BIGGER ISN’T ALWAYS BETTER: Oh, the frustration when swells don’t deliver.

Photo courtesy of Hideki Ueha. Check out his website on my blog list. This pic was taken during the Labor Day swell, which didn't hold good shape. 

     When it’s flat out, I wish for size. Anything, even a closeout will do, but sometimes you get what you ask for.

     Now let’s talk recipe. In other words, every surfer has his/her own recipe/break that he goes to, depending on certain conditions. Windswell, I’m glad to stay local in the South Bay, thank you very much. Windswell gets peaky here, scattered, rippable, and I love it. But how about when it’s closed out and racy? Palos Verdes is my local choice. However, the all time, risk-free no brainer for me, my overall go-to spot no matter what is always Churches, basically the Trestles/San Onofre area. Unfortunately, sometimes the recipe doesn’t work.

     During the Labor Day weekend there was a juicy swell on tap at Trestles, but goddam was it section on section with just too much size for it to hold shape. In the South Bay, the weekend before last, the wraparound ground swell from the south even came in too directly. Mind you, yes, I did see guys getting barrels at the Marine Avenue Tower, but most of the waves were still closing out.

So deceiving to pull up seeing this. 09OCT had decent size swell on tap. Frothing in my car, I rushed the surf only to paddle out into closed-out conditions. 

     This morning, even with a new swell on tap, the waves were dumpy on the inside once again. When you check out the surf forecast and see swell on the horizon, you should be stoked. In this case, as of late, I’d be more stoked to see some two-to-three foot days because I know there’ll be better shape.

This morning's lack of shape at 26th Street. 

     At the same time, just because my recipe isn’t working, it doesn’t mean that someone else’s isn’t. I haven’t been to The Cove in a long time. Have those guys been scoring? I never surf north. Has Rincon been working with some of the westerly angled souths we’ve been getting, and then there’s Malibu and County Line. How’s Venice been?

     For me, “bigger” hasn’t been working. I’m desperate and feening for some rippable shoulders, or if the surf’s heavy, how about some caverns that offer room for a scathing exit.

     I’ll just have to be patient. All things pass. Eventually, my recipe will be spot on again. What’s your recipe?

Session Tracker:

Sat, 03OCT, 26^th St.

Thu, 08OCT, 26^th St.

Fri, 09OCT, Churches/Middle Trestles

Sat, 10OCT, 26^th St.

Sun, 11OCT, 26^th St.

Mon, 12OCT, 26^th St.

Wed, 14OCT, 26^th St.

Mon, 19OCT, 26^th St.

WED 23SEPT2015

Loc: Manhattan Beach, 26^th Street

Time: 0800-0910      

Crew: Bri

Conditions: 1-3 FT, variable wind, high tide, backwashy

Board: Motorboat Too

     What the fuck? I know that the primary swell is from the south, but how about a little wrap-around energy? I should have known it was a bad sign when barely any of the regulars were out. I spotted Oscar south of the tower, and so was the guy who had run over Bri one time. He was on his Costco foamie. I didn’t want to surf by him, so I moved us in front of the brick house.

     That one short stocky dude who helps coach the surf team was doing well on his funboard. Foam, maybe that’s what I needed. Even Bri struggled on her Hopper, which is blessed with volume.

     After a wave, she came back and said, “I just noticed this now.” She pointed to her deck. A line was going across the nose. The deck had a slight crack in it. It was flexed. “I think I nosedived it inside.”

     “You mean purled,” I said.

     One of the set waves was worthy for a pull in. It closed out from the backwash, but it was fun just to get gobbled by a wave that size.

     A squad of grom bodyboarders paddled out. I caught a left, a good one, and one of the kids was standing right in my line, filming me with his GoPro, so I had to kick out.

     “My bad!” he said.

     Last wave to go in, I wasn’t expecting much, but I paddled into a right that actually had a shoulder, at least a single hitter, but I didn’t even get a chance to wind up for the snap because my fiancé snaked me. Fuckin’ A. I guess that’s what marriage is about, letting someone snake you on your wave.

TUE 22SEPT2015

Loc: Manhattan Beach, 26^th Street

Time: 0800-0910      

Conditions: 2-3 FT, glassy, warm, inconsistent

Board: Motorboat Too, large fins

     During the Labor Day camp trip, someone had told me, “Small board, big fins. Big board, small to medium fins.” With that in mind, and without much swell on tap, I thought it would be nice to experiment, so I grabbed the set of large Futures that Rick had given me to donate in Indo, which I didn’t, and slapped those suckers on the Motorboat Too. They have much more surface area than the medium Blackstix that KK had loaned me.

     As I said, I wasn’t expecting much, so I even showed up late for the second shift. To my demise, there was no street parking. I circled around and caught glimpses of the high schoolers on what looked like decent peaks. My anxiety grew looking for a spot, and I finally lucked out on Marine.

     I grabbed the MB Too and headed across The Strand, and there they were. Peaks, though fast, they were pretty consistent just south of 26^th Street. Unfortunately, that’s where the majority of the surfers were sitting.

     I paddled out at the tower and scratched into my first wave. Don K., The King, had to back out for me. I anticipated a zippy ride on my board, but as soon as I got to my feet, my board felt so sluggish and just got stuck. Man, I mean, like it was just shackled. Starved for momentum, all I could do was head dip the lip as the shoulder took off without me. Oh . . . how lame. Ha! And for The King of 26^th Street to have to back out for me on that one? For shame. . .

     And that’s how the rest of the session went. I watched that one good peak break. One dude, who I had never seen before, was just merry-go-rounding it one wave after another, small rides but still fun.

     My best wave was just a pumper where I got down the line, but I cursed the big fins. Yeah, there comes a good time for experimentation, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Like going to your favorite restaurant and trying out a different dish. You ever do that? I have, and most of the time I regret not just sticking to the staples: beef chow fun, eggplant with garlic sauce, salt and pepper pork chops. However, if you don’t try, you never know.

THE RETURN TO LOCAL PT.2, SUN 20SEPT2015

Loc: Manhattan Beach, 26^th Street

Time: 0700-0745      

Conditions: 1-2 FT+, glassy, inconsistent

Board: 5’10” Lost Mini Driver

     I had the expectation that surf would be smaller. Well, it wasn’t, it was just more inconsistent. Not sure if it was because of the tide, but the waves were just dumpy. Some longboarders seemed to be doing okay. I had a feeling that the surf would get better on the higher tide, but I didn’t have time for that. Bri and I left after 45 minutes, that’s how lame the session was.