Winter for the surfer means winter storms that generate sizable surf. And of course some unpleasant weather.

This past week here in Ventura we had rain for 5 out of the last 7 days. And it looks like the rain will continue through this coming week for 3 or 4 days. Along with the rain the temperatures have been below 60 here at the beach most everyday. The Rivers fill and empty their brown colored, debris fill waters into the ocean. The town of Ventura has two rivers. The Ventura river on it’s north west side and the Santa Clara river not more that 2 miles south from the Ventura river just below the Ventura Marina. So the waters around Ventura during winter storms get pretty ugly. And not healthy to enter for surfing.

My shop is not heated and temps below 60 degrees are not good to laminate surfboards in…. makes for a rather unproductive week. Resin takes it’s time curing. But we make due.

Though temps along the beach are not too cold, inland not even 15 miles the temperatures drop to freezing and below. With the rain comes snow and the mountains around Ventura get a pretty white covering this time of year. Saturday we had a dry day so my wife and I went for a drive inland and took in the views.

If you surf the upper side of the Fair Grounds during the winter you sometimes will see snow covering the mountains behind Ojai. Visible looking up the Ventura river valley.

I stood right at the Ventura rivers edge and took this picture looking at the surf.

Doing a 180 degree turn I took a picture of the mountains.

This would be the same view if you were in the lineup. I’ll tell you what… the morning wind that comes down the river valley from those snow covered mountains is cold. Maybe not as cold as what some of you get up north or on the east coast but for this So Cal guy it’s cold!

D.R.