Surfing Ruined My Life

May 2015 Surf Sessions

5-31-15 No Surfing: 2-3 ft
After yesterdays rip fest I was feeling rather tired and felt more then fulfilled.  It has been a few sick days of surfing the past few enough so that I feel a nice day off was more then rewarded.  Unfortunately I tweaked my back at work while throwing out the garbage.

5-30-15 PM Session:  3-4+ ft, Jalama
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 48
It was Saturday and there was still some waning south swell in the water.  Rather then deal with the masses south or the early morning hopefuls up north I had a relaxing morning opting for the afternoon Jalama glass off.  Bizarro rolled with to see if we could get some pics.  At first it was a bit side shore and sort of walled and closed out looking.  In no rush I chilled on the beach and watched it a little.  Soon what looked like shit close outs began to appear to be a boost-able skate park with only three guys out.  The beach was packed with at least another 15 guys from earlier who had been waiting around to see about the evening glass or off shores.  I jumped in and right off the bat grabbed some sick ones.  I opened with a full rotation air reverse, followed by a deep long tube.  Then it glassed off and looked like something out of a magazine.  Unfortunately it was not long before everyone else decided to paddle as well.  There were lots of waves and plenty of peaks to be had by all.  Good times and beautiful scenery how can one go wrong.  A Jalama day is always a special day.

5-29-15 PM Session: 2-4 ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 27
Initially my plan was to hit up Jalama for the evening glass off after work.  Last nights black out pretty much took care of that.  Getting up for work at 9 am was terrible and so was my subsequent work day.  After work the wind looked light in Ventura so I headed south to the Harbor.  Sure enough New Jetty had some fun lefts and light onshore wind.  A few local pros were out, but there were plenty of waves and current for everyone.  On the beach there were a over a dozen workers in Hazmat suits.  I guess it had something to do with the recent oil spill. There were guys surfing, and fishing and beach going business as usual.  It was fucking strange and no one was saying anything about what was going down.  I paddled since it looked fun and no one or animals seemed to be dying.  At first there were some sick south sets. Contrary to every other beach in the world Ventura is one of the few places where wind will actually get harder onshore before dark.  It was an alright session for what it was worth.

5-28-15 AM Session: 4-6+ ft, County Line, Malibu
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 31
Holy Shit!! COUNTY LINE WAS FUCKING FIRING THIS MORNING!!!! I hate this wave and never surf it.  I think in the twenty years I have been surfing California I have surfed the place a total of 5 times.  The other four were terrible to marginal at best. Today my friends was unreal.  You know a spot is good when there are a handful of pros out.  Everywhere you looked someone was going off.  It looked like a fucking surf video and I was part of it.  I had a full on rip fest out there.  There were rights, lefts, straights, bombs and barrels.  Good times. Its rare I have on fun surf at Malibu let alone three in a row.

5-27-15 PM Session2: 4-6+ ft, Zeros, Malibu
Time in Water: 35 mins
Waves Surfed: 6
I wanted to get a few more waves in and some lefts.  We drove over to Zeros to have a look and sure enough the crowd was very light and the wind and high tide were not quite ruining it thus I decided to jump in for a few more waves.  It was a bit bigger out at Zeros and a bit more closed out.  The added cross wind made it a bit hard to ride.   Still I got a few good ones and almost got impaled by a rock just missing it upon lading an air.  I only wanted a few did and go what I needed.

5-27-15 PM Session: 3-5+ ft, Leo Carrillo, Malibu
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 28
I was hoping to get some fun waves at Ventura Harbor or Oxnard shores, but the wind and tide had a bit of the opposite to say to me about it.  The plan was to surf and then thrift.  Instead the call was to go thrift in Oxnard and then head for an early afternoon Malibu surf.  Unfortunately there was some crazy road work happening on the PCH involving a helicopter and some giant rock slide screens.  We sat there for a solid hour watching this go down.  Besides falling behind on time it was most entertaining to view.  When we finally got back moving Leo looked rather fun and somewhat uncrowded.  The peak had the usual pack on it, but there was a sick inside corner half down the point with no one on it and looked super kill-able.  It was actually a perfect money section since Bizarro and I were shooting.  It was a rather fun session till the after school and work shift showed up eventually clogging the place and the high tide turned off my little section.  By then I had my fill anyway.  The shoots were decent enough.

5-26-15 PM Session: 4-6+ ft, Jalama
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
I hate being unmotivated at work.  It just takes all of the creative enjoyment out of it.  Oh wait who am I kidding, my job does that all by itself.  I did manage to make a pretty dank risotto, maybe the best on I have ever put together on the large scale. It came out as if I had made it in small portion format.  After work I needed to get a new battery for my car since I have basically been jumping it every few starts.  It was getting annoying.  Bizarro and cruised to Costco, for although my personal feeling on that place may keep me from being a member I have no problem taking advantage of the benefits of others’ membership. From there we decided to make a retard mission up to Jalama even though we knew we were not going to make it there until after six.  Fuck it doesn’t get dark till almost 8:30 anyway.  It was super windy when we got there and if not for the entertainment of a few humpback whales breaching I would have turned around and went home.  In that time I noticed the wind was dying down a little bit.  We were there so fuck it I paddled out at Cracks.  The south was coming in way stronger then the buoys had shown or was predicted.  I think the period was too long and the banks a little under developed cause it was pretty stretched out there though there were some corners here and there.  The wind certainly didn’t help.  Luckily half an hour before dark it went oil glass and I managed a few sick ones.

5-25-15 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
To my dismay I was dragged out last night due to having to show a friend of my lady what downtown Santa Barbara had to offer.  Of course to me that pretty much just means a night suited up at the Wild Cat.  It was a fun night, but I had to work today at 6:30 am making it a not so much fun morning.  Work was work only made palatable by the fact that I knew when I got off I was going to score some surf.  My girl decided to meet up with me and cruise with.  I wasn’t expecting much more than an Emma Wood grovel.  To my pleasant surprise not only was there already some solid south coming in, but the wind was light too.  The Harbor was the call and New Jetty where it was at.  It was far from epic and little fat with the high tide, yet there were waves and the lefts coming off the Jetty were very kill-able.  I was pumped.

5-24-15 No Surfing: 2-3 ft
Last night Bizarro and I decided to throw an after party for good measure.  With less then four hours sleep before work a surf was not even a thought.  The surf was pretty bad anyway.  I must say it was a terrible day at work.  Its hard to get back on the party wagon after a few week hiatus.  Looks like some real south is suppose to fill in over the next few days.

5-23-15 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
And the bull shit lack of surf continues.  It was fine cause last night I went to full fledged fancytown with the crew of Bizarro, Griffen and Kirby.  We started at Tonic where a cameo was needed at a Birthday.  Then moved on the Kitty.  From there I can’t remember much else.  I woke up in my full suit, jacket still buttoned face down on my couch this morning.  Lest just say its been while since I have drank that much.

5-22-15 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
More flatness lead to yet another down day.  Instead I installed a baller light fixture into my dining area.  Then it was off for a fun day of running errands with Bizarro.  Since he had no clean casual clothes to put on we decided to make it a suit day.  Good times.  I really hope there are waves tomorrow cause I have no idea what to do with myself when its flat.

5-21-15 No Surfing: 1-2 ft
The plan was to go shoot Jalama today.  Unfortunately the ocean did not agree with this plan being that it was about knee to waist at best.  It wasn’t worth my while to do all that driving for crap.  Ventura was flat.  I have gotten plenty of waves this month and didn’t mind taking the day off.  Hopefully we can get up to Jalama tomorrow.

5-20-15 PM Session: 2-3 ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 27
First off I would like to thank the wind for managing to stay down all day until I put my suit on and walked up the beach.  Then it came hard on shore like a mother fucking light switch.  Next I would like to thank the pacific ocean for having a lack of surf.  Lets not forget the idiots that spilled a few thousand gallons of oil into the ocean.  If not for them I would not have gotten tar all over my shoes while checking very small Rincon.  Finally let me extend an extra round of gratitude to my wonderful work place for always under paying me, over working me and keeping my day extra frustrating with all kinds of disorganized work place excitement.  If not for all these amazing things I would not have had such a wonderful awe inspiring day. If you have not guessed already that was sarcasm and you must not read here all that much if that was news to you.  Anyhow New Jetty was the best of the worst.  It was bad for Florida standards and that is exactly where I thought I was while surfing it.  I had the place to myself except for one surf stoked grom who also picked up my stoke level.  He was amazed on why I would have even paddled out in such trash.  I just replied “I guess I never stopped being a grom”.

5-19-15 PM Session: 1-3+ ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 2.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 43
I was just planning on yet another Emma session.  Ryan had called me and said there were waves at Rincon. All that was coming in was some very small WNW windswell.  I decided to have a look about before settling on a Rincon grovel I had a look about.  It was terrible everywhere making ‘Con the best of the worst.  It was small and weak.  Most of the time I felt like I was riding boat wake.  I did manage a few four to six turn rides on a few choice ones, but overall weak and tiny was the theme.

5-18-15 No Surfing: 2-4 + ft, No Surfing
I was hoping to find some waves on the way home from Big Sur today.  I overslept a little due to the fact that I was staying in the lap of luxury in a nice cushy King Size bed over looking the ocean at Ragged Point.  I love living large when someone else is picking up the tab.  I will tell you what, if you got a few hundred bucks to burn Ragged Point is with out a doubt worth the cash.  By the time I got out of there it was past one and the sheep were grazing.  It was nothing but wind and chop down the coast.  Instead of surfing it was wine tasting and good eats in Cambria.  Good times.

5-17-15 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Carmel Beach, Carmel
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 38
There was a slight drop in the surf this morning though still some fun peaks and corners.  I worked my way north up the beach finding fun kill-able left and rights.  It was not epic though I had fun.  Rip-able peaks are rip-able peaks.  My knee has been feeling really good too this trip which is leaving me really optimistic that I am going to make a near full recovery.  Carmel is a pretty rad place.  Santa Barbara of the north if I may be so bold to say.  I reckon I could relocate here if I ever get over my Rincon obsession.

5-16-15 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Carmel Beach, Carmel
Time in the Water: 1 hr 45mins
Waves Surfed: 31
I have surfed this wave a few times and usually it was just a forced paddled to get wet.  This morning I was confronted with chest to head high glassy barreling peaks up and down the beach.  I literally ran back to my car and suited up.  I managed to find a few sick ones. Overall though it was still more closed out then I had hoped which is typical of the spot.  The water was freezing as well.  I would still chalk it up to a score.  I had one bs tube that made it all worthwhile.  Oh and I had a peak all to myself on a Saturday morning! Can you believe it?  If it was in Ventura there would have been easily 50-100 guys out.

5-15-15 PM Session: 2-4+ ft, Mill Creek, Big Sur
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 23
My girl and I had planned a small little weekend trip up to Carmel for her Birthday.  With plenty of south and NW swell in the water I packed my boards hoping to find something kill-able off of PCH.  Luckily the forecasted rain happened a day early leaving us with mostly sunny skies and nice weather for the drive.  I checked Willow Creek and once again that wave succeeded in alluding me from a surf.  It was do-able but overall the quality was less then stellar so I moved on.  Mill Creek is my go to Big Sur spot.  The point was a bit too small for my liking, but the beach break just north of it had a wedgey left that was more then rip-able and even offered up the odd barrel.  It looked about waist to chest, but of course once you get above Point Conception nothing is what it seems.  The sets were more like overhead and dumped super hard on the sand bar.  I found a few sick one, made one crazy barrel and had my share of beatings. Good times.  

5-14-15 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 18
My first crack at a morning session in four days, with good winds and some fresh south swell and what do I do? I OVER SLEPT!!!!  This forced me to be relegated to just Emma Wood with no time to have a look about.  I am pretty sure Ventura Harbor was pretty damn good.  Heard from some random that he heard The Shores were good.  I even think backside Rincon could have been alright.  Emma had a few guys on it and it appeared to be ok.  Turns out it was tricky, shifty dropping tide south peaks and very difficult to get a good one.  I did manage a few, but they were far and few between and the water was fucking cold yet again and it was raining.  Talk about a day I wish I would have had worked in the morning and had the afternoon to surf.  My luck as usual.  Still beat not surfing.

5-13-15 PM Session: 2-3+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2 hrs 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 41
We had this bullshit party for the entire faculty and staff, which we have every year at the end of the spring semester.  For us it is one of our most important events of the year. It was bit of a hectic day to say the least and my boss decided to under staff the event and under prep.  My morning was basically a shit storm that didn’t end till I got off at 2:30.  Unfortunately most of the NW swell we benefited from yesterday had just about all dropped out less a few occasional weak sets.   There was some new south beginning to show in the water which was also inconsistent and weak.  Throw in some shit onshore wind and nearly every pro in the area out fighting for the bs peaks coming in.  Dane was the first to bail and one by one everyone else followed suit.  I stuck around another hour pretending I could make something of the trash.  The only one who really could was Pat Curren and he was killing it.  Whatever it was better then not surfing and it with out a doubt washed the slim of the day off me.
5-12-15 PM Session: 3-4+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2 hrs 15 mins
Waves Surfed: 47
Work went by rather easy today and for that I was rewarded with super fun Emma Wood.  Initially I gave Rincon a look since there was a considerable rise in the NW wind swell.  I think if the tide were lower it could have been fun, but with an impending evening high I opted to bail to Emma.  It was shit house packed with easily thirty plus guys on it.  There were plenty of waves coming in and I was keen to fight the crowd.  I ended up having a froth out there and just went to town destroying the kill-able lefts and rights coming in up and down the beach.  Hands down the best Emma Wood I have surfed in a while.

 5-11-15 PM Session: 2-3 ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1 hr 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 41
Today was my first day back on the summer day shift grind.  I had to be at work bright and early, 6:30.  I don’t know how people can gladly wake up at that god awful hour and go to work or even begrudgingly for that matter.  Fuck I went in begrudgingly.  Such is life and what can we do, but keep on, keeping on.  I got through my less then riveting work day, rather uneventful as it was.  I cruised to Emma considering the wind, tide and swell it was the best option.  Sure enough I was affront terrible Emma Wood, but it was better then yesterday and I saw a few left bowl corners that looked surf-able.  Two groms were on it and I joined them.  I found a few grovelers and thought about how many hours, days, weeks, maybe at this point years surfing the shitty peaks at Emma Wood.  As I was contemplating this Dane paddled out and if you think I have spent countless hours surfing there he has me beat by a long shot.  As usual he destroyed the small wind blown peaks making me look like a kook. Good times.

5-10-15 No Surfing: 1-2+ ft
I tried to go surfing this morning.  The Surfline report at Cstreet was calling it 2-3+ ft and fun with light winds.  Pumped I drove down to the harbor only to find it barely waist high and windy.  It was bad.  I watched it for over 45 minutes and even called my mom to wish her a happy mothers day.  In all that time I was still hard pressed to see anything even remotely close to amping me up to paddle.  The cold onshore wind coming off the water acted as as constant reminder of how cold it is at the moment.  I decided with the rising tide to just go to Emma and hope the tide change would kick up something to grovel.  I didn’t have to work till 1:30 and it was only around 10 giving me plenty of time to kill.  Of course Emma was super tiny.  There was a little wave coming in at the inside reef and I was all ready to paddle it.  Then this guy  on a long board paddled and was struggling to even get the waves to push him.  The guy was no kook.  That put the nail in the coffin for me.  Instead I came home and went for a beach walk.

5-9-15 AM Session: 1-2+ ft
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 37
Last night in celebration of the last day of yet another semester in the can, the proverbial trash can of my career at Westmont, I was feeling quite the jovial mood.  Bizarro and I hit the Wild Cat in full stride, the path to Fancytown eminent.  It was an average night out with an average at best crowd.   It seemed downtown on a whole was rather lackluster.  I still got a few in me and made the most of the night.  I had a rather late start this morning.  New South was suppose to fill in through the day which I was banking on.  I was also hoping for lightish winds at Jalama. Jalama was a possibility but I though overall for what I could tell on the cam it was hardly worth the effort.  Around noon I struck out for Ventura.  The Harbor had some size and lots of wind.  There was some bull shit even going on making parking shit.  Over it I headed back to Emma where it was also terrible.  On a last ditch effort I went to Solimar. It was small and terrible though there was one guy out making it work on a short board.  Over looking around and just wanting to get wet I paddled.  It was about as bad as it looked.  Beat not surfing.

5-8-15 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 25
Like a fool I decided to check Rincon thus stealing all  my time on a lost cause.  Ventura Harbor most likely was the call.  Instead I had to settle for another day at small drained out Emma Wood.  It was pretty much a repeat of yesterday.  So just read yesterdays write up and hope for something interesting to happen to me tomorrow.

5-7-15 AM Session: 2-3 ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 25
I didn’t really know what I was shooting for this morning.  I had a pipe dream that Rincon might have a wave and it would have if the wind had not been south.  I cruised to the Harbor, but that all torn up though no wind and clean faces.  I saw a few at New Jetty, but it looked like way more work then reward out there.  I noticed a few guys out at the toll booth peak at Emma from the 101 and decided to just go back there.  I always get the most bang for my buck at Emma anyhow.  Sure enough though a little on the small side there were plenty of wind swell peaks coming in up and down the beach.  As I began to change everyone got out leaving the entire line up to yours truly.  I love a solo session in playful waves ever now and then.  My knee felt good today and I just had a blast on the small rip-able peaks.  I even managed a few little right hand barrels.  Good times.

5-6-15 AM Session: 2-3+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 3 hrs
Waves Surfed: 56
I was hoping to get more beach break bombers this morning.  Mother nature decided to have the wind all over it ruining any chance I had for those hopes.  I went to Emma which actually was handling both the wind and combo swell really well considering.  For what ever reason there were only a few guys out and no one around.  I don’t know if everyone was just surfed out or I was missing something.  I paddled and had a grand old time on the short kill-able left and right peaks. I even found a barrel or two.  Good times.

5-5-15 AM Session: 4-6+ ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 2 hrs
Waves Surfed: 14
What can I say about this morning except for the fact that I totally bit off way more then I could chew.  Ryan was claiming Shores, where in hindsight maybe I should have surfed.  I had a look at the Harbor and it looked like a barrel fest out there.  The Line up did appear to be a tad on the tricky side, though nothing I couldn’t handle.  I had Bizarro with me and was hoping we could get a few money shots.  We walked way past the River Mouth almost to Mc Grath.   As soon as I hit the water the current began to pull me.  Right when I got out into the line up the rip began to suck me out.  This is a terrible combination.  Throw in a somewhat shifty inconsistent south swell with no real discernible sand bars and you basically have a surfing nightmare.   It was definitely one of those sessions where I watched tons of amazing waves hit everywhere but where I was sitting.  I just never got into a rhythm with the waves out there.  The water was freezing.  The coldest it has been this week.  I took way more beatings then I would have liked. Besides on crazy barrel on my second wave nothing really got me going.  I should have just paid Bizarro $15 to draw me an ice bath and hit me in the balls with a bat cause that is about all that happened out in the ocean for me today.  Have I mentioned this week how much I hate south swells?

5-4-15 AM Session: 3-5+ ft, C Street
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 18
The south swell was holding super strong this morning.  My first stop was Rincon where backside definitely had a wave, but also a solid crowd with more guys changing.  There were some insiders going by.  Backside is just about one to three peaks that are all very close to each other and on most days where the south is super inconsistent anything more then about ten guys are way too many.  I kept on cruising down the coast in the hopes to find something palatable to surf.  North of Pitas was small and south of Pitas was walled and windy.  Finally at Emma Wood I made the call to just go surf C Street considering it was most likely the best option.  It certainly was the best of the worst.  I paddled up at Pipes though it was still rather walled and very sloppy.  For whatever reason I managed a few good ones despite the crap and caught a bomb or two.  It was far from a great surf though I had fun.  Here is hoping for things to be a bit more clean in the morning.

5-3-15 AM Session: 2-4+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 11
There were three south swells on the buoy today. Of course there was also a boat load of bull shit onshore wind.  I really wanted to surf despite the condition and headed for Emma figuring it was my best bet.  The swell was coming in super steep to the beach a situation I hate and surf like shit when its like that there.  Whatever I was there and I paddled. It appeared everyone else had the same idea cause the crowd went from three to 15 in a matter of minutes.  I found a few set waves on the south peak.  The water was fucking freezing and the swell inconsistent.  Then I went into the work and was short handed as all fuck thus I put in a ten hour day.

5-2-15 No Surfing: 2-3+ ft
I woke up and the wind was already on it and the new south had only just begun to show on the buoys.  Considering the small conditions the only place I might have been able to find a suitable wave was at Ventura harbor.  With the steadily rising onshore winds that was going to be a wash.  Rather then grovel shit Emma Wood again I decided to take the day off and relax for the morning.  There is plenty of south swell to show up over the next few days.

5-1-15 AM Session: 1-3+ ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1 hr
Waves Surfed: 17
Talk about waking up hung over this morning from a night out at the Wild Cat.  Fuck I was not even that drunk last night.  I felt like shit all day today.  The swell had dropped, tide was high and there was wind on it.  All signs pointed to Emma.  It was small and pathetic.  The NW had just about completely dropped out leaving just the beginning of the new south swell. Between the wind and the small conditions motivation was lacking.  I paddled and forced out a session.  It was just about as bad if not worse then it looked.  At work I got my new “Chris Lisanti Sous Chef” coats.  Yes I have arrived.