Surfing Ruined My Life

November 2012 Surf Sessions

November Surfing in Review

11/30/12 AM Session: 4-6+ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 19
I don’t think I have ever seen Mesa Lane that big.  It was solid.  I should have been at Rincon or somewhere better, but all reports came in with obnoxious crowds.  Heck the Lane is literally up the street.  In this economy with inflated gas prices staying close to home just plain makes sense.  My boy Trevor hit me up letting me know he was on it.  I showed up and man it was well overhead with a pesky SE wind kind of scalloping it out.  The crowd was light and Lindsay was out among the few.  Right off the bat I had a couple of bombs followed by some heavy beatings getting back out.  Sets were of plenty and there was a lot of raw power.  overall there were lots of close outs with the occasional gem.  Stoked I surfed though.

11/29/12 AM Session: 4-6+ft, Hammonds
Time in Water: 1hr 20mins
Waves Surfed: 19
The winds were ESE and a bit bad for most of the points as was the excruciatingly high tide.  The buoys looked good for town and I decided to check Hammonds.  It looked average but the crowd was light and it was close to work so I paddled.   I though it was only around chest high.  Then I got rocked by a huge set when I paddle out.  There were some bombs, yet overall it was a little wonky and a little scalloped with the side shore/offshore winds.  

11/28/12 No Surfing: 1-2ft
It was pretty much flat today with terrible winds and rain.  I was hoping for either substantial ESE wind swell to fill in or this big West we are suppose to get to show.  None of that happened so I was over it and JP and I cleaned the palace instead. Last year all the swells seemed to come a few hours earlier then predicted this year they all seem a bit later or spot on.  Go figure.

11/27/12 AM Session: 1-3ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves surfed: 49
I knew there was going to meager offerings today, but like I said I am trying to surf everyday again.  Life always seems better when I am surfing everyday.  I have let myself get so lost and clouded by the daily bullshit of everyday life causing me to forget that I became a surfer in the first place to escape the drudgery.  All I can say is my face is tan and my hair a bit lighter for the first time in a month.  It feels good.  This morning even though every part of me wanted to stay in bed I manned up and drove.  All my friends were saying “don’t bother, save the gas”.  My boy Ryan said New Jetty was beat allowing me to go straight to Emma Wood.  It was small but with the the occasional bowl.  The Coffin brothers and a few other local pros were on it.  I procrastinated paddling out to allow those guys to get over it since it appeared they had been out for a bit.  Sure enough by the time I paddled they were leaving.  I basically had the lineup to myself for over an hour till this chick whom I had never seen paddled out.  We ended up talking and I guess she does surf there regularly enough. I am usually on an earlier shift due to work and must miss her.  I had nothing to do so I surfed about another hour before the tide completely drained it out.  A few AVM’s came out towards the end.  It was not much for surf but the water was crystal clear and the weather nice. 

11/26/12 AM Session: 2-3ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 17
After a fun night at the Wild Cat with the usual suspects I was a bit slow getting my act together.  Reports showed a steep NW swell had filled in over night and Trevor was calling Emma once again.  I pulled up and there were some fun clean little lines coming in with multiple peaks working.  There were some sick little tubes, which unfortunately stop happening by the time I got in the water.  I did manage to land a huge ally-oop that stoked me out for the day.

11/25/12 AM Session: 2-3ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1hr, 15min
Waves Surfed: 26
I had to get West to the train station at 8:30 and considering I actually stayed home last night I was all rested and ready for a surf.  Sadly I don’t remember the last time I had a week long streak of consistent surfing.  My bud Trevor hit me up claiming Emma and sure enough there were some fun little bowls coming in on the toll booth peak.  It was nothing to write home about but I was stoked to be wet.  

11/24/12 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Jalama
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed:23
Reports all looked rather small for the 805.  My boy Dave confirmed some poor looking New Jetty.  Conditions for Jalama looked decent and there was just enough SW and NW on the buoy to entice me.  Also I thought it would be a treat to take West up for a north county adventure.  Sure enough it turned out to be one of those beautiful days up there.  The air had to be 80, the water high 50’s and crystal clear azure, oil glass and some fun albeit drained out chest plus lefts and rights.  The crowd was super light.  In California to have decent waves to yourself on a nice Saturday during a holiday weekend is absurd.  It was a bit inconsistent but if you waited there were some good ones.  If I was solo I would have stuck around for an incoming session, but I figured I should take West into the Valley and show him some of the other treats SB has to offer.  Surprisingly he like Solvang which I think is the most tacky tourist trap in the area.  Then it was home where I served up some tasty egg plant parmigiana. All and all I must say it has bee a nice little “staycation” as a friend put it.     

11/23/12 AM Session: 2-3+ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 20
West really wanted to get a surf in at Rincon and judging by the forecast this morning was his best chance. The lot showed it was not that crowded so we just suited up and went for it.  As it turns out the swell had dropped a bit and the sets were rather inconsistent plus it was all broken up short lines.  I was over it before I paddled out.  I managed to snag a few connectors. West got a few and was stoked.  After my usual twenty I was ready to pull the plug and chill.  Post sess I took West for a day time romp on State Street to talk shit on all the random people around.  Tonight is round three of the Wild Cat.

11/22/12 PM Session: 3-4+ft, Meas Lane
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 19
Wanting to get another surf in West and I cruised to Mesa and sure enough there were some really fun looking glassy bowls coming in all over the place.  Stoked we jumped in for the last hour of light.  I ended up frothing on it and got some really fun ones including a frontside tube that stoked me out.  After that it was Thanksgiving left overs followed by way to much booze and the Wild Cat.

1/22/12 AM Session: 3-5ft, Pitas
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
West and I cruised to Rincon but the turkey day crowd was a bit too intense.  We kept looking but it was packed everywhere.   Pitas was the lightest and mid point looked decent enough.  The wind was a bit up but the lines were good.  I had a few good ones but over all it was average at best.  It was the best crowd around.  Last night I did thanks giving at my apartment.  Turkey, lasagna, pumpkin pie, the works.

11/21/12 AM Session: 2-4ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 2.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 26
My boy Trevor hit me up this am and wanted to car pool to New Jetty.  I hate showing up with another person, but it does fit into the rule of two and he is a carp-o local so I figured why not.  On the way we noticed there was way more west swell in the water then yesterday and checked Rincon. Turns out it was pretty solid although a bit wonky, with more bump and crumble then I would have liked.  We started in the cove where I banged out three solid ones.  I had one where I opened with a three foot gap air, landed cleanly on the other side of the peak then hit it top to bottom six times before sticking an air reverse to end it.  Then I went up top where it was bigger but way shifter, more sectiony and hard to line up.  Still I got a handful of gems before taking my last wave from low Indicator all the way to the highway.   My legs hurt so bad I could barely complete an end section floater.  There is more swell on the way!!! RINCON!

11/20/12 AM Session: 2-3ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 3hrs 15mins
Waves Surfed: 38
I was on my way down south to either Strand or New Jetty when the look back of death caused me to do the turn around.  There were some solid ones coming through the top of the point near Indicator and I was on it.  Right off the bat I nailed three really good ones from Indy all the way through River Mouth.  Then it just turned off and I sat there grabbing garbage over the weeds.  While doing this I noticed that Rincon left appeared to be working.  I paddled up there and sure enough there were some really solid ones coming through.  I had one stand up tube that was great and stuck two really huge ally-oops.  Then it got crowded and the swell completely died causing me to spend an hour in attempt for a last wave.  I had tons to do and no time to waste considering I am doing a Thanksgiving dinner at my house on Wednesday and was cooking for a date later that evening.  The date went well although I find myself a little intimidated by this woman.  She is older and a bit more sophisticated then the women I usually spend time with and in heels she is over an inch taller then me.   I don’t know, I get the feeling I am teetering on the cusp of the friend zone and at the moment I have way too many female friends as it is.  

11/19/12 AM Session: 2-3ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 17
I got to admit it took a great deal of motivation to drag my ass out of bed and force a surf.  I had heard from Lindsay not too long ago that the steps at the Lane were finished.  A major renovation project had them closed for over a month and since one has to scale down a 3oo ft unstable sand cliff access with out the stairs was very challenging   It is also a high tide spot making it not accessible by the beach on high tide thus I had not been to the place in quite a while.  Besides a report that Silver Strand was decent, I heard Rincon was poor, New Jetty walled, c street crowded, and Hollywood fat left me very unmotivated indeed.  Then my boy Trevor hit me up and said he got some fun ones at Tar Pits.  If that spot had waves then Mesa Lane would too.  It was glassy with some chest high plus sets coming in and a light crowd.  Although a bit wonky there were some fun sections.  I stuck a money ally-oop. Man am I out of shape.  Too much party has left me huffing and puffing.  I need to get back on a program.

11/18/12 No Surfing: 2-3ft
Swell was slow rising this morning not that it mattered cause I did not get to sleep till 5am after throwing a ridiculous after party with every thing from killing a bottle of crown to multiple types of recreational drug use.  There were chills, there were thrills and some people had their share of spills.  Then I had to get up at 9:30 to meet this older woman I recently met, for coffee.  I think it was a really good first meeting.  We are suppose to maybe get dinner Tuesday night.  It should be fun if she doesn’t blow me off.

11/17/12 No Surfing: 1-3ft
More small waves and  more bad tide. My buddy Dave from Florida just got back in town and told me not to even bother.    Is this really winter in California.  Talk about a very auspicious start to the season.  El Nino my ass.  Bizarro Chris and I went to Wild Cat and raged to the usual insanity.

11/16/12 No Surfing: 1-2ft
Still slim pickings out there and a very high am tide.  I stayed in bed. Later that night I met up with my old friend Face aka TMI the dub step artist.  I have not chilled with this dude since he moved to San Francisco nearly four years ago.   It was good to catch up.  He ended up crashing at the palace and for some reason sleep walked into my roommate JP’s room and freaked him out a bit.  Fucking Face.

11/15/12 No Surfing: 1-2ft
A 7ft high tide, meager conditions, bad winds and rain left it apparent to me to stay in bed.  Last night I threw another great dinner party.  I served hand made manicotti, this cool egg plant side, but could easily be a main course.  I took an egg plant and cut it length wise in about 1/4 inch thick pieces.  Then I roasted them and covered it with sauteed green chiles and red onions finished off with a lemon, cumin, sumac sauce and feta, mozzarella and parmigiana cheese.  It was pretty great. For dessert I made these chocolate cookies with an espresso chocolate icing.   

11/14/12 AM Session: 1-3ft, New Jetty
Waves Surfed: 28
Time in the Water: 2hrs
I woke up and was over it.   The buoys looked small and so did the cams.  I was about to go back to sleep for the majority of the day when I got this motivation to just get in my car and drive south to find something to grovel.  I figured at the very worst I would just go fuck around at the Ventura swap.  Turns out there were some meager but fun looking lines at New Jetty with clean conditions.   There were a few kids doing their “surf training” thing. They looked about over it so I paddled.  I ended up getting some fun ones, even stuck a really nice ally-oop.  It was just good to surf again.

11/13/12 No Surfing: 1-2ft
More shit conditions had me over it today.  I was hoping for a bone to grovel but the afternoon brought minimal swell and wind.  I went thrifting instead where I scored some decent books and a suit for five bucks.  Good times.  Fuck surfing.

11/12/11 No Surfing: 1-2ft
I give up on surfing this year.  A week of 1-2ft surf in the middle of November?  WTF! This is absurd.  Some El Nino year this turned out to be.  Last night the cat was packed but with very little potential.  I went out with my boys Griffin and Chris and then met the usual rat pack.  I was able to curb my drinking down to one drink the whole night, which is good cause I wanted to see if I still had any self control left what so ever.

11/11/12 No Surfing: 2-3ft
I got right back on the horse last night and raged the scene with my boy Chris and my friend Pat.  It was Pat’s first night out in Santa Barbara and I must say it made a rather big impression on him.  It was a really fun night.  I woke up around eight checked the report and was over it.  Looks like more shit ass conditions over the  next few days.  I should just change the title of this section to the pathetic party log instead of the surf log.

11/10/12 No Surfing: 3-4ft
More hard winds had conditions average at best not that it would have mattered anyway.  Last night My neighbor Chris and I got free bottle service at Statement.  Two bottles of vodka later we were absolutely hammered.  By the time I sucked down my first rum and coke I was black out.  This chick I met the previous week was out and I had little recognition of her.  Somehow I still managed to get her to come back to my apartment for an after party, where from what little I do remember I got into a fight and subsequently got the shit kicked out of me by an MMA fighter out in the street then proceeded to run down to the beach, strip down naked and jump in the ocean.  When I woke up I had bruises, scraps, cuts and lumps all over my body.  Good fucking times.

11/9/12 No Surfing: 2-3ft
Bad winds and less then desirable swell left me in bed yet again.  I must say at the moment I am highly unmotivated to go surfing.

11/8/12 No Surfing: 1-3ft
I am not going to lie we can chalk today up to pure laziness.  The buoys were reading a bit smaller then I would have liked.  I was a bit more tired then I would have liked to be courtesy of one of my dinner parties that ran well into the wee hours of the morning.  It was a good event.  I made the best version of Pasta alla Rossado yet with bread stuffed crimini mushrooms and baked caramel pears for desert.  The whole meal went down very well received.  I could have ran down to New Jetty and found some crap to surf, but it was a bit on the rainy side, cold and overall average conditions, plus it was 8:30 before I even dragged myself out of bed meaning I was going to drive an hour and twenty to surf an hour.  Over it.

11/7/12 AM Session: 2-3+, Rincon
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 18
Another day at the ‘Con and mainly another day surfing.  I had even less pain today making me think that if I keep the boots on I will be alright.  When I woke up this morning it was bit cold out and foggy so I grabbed my new Xcel 4/3 which I have yet to break in being that I have only worn it three times.  So far it is still a bit tight on me.  I guess I need to buy Xcels in medium for now on.  It was a bit smaller then yesterday but there were still some really good lines coming in.  Once again things were super inconsistent.  I should have jumped in at the cove while the tide was good, but instead I went up top which had a solid crowd of people who could surf.  I made some bad wave choices and overall just was not in sync with anything today, wave selection, surfing, paddling, everything.  I did manage to get one really good one from River Mouth all the way to mid Cove, but besides that there were a handful of average 5-6 turn rides and a bunch of biscuits.  Its still great to be back in the water!

11/6/12 AM Session: 3-5ft, Rincon
Time in the Water: 2hrs
Waves surfed: 12
I waited patiently the past seven days, nursing an injury brought on by stupidity, worsened by even more absurdity, and then finally made nearly incapacitated by even further bad decisions.  My situation looked grim.  Then again I thought of all my friends from back home and how grim their situation and decided my lot was still not all that bad.  Today I was determined to at least try to surf.  I watched Slater surf a terrible heat at Steamer Lane losing in round 5 making his title shot this year doubtful at best. One should never bet against  Slater.  He almost stuck this crazy backside full rotation thing that was ten feet out.  I got to Rincon and it was pretty inconsistent, but there were sets.  I was about to roll to Emma Wood when this pretty blond chick in a bikini asked me if I wanted a pancake?  I though WTF and then saw she had a propane griddle and pan and was sure enough making pancakes.  Now I am not one to turn down free anything and considering the company and lack luster surf figured why the heck not.  I sat down with her and enjoyed a nice breaky of pancakes, orange juice and cookies.  Well if you watch any surf long enough you will see enough sets to peak your interest.  I ended up paddling out and although very slow and inconsistent I did mange a few really decent set waves.  My toe hurt a bit, but I think in boots and if I surf smart I should be able to surf through the duration of the injury.  Of course that is if I can manage to surf smart!!! 

11/5/12 No Surfing: 3-4ft
Its officially been seven days since I have surfed.  Today was the projected day to surf.  I even stayed home last night to help things along a little more.  It wasn’t to be.  I awoke this morning and I just did not have faith in my toe.  I checked the surf.  Rincon looked a bit fat and average, the only spot next to Sand Bar or El Cap that would have gotten me in the water anyway.  I really wanted to surf, but then after the session I would have been on my feet for eight long hours at work.  Tomorrow is my day off and I am adamant about surfing something.  Since I am off worse case scenario at least I can stay off my foot till Thursday.  Time will tell.  I really would be pleased to have a surf.

11/4/12 No Surfing: 2-3ft
God I woke up and my clock read noon and I panicked.  Was I really late for work?  Then I remember that we set the clocks back last night.  My ass was saved.  What a night out last night.  I can’t even begin to tell of the crazy night I had.  First off I have new partner in crime at the Cat.  Turns out this dude Chris who happens to live across the street from me in apartment A also is a kitty regular and walks it all weekend too.  We usually end up walking home together.  These days we have bee pre-gaming it too.  It was a good night.  Lots of ladies.  I was chilling out back when I noticed this chick looking at me from one of the booths.  I walked over to her and sat down.  With in a few minutes of conversation she asks me to buy her a drink.  I laughed in her face, declined and got up to leave.  Then she grabbed my arm and said “make out with me then”.  At one point we were practically having sex in the booth.  I lost her to the lure of her friends who were moving on to tonic. I don’t chase pussy anywhere thus it was done.  At around 1am I met this other chick who I must have conversed with till last call, got her number and then we texted back and forth a bit when I got back.  The only problem is I don’t for the life of me remember what she looked like or what we talked about.  If I ask her out then its like a blind fucking date.  Whatever I am going for it.  Worse case scenario I got to enjoy a good time with a new friend.  

11/3/12 No Surfing: 2-3ft
My toe is still fucked and its been small anyway that plus the weekend left me more then over it.  I guess new swell is on the way for Monday my projected day to surf again.  At the moment things are still healing slower then I would hope.  Friday night at the cat I did one of my usual girls.  She was having a bad night and I was happy to break my own dry spell and help her out.  

11/2/12 No Surfing: 2-3ft
I think things are on the mend.  I woke up with out any actual pain in my toe except to touch and pressure.  Its a small step in the right direction.  I probably could have wrapped it up, stuck it in a boot and grinned and bared a session this morning.  I have to remember this is not the east coast and that there will be waves just about always so better to wait then force a paddle and do more harm then good.  I would rather sit a few days out and be at full capacity then surf more and be lame longer.

11/1/12 No Surfing: 2-3ft
Still on the injury list and thanks to some drunk stupid bitch who stepped on my toe by accident with her heel while I was leaving the club last night I may be out for a bit.  As of press time I believe I am going to have stay off it in the water at least through the weekend.  I met with sick chick on the dance floor last night and we went at it for at least a half an hour killing the floor.  It was so much fun.  Then I blew it and didn’t get her number.  I need to have more confidence when dealing with women.