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Posts Tagged ‘Ventura’

Remembering Life as a Grom: May 2013 Surfing in Review

Posted in Surfing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I was charged up this May, way too stoked on surfing.  So much so I might have well been a grom. Then again how could I not have been.  I was off from work not having to go back till mid August giving me ample time and freedom to make the most out of whatever was on offer.  We had some minor NW wind swell that decided to hang around for nearly the entire month giving us very surf-able waves in town.  Then throw in a  few little south swells with good conditions and a macker of a late season WNW that allowed me to surf waves I have not seen break in months.  Did I mention the water was in the high 60’s by mid month and there was almost no fog and nice warm sunny days.

Conditions had me wondering if I was still living in the 805.  I don’t know if this is a direct effect of global warming or what, but hey lets keep it coming.  I actually went out and bought a 3/2.  I have not worn a 3/2 out here since the very first summer I moved here six years ago.  That was when I was fresh off the plane and my blood still thick.  May is usually an ok month thanks to plenty of combo action.  As you can see from the numbers I think I more then utilized it.  As always you can read my month in surfing in depth and my life for that matter in the surflog, which by the way is updated daily.

Surf Sessions: 29
Days Surfed: 21
Total Water Time: 48.5 hours
Number of Waves Surfed: 916
Average Waves Surfed Per Hour: 19

Spots Surfed:
Mesa Lane: 10
Emma Wood: 7
New Jetty: 3
Santa Clara River Mouth: 3
Summerland: 2
Rincon: 2
Zeros, Malibu: 1
Sharks Cove: 1

Top 3 Surf Sessions

3. 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.

2. 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.

1. 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.

Sand Bar may have laid dormant for me this season. Here is hoping for next winter...

Sand Bar may have laid dormant for me this season. Here is hoping for next winter…

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The Tale of a Solid South Swell

Posted in Anger, Life, News From Lisanti Land, Surfing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The-Wedge

I have had many request from all of my of my friends that I get off my lazy ass and do a bit more writing.  Some wanted horrific tales from the vault of the Lisanti Past, others were looking for recipes, and then some just wanted some new adventure tales.  I hope over the coming weeks to make everyone happy and a bit disturbed by the content as usual.  I thought I would start with the tale of a recent Lisanti adventure, a common California adventure at that; Chasing a solid south swell.

Summertime in coastal California is not quite what all the songs, pictures, media, movies and television would have you believe. Most of the time the weather is foggy, damp and cold. The ocean cold and windy.   The surf, unless you live in San Diego or Orange county is less then amiable.  Up here in Santa Barbara unless you have a boat, access to the ranch or a plane ticket to Indo you might as well put your surf board away and take up lawn bowling.  Unfortunately for me I have none of the above and left my bocce set at home when I moved from NJ.

If one of you readers wants to send me a bocce kit I promise to drink one for you at the Wild Cat!

If one of you readers wants to send me a bocce kit I promise to drink one for you at the Wild Cat!

What do I do?  I fucking get in my car and I drive at least 45 miles a day to surf sub par surf in a frustrating crowd.  Wait, isn’t that what the California dream is?   Shit folks the California dream ceased to be a dream 60 years ago if it ever really existed.  Its more like the California nightmare now.  We all know I love to suffer.  Actually this season has not been as bad as usual.  We had a month of NW wind swell that gave consistent surf and even a few epic days with some south swell thrown in for good measure. Check out the May edition of the Surflog for more on that.  In my book there are few things sweeter then a late season NW.

When the Queen looks like this you would have to be crazy to go anyplace else...or would you?

When the Queen looks like this you would have to be crazy to go anyplace else…or would you?

This story begins on May 28th 2013 down near Antarctica.  Antarctica?!? WTF! Truth be told that is where most south swells that grace California with their loveliness begin.  Of course on the 28th a south swell was the last thing on my mind.   I was too busy capitalizing on local wind swell to even notice any action in the south pacific.  Then a few days later Surfline.com had a feature on this crazy swell that rocked Tahiti.  At that point my attention was grabbed and I knew it was only a matter of time before it would show here.  From Tahiti the swell traveled to Hawaii giving the boys on the South Shore some fun ones.  Once in Hawaii it was only a couple of days.

By June 6th front runners began to show up.  The morning was still a bit down thus I decided to sleep in hoping for some action in the afternoon.  Solimar Beach was the spot for me after a great deal of deliberation.  This time of year surf is hard to come by and the wrong decision is a fate worse then death.  Every wave squandered is a flat day you will be kicking yourself in the near future.  I really wanted to utilize this swell to its fullest extent.  The reef had some solid rights to be had with a very light crowd.  I always seem to surf Solimar on the beginning of  large south swell.  It is a cool wave that bends around a horse shoe cobble stone reef usually covered by sand.  From the beach it always looks pretty mushy which keeps the crowd down. Actually its a pretty fast bowly wave when your on it.  It sort of reminds me of Noosa a little bit.

I got a solid session in and felt although deeming it “the best of the worst” a rather fun session.  The next morning things really began to get big.  Unfortunately for me too big for my usual south swell jaunts in the area.  When I went to bed I was dreaming of all time Santa Clara.  Instead I was faced with walled close outs and strange wind.  I wanted to go to Malibu and most likely should have.  I let the fact that it was a Friday and the immense crowds that goes with it keep me at home.  Later I would find out that even though the crowd sucked there were still plenty of waves.  Once again after lots and lots of checking  I found myself settling for the “best of the worst” at Pitas Point.  Through my binoculars down the beach it looked like it was firing.  After paddling my boy Ryan and I would soon find things to be a bit more sectiony then we would have liked, not to mention very inconsistent.

The only really worthy session of September looked something like this only bigger!

This the sort of Santa Clara I was dreaming of…

I had always heard these rumors up here that El Capitan, one my favorite right hand point breaks actually will see surf on a large south swell.  Apparently it sneaks through the gap between the Santa Cruz and San Miguel Islands.   I needed to see if the rumors were true and this swell seemed perfect for that.  I got up there a little later then I should have thanks to some chores that needed doing.  Afraid I had missed my window I was walking  to check it when a stoked older dude parked in front of me yelled “get your board and go dude, its on”.  Like that I found myself trotting down the trail.  When I emerged from the woods sure enough there were waves!  An older guy from Santa Barbara told me once while hanging out in the car park at Manu Bay in Raglan, New Zealand that one can tell a good point from a great point by how it holds its shape no matter what the swell angle.

El Capitan did just that.  It was only around chest to head high with a light crowd of local vets and very inconsistent, but my friends it was perfect.  I only caught 9 waves that session.  6 out of the 9 were wonderful keepers.  I can surf El Cap so well, I guess anyone can cause it is so perfect.  It is just one of those waves that makes anyone feel like Kelly Slater on it.  That is until you see Kelly Slater surf it…  Anyhow it was just one of those magical sessions that make you remember why it was you started surfing in the first place.  Later I would hear that the session of the day went down at C street that evening.  Fuck it, I hate that wave anyway.

God damn, why do all these swells have to fall on the weekend and a weekend where I had at least two party obligations to fill. A boys night on Friday with Bizarro and my boy Daniel’s going away party, which I was throwing for him at the Wild Cat.  As a result morning sessions were completely out of the question.  I know some surfers are reading this right now thinking “I can’t believe Lisanti is blowing it like that”, while I see it as a balance between the two worlds I exist in.  Balance my friends is everything in life.  It only took me 32 years to realize that.  Man cannot live by surfing alone.

Saturday I found myself a bit more hung over then I would have liked (still have not figured out that balance thing when it comes to alcohol consumption) causing a very late start.  I was still a bit sick to my stomach as I climbed the dunes at New Jetty where I heard the morning was near to all time.  There were long lines coming through, but overall things looked a bit soft and still very inconsistent.  My boy Pat hit me up that he was in Malibu all morning and was about to go back to surf Leo Carrillo.

I don’t go to Malibu on the weekend, ever!  He claimed the crowd was not bad and given I didn’t really have a better option I jumped in the car with him.  You know what it was a great call.  I got to surf the best Leo I have ever surfed.  By Leo standards and a weekend the crowd was not bad at all.  It was tough to get a set wave off the old guys and long boarders.  That was fine cause I enjoy the inside double ups better anyway, plus the sets were too big and most closing out.  I managed to put on a very strong backside performance holding it down for the goofy foot contingent.  Fuck, give me a wally lined up right any day.  That shit is my bread and butter.  Later Pat and I had a look at Hueneme Pier and he was frothing.  It looked decent enough.  I had to get back to the Barb for Daniel’s party.  It went down without a hitch.

By this point I was dead set on a Lower Trestles mission.  I had not been there since ’11 and I was thinking Monday would be the day.  I texted Trevor and planted the seed in his head.  My tires are bald on my car at the moment so the only way I was going to be able to partake in such an ordeal was if I had a driver.  Sunday I was in bad shape.   I cut down on the party and my body has totally lost its tolerance to take a beating and keep on.  I heard New Jetty was on again that morning.  I headed there for low tide.  Although very inconsistent there were a handful of decent lefts coming in.  I paddled it.   There were a few fun ones to be had among the lulls.  Later that night I returned home to a text from Trevor that he was in for Lowers.

The reality of surfing Lowers.

This is what a Lowers crowd looks like

Monday morning we made  the three hour drive south in high spirits.  We got there and it was way more crowded then I had hoped for.  As a matter of fact I can’t remember ever seeing that many cars parked on the San Clemente side.  It was decent Lowers in its own right.  The crowd was miserable and sets inconsistent.  That is a very bad combination.  My stoke was gone and part of me wanted to jump back in the car and just drive another 45 minutes south to Blacks Beach.  It was Trevor’s first time and who am I to rob him of a bad surf experience.  We paddled.  Despite a pack of annoying groms training for nationals next weekend we both found a few keepers.

Who can really hate on an entire day spend on the beach with your bud?  I fucking can.  I got sun burned.  My eyes hurt from all the sun and as of press time my back is sore from carrying all my shit down there, my neck stiff and my fucking knees hurt from too many really bad frontside air reverse attempts cause I suck at surfing.  In all seriousness it was a fun day and I am glad I went to remind me why I never go there.   At the moment it is flat with not much happening for at least a week.  Fiji just got some sick waves for the contest (congrats Kelly on another mind blowing victory) so its only a matter of days before we see the remnants of that swell. For more details on the surf sessions, party or swell visit the June Surflog.

Here's to the next good South swell and Go Slater for number 12!

Here’s to the next good South swell and Go Slater for number 12!

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April Showers Lead to May Flowers?: April 2013 Surfing In Review

Posted in Surfing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 5, 2013| 6 Comments »

What can I say about the month of April for surfing other then it was yet another month full of let down and frustration.  After a terrible winter I still had a shred of hope that it might be a good wind swell season.  Sometimes I get my best waves in the hard gail force north westerlies.  Wind swell with its shorter period allows certain mysto or novelty spots to come alive for a brief moment.  There are literally dozens of spots up here that only break once or twice a year if at all.  When they do break it is always a treat to surf them.  Of course this year with the exception of one very weak ass surf at Summerland Beach there were none of the above mentioned sessions.

I did my best to stay wet sandwiching in surf time between my work and hectic party schedule.  Here is the month of April by the numbers.  Enjoy my very sick OCD.  As always visit the Surf Log daily for the full scoop on my surfing, party and life in general.

Surf Sessions: 17
Days Surfed: 16
Total Time Spent in Water: 27.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 474
Average Waves Caught Per Hour: 17

Spots Surfed:
Rincon: 4
Santa Clara River Mouth: 4
New Jetty: 3
Emma Wood: 3
Summerland: 1
Cstreet: 1
Pitas: 1

Top 3 Surf Sessions:

3) 4-18-13 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 24
River Mouth fucking delivered!  What a barrel fest.  I got the call from my boy Ryan at around 7:30 that the wind was off shore down south.  With some small south and fading NW in the water the combo action was just screaming beach breaks. Throw in a lower tide and things were finally looking up.  I got to River Mouth and it looked a little smaller then I was hoping. The sand bars were as I had expected a bit torn up from all the wind the past week.  Still there were some solid chest to head high pits to be had.  There were plenty of guys out, but plenty of peaks spread up and down the beach.  I suited up and was stoked for some fun waves.  I started at the north end of the reeds where I found a sick little left sand bar that was hallow as hell.   I picked off three really fun ones there before running further down the beach where conditions seemed a bit larger and more heavy.  My boy Ryan was sitting on a suck up little A-frame all to himself and I joined.  We traded some good ones although the current was a bit tricky with strange rips and it was a bit lully. None the less I went to work super pumped that morning.

2) 4-12-13 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 1hr 45 mins
Waves Surfed: 23
I don’t know what came over me that got me out of bed before 9am but somehow I was up and ready to surf.  I had checked the buoys the night before and noticed a real jump in the swell.  As I was cruising down south I saw that Santa Claus had some waves indicating a possible wave at Rincon.  I pulled off and sure enough the Cove was going off with a very light crowd.  I ran back up to the lot, texted Trevor that he was blowing it and paddled.  What a session.  I can’t remember the last time I had that much fun.  There were at least a handful that went to the high way.  My legs were killing me by the end of the session.

3) 4-30-13 AM Session: 4-6+ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 3hrs
Waves Surfed: 53
What a fucking session.  Man I am so glad it is finally south swell season and I have a feeling the summer may just make up for the dismal winter we got stuck with.  I slept in a little bit being still a tired from the weekend festivities.  Trevor and I met up in Carp and rolled south with the intentions of checking the River Mouth and if that was sub par possibly running to Malibu.  On first inspection although plenty of size things looked a bit walled with the occasional scattered corner.  We gave The Shores a look over at Fifth St, that was looking more organized but a bit on the weak side.  The debate was then River Mouth or the ‘Bu. I hate driving away from potential thus we suited and charged the Mouth.  As it turned out it was a very good decision with tons of really good left and right corners.  I had some cherry ones and I stuck  the biggest full rotation ally oop of my life.  What a session.

Since the surf sucked and I spent more time at the club then in the ocean here is a picture of my crew and I traveling down the road to Fancy Town.
Cat Party

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Car Surfing: Where the Majority of a Surfer’s Time is Spent

Posted in Anger, Surfing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 5, 2013| 23 Comments »

Loaded up and ready to go on a miraculous journey to find two foot slop.

Loaded up and ready to go on a miraculous journey to find two foot slop.

Do you want to know how long I surfed for today?  If you check the surflog it says one hour and a half.   In reality I surfed for almost five hours today.  The bulk of my session was not spent in the water, but in my car burning gas, adding to the size of my already huge carbon foot print.  What am I talking about?  Car surfing the most annoying repulsive ugly side of surfing there is.

In a perfect world the waves would be all time down the street from your house where with in a mile stretch you would some how have a right and left point, a slab reef, and a sick ass beachie.  I have yet to find such a place and if it does exist you can bet your ass no one is talking about it and are definitely not drawing you and I a map to it.  Instead of this fantastical situation surfers are stuck having to make do with what their backyard has to offer.

If you pulled up to this wave there would be no need to car surf any farther.

If you pulled up to this wave there would be no need to car surf any farther.

How do we define the word backyard?  In the the very beginning in ancient Hawaiian times I assume it would have been the break directly in front of your village.   Considering how primitive surfboards were back then I am sure just about any easy riding wave would suffice.  Then again they say the Polynesians traveled great lengths over many years in their out riggers.  Could it be they were just cruising around the south pacific trying to find a wave that was not closed out or too windy, small etc.?

When I was under the age of sixteen my backyard was the few miles I could access on my bike.  Back then after riding three miles to get to the beach in the dead of winter I was pretty much going to just jump in at first spot that was ride-able.  Then I got a car and everything changed.  Now my backyard was only limited to the amount of time available to me, the distance I was willing to drive and the amount of money in my pocket.  It was at that moment I became a car surfer.

Car surfing for those of you who are of the non-surfing variety or novice level is the act of a surfer driving around looking for waves to surf.   This can happen in a span of distance of ten miles or 150 miles or more depending.  Take where I live here in Santa Barbara for example.  Everyone here is a car surfer.  Our coastline is very dynamic and very spread out.  Add in the fact that we have a very small and selective swell window for most if not all of our spots and you will find that the amount of time and distance you will travel in your car to be astounding.  I can’t even imagine my numbers here.  Take this into account.  I bought my car in March of 2011 and it only had around 12,000 miles on it.  Since then the odometer reads 52,000 miles.  That is 40,00 miles in just under two years.  All put on with the sole purpose of scoring waves.

My asphalt surf board of choice. At 38 miles per gallon and the rising price for gas you better believe I love this car.

My asphalt surf board of choice. At 38 miles per gallon and the rising price for gas you better believe I love this car.

I think I can safely say I fall into the category of hardcore car surfer.  Most times when I car surf, eight out of ten times to be precise,  I still paddle out and surf.  Just because you car surf does not guarantee you are going to find good surf conditions.  On the contrary most times the reason you are driving around in the first place is because the waves absolutely suck and you are trying to find the best bad waves on offer that day.  Lets face it when the surf is good at the first spot you check how likely are you to move on to another, very rarely.  When I pull up to Rincon and its on I am out there, no questions asked.

Since the waves suck and that is the reason you are car surfing to begin with there is always the chance of spending all that time and not actually surfing at all.  When that becomes a habit you are a car surfing champion.  I have sadly known plenty of surfers in my life who spend all day driving around everyday and never actually surfing.  Its terrible I know.  It is for that reason I created the rule “If I drive then I surf”.  What happens is your motivation is low to begin with because of the sub par conditions and every stop you make with more sub par surf wears you down till finally you just paddle out at some random terrible spot just to get a wave, or drive back to the first place you checked (usually the case in my experience) or not surf at all.

Isn’t surfing an amazing sport.  This is why I write these little insider blogs.  Some one has to tell it like it is.  The surfing world is not all sunny beaches,  girls in bikinis and perfect crystal clear water barrels.  Ninety percent of the time it is nothing but frustration, heart ache and let down.  Can’t wait for my next car surf session tomorrow.  With bad winds and small conditions predicted it should be an epic drive!

When you find those terrible waves the least you can do is make the most of them.

When you find those terrible waves the least you can do is make the most of them.

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Sloth leads to Froth: December 2012 Surfing in Review

Posted in Surfing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

December has with absolutely no contest become my favorite month of the year.  As a surfer one would consider such a comment rather absurd.  The days are the shortest of the year, air and water some of the coldest.  Here in Santa Barbara it is one of the more consistent months with usually good conditions, even in this the shittiest of winters ever.  For me it means over half the month not having to work allowing me to remember what it was like back in the old days when there was always time to find the best possible spot with the best possible conditions any day any time.

The smash and grab short sessions I am usually afforded courtesy of the rat race, although nourishing barely fulfill the daily/weekly does of stoke it takes me to get through this drudgery that is life.  It is very refreshing to have that luxury for over 15 days ever December to be able to just kick back and surf.  There were some key days this months.  Rincon dished up over a week of epic conditions mid month that left my legs hurting so bad by the end of it I was walking cowboy style.  The beach breaks decided to remind me just how deep I could ride the tube thanks to hard offshore winds and some really good sand bars. Even town managed to serve up a day or two.  Here are how the numbers panned out.

Surf Sessions: 27
Days Surfed: 25
Total Time Spent in the Water: 48.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 740
Average Waves per Hour: 15

Spots Surfed:
Rincon: 7
New Jetty: 6
Emma Wood: 6
Mesa Lane: 3
Hollywood by the Sea: 2
Hammonds: 2
Silver Strand: 1

Top 3 Sessions (as per the Surflog)

3)12/22/12 PM Session: 3-5+ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 16
Wow I went to fucking fancy town last night.  Too much booze, too much party and a bit too much gnar for one night if you ask me.  Pat and I woke up at around 1pm all fucked up and hung over with little if any recollection of what happened. We got some breaky at Garrett’s since neither of us were in any condition to surf at that moment. Also it was cold, rainy and there appeared to be a SE wind plaguing things anyhow.  After a fine repast we got our act together and cruised to Rincon where it was mother fucking firing.  Things had glassed off.  The lines were perfect and there were barrels everywhere.  I had about six waves through the cove that could have been the waves of other’s lives, as for me it was just another perfect day at Rincon.  I got one in the cove where I was in the barrel for nearly the entire ride.  Had to easily be a ten second plus tube.  Sooooooooooooooooooo Goooooooooooooooooooooooood.   Now its time for Round three at the Wild Cat.

2)12/16/12 PM Session: 2-3+ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 54
What a surf…See blog “We Certainly Could Have a Worse Lot in Life“

1)12/29/12 PM Session: 5-7+ft, Hollywood by the Sea
Time in Water: 2hrs 15mins
Waves Surfed: 25
I woke up on my couch yet again with a pile of crumpled up tortilla chips all over me around 8am.  Another failed night at the Cat.  Failure?  I think not. All my friends were there, my favorite bar tenders were working.  I had a hell of a time.  I looked out my window and the wind was onshore and the tide super high.  Awesome I could sleep in.  By noon a slew of calls started coming in about how the wind was off shore in Oxnard.  Hollywood had some good sand the previous day so I figured I would just go there.  Trevor and I rolled down there and it was fucking firing although a bit inconsistent.  Just head high plus barrels every where with virtually no crowd.  My boy Ryan was surfing at Orange House and we joined him.  From there it was on.  I got a triple barrel on one wave and had some crazy deep ones.  Then this freak set of like 15 10 foot waves came in and cleaned us all up.  I was pushed all the way back to the beach then the reverse rip was so bad I almost thought I was not going to make it back to the line up.  Besides that it was a pretty unreal session.  I told my boys “now if I can only get laid at the bar tonight this may be one of the best days of my life”.

December was one big speed blur of surfing, kind of like this frame grab from Silver Strand.

December was one big speed blur of surfing, kind of like this frame grab from Silver Strand.

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A Month of Non Surfing Related Travel: September 2012 Surf Sessions in Review

Posted in Anger, News From Lisanti Land, Surfing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 26, 2012| 9 Comments »

I did mention there would be an abnormal amount of monthly recaps in the coming weeks courtesy of my laziness.  So September in December?  Well its better then a Christmas blog, don’t worry there were no arrests and no stabbings in Lisanti Land this year.  (see Christmas Dread Part I, Part II and Part III for more on that) As a matter of fact I did not even make it to the bar Christmas night.  Instead I ended up just falling asleep on my couch watching Seinfeld.  Very exciting stuff I know.

September is usually one of the better months for surfing in California.  Especially up here in the Ventura/Santa Barbara area.   All bets have been off this year considering it is by far one of the worst and strangest years of surfing I have ever experienced.  September did not disappoint in disappointing everyone.  There was a total of one NW swell that was the biggest let down since cheese in a can. One South swell I missed thanks to a non-surfing trip I took to Portland, Oregon for a family wedding and subsequent Vacation.  On said trip I managed to get myself into a family squabble impart because of a blog I wrote critiquing the wedding (see Portland Blogs: Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV) and further proved to my parents what a fuck up I am.

There was one near epic day of crazy barrels at River Mouth that as far as I am concerned was the only worthy session of the whole month.  The city of Santa Barbara decided to close the Mesa Lane steps pretty much denying access to the only really consistently short board-able wave in town.  On top of all this I had to make a week long trip New Jersey for my sister’s wedding at the end of the month where I did manage among all the drinking to sneak in a couple of average surfs.  To continue with the theme of 2012 September was just another month of let downs and screw ups.  Here is how the numbers worked out:

Number of Surf Sessions: 19
Actual Days Surfed: 18
Total Time Spent in the Water: 31.5 hrs
Number of Waves Surfed: 531
Average Waves Caught Per Hour: 17

Spots Surfed:
New Jetty: 6
Emma Wood: 3
Santa Clara River Mouth: 2
The Pipe, Spring Lake, NJ: 2
Manasquan Inlet, Manasquan, NJ: 1
Riddle Way, Manasquan,  NJ: 1
Hollywood by the Sea: 1
Little Rincon: 1
Gold Coast: 1
Gudalupe Dunes: 1

Top 3 Surf Sessions (as per Surflog)

3) 9/12/12 AM Session: 2-3+ft, New Jetty
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 26
New Jetty is back baby.  I had heard rumors in my long hiatus from surfing that it was the case.   Then on Tuesday my friend Lindsay confirmed it.  I decided I would wake up and see for myself if it was true.  Expecting a lie and then a subsequent terrible Emma Wood session I climbed the dunes in low spirits.  Especially since the wind was whipping out of the west.  Sure enough I saw a set of chest high waves break off the jetty and just peel.  Stoked I called my boy Ryan and it was on.  The crowd was about eight strong but everyone was taking turns.  I was surfing really well although found that my lack of surfing had left me out of shape and struggling in the paddling department. Serves me right for nearly three weeks of drinking, partying and sloth.  After the session I went to the Ventura swap meet where I scored a boss ass lamp for my living room $15, an alarm clock $3, “Breakfast and Tiffany’s” and “The Young Frankenstein” $1 and Candide and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn $1.  What a score.  Then I had my dinner party which was ten strong including myself.  I served Chicken Parm over Linguine Rigati with garlic bread and stuffed apples for desert.  It was a fine evening.

2)  9/17/12 AM Session: 2-3+ft, Gold Coast
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves Surfed: 37
What a fun ass surf courtesy of more tropical action.  Its seems like all the best swells this summer were thanks to cyclones.  I started at Ventura harbor but it was all swampy with the tide at New Jetty and I could not judge River Mouth.  I had seen some good ones at Emma and went back there.  As I was checking Emma I noticed some decent looking lines coming in at Gold Coast, which loves these short period tropical swells.   I pulled up near the concrete retainer wall in the middle of the beach and picked a really fun peak.  For a change I was surfing incredible and the crowd was easy and fun as it usually is there.  Some how I pulled a front side submersible reverse.  I think I have only stuck maybe three of those in my entire life.  Nothing like a good day of surfing even if they are few an far between these days.

1) 9/26/12 AM Session: 5-7+ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 3hrs
Waves Surfed: 40
Fucking barrel fest.  By far the biggest heaviest, most hallow day at the River Mouth of the season. I was a bit slow getting down this morning and very sore from all the surfing yesterday.  When I got up on the dunes I could not believe my eyes.  All I saw everywhere was spitting huge open tubes.  I almost fainted.  I ran back to the car, tore on my suit and joined the party.  I did not even do a turn till my 7th wave.  Everything was just a take off right into the pit.  Then the wind kind of got on it and made it a bit harder to get tubed but there were still plenty of heavy double ups that would let you in even if then did not let you out.  I had three where I was in a tube so big I could have drove a Mack truck through them.  Sooo fucking good.  It will make missing a week of solid swell while I am in shitty flat New Jersey tolerable at least.

The only really worthy session of September looked something like this only bigger!

The only really worthy session of September looked something like this only bigger!

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We Certainly Could Have a Worse Lot in this Life

Posted in Deep Thoughts, Surfing, tagged , , , , , on December 16, 2012| 2 Comments »

Silver Strand

I awoke to the blaring ring of my cell phone.  It was pouring raining outside and cold as all fuck, add a hangover from the night before’s festivities and I was in no rush to get out of bed.  I looked at my clock and it was noon.  Man did I have a headache.  I picked up the phone and it was my boy and new surfing buddy Trevor.  “I definitely want to surf today” he said.  Yesterday we were suppose to surf but he bailed because he was too hung over and may actually have been slipped a ruffie.   Ah yes the things a  woman will do to a man.

Turns out this chick he was seeing broke it off with him Friday so he went out on a bender.  Had I not been so hammered myself Friday engrossed in my own party I most likely would have ran into him on the scene.  “Its pretty small I think, but I am down to grovel.  Give me a few hours and we will role.” I replied. I got on my computer to see what was in store for us.  All models and cams pointed to complete flatness.  I thought about running north and risking becoming dinner at Surf Beach or Guadeloupe then reconsidered.  That last shark attack up there was just a little to close to home for me.

My life is finally picking up for me, the last thing I want to do is go out by a shark.   Also I really want to make it to the 21st.  I mean if the world is going to end I really want to be there for it.  I hope its not lame.  I don’t care how it goes down as long as it is really cool.  Maybe no zombies.  I don’t want to have to deal with that mess.  Truthfully I am kind of hoping for a biblical judgement day apocolysp like in “Little Nicky”.   I don’t think Ozzie will be able to  save us this time though.

I figured we could just cruise to Ventura Harbor.  In the winter there is always something to surf there.  I got out of bed all dizzy and dehydrated.  Went in my bathroom and was greeted with the remnants of coke all over the counter top.  Last night at my after party some black chick locked herself in the bathroom and proceeded to blow like a gram in there. It took us a half hour to get her out.  Other then that I would say the party was pretty decent.  Everyone brought booze, Griff and Bizarro brought a Pizza. It was a good time.  Upon leaving at the end of the night this dude who had come with some other guests shook my hand and said “I really want to thank you for having us over we had really fun time”.  I though how nice and well mannered.

In all the years and all the parties I have thrown I don’t think anyone said thank you upon leaving.  Its good to know there are still some decent people out there.  I mean sure that guy is probably a serial killer or pedophile rapist, but hey at least he is well mannered.  “Please sir forgive me, I must kill you now, sorry”.  Everyone even pitched in gathering all the glasses and trash so that when I woke up my apartment looked pretty good.

I downed my usual 9000 milligrams of ibuprofen for the headache, ate a meager breakfast, did my regular internet routine of surfline, facebook, surfingruinedmylife (yes I am that vain, like you other wordpress bloggers don’t check your blog every time you log onto the net) and my email.  I looked at the cam for C Street one more time and it looked pathetic.  Over it I decided to curl up on the couch with Alfie and a good book. Then I got a text from Trevor that he wanted to hit it.  I had nothing better to do and he really wanted to surf.  I am not one to rob someone of a therapeutic surf session.

We cruised down south toward Ventura and it was literally flat every where on the way down.  Even all the indicator spots that allow one to make an inference on what the surf will be like were completely flat.  Most times when I see that I just turn around to save the gas.  We were on a mission, a retard mission to surf knee high junk in the cold and rain (ok, by Jersey standards it was not that cold at all considering the air was still in the mid fifties and the water in the high fifties, but at this point I am a spoiled Californian.).  Even C Street was flat and there is a ride-able wave there nearly 365 days a year. It maybe a bad wave but surf-able.

Trevor kept saying he needed to surf so on we went.  At the harbor the wind was at least straight offshore.  It may be small but at least it would be clean.  Upon checking it there were about a dozen other intrepid souls out there and the surf  was solid chest to head high with clean peaky little tubes every where.  It was another New Jetty miracle.  Astounded, we were on it and out there like a bat out of hell.  From there it was barrel after barrel.  The crowd was mellow and most were sitting on the middle peak leaving the jetty peak for us.

I was on too.  Stuck a huge clean full rotation back side air reverse, a full rotation frontside ally-oop and the barrels, fuck, the barrels.  Trevor actually opened up with the first tube of the session then we were just trading pits.  I even managed a double barrel on one.  Everyone out was hooting.  I had one left where I was standing there in the pit looking out watching this guy on the same wave about 100 yards from me going right standing in the tube.  We looked at each other and started hooting.  He pulled out and I boosted the end section.  On the way back out we slapped each other five.  There was so much stoke out there.

The clouds and lighting as the sun was going down was amazing.  The mountains were all green with an eerie front light from the setting sun refracting off the grey clouds and some had there tops hugged by these strange wispy clouds.  It looked like something out of a fantasy movie.  If it was not for the town of Ventura in the foreground I would have thought I was back in New Zealand.  Then the moon popped out of the clouds and was just this perfect little sliver sliver of light.

I looked at Trevor who was on his way back out from a sick little right hand tube and said “We certainly could have a worse lot in life”.  He looked a me and smiled then told me about how in church this morning Al Merrick’s son Britt Merrick announced that his 9 year old daughter was dying with very little time left from cancer.  He said the whole church was just crying.  Its a real shame.  I too had recently gotten similar news about someone close to me in my own life.  Then I thought of all those poor people in Connecticut both those killed in the shootings and their surviving families.

Life is so short and precious.  Here we were two young healthy men drinking ourselves to death for no good reason.  For that moment in the ocean surrounded by all the beauty and power of the world around us we could not ask for anything more.  “Everyone dies. Not everyone truly lives”.  All we can ask of ourselves is to use the time we are given here on Earth in the best manner possible.   I know for me personally I have made many changes to my life over the past few years to do just that.  I still have a long way to go.  Rome was not built in a day after all.

I don’t the answers to life’s big questions. All I know is that we must live and for me life has always been surfing.  As of late that is where I have been focusing my time and energy.  I have also been focusing more on my music again cause that has been a source for me for as long as I can remember as well.  My number could be up at any moment and all I know is that I want to have as many moments like the one I had this evening as I possibly can.

Frame grab from some really terrible Silver Strand this past Tuesday. Read more in the Surflog.

Frame grab from some really terrible Silver Strand this past Tuesday. Read more in the Surflog.

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BBQ Sauce: October 2012 Surfing in Review

Posted in Anger, News From Lisanti Land, Surfing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 14, 2012| 3 Comments »

I am rather behind on my monthly surf reviews and with the end of the year coming I need to get them finished so I can compile my yearly stats. Wait, come to think of it I never actually compiled stats from Last year.  Maybe I will get around to it in 2013.  October held true to our current “Fall of My Malcontent” theme.  The waves for the most part were rather lack luster as was my motivation to surf it.  Couple that with a trip back to New Jersey where it was flat as usual, my Wild Cat party program, work, laziness, a small cash flow problem and an injury at the end of the month marked another all time low in my surfing participation.   I think in the stats I am going to factor in the number of nights I wasted at the Wild Cat as well. As usual here are the numbers.  And did I mention some jack ass threw BBQ sauce all over my car at Silver strand?  Go to love localism.

Number of Surf Sessions: 18
Actual Days Surfed: 16
Total Time Spent in the Water: 27 hours
Number of Waves Surfed: 454
Average Waves Caught Per Hour: 17

Spots Surfed:
Emma Wood: 9
New Jetty: 3
Santa Clara River Mouth:2
Rincon: 1
Silver Strand: 1
C Street: 1
Oxnard Shores: 1

Top 3 Surf Sessions (as per the Surflog)

3)10/12/12 AM Session: 2-3ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 1.5 hrs
Waves surfed: 33
I had a later then usual start this morning after a fun night of mild party at the Wild Cat with my boy Tim.  I heard the harbor was crowded and a bit walled plus there were two contests at C-street.  A stand up paddle contest and a kayak event!   Are you serious how absurd is that?  I cruised sea cliffs and ended up at Emma Wood.  At first it looked kind of meager, but it was not like I had any other option.  Turns out there were some really fun albeit inconsistent sets.  The conditions were perfect.  It was a splendid sunny day with visibility as far as the eyes could see.  I could see the islands with crystal clear opaqueness.  The water was Caribbean blue and it was so glassy that not a drop of water was out of place.  I ended up with a few tiny shacks, stuck a really nice ally-oop and was just surfing pretty decent over all.  What fun morning to make up for the terrible session I had yesterday courtesy of the crowd.

2)10/17/12 AM Session: 2-4ft, Emma Wood
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed: 37
What started out as an average over crowded high tide session at Emma turned into a full on froth fest for me.  My boy Pat met me up in order to buy my 5’11 Simon off me.   Its a great board and did me well.  It was my second most profitable board in contest winnings I ever owned.  Now its time with me has past and I could keep it around for nostalgia but I needed money so bye bye.  Of course I forgot the board at home showing up at Emma all empty handed.  To make up for my absentmindedness I decided to throw in one of my 4/3′s to sweeten the deal.  Plus the poor guy is wearing Swiss cheese at the moment and the suit was just collecting dust in my closet anyhow.  We paddled and it was glassy, fun and the crowd died off after the first hour.  Then I kept getting these sick little tubes and stuck a really gnarly backside air all tweaked.  There must have been a total of 9 cameras on the beach through out the entire session. Ridiculous, but I guess if a pro catches a wave and it was not on film it must not have happened.  Good times either way.

3)10/16/12 PM Session: 2-4+ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 2hrs 15mins
Waves surfed: 17
Its officially point break season and that means its all about quality, not quantity.  Besides I may have only caught 17 waves but I probably did about 50 turns.  This was opening day for me although not for Rincon.  It was pretty flawless with a light crowd of just around 100.  Amazing session.  Read “Thank you Rincon” blog for more on the sess.

The face says it all about my feelings toward surfing in October

The face says it all about my feelings toward surfing in October

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Shame on Me: November 2012 Surfing in Review

Posted in Anger, News From Lisanti Land, Surfing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on December 4, 2012| 7 Comments »

Aboo Seinfeld

 

What can I say for myself in reference to my lack of surfing integrity for the duration of the month of November?  I think my friend Babu Bhatt has summed up my discontent above.  Then again it is still the “Fall of my Malcontent” till December 21st so fuck it.  There are a lot of factors I would like to help share the blame with me this month.  I am not passing the buck for I have always lived under the guise that we create our own destiny.  First I would like to thank Bacardi for coming out with Oakhurst their amazing version of spiced dark rum.  Nothing gets the night started like a rum and coke or two Lisanti style. 

While I am on that subject let me commend Albertson’s cause for whatever reason a handle of Bacardi is always at the affordable price of $18.99.  Fuck it has been on sale at that price for the last five years!!  I am glad that inflation has yet to turn its grubby paws on to alcohol.   When the world goes to shit and whether it happens on the 21st or not life as we know it is a very limited prospect, let there be plenty of booze to get us all through it.

Let me also bestow the bulk of my salutations on the Wild Cat.  Thanks for all the ridiculous nights of party, even the ones I can’t remember cause in all likely hood those were the best or worst depending on who I talk to.  Its funny how a pint glass or two full of rum and fire ball shots or two can do to change a person’s judgement.  I have an idea lets create a whiskey that tasks like candy.  Yeah that’s not going to cause any black outs.  My new friend Chris for always being as drunk or worse off then myself and my neighbor Griffen for not drinking allowing always for there to be a DD. Both these fun characters have helped up the ante.

All the party aside, which I believe it or not have gotten under control.  I choose whether or not I want to get fucked up and am completely cognizant of what I am doing.  At the moment that scene has filled a certain hole in my life and compared to last year at this time I must say things are much better and improving.

Early in the month I sustained a rather painful injury when I broke my pinky toe on my left foot while landing a frontside air reverse in the flats at Silver Strand.  To make matters worse some drunk bitch stepped on that same toe by mistake in high heels at the bar as I was trying to leave at last call.  The heel ended up ripping all the skin off the upper portion of the toe along with most of the nail.  As a result I was out of the water for a solid seven days of which there happened to be a small but adequate NW swell.

Finally mother nature decided to give up on us for the latter portion of November here in the 805.  If it wasn’t near flat conditions then it was crazy high tides, bad winds, cold mornings, fog and rain.  With my motivation to surf waning at the moment all that adversity did not help things any.  I must say as of press time I have been surfing a bunch more and am super stoked about it.  Here are the numbers for November and yes they are some of the poorest I have ever come across since I moved out of New Jersey.

Number Surf Sessions: 15
Actual Days Surfed: 14
Total Time Spend in the Water: 26hrs
Number of Waves Surfed: 348
Average Waves Caught Per Hour: 14

Spots Surfed:
Rincon: 5
Mesa Lane: 3
Emma Wood: 3
New Jetty: 1
Jalama: 1
Pitas: 1
Hammonds: 1

Top 3 Sessions (as per the surflog)

3) 11/21/12 AM Session: 2-4ft, Rincon
Time in Water: 2.5hrs
Waves Surfed: 26
My boy Trevor hit me up this am and wanted to car pool to New Jetty.  I hate showing up with another person, but it does fit into the rule of two and he is a carp-o local so I figured why not.  On the way we noticed there was way more west swell in the water then yesterday and checked Rincon. Turns out it was pretty solid although a bit wonky, with more bump and crumble then I would have liked.  We started in the cove where I banged out three solid ones.  I had one where I opened with a three foot gap air, landed cleanly on the other side of the peak then hit it top to bottom six times before sticking an air reverse to end it.  Then I went up top where it was bigger but way shifter, more sectiony and hard to line up.  Still I got a handful of gems before taking my last wave from low Indicator all the way to the highway.   My legs hurt so bad I could barely complete an end section floater.  There is more swell on the way!!! RINCON!

2) 11/24/12 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Jalama
Time in Water: 2hrs
Waves Surfed:23
Reports all looked rather small for the 805.  My boy Dave confirmed some poor looking New Jetty.  Conditions for Jalama looked decent and there was just enough SW and NW on the buoy to entice me.  Also I thought it would be a treat to take West up for a north county adventure.  Sure enough it turned out to be one of those beautiful days up there.  The air had to be 80, the water high 50′s and crystal clear azure, oil glass and some fun albeit drained out chest plus lefts and rights.  The crowd was super light.  In California to have decent waves to yourself on a nice Saturday during a holiday weekend is absurd.  It was a bit inconsistent but if you waited there were some good ones.  If I was solo I would have stuck around for an incoming session, but I figured I should take West into the Valley and show him some of the other treats SB has to offer.  Surprisingly he like Solvang which I think is the most tacky tourist trap in the area.  Then it was home where I served up some tasty egg plant parmigiana. All and all I must say it has bee a nice little “staycation” as a friend put it.

3) 11/22/12 PM Session: 3-4+ft, Mesa Lane
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 19
Wanting to get another surf in West and I cruised to Mesa and sure enough there were some really fun looking glassy bowls coming in all over the place.  Stoked we jumped in for the last hour of light.  I ended up frothing on it and got some really fun ones including a frontside tube that stoked me out.  After that it was Thanksgiving left overs for dinner followed by way to much booze and the Wild Cat.

With the WNW season in full force Rincon is finally starting to heat up.

With the WNW season in full force Rincon is finally starting to heat up.

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A Month of Surf Agony: July 2012 Surfing in Review

Posted in Surfing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 13, 2012| 5 Comments »

July 2012 Surf Session in Review

I am currently super behind on my monthly surf reviews.  I guess there really is not shock there.  I decided the other night to run the numbers from July considering how dismal a summer it was up here in the 805.  Now I know this is not really the place to be in the summertime, but still in past years there were at least a few unreal days.  July was mostly about suffering. I had not the money or time to travel south to better wave locals and it was windy most of the time up north, nor did I have a wettie warm enough.  Besides two tropical cyclone swells there was little if anything to get excited about.  Here is how it all shaped out according to the numbers.  I will say one thing I was rather frothy for whatever was on offer.

Number of Surf Sessions: 21
Days Surfed: 20
Total time Spend in the Water:  35hrs
Number of Waves Surfed: 644
Average Waves Caught Per Hour: 19

Spots surfed:
Santa Clara River Mouth: 15
Mesa Lane: 3
Gold Coast: 2
C Street: 1

Top 3 Surf Sessions (taken unedited from the Surflog):

3) 7/13/12 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 2hr 15mins
Waves Surfed: 43
My roommate and I cruised downtown last night for some pool and other shenanigans. I found a box of books on the walk home.  Surprisingly I woke up rather well rested and ready to surf. I got to River Mouth and the wind was already on it, had been all morning.  My boy Ryan was out so I just suited up ran down.  Turns out although a bit on chunky side there were plenty of really fun lefts.  I ended up frothing the shit out of the session catching anything and everything that came my way.  I stuck a few nice ally-oops, went for a shrink wrap that I almost pulled coming unstuck on the switch stance landing.  It was a sick sess to say the least.

2) 7/30/12 AM Session: 2-4+ft, Santa Clara River Mouth
Time in Water: 1hr
Waves Surfed: 21
I got a late start this morning.  I was not really expecting much to be happening out there.  Buoys had dropped from the previous day and the tide was a bit fat.  Stephanie was suppose to surf with me, but missed me by about ten minutes.  Chris Lisanti does not wait for anyone in the morning.  Surf always comes first, always.  I got down to River Mouth and it was clean with some small but fun looking peaky bowls.  There were a few  guys scattered along the different banks.  Turns out when I got down to beach level it was more like chest to head and solid with double up barrels.  It became an instant froth fest for me.  I had a deep ass FS tube that I have no idea how I made it out of.  Stuck a bunch of critical reos and some decent airs.  Then as I was paddling back out after landing a sizable fs air reverse I saw this right sucking up off a rip on the sand bar.  I stroked into and air dropped into the pit.  I felt my board crease, even heard the pop when I hit.  I grabbed the rail to stabilize the board, but the pressure was just too much and as I was about to come out my board snapped right in the middle under my feet.  Just like that the session was over.  The board itself was kind of at the end of its life.  It sucked that I had to have my session cut short.  I guess I am going to have to always start bringing a spare again.  Great session while it lasted.

1)7/17/12 AM Session: 3-5ft, Gold Coast
Time in Water: 1hr 15mins
Waves Surfed: 22
I only surf the Gold Coast when the surf is either just right so the place fires (its one of the few spots that can handle south wind) or if I am with a novice and looking to beat the crowd.  Today both entities held true.  I have been trying to make time with this chick I met through Lindsay a few weeks prior.  At first the attraction was purely physical but as of late I am really starting to enjoy her company.  I know this puts me in a dangerous predicament emotionally, but maybe its time for me to try again?  Whats that fall off the horse saying about anyway?  Our schedules really contradict thus making finding time together difficult.   Last night she hit me up wondering if she could come surf with me in the morning.   She has some skills but they are rudimentary at best meaning a surf with her has to be a compromise between waves the both of us can ride and a place where I will not be disgraced by other surfers for bringing her there.  I know I hate it when guys bring girls who cant surf out at Emma Wood.  Last night I thought nothing of it.  The reports all showed average south swell from Fabio leading me to believe the morning was to be average at best and thus ok to give up.  We checked Kooks Peak and there were a few fun looking bowls out there, fun for both of us.  I just wanted to have a look at the Gold Coast since the wind was right. Sure enough it was firing.   I mean I started to froth.  I must have tore my wettie on so fast it was not even funny, although The kook beat me, but I am a slow changer as anyone who surfs with me knows.  I was going to help her along, but it was just too good out there and I just ended up frothing.  Literally it was as good as New Port is on a good south swell.  I got one tube that had to be like 75 yards long.  I had some sick airs, almost brought down a huge bs full rotation air but came unglued in the landing. So far I would say it was the session of the summer!

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