We are one month into winter where I am in the northern hemisphere. That means the ocean temperature is a bit cold in my neck of the woods. How cold you might ask?

Well, lets just say after living in the tropics where the water temps could be easily 80 degrees, maybe a couple ticks to a few ticks lower in the winter months…. That’s translates to a 20 to close to a 25 degree difference for where I’m surfing now. Depending on the time of year.

Do I need to say surfing in the warmer waters is way better? This may have been said before but, it’s been 14 years now since I left our Ventura in town home where the daytime temperatures don’t fluctuate too much. Winter months can and do get chilly. Maybe down to the upper 40’s at night and early morning at the peak of winter. Day time temps will typically be 60 + - or better. With the warmer months being 60’s 70’s and even 80 or so at times.

Now… I’m about 7 miles from the beach. The last couple of days there has been snow on the mountains inland and visible from here. Even visible from the beach in town. Right now as I’m writing it’s 52 at the beach and 7 miles inland it’s 56. At 7a.m. this morning it was 35 degrees where I am and about 48 the same time at the beach.

Did I say I don’t like cold water??? Well, I don’t like cold weather either. A few days ago, I was thinking I’d really like to get down to the beach in the morning and surf….. maybe. I’ll beef up the wet suit and it will be doable. When I got up and checked the temperature outside before I was to head out it was 32 degrees. Sure, it was warmer at the beach by maybe 8, 10 degrees but, at 32 I was not interested in even going outside let alone go surf.

I said to myself…. ‘I’m too old for this’.

Ok, I know… you’re only as old as you feel. Well, I know another thing. If I was in the tropics looking to go surf in the morning, I wouldn’t be feeling old at all. Even if it was the end of January. Now maybe too old if the surf was on the very large size. So, then you just go to another spot that’s not taking the swell as strong and surf there.

Got to love the tropics.

D.R.

 Four of a kind. Delivered to Core Surf in Florida some time ago.

Image nicked from. 

https://www.instagram.com/maclarensstories/

Thank you!

Last month on the 27^th the day before Thanksgiving the sale of our home and property was finalized.  We were given until 11:59 pm Monday December 2 to be completely moved out.

During the process I pulled the outline patterns from my destroyed shop. Then got in the garage rafters and pulled down the outlines stored there. The below picture is the pile I gathered. 

These have come from 57 years of shaping for 11 different surfboard labels or you could say a dozen if you include my own label as well.  I counted them, which I’d never done before. Had no reason to but when I looked at the pile I got curious.

There are 62 hard copy surfboard outlines in that pile. That seems like a lot. With out knowing what might be normal for 57 years of history or what anyone else with a long history in surfboards has…. How would you know what is normal.

I sometimes have customers come to me with a favorite board and ask if I will make them a board like it. My answer is ‘I don’t copy surfboards but, let me grab a couple outlines and lay over your board. Most likely I’ve got something that will match’.  It may take a couple curves to get the same lines but it seems to always happen.

Kind of nice having some nice curves….

Happy New Year!

D.R.

A few customers with their new boards

 This one is a Classic Penetrator

Bradon with his new Classic Machine

Ryan with one DR V and one Imperial

Vince at Rincon driving a bottom turn on The 67

Meg smiling with here new Gadget.

Besides seeing some customers at the beach, which is always nice. Because my workshop is still not usable, I've really been missing seeing and talking surfboards with my customers. 

D.R.

 

 Summer is officially over. And what a summer it wasn’t.

Here in Ventura we received one decent summer swell. And it was during the Ventura County Fair. Getting a nice south swell during the Fair is predictable. It last for 10 days so getting something during those 10 days is likely.

Thing about the fair is that parking gets shut down. The formally free lot gets closed and the pay lot up into pipe is also closed. So the only place to park close to the beach is at inside point. That gets filled up during the Fair before sun up if there is a swell. And that’s what happened the day of the only decent south swell this now past summer.

Fortunately when I got down at the point, when it was still dark, I found a parking space so I could park and go for a walk up the point as the day was just getting light. Check the conditions, see where the swell was focused and of course see all the guys that would have parked up in the upper lot, that was closed, walk all the way up to Pipe. Some guys even running. Not that the surf was that great but it takes several minutes to get up there and then several minutes to get back to you vehicle after you surf. When you’ve got to get to work every minute is crucial.

Not everyone will make the trek up to Pipe so they just go out at the point or surf inside point. Which makes for very crowed conditions. Even though the swell produce pretty consistent sets unless you were really aggressive getting a set wave was though. This ole guy wasn’t feeling very aggressive that day so I got a whopping 4 waves during the hour plus I was in the water.

Days like that have me longing for my younger days when there where fewer surfers and you could surf for a hour or two and get worn out. Getting plenty waves and lots of paddling to get back in the lineup for another go at it.

The other thing about this now past summer was the water temperature…. call it cold. Wearing a winter suit into June is a bit much. But if you didn’t want to shiver for an hour…. Well that’s what if did. It did finally warm up but didn’t stay that that way. Even now the water is just above 60 degrees. The water temps last winter got pretty cold so looks like there could be repeat of cold water  this winter.

With no real summer surf maybe we’ll get some nice fall surf. In my neck of the woods fall can offer up some nice consistent surf.

Hoping for the best.

D.R.

 My wife and I have been going through some stuff we’ve had in storage. In a box of board games this surfaced….

                                                 

Anyone ever seen this. I can’t say I tried playing the game and honestly don’t remember anything about it.

It looks to be laid out like the game of Monopoly. There are 2 sets of cards that a player gets to draw from similar to Monopoly that are labeled Trivia and Challenge. 

So what the heck… lets look at what these cards say.

Challenge Question: What was the first surf magazine called?

The answer says, The Surfer

I don’t think that’s right. I believe it’s just Surfer, or Surfer Magazine.

Ok, another one: What does ASP stand for?

The answer says, Association of Surfing Professionals.

Kind of dated since the ASP is no longer. I’m pretty sure we have the WSL. World Surf League. The games was made in 1996… we’ve moved on from then.

How ‘bout a Trivia card.

Is there really a famous surfer known as “Da Bull”?

Answer says, Yes. But the card doesn’t say his name. Sad that one, The late Greg Knoll may he rest in peace.

One more: When 2 people surf together on the same board, what kind of surfing is that?

Answer, Tandem. Not sure Tandem surfing is much of a thing these days. But there it is.

Maybe I’ll post some more surf trivia question another time.

D.R

I've not updated or uploaded surfboard pictures to my web site for some time.  So there are a good 16 different models listed.

However,  here are some images of a few board models I make that are currently not listed on my web site.

D.R.

Mini T&G

The DR Vee

DR Wing Nose

DR Wing Nose

The 70’s Single Fin

 

Of the 40 some miles of coast line that is inside Ventura County about 30 of those miles one could actually live at the beach or a few blocks from the beach.

Maybe 20 miles are homes on the beach or areas that are beach breaks. Ventura town itself has a short area of home on the beach and there are some condos and apartments on the beach on the point.

As a kid if you were fortunate enough to have lived in one of those beach communities and started surfing…. well, most likely that’s what every surfer would like. The Campbell brothers Malcolm and Duncan lived along the beach in Ventura County in what is called Oxnard Shores. That’s where one of the most world renowned surfboard designs got its start. https://www.bonzer5.com/

Over the years there have been a number of surfboard labels that have come up out of Ventura County that have held up over the years. William Dennis being one of them getting started in 1967 and still being made today. Ventura surf shop is one of the longest established surf shops on the California coast and it is home for William Dennis Surfboard as well as a home for Campbell Bros.

In the early days of surfing there was Morey-Pope that had success and reach outside of its home of Ventura County. In contemporary times I’d say it’s Campbell Bros. that have certainly had success and reach outside of Ventura County. As a matter of fact, Campbell Bros have continued to grow. The reach of their unique design is global. There are very few surfboard labels that have a global audience. Not only a global audience but also a surfboard design like no other. If you know surfboards and see a Bonzer you know exactly what it is…. Not your normal run of the mill kind of shape. As well as many surfers favorite boards.

The population of Ventura County has grown in large proportions. Still certainly not as populated as other places along the coast of California. The more populated coastal towns and counties have certainly contributed to surfing and surfboards in very large ways. And I would say that Ventura has its contributions too. Both in the early days of the surfboard industry and now.

My post this past May got me started writing about all this Ventura stuff because… “I was recently told that a certain surf magazine publication turned away a story about Morey-Pope. The  60’s surfboard company from Ventura  and it’s very significant contribution to surfing and it’s history…..”

Well that Story has been published. In Australia not California https://www.pacificlongboarder.com/

Go figure.

D.R.

 

The first ever surf contest that paid money to the top competitor was at “C” street in Ventura.

It was put together by Tom Morey in summer of 1965. Morey was head of the USSA at the time and seems with that position would be the right ingredient for a successful event… which it was.

Keep in mind that in the mid sixties the only surfboards being ridden were what we now call long boards. As I’ve said in past posts we just called the boards we surfed back then  a surfboard. One of the most difficult things to do on a long board is to execute a nose ride. Some people can nose ride and get pretty good at it. Others have a difficult time even getting close to the nose let alone hang what we call toes over the nose.

What Morey did with the first ever cash prize surf event ( pro surf contest ) was make the judging of the event objective. The objective was record the length of time the contestants spent on the nose… 25% of the boards length from the tip of the nose. It didn’t matter what you looked like getting to the nose or after, your style or anything else. The judges held stop watches and recorded the time a contestant spent in the 25% area of their board while on what ever wave they caught.

The surfer with the highest total time on the nose won the event. No subjective judging at all. That’s never happened since. Of course how could you have an objective surf meet when riding the surfboard of today? Unless the event is a long board event. The nose riding event the judges only had to do a little math as opposed to deciding how well a surfer maneuvered through the wave that was caught.  And, if the surfers style was more likeable than other competitors.

Then there is the luck of the draw on what competitors were in the right place at the right time to paddle into the better waves that come through the time of day and time of the heat being surfed in. Morey’s surf meet had that part sure, the competitors had to find the best waves that would give them the best opportunity to hang on the nose. That’s a skill that is developed but still when the better waves were caught only the time spent on the nose was counted.

At some point a “pro surf event” had to happen to set up the possibility for a future of professionals. Someone had to be first and it had to be somewhere…. That place was Ventura. Not just a surf spot in Ventura County but in the town of Ventura.

The point in Ventura  produces a nice long board wave that can have a nice line for nose riding if not one of the better ones on the coast. Though the waves are pretty much thought a bit soft. However the secrets to the spot are held close by the locals. Like tides, winds, best swell directions, when the sands have moved around some to produce the better lines for nose riding   Or, for good all around recreational surfing.

Even gets surf all year long.

D.R.

 

Aside from a significant number of good surf spots in the short 42 miles of Ventura’s coastline, there have been some pretty significant surf industry contributions to the sport from people in Ventura as well.

The surfboard industry got it’s start in the 1950’s and by the early 60’s it began to grow exponentially.. There were a few surfboard builders in Ventura that started in the early 60’s One of the companies in Ventura in the early 60’s was a company called Ventura International Plastics.

VIP had a surfboard production process to make what was later called pop outs because they weren’t made in the traditional hand shaped process. The person that ran the company I believe was a man named Bill Fisher. These boards were sold all across the country in places like Sears. Not unlike the mass produced surfboards you can buy at Costco now days. Though the boards you find at Costco are what we call foamies, VIP boards were built with a fiberglass process.

Tom Hale also made surfboards in Ventura in the 1960’s and sold them at his store called Ventura Surf shop. Now the home of William Dennis Surfboards that was started in 1967. William Dennis Surfboards is one of the longest established surf board labels in California.

One of the most influential people in the business of making surfboards… Tom Morey,  started making surfboards in Ventura in the early 60’s. First as Surfboards Australia. Then teaming up with his friend Karl Pope and building a very influential board and surf accessories companies at the time and is still considered that to this day.

With the demand for surfboards and media exposure the various surfboard companies sponsored guys and gals that were recognized for their surfing abilities and these surfers would have a special surfboard model made for them. Moery-Pope had 2 of them. The John Peck Penetrator and the Bob Cooper Blue Machine. Of all the surfboard models that were made back then those 2 boards are in the lineup with only a few others as the most iconic of the period. If not the most uniquely different.  In 1968 they produced what has been considered the first short board in production. The McTavish Tracker.

They also developed a removable fin system. The system was developed for the industry and several other surfboard labels used the system and were able to have their own proprietary fins made specially for their label.

You know we didn’t have surf wax in the 60’s either. We used paraffin we got from the grocery store.  Morey-Pope developed a spray on product to use on your board to take the place of paraffin. That product was sold virtually everywhere you bought a surfboard. If it was still available there's hardly a long boarder that wouldn’t be using it today. But alas it wouldn’t be available because it was a solvent based material… now banned…. At least in California.

After Morey and Karl went different ways around 1970 Morey went on and developed the Morey Boogie body board and Karl stayed in Ventura and started making a sandwiched molded surfboard with a honey comb core. W.A.V.E. Water Apparatus and Vehicular Engineering.  Very innovative stuff. He later developed a travel board technology you could make a surfboard into 2 pieces for a suitcase type traveling arrangement. And  developed another hollow board that was virtually indestructible. I watched him throw one of those boards on the pavement to show how nothing would happen to it if you lost it on the rocks or something.

And yet that’s not all that's been created for surfing that has come from Ventura.

D.R.    

 Morey-Pope produced some very deferent magazine adds. Not like what you would see from some of the other labels from that time period.

Where I live, Ventura County, has right around 42 miles of coastline. Are there places to surf along the 42 miles? Absolutely.

Coming up the coast from just a short distance past the L.A, Ventura County line is a surf spot called County Line. It’s a very popular destination to surf for both L.A. surfers and surfers that live in the east south east inland area of Ventura County.

But County Line is just the first of…. well, I don’t know how many places there are to surf along those 42 miles of the coast. I’ve surfed many but not surfed them all. That could be a fun exercise. Go to every place there is you could surf along the 42 miles of coastline that fits inside Ventura County California.

I’ll tell you what…. You’d find some really good ones.

I know of one that can handle size and produces spitting barrels at size. I know of another that can offer up such a long line your legs laterally will tell you they’ve had enough. And, you’ll either straighten out or pull out because you don’t think you can make another turn off the bottom without collapsing. Honestly for all the surfers in the world few experience that sensation.

There is a spot at the county line of Ventura and Santa Barbara.  At the end of the  42 miles of coast line from the spot called “County Line”.  Speaking of the world of surfers….   This spot is known the world over and is a destination spot for surfers that travel to California to find surf. It has a name but is often called the Queen of the Coast. Why? Because it is the Crown of the surf spots of California.

I was recently told that a certain surf magazine publication turned away a story about Morey-Pope. The  60’s surfboard company from Ventura  and it’s very significant contribution to surfing and it’s history…..  My response was to say… “Typically the Ventura area and into Santa Barbara is mostly overlooked by the more populated southern end of the California coast surfing community.”  So it wasn’t really a surprise to me. But sad.

The city of Ventura is a beach town. The street to enter down town Ventura is California Street. California Street is just 3 and a half blocks long. It starts at the beach and goes those 3.5 blocks straight up to a majestic looking building that is the Ventura City Hall. Climb the steps to the front doors to City Hall turn around and look back down California Street. You’ll be looking a the start of a surf spot best known as “C” Street, short for “California Street”

Keeping in mind that surfing is the state sport of California… I think The City of Ventura is the only place in California that the City center looks straight at a surf spot. Just a short 14 miles up the road from “C” Street is the “Queen” of the coast. From there back down to “C” street there are 3 other fine point breaks. “C” Street being one of them. Someone tell me out side of the area of coast called The Ranch , which is all private property, is there any other 14 mile stretch of coast in California that has 4 very surf able point breaks?

How many thousands of surfers have developed their skills at those surf spots? How many surfers travel specifically to Ventura to surf those spots?  Plenty!

Ventura has largely contributed and is still contributing to surfing and its history. Morey-Pope was a part of that contribution during the earlier days of surfing.   

D.R.

If and when you find this spot looking like this and you pick off one of those waves... It can lead to wobbly legs as mentioned above.

 

You may have heard the saying “only a surfer knows the feeling”. I’ve said it at least a few times in the pages of this blog.

As we grow in our surfing abilities from the hours and hours spent in the water… or because you can surf in a wave pool now I should say ocean. Surfers all share experiences that only surfers experience. Surfing is a difficult activity, the excitement, fun, disappointments, challenges and even fears encountered in the ocean are all shared by surfers. So in that sense surfers are like a community.

Sure we are all different individually but the shared experiences make us surfers unique. As an example.. I live and surf (for the most part) in Ventura California. I can go to San Diego to surf and may strike up friendships with surfers there because we are surfers. A surfer can go anywhere in the world where there is surf and the same thing can and will happen… that’s community.

I’ve recently had a very kind and powerful experience from the surfing community which I talked about in my last post. The raffle that was put together at Ventura Surf Shop for me and my wife to raise some funds to help us with the damaging affects to our home from flooding last year. A different kind of experience than surfing but coming from surfers, some I know and many I’ve not met... from the surfing community.

The kindness and generosity felt is not easy to put into words. Overwhelming is one word. Heartfelt is another. I’ll add very heartfelt. Saying thank you seems a weak response, but I don’t know of other words that convey Thank You with deep heartfelt meaning.

So I’ll say this, a heart felt Thank You to all and every one that participated. Our ( my wife and my ) stress level was eased  for sure. And again thank you Blinky for making it all happen.

So Suzi my wife, reached into the bowl of raffle tickets. The phone number on the ticket was called…. And we had a winner.

D.R.

Ray our winner with his new Penetrator. Ray, if you see this, sorry I was not able to meet you when you came out to pick up your prize. Not knowing when you might come I got stuck prepping sand bags, preparing for the storm that was coming.

 

My story number 59.

Last January I posted about the storm that inundated my home and work shop. We had 2 more heavy storms that continued making things worse.

https://drsurfboards.blogspot.com/2023/01/my-surfboard-work-shed-i-call-it-work.html

Well, Blinky thought it would be nice to help my wife and I with some of our expenses and asked if I would shape a Penetrator for Ventura Surf Shop that he would but up for raffle to raise some funds for us.

Ventura Surf shop donated the blank for me to shape… my work shop being destroyed Scott Larese  ( Larese Lamination ) donated the lamination. I asked John Peck if he would provide one of his Penetrator labels for the board and got help from Silkworm screen printing with dialing in the label to integrate it with my label. I’ve made plenty of Penetrators over the years but this one is a one off because of the labels…. A rare and special board. As well, the reason why it was made.

So, The week before Christmas just past the board was completed and Blinky started the raffle. Now all 200 raffle tickets have been sold and we’ll be drawing the winning ticket in a couple days.

Thank you to all who came out to participate. I’m overwhelmed with your generosity. We have a lot to do still to bring our property back. The expenses on having a home we can’t live in but still keep up with utilities, insurance and taxes on top of paying rent for temporary housing is not easy, it’s truly humbling to be on the receiving end of everyone’s help and kindness.

Thank you to Blinky for putting the raffle together and all your help.

D.R.

 

Surf wise this fall into winter Ventura has had a pretty consistent run of good surf. And 2023 is going out with a bang.

It started 12/28 with a large swell, defiantly the biggest surf we’ve had in some time.

Surf in Ventura has no channel to paddle through to get to the surf zone or line up. So when the surf is big the only way to it is through it. And that can be difficult. If the swell is real consistent you will take a good beating on the way out. If there are not long enough lulls it’s close to if not impossible get out.

On the 28^th some made it out and got some sizable surf.

Yesterday the 30^th another swell reached us and no one was in the water. It didn’t seem to be quite the size as the 28^th but the City closed the streets at the beach so you couldn’t get there. There were by standers that got hurt by getting to close to the beach where there were waves washing up the end of streets on the 28^th. We had news crews getting it in on camera.

So the morning of the 30^th the city closed the beaches down.

Today you can get to the beach as the surf has backed off… head high plus. 

So what will 2024 be like? There are always predictions… but the only real way to know is as we get through it.

Happy New Year!

D.R.

Do you ever wonder what the surf spot you regularly surf was like in years passed? Maybe what it was like before surfing got started?

Every now and again I do. The spot I surf has had changes and pretty big ones during the period I started surfing and now. The town of Ventura where I live has participated in the changes, spent probably millions of dollars on those changes. As well nature has made changes to the surf in Ventura town too.

My wife gave me a book “Images of America Ventura County” last week. As I read through the book and looked at the pictures I found one of what was called the wharf. It is a picture of the Ventura pier on the south side looking out from the beach. The story writing with the picture was from 1905… 118 years ago. The Ventura Pier has been around for a long time.

South of the pier now days there are jetties. They weren’t there in 1905. Harbor Blvd that runs along the beach wasn’t there either, nor the freeway or any other development.

There was some surf breaking in the picture. A perfect peeling right with a left hand corner on the opposite side of the right. And a couple swells forming behind the breaking wave.

The Pier is a surf spot, or was a surf spot. The last couple decades the pier has lost it’s status as a spot to surf. Why? Because it doesn’t break like it used to. And certainly not like what you see in the 1905 picture.  But in was a regular spot to surf.

I could see the pier from my shaping bay at Morey-Pope and when there was surf it made it hard for me to work because…. Well there was surf and I could see it. I surfed the spot but didn’t surf it regularly like I did up the point. My son surfed it more regular than I did.

It would get really good on big winter swells. The current would get really strong with the larger surf making it hard to stay in the lineup without being swept down the beach. So some of the hard core locals tired a long rope off the pier that they could hold on to, that would keep them from drifting down shore. That current would make things very difficult to paddle out to the line up too.

What would some of my friends do to remedy the difficult paddle out? Walk out on the pier to a place passed the surf zone and jump of the pier. Hard core… hustle to grab the rope, hold on for a good set wave, let go, paddle into position and pick off a good left back to the pier.

Developments on the beach up the point have helped to shut down the surf break at the pier. It does break some times but sadly nothing like it used to. My son and I used to have a look out spot a block over and a couple blocks down from our house we’d use for a quick surf check of the pier.

Though I don’t see it with decent surf, after all these years when driving by the beach I always look to see if the pier is breaking.

D.R.

Ventura Pier circa 1905

 

Is it an everyday thing, or something done when you’ve got the time or when arriving at the beach? The surfers routine.

For 37 years, less the 9 years we were on Kauai, I lived in a house close to the beach and surf spot I usually surfed. Go west one block, south two and a half blocks then west one more block and you were at the pedestrian bridge that runs over the Ventura Freeway ending at the Ventura Pier.

Sometimes on weekends I’d ride a bicycle to the pier to check the surf. But usually on my way to work I’d drive by the point to check the surf. It was a routine thing. Eyes on the water.

Some days you’d know before hand what the surf was going to be like. Bad wind conditions, a storm is passing, but go by the beach just to see the water. The ocean, the waves, always in the back of your mind.  

It can be a community thing too. Like the crew that shows up at the point every day for a morning surf. If the surf is nonexistent they might hang in conversation before going off each their own way until the next day. Return for the same.

A routine could be around the varying daily tides. Having a yearly tide chart to routinely consult to see when the tide is optimum for any given day. On a regular basis so you can arrange your day to surf when the tides are good for the spot you surf.  Or you’ve got time to surf so you check the tide chart for the best window of opportunity.

After work, after school or classes. Off for a surf check.

You really don’t think about it. It’s just something the surfer does. Now the non-surfer? Tell them you go check the surf everyday on the way to wherever…. “ kind off obsessive aren’t you”? They might say. Your response…. “No”.

I suppose one could be obsessive now days. You’ve got a phone on you all the time, and you can look at the cameras at the drop of a hat. You know you’ve got time later in the day but you’ve got to look see…. Is the surf still good? Look see…Has it gotten better than earlier? Look see…. Has it gotten blown out and I’m going to miss it. Yeah that could be obsessive.

Ok I’m old. Once upon a time there were no cameras pointed at a surf spot. You actually had to get to the beach to see what the ocean and waves looked like and what the prevailing conditions were like.

One way or another the avid surfer typically has a routine the revolves around their daily life. It’s just what the surfer does.

But to check the surf? Where I live and surf there are no less than 6 camera angles you can look at to see what the conditions and waves are like at any given time.

Is that obsessive?

D.R.  

 

Here’s a question for you. What do you think of surf contests?

The story of my first surf contest is at this link..

https://drsurfboards.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-story-post-40-my-first-attempt-at.html

Over the years I’ve been in maybe 4 or 5 others beside the one in the link above. Maybe 3 of the 4 or 5 were at the point in Ventura where an annual event has been put on for some 37 years.

Honestly surf contests are fine. But typically it seems to me the number of events that have any decent surf are few and far between. So why bother? That said… I competed in the annual “C” Street Classic the first of this month. September 2 and 3. Why?

The week going into that weekend a friend of mine asked me If I’d like to be in the contest that coming weekend. “why” I asked. “because it would be fun, you should come out” he says. Then says “Think about it, I’ll get back to you.”  And that was it.

So I wake up Saturday morning fire up the computer to pay some bills. But first look at the surf via Surfline cameras and notice all this activity on the Ventura Promenade. ‘oh yeah there’s the surf contest today’. Then think I’d look at the contest web page to see who I might know in the event. Looking at the old man category I see guys I know and then see my name listed.

What???? ‘what the heck, my friend put me in the event’? So I give him a call… he picks up and I say “you put me in the contest”? “yeah where are you”? “I’m at home… you didn’t tell me I was signed up” “well do you want to be in it?  the surf is really good.”  “Well I guess” I say “ but it’s 15 to 8 and the heat is at 8:30”. He says “get down here, just park on the grass close to the event”.

I’ve pretty much always got all my gear and boards in my van so I rush out the door to the beach. Get there, run to the check in both sign the disclaimer paper run back to the van, suit up all the while looking at some really nice surf. Grab my board walk down to the waters edge and paddle out. I get to the line up just as the horn goes off signaling the start of the heat.

The heat was 15 minuets. Not much time for 4 surfers to find enough waves to get a decent score total. But the surf was good and pretty consistent, no wait time for a wave. Catch a wave paddle back out catch another. Everyone got waves. And good ones at that. Though only 15 minuets, it was nice being in those conditions and not have to work though a crowd.

Back on the beach I find I’ve advanced and will be back for more Sunday morning. This time in a 20 minuet heat. The surf was even better for the final.

All in all it was fun. Just like I was told it would be.

D.R.

Pic nicked from instagram @chappy2 

With Thanks!

 

I set out writing this blog saying to myself… ‘ if I start this I’ve got to stay at it.’ Come  September 9 just over a week from this writing I’ve been at it 17 years.

Over the years I’ve always been interested in people’s story of how they came to surfing. So if I can brush my shyness aside and get a chance to ask someone about that I will.

A couple weeks ago I did just that. At the beach and walking to my van I got the opportunity to ask someone when they started surfing. You’d see this person every morning very early going out to surf at the point. A lot of times he’d be the first person in the water. I was curious to know when he got started as I’ve been able to see his progress for some time. He introduced himself and said he started 2 years ago yesterday….

I haven’t been able to talk with him since but I’ve got to say, knowing the exact date you started surfing sounds like planned determination. If you want to surf it does take determination for sure. As a matter of fact, determination could be the first ingredient to learning how to surf.

Paddle for a wave… miss it, paddle for a wave… miss it, paddle for a wave… miss it, paddle for a wave catch it… fall, paddle for a wave catch it… fall. Until you finally get to your feet for a spilt second. The reward finally comes and that feeling never leaves you.

Determination and repetition. You finally catch more waves than you miss. Get to your feet without falling more times than not. Until you catch almost every wave you paddle for and make a larger and larger percentage of the waves you catch without falling.

Now the ingredient that helps the learning curve… you’ve got the surfboard attached to your ankle. You fall but the board stays right with you. Climb back on the thing for a short paddle back to the line up and repeat. The repetition aspect is amplified.

I learned to surf via surf lessons. Briefly mention here…

https://drsurfboards.blogspot.com/2006/09/my-story-post-1-my-story-well-at-least.html

Learning to surf over 60 years ago was different. The surfboard was not attached to you ankle so when you fell your board could very well end up all the way at the waters edge and you had to go get it. First the swimming then more paddling to get to the line up, and getting more of a beating because you had to get back through the breaking waves.

But we didn’t know anything else… and learned to surf with that same determination.

D.R.

 

Got to talking with a couple people in the water this past week about staying fit so you can continue to surf as you age….

One person asked if I did any cross training, thinking that may be a good way to stay fit. I’m sure it is but not what I’m interested in. Training? Sounds like too much work. The other person asked how old I was. He was 44 and found out I was 30 years his senior.

I turned to the other person and said… ‘ it’s weird looking like an old person’  She replied “because you don’t feel old”. Yeah, and I honestly can only think of a few guys that are my age or close to it able to surf these days.

Surfing is so enjoyable and something that takes a lot of time to get good at. So I don’t want to stop doing it. But it takes a diligent effort to stay fit enough to continue to surf when you reach your sixth and seventh decade. For me it is an absolute. I want to surf as much as I can.

When I told the 44 year old guy my age he said. ‘Nice, that means I can keep surfing for years to come.

Fortunately I’ve been healthy, and don’t have any physical ailments. Hopefully that will continue because I’d like surf for a good ten more years or more.

D.R.

 The Old guy. Tip Tool in hand, heading for a surf