Nicaragua 2012 - Day 2

Vince and I took a boat to Playgrounds in the late morning. The winds were side shore but it was still a fun wave. It broke over a coble stone reef and was mostly a left. I saw some of the most amazing houses along the way. When we got back to our condo we hung out until the sun was going down. We paddled out into head high Panga Drops with no one out. I got 5 waves before dark. One of the waves connected all the way to an inside section.

Nicaragua 2012 - Day 1

After 12 hours of traveling (airline delays and long car rides) we finally made it to Nica. Our driver, Elvis, made sure we knew he was not the rock and roll Elvis. He had a small taxi car and we had to strap our boards to the roof. They needed adjustment half way through the drive. We stopped at Pali for groceries and there was no peanut butter. Vince and I will have to make due with PB cliff bars. Our Condo is on the North side of the beach and we are staying in A-9, right next to the pool. We hopped on a boat and headed to Manzanillo to surf the spot while there is still West swell in the water. It was fun with head high sets rolling in. We were the only guys out. Mateo from Tica Time is hooking up the whole trip this week and he joined us in the water after taking some water shots with his camera and water housing. The wind was really side shore at panga drops and Colorado, but it was really offshore (almost too much) at Manzanillo. We met some of the people staying in the condos around us. There is a group of younger guys from Venezuela and a family from florida on both sides of us.

Nicaragua Round 2 - Trip Itinerary

It is one day until my second trip to Nicaragua. My friend Vince that went with me to El Salvador in 2010 is back for another trip. We are going to head to Playa Colorado for 3 days staying on the North end of the beach by Panga Drops. I only surfed Panga Drops once in the last trip and it was when my ribs were injured, so I really didn't get to enjoy the wave. After 3 days, Mateo (Nica Time) and his friend are going to go in a van with us up the coast surfing various waves along the way. There is no definite plan and I am looking forward to the adventure. The wave forecasts are projecting 10 feet during this portion of the trip. That should make the options for waves even better with deep water spots breaking. We will end up in Playa San Diego for the last few days. I am looking forward to the left point break out front of the condo. Here is the surf forecast below. Aug 02 (Thu) 3-4ft 18s 206° (SSW) Aug 03 (Fri) 5-6ft 15s 200° (SSW) Aug 04 (Sat) 7-8ft 18s 195° (SSW) Aug 05 (Sun) 9-10ft 15s 191° (SSW) Aug 06 (Mon) 8-9ft 14s 184° (S) Aug 07 (Tue) 7-8ft 14s 184° (S) Aug 08 (Wed) 6-7ft 12s 184° (S) Aug 09 (Thu) 4-5ft 11s 184° (S)

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.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Santa Barbara. This is my Mom's neighbor's house that would make Clark Griswold proud. Me with my Grandma and Grandpa.

Ventura - Emma Wood

This is one of those times when you don't go out and then regret it the next day. I pulled up to Emma Wood with my sister to check the surf. Emma Wood breaks better on a high tide and there was a little swell in the water. There were 5 guys out when I pulled up and I saw one of the Coffin brothers get a good barrel the first set that came through. The sets consisted of 2 waves and were about 25 minutes apart. The left were not working but the rights looked good. The longer I watched, the more guys went out, and the waves got worse. I should have just paddled out right when I got there.

Ventura - Pierpont/Dredge

I was able to meet up with John Haan and Nick Hartley before Christmas and get some waves at Pierpont/Dredge. The winds were offshore and the swell was mixing from the NW and SW. The size was much bigger than C Street, Emma Wood, or Rincon. Most of the sets were walled because the sand was not cooperating. You can see the size from the picture where I straightened out.

Ventura - C Street

On my way from San Diego to Fresno, I made a stop in Ventura and hung out with John Haan and Nick Hartley. We surfed C Street and the swell wasn't working. There were lines coming in but it was really weak when it broke. We surfed up by Pipes and Charles came out with us. The picture makes it look better than it was.

Ocean Beach, San Diego

My swim team had a swim meet down in San Diego and I decided to take my board and meet up with my friend Tim for a few sessions in between my prelims and finals each day. The first day we surfed small closed out Ocean Beach. The second day there was a little more swell but it was still closed out at Ocean Beach. The OB Jetty was really crowded so we decided to drive down to sunset cliffs and it was really slow. I snapped some photos at Sunset and then went back to OB Jetty and went with the crowd.

Getting back to my artistic skills

Since I haven't been to the beach in a while due to work and no swell, I decided to do a little painting that I have wanted to do for my room since I bought my house 3 years ago.

Ventura/Santa Barbara (10/1)

My friend from college, Nick Hartley, got married in Italy and had the reception in Ventura. Coming down south from Fresno requires a board and wetsuit to always be packed. After two days of getting phone calls and text messages from Nick and John Haan about how good the waves were the last few days, I had high hopes for some good waves. When I finally got to the point on the 101 freeway where I could see the Pacific Ocean, it was blowing 20 mph on shore. White caps as far as I could see. I didn't even bother checking the breaks knowing that it was blown out everywhere. In the morning, John Haan and I check Rincon (1 ft), C Street (1-2' and contest going on), and then finally Pierpont out in front of Nick's parents house. The waves were 1-2' with an occasional bump from a double up wedge left off the jetty. It was small but fun and it was only John Haan, myself, and a little kid about the age of 10. It felt good to finally get back in the water after recovering from my rib injury 8 weeks earlier in Nicaragua. The drive back to SB showed Rincon flat. 5 hours later as I drove to the reception, it was chest high and reeling down the point at low tide. Had to pass because there was some serious partying to do in Ventura with all my friends. The Pacific NW is starting to get going and I hope to get some good waves in the next couple of months.

Summary of Nicaragua Trip

These are my 10 favorite photos from the trip.

I have decided that unless you are surfing at least once a week, you don't need to go on a surf trip for more than 10 days. Seven to eight days is probably best. You body just can't take the punishment if the waves have any size. It would be like running a marathon when you only ran a few miles once a month.

Even with the setbacks of busted ribs and food poisoning, I had an amazing trip. I really feel like I need to do a return trip because the waves were that good and consistent. I had read a lot about the winds blowing off-shore all day and it was completely true. Playa Colorado picks up so much swell from the south/southwest.

Nicaragua was a safe country to travel in and people were friendly and helpful. Everyone kept talking about Nicaragua being like Costa Rica 10 years ago before it was built up with houses and resorts. Seeing the Hacienda Iguana community and amount of empty lots, I can't imagine it with 200 houses build on all the lots available. The line-up will be so crowded and it will turn into Huntington Beach, CA.

If you are planning on traveling to Playa Colorado or nearby beaches (Gigante, Santana, etc) I would suggest communicating with Zach (http://zacksnicaraguatours.com) or Mateo (nicatime.com). They were much cheaper than NSR with airport transfer and boat trips. NSR was extremely helpful but paid twice as much for the airport transfer and 50% more for boat trips. You can reserve the same houses or condos through many agencies (Mateo, Zach, or NSR).

The wildlife was everywhere. I saw howler monkeys, iguanas, sea turtles, hundreds of crabs, tarantulas, pigs, horses, bulls, and fish.

Playa Colorado is a great place to take a wife or girlfriend. There are fun walks up and down the beach and infinity pools at several of the houses, including the Playa Colorado private beach club. All of the other surf travelers in the lineup and at the bar/restaurant were good people. Even the Brazilians, who have a reputation for being agressive in the lineup, were hooting for people in the lineup.

Make sure to bring small bills and I would recommend exchanging for the local currency (cordobas). Everyone takes American dollars, but it was more of a inconvenience to figure out the exchange rate every time.

Day 15: Last day in Nica

Safety first (kids got mom's helmet on

Ready for home

Last morning reflection

Nica to El Savador

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I woke up early to check the surf. The tide was already getting a little low and waves were starting to close out. There were still some lined up waves coming through but not nearly frequent enough for me to want to paddle out and get destroyed by the 10 foot bombs on the outside. Instead, I had a relaxing morning and packed my board bag and checked in to my flight online. My body had taken enough punishment on this trip and I was glad to return with all three boards that took on the trip. One of the guys from LA last night said he broke 2 boards yesterday.

Day 14 of Nica

John Haan and I got the boat to Manzanillo for the second day in a row. The lineup was crowded and full of beginner surfers. It was difficult to navigate the lineup because guys were always in the waves down the line. Many of them ditching boards to go under waves instead of duckdiving. All of them were nice so it was hard to get mad at them. I got several good set waves and got another good barrel on the second ledge. After the surf session, we got a ride to Gigante and swam in to get lobster lunch. The lobster was amazing (again) and we swam back to the boat. The boat driver ask if I would sell him my Xcel rash guard. I told him that if he watched our boards while we got lobster, he could have it. Good trade. When the boat dropped us off at Playa Colorado, the waves were pumping. The fisrt wave that came through a guy got a long left barrel on a 6-8 foot wave. I took off on the shoulder of one of the medium ones and decided to kick out and get one of the set waves. I saw a few more guys get some long barrels and also saw a huge right come in down the beach where John Haan was. No one was on the right and it had a tube section that was 100 meters. I ended up getting a decent size set wave a few feet overhead and was happy to make the bottom turn considering I was riding my smallest board (6'0" CI Whip) that I had for the mellow shoulders of Manzanillo. John Haan got snaked on his wave in.

Two guys from Cali asked if I got a few shots of them the previous day and told them to come see what I had on my camera. I ended up having some great barrel sequence shots and a video of them. We gave them some of our Tona that we weren't going to finish by the next day (departure) and emailed them the photos. One went to USC and the other San Francisco St. All of us walked to Don Elroy's to get some pizza and fries. The bar was packed, busiest I had seen it in the last two weeks. A good mix of girls and guys. It was a fun night for the last night in Nicaragua.