Once and a while they would be laughing as they poured chum over the side of the boat! Thanks guys!Point panic back in the day - you could surf there. Whenever the fishing boats returned in the channel there was always a feeling of trepidation.
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Once and a while they would be laughing as they poured chum over the side of the boat! Thanks guys!Point panic back in the day - you could surf there. Whenever the fishing boats returned in the channel there was always a feeling of trepidation.
Worked out in Campbell Industrial and would surf around the corner from there alone on lunch breaks sometimes. Saw a lot of shadows, maybe real maybe not.Barbers Point right next to the luau spot. Homeless, smeltery(?) going full force, horrible stench in the air, just desolation. Waves were about chest high or so and breaking around the point and out to sea. No one in water. Sharky vibe. Combined with everything, man, just creepy and did not paddle out. So I guess you could say that's a creepy from land spot. So much so, just bailed the entire area even though we were actually looking for another spot in the area, which I probably shouldn't name (err on side of caution).
The beachbreak/rivermouth right point around the corner from Tivives in Costa Rica. Waves were good. Did paddle out. Water so murky, couldn't even see my knees. Horrible vibes to the point it was making me nauseous. After a handful of waves, paddled in. As did my friend, who had same vibes. I have zero doubt there were things beneath circling me that I would rather not. Talking to locals later, apparently quite a sharky spot. Oops.
To add to my OP, this is just crazy, two people fishing swept off the shore and cant swim back, spend the night in the water, get spotted the next day being circled by Tiger Sharks!? WTF.Pololu Valley.
When I think of pumping, I think of places like Australia, South Africa, some parts of Europe, and Indo.I turned around while paddling out at a spot in Florida very, very close to an inlet, in very consistent head high surf, when I saw feeding sharks on all sides. Up/down current, in the face of the approaching wave, and directly inside. I rate the **** out of head high surf, and this spot had nobody out, and I tucked cock and booked it back in.
Yeah. All these other west-facing temperate latitude places are the end-all, be-all of legit perfection. But nothing really pumps in California. It's all chest high Oceanside.
Personally, as it relates to the Mex/Centro thread, I would leave Florida for Centro on account of the cost of living and surf, but I'd consider Central America a step down, surfwise, from California. On average, I've had better surf in California in December/January than Centro in June/July/August.
Can you let me know why head high Playa Hermosa, or any main spot in Peru or Nicaragua with 50 people hassling every bit as bad as Lowers, somehow pumps, but California doesn't?
Sea turtles are Tiger Sharks favorite food. Just sayin'Was out there a couple years snorkeling, free diving down to around 20' where it drops away on west side of break. All of a sudden I see a school of these good size fish (ulua?) just scatter about 75 feet from me. I do not know what made them scatter like that but my heart was in my throat and I did not want to find out. Already had paranoid vibes before that even happened. I beelined towards the shelf as fast as I could and next thing I knew, was surrounded by several sea turtles, chilling, and floating with the surge. Went from fear to joy in less than a minute.
The west-facing coasts of South Africa, Australia, and Indonesia for sure look legit. I would wager good money December/January suck in South Africa and Australia the same way July/August suck in California. I don't feel like I have for sure seen those places in the off-season. I have for sure seen off season waves in Indo. Keramas and Canggu blow if California isn't cutting it.When I think of pumping, I think of places like Australia, South Africa, some parts of Europe, and Indo.
Areas that experience good, hollow wave trains with high quality surf on the regular.
That did go through my mind. But just the immediate change in vibe was remarkable.Sea turtles are Tiger Sharks favorite food. Just sayin'
Every place has dog days, the bottom line is there are many places on earth with better more consistent quality than CA.The west-facing coasts of South Africa, Australia, and Indonesia for sure look legit. I would wager good money December/January suck in South Africa and Australia the same way July/August suck in California. I don't feel like I have for sure seen those places in the off-season. I have for sure seen off season waves in Indo. Keramas and Canggu blow if California isn't cutting it.
I've seen no shortage of absolute dogshit surf at the J Bay, Gold Coast, and Bells contests. Straight up Jax Beach-tier dogshit.
I've seen no shortage of absolute dogshit surf at the Portugal, Mundaka, and Hossegor contests. Straight up Jax Beach-tier dogshit. Comparing Bakio to Jax Beach is an insult to Jax Beach.
Dee Why, Manly, Newcastle...based on contests I've seen run there, the East Coast of Australia is not running low on dogshit surf.
Dane went to South Africa for Stab in the Dark and stepped in it.
Julian went to West Oz for Stab in the Dark and stepped in it.
France has all kinds of tide and current and wind problems.
I've seen multiple Pipe Masters won in what looked like shitty Spanish House with Kaena Point photoshopped into the background.
I'll agree to disagree that there are "many" places on Earth with better, more consistent quality, and other than the Canaries, or claiming Tahiti or Reunion, Europe isn't on that list. They're not running out of onshore wind in Portugal.Every place has dog days, the bottom line is there are many places on earth with better more consistent quality than CA.
BTW, aside from the first surf I'd hardly call this stepping in it. Super fun, warm, punchy, and often empty.
Holy sh*t this is good and I could never have said it better.the instant the wind isn't perfect, spots in Southern California tend to resemble the town of Pripyat in HBO's Chernobyl after they find out it's 15,000 roentgen. I mean the wind stops being perfect for 30 seconds and they're sending the pregnant women to Palm Springs or Vegas where it's safe.
I feel the same way about North Florida; if it's offshore I'm typically grabbing some kind of alt/hybrid, when it's onshore, it can feel like there's a million peaks and sections everywhere, and there's more of a chip in, less race, and a coping waiting for you.Junky Durban surf can be really surfable and fun IMO. Durban/Balito area was one of those places where it could look like absolute crap and I'd paddle out on a thruster and get a hundred turns and be buzzing the rest of the day. Here when it looks like crap, it is.
Cheers, but that's also flex SoCal backs up. It's clean there an absolute shitload. I'm sure it's clean in Indonesia in the dry season, too. But then "empty" gets mentioned as a credit to South Africa in Dane's Stab in the Dark, and if that's valid, I'm guessing 95% of the named waves we know in Indonesia are rendered worthless.Holy sh*t this is good and I could never have said it better.
It sounds like we live in the same place.In my area when it's onshore there's often just no surfable face whatsoever. Also we sometimes experience this phenomenon where the waves are super weak when trying to surf them, just offering no push to move you along but then when you are on the inside trying to get back out they will absolutely light you up. Like I'm doing the huntington hop trying to stay with my wave and then 10 seconds later I'm getting the board ripped out of my hands on a duckdive. I'm not sure if it's an actual phenomenon or if it's just in my head but either way i'm not a fan.
And here the same. Long periods combined with nothing to hold sand. And this means a little onshore wind and you have yourself a closeout/blowout.Here when it looks like crap, it is.
walking from ogro's to the surf in the dark always gives me
RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS OF MOSQUITO AND NOSEEUM BITES!!!!