfing after work. It was rainy and cold, plus I promised a co-worker I would go to this singles wine mixer with her. Then my boy Ryan hit me up that there were waves and conditions looked good a La Conchita. I always forget what a fun beach break it is too. I had the whole place to myself and really fun waist to chest high bowls coming in. Although the session was short it was more then fun, which is a lot more then I can say for the singles wine mixer I was taken to under the guise of a wine tasting.
4/11/12 No Surfing: 2-3ft
Waves were on the small side, weather was bad and I had an 11 person dinner party to cook for. Dinner went great.
4/10/12 AM Session: 2-4ft
Time in Water: 1 hr 45min
Waves Surfed: 14
Woke up relatively early this morning knowing the winds were going to turn south and ran to Rincon. There was still some fun ones coming through and somewhat light crowd. I sat in the cove and got a few good ones, but overall it was a little weak, inconsistent and bit more crowded then what was coming in. I did manage to stick a gnarly backside air that I was stoked on. Not as good as yesterday, but still worth a surf for sure. I call boxed three and surfed the entire point once.
4/9/12 PM Session: 2-4+ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 11
Sometimes 11 waves are all you need, in this session all I needed was the two that I call boxed through the cove but ended up getting nine more fun ones. It was rather unexpected too. The wind was wailing and my motivation to even paddle out completely eluded me upon pulling up to the lot to see the entire bottom and half the top lot covered. Looking to waste time I went and checked Little Rincon, Pitas and Hobsons. I knew I was not going to surf any of these locations but it would kill time so that the after schools and the early workers would be over it by the time I paddled out. Sure enough when I got back to the ‘Con there were plenty of spaces and people leaving all over. In true California fashion there were a healthy amount of surfers getting ready as well. I reluctantly suited up, I did drive after all and went down the trail to the point. It was average cove and very busy. The top looked busy as well, but more broken up between the wind and the tide. Every so often I have a session at Rincon and I think anyone who surfs has sessions like this, where every good wave just comes right to you no matter where you are sitting. That was the case. I got 11 great waves, surfed all of them really well and after I call boxed wave number 11 (I surfed the entire point twice) I decided to call it a day. My legs burned and when one is given a gift session like this it is never proper to get greedy.
4/9/12 AM Session: 3-5+ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 17
A fast rising WNW swell filled in over night causing me to wake up to solid overhead Rincon. Tide was a bit fat and swell a bit steep for the cove to shine, but up at the Indicator/River Mouth sections it was more then solid. It was rather crowded, I mean not by California standards, but the place has been so empty lately that what would have been a light crowd in December seems heavy. Sets were a on the somewhat inconsistent side and the water was fucking freezing had to be 52. I am buying me a 5/4 for the springtime only. Man I have lost my ability to tolerate cold water. My second and third waves were some of the best I have caught up top in a while. Each had at least ten solid top to bottom turns. It would have been an epic session had the crowd not been so dumb, water so cold and me a bit hung over from a weekend of going hard. Maybe this afternoon will be the keeper.
4/8/12 No Surfing: 1-3ft
Last night got out of hand. I could not even keep score of the amount of booze the three of us put down. We ended up picking up a really nice piece of Alaskan salmon at the Santa Barbara Fish Market in the wharf for a deal and a half. I cooked it up with some roasted vegetables, risotto, and braised Belgium endives. I paired it with an amazing bottle of viogner. After that it was out on the scene for a fun filled night of bizarre fights, overweight woman, strippers, tree attacks, taquitos and a whole lot of mayhem. I woke up and saw the buoys were shit, saw my friends off then went to work.
4/7/12 AM Session: 1-3ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 15
Friday night my boys Brennan and Christian rolled into town for a gentleman stag romp. We hit the club pretty hard then after partied to kick off the weekend right. Next morning despite deplorable conditions the boys were dead set on going surfing. We went to Emma which was looking absolutely terrible, but the crowd was light and weather absolutely splendid. Turns out I actually a pretty fun surf in the tiny waves on offer. Then I decided to take the day off from work and up the ante with my crew.
4/6/12 PM Session: 2-3+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves surfed: 14
Thanks to Mauriello getting me all stoked on going out and trying to pull a full rotation bs air reverse I ran down to find a wave to surf this afternoon against my better judgement. I was fuel by pure froth and no brains. Rincon was tiny and I did a little sea glass hunting while the tide filled in a bit. Then I cruised to Emma where there were a few bowls on offer with a section. I could not find my air section to save my life. Ironically there were plenty of good hit sections. Water was still cold and the sand there sort of sucks right now.
4/6/12 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1hr 20mins
Waves Surfed: 12
The water was absolutely freezing this morning. My boy Ryan called me and said the River Mouth was light offshore and fun. I cruised and as soon as I got there the wind turned onshore. Still there were a few fun looking bowls coming in. Turns out it was cold, windy and inconsistent with plenty of the usual close outs that plague that surf region. I managed to stick a sick back side air and a solid fs ally oop. After an hour of sitting my dick was so cold I thought it was going to shrivel up and fall off.
4/5/12 PM Session: 2-3ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 15
Woke up this morning feeling like absolute shit. My sinuses were swollen as fuck. I ended up calling in sick to work. Can’t beat paid sick time. I slept the latter half of the day and was still hurting. Around 4ish I forced myself out of the house to go see what Rincon looked like with all the wind. Cove was on the smallish and weak side with only about five guys out. I was highly unmotivated and about to bag it when my boy Andrew showed up, an NJ transplant about ten years ago and talked me into surfing with the age old adage “If it was NJ guys would be calling out of work for this shit”. I suited up and joined him for the drifty, windy average at best conditions. I had one I got about ten turns on through the cove. Besides that the session was forgettable.
4/4/12 No Surfed:3-4ft
I got out of class and checked all the reports. Heard the beaches were jumbled and windy. Rincon was on the smallish side. I checked Mesa Lane on my way back from the bank and it was meager at best and truthfully after he run of swell we just had I just could not get motivated to surf the tiny crossed up bowls on offer there. I need Nick the Kook to get out here to help motivate me to start surfing again. I had a dinner party later that night and a midterm to study for. I fell asleep while studying for my midterm. I have been having a bunch of crazy dreams lately that has been causing me to wake up at around 3:30 and not able to get back to sleep till about 5am. Its a pain in my ass. I am still being heavily plagued by these allergies. Combine all this and you can understand how hard it is for me to get a surf in when the waves are sub par. The dinner party went off well, Baked Ziti with a spinach, red onion, mushroom, pine nut tomato side. I made my parent’s Easter Cake for dessert. All had a good time and we killed like five bottles among six people.
4/3/12 AM Session: 2-3ft, Hammonds
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 28
The WNW was still hanging on like a barnacle this morning. Once again I was feeling very lazy and did not get my act together till almost 9. I was going to roll straight to Rincon, but with gas at a premium I figured why not check Hammonds. It was small around chest high, but perfect oil glass peelers with not a person out. I was on it. By the time I suited up another four paddled out, but there was plenty for everyone. I had a ton of really fun waves.
4/2/12 AM Session: 2-3+ft, El Capitan
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 16
I had big plans today and a lot to do. Then I checked the buoys and decided to go to El Cap instead and surfing took precedence. I met my boy Kevin Angers there and we were greeted with solid chest to head high lines coming through the point although a bit wobbly and broken up with the short period mix of wind swells. The water was fucking freezing I would say low fifties at best. My hands were killing me. We started at the top and I somehow lucked into the best wave of the morning, a nice overhead wide swinger that missed the crowd at the very top and came right to me. I dropped into the barrel came out, hit it top to bottom three times, pulled into another barrel, came out did a huge section floater into the mid point, then hit about another four reos, followed by another section floater into about another three turns before the wave died out. That ended up being my best wave of the session. Then the crowd got rough pushing around 75 guys and the tide too low. I still managed a few good ones before I got too cold to continue surfing. Good times.
4/1/12 AM Session: 3-5+ft, Sand Spit
Time in Water: 1hr 15min
Waves Surfed: 7
Another Sand Spit Sunday and on April 1st no less? I guess the NW season is having a little April fools with all of us. Well if being a fool means a solid WNW swell better then anything we saw all winter then I will be a fool all the time please. I woke up late not not feeling so great with the cold weather. I fed Alfie and saw an abundance of hitting the break wall from my kitchen window and knew I had to surf. I drove right to Sand Bar, got dressed and ran the break wall. I could tell it was solid from the start and that it was also really crowded. When I got to the break it was a solid 50 head strong, but overall it was a pretty local crowd with the exception of some visiting pros including Gorkin and Alek Parker. As always Killian held it down for Santa Barbara. I don’t think anyone surfs the place better then him. I saw two broken boards, one guy break an arm and another dislocate his shoulder. I was surfing on hurt hip from my drunken walk home Friday thus played it rather conservative. I hustled seven really good ones, my best allowing for a double barrel.
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