My story post 46

Finding something to surf in summer can be difficult. When all surf boards were long I think it was a little easier to be happy with small slow junky surf… the kind we see a lot during summer months in Ventura. But as boards got shorter the week or 2 weeks or 3 weeks that could be pretty small around my home break would be frustrating.

We do get some wind swell stuff so you’d have to make yourself happy with that. And actually you could have some fun when the wind swells would get about waist high.

There was Stanley’s, but that went away. There was Oil Piers, but that went away. But what’s still around is Over Head beach break. I don’t surf there now but plenty guys do. In 1969 not many guys would go there looking for surf. It became a regular spot to check when looking for surf in the summer… any time really, but it was the summer months of ’69 that the spot really started getting noticed.

One of the other places I used to surf during the summer was the north side of Ventura pier. The first guy I remember surfing there was my friend and work mate Richie West. We worked on Front street and he lived in a small cottage around the corner from the shop on Kalarama st. He didn’t have a car so was unable to go hunt surf after work. Being hungry for surf he noticed some ride able waves at the pier… even if they were small. I followed him there and often would have a good time on the small short period swells and short rides on that side of the pier.

The south side of the pier can get a nice peak working with the summer south swells, it well shut down for years at a time… then start working again. But the north side seemed to work good enough when ever we’d get those summer wind swells.

For a period there I didn’t have car either so going down to the pier was what I did. If there wasn’t a south swell running that I could surf the point on then the north side of the pier was the spot to get some surf. The nice thing was that if I didn’t go down there with Richie, I’d go by my self. No body surfed there so you’d have the place to yourself. I liked that.

Sometimes people would gather on the pier and watch…. ‘Oh, look at the surfer’. Usually though I was by myself. Back then I didn’t really have any responsibilities so after work that’s what I did. Go look for surf, and in the summer months the north side of the pier was one of the spots you could find me at.

D.R.