Christmas day 2009

I knew there was surf, I saw lines on my way back to the house after picking up my mother in law for our Christmas dinner. At that point it was late morning and a beautiful sunny day in California. I purposely took the route back to the house so I would have a good vantage point at the top of the hill a few blocks up the road from my house where you can see if there are any lines wrapping around the point. Yeah… surf!

After I got back in the house I told my wife I was going down to the beach and look at the surf. When I returned and sat down on the couch picking up a magazine… Surfers Journal… Suzi turns to me and asks “ how’s the surf?” “ It’s really good!” I respond and she says “ are you going to go surf or just sit there reading that magazine?” I should file this post under ‘ I’m a lucky guy ‘.

I got my wetsuit, put it on, grabbed a board put, it in the truck, jumped in the truck, drove to the point, parked and was in the water within 15 minutes of that question!

There were a fair number of people enjoying the day along the promenade and a pleasant number of people in the lineup enjoying some head high sets on a beautiful sunny California Christmas day.

After surfing and going to the train station to pick up my friend Jon from Kauai who came out for a visit we settled into our dinner then the day came to a close.

Happy Holidays!

D.R.

Christmas day 2009... Ventura.

More on the old guys… or is it old days this time? Post 4

Why was surfing more an adventure in it’s earlier years? Because when you went to the beach you never were sure what you would find. Sometimes you’d find the surf and conditions good to excellent or the complete opposite… you wouldn’t know until you got your eyes on it.

You could drive up to Hobson’s at night sleep in the van and wake to south wind onshore slop. You could reach the top of Malibu canyon look down at the point and unexpectedly see lines rapping into the cove in the middle of winter... with hardly anyone around, because it was the middle of winter.

You could venture out to Morro Rock with no one around or in the water, paddle out with your brother in law, both of you for the first time, and find the surf bigger than anything you’ve ever been in…. and be scared sh…tless. Or, you could take a run to Rincon in the spring and surf waist high peelers with the crowd.

Leave the shop in Santa Barbara for the drive home to Ventura and find solid over head surf at Rincon with no crowds because the east winds were to strong but find Little Rincon clean with no one out.

Sit in you car because the surf was junk and wait to see if things changed because you planned on surfing… so maybe, just maybe the winds will turn around and it will get good. You certainly know if you leave most likely within 15 minutes of you leaving the surf will improve and you’ll miss it… The other guy in the other car will stay and the next time you see him he’ll make sure he tells you… “you really missed it!” Which of course really sucks!

No, there were no surf forecasts. There were no big illuminated blinking signs at the end of “C” St that said “ HIGH SURF WARNING” like this past week. No, what you saw is what you got when you got there. The good the bad and the ugly.

I still like to go look to see what the surf is like. Pretty much every morning on my way to the shop I’ll check the surf. Check the tide chart so I know what’s up with that and then will plan my surfing accordingly. Sometimes if I’ve left my computer on all night I’ll look at the surf cam in the morning before I leave. Funny though…. If there is any surf I look to see how many cars are in the parking lot.

Knowing there is surf every time you go to the beach is not as much fun as the excitement of not knowing and finding surf when you reach your surf spot of choice. Sharing the stoke with your friends when you find surf and have been blessed by the forces of nature is now some what lost with all the technology. Surf forecasts, surf cams, surf reports. Everybody knows the when and the where so they’ll all be there…. Me included!

D.R.

The sun has long set on the way it used to be.