And it is...

Absolutely gorgeous out today. After an unexpected little bout of Santa Ana winds last night we have before us a beautiful morning. The picture to the right hardly does justice. About ten minutes after this picture the sun popped up behind the fog of pollution that is Los Angeles. The sky was a million shades of red, orange, and yellow, slowly fading into the playful ceiling of our stark blue sky. The warm, glassy ocean glimmered with this blinding sunrise, amplifying those overpowering shades.
The surf...was OK. Tides are still relatively high, but more than just that the timing is just akward. Low tide is early morning at ~2ft, high tide ~5ft in the late morning. It'll slowly work itself back to more managable levels (aka actually having a low tide and having a lower high tide) later this week. In the late morning some of the decent sized waves faces would hit waves coming from shore. Akward but entertaining. I quite literally saw some 10 year old kid surfing a ~2ft wave from shore to the ocean. All sorts of funky crazy stuff was going on with the changing tides...but high tide effectively killed the waves off.
There were some pretty darn fun shoulders though, that's for certain. Not huge, and most of them were short clips then closeouts, but every once in awhile there was a slow developing, steep, clean wave. I think I had three amazing waves and countless ok ones. Nothing inspiring, but it is relaxing to be able to use my ripping shortie in Malibu without crowds. I would genuinely say that I am as comfortable surfing on it as I am on the biggie. Not on backside lefts, which I find more fun, but on frontside rights. Cutbacks, turns, wrap arounds...I may not do alot of them (blame it on small sectioned surf!) but if the wave's right I certainly can.
Brendin was out surfing here too. As bad people we laughed/made fun of the little kid surfers off on their Jewish holiday.
C'est tout! Pas plus!
Summary:
Surfrider, Malibu
6'1" Al Merrick White Dove
6:45AM-11AM
2-3.5ft, ~15sec
Offshore--> Still

Surf contest in Malibu today

Unfortunately for the contest both the surf and weather define mediocrity. The contest is/was taking place on 1st taunted by musky onshore winds, little 2-3 foot mushy waves and mad inconsistent conditions.
However, early morning wins. The fog was burning off, a moderate offshore wind, and inconsistent mid-tide 2-4ft waves. When I first got into the lineup (empty) I look over in the direction of LA proper and see a sun teasing the world. Beams of gold streaking past the clouds, transforming the glassy ocean with its sparkling orangish yellow hue. There was a surprising crowd at first, but less than a dozen between 2nd and 3rd at 7:00 (I decided to sleep in a bit!)
While the waves offered nothing inspiring, there certainly were quite a few fun ones. Unfortunately the "consistency was shit" quoting the already-corrupted-by-Southern-California ripping 8 year old. There's the occasional shoulder high wave then boom, nothing for fifteen minutes. Quite surprisingly my best wave of the day was a left between 2nd and 3rd. I genuinely don't remember exactly what I did, all I know is that it was 1) steep 2) a good long ride 3) there was a well placed wrap around cutback 4) nice long (~10sec) floater... 5) no one dropped in on me
Basically life rocks...and then the wind picked up and waves disappeared for 20 minutes = I call it quits on the short session of the week.
Summary:
Surfrider, Malibu
7'6" Al Merrick M13
6:45AM-9:30AM
2-4ft, ~15sec
Offshore-> onshore

Foggy fun

Apparently today's shorepounding waves are pretty vicious, because I saw blood dripping off half the surfers heading back to their cars. Nothing serious, just little knicks and cuts here and there. Personally I f'ed myself at the very beginning. My hand slipped when duck diving when FIRST paddling out under the FIRST wave. Board whacks me in the nose, hurts like a beezie but it didn't bleed so I figure it's not broken.
Overall conditions left alot to be desired, but there were waves and there were the occasional shoulders. The reality is that 4/5 waves that look good would close out in 2 seconds and rape you. The 1/5 were pretty darn fun shoulders though, steep, clean, definately some little mini barrels. Best waves of the day from what I saw were on the shorebreak, lefts over by the house, quite a few fun ones. Overall that section of the spot was far more consistent than the point.
Nothing amazing, but the wave of the day was a beautifully set up, perfect spot left, probably only about a 15 second ride, if that. Basically that's it: a left, nothing fancy, just in a huge pocket waiting for it to close out the whole time, but it didn't. No fancy tricks or anything, just a straightshot beautiful little mini barrel.
My sister came out with her boyfriend and she brought her new board. She toodled around and snuck a few waves then got owned by the board + her head. That = end session.
I really wish the tides would drop like...5 feet, then this spot would be on fire. I headed over to Surfrider after Lily's but didn't find a convenient parking space (aka any at all within a 10 minute walk) so decided to just head back and take a shower. That would have been mad crowded with asshat wave-stealing jerks anyway, so it worked out for the better.
Summary:
County Line, Ventura County
6'1" Al Merrick White Dove
6:15AM-9:45AM
2-4ft, ~14sec
Pretty glassy, loads of fog, mad high tide...again

"What country are you from? I was surfing in YOUR country before you were f'ing born."

I have reinforced my previous conclusion about surfing here in Southern California: there's a bunch of dickwads. My philosophy and genuine impression of surfing is that it serves as a release for tension. It presents a relaxing opportunity to peacefully reflect on life while having a flipping fun time. Unfortunately, apparently sad, depressed people who live compacted lives in the 300 ft2 basement of their parents house (at 30 years old) think it's the perfect opportunity to be asshats to other people. I thought that's what the highways / bird fingers were for, but apparently the corruption has spread.
Apparently short boarders in Malibu don't like paddle boarders. Oh well, get over it. The ridiculous reality presented is that the paddle boarder was being one of the most courteous surfers I have seen here in Malibu. If anything it's short boarders who drop in, cut off, and are the general a-holes. This has been both my experience and my observation. The truth is that the paddle surfer was the first on the wave, the short boarder drops in on him, then flips out. I have had this same instance of unwarranted aggression and anger directed towards me, and the emotions it draws out are unquestionably unpleasant. It really makes you want to slap the other person and tell them to stop being a disrespectful douche and if I didn't have to yell over twenty other surfers, I probably would have. People are cocky. People think they are always right. People are wrong. This aggression against "lazy paddle boarders" brings to mind an article I unwittingly read yesterday about that very subject. Here's the link: Battle of the boards... and no I don't read Christian Science Monitor, it was linked from fark...

So, on to actual surfing! Friday was a beautiful morning, sunny, warm, windless, absolutely glassy. The only think I could have asked for more of was waves...and I would have loved less tides, but in the end I really can't complain. Started out at County Line with AJ, I was using the Dove. Once high tide hit the waves really got smashed bad, truly little came though. Got quite a few nice lefts, mini tubes here and there, nothing fancy but certainly fun.
Malibu was beautiful too, the relatively small swell/undesirable tides held up here far better than at County Line. Had one beautiful shoulder high right, breaking perfectly, perfect spot, perfect bottom turn, cutback, straight shot, and whacking the closeout. I scared the other guy off the wave (who decided to drop in on me) without doing anything, so maybe there is a little etiquette here! But it's a weekday, so really probably not so much. Plenty of waves, and not too many folks. A ridiculous amount of people (150+?) at 1st, but only 20-30 between 2nd and 3rd. Maybe I'm understating it a bit, but the reality is pretty much every wave that I wanted to catch, I did. Oh, and there were a few dolphins toodling around, so basically life is good. I'm tossing up the possibility of buying a $100-$200 crappy old longboard too, just to throw some variety in there. Also so that I don't have to loan people my expensive boards and have them ding them...which makes me very sad indeed. In short, the waves were better and the crowds fewer than I thought. Can't argue with that!
Summary:
County Line, Ventura County
6'1" Al Merrick White Dove
6:30AM-9:00AM
2-3ft, ~15sec
Glassy beautiful, mad high tide
---
Surfrider, Malibu
7'6" Al Merrick M13
10:00AM-12:00AM
2-4ft, ~15sec
Mad glassy and beautiful, medium tide

"It's better than playing Nintendo."

What a beautiful morning. If there were actually some waves, it would be pretty much a perfect day for surfing. I went with Jillian early up to County Line---wind blew my M13 over and dinged it against a rock. It's not too bad, but of course it's right on the rail, again.
The surf up at County Line was marginally small. I think the moderately high/rising tides pretty much killed the chance of any really good slow developing shoulders from coming through. Oh well. First time she surfed and she skimmed to shore on a few of them. No wetsuit for me and the ocean pretty much owned me. Not having body fat sometimes sucks. No amazing waves, some fun little shore pounds though.
Malibu fared far better. It was literally the emptiest that I have ever seen it there. Given, it was mad small, but if I could get decent rides on my 7'6", there's no excuse for longboarders not to go out. Two foot waves make it impossible to do any fancy surfing, but sometimes you just need some simple relaxing shoulders. Honestly, this was probably the most relaxing session I've had since I was down here. No fighting for waves, no intense paddle, no frightening water or ear infections, simply clean waves, no wind, beautiful sun, and pleasant smalltalk with friendly surfers. Go figure.
Oh, and my ear plugs, while a little uncomfortable, are amazing.
Tomorrow is probably Malibu 2nd/3rd again, tides are pretty high at 3-4ft during surfing time tomorrow.
Summary:
County Line, Ventura County
6'1" Al Merrick White Dove
6:30AM-8:30AM
2-3ft, ~13sec
Glassy; windless
---
Surfrider, Malibu
7'6" Al Merrick M13
9:00AM-11:00AM
1-3ft, ~13sec
Glassy initially, cross shore later

It's a good thing I didn't come home only to go surfing...

...because if I did I'm pretty sure my hunger would not be entirely sated. This is retroactive for this past Saturday, apparently there's a million other things on my mind when I'm here.
Summary is mediocre weather and mediocre waves. If I had a huge 8ft+ board I would reflect my luxurious minute long left...but I don't. Kinda dissappointing that the three weeks of beautiful weather that the bay has been getting didn't hold up. Autmn, comeon, gimmie some 6ft+ windless groundswell...
The earliest part of the day had some fun rights and lefts, moderately clean and defined, not perfect but definitely entertaining. Unfortunately that was the first thirty minutes, and it went downhill from there. I'm genuinely not sure what happened, but one minute there were waves, and the next hour and a half there were not. Pretty much clear cut like that. It's sad because the morning swell was pretty fun size.
On a side note, apparently there was another great white chumming his way around Ocean Beach on Friday. I'm not sure how many that's been in the past month, but at least four or five? Fins are bad.
On the way back down to Socal/Malibu, my sister and I stopped off at Wise in San Francisco. She got a 7'2" board (pink rails and peachy/pink deck) and a wetsuit, so she'll be ballin in the Bu in no time!
Summary:
Dillon Beach, Marin County
6'1" Al Merrick White Dove
7:30AM-9:50AM
3-5ft, 10-12sec
Warbled, semi-glassy & steady onshore

Mad tired

Usually I wake up early and go surfing, but today the 4AM alarm plopped me in a car and sent me 500 miles north. Home rocks, a lot. Cold water, real characters, no attitudes, and big fun waves. Oh...and the puppies.
Apparently my body has adapted to the warmth of Southern California waters because after about an hour in the water my little toes (the one opposite the big toes, I don't know the technical term for toes) felt tingly and numb.
The waves were decent sized, walled up closeouts. Certainly some fun shoulders to be had with a little luck on your size. Cross-shore winds and misty/rainy conditions were surprisingly pleasant, definately a change from sunny/rainless Socal. Overall I had probably ten worthwhile shoulders, all mad fun because of the decent swell. Of course there were also a bunch of quick paddle, maybe-it-won't-rape-me waves which would usually destroy me.
Overall I deem my day a success if only for my wave of the day. A nice slightly overhead wave pops up out of nowhere and catches me completely by surprise. I've scientifically deduced that this wave wanted to be played with, because for the fifteen seconds that it lasted there was a solid offshore wind, a beautiful clean face, and a steep, slow developing shoulder. I call it a success for one reason: two prospect-surfers on the beach went back to their cars and donned their wetsuits in certainly less than ideal conditions solely because of how much it rocked. Sharp bottom turn, clipping the face, bottom turn, whack-the-closeout, get tumbled about. I did learn something though: apparently my knee can reach my cheek, something I have difficulty repeating now.

Summary:
Dillon Beach, Marin County
6'1" Al Merrick White Dove
1:30PM-4:30PM
4-6ft, 10-12sec
Breezy cross shore & rainy

Bright n' early

Once again I figured an early morning rendez-vous with the ocean would treat me better than conversing with crowds. The reality is that even at 6AM there are still dozens of people surfing Surfrider in Malibu. Most of them are at 1st, longboarders balling it under a full moon. I started off at 2nd and wiggled around between the waves at 2nd and 3rd.

As it's Malibu, almost every wave is a right (which is repetitive, but damn those waves are fun!) Chest to shoulder, with one beautiful beautiful beautiful head high wave, which was unquestionably the most entertaining of the day. This head high wave was a real stunner, undeveloped shoulder which wanted me to ride it. Straight down the face, sharp bottom turn, fast cutback at the top, straight in and through a marvelous ten second pocket. As my stunner wave starts closing out I screwed up the wham-the-closeout whack, and end up shooting my board and self about ten feet in the air. Mad fun.
Other than that, it was a pretty calm morning with nice offshore winds. Probably twenty-five fun and ten really good waves.
Summary:
Surfrider 2/3, Malibu, LA County
7'6" Al Merrick M13
6:00AM-10:00AM
3-4ft, 13-15sec
Glassy offshore

"What's up G?"

So I decided to get up mad early (5:30) and go surfing on my day off. This was the first, and quite possibly the only, time I will ever be surfing in Southern California without another soul on the beach. Given conditions were far from perfect, but I would argue that the cross-shore winds cleaned up the right faces a bit, so I'll take it. 2-4ft waves, mostly on the lower end of the spectrum, definitely fun.
Surfing under moonlight is something that I haven't done in awhile, and I forgot how much fun it is (full moon or darn close right now, so it was pretty light) once first light hit the sky lit up a thousand colors of orange and pink, the glittery reflection a beautiful spectacle.
County Line is one of those places that people can't stay away from though, so slowly surfers and body boarders trickled in, the first about thirty minutes after I arrived. No question that there were waves for the taking, and my little 6'1" Al Merrick White Dove shreds them. I'm still not that good on it compared to my big board, but I can catch waves and do cutbacks and wraparounds, so given a little more practice I'll be a baller.
Certainly the most interesting part of the day was the dolphins. These animals are all over the place, but these two are in a class of their own. I first saw them out of the corner of my eye and said to myself "Uh oh, what was that?" Then they not only popped up to the surface, but both jumped five feet out of the water and basically did back flips. So that was fun.
As far as the surfing goes, the first 30 minutes saw three baller rights. The other 2 1/2 hours saw a mix of lefts and rights, mostly rights. Best wave of the day was one nice left pocket I found.

Summary:
County Line, Ventura County
6'1" Al Merrick White Dove
6:00AM-9:00AM
2-4ft, short period ~8sec
Cross-breeze, glassy for 45min, onshore

Establishing intent...

I have started this blog as a documentation of my escapades in the lawless and impersonal society that is Los Angeles. Honestly, what shapes it may take I do not know. What is for certain is the reality that it will contain deep insight into the intracate workings of shallow people. I may be harsh, but our world certainly isn't a nice place.

Previously I thought about starting a blog and toiled for hours trying to come up with the all important title and address. Finally, four months later, here we are. Le Beau Monde et hommedubois--- so let's see how it goes!