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Feast or Famine: December 2010 Surfing In Review

Posted in Surfing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 4, 2011| 2 Comments »

December was all about periods of fun surf followed by periods of flatness.  There was tons of rain and wind bringing near toxic water conditions and tricky surf conditions.  Crowds were lighter then usual thanks to the weather not to mention that I think a bunch of people have already given up on surfing this winter it has been so bad.  As far as Im concerned I had some great sessions in December.  Unfortunately I was also plagued by a host of surf injuries mainly my lower back, knee and neck causing me to worry that my years of misuse are finally catching up to me. Here is how I made out in December of 2010 surf wise.

Number of Surf Session – 21
Days Surfed – 19
Average Wave Height – 3-4ft

Spots Surfed:

Rincon – 9
Juno Pier, Florida – 2
Civic Center, Jupiter FL – 1
South Jetty – 1
C Street – 1
Loons – 1
Sharks Cove – 1
Sand Spit – 1
Santa Clause Lane – 1
Stanley’s – 1
New Jetty – 1
Dredge – 1

Top 3 Sessions

3: 12/8/10 – 3-4ft, Loons
Loons is a magical wave and a very secret and fickle one at that.  When and if you happen to find and score it the reward will more then equal the toil.  This session was solid chest to head high plus with a light crowd, glassy conditions and lines running an easy three hundred yards down the point.  Read Sometimes Miracles Happen Blog for more on this stellar session.

 

2: 12/16/10 PM Session – 4-6ft, Dredge
My afternoon surf was purely based on the wind dying out, which luckily it did.  I cruised to Rincon where it was perfect oil glass but only around chest high or so at Indicator.   Discouraged I called my boy Ryan down in Ventura who was claiming Dredge was solid and no one out.  Dredge never has no one out especially in the afternoon.  I mean the place is the exclusive surf spot of the entire Pierpont community, a society made up of 90% surfers.  Dane Reynolds lives there along with my good buddy Adam Virs.  With no better options I took the advice and tipped my boy Kevin off as well who was just getting off work from making mass quantities of food.  I got there and it was definitely well overhead on sets and although fast more then make able if you chose the right one.  Of course by this time there were 5 guys out and about another ten in the parking lot frothing.  There were plenty of waves and with the strong southerly current that always plagues Dredge the crowd was not a big issue, still I managed to get a long board to the head courtesy of this decrepit old guy who was blowing every set wave he paddled for.  He very courteously ditched is board right in front of me after straightening off on an overhead close out.  I came up from my duck dive into his board.  Besides that I managed to get a ton of great rides and boosted a few huge backside airs but came unglued on the landings.  I would have to say it was by far the best session I have had since Loons last week and one of the best in December.

 

1: 12/20/10 – PM Session – 6-8+ft, Rincon
Sometimes Christmas comes early and today it came early at Rincon.  Epic Rincon is one of those things that happen at best a dozen times or so a winter and today my friends was just that.  The day had a slow start with a super high tide, small swell and rain.  I decided to stay in bed and wait for the afternoon of which I knew more swell would fill in.  I checked the buoys at breakfast and it was 8 ft, by noon it was ten, by 2pm it was twelve by four, 14ft.  The swell grew six feet in a matter of hours and that set the pace for the entire session.  I got in the water at 1pm and it was about chest to head high and every hour it grew by two feet till the occasional ten foot clean up set would wash through.  Up until today I had yet to legitimately call box a wave.  My first three waves all went double call box and then I had about a dozen more that were single call box.  I think the worst wave I caught all session I still managed to hit ten times, on average I got around 15 hits a wave.  Soooooooooooooooo Gooooooooood!!!!!!

I think this picture embodies December perfectly here in Santa Barbara.

I think this guy needs to slow down and enjoy a little famine. Maybe that is metaphoric for how I look when Im frothing on a good day at Rincon

As always if you liked this blog visit the surf log where I update my surf sessions daily.

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Some Noteworthy Surf Sessions

Posted in Surfing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 17, 2010| 2 Comments »

Normally I save all the day to day surf experiences for the surf log but I felt the last two sessions I have partook in were worth a more insightful recount.  Not the actually surfing or conditions although I must admit yesterday Emma Wood was rather fun and Cstreet did offer up a few waves this afternoon as well.  What I would like to talk about here are two instances that I found amusing.

The Abstruse Rob Machado

Last night I was super stoked at the sight of clean chest high Emma Wood, super bowly lefts and rights with only three guys out.  I tore on my wetsuit and ran down the trail so that I could take full advantage of the miniscule moments of daylight left courtesy of the time change, thank you 100 year out dated customs for making my life even more annoying.  As Im boring down the path I see a very familiar looking persona behind an open hatch back of a mini van.

I get closer and notice it is some strange looking scruffy dude with a fro fooling with a blow up mattress.  Then when I was with in fifty feet of this character I realized it was none other then once world number two, goofy foot aficionado, free surfer extraordinaire Rob Machado.  He looked right at me and I exclaimed “whats happening bud” in typical Santa Barbara surfer speak.  “Not much” he retorted and then jumped into the back of the van, closed the hatch and that was the last I saw of him.

I guess Rob Machado was going to spend the night sleeping in his van in front of Emma Wood.  I would have thought he would be in Hawaii by now for the Triple Crown.  Its not like there was a good swell in the water that he was trying to chase.  Im sure there must be more then a dozen people he could have called to crash at home in either Santa Barbara and Ventura, yet the dude was going to sleep in the van.  Shit Im still kicking myself for not inviting him to come home with me and crash in my spare room.  I guess Rob and I are destined to cross paths in the strangest of circumstance.

Those Darn Groms

Today after work I thought I would take advantage of the NW/SW combo swell in the water down at one of the Ventura beach breaks.  My buddy claimed it to be light winds and with the mid tide Emma was out of the question.  Stoked I hauled ass down the 101 and sure enough the wind was pretty light.  That was of course till I got with in earshot of Cstreet.  From there South it was howling WNW.  At that point I was not left with any other options besides Cstreet and there I found myself.

The surf was not bad solid chest high with the bigger peak or so, but the line up was mobbed with grommies.  I mean there had to be at least fifteen after school specials frothing all over the wind blow rights.  I took my time getting dressed for what was a forced paddle out.  Upon getting in the water I was equally let down by a sudden upwelling making the holey 4/3 I chose to wear a bad choice.

I sat out there for the first thirty minutes or so feeling rather un aggressive as the groms swarmed all around me poorly slicing and chopping away at the broken up lines.  All of these factors were enough to send any sane person running for the hills, but I stuck it out and actually ended up getting a handful of five and six turn rides.  I knew most of the groms out by face from both Emma Wood and New Jetty, just stoked Ventura kids.

Towards the end of the session one of such paddles up to me and says “I remember you, you used to rip New Jetty all the time, what happened?”  I did not quite now how to respond.  I still rip New Jetty somewhat regularly and was not sure to take his words as an insult or just plain stupid grom ignorance.  Before I formulated a replied he continued with “How come you don’t have any stickers on your board any more?”

Ahh it all made sense now.  I must not surf anymore cause Im no longer sponsored.  I tried to explain to the kid how Globe and Body Glove dropped me and that I was kind of over the whole thing anyway, tired of starving.  I did my best to try to annotate that I was now living life after “professional surfing” (in my case meaning I helped to pay into the profession of other surfers and industry type people) and have more fun surfing now then I ever had when I was a logoed rider. Now when I paddle out I have nothing to prove or contests to train for and other things of that matter.

I just get to go out and surf and surf however I want.  If I want to spend the entire session boosting airs I can.  If I want to fuck around in waist high close outs trying to perfect the drop in floater basically making a fool of myself kooking it its my choice.  I can surf rights, lefts, straights, wherever I want, however I want, whenever I want and because I work I have money to boot (ok that last part is a lie Im still pretty damn poor).  I did my best to construe my situation on him, but at 16 years old he just could not grasp how I could give up “living the dream”.

Then he caught a wave and about five minutes later a different grom paddled up to me and we basically went through the same saga.  I don’t understand these kids.  I suck at surfing, especially by California standards of performance.  Why would any of them believe I could still be a pro surfer?  Shit all I want to do is surf as much as humanely possible and cook food to support my living.

Speaking of Rob Machado in strange settings...

With awesome moves like this it is a wonder no one wants to sponsor me...

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