Surfing Ruined My Life

June 2013 Surf Session 

June 2013 Surf Sessions in Review

6-30-13 PM Session: 2-4+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
After our wonderfully disgusting lunch Trevor and I did a bit of car surfing, battling weekend beach traffic and parking everywhere.  I don’t get it.  People spend five days a week spinning their wheels at work getting all frustrated only to come to the beach where they should be having a good time and be in bad spirits.  I got more angry looks and horns honked at me then I have experienced in a long time.  Why is everyone in such a rush to get no where?  One lady thanked Trevor and I for putting on a “Chip and Dale show” for her.  Translation; us changing out of our wet suits.  We settled upon Emma Wood, which looked although busy, glassy and fun with plenty of peaks to ride.  Of course there were no spots in the lot and we had to wait about an hour before someone left so we could park.  Nothing like life in southern California, Waiting to park to sit in a crowded line up to surf average waves.  Whoooot!  We got down to the beach. Ryan was chilling with his kids.  The water dropped about ten degrees since the morning and it was freezing in my wholly 3/2 that is 9 years old.  Dane and his gang were out.  Virs was chilling on the beach.  Mike Mc Cabe was out and a few of the usual super groms.  I hate when Emma becomes a stage.  On my fourth wave I ended up picking a nice bowl off of Dane.  I back doored a super deep tube and barely made it out followed by a good hit and an air reverse I lost on the landing.  That barrel was something else.  Besides that I had a few more little tubes and a few turns but ultimately lost my steam due to the deep freeze and indigestion courtesy of The Round Table.  Had there not been surf for days this would have been a sick summer session and in a few days when I am bitching about how bad it is you can remind me of this entry.  

6-30-13 AM Session: 3-4+ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 31
I woke up my couch with out drinking last night.  My girl and I got in to this gnarly fight that just went around in circles for over an hour.  Finally over it I put on my shoes and left.  As I was walking out she made some derogatory Italian American remark comparing my family and I to the Sopranos.  That was the final draw for me.  I got home and found Bizarro sitting on my couch in the dark in his suit with a fancy drink in his hand.  We shot the shit together before I ultimately succumbed to exhaustion.  Its fine I prefer the couch to my bed more times then not anyway.  Trevor hit me up to surf and we rolled to the Harbor where we met a less then stoked Ryan.  There appeared to be a small up tick in the NW wind swell making things a bit more closed out at the River Mouth and the channel was all messed up with residual chop from the night before.  There were some solid runners coming off the Jetty with no one on it.  Turns out the reason for that was the fact that the current was an absolute river sucking you down the beach.  It was one of those sessions where you had to constantly paddle to stay in position. Still hurting from the massive boozing on Friday night and being sore from four amazing days in a row of surfing where I had not surfed anything under head high I was a bit irked.  The wave had this strange kink in it that kept making it hard to get a good bottom turn and even harder to land anything.  I did manage a couple of really sick suck out tubes and a few good turns. I had a few beatings as well.  It was still a super fun session I am just so spoiled right now cause of the amazing run we are coming off. I better get it while I can because a flat spell is coming.  After the session Trevor had his heart set on going to The Round Table for their all you can eat lunch pizza buffet for $6.99.  All the nasty pizza and wilted dirty salad bar you can ingest before throwing up.  As of press time I am still sick to my stomach.  Just imagine two very skilled chefs purposely sitting down to a meal like that.

6-29-13 PM Session: 3-5+ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 2 hrs 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 36
I got a late start today courtesy of a full black out at the Wild Cat.  I don’t even remember walking in.  I was hung over as  fuck all day.  The surf was firing so finally I manned up at the end of the day grabbed my girl and headed to surf.  Luckily the wind decided to stay down and the surf was firing.  Ryan met up with us and we trotted down to the reeds where it was going off.  Barrels, kill-able sections everything you would want out of a surf.  There was almost no crowd.  The sunset was amazing and water was warm. I must say it was another great day of surfing.  

6-28-13 PM Session: 5-7+ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 18
Since conditions were pretty similar to yesterday I decided to kick it down in Ventura for the day and surf again.  Besides I am reading a really good book right now so why not blow through a few chapters.  Around 2 pm I had another look and sure enough there was still plenty of swell and the wind still down.  River Mouth still looked very do-able but after last nights beating and this mornings awesome froth I just wanted a chill session.  I saw some really good looking runners coming off the Jetty and paddled.  So much for nice and easy.  I got out there and immediately a set came right for me.  Having extra confidence from the Shores session I swung around and went.  I was very late and rather deep.  As the wave hit the sand bar it jacked up and went square.  I air dropped to the bottom under the lip and got completely owned.  I did not get a breath before I got hit and was sent all the way to the bottom, the full length of my leash stretched and my board tomb stoning.  I got back to the surface gasping for air only to have three more bombs unload on me.  I always forget how much more power waves have in the Harbor then other spots.  After that I got a bunch of good ones till the wind came up just as Gordo paddled out.  By then I was rather exhausted from a few terrible paddle outs caught inside and decided to call it a day.  Ryan had his family down at the beach and I hung with them for a few.  That’s two solid days of surfing with tomorrow possibly being three.  This has certainly been a decent summer season thus far.  

6-28-13 AM Session: 3-5+ft, Oxnard shores
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 38
I decided to check Rincon first thing this morning and seriously almost vomited at the destruction the new highway expansion program has done to the sanctity of Rincon.  Of course it will not be till the winter when we find out if the sea wall extension will cause extra backwash in the bottom of the Cove.  Lets hope not, but hey who cares as long as there can now be three lanes of bumper to bumper traffic instead of two.  I was at the bottom of the trail when I ran into to regulars, die hard Rincon locals and good friends of mine.  Both were not very enthusiastic.  We were chilling up in the lot for a spell when I got a text from Ryan that Oxnard Shores was on.  Considering the tide and swell direction I figured he was spot on.  I booked it down there and as I was changing all these guys were getting out.  I was afraid it had already turned off.  The Shores is one of those very fickle spots.  To my shock they said it was firing and that they were just too tired to surf anymore.  Gordo pulled up and we paddled.  Sure enough it was about as fun as waves can get.  Head high to over head, glassy, perfect A frame bowls up and down the beach.  I got my first ten waves before the half hour mark.  It was amazing, not a drop of water out of place.  Not really hallow although there were a few shacks.  Just completely rip-able surf.  I went to fucking town.  Might have been one of the best sessions I have had all year.  Soo much fun.

6-27-13 PM Session: 6-8+ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1 hr, 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 17
After a few hour break and some lunch I checked the conditions again.  There was still plenty of swell although it was now really fat with the tide.  New Jetty was do-able but far from what I wanted.  I checked River Mouth and sure enough even with the high tide and wind there were still fun bowls coming in.  The crowd was nonexistent.  I paddled out past the reeds with two other guys and picked off a solid bomb right off the bat followed by two other good ones.  Then I noticed things started to pick up rather fast in both size and consistency.  The wind came up a little bit too.  I found myself taking a few beatings on some of the bombs being under gunned.  Then I got one from about 50 yards past the reeds all the way to the other side.  The wave felt huge.  I took a few more and then decided to call it a day since it was totally maxing out swell wise for what that spot could hold.  When I came in my boy Ryan as on the beach and asked me how it was.  My response was “WILD!” with very wide eyes as we watched some dude catch and get worked by a near double over head bomb. What a fucking day of surfing.

6-27-13 AM Session: 4-6+ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 2 hrs, 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 33
I knew it was going to be solid today.  Everything just depended on the wind.  I got to the Harbor and there was some WSW wind on it and things were really foggy.  New Jetty had a wave but it looked average at best and bit on the crowded side for what was coming in.  I took a walk down to River Mouth and sure enough there were clean enough peaks coming in.  It was hallow as hell.  I saw a wave spit while I was checking it.  I paddled and it was way heavier then I had expected.  Full on double up bowls and some creepy rouge close outs from the west.  I managed a handful of crazy barrels the first half of the session. As the tide came up it became a rip fest out there.  It was solid and super fun to surf in waves of consequence again.  I came in due to exhaustion from fighting the current.  I decided to kick it in the lot for a chance at another session in the afternoon.

6-26-13 PM Session: 2-3+ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 19
After a morning of watching the buoys things finally looked like they might be the best of the worst or just plain decent for an early afternoon session.  I brought two suits thinking that if the swell really filled in fast I may do a short session and then find a better exposure for the evening glass off.  It looked really small all the way down to Emma.  The wind was light still with just a tiny amount of texture.  I ran to the Harbor with hopes of light wind.  By the time I climbed the dunes the switch had already been made and the wind was hard WNW tearing the shit out of River Mouth, which would have been pretty fun if it stayed down.  New Jetty had some waves coming in but it looked a bit too fat at the moment and somewhat closed out.  My plan was to go back to Emma and squeeze in a quick little rip sess considering things looked fun from the highway.  I don’t know if the tide pulled out a little too much or the wind took its toll or a little of both, but it definitely was not looking very fun at all.  At that point I was like fuck it I just want to get wet.  I went back to New Jetty to suit and boot.  I got out there and my boy Robbie and his mate were out.  At first I couldn’t get anything to go my way with all the back wash, wind and close outs.  Then the tide must have just ticked low enough and the jetty started to break.  I used the sling shot off the rocks to get me through the middle close out section.  Some how I ended up sticking a really clean high fs no grab air.  My last wave was probably my best of the session giving me turns all the way to the beach.  I knew I was not going to do better and called it a day.  Lets hope for better conditions tomorrow.

6-25-13 No Surfing: 1-2ft
Things were looking really tiny today.  Harvest was about as small as it gets.  I had some errands to run.  I wanted to put new tires on my car and there was a place with a decent deal.  Of course the tires I needed were not in stock so as it stands I am still riding on racing slicks. Hooray for eminent high speed death on the free way.  I came home,  did some laundry, ate some breakfast, got some bare bones groceries so I don’t end up starving to death or eating Alfie (most likely the latter).  Then I made my bed up with some clean sheets courtesy of the laundry I did earlier followed by a light clean of my bathroom and rest of the apartment.  Whoooot! Man aren’t down days in the surf fun.  Now I am watching a very lack luster Oakley Pro on the web cast.  Looks like some new south is suppose to fill in tomorrow and there should be combo action over the next four or five days.

6-24-13 PM Session: 1-3ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time  in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 28
I actually was not planning on a surf today.  Conditions were looking really on the poor side.  As a result I decided to go out to Lesbian night at the Wild Cat.  Once a month now they take a Sunday just for the girls, but it also brings out the masses.  I walked to my girl’s and crashed there on the way home.  I did not get back to my place till around one and made some breaky.  Trevor hit me up that he surfed Emma and was looking to go back for another session. I jumped on it deciding conditions were good enough and why not grovel.  It was not like I had anything better to do.  We got to Emma and it was tiny and too low.  River Mouth had a few nuggets coming in and we made the hike. Turns out although perfectly clean it was a bit too inconsistent and weak to be a great session.  Still I found a few fun rides.  It was just nice to be out there.  I found a bunch of sea glass on the walk out.

6-23-13 AM  Session: 2-3ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 22
Today is the fucking 23 of June.  You know what that means?  It means my car payment is due today and then past due tomorrow and it is going to be past due because I am a bum, don’t have a job and consequently absolutely no fucking money.  Thank you Westmont for sucking as an employer.  When I woke this morning with this revelation my first thought was to fuck myself in the ass with my chef knife.  Then I checked the surf report and realized it was gloomy, damp, cold, small, weak, windy and crowded.  I might as well go surf Emma Wood since it would have the same agonizing affect only less messy.  I got there just as the wind went from bad to worse.  I think I actually lay in bed and wait till I see the wind come up from my bedroom window.  Once I see that it is all blown out I get up and go for a surf.  This way I can blame the bad conditions on the fact that I suck monkey dick at surfing.   Trevor was already out claiming it was sooo much better right before I got there.  All I was thinking about was how much more fun I was going to have when I got home and jerked one off.  I had a few terrible ones and was feeling good almost good about my surfing.  That was of course till Connor Coffin came out and made me look like a complete goon.  Hooray for surfing.  Where is that chef knife again?

6-22-13 PM Session: 2-3+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves surfed: 23
It was 2:30 am this morning where I found myself on the beach down at Lead Better basking in the full moon with a gay guy from Arizona Bizarro brought home. While his female friend threw up in my bathroom, my girl friend was passed out in my bed and Bizarro was blacked out on my couch.  Yet as crazy as this sounds all I could think was how it was just another standard Friday night at the Wild Cat.  Then I started to consider just how many people have thrown up in my bathroom as a result of too much alcohol over the years.   It has to be at least 50 or so.  For me the night was a real bummer from the get go.  These days thanks to being attached and a bit more responsible I really only get out to the club one maybe two nights a week.  That being the case it is a really let down when something goes awry.  It has been two Fridays in a row that shit has went down adverse for me courtesy of my lady.  Friday night there was this Brazilian bikini fashion show at the club.  All of the female employees were modeling.  I was particularly interested in seeing the show.  My friends and I were enjoying the festivities when my girl looks at me all mad and says she is going out back.  Everyone at that point was inside except for the usual creepers and I did not want them preying on my girl.  I told her to stay with the group.  For the rest of the night she was crazy angry with me thus ruining my night.  If your not going to have a good time stay the fuck home!  Anyhow we kissed and made up by the end of the night.  Next day we were pretty hung over to say the least and spent the bulk of the day in bed.  I promised I would take her down to the beach with me when I paddled thus we got to Emma by 7 pm.  It was way too fat and way too windy.  I did a mercy paddle.  I had  a few ok rides but overall I would have had more fun if I just stuck my head into the toilet of the porta-john in the parking lot.  My lady had a good time since things were pretty close to shore and I was surfing a peak by myself allowing her to see my terrible surf game.  Whoooot!

6-21-13 PM Session: 1-3ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 2.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 52
I really was not planning on another surf today.  Then having little to do I decided to just give the Lane a check for shits and giggles.  I got down there and although small it was clean with nice lines and very do-able though a tad more crowded then I would have liked.  I love watching the sunset from that vantage anyway so why not paddle.  I got out there and ended up putting on a clinic on small wave surfing.  I stuck so many varied airs and big turns for how small it was.  I always was the king of killing it in ridiculously small perfect surf.  Who cares.  I had a fucking ball.

6-21-13 AM Session: 3-4+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves surfed: 33
Once again Emma served up a fun session this morning.  I knew it was going to be a good day when I found half a bar of wax in the dirt were I parked my car.  There nothing better then finding a gift of wax.  That shit is expensive.  I bought two bars at Ventura Surf Shop earlier this week and it cost me $3.23.  Absurd! They charged me tax on wax I paid for in cash.  What has the world come to?  I always keep an eager eye for free bees.  Summer time is tough cause the booties are off meaning even more wax usage.  Then my luck almost took a turn in a bad direction as I almost got hit by a “ghost train” while crossing the tracks.  The trail down to the beach from the “people’s parking lot” as I like to call it cause its free forces an unprotected crossing on a pretty much blind turn from both sides of the tracks.  This crazy vet once told me this ridiculous story about how he almost got hit on multiple occasions by what he was calling “ghost trains”.  Its true I have had my share of close calls, but it is usually when I am not paying attention.  Most of the time you can hear the tracks vibrating right before a train shows up.  I heard nothing as I crossed then looked up to see the train no more then 30 feet from me and it’s horn blaring.  Talk about luck.  First the wax find and then barely being spared by the “ghost train”.  Then I got in the water and it was fun as fuck.  Around head high plus, glassy and super bowly.  Besides some kook burning me when I was going from deep I would have to say I surfed another really good session.  I somehow managed to get the best bs barrel I have got in about a month or so.  That is three keepers in a row and there is more swell to come.

6-20-13 PM Session: 3-5+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 26
After taking a short break chilling in the parking lot I decided to paddle again as the tide came up and the swell along with it.  So did the wind out of the south.  Some how it was more on the side shore/offshore and things were still really fun.  The crowd was heavy but there were so many waves it was not even funny.  I ended up frothing and caught pretty much a keeper every time I paddled back out and put on another killer performance.  My buddy said he saw me rip the top off one from the highway.  Later in the night I took my girl out for a beach front moonlight picnic.  Not a bad day in my book.  

6-20-13 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 43
I wanted to go to San Francisco today.  My decision was based on whether or not my unemployment check was deposited in my account.  Surprise, surprise it was not there.  With my plans foiled thanks to Uncle Sam I figured I would just cruise to Emma Wood and grovel a for a little bit to get the day started.  As it turned out it was fucking firing. The Best Emma Wood I have surfed in a month.  It was glassy, chest to head plus and throwing out left and right bowls and barrels.  I was surfing well and stuck a handful of airs including two bs air reverses and two ally-oops.  I even found a couple really fun tubes.  It was such a good time I decided to hang around for another session.  Totally made up for not getting out of town today.

6-19-13 PM Sessions: 1-3ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1hr 15mins
Waves Surfed: 30
What a crazy day today turned out to be.  I am a firm believer in the phrase “No news is good news” especially in my current ambiguous financial situation.  I received a rather disturbing piece of mail that sort of sent me into a frenzy which was followed by a brief stint of anger, then despair.  Finally I made a few phone calls to see how much trouble I was in and everyone I talked to was like “you don’t own anything, don’t worry about it”.  I went and spent some time in my garden to relieve some stress and made a really nice succulent mini garden and re-potted some plants.  Still feeling a bit uneasy I decided to go to the Lane for a grovel session.  Conditions were clean although small and packed.  One thing about it being the only spot in town to pull in swell is that it is always crowded.  The Lane is a pretty wide open playing field out so I paddled.  Turns out there were a few tiny racy ones that gave up for some big air sections.  I managed to bring down a solid bs air reverse among a host of other airs.  Somehow toward the end of the session I ate it in a close out larrel and hit my back on one of the inside rocks.  Fucking tiny Mesa Lane is going to be the death of me.   What ever the case it was another splendid sunset and even if they take away all my worldly possessions from me they can never take away my appreciation for living.  I may cruise up to SF tomorrow to fuck shit up with Mauriello.  The whole mission depends on a few things going down tomorrow and how ambitious I am.  

6-19-13 AM Session: 2-3ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 22
I had some high hopes of scoring either Rincon or one of the points and slept in a little to let the tide come down as a result.  Then I got a call from Ryan from the Harbor claiming it was windy out of the south, small and junky and he was on his way to Emma.  I quickly pulled up the reports and buoys on my computer and sure enough things had dropped steadily over the night.  Emma was pretty much going to be the only game in town.  Sure enough everyone was there making for a bit of a crowd.  Conditions were semi clean and a bit weak looking.  Then I got out there and it was very very weak with a strong current that always accompanies a dropping tide on a NW swell there.  I found a few but ultimately between the crowd, current and weak conditions I was just not having a good time and decided to bail.

6-18-13 PM Session: 2-3ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 49
My girl and I checked the Lane around 5:30 and it definitely looked like there was a fun wave or two rolling through with a fairly light crowd.  I went home grabbed my gear and paddled.  Sure enough there were tons of fun litte bowls coming in up and down the reef.  The crowd had unfortunately tripled.  It didn’t really matter since there were plenty of waves coming in.  I ended up sitting on the east peak that the vets call “Dorky’s” after some retarded guy who used to surf that section in the 70’s.  Normally its usually just a closed out left and right, but tonight it was throwing out pretty hard.  As the session wore on conditions just got cleaner.  I was finding myself tons of little barrels all over the place.  Got a few shitty beatings almost breaking my neck on one.  Besides that though I must say it was a splendid little session.  Nothing to write home about, but with pretty blue water, and an excellent sunset and near 70 degree water how can I complain?

6-18-13 AM Session: 2-3+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
Same shit different surf spot.  More terrible south wind plagued a steadily rising NW wind swell/ NW groundswell Combo this morning as was evident by everything with the exception of Emma wood being torn to pieces.  Even that was a bit torn up.  There was a light crowd since all the groms are down at Lowers trying to win fame and fortune at Nationals and I saw a few nuggets in the rough.  It was not like there were any options left to surf.  I paddled and it was unfortunately more weak then I would have liked and torn up too.  I did manage two little bs tubes and pulled off one of the biggest bs reos I have done in a long time, fully extended, 12-o’clock, upside down, tail free, fakie re-entry.  Wish I had a clip of it.  Since we as surfers always say “all it takes is one” that was totally enough for me.  Besides that it was just a really nice day to be surfing.  The water was warm and crystal clear blue, air temp warm and sunny.  One of those rare Central California beach days.   Its a bummer the last few days the ball of my foot has been acting up again.  I resurrected the rooster board, although I think with all the repair work it has become far to heavy to have the magic it once did.  Might be time to sell it.  Anyone want a very cheap 5’10 with a giant cock on the bottom hit me up.  I mean cheap!  On the way back up it looked like Rincon could have been fun had the wind not been south.  Might have to hit up Mesa Lane tonight.  I think tomorrow may be a surf all day kind of day!

6-17-13 AM Session: 2-3ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
I guess summer is officially here a few days early by all the bad surf and shitty fucking southerly morning winds.  Blaaaahhhh…another morning session of “Best of the worst”.  This is sounding like the story of my life.  Maybe “Best of the Worst” aught to be my own personal tag line?  Anyhow the buoys showed a slight up tick in NW wind swell and therefore I decided to give surfing a chance this morning.  Things were pretty small and drained on the way down to the Harbor.  River Mouth looked scattered and all over the place.  There were probably a few peaks to be had,but it looked like more frustration then enjoyment.   New Jetty looked weak and busy with kooks, but the best option.  I saw some little ones in the middle of the beach that temped my fancy.  Truthfully if I had not drove I would not have surfed.  Off the bat I don’t know if conditions were better or it was just early session froth, I picked off a bunch of alright ones.  My boy Robbie paddled after I sold it to him and things just turned off.  Lakey paddled as well.  After a solid hour of just sitting catching the occasional terrible one I decided to cut my losses and call it a day.  Yeah…surfing in the summer in California…

6-16-13 No Surfing: 1-2ft
Not much on offer in the surf department today.  Trevor called me that he was making the run to River Mouth.  He drove so of course he was going for it.  Then the wind came up and foiled his plan.  I wisely stayed in bed where it was warm and dry.  Looks like there is some minor NW wind swell and SW ground swell to fill in tomorrow and the next few days allowing small but hopefully palatable surf.  

6-15-13 No Surfing: 2-3ft
Thanks to a heavy night at the Cat and Bizarro spinning 90 hip hop I got a very late start today.  I saw the wind come up and all my instincts told me to stay home.  I was really in the mood to surf and was hoping that maybe e Emma would be alright.  It was all torn up everywhere.  I went for a beach walk at Ventura Harbor before returning home in dejection.  

6-14-13 AM Session: 2-3ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 21
After checking Mesa , Lane last night and its weak ass offerings I decided to just work in my garden instead of wasting the money, gas and time for a Rincon grovel mission at best.  This morning I woke up and the buoy was still holding the steep NW swell from yesterday and the Cstreet cam looked clean.  I rolled to the Harbor.  River Mouth looked like it had a few bowls coming in, but the south wind was getting harder by the second.  New Jetty was much cleaner although very weak looking and crowded with tons of groms jacked up on too much sugar.  I was torn between possibly windy crap at River Mouth with no crowd or battling it out with the groms at the Jetty.  In the end I chose the Jetty and decided that I was not about to give any of those pubescent punks an inch.  It helped that 103.3 The Vibe had some sick ass DJ spinning nothing but gangster rap my entire drive.  With the fury of Tupac, Snoop, Dre and the rest of them I descended upon the New Jetty line up.  Man did I have some kind of game face on as I paddled around the entire pack into peak position time and time again after snagging the best wave of every set.  Too bad it was a mush burger and after six waves I decided to paddled up the beach where a more wedgey left and right were coming in.  It was far from anything to write home about, but at least I got wet.  I was surfing well too, sticking a solid bs air reverse, and a very clean fast bs reverse I was very happy with.  
6-13-13  AM Session: 2-3ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1hr 45mins
Waves Surfed: 24
Last night I had to cook dinner for my girl’s dad.  I asked him what his favorite meal was and he of course picked Lasagna,  which for me is one of the more bullshit items to cook.  I do make a mean ass meat Lasagna and it is one of my favorite foods.  I ended up doing a half pan of two layer meat lasagna, an artichoke with a garlic aoli followed by a special peach cobbler for dessert.  I did it right with a candle on the table, matching plates and silverware, dressed up.  How could anyone hate on that.  Turns out he was a really cool dude and out of every father figure I have ever met he made me feel the least intimidated.  It was a most splendid evening.  I woke up this am and Trevor said the buoy was reading 10ft at 314 NW.  That usually means Ventura Harbor would have something.  New Jetty was a bit weak looking and crowded with groms.  After Lowers I am so over groms I want nothing to do with them for at least a week.  We ran down to River Mouth where there were some solid chest high left bowls coming in up and down the beach.  There was some texture but it was pretty fun.   I found a few nuggets.  Then the wind came up and crushed it.  I may try and get Rincon tonight.

6-12-13 No Surfing: 1-2ft
Fucking car surfing with no money is just not the way to go.  My better judgement told me not to go for a look.  After missing yesterday I wanted to get some.  Things were super small all the way to the Harbor where it was also in its  own right small.  New jetty had a few waves coming in that I would have force paddled if not for a pack of groms out there filming and another three guys dressing in the lot.  There just was not enough waves for all of us.  I saw some do-able bowls down at River Mouth and was going to dress up and run that way.  As I was getting amped up in the knoll lot the wind doubled in speed.  Given the cold, damn, June gloom conditions outside I was over it.  I checked Emma on the way home.  It was small and too drained to bother with a grovel.  Had a look at the Gold Coast.  I just was not in the mindset to grovel.  Looks like there is a small bullshit swell for Tomorrow and Friday.  I have to cook a meal for my girl friend and her father.  Its my first time meeting him so wish me luck.

6-11-13 No Surfing: 2-3ft
The idea that anything in Ventura was actually 2-3ft is laughable.  I was so burned out from the previous day’s Lowers mission and subsequent late night helping my woman with some work stuff.  My back hurt.  My neck was stiff and knees sore.  Damn I am sounding like an old man.  Ryan was rather pessimistic on the phone.  The Buoys looked tiny.  Trevor and I were suppose to go find something to grovel but I ended up falling back to sleep and never meeting him.  He said New Jetty was small and the usual home schooled groms were skate boarding in the lot.  If the groms are over it then so am I.  He then went down to Malibu and surfed fun Zeros and Leo.  Shoulda, woulda, coulda.  I got some needed chores done around the house.  Looks like a slight push for the end of the week before more flatness.  Yuck.

6-10-13 PM Session 2: 2-4+ft, Lower Trestles, San Clemente
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 18 
If I make the trek all the way down to Lowers I at least spend the day.  Normally I am way more frothy too.  I really let the crowd ruin my day.  Lowers is one of the most stressful line ups to surf for me.  Its like being at a crowded skate park. Everyone is watching everything and scrutinizing everything.  The line up is literally a straight line into the beach and there is very little margin of error.  It has three tiers and everyone is watching.  If you blow it people will let you know it.  Then the beach, as well as the line up  is full of pros, industry guys, up and comers, hot groms, photogs, video guys, everyone knows good surfing and everyone can surf.  Sometimes I let it get  into my head.  I managed my best two rights of the day a and a handful of fun lefts.  I should have surfed till dark but packed it in early.  Trevor migrated to Middles, which we had while chilling on the beach affectionately called “Trevor’s” since he kept looking at it.  It was definitely worth the trip just not what I had hoped it would be.  These days things have to be pretty unreal to get me super excited. Unfortunately this south just didn’t do it for me.  

6-10-13 PM Session: 3-5+ft, Lower Trestles, San Clemente
Time in Water: 2.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
I sort of had it in my head back on Friday that Today was going to be a Trestles mission.  Trevor had been wanting to go down there this season having never surfed the place before.  The fact that it is one of the best waves in the US, California and the world makes it a must surf for every surfer before he/she dies.  I had not been there since the summer of 2011 and felt it was time.  We cruised down and upon checking the parking situation it appeared the place was going to be a bit more crowded then I had hoped.  My thinking was the swell was on its way out and everyone would have been all surfed out by now.   I was wrong.  Lowers had a solid pack on it.  The majority were hungry groms in town early to warm up for the NSSA Nationals.  Its one thing to have to fight with the usual locals, visitors and pros, but throw in a boat load of the country’s top groms, and a dying inconsistent swell and you have a bit of a frustrating situation.  Trevor was in a good mind set and pumped.  Feeding off his energy we paddled.  Right off the bat I scored two really decent lefts, then an ok right.  I was fighting the groms mostly for the insiders but was at least getting waves.  Trevor had a few bad ones.  Then moved a bit wide of the pack on the right and manged to get two of the best waves of the session.  I lucked into a very fun right that reminded me why I spent three hours in the car each way.  If you took the groms out of the equation it might have been an all time session.

6-9-13 PM Session: 3-4+ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
I was hung over as shit this morning.   Man not partying 4 nights a week anymore really kicks your ass when you do a double header.  My liver is being a pussy right now and needs to man up.  I rolled out of bed at 2pm, ate a bowl of cereal and headed south to the Jetty.  I heard it was pretty solid in the morning.  Sure enough there were scattered peaks  up and down the beach.  I paddled and then as the tide dropped the Jetty started getting this super long lined up left off it. It was inconsistent as heck though as this entire swell has been.  Whatever I still found a few.

6-8-13 PM Session: 3-5+ft, Leo Carrillo, Malibu
Time in Water: 2.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 26
Bizarro and I decided to go to fancy town hard last night and pretty much drank all the rum at Wild Cat.  At some point we found ourselves at the strip club at 2am waiving around dollar bills at naked ladies.  Then I ate a pizza off the floor on the walk home.  Good times.  That being said there was absolutely no way I was waking up for a morning surf.  Besides the wind and weather sucked too.  On the weekends I have no problem sleeping in and waiting for all the reports to get back to me.  Ryan called in from New Jetty where he said it was fun.  Trevor called in from Indicator.  Things were smaller then yesterday but still fun.  Pat struck out for Malibu, which was still firing.  I headed to New Jetty around 3pm hoping for some low tide lefts.  There was a solid left coming in off the Jetty, probably the best I have seen at that place in a while.  It was very inconsistent and the majority of the waves were really soft.  Pat called me up while I was checking and it and said Leo looked really good on his way home from Dume and that he was thinking about going back if I wanted to jump in with him.  Now I don’t do Malibu on the weekends, cant stand it.  But it was Saturday afternoon on the back end of the swell.  I figured people would be pretty surfed out.  We got there and it was really decent despite some of the larger sets closing out.  Crowd was not terrible by Leo standards and there appeared to be plenty of waves.  We jumped in and right off the bat on my second wave I got washed into the rock and tangled in my fins.  Luckily I didn’t get cut.  Then my third wave was an inside double up, my favorite ones there.  It went square and ran down the reef.  I connected a handful of solid backside hacks.  From there it was on.  Mid session some dude paddles up to me and asked where I was from.  In the back of my mind I was thinking really are we going to fight right now.  I was keeping on the inside being super respectful, not paddling anyone.   I said Santa Barbara, which is neutral down there since SB and ‘Bu have an unspoken agreement considering our conflicting seasons.  The he said “man its a pleasure to watch you surf, you totally stoked me out to paddle for another session.  I love your back hand”.   I was stoked.  I guess all the recent water time has paid off a little bit.  To my credit I was surfing decent and happen to surf Leo really well.  Give me a fast peeling right reef or point and I cant go wrong.  Later that night we opened a 2003 bottle of Don Perrion to celebrate Daniel’s last night in Santa Barbara since he is moving to San Diego for new opportunity.  Then it was off to the Wild Cat and fancy town.   I love my life…

6-7-13 PM Session: 2-3ft, El Capitan
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 9
The myth proved true this evening, El Cap really does break on a  south.  It has to be a big long period swell, but my friends it breaks.  It breaks pretty good too.  They say a really good point always holds it’s form no matter the situation.  It did.  One thing I must say though is that things were very inconsistent.  I am talking an easy ten to 15 minutes between sets that only had around 3-5 waves in them.  The crowd was about ten strong and all were older locals that included the highly esteemed Wayne Lynch.  He managed to get the wave of the session out there.  I got to the spot a bit later then I wanted thanks to a few too many chores to do and the tide was coming up real fast.  Still I managed to get a few really good ones all the way down the point.  One good wave at El Cap is about as good as anything you are going to catch any where.  I surfed till I got cold in my 3/2 from all the sitting and fogged in conditions.  As I was leaving Wayne Lynch grabbed me and told me I was one of his favorite goofy foots in the Santa Barbara area.  I don’t know what he was smoking but I will take that compliment to the bank.

6-7-13 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Pitas
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 32
I got up around 7:30, fed Alfie and began the process of getting my girl out of bed.  I got on the road just about 8:30 when I fielded a phone call from my girl that her car wouldn’t start.  Being the good boy friend I am I swung back around and gave her a jump start.  At first things were looking grim and I was afraid she might have to take my car to LAX in order to pick up her dad.  Worse case scenario I would have had her drop me off at Surf Rider and I would have just spend the day there with 300 of my closest friends.   Luckily everything worked out and we both got on our way.  Trevor was claiming Indicator although crowded.  I don’t care for that wave when its not crowded, let alone with a crowd.  Ryan said the beachies were all jumbled and was checking down at Cstreet.  I did reconnaissance at Sea Cliffs.  Emma was alright, but crowded and a bit too steep.  Gold Coast was too walled. Steps looked ok but walled.  Then I noticed some solid sets up at Pitas.  I grabbed my binoculars and had a look.  Ryan met me and we paddled.  Sets were super inconsistent but overhead when they showed.   Conditions were just a little too sectiony for our liking.  The best section was down at Faria, but that was still far from perfect.  The crowd was good just Ryan, myself and one other guy who was killing it.  I got over it after about an hour and a half and paddled around the point to Father Johns since I had no booties on and did not want to do the Pitas rock dance bare foot.  I got three ok lefts up there before taking the steps out.

6-6-13 PM Session: 2-4+ft, Solimar
Time in Water: 1hr 45mins
Waves Surfed: 24
I woke up early and the wind was already up.  I hit up all my contacts.  My most reliable source, Ryan said he was going to wait it out till early afternoon.  Being  that it was cold and grey out I had no problem jumping back in to bed with my baby.  I had some things to get done around the apartment.  Around 2pm Ryan called me and said he was going to have a look.  I decided to meet him.  Trevor claimed he scored good Rincon Left, but considering conditions I really found that hard to believe.  Once I got onto Sea Cliffs there was tons of swell coming in although very steep.  Unfortunately there was tons of wind too.  Emma was small and a bit on the drained side.  I met Ryan at Harbor which had very solid long period sets coming in.  The wind was trashing it. I tried to talk Ryan into driving me to Malibu, but he was over it.  In the end I cruised back to Emma, which was a little better, but more crowded and still not what I was looking for.  I checked Tanks and Stairs Cases.  I almost paddled at Stair Cases till the wind switched NW.  On a last ditch effort I pulled up at Solimar.  Though it was far from great there was a decent right coming in off the inside reef that looked like I could get a few turns off on.  For about an hour it was really fun.  Then the tide got too high and the wind had taken its toll.  I did have a few keepers.

6-5-13 No Surfing: 1-2ft
Wow the first tiny day in a long time.  After yesterday I was not about to wake up and drive all the way to Ventura for a terrible forced paddle.  I figured I would just wait and see if the new long period south would start to show.  That never happened.  Instead I got some well needed chores done around my house like bleaching down the kitchen and inside of the refrigerator.  Later I took my girl up to Elings Park for a sunset walk.  It was a beautiful evening with great sky colors.  While up at the glider port I noticed that there was some minor wind swell coming in at the Pit.  Probably could have groveled Mesa Lane.  I had more fun hanging with my girl anyway.  Later I took her to my favorite Thai place, Your Place for a nice dinner.

6-4-13 AM Session: 1-2+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
If we drive we surf that is the golden rule for Trevor and I.  New Jetty looked windy and weak, not even the groms were interested opting to throw rocks at the tsunami sign instead.  Home schooling at its best.  We saw some tiny clean ones at Emma on the way down and figured why not give it a run.  It was way smaller then we had hoped.  There were a few grovel-able lefts coming in on the reef.  We desperation paddled it and it was about as bad as it looked.  Trevor found a couple of larrels thus forcing me to find one of my own as well.  At least the crowd was non existent and the water was really crystal clear.  Given that and the wave size and intensity we felt like we were surfing in a wave pool just like Rick Kane.  It always better to get wet right?

6-3-13 PM Session: 1-3ft, Mesa Lane
Time in the Water: 1hr 15mins
Waves Surfed: 31
Trevor and I rolled down to the Lane on a hail Mary.  I was not super motivated.  I had nothing better to do so why not paddle if it was fun.  Thinks looked really high and small while checking it.  There were three groms out and they were struggling.  Trevor wanted to smoke so we walked down to the bottom of the stairs. It looked even more depressing from there.  Then we started commentating the little kids surfing and judging their rides.  By the time we were finished we managed to stoke ourselves up to paddle.  Trevor was high and I didn’t really care.  We jumped in and had our own little mock contest.  Turns out there were some really fun lefts albeit small.  I had a fucking ball, more fun then I had earlier.  Even Trevor found some good peaks.  As for the contest he controlled the first half of the heat.  At the end I managed a few good lefts and rights that were surely the rides of the session.  Win or lose it was an amazing sunset and good times with my good bud.  I think that is the true meaning of surfing anyway.

6-3-13 AM Session: 2-3ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in the Water: 1hr 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 23
The freak swell was just about finished.  I hit up Trevor to see what he knew and he was already at New Jetty where he said it looked small, weak and crowded, but he was paddling.  I wanted to surf so I drove.  When I got there the crowd had died and it was Trevor, one other guy and a grom.  I watched it for about 15 minutes only seeing the grom get one weak left.  I looked toward River Mouth and kept seeing sets down by the reeds with no one out.  I figured I would just go down there and see what was for the taking.  I suited up and by the time I stepped on the sand the wind came up out of the NW sort of putting a damper on the session.  I sat the entire reeds area and found a few choice lefts.  I think if the wind stayed down it would have been a fun session but that was not in the cards.  Beat not surfing. 

6-2-13 PM Session: 2-3ft, Hammonds
Time in Water: 2hrs 
Waves Surfed: 37
I promised my girl I would give her the day about a week ago, had I known there was going to be a freak late season NW I probably wouldn’t have.  After a lazy morning enjoying each other’s company my girl and I headed for Rincon.  Thanks to insane weekend traffic we had to bail half way there in favor of the fact that Hammonds would still be fun on the incoming tide.  There was a wave there that looked very kill-able with a light crowd.  By the time I changed and got out there the crowd had doubled and basically maxed out for what was coming in.  There were plenty of little ones going by unridden that I had no problem taking.  I frothed on the inside for about an hour waiting for the crowd to do itself in.  Then when everyone bailed I moved to the outside and began dismantling sets.  My friends as bad as I surfed the day before at Rincon was about how good I surfed this session.  I always surf Hammonds well.  It is a perfect Jersey jetty wave if I ever saw one except it breaks over reef and is way more conform.  It was with out a doubt one of the most flawless backside attacks I have made in quite a while.  Redemption was finally mine.

6-1-13 AM Session: 3-5+ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 2.5hrs
Waves surfed: 22
I was suppose to pick up my lady from the Air Port at around 9:45 am.  After the previous night I was not about to miss any water time with the ridiculous late season WNW wind swell gracing our shores.  Despite a late night at the bar where I managed to stay out of fancy town I woke around 7 am.  She was suppose to call earlier then that to let me know she was in SF for her layover.  Figuring her phone died I started loading up the car.  During this process my phone rang and it was her informing me that she missed her flight.  I wasn’t really surprised since I know my girl and that her concept of time is about as bad as mine if not worse.  “Don’t worry Nick we will totally make the plane so stop rushing my Denny’s breakfast” of course that is a blog tale for another time.  Like I write blogs anymore.  I ran back inside and woke up Pete this dude who came up for the weekend with my couch guy Daniel.  I mean the odds of Rincon in June is almost none and this dude had to experience it.  I lent him my 6’3 step up and we were off.  Sure enough it was flawless again.  I ran into Trevor in the parking lot and we hit it.  Maybe I over did it the day before or was still a bit tired and hung over from the previous night or a combination of the two, but I just for the life of me couldn’t get into sync.  Then I had a confrontation with some old Vet who was causing trouble with me for no reason.  Although near perfect Rincon I was at a loss.  My last two waves were pretty incredible.  I picked a sicky from both Tom Curren and his Son that I managed to go from low River Mouth to the Highway.  Then got my last one from High Cove to the Highway.  I was going to go surf more in the evening but decided to spend the evening with my girl since I had not seen her in a few days.  Later I would find out I missed sick Hammonds.  Should have surfed it.