Surfing Ruined My Life

March 2015 Surf Sessions

3-31-15 PM Session:3-5+ ft, Pitas
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 18
After I got out of the water I wanted to surf again.  Ryan called me and said he was on his way back down from SB and if I wanted to meet him for a surf he had a half of a burrito for me.  I needed lunch and on my current nuts and bolts budget a free meal is a free meal.  We ended up back at Pitas for an encore surf.  It was still solid though a bit more texture on it from a light south wind that was steadily creeping up.  My first wave might have been the wave of the day up top.  It was a way over head bomb.  As I dropped in some idiot was right in front of my high line forcing me to straighten out.  I may have been able to make it anyway, but if I misjudged the consequences would have been disastrous.  As I was paddling back out I asked the guy if he was ok and instead of getting an apology he said to me “you were not going to make that anyway”.  Are fucking kidding me?  I turned to Ryan and said “Ryan you have seen me make shit like that all the time”.  He confirmed.  My next wave a landed a solid section air.  Then I moved down to Faria where it was still fun.  Unfortunately the wind came up harder and the south bump got too hard making it very difficult to find good ones and it broke up all the lines.  I got one more bomb and headed for home.  Cant beat another solid day of surfing.

3-31-15 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Pitas
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 34
And the beat goes on as more fun surf continues to find it’s way into every spot in the area.  A little tired from yesterday I took my time getting out of the house.  I was almost positive that Pitas was going to be where it was at.  Sure enough when I got there it was still solid if not even a tad better then yesterday.  I paddled and did a little work up top while the tide dropped.  Once things reached the sufficient depth I moved down to Faria and the session really turned on.  Similar to yesterday I found some really nice long ones down the point and some beatings.  I surfed till I was completely out of steam.  My last wave was a bomb.  What a surf.

3-30-15 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Kooks Peak
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 25
Bizarro went on a retard mission up to El Cap in the hopes that some of the south was showing at the point.  I was wrong there wasn’t.  Then we had all our gear with us and were pumped on shooting thus we ran back south.  Rincon was small, Emma terrible.  Kooks had a bunch of wind blown yet boostable lefts coming through.  I thought we might be able to get some sick air shots.  Unfortunately a fog bank rolled in and the left was way harder to surf then I had anticipated.  I managed a decent little tube on my last one.

3-30-15 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, Pitas
Time in Water: 2 hrs 40 mins
Waves Surfed: 23
There was still heaps of NW showing and from all available intel the beaches were pretty walled and windy.  Ryan called and said I should meet him at Hobsons and help him make the call.  Pitas was solid when we walked down the trail making paddling a no brainer.  Sure enough there were plenty of good ones to be had.  I made my way to the Faria section where although a bit tricky and racy I managed a few long rides.  Not the best point surf I have had, but any point surf is a bonus this time of year.

3-29-15 AM Session: 4-6+ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
The Shores have just been knocking them dead for me the past month.  It was really a toss up on where to surf this morning.  There was still plenty of NW out there and the south was peaking.  I had a look at a few of the points and there was definitely some waves.  Sunday crowds were in full effect.  Ryan said The Shores looked good again and its such spread out open beach break there that the crowd is hardly a factor.  I went for it and sure enough it was solid over head left bowls with about fifty guys spread out along a mile of beach.  There was a bit of a current to the north keeping everyone honest.  I did four drifts and was hard pressed to ever surf with anyone.  I just always timed my go out in between groups of guys.  When I saw a group drift by I would jump in just south of them.  I managed to pass Gordo on one of my drifts.  My first go around was my best.  I ended up getting six solid lefts.  I had to barrels on my third pass and a few bombs on my fourth.  I wanted to surf all day, but I am still getting healthy and didn’t want to over do it.  I decided to head home for some rest so I can surf the rest of the week and get better.  Everyday I am growing stronger, but its still a drag being under the weather.

3-28-15 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 21
I got up around eight this morning and was already to leave the house when my girl looked up at me with such inviting eyes as only your baby can lay upon you.  I was not super motivated, Ryan never got back to me and it was my first Saturday off in months.  The south was rising all day and with weekend crowds I was not in any hurry to get out there.  Plus that crazy low tide was with the wind swell mix was still plaguing things. I enjoyed my leisurely morning opting for the afternoon.  Ryan finally hit me up around three and we decided to meet up at The Shores.  Sure enough it was pretty solid there though a bit on the inconsistent and wild side.  Positioning was tough with the erratic sets and hard north drift.  I had one stand up tube and a few hits, but nothing earth shattering.  Still it is great to be back in the water again after being sick and out of the game for so long.

3-27-15 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
I attempted to go surfing this morning.  I literally drove everywhere and checked everything to no avail.  The tide was super low.  The channel had some shitty chop on it and the south was super inconsistent.  C Street was the best of the worst and I was not about to do battle with 100 guys for absolute garbage.

3-26-15 No Surfing: 2-4+ ft
It was my first day back at work in more then a week due to my illness.  I was still feeling a bit weak and rather then push the envelope on what was already posing to be a tough day I opted to sleep in.  I was glad I did because being on my feet for eight hours was effort enough.  I almost threw in the towel three times, but made it through.

3-25-15 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 21
To be honest I had bagged the idea of surfing early on this morning when Ryan hit me up and said that he had a look about and that there really wasn’t much worth my time.  Being still on the mend I figured one more day of kicking was not a bad thing.  Shit I am still recovering from quite the ailment.  Anyhow I was laying around in bed with Alfie when I got a call from Trevor asking if I would take him surfing.  He recently had a seizure and as a result is not suppose to drive or surf.  He figured it would be alright if I went with him as a spotter.  Of course in my weakened state I was about as good to him as he was to me.  I even said on the way down to keep an eye out for me if I start to drown.  The wind was on it and there was not much but scrubby wind swell.  All signs pointed to Emma.  Far from good we saw a few waves on the north peak with only a handful of heads out.  I had a few here and there, but ultimately just didn’t really link up with anything great.  I was struggling out there.  I was coughing, fatigued and thanks to current constantly out of position.  Trevor got a few and was pumped and I was pumped to get out of the house.  All in all I would say it was successful surf mission.

3-24-15 No Surfing: 3-4+ ft
I must say that I think I have began to turn the corner on this whole being sick thing.  Last night I actually got a decent night sleep.  Let me rephrase that I got up a few times, but compared to the last few sleepless nights I have had to endure I would say it wasn’t bad.  I wanted to surf, but I was still feeling pretty weak.  My body just is depleted of nutrients at the moment.   Ryan had a look around and said it really was not worth straining myself for.  Winds might be off shore in Oxnard in the morning and I am better off saving my strength for some beach break  barrels then point grovel.  Let’s hope this flu from hell is on the way out and I can go back to my usual bitching about nothing worth while in particular.

3-20-15 to 3-23-15 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
Unfortunately I have been extremely ill since Friday the 20th.  I mean extremely ill.  I have not been this sick since I contracted Dengue Fever in Costa Rica back in 2003.  Fuck!  I am talking fever, head ache, couch, congestion.  Terrible.  To make matters worse I was unable to work for three days thus costing me over $300.  I am a bit worried at the moment how I am going to make rent this month.  Spring break is next week and subsequently another week with out pay.  Im fucked.

3-19-15 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 1 hr 20 mins
Waves Surfed: 26
All I was expecting this morning was to go find some bad south at Emma Wood due to the extreme high tide.  Then I checked the buoys and there was some solid NW swell coming in.  On a fluke I checked Rincon and although pretty flooded there were some kill-able ones coming along the rocks up top.   I paddled and began my assault on the conditions.  My boy Anton was out and he kills it thus always pushes me to go big.  As it turned out the session was fun as all fuck.  Work was great. My boss called in sick to hang with his kids and his boss left early.  That made me the big boss.  No worries.  I would have to say that today wasn’t half bad.

3-18-15 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
Wow Chalk up last nights leprechaun day festivities to a black out.  Fuck.  It was a slow start this morning which was fine since the tide was high, conditions average at best and wind suppose to stay light.  Ryan hit me up at around 10:30 am that him and Gordo were going to go surf the Shores.  I cruised to meet them.  There was all kinds of W, NW, WNW, S, WSW on the buoy.  Shores loves that shit.  Sure enough it was fun as fuck looking with peaky left and right bowls up and down the beach.  I jumped in and got four good ones right off the bat.  As the tide dropped the swell got less consistent and the SW wind slowly began to build causing a chop.  By the time I quit it was inconsistent and weak as fuck.  Hey it was almost a super session for the first 30 minutes.

3-17-15 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 54
The luck of the Irish graced me on this St. Patrick Day morning at River Mouth.  Pardon the cliche holiday first sentence, though I think I am going to deem 2015 “The Year of the Cliche” here at SurfingRuinedMyLife.net cause at the moment that has pretty much what I feel like I have been living.  ONE BIG MOTHER FUCKING CLICHE!!! Now that I got that off my mind let us continue with the official blog of nonsense for “The Year of the Cliche”.  I know it’s St. Pats, but seriously I have not started drinking yet (of course if you are reading this past 11 pm tonight be rest assured I will be well on my way to fancytown).  We all know how those works go when I’m fucked up and its just a bunch of miserable, sappy, whinny, I want to kill myself bull shit.  I wanted to go to Jalama today.  My girl jinxed me with that evil vibe “I have a bad feeling about this” women intuition crap last night.  This morning when I woke up it was already windy up there with the conditions forecast to get worse.  Ryan hit me up letting me know he got a new grovel board and wanted to get a surf in.  All roads pointed to Ventura Harbor considering the lack of swell running.  New Jetty was small and flooded with the five foot high tide.  There were a handful of guys at River Mouth pretending the new close out the harbor dredge project created for us was “Star Bar”.  In the past two weeks since its inception I have heard lofty claims, “dude its like Kirra”, “Barrels like Pipe”, “sickness”.  If I hear one more wave that is complete dog shit compared to Kirra or Pipe, two undisputed amazing world class waves, I am going to strangle him with my leash. I have been religiously checking the Harbor since the sand close out was created and guess what?  ITS STILL A FUCKING CLOSE OUT!  Maybe when all the sand that is on the beach finds its way back into the ocean we will have good banks once more.  Then again who am I to discount close outs. Such conditions were the corner stone of my professional surfing career.  There were a few corners, it was glassy and it was not like I had any place else to go.  I paddled expecting the worse and my first few were just terrible back washy shore dump.  About a half hour into the surf I stated picking off some fun ones.  Then I scored a left double up barrel, followed by a right tube.  Barrels and air sections? WTF how can anyone shake a stick at that?  I frothed till the wind came up.  Good times.  You know what the word was right River Mouth was just like Kirra after a storm came, ripped up all the sand and left nothing but a fast close out and it was like pipe on a wind swell summer day when they call it Gums.  Whooooot!!! Whooot!!! I am so glad its spring time!

3-16-15 No Surfing: 1-3 ft
Last night Bizarro and I decided to binge drink at the Wild Cat for little to no good reason.  I knew the surf was going to suck to dick anyway.  I woke up hung over as fuck and went to work.  I was meat lasagna day.  I don’t know what got into me but I decided to do a really good job.  You make something really worth eating.  As always at my work no good deed goes unpunished.  Chef got on me for no good reason.  Fuck I hate my job.  I think I am going to Jalama tomorrow.  My lady claims she has a bad feeling about me going up there tomorrow.  Women’s intuition is not something to shake a stick at.  We will see.

3-15-15 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Cobbles
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 18
Always expect the unexpected is a mantra that has saved me in this life more then once.  I had a later start then usual today.  My girl bought me a super comfortable new gel top mattress pad.  My body literally sunk into it.  Talk about slumber heaven.  Short on time I headed for a look around Sea Cliffs.  I thought I saw something at Pitas.  That turned out to be a lie.  There I found myself in a very familiar situation; staring down at pathetic hardly surf-able Emma Wood in serious consideration of jumping off the cliff and throwing myself in front of the tracks rather then have to endure yet another terrible surf.  Then I glanced down at Cobbles and saw a peak that appeared to be peeling.  With no other options I figured why not, worse case scenario I could be impaled on the rocks and not have to deal with this bullshit anymore.  As I was walking down the trail I passed some dude walking his dog and he said it looked fun and was going to paddle right as another good set rolled in.  Sure enough though a bit small, fast and close to the rocks there were some really fun corner.  I would say it was the best session I had all week.  Then I realized it was because the south had pretty much dropped out and all that was left was WNW.  That’s correct, point break rights, what I surf the best.  At least I’m keeping the surf ball rolling.

3-14-15 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 1 hr 20 mins
Waves Surfed: 19
The south was still running and was suppose to be steadily on the rise.  I had a short window and figured I would just find some trash at the Harbor to surf.  Ryan called from the Shores where he said it was still off shore and fun.  I was on a time window so checked the Harbor, which turned out to be all shit.  I bailed and high tailed it to Oxnard.  It was far from epic though there were some crossed up combo peaks on offer.  I paddled.  I am not going to lie it was pretty weak out there.  I ended up with a few little fs head dip barrels.  The real winners were the rights.  It was definitely the best of the worst.  I love the fact that despite the first hand shark sighting yesterday we still decided to paddle right back out at the same spot directly in front of a dead half eaten seal on the beach.

3-13-15 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 20
After a night of binge drinking at the Wild Cat with Bizarro I woke up feeling a bit on the slow side of things.  Then I saw that the wind was offshore in Ventura and Oxnard and there was waves.  After this dry spell I was not going to let a hangover stop me from getting a surf in.  I cruised south figuring I would surf wither harbor or Gold Coast.  Ryan called and tipped me off that the shores were on.  I made the gamble.  Gordo was already out when we got there. It was far from epic, but there were a few nuggets to be and with the dropping tide I was hoping it might turn into a barrel fest.   Instead it was pretty weak.  The off shores were a bit too hard for what was on offer.  The three of us had a peak to ourselves and enjoyed trading off a few.  Some dick decided to paddle out, sit right on us and then challenge both Ryan and Gordo on two subsequent waves.  The Shores is a huge fucking beach with similar peaks up and down it.  Dude got the hint and paddled away.  I did manage a few little in and out barrels.  It beat not surfing.  I ended up being a half hour late to work.  In this dry spell one has to milk it for all its worth.  Ryan said after I left he got chased out of the water by a 6 ft great white.  He also scored the base later the mother fucker.  Lets keep the ball rolling!

3-12-15 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
Another day goes by with nothing to surf.  Looks like things came up a little bit this afternoon and one can only hope some more swell fills in for the morning.  I need a fucking surf.  I am starting to loose my mind.  On the way to work I got into a little fender bender where some dude side swiped me as I was edging out of the left lane at a light.  I ended up with a little scuff on my bumper and a dent above my passenger side wheel well. He took a bit more damage  then me.  No one got hurt, but I was still about a half hour late to work as a result of the whole ordeal.  Fuck that is twice my car has taken damage this month lets hope the mantra  “things come in threes” doesn’t hold true in this case.  In the past it has.  I am getting really fed up with this shit.

 3-11-15 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
More flatness.  I decided to sleep in till 11 am today.  It was all cloudy and damp out.  Nothing to really motivate me to get out of bed.  All I had to do was finish fixing a fin on my bud Sean’s board and the sun being out was integral to that.  In waiting I enjoyed a lazy breakfast bullshitting with Mauriello about our usual stupidity.  Then it started spritzing out foiling my ding repairs dreams (or nightmares in reality considering how much I hate to fix surfboards.).  I did a little clean up around the apartment and watched the Snapper comp, which at the moment I still am.  Lots of round 3 upsets took place in the absolute trash conditions.  Whoot Whooot whooot whoot whoot whooot whoot whoot!

3-10-15 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
And the great flat spell continues. I used the down time to catch up on months worth of ding repair that has built up in my own quiver.  Its funny I used to fix my boards as soon as they got damaged now I wait till I have a stack of em then fix them first flat spell of each season. Tricked out a few of my old spares. Can’t wait to get them wet again.

3-9-15 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
Considering we are looking at close to another four days of bull shit to no surf I  decided to find my way to Fancytown with bizarro at the Wild Cat.  It was a pretty decent night out and probaly the most packed night of the weekend.  There was lots of good energy and a good time.   Work was annoying for some reason thinks keep spilling on my feet.  First about 25 pounds of egg washed pork butt fell from the low shelf in the walking and proceeded to cover me up to my knees with egg and pork blood.  Then a pepperoni pizza fell on me from inside the pizza fridge.  Finally as I was cooling down the marinara I managed to get it splashed all over my face.

3-8-15 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
This morning I was motivated.  I saw a few small ones on the Cstreet cam and the wind was off shore. I figured what the fuck worst case scenario I would find something to grovel at Emma Wood or the Harbor.  Both were fucking terrible and the Harbor is completely destroyed thanks to the dredging project.  Before it the sand out there was sick.  This past south swell would have been unreal, but because of the sand it was trash.  I blew like 12 bucks in gas money I don’t have to stare at absolute crap.  At least work was easy.  I have also come to the realization that my neighbor upstairs never sleeps.  Looks like its going to be flat for at least a week.  FUCK!!

3-7-15 No Surfing: 2-3 ft
I had intended on surfing this morning.  There was still some lingering south and a bit of new nw wind swell.  It was not going to be good, but with the lack of ocean time I have had the past two weeks I just wanted to get wet.  My girl came home last night all messed up from some hard party with some old Portland friends.   No surfing for me.  She saved me some gas money.

3-6-15 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
Holy shit what the fuck happened last night? Bizarro and I rolled out to the Kitty for what was suppose to be a somewhat mellow night.  We got a late start not getting to the club till close to 12:30.  I figured it would be a one and done night drink wise.  Well it escalated a bit from that prediction.  At some point around 2 am we found ourselves in a 24 hour fitness center.  From there it gets a bit blurry for me till around 4 am where the two of us were at my kitchen table burning each other with candles.  Don’t ask cause I have no idea.  I woke up on the couch in my full suit at around 11:40 am and I had to be at work by noon.  End result I was a little late and a shit show there.  Luckily everyone was busy with lunch and multiple catering events to notice.  Bad fucking news.

3-5-15 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Gold Coast
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 28
I fucking hate south swells.  They are such a let down around here.  I was not expecting much anyway.  Truth be told I should have surfed Emma or Father Johns.  I saw a sick one at the south end of the Gold Coast, which is the below photo and thought there would be more.  I had tons of luck with this spot in the fall and was hoping for a continuation this Spring.  I must say I think the sand is still there.  This swell was a bit too small, the tide a little to high and current was very annoying.  Then to add injury to insult the wind came up just enough to flatten out what little face was on offer.  I did manage a few little barrels and stuck a big fs air reverse on my last one.  Beat not surfing.

3-4-15 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Oxnard Shores
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 30
Yeah!!!! I GOT TO GO SURFBOARD RIDING TODAY!!!! Its about mother fucking time too.  Talk about two weeks of trash. Besides about an hour of brief brilliance I would have to add today to the proverbial southern California trash heap as well.  I got my windshield fixed this morning at 8 am.  Let me say that Best Price Auto Glass in Goleta is on it.  Not only did they fix my windshield for under $200 bucks, but they did in about a half an hour allowing me to still get a surf in.  I can’t honestly vouch for the work yet since it has not been in place for more then a few hours, but so far so good.  I stopped and checked Backside Rincon considering the south was in a perfect window for that spot.  There were some fun looking chest high lefts peeling down the reef.  There were also eight guys on it and another four dressing in the lot.  The wave consistency was definitely not going to complement that crowd.  Ryan called and said it was off shore down in Ventura.  I met him at the Harbor where the tide was still too swampy for New Jetty and River Mouth was all shit thanks to the fucking dredging project.  Thanks for fucking the entire early south swell season, which is usually the best guys!!!  Whatever, we had a look at Shores, which was also very flooded.  Out of options we paddled just south of Fifth st.  The session if compared to a graph would have represented a perfect bell curve.  When we first got out there it was just about un-ride-able.  As a matter of fact I ran down the beach and tried my luck with some crazy shore dump.  After a few I decided the annoying current was not worth the broken board, neck or both.  I had one though that I was standing tall in no more then half a foot from the sand.  I drifted back to the original sand bar Ryan was sitting on.  As soon as I did things started to heat up.  For a solid hour we were trading chest to head high plus barrels.  I even got a double barrel on one.  Fuck it was pure sickness.   Then after an hour the wind began to calm down and turn more south west.  The sets began to be more inconsistent with less waves in them.  Ryan bailed to go to work, while I stuck with it in hopes things might turn around with the tide.  I ended up floating around for over an hour to only catch about 5 waves.  Then the wind turned NW and it was over.  Now that it is officially the start of south swell season I am reminded just how bad I suck at surfing frontside.

3-3-15 No Surfing: 1-3+ ft
There was some new south on the buoy and I had hopes that it just may have been enough to pull some fun swell into the Harbor.  Maybe if they were not dredging the Harbor that would have been the case.  Instead everything was buried and New Jetty a small windy mush burger.  I had a long look at Emma, but there were four guys on the south peak not selling.  Throw in a steadily dropping tide and increasing wind and I just couldn’t bring myself to paddle.  Instead I came home, beat off a few times and got some much needed work done in my garden.  Fuck I need a surf soon!!!!

3-2-15 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
Last night I decided to get completely obliterated at the Wild Cat.  My thoughts were that maybe, just maybe if I got black out fucking drunk I would wake up in the morning and my broken windshield would have just been in a dream.  Instead I woke up hungover as hell and my windshield was still broken.  Oh and on the way to work it began to rain.  Awesome.  The waves sucked yet agian so whatever.

3-1-15 No Surfing: 2-3 ft
I actually got up and was all ready to go surf this morning.  There was not much coming in, but Cstreet was offshore on the cam and I figured I could find something to grovel.  Then my beautiful baby asked me to come back to bed and bang her out.  Considering the average at best conditions I decided that the only thing I really wanted to get wet was my dick anyhow.  WhoooooT!!!!! I’m incorrigible.  Then I went out to my car to drive to work.  I had parked it up the street on Del Mar cause Heather had my space.  As it turned out some mother fucking delinquents smashed my windshield in the night.   To add injury to insult when I called my insurance company to report the damage they are not able to cover it cause I have a $500 deductible and its only about 300 to replace a windshield.  Too bad I don’t have an extra 3 bills kicking around.  Fuck, at least I got laid this morning…