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*** Official 2020 Community Surf Journal ***
- Thread starter jkb
- Start date
Thanks!
Getting to the stage where you go "how much longer on a HPSB?" If I can get my shoulder injuries in check, I'm reasonably hopeful for another 10 good years.
Will do a reality check when I turn 60 (yikes!)
Same spot as usual, 0930-1100, rising tide. Really small, like 1-2ft, and windswell at that, but nice to know the 8' Steve Brom long twin works in such weakness. Had a blast actually. Just me and a few noobs. Lost count of waves and a few longish rides.
Session number 3482 where the album sub saves the day.
Inconsistent but semi fun fat runners at the local. couple slices and dices a nd a couple soft round about chris brown wrap arounds
Inconsistent but semi fun fat runners at the local. couple slices and dices a nd a couple soft round about chris brown wrap arounds
Joined the masses. 8’ Mini glider at the point for chunky knee to waist-high burgers at a beefy high tide. Glided. Dominated. Didn’t give those pínche ‘Stormers a single decent set wave. Met up with a buddy out there who’d been on the IR for a couple months so nice to catch up. Warm water, not much wind. TGIF.
Norcal beachbreak. Low expectations, but this spot had wind protection and was pulling in every bit of swell. Hollow over the inner sandbar. Spent two hours pulling in to tubes and hoping for the best, racked up a decent amount of vision. Only made it out of one , which I got into and stalled as much as I could (which wasn't that much, but enough) Heard a few hoots from the channel when I was exiting. Great Saturday, stocked
crap waves with tanner this am. he combo'd us on the mid length griff. must have been the fins designed for the boar 
got a couple on the fuse but half the waves just held me back and I couldn't move. oh well, didn't surf yesterday so it was nice to get in the water.
got a couple on the fuse but half the waves just held me back and I couldn't move. oh well, didn't surf yesterday so it was nice to get in the water.
SBD's quote of the morning - "I couldn't get in, even though I was in'crap waves with tanner this am. he combo'd us on the mid length griff. must have been the fins designed for the boar
got a couple on the fuse but half the waves just held me back and I couldn't move. oh well, didn't surf yesterday so it was nice to get in the water.
easier to catch on camera than on surfboar but i managed to get a few yesterday. 6'2.5" CDG round pin.
surfed the kelpy reef this morning with increasing winds. got a bunch of fun ones on the Loot before it got too chopped up out there. dinged my center skeg on a rock but thankfully no box damage this time. been running r8 proto sides and various small center fins. AM1 center feels great. thanks for recco todd!
Still no surf in beautiful Santa Barbara. Paddled 6 miles in 2 hours. No speed record, but I enjoyed myself
I was glad I had low expectations for yesterday morning’s sesh because it was pretty crappy on the dropping tide. Board switch on the rising tide helped a little, but still nothing memorable.
Went south to a crowded grom spot this morning. The sets were kinda fun. Rolling takeoffs, zigzag to avoid maiming groms, then a nice little wall allowing for a turn or two.
Went south to a crowded grom spot this morning. The sets were kinda fun. Rolling takeoffs, zigzag to avoid maiming groms, then a nice little wall allowing for a turn or two.
I haven’t surfed my local much this summer because the crowds have been insane but for some reason this weekend was pretty reasonable. Got lots of mediocre to modestly fun waves. Rode four boards in three sessions, almost felt like Aruka.
Braved Doho last two evenings with my daughter who got the surf bug this summer. It's mostly softboard party wave mayhem. I've been teaching her the benefit of finding your own peak, even at crowded beach, but the high tide made surfing with the horde unavoidable.
I can't believe how many people are actually trying to surf here, like it's some kind of test to get a half crappy wave despite the crowd.
Still got a couple wiggles off the sets no one seems to be ready for
I can't believe how many people are actually trying to surf here, like it's some kind of test to get a half crappy wave despite the crowd.
Still got a couple wiggles off the sets no one seems to be ready for
Left the house at 10:30 yesterday. Walked down to Cracks, it was horrible, chest high, 1 second rides to oblivion. Decided to walk back up to PPP, so much better! Last week's swell beat down the v-shaped sand bar quite a bit, making it harder to find a non-closeout. Managed to get to full speed on a couple, one beginner told me one of my waves was "sick". I agreed that it was a nice one. Overall kinda meh, but still fun.
Session highlites:
Dad and 11 year old son. Kid gets a left, throws some good spray, looks back out as a kinda claim. Sitting next to dad, who wasn't watching, "Kid just threw some spray". He looked at me, "huh?". I followed up several times with, "make sure you say you saw it". Couple of minutes later, kid is outside waving hands around describing his shred. Dad never acknowledged me with a smile. Didn't feel too bad being deeper than dad on one of the few sets.
Second highlight, at the shower, I saw a board with a label I'd never seen. "Johnny Sea", and on the bottom it had a York laminate. For those who don't know (prolly 99% here). Johnny Seaside was a fixture/mainstay/dominator in the 70's early 80's at Machado Reef. York was a local heavy. One day a sailboat sank just North of the lot, York claimed the peak as his and it was named SS Yorktowns while it lasted. For those that do go there, Johnny is the guy with the red suburban parked at the entrance to the lot, say hi. Too bad the guy with the board clearly had no clue what he was holding or we would have had a nice convo.
Always new stuff at the beach...
Session highlites:
Dad and 11 year old son. Kid gets a left, throws some good spray, looks back out as a kinda claim. Sitting next to dad, who wasn't watching, "Kid just threw some spray". He looked at me, "huh?". I followed up several times with, "make sure you say you saw it". Couple of minutes later, kid is outside waving hands around describing his shred. Dad never acknowledged me with a smile. Didn't feel too bad being deeper than dad on one of the few sets.
Second highlight, at the shower, I saw a board with a label I'd never seen. "Johnny Sea", and on the bottom it had a York laminate. For those who don't know (prolly 99% here). Johnny Seaside was a fixture/mainstay/dominator in the 70's early 80's at Machado Reef. York was a local heavy. One day a sailboat sank just North of the lot, York claimed the peak as his and it was named SS Yorktowns while it lasted. For those that do go there, Johnny is the guy with the red suburban parked at the entrance to the lot, say hi. Too bad the guy with the board clearly had no clue what he was holding or we would have had a nice convo.
Always new stuff at the beach...
Johnny Seaside is a real character. First time I met him he gave me a little neoprene bracelet and told me if anyone hassled me in the line up, "tell them you're with Johnny Seaside and show them this"
funky beachbreak on the retoddoeste stumps (as some people have called it down here) keel.
wanted to give it another spin before I hand it back.
wanted to give it another spin before I hand it back.
Scored a golden ticket to some uncrowded SoCal waves. Took the family to SC for a Sunday beach day to meet up with wife's college friends who have access to the base at Camp Pendleton. For those who've never surfed there, it's a trip. Drive right up to the beach at Church to the cobblestone right point and we had the beach to ourselves for 75 yds in either direction, with most families down the cove further south. Surfed Middles (bit bigger waves but more crowded) for 20 min and then Church with 2-4 others for 1.5 hours, got every wave I wanted. Peeling 3-4' easy rights with some racy sections; couple closeouts. Friendly vibes in the water. Warm water, sunny day: it was truly glorious. I really needed that after dealing with the WFH crowd explosion all summer, that we've all been frustrated by. Wasn't sure if there would be much surf, so decided to play it safe by bringing the 5'10 pu R. Smoothie- an easy, forgiving board that can do a bit of everything, but can still grovel. T1s + trailer was fun. Realized on a few FS slashes that I miss a tailpad with arch to push hard off of. Waves would've been perfect for a twin keel fish (what I rode last time I surfed here a year ago).
Kids had a blast playing in the sand, wife was stoked to catch up with her good friend, and I was feeling recharged and couldn't stop smiling all day. Pretty, pretty good.
Kids had a blast playing in the sand, wife was stoked to catch up with her good friend, and I was feeling recharged and couldn't stop smiling all day. Pretty, pretty good.
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