May ’13

May 2013 Surf Sessions

5-31-13 PM Session 2: 2-4+ft, Sharks Cove
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 37
The plan was to go back to Rincon for the last hour of light. As I was driving over the hill I did the look back of death and noticed that Sharks had a wave and there were a handful of guys out. I love Sharks. Its my third favorite wave here next to El Cap and Sand Bar, but with half the crowd and hassle. I turned around and on a second drive by confirmed it was good. I parked and made the terrible rock dance walk to the point. Damn winter swells removing all the sand away. When I got there I saw nothing but perfect chest to head high grinders going down the point. I was so stoked. I got out there and just frothed. I was like a kid in a candy store. Sharks when its on breaks like a small version of Nias. I ended up surfing till dark. Stuck a money bs air reverse, and just had an amazing all around surf. What an amazing day of surfing. If I had gotten hit by a bus on the way home I would have died a happy man.

5-31-13 PM Session: 4-6+ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 21
I woke up late thanks to a night in fancy town with Bizzaro at the Wild Cat. Upon checking the buoys it looked as though the points were to have a wave. I was figuring with the low tide I would just grovel something at Rincon or Pitas and then get a high tide session at the lane. I pulled into the lot and it was full. There were no spaces to be had in the front lot. The back lot was empty so I just decided to paddle. How bad could it be if the lot was full. When I got down to the point I almost died. It was solid. I am talking winter time good. Tons of perfect lines wrapping in everywhere. There were barrels all over the point although the best ones focused up in the River Mouth section. I did six drifts and in each one caught a wave from Indy to mid Cove, then Cove to call box. I can’t remember the last time I call boxed a wave. I was in sync too. Probably surfed a near flawless game. I had to get out of the water by two because I had an interview with the well fare office about my food stamps. Rincon on the last day of may and real Rincon that shit is absurd. May have been the best session I have had since Pitas back in March (see March ’13 of the Surflog, 3-7-13 session). I also ran into Jenks charger Dalton Johnson who’s mind was being blown by his first Rincon session ever.

5-30-13 PM Session 2: 2-4+ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1hr 15mins
Waves Surfed: 22
Buoys were spiking with tons of wind swell. I had some things to do around the house but I was not about to miss another evening session at the Lane. Upon checking it there were easily 40 plus guys out there. I noticed no one was really catching any waves. I got out there and got tons of really fun insiders. It was a bit washy and closed out. As the tide dropped it kept getting better. I found a handful of really good rights and a few lefts. Right as darkness fell the sets began lining up. Oh if only we had another hour of light. Who cares I still got mine.

5-30-13 PM Session: 1-3ft, Summerland Beach
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 37
My mother decided to call me and be a bitch thus royally pissing me off. I was so riled up by the time I got off the phone I needed a surf. Ryan called and said Rincon looked fun. By the time I got there the tide was too fat and it just looked slow and average at best. On the way down I saw some waves at Summerland. I checked Hammonds and that had waves but looked weak. I went back to Summerland conditions although a bit small were as good as waves get with no one out. It was a bit lully, but so killable. I stuck two huge BS air reverses. It was just one of those really nice sessions to be a surfer.

5-29-13 PM Session: 2-3+ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 28
After being literally shaken out of bed by an earthquake early this morning I decided to cuddle up under the covers with my lady. All the reports I got were that the wind and tide sucked for south. I opted to sleep in and prepare a waffle feast for my lady and I. High was around noonish. I checked the Lane around 1 and it looked alright. The crowd was light and there were some sloppy bowls on offer. As soon as I got out there the wind really began to cook just trashing things. I made the most out of the very Florida like conditions. I would have surfed in the evening but I got fancy off a bottle of white wine with Chantelle. Fuck you Qupe for making such good wines.

5-28-13 PM Session: 1-3ft, Summerland Beach
Time in Water: 2.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 54
“So if I went down to Summerland to surf right now would you hate me?” That was the text I sent to my very understanding girl friend when Trevor hit my up saying Summerland was on. Summerland is an amazing beach break that never breaks. Thanks to this crazy late wind swell season it has been having select days here and there. I caught one of them not long ago, but missed some of the gems and the day of days according to fuzzy logic. I booked it down there and sure enough from the cliff things looked like classic Summerland. Upon getting down to beach level it was far smaller then we had hoped and way more inconsistent. The current was nightmarish and wind causing things to be a bit textured. We jumped in and I had a few good ones off the bat. By my third drift I was hitting some solid airs. Trevor on the other hand was over it. The wind was beginning to die and it was really a very nice evening. I decided to surf a little bit longer and soak it all in. Towards the end of my session I looked back at the beach and noticed my girl sitting there chilling in the setting sun light waiting for me to quit. I had more then my share of average waves and decided to come in and kick it with her. Then I took her back to my place where I cooked up an awesome eggplant parmesean dinner.

5-27-13 PM Session: 2-3+ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 12
Thank God the festival was finally over. I would have gotten out of there by around 6ish, but my boss threw me some extra cash to go back to Westmont with him and unload the truck. When one has no income you have to grab what you can, when you can. I got home around 7:30 and booked it to the Lane to meet up with Trevor who was already out. I checked it and although a bit sloppy there were some alright peaks coming in. I ended up getting two really good rights and ended the session on a really nice left. Talk about the lane delivering for a change.

5-26-13 PM Session: 1-3ft, Mesa Lane
Time in the Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 30
Things were looking very small at the Lane. I had to work another long day leaving me no time to find something better. I was going to bag it but I saw a few and the crowd was light. I paddled and ended up getting the wave of the day. Like I always say it only takes one some times to make it all worth while. The sunset was beautiful and it was just a splendid night.

5-25-13 PM Session: 2-3ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 20
I actually had to work not allowing me to jump in the water till the last hour of light. My boss at Westmont commissioned me to work a food booth at the I Madonari festival up at the Mission here in Santa Barbara. After a ten hour day I just wanted to wash the mess off me in the ocean. The lane was serving up a very small but paletable wave with a light crowd. I got in there and it was much weaker then I had hoped and I was way more tired then I thought. Either way I was strugling out there. Plus I was frustrated cause the promoter at Wild Cat was giving me a hard time about getting in VIP for the night even though it was the return of the Chris’. Between exhuastion and anger I was having a terrible session. Then some grommie burned me and I lost it. First time I freaked out in the water in a while. Fuck someone has to put the kids in their place. Wild Cat was pretty fun that night.

5-24-13 AM Session: 2-3+ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 47
I had a feeling with all the recent wind swell that Mesa Lane would have a wave in the morning. I checked it and it looked really fun. There were glassy chest high peaks rolling in with three guys on it. One guy was tearing it. I paddled and the dude blowing up was Killian. It took me a while to get my rhythm but once I did things turned on. From there it became an onslaught of backside surfing prowess. It was just one of those amazing mornings that made you feel great to be alive.

5-23-13 PM Session: 2-3ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 3hrs
Waves Surfed: 41
I ended up having a way later night then I had expected courtesy of some bullshit drama I was not in the mood to deal with. By the time I got back to my place it was after 12pm. My new couch guy Daniel was hanging out and decided to come along with me. Given the stupid low tide I figured Rincon or one of the points would be my best bet. Sure enough there was a smallish short period wave coming in. I ended up focusing my session on the lower River Mouth, but did manage to surf the entire point for three drifts. It was far from what I would call epic Rincon, but I still managed a few eight to ten turn rides. Later that evening my friends and I did a bad ass beach bbq down at Lead Better Beach.

5-22-13 PM Session: 3-4+ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 21
The Rincon session I had hoped for turned out to be a bust. I car surfed around a bit, collected some sea glass and ultimately was far from motivated to get wet. I cruised back to the Palace and got some minor shit done. I checked the Lane and it was solid, crowded as fuck. I paddled and was a bit smothered by the crowd. Then I just couldn’t make shit really happen. Right as the dark was closing in I snagged a head high right the doubled up and just rifled down the beach. I popped off four solid reos and a big floater. Sometimes it only takes one.

5-22-13 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1hr 10mins
Waves Surfed: 24
“15 ft”!!!!! I gasped as I checked the Harvest buoy. Thinking there might be a crack at Rincon and I had some errands to run in town I decided to get a short session in at the Lane just to get the blood flowing. The wind was WSW and the tide dropping thus making conditions less then ideal. I paddled and got a few. Over all my performance was lacking and so was the quality of the waves. Lets hope for a good Rincon sess.

5-21-13 PM Session: 2-4+ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1hr 15mins
Waves Surfed: 21
On the way back up from Malibu I saw plenty of NW swell in the water leading me to believe it might be fun at the Lane. When I got home the buoys confirmed my thoughts. Harvest was off the Richter I pulled up and it was solid, but also crowded. Still there were plenty of waves and the line up really spread out. For a wind swell there was lots of power. Maybe I was tuckered out from the Zeros session, but man was I off my game. I had trouble getting waves, struggled to stick anything, just out of sorts. That being said I still managed a decent enough session.

5-21-13 AM Session: 3-5+ft, Zeros, Malibu
Time in Water: 3hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
I knew at some point this south swell would find me in da ‘Bu. Trevor was off today and is always frothy for a Malibu mission. We met up at his place in Carp and rolled. I insisted on checking the River Mouth first just in case things were on since that is my favorite south swell spot. It was trash. New Jetty was not bad but not that good. Fuck it, why not go to Malibu and surf more average waves with twice the crowd and frustration. Whooooooooooot!!! County Line was crowded but the left looked intense. Leo looked fun but crowded as usual. Zeros had tons of waves and crowd, but was the best crowd to wave ration and the lowest ability level as well. As the porta-John said on the wall while I was taking a morning dump “Zeros is for kooks”. Who can argue with a porta poty? We jumped in and although soft there were some nuggets and some real bombs. Even though it is technically a “left point” I found more fun taking the rights. Trevor got the barrel of the day on the inside. Some chick fucked up her duck dive and backed into me resulting in us getting tangled around each other for an entire set. Finally I pulled my leash off and yanked myself free. Fucking LA. I don’t know why I go there. Should have just stayed home and surfed Emma Wood.

5-20-13 PM Session: 1-3+ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 34
What a froth! I had checked the Lane on the way home from a bizarre doctor visit (look for details about that never, that is a story you will have to come to court here at the palace to have bestowed on you if your lucky). Things still looked pretty fucking solid. I had a few other things to take care, few urges to scratch; FINALLY!!! Before cruising. Last hour of light came and I decided to give it a go. Things were looking a little bit on the small side but really clean. Perfect little G.I. Joe waves. I got out there and full on frothed. Turns out there were some real lips out there. I stuck a really clean bs air reverse, fs ally-oop and just a bunch of solid surfing. What stoke. To think all it took was not having a job. Work is stupid I hate it.

5-20-13 AM Session: 2-3+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 45
Talk about bad timing for a NW wind swell. Couple that with harder then usual winds and the ocean up here in the 805 becomes one giant whirlpool not knowing where to focus its energy. It is times like this when there is too much swell and too much wind that we all thank our stars for Emma Wood. Being it was the only place remotely worth surfing north of Malibu it was packed. Tons of groms doing their surf school thing or translation: no school just surf. Then everyone wonders why the rest of the world is surpassing America in education. Its all good though, as long our kids can go out and shred it will be all good. News flash the surf industry has made it the toughest ever to make a living at surfing. Hope you guys are good a busing tables…Trevor and Ryan met me up and we paddled. At first it was not so bad. We had our own little peak between the toll booth and the life guard tower. Then I guess we got too many fun ones and the kiddies came over and clogged it. I got pissed and straight up burned a grom for under paddling me. Then it must have been snack time and all the younglings got out leaving just us out the back. I started snagging a bunch of fun little bowls. I think tomorrow Angers, Trevor and I are going to mission it down to Malibu for some real south swell action.

5-19-13 PM Session: 2-3 ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves surfed: 29
After helping my girl with some work around her place I decided to go grab a few sunset waves. The wind was off shore and things were looking rather pretty out there. At the same the time the crowd was looking very ugly. I always get mine. I got out there and at first was hard pressed to get a good wave. The line up on a whole was a bit on the frustrated side. Killian was out hating it. Then the majority of the crowd split leaving five of us out the back with a flurry of sets trooping in. From there on it became a froth fest. If it were four feet bigger with the same shape things would have been all time. Got out of the water with the moon shining and it was almost nine. Nothing like those summertime days.

5-19-13 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 35
I got up early stoked for another sunny, warm morning. Its it spring time in California or what? Ryan called and said New Jetty looked shitty so I decided to go to Emma. Sure enough it was still pretty darn good out there. Crowd was a bit intense although it was a Sunday. I ran into Trevor leaving. He must have been frothy to get up that early. He said the current was pretty bad and waves shifty meaning the crowd would not be an issue. I jumped in. Pat Curren was destroying it. I managed a bunch of really fun ones. Then the tide got too low and things got a bit slow and between the bad rips and current I was looking to leave. Finally the next shift showed up and crowded it again. I cruised up to Westmont for lunch and a car wash. Think I may surf again tonight!

5-18-13 PM Session: 3-4+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
I decided to spend the day with my girl sort of like a birthday overlap. I cooked us breakfast, asparagus and other vegetable scrambler with potato hash browns and toast. Then we went back to her apartment so I could hang some pictures and move furniture for her. After that I wanted to go for a surf and she decided to come along. You know how I feel about guys who have a bitch in tow, but she has been nagging me for a bit. Turns out Emma was firing and I wish I had not waited so long with only an hour and a half of light left. There were solid head to over head bowls up and down the beach and some tubes. I had one front side barrel that was pretty gnar. There was a beautiful sunset making it a very nice night to say the least. She was stoked to spend some time at the beach and see what a day in the Life of Chris Lisanti is really all about.

5-17-13 AM Session: 2-3ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 22
When I pulled up to the Jetty things were pretty clean with a light crowd. It looked a bit weak but fun none the less. My boy Ryan met me up and we paddled. The first 30 minutes were alright. I found a few average lefts. Then the wind came up, the surf got bad and the crowd doubled. Trevor found his way out with said crowd. I forced out twenty waves then was looking for one more. My board hit me in my thigh pissing me off on a shitty right hand reo that went bad. My last wave had three shitty fs turns. I was on the beach and decided to piss off. It was fine too cause I had tons of stuff to do in order to get ready for My love’s birthday. Things went really well. I took her to The Douglas Family Preserve here on the Mesa for a sunset picnic where I prepared a scrumptious pasta salad, anti-pasto and Bread sticks. Then we went back to my place where I did a miniature molten chocolate cake for dessert. She said it was the best birthday she ever had. I must say it was a rather splendid night.

5-16-13 AM Session: 2-3+ft. New Jetty
Time in the Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 20
After three days of grovel froth I was pretty much over surfing average at best conditions. Yeah I know my wave starved friends out there are thinking “what a spoiled little twat”. Believe me friends I am far from spoiled. I live in California and not just that Santa Barbara, California on a mind fuck of a coast line with some of the best set ups any where in the world and the worst island shadowing and swell window ever. What does this equate to? Driving 45 minutes each way to most likely surf windy, crowded sub average waves more times then not. Wait does that not personify just what the true reality of surfing in California is: windy, crowded, sub average waves? Man those fucking surfing magazines videos, Beach Boy songs and Hollywood movies really lied to me as a kid. “Two girls for everyone my fucking ass. I am lucky if I can get a fat girl to fuck me. Anyhow now that my rant for the day is taken care of lets get back to the surf. Ryan called me and said he was paddling New Jetty. I got there as Conner Coffin was leaving. He must have gotten back from a trip some place with an earlier time zone then here. I don’t think I have ever seen that guy out of bed before 9am. I jumped in and it was my boy Ryan and I trading some boost-able close outs. Then he split and I had the entire line up to myself, a feat unheard of at the Jetty these days. Back a few years ago that always happened on the average days. There were some decent lefts although a bit on the windy side. I was feeling a bit sluggish out there and by myself just was not having a great time. I did a Chris Lisanti 20 and called it a day. Besides there is some really solid surf on the way…….

5-15-13 PM Session: 2-3ft, Mesa Lane
Time in the Water: 1.5hrs
Waves surfed: 32
From the top of the steps it looked all time, crowded as fuck but all time. The wind was light off shore/side shore. It looked as good as the Lane gets. Once I got to the beach thinks looked steadily weaker. When I paddled out the reality of how bad it was set in. The waves might have been pretty looking, yet the ride-ability was small. The ones that ran were too mushy and the ones that had power just dumped on the inside sand bar. Add in a retarded crowd and I was pretty much over it.

5-15-13 AM Session: 2-4+ft, New Jetty
Time in the Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 30
I was kind of hoping for Rincon action this morning considering Harvest was reading 9ft @ 13 seconds 300. Turns out the there were some sets. The wind had a bit too much south in it and the tide was a bit too low for the small swell. Then I checked everything else. Pitas looked fun to me, but Trevor thought it was too fast and it was a bit too inconsistent. Emma was too small, although very clean. Ryan had called me and said he was paddling New Jetty. It looked terrible and crowded when I checked it. There was some size, but it was windy and weak looking. There was a pack of hot groms frothing the shit out of it. I was going to say fuck it and wait till the tide got higher for Emma, when I realized that I had nothing better to do anyway. There were waves and it looked fun enough. That was exactly what it was, fun enough. I stuck to the left off the Jetty. It was pretty soft and mushy overall. There were the occasional sections. Beat the fuck out of not surfing and then when I checked Emma for a possible second session it was small and average at best so I guess I made the right call.

5-14-13 PM Session: 3-4+ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 35
Whaaaat!?!!?? That was all I had to say while staring at the sloppy yet rather sizable sets coming in at the Lane. I knew the wind swell was suppose to rise all day, but the thought it would show like that was absurd. Sure enough there it was right in front of my eyes. Unfortunately it looked like windy shitty south Florida with no discernible lineup in sight. Trevor was paddling Tar Pits, which he said was head high and good. Being that I am both Santa Barbara and Ventura affiliated I was not about to go surf one of Carpinteria’s more notable spots. Rather then cause an incident I decided to make due with what town had to offer. I checked The Pit, but that looked small, crowded and overall terrible. I took a look at both Thousand Steps and Light House. Both looked Do-able, though neither worth the walk. Not wanting to fight the stupid rush hour traffic south I settled on a Mesa Lane paddle. Man was I glad I did too. The slight drop in the tide and slowly changing wind direction allowed for a bit more organization. It was still tough to find the good ones and some of the boils and dry reef spots that come with low tide out there made things a bit annoying. The crowd was very strong too, at least 30 heads. I managed to find some really good ones despite hitting the reef more times then I would have liked. Somehow I got away unscathed. Not the best session ever, but for Town you can’t shake a stick at it. Heard later that Summerland went off. Later that night I cooked up herb encrusted Salmon in a beurre blanc over vermicelli pasta with red onion, asparagus and lamb cheese for my girl and I and I must confess we had a great night together. I think I have been to hard on her the past month. Maybe I really do love her and am just too scared to get hurt again? I guess now I just have to ponder the three pillars of if a relationship will work: 1. Do I love her, 2. Can I Trust her, 3. Do we have the same goals in life. Time will tell.

5-14-13 AM Session: 2-3+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 38
Woke up to more wind, SW this time. A south west wind on a north west wind swell is bad news. There is only one place that could handle such and that is Emma Wood. Emma Wood is like your bottom bitch, not your favorite girl, but consistent and fun enough to make it worth your while. Trevor and I jumped in despite the stupid crowd of groms clogging it. The crowd was hardly a factor considering both the current and the constantly shifting peak, not to mention the consistent amount of waves coming in. The SW wind was actually blowing things a bit side shore/off shore. This meant BARRELS! On my first wave I managed to weave through a very technical bs tube. I was so deep that when I came out I hit some poor grom, who thought I had fallen two sections ago. We were both stoked. To tell you the truth there was so much wind and water in my face I could not see and just thought I was going to ride the foam ball till it forced me out the back and instead I came out down the beach. I ended up hitting a barrage of airs as well. It was far from the best Emma I have ever seen, but who cares, performance wise I was on. Then it was off to Westmont for some good eating.

5-13-13 PM Session: 2-3ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 32
After buying the board Trevor wanted to go to Malibu to try it out. I really thought that was the last place we should try and surf. I thought going back to Emma made the most sense. He had his mind set and offered to drive. I had nothing to do for the day so why not take a ride. Sure enough it was tiny there. We cruised back to Emma where it had gotten way too windy. The wind swell had grown a bit. On a last ditch effort we decided to check Rincon since it was on the way home. As it turns out there was some scrubby lines coming through. Trevor wasn’t too pumped about the surf, but for whatever reason I got pumped. I had a great time. The River Mouth was the best section with some decent ones. You can’t shake a stick at late season Rincon ever!

5-13-13 AM Session: 2-3+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 28
I actually stayed home last night completely ehuasted from the weekend festivities. Early to bed means early to rise. I checked things out and decided to roll to the harbor. Of course the wind came up like a light switch and blew everything out. Emma had an alright wave coming in with a light crowd. Turns out it was pretty solid. I ended up getting a ton of good waves and even a left tube. As the tide came up the wind got harder and current began to really pull. After 90 minutes on the treadmill my arms were shot. I got out and Trevor hit me up that he was at Ventura surf shop looking at boards and wanted my opinion. We ended up picking out a nice epoxy Stretch quad that was a steal.

5-12-13 No Surfing: 1-2ft
More very tiny surf and quite the hangover from last nights drinking endeavor that lasted till past 4am kept me out of the water today. My foot is still fucked or would have went skim boarding. Looks like there should be a few day run of swell on the way.

5-11-13 No Surfing: 1-2ft
What the fuck was all I could say about what went down at the bar last night. What I hoped to be a fun time turned really bad really fast. Luckily I think I did the right amount of damage control. I woke up, surf was flat, my foot still hurt and I just kicked it at the beach. Cant be that. Think I am staying in the rest of the weekend. Two bad party nights in a row is a enough for me.

5-10-13 AM Session: 1-3ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1hr 45mins
Waves Surfed: 45
What a dinner last night. Had to move Wednesday night to Thursday due to work. As it turns out it works better cause Brad is off on Thursdays and can come with Ashley. I made an inside out lasagna as a tribute to Epic Meal Time. What I thought was going to be a near disgusting gut bomb turned out to be amazing. After dinner since we were all already on our way to fancy town anyway, Brittany, Ramon, Bizarro, Tim-o, Amelia and I rolled to The Kitty. Yesterday evening while cruising around IV with Daniel I noticed that there was some small wind swell at Sands. Shit if I had a board with me I totally would have paddled for a little bit. I checked the buoys and sure enough there was some steep NW wind swell. Wind seemed light so I decided to run down for a surf. I got to Emma first considering the tide and late morning. It was ride-able, but weak and the four guys on it, all guys that I know surf well. They definitely were not selling it to me. Knowing conditions could not get too much worse there I decided to go check the Harbor, where there is always more size on any NW swell. New Jetty had one guy on it. Things looked rather weak and slow. River Mouth had a few heads on it and there appeared to be what looked like some fun peaks down there. I made the trek and found lots of small, weak, but kill-able left and right peaks. It was far from good, but considering the recent conditions it was good to surf.

5-9-13 No Surfing: 1-2ft
The great flat spell lives on. I think you would be pretty hard pressed to find a really decent wave anyplace in the state of California today. Up north is windy and south is small. Today was one of those days that really made me miss Surf Beach. Sure it was a terrible wave at best, but it was a consistent wave, at least head high everyday. Is it a wave worth dying for? My answer is no. Two consecutive shark attacks is enough for me to bag a spot that was good let alone a place I only surfed to satisfy a fix. Today marks the beginning of my summer vacation courtesy of Sodexo sucking as a company and Westmont being gay and not offering a full summer term. Thanks to Uncle Sam I will be living off his nickel, as sparse as such is for a while. As of press time I believe I can make the entire summer if I am smart about things. Time will tell although history has proved otherwise. I may have a few tricks up my sleeve this summer. Its only right that my first free day and most likely week be completely flat.

5-8-13 No Surfing: 1-2ft
Well so much for my hopes in this coming season. Just checked the 7 day report and it looks meager at best all the way till Monday. What bust. Surfing in California is such a lie. I guess it worked out since I had to work a bull shit banquet at Westmont this morning at 6am. I surprisingly made it there for 6:30 am. After work on a hail Mary I ran to the harbor where things were completely blown out. Probably could have surfed New Jetty if there was actually some sand there. Then I sat in the parking lot at Emma reading Othello with the hopes that the incoming tide may bring in some sets. While watching some dude out on it I almost paddled out. Then I saw said surfer leave the water and realized it was a 3ft tall grom. Over it I went home and masturbated.

5-7-13 AM Surfing: 2-3ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 2hrs 40mins
Waves Surfed: 66
I really wanted to surf this morning. The buoys looked terrible and so did the cam. I did notice a new minor long period south along with the three shorter ones. I figured there would be atleast something to grovel at the Harbor. I got down there and things looked pretty small. I called Trevor to tell him not to bother. He asked me if it was ride able, which it was. On that note I decided to run down to the River Mouth and just grovel a few. Turns out with the out going tide things got pretty fun and it was just Trevor, myself and two other guys. I was having a good surf. I ended up frothing the hell out of it till I had to go to work. Good fucking times. There is nothing better then an unexpected session.

5-6-13 No Surfing: 1-2ft
Cinco de mayo lead to a massive black out and me being drunk for the entire day. The whole crew pretty much rolled out for the occasion, including Marc, Brittany, Ramon, Ashley, Danny Boy, Tim-o, Amelia, Alex and Bizarro. Thats about all I remember and all Bizarro remembers as well. I checked the reports and things were really tiny. Trevor said Harbor was super small in the morning. Not in the mood to spend gas money to grovel I just decided to kick it in and recover.

5-5-13 No Surfing: 1-2ft
I could have groveled out front on my apartment in the knee high wind chop. I don’t live on the Great Lakes or in New Jersey and therefore have absolutely no motivation for surfing garbage anymore, especially after the great run of surf we just had. Add a heavy night of drinking and ugly weather and I was completely over it. I did a little work in my garden instead and I must say I am very happy with things back there.

5-4-13 PM Session: 1-3ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1hr 20mins
Waves Surfed: 21
Not much to report in the way of surf today. I slept in after having some stomach difficulties courtesy of some old salmon I ate out of the walk in at work. Everyone I hit up about the surf said it was hard onshore. Pat’s exact words were “looks like Florida”, a statement that is always enough to keep me from surfing. Things cleaned up towards the evening and I wanted to get wet. It was tiny, weak and terrible and looked way better from the bluff. Dane paddled out for a few seconds. As I was leaving I watched this pod of dolphins going crazy in the line up frolicking in the water like they were putting a show at Sea World. I guess they were showing us humans what was up.

5-3-13 PM Session: 2-3+ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 19
Bizarro and I rolled to the Cat for first Thursday. It was average at best and I spent way too much money. I went to my lady’s house afterward thus missed my morning surf, which I heard from Trevor was off shore and fun at River Mouth. Luckily dinner hours were shortened so rather then hanging around I booked it to Emma Wood to get a few. The swell was a bit steep for the place but there were some nuggets. I stuck a really clean ally oop and on my last wave and somehow manged to get barreled off my ass and come out. Nothing like a sunset session.

5-2-13 No Surfing: 2-3+ft
It was an epic day of car surfing. Ryan called me and claimed Ventura was off shore. With tons of south in the water and low tide it seemed like the stage was set for epic River Mouth. By the time I got there it was all blown out and trashed. I rolled back to Emma, but that was drained. Solimar had a wave but it was far from enticing. I drove around Sea Cliffs for about an hour before giving up and going to Rincon. Backside had some lefts coming in although small and a little close to the rocks. Add five guys on it and three more in the lot and I was over it. Instead I went for a sea glass walk, which was not as fruitful as I would have liked. Heather was out getting some in the Cove and I watched her get a few on her log before going to work.

5-1-13 AM Session: 4-6+ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 3.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 45
Another solid day of surfing, what a run. That’s it I am claiming it: Summer 2013 is going to be on. I got on the dune around 9 or so and all I could see were left peaks everywhere. It was not super hallow but the ones that did throw out were spitting. I ran down to the south end of the reeds and got a few only to realize the drift was absolutely horrid and the better peaks way up the beach towards Mc Grath. Ryan and I got out and walked to the south end of the river mouth, which at the moment is as wide as I have ever seen it. It wouldn’t take much more water with the right tide to break that through. At the moment the sand is really good so hopefully it won’t happen till we need it. Trevor met up with us on the walk and we found a very appealing peak in front of this giant log. Right off the bat I snagged a huge deep barrel that I got spit right out of. From there it was on. The current was so bad though, since the angle of the swell was so steep that it made more sense to just drift a few peaks then get out and walk back. I ended up doing like five drifts finding tons of good ones. Got my share of beatings too. When I got out of the water I was exhausted. I wanted to hang around for another session but I had to run back up to Santa Barbara to pay my rent. May run for a evening session up at Indicator time and wind depending.