Come Hell or High Water

Last night, joined many of the Orange County and LA County extended bodysurfing ohana at the Lido Theatre in Newport for the showing of  Keith Malloy's new film, the first surf film to focus on bodysurfing.  What a gas!

Many good water friends were there - I went with Mark Ghattas and his fiance, Mandy.  Joined by Newport and Wedge regular Rendell Swart, we first ran into Wedge denizen Rick Ciaccio (#9) with his wife, Linda, along with Newport Playgrounds regular Derrick "MuDsHaRk" Sciarra at the front of the line waiting to enter the sold-out theater.  Also, Jeff Mitchell, who appears in the Wedge scenes, Neil Frank, and many others.  Inside, another Newport stalwart, Jason Guthrie, and Mark "Scruds" Johnson along with several other Huntington Chubascos.  Out front, many core Wedge Crew, lead by Mel Thoman and Viper maestro Fred Simpson, dean of the Crew. Legendary Wedge photographer, Ron Romanosky, looked on.

The movie was a great celebration of respect for bodysurfing from one of surfing's great filmmakers, prominently featuring Mark Cunningham and Mike Stewart hitting legendary bodysurfing locales.  The photography - in water, under water and from shore - was excellent.  The audience was fully involved, hooting and hollering through the film as it migrated from Pipeline and Panic Point in Hawaii through the familiar La Jolla reef break, the Wedge and Northern California and finishing with Cunningham, Stewart and others, including correspondent Durdam Rochelle, taking on the massive slabs of Teahupoo.  It was great to see Hal Handley featured in La Jolla and the theater buzz crescendo'd with Mel, Jeff and the Wedge Crew exhibiting local form on the largest waves of the movie at the Wedge.  A memorable night to watch this with so many, so intimately involved, sitting in the audience.

Keith Malloy and Mark Cunningham were there to hang out & answer questions afterwards, paying lots of respect to the locals, heading out afterwards to local hangout, Malarky's.  I got a chance to chat briefly with Malloy, thanking him for the respect and cred offered in the movie.

A fun and memorable night.  Can't wait for the DVD.

[Click on the poster above to go to the Woodshed Films website.]

A Little Fun in the Park

My last blog was a tribute to the consistent surf at the Park this summer.  Today, the size was gone...but at least the shape remains!

Did not expect much, but there were fun little waves.  The shot below was my first view of Main Peak from the rail.  Later, you'll see a head in the water for size but this is stomach high ... what passed for a set today.

The feel on the beach was of winter.  A heavy overcast and occasional cool breeze out of the Northwest resulted in the quietude of an empty beach.  The exception, though, was the very comfortable mid-60's water temperature.

There was a sole sponger out at the main peak; nobody else from the steps to Cottons.  The sponger left before we got in.

North, at Riviera, where it was a little bigger and slightly more consistent, twenty sticks competed for the chest-high peaks.  Further on at, at T Street, a similar clump could be seen.

Ghattas and I decided on the solitude of Main Peak over the crowd at Rivi.  While we suited, a surfer who'd been out at the Main Peak with us when it was really firing two weeks ago pulled in and suited up, too.  He joined Mark and me at the Main Peak for the first hour of a 1:45 session of fun, little peaky waves.  Nothing above chest-high, but hollow enough for mini-tubes and clean enough for decent slides.  A peaceful, relaxing morning.

Before we went out, as the surfer was returning from checking it out at the rail, I commented wryly, "awesome, huh!"

"An hour in the water still beats any other way to start the day," he responded.

I have to agree.

A Great Run at the Park: a Tribute

In little over four months, we have had a fantastic run at the Park.  Rated on a scale from one to five stars, in this short period, there have been six swells, hitting on weekends, that have scored four or five.

I thought a little thanks and recognition in order.  My habit on arrival is to pause for a few minutes and take a few shots to document the swell coming in.  Bearing in mind that I rarely hang around more than three to five minutes before suiting up, the following six shots, one from each of these days, are a pretty remarkable testament to the consistency of SCSP! [Click on photos for full screen.]

April 23 8:04 AM

May 30, 8:06 AM

June 25 8:04 AM

July 9, 7:51 AM

August 6, 8:17 AM

September 4, 8:12 AM

Callin' It

The latter part of the week, surf has been very much in mind!

Wednesday evening, Joe texts: "Zeros this evening...double overhead with 45 degree faces.  It was like skiing.  Set waves only.  Took off on 4 waves total.  Well planned big ones.  Memorable."

The Front Page of Friday's LA Time featured a large picture of the Wedge, bodysurfer in free fall.

Hal observes from Wednesday evening through Friday morning there's a sustained 20 second (interval) swell ... longest he can remember.

Hugh reports on Friday he scored one of the 10 longest tube rides of his life: check this link.  Meanwhile, Rob Webb tries bodysurfing the Park and reports that it was "90% survival; 10% surfing," and that having swum out at LG 1, after one wave he was already North of the steps.

The Wednesday through Friday swell is the biggest South swell to come in over the last two years - since July '09...

...and I've been waiting for the weekend, where the forecast project some hopeful leftovers.

Checking all the input I could, I decided that Sunday might be a foot or so smaller than Saturday but stood the better chance of decent conditions.  A Facebook mobile upload from the O'Gormans, sent from the Park Saturday morning was tough - the swell was still there, but it seemed a bit messy.

I went to sleep Saturday night with fingers crossed, and hope.

First wave I saw, as I walked out and joined Craig Thompson on the steps, was a welcome relief:

Overhead, clean & glassy, and not even crowded!

While the swell is smaller now, peaks and corners had appeared.  And, in an odd combination for this summer, there was early morning sun and no wind.  Further, there was no sign of the heavy sweep, South to North, that had plagued the last four days.

A good pod was quickly gathering.  Ian O'Gorman walked up, noting more of the clan was on his heels.  Mark Ghattas pulls in, with Mandy and a friend.  Eric Ackerman, too, shows before we've even begun suiting up.  Andrew, a bodysurfing list member from Northern California has pulled in for a first visit to the Park.

Shortly, in the water, we have a pod of ten: Eric, Craig, Mark, Andrew, myself and five 4G's: Papa Shawn, sons Cheyne & Ian and their friends JP and Jerome.  We're able to carve out the peak just North of the Rocks and fairly well maintain it while the sticks congregate further North.  Cheyne has his GoPro mini-video camera and a new stick mount out - can't wait to see the footage!!  Hugh was to show up later, for an eleventh member...

 First wave, I knew that I'd made the right call: today was THE day of this swell for me!  I can appreciate size, but these were made for bodysurfing.  Caught an early set wave ... 8? 9? foot face, with a soft left shoulder - like the photo a couple of shots above.  An easy drop in and nice slide.  The next two hours were full of similar rides interspersed with some wide open tubes and, yes, an occasional precipitous drop.  

The pod stayed put, North of the Rock, but I moved up and surfed a few at the Main Peak, until a half dozen sticks converged on me, then worked my way South and worked the space between the Rock and LG1 for a while, before rejoining the pod.  While down there, I could hear the hootin' and hollerin' while performing for the camera.  

Wave of the day goes to Shawn O'Gorman, snagging a moderate sized set wave just above the rocks for a looong left slide with cover-up and emergence...all for the camera.  Can't wait to see it.

This was it: the Park doing what it does!

Growing Swell on the Peninsula

Tuesday morning through Wednesday morning is evidencing growing swell here.  While the peak is due this afternoon and tomorrow (Thursday) morning, there were some serious forerunners in evidence today between 9:00 & 11:15 at 17th & 18th Streets.  With red flags flying, some thick, heavy closed out walls, some with faces approaching 10 feet, were arriving every 15 to 20 minutes.  Inside, swimming out, count on some significant hold-down time, even in 6 or 8 feet of water.

Fortunately, in between, there was a steady diet of 5 to 7 foot faces, still long interval with plenty of Newport juice, that weren't so closed out...some with broad, gaping tubes and others with corners for the patient.  Overcast skies over a glassy surface, the water temperature remains in the mid-60's.  

Yesterday, the morning session featured regular shoulder to head high waves, somewhat shorter interval, and some with decent corners for some longer slides.  Brent "Crawdaddy" Crawford drove up from Laguna and was waiting for us when Joe and I arrived about 8:30.  Mark Ghattas joined us a bit later for a short session before work.  For 2-1/2 hours, the conditions were good and we enjoyed a typical summer swell on the Newport peninsula. 

Both days, we worked between 17th and 18th, sharing it with a light crowd.

Yesterday afternoon, "straight across" from the Island, at 6th Street, the size had started to show, with some thicker, head-high plus grinders - walls that were fairly well chewed up by a steady West wind.  I got in alone, and was swept North five blocks in just 15 or 20 minutes.  But the wind created some fun opportunities.  Joe arrived as I walked back down from 9th street, and this time we were able to hold our position and work an area that had just enough of a corner to be able to drop in before the close out. 

Newport: Continuation...

So, today (Monday) I decided to change it up; sleep in and take a break from surf, after four straight days of two-a-day sessions.  Each of the last four days started with a couple of hours out at 18th Street, followed by an afternoon session at 6th Street.

Yesterday was good, again, at 18th.  Not as good as Thursday, which remains the standout, but continuing to improve with glassy, shoulder-to-head-high surf.  Lots and lots of tube time on Sunday's session, and a couple of longer rides.  17th Street was nearly as good as 18th-19th, but no one was working it, so Allan, Joe and I just stayed there and had it to ourselves for over two hours.  Not epic, but a satisfying session that we packed in when the wind started messing up the surface.

Weekend on the Peninsula

I've not had the patience to photograph at 18th each morning, but will do so later in the week.  Instead, I'll continue to break the text with scenes from the afternoon at 6th Street.

Contemplating the Future

The afternoons have been just been fun, whomping around in waves from waist to head high under hazy sun.  Yesterday, a fairly stiff, steady breeze from the West - which at 6th Street is cross-shore - was chopping creating little runner sections off the straight-lined swell, that offered a chance for some fun, longer lefts...an improvement over the normal, two-second closeouts.

An Occasional Set

 Tomorrow, the two-a-days resume.  Prospects for the remainder of our stay look good, with Thursday (again) looking especially promising, with a four foot South swell due and a strongly rising morning tide.  May have to bring the camera Thursday morning!

Newport Beginnings

[Sorry, no surf photos, yet, so I've included a couple of Newport scenes to break up the text.]

It's midday, day three of our annual stay at Newport.  I've been out each of the three mornings at 18th Street - "the Point" - with my sons, Allan & Joe (Joe missed today), Joe & Allan on boards.  Already, there has been one, quite exceptional day.

Our first morning out, Thursday, though, was anything but exceptional.  The only positives were that the water has warmed up to the upper 60's and on Thursday, we had the water all to ourselves.  Of course, there was a reason! The waist/chest high waves were messed up by a surprising, steady onshore breeze.  Under persistently overcast skies, I managed to catch a few of those classic Newport tubes, amongst the slop, but left with a hunger for many, many more.  Thursday afternoon, at 6th Street, held a promise of improvement. Another foot or two of swell was showing and the late afternoon was, atypically, cleaner than the morning.

 Beach View at 6th Street

The promise of Thursday afternoon was manifest Friday morning: just an outstanding morning at the Point!  Long interval, thick swells were throwing up 6 to 8 foot, sometimes 9 foot, faces with wide open barrels.  Clean lines on a glassy surface.  Sticks doing full stand up cover ups in the the tube.  

Sure, some of the sets were walled up, but there were plenty of peaks and corners for the patient.  I took away a number of memorable rides.  On one, I happened to be right at an 8 foot peak that, after a fast drop in and trim up to mid-face, leveled into a steep, 6 foot face, which then hollowed into a wide barrel that held open, full cover-up, for a good four seconds before collapsing around me.  My hoot of exuberance started before I even broke the surface.

There were a few lulls, but they were just time to reminisce for a few minutes until the next sets arrived.  A pod of maybe a dozen dolphin was rounding up a school of bait fish just outside the break, then drifted in and were weaving amongst us in the break and even inside, passing within a few few and occasionally sharing a wave.  As I was swimming back out once, diving under a wave I heard loud and distinct dolphin chatter - chirps, beeps and pops.  As I emerged, Joe and Allan, both a bit inside of me, wanted to know if we'd collided: one of the dophin and I were a foot apart and apparently headed on crossing paths as I dove under the wave.  He was a few feet off by the time I saw him afterwards.

Something very special about hanging with the dolphins, riding some thick Newport grinders and just being there while the Newps Peninsula is doin' what it's supposed to do....

The Bay

Yeah, photographic evidence of the morning Friday would have been in order, but was I really going to hang around shooting pictures when I could be in the water on a morning like that?  No way.  The only improvement would have been if there'd been some sun.

This morning, our hopes were up but expectations moderate.  The swell had slacked off a bit in the afternoon session at 6th street and the wind had picked back up Friday afternoon.  But the air was still in the early morning and it looked like some decent swell remained as Allan and I walked onto the broad, 18th Street beach.  The simplest recap for Saturday morning is that it was half as good and twice as crowded as Friday. 

Maybe there were some pluses, but mostly shoulder-high waves.  Not quite as clean, not quite as glassy, as Friday, either.  But still quite peaky and I got a couple of long rights...longer than anything on Friday but slower and smaller.  When we first got it, about 2/3 of the way from 17th to 18th, Allan and I had a nice peak pretty much to ourselves.  Then Allan snagged a couple of impressive lefts and suddenly there were a dozen surfers paddling our way from above the 18th St. LG stand.  For the rest of the morning, from mid-way between the two stands on to the Northwest was a solid line of sticks.  In fact, when we were leaving, I counted 20 boards in the water just in the half block Southeast of the 18th St. stand. 


Mark Ghattas showed up midway through the session, and we just worked the far less consistent but also far less crowded peak around the 17th Street stand.


Altogether, it's off to a good start.  Warm water and swell.  We can deal with variable conditions and we can go several years without a session like yesterday.


It's great to be here!