3.2.2012 Big and Shifty 15th Street w/ Forrest

I met Forrest at his place around 6:10 in the morning and was surprised (perhaps by design?) by a companion of the opposite-gendered variety (!). I changed into my wetsuit in silence and we sneaked out his door.

Because of the combo swell, we thought Oside would be the call. We drove north from F's Tamarack pad and were shocked at how lame the surf looked. We forewent checking Harbor and headed south.

We took the 101 and the surf started getting bigger, the NW swell showing its dominance over the heavily-decayed SW.

As we came down the road from Powerhouse Park and passed the railroad tracks, I saw two solid looking lefts with no one on them. There was ONE guy out at 15th Street on a FRIDAY. There were waves, but we both predicted a current was making staying on one peak difficult.

I'd managed to forget my booties at Forrest's and the air was cold.

The paddle-out was nasty. I suffered through several ice cream headaches and one crocodile wrestle (where I'm fighting the board underwater, all the way to the surface) before making it out.

I paddled for a few but was too deep on several. A big set came, but I managed to make it under unscathed.

Finally, I caught a nice-sized, probably about head-high wave. It was a little late and the second wave of the set, so steep and frothy! I hooted, then did an initial pump that was only somewhat effective due to the aerated water. I pumped twice before frontside whirly-birding. Forrest claims I almost hit my head with my board but the footage seems to disprove this. I won't put the footage up as I'm making an effort to have relative bangers on here.

About twenty minutes later, I caught another left, slightly smaller, but more lined up. I did a mid-faced slash on the deep part of the wave, spun it all the way around and did a back-foot-heavy backside floater. I can't remember making it, and since falling seems to be my baseline these days, I'll assume I ate it. Unfortunately, I didn't push the record button hard/long enough. Only Jesus Himself has footage of it.

I also caught a right which I caught extremely late. I thought I was going to pearl, but I made it. I didn't let my detractors down, though, as I had my rolling-up-the-windows (doble-helice in Spanish) motion going in double-speed. I was about to harness the speed into a nice one-fin out bottom turn but all I had in front of me was a detonating close-out.

Forrest and I agreed that it sucked and we bailed.

SUPER SESSION: Del Mar, CA January 29th, 2003 My Best Wave EVER

Today is the nine-year anniversary of the best wave I've ever caught. Seeing as to how it's been close to a decade, I'll do my best to paint a vivid picture of that day with no embellishment.

January of 2003 was quite the surf month. I remember the waves were massive almost all month. On the 29th, I didn't surf early as I tend to do. I was living at my dad's house and I had an oil change appointment at two. It was a classic Santa Ana SoCal winter day. I loaded up my blue 1990 Honda Accord with my wetsuit tub and my 6'1" Gerry Lopez and thought I'd check the surf on my way to the oil change shop.

I caught a little glimpse of the waves in between Jake's and the lifeguard tower near 15th Street while driving. The quick glance I got was enough to make me pull over and suit up.

I walked out in between the aforementioned buildings and what I saw was GORGEOUS and empty waves with one guy on them, right out front. It was like stepping through a television screen into a surf video. As I walked, I decided NOT to surf there as it was too good! Have you ever had that feeling before? I'd never had it before and I've never had it since...

I quickly came to my senses, doubled around and paddled out. I remember because of the angle of the sun, there was a lot of glare on the surface of the water. As I duckdived under waves, I would be enveloped in a bright mist of lip blow-over from the offshores.

I saw a guy pull off a flawless roundhouse cutback, the only other guy out. He kicked out next to me and said very excitedly, "How GOOD is it out here?!?!". I mumbled something, I can't quite remember what and watched as he CAUGHT THE NEXT ONE IN!

I was all alone, in the best conditions I'd ever seen in Southern California. I caught a right and dropped all the way down, the lip was beginning to spill over at the top. It felt as though I'd levitated up to the lip, much like a 1984 Occy at J-Bay. I came down smoothly and dove under the wave.

A sponger paddled out and I saw some amazing waves come reeling off a sandbar. I paddled north just a bit. About ten minutes later, after just missing a wave, I spotted an amazing wave coming in.

The sponger, of course, set up outside of me. He was about fifty feet away from me, deeper and in a better position (etiquette-wise) than me. He was kicking and scratching furiously for it. Since I was more inside, I didn't have to paddle as hard as I didn't want to make the mistake of being too inside of it.

I remember thinking, "Please, God. Let him miss this wave so I can have it". As the wave just barely passed him by, he strained and put all of his weight on the front of his board letting out a pained, "NOOOOOOOOO!" as he realized he had missed it.

It looked to be about a 9-footer and perfect!

I paddled into it and popped up without issues. I pumped a few times and realized I was in for quite a ride when I sensed the wave was about to pitch. I pumped all the way down to the bottom, set my barrel stance with my knees slightly bent and my fingers caressing the water as it was in the middle stage of its horizontal-vertical-horizontal journey. I was in there for about four seconds, pumping slightly in the barrel. I thought I was golden, the lip was steady in its speed and there were no boils or people in my way. Then, the foamball robbed me of my dream by sweeping the board out from under my feet. I flipped onto my back and got a final, upside-down view of my barrel, this time from a bodysurfer's point of view.

I got wrecked by the wave. When I came up, I let out a guttural YEOH! and paddled back out. This was the second best feeling I'd EVER had (the first was a barrel in 1999 which I will cover in July as a super session).

A few more people paddled out and the tide got too low. It seemed like I'd caught the very best of it, though I'm sure I missed out on some really good waves because I didn't show up earlier.

1.11.2012 Del Mar "Solo" Sesh in Traffic

This morning I got up a little later than normal and shot down to Del Mar. The initial viewpoint didn't give much hope. As soon as I passed the train tracks, I saw a nice steep left, reeling, with no one on it. My foot hit the gas just a bit harder...

I parked just past the best free parking spot, which was occupied by an older pick-up truck. It had a Bruce Lee likeness stenciled into the tail gate (kind of cool, I guess) and an air intake crudely cut out of the hood. The guy whose truck it was was suiting up. I was in a hurry to get out there and managed to beat him to the sand. This is always easier when the other guy doesn't know you are racing, though!

I tried jogging up the very small hill to the sand but I was for some reason having leg issues. The night before, I was sitting on the couch and I got up and got a shooting pain in the muscle on the top inside of my knee. I slowed my pace and pick-up guy caught up. We paddled out around the same time, though he was about thirty yards south of me. I noted his distinctive purple Rusty board.

I paddled out into quite the crowd, something I hadn't counted on based on my snapshot of that left from the road.

I sat inside of the pack and immediately caught my first wave, a very short left. I stayed toward the top of the wave and went for a floater. When I was on top of the wave, the shooting pain in my front leg returned. YEOWCH! Here is the carnage:



I saw purple board guy paddle for a wave with a guy within five yards of his outside, look at him AND TAKE OFF ON HIM! What a douche move.

I spotted a massive guy that reminded me of a very hairy Shawn Briley though he didn’t charge nearly as hard. The guy was out in his swim trunks plus dozens of pounds of blubber.

Purple Board guy paddled back out and set up, this time to the north of me. Trunks Guy and Purple Board both paddled for a wave, Trunks being in position. Purple Board did the same thing as he'd done on his last wave (this time in the opposite direction) and I heard a throaty “HEY” from Trunks. If I had to fight one guy in this pack the LAST guy I would pick was Trunks. Purple Board was asking for it.

My dream sequence of Trunks snatching Purple by the throat and repeatedly punching him in the face (while I cheered on) never materialized, but something nice did happen. One of the numerous kooks took off on Purple Board, went straight and fell on the drop RIGHT in Purple’s way! I let out a “YESSS!” and had a huge smile in my face. A guy in a hood looked at me and smirked

As you have probably already surmised, I wanted to say/do something to Purple but a quick run-through of my options revealed no positive outcome so my frustration with him was being dissipated by his almost instant karma.

He took it like a champ, I must say. The kook apologized and Purple was gracious about it. Damn it, I wanted to keep on hating him and he halved my anger towards him by being cool about being dropped in on.

He instantly unredeemed himself by saying to someone, “I dropped in on somebody”. Then he added, “It’s too crowded not to”. What a MORPH! A crowd is no reason to drop in on someone. They might have waited an hour for a wave to themselves. No excuse, bro. FU.

I caught a left and it was somewhat similar to the last wave. Favoring my knee, I went for a bank off the top rather than another floater.



I then caught a meaty one and decided to go as vertical as possible. I banked hard off the bottom and hit it late. It was a solid hit, but alas, another no-make.



I went in as the crowd was driving me cuckoo. I passed the Bruce Lee truck and fantasized about putting my fist through its glass.

The swell is backing down and will probably be unsurfable starting Friday. I’m hoping to get one last session in tomorrow morning.

1.5.2012 15th Street Del Mar with Forrest AND Missed-It Mike!

After yesterday's less-than-stellar day at Oceanside, we were hoping to find a place that could handle the swell's energy directly and with open faces. We found it in 15th Street Del Mar. We paddled out without incident.

The crowd was on a wide range of wave-riding vehicles. We saw spongers, longboarders, shortboarders and sweepers. The only unrepresented populations were kneeboarders, kayakers and bodysurfers.

The waves were pretty consistent overall, but I was having a tough time catching any. If the wave broke, there was someone on it already. If there was no one on it, it would break on the inside. It was a frustrating thirty five (!) minutes, compounded by the fact that very few people out there could keep control of themselves or their equipment.

The good news is I was getting a lot of exercise and I was building a sweet callous on my Go Pro thumb, from all of the false starts.

Finally, I caught one that wasn't spoken for. A left came through and I popped up on it. I levitated on to the lip for a mini-floater, but I put too much weight on my toes and faded.

My second wave arrived about ten minutes later. It was a nice-sized right and I was able to hit it once well. I tried to put it on rail but I for some reason (probably a lack of volume on the rail) couldn't hold it. I think this is a disadvantage with this board as I rarely have issues with this move on other boards.



Not too long after this one, I caught a left. It didn't have too much of a line so I went for the smack quickly. I ALMOST pulled it but I guess I just didn't want it badly enough.



Another left came, very similar to my first wave of the day. I advanced across the wave by climbing up the foam a bit, got some speed and the wave really petered out on me after that.



My last wave was pretty good. A left came through and though it was a bit slow at first, I was able to gain some speed. Then I went lateral and went for a slash. At this point, I realized the wave and I were on the shallow part of the reef. The wave jacked up over my legs. A tail slide would've been a much better choice on this section, but I just didn't anticipate the change in steepness.

12.27.2011 Crappy 15th Street with Forrest EVENING SESH | First Sesh with the Go Pro Surf Hero Camera

Forrest and I headed down I-5 hoping to catch what Surfline said was 3-4' w/ occasional 6' (LOL) at Del Mar. I should know better than to trust SurfLIE but the stoke gets the better of me sometimes.

I was very excited to try out my Xmas present, the Go Pro HD Surf Hero 2. I'd stuck it on last night and tried to go out this morning, only to be turned away by closeouts or crowds everywhere I checked.

Forrest and I parked south of 15th Street and took the shortcut down.

A couple of notes about seeing yourself surf on film:

I'm not as hot as I thought I was. I figured myself for a 9.8 out of ten but now I've revised my number to a 9.65, possibly a 9.7 with excellent lighting.

I get deeper in my duckdives than I thought I did. Having a thin board, of course, helps that quite a bit.

I caught the first wave of the session relatively quickly. I was able to get four pumps out of it, hoping to connect with the oncoming section but it faded relatively quickly. Here is some footy from that wave, followed by a quick duckdive shot:




Not too long after that, I caught a meaty left. I wasn't able to get around the section and it detonated on my board. I feared the worst, thinking that the camera was dead, but no, it survived. It's kind of interesting thinking that this little camera is worth twice as much as the board! Here's some footy:



About ten minutes after paddling back out from the thick left, I caught a quick little nug and I was able to hit it. It's hard to tell from the video, but it was a decent bash. Here's the footy:



On my way back out from the lip bash, I saw a nice (relatively speaking) right forming to the north. I paddled over there, just missed some tweeners and sat. I caught this wave and had a good look at it. Unfortunately, my back foot was too far back and I blew it. It would've been a sick bash, maybe bash to floater. Footy is:



The waves slowed WAY down. I sat there watching the beautiful orange sunset's side effects on the cloud, about to decode the meaning of life when another right eventually came and snapped me back to something more important. I did a little mini-cutty and faded off the back. Here's video evidence:



Then we sat until after the sun was long-gone and we were the last two in the water.

9.29.2011 Del Mar Reef, then Beach with Moondoggie and 'Missed It' Mike! (4/3 Season is Here)

This morning I got up early and met the bros at D Street after my glowing review of yesterday's session. Unfortunately, the tide was extremely low and all we could see were glowing (literally, from the bioluminescence) closeouts.

I figured with the combo swell, Del Mar would be better. I led the three-car caravan down PCH. Dog Beach/29th St (from what we could see) was tiny. Since the tide was low we hoofed it to 15th Street and man was it ever crowded! I was on my DHD, Moondoggie on his log, and "Missed It" Mike was on his favorite board.

The reason Mike is monikered "Missed It" is because of his penchant for flaking out either with a warning or none at all. During one particularly nasty week, I was left stranded, sitting on the curb with my gear waiting for Mike, THREE days in a row.

We paddled out and I caught a right within about ten minutes. I did a solid backside turn on it, but was too aggressive on my second turn (the section was too flat) and ate it.

I always joke with Moondoggie about having him block for us. I first heard of this in the epic "Blue Crush" in which local Hawaiians block for the female protagonist so that she can get waves.

After paddling for so many waves and either missing them or having to pull back because of someone else being in position, I finally got my chance. Moondoggie paddled for a wave, which he missed, and I paddled for it inside of him. I knew it was going to be a closeout but I had to get a wave as I'd been sitting too long and I was getting cold. Also, Eric had in essence blocked for me so I was committed. I dropped in and it just. closed. out... GRRR!

I spent the next fifteen minutes paddling for waves and either being too deep or inside of someone and thus, not in the position to catch them. Then, my time came! I beautiful gem of a left came. I paddled for it inside of a guy, put as much of my weight as possible and gave a quick look over my right shoulder. I saw the guy outside of me doing his desperation paddle as though he'd missed the wave and he was too high up in the wave.

I took off and had a nice steep section to start off with. I pumped hard and saw a nice thick shoulder and visions of a roundhouse cutback danced through my head. I rotated my upper body back to the foam, leaned my weight back, transferred my weight from my back foot to my front foot and what do I see (and almost hit)? The dude who I thought had missed the wave! I swerved, he swerved. I kicked out, he kept going. I apologized to him profusely, telling him I didn't know he was on the wave. He said nothing, but kind of smiled (although I was not trusting my vision at this point...)

The waves were pretty good but the crowd was massive. The beach break to the north was beginning to look more and more tantalizing. On the walk up I started shivering and mentally declared the end of 2011's 3/2 season. We all paddled out, but the current was a beast and we were getting swept back south. I inadvertently snaked Mike on a right that had a sick barrel which I inexplicably dodged (The only thing I can really blame it on is being cold).

It's pretty crazy that I NEVER knowingly snake anyone unless they've done it to me and within a span of a half-hour, I do it twice!

As we were riding the current express, I saw waves break where we had just been two minutes prior. Of course, I also saw waves break where we were scheduled to be floating by in two minutes... MADDENING!

We got swept down to Jake's and no set waves came in our direction. Mike had to go to work and I bailed back home.