Pt. Mugu

Surfing Pt. Mugu (Base) is something that every surfer should do once in their life. I was lucky enough to surf this break in college a few times. My sister and her Husband are stationed on the Base for 5 weeks before moving to Virginia. I have been awaiting their stay for months and they were finally there just in time for a south swell to hit. You can only surf Base if you are in the Navy or know some one that has a pass that is allowed to bring you on the Base. Every morning my sister had to drive us from the Hueneme Base to the Point Mugu base to surf and be there the whole time in case the Base police asked for IDs. I surfed 3 mornings in a row and probably should have surfed the afternoons as well but spent time going to dinner and an Angels game. The first morning had about 10 photographers on the beach and several pros out in the water. It was a little intimidating especially because the Base is one of the fastest waves in CA. The wave wedges up and throws fast and hard on the take-off. You see someone go over the falls about every 3rd wave. There were a bunch of barrels and some guys doing some inverted rotating airs. My sister offered to take some photos. She took about 300 photos and a few of the good ones are posted above.

Newport Beach

Getting to Newport Beach for the 4th of July festivities is a must. This year I was able to score some fun waves on the morning of the 4th. I rode my beach cruiser to 52nd street and surfed some fun 2-3ft peaks. I had the left off the jetty to myself for about 45 minutes. I always seem to surf well in Newport. I love how the wave breaks and had a great session. The following day I surfed at the same spot but is was not as good. Later in the afternoon I followed Larry out front of the 36th St jetty and took some photos of him longboarding.

One Month to Nicaragua (2nd time)

In one month I will be sitting at LAX waiting for my flight to Nicaragua. My friend Vinny, who went to El Salvador two years ago with me, will be back in action on this trip. We are going to do more exploring on this trip compared to the last time. We will start at Playa Colorado and go North finishing up in north Nicaragua by Punta San Diego. Mateo from Nica Time will be helping us plan the trip. The waves have been really small in CA so far this summer. Hopefully there will be some waves in the next few weeks to get ready for the trip.

Emma Wood (6/22/12)

After a couple of months of not being able to go to the beach because of coaching, I finally made it to Ventura. I was coaching at the Ventura AA swimming championships and had time after finals to surf. I made it out with Vinny and John Haan at Emma Wood. It didn't look too great from the parking bluff, but when we got out it was really fun. The waves were chest to shoulder high and really wedgie. It was typical Emma Wood at high tide. There was a small south in the water combined with WNW wind swell. Dane Reynolds was out and threw an inverted 360 rotation as I was paddling over the shoulder. He didn't land it but was still impressive. I had a hard time getting my feet in the right place, the usual after not surfing for a few months. I ended up getting out the next day but the waves were much smaller. I have my trip planned for Nicaragua 2012. Time to get in the water more often.

Spring Break

After 3 days of coaching, I took my team to the beach to surf in Cayucos, CA. One of my swim parents owns 2 houses so I had a girls house and a boys house. I rented 4/3 wetsuits for 15 of the kids and also got some foam boards from Good Clean Fun. The wind was really strong onshore but there was some swell in the water. Waves were shoulder to chest high on the sets and had some wedgie corners from the wind. I surfed Wednesday afternoon and Thursday Morning. On Thursday, I took my longboard out for the first time in a few years. After the team left, I headed down to Santa Barbara to visit my Mom and Jon. There weren't any waves but the food was great. I drove to Newport to have dinner with my Dad and Sue and there were some small fun waves. I took the longboard out Saturday Morning with Larry. There was no one out so we just traded off waves. After Newport I headed to Glendora and then to San Diego for Easter at Chelsea and Jeremy. No Surfing in San Diego. I missed Chelsea having her baby, Kaleb, by one day. I can't wait to meet him in person when I come back down south.

Newport Beach 1/15

After spending the afternoon in Santa Barbara, I drove down to Newport Beach to hang out with my Dad and Sue. The waves were small but Newport can still be fast with waist high waves. I paddled out at 2:30PM and surfed North side of 36th St. jetty. The left was working well with the sandbars and there were actually some longer rides for Newport out there. I surfed for 45 minutes by myself before Larry and his friend Chris came out and a few other guys I didn't know. Larry was on a long board and started to get all the waves. I still managed to catch some fun ones after the crowd came out. I love surfing Newport. You have to really be quick down the line and efficient with carrying your speed down the line to get a turn in.

Ventura - C Street (1/14)

I drove down to SB to surf. I missed the big swell by a week but there was supposed to be a little WNW coming in on Saturday. John Haan and I checked Rincon at first light and the swell didn't look like it was hitting yet. We decided to check C Street because it gets less blockage from point conception and would have a little more size. We decided to paddle out at C St and it was really crowded. There were probably 6 knee boarders in the lineup and tons of long boarders. I didn't get to many waves, but it was still fun. When we got out the off shore winds were so cold. John Haan couldn't open his key holder. We stood for 5 minutes trying to get the key before it finally opened.