036: San Diego: Sunset Cliffs
Posted on November 29, 2008
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Ah yes. Finally scored on the trip south. Ocean Beach, funky cruisy beach town in San Diego. we had a hotel right on the beach in town near the jetty. beach looked a little full and closed out with the high tide, jetty not bad… but south of that is where the real action is. Sunset Cliffs has quality surf in front of these dramatic cliffs. nice waves, nice environment. a little crowded. well overhead and clean. jump off rocks for one of the peaks looked dicey for sure. headed further south to the stairs and some damn fine peaks right out front there. finish that off with some fresh sashimi courtesy of Kacy and Scootch, and I was california dreamin. Check Flickr for more tuna porn.
Missed a giant swell back north this weekend, would have been cool to check out the action. Mavericks, giant OB, etc. More swells like that to come, so no worries there. besides, who is going to complain after scoring surf like in the photo below?
035: L.A.: El Porto
Posted on November 27, 2008
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happy thanksgiving from L.A. where I found a living stereotype of city surfing. LAX airport nearby. container ships, oil rigs, power and sewage treatment plants literally right there, water pollution postings, and styrofoam cups and frito lays bags floating by, people cruising the bike path, skateboards, rollerblades, beachcruisers. not to mention small, junky surf. but had to get wet, and at least water was warm. waist high, with maybe some bigger funky reform type things to share with a surprisingly large (given the shit conditions) and culturally diverse crowd.
some kid wiped out on a skateboard bad on the hill in the parking lot and had to be carted off on a backboard via ambulance. ouch. then a 15 minute drive took an hour and fifteen on the way back to thanksgiving dinner with friends. welcome to L.A., where they have crystal chandelier streetlights a few blocks from crack addicts living under the overpass.
Rincon… and beyond.
Posted on November 26, 2008
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Everything set up for this one. Hotel a mile from the break, right on the water with another pointbreak right in front: Little Rincon / Mussel Shoals. very excited for this one as the plan came together… prediction was for chest to head high swell and offshores. drive drive drive down to Carpenteria after work on Monday. pull in late…2:30 AM late. what the? some freak monsoon type of thing happening. patio furniture in the pool. palm fronds broken and all over. spooky winds blasting the point.
few hours sleep, then early morning wakeup. uh oh. tide is way full and it looks smaaall out front. windstorm over at least, but little rincon is not even breaking. lookin kinda weird ’round these parts. Mini oil wells, on the side of the freeway, oil rigs offshore, this weird oil-line pier thing at the break that leads to an artificial island covered with palm trees. Surfline says there has been a 600 gallon sewage spill just down the coast today. wha? gotta check anyway. Rincon is… junk. Still a bunch of guys out. looks gutless, pouring rain, stinky with runoff, warbly, nasty. not for me. wasn’t in the cards this time around, I guess.
wait around for a while for tide to drain and that didn’t help things, in the meantime, fun to wander the point and check out the sea anemones at low tide at this famous break. oops, even worse, wind is on it. pack up the truck and head south. late by the time we see it, but Yerba Buena looked decent, but smallish. Malibu: tiny and packed. nice drive though.
On to L.A.
034: Threatening
Posted on November 25, 2008
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Early morning, before work session. Not huge surf, probably head and a half on the sets, but there was something about it. A different mood from this beach of many, many moods. Shorter period swell, but heavy, thick, more disorganized. glassy but mean suck-outs on the inner bar. only four waves in forty-five minutes, lots of paddling. f- this. outta here. gotta get to work so I can get out and hit the road for SoCal.
033: Drifting…
Posted on November 21, 2008
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Long session… almost four hours. Drifted from VFWs all the way down to near Kelly’s. Decisions, decisions… tide was full, but waves were clean, if not a little mushy. Wait for lower tide? Risk onshores? nah, get on it. surfed some soft walls, still had push. then tide drained. onshores never came. tired, but too good to leave. one left in particular, suck-out, bigger set wave. drop in, pig dog style, rail grab and hold on. lip feathering, in the pocket. ridiculously good. climb out as tired as can be.
032: More, please!
Posted on November 20, 2008
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Another weekend of good surf. Not quite as steller as last weekend, and a bit cooler- but still sunny and offshore. Well overhead sets… onshores a little later but plenty of time in the morning for some fun ones. Paradise! With chilly water, that is. VFWs again. getting redundant! fine by me since it is so close by.
031: VFWs
Posted on November 17, 2008
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Back again for more. entire day at the beach. a notch smaller but santa ana winds still blowing. warm and offshore. packed in the morning at 9; literally wall to wall people up and down the beach at VFWs and in front of the chalet. pelicans drifting on the air pockets that the offshores make. haven’t seen that since costa rica. a little frustrating at first, so packed. peaks drifting around. and then a perfect wave, perect a-frame peak. nobody nearby. paddle furiously to make it outside for it. spin and go, a little late, very steep. drop into a round pit, tapering wall stretches out. trim and hold on, lip feathering and then inside, and then out just as fast… out onto the shoulder, then down into the flat and snap back up, then cut back. massive rush. ends up being the best wave of the session, but plenty more good ones. arm tired. break at the beach, lunch. then evening session. magical.
030: November Summer
Posted on November 16, 2008
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wow. knew the swell was coming, but was blown away by how good this was. angled NW energy marching in. head high to head and a half on the bigger sets. offshore winds had started on friday. northern version of the santa ana winds which are blasting socal and fanning the fires. shaping the swell here into beauties. sunny, warm and 80. hours and hours in the water. a little intimidating at first, bigger sets rolling in, strong rip. waves really opening up, steep. crowded, too. find a relatively thinly worked peak down from VFWs. a little while before pulling the trigger, then woah! steepest, hollowest, most powerful waves since a few years ago at hawaii. pull in, wall stretching out, rocket out and can’t stop smiling. paddle back for more again and again until arms don’t work. give up trying to fight the drift. don’t realize how far down the beach, takes about 15 minutes to walk back. tailgate and watch for a while, then meet the girl for burgers and a beer at the beach chalet, which is right across the street, beer garden in the sun. bar and beach is packed, everyone is there. quite a scene. sun is setting and the fires start, still warm. magical. going to have to remember this next time it is foggy for a week straight.
oh and it’s 30… yes, friends, we’ve hit that milestone. 30 days of surfing since arriving in california at the end of August. that’s not a bad average, one day out of three in the water, many days with multiple sessions.
TV on the Radio
Posted on November 10, 2008
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TV on the Radio played live at the Warfield, here in San Francisco on Sunday night. Good stuff, and the opening act, The Dirtbombs, wasn’t bad, either. Some more photos here.
029: Grey gloom KaBoom!
Posted on November 8, 2008
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stormy, rainy, warm, grey… winds offshore (at least to start.) hard to pick off the good ones but some hollow and steep and punishing surf on the sets. building swell all day, will last all next week. some steep drops, grey slab, tossed. sand filled watery explosions. try again, make it, slotted. work my way through the crowds up to the cove; funny not any better up there. maybe the people ripping make the waves better? dunno. new board tomorrow???
the star was pretty incredible. drawn in the sand. shot from up above at Sutro Heights.
keep looking »