Southern Surfari
Nancy Jean Travis
Mid Tuesday nite camped 315 miles south of San Francisco,
at the little point break i hit last month, but it was dead flat at dawn.
Run into town for ice and a scout of RIncon. Fell head over
heals madly in love here, it was little and woosy and empty,
but i could see what the cobblestone point could do on a swell.
The scarlet bouganvallea and lizards around my toes.
SHIT! Jose Cuervo jumps into the cart with the ice,
the whole crew's health is gunna be sacrificed for a swell.
Thursday dawn, rain pouring down the van windows, i was still
alive and the point break had come up. We tore up camp and
missed the turn to Rincon, good omen. Turned around and spied
the most perfect point break i have ever seen. No curtain
of fibreglass, just perfect surf, 6 surfers. PIrate karma, i luv it.
I surfed First Point and it was jest as perfect as it looked.
My first wave was so sweet i stuck my whole head in it and
kept goin down the line. Fangs first ever headdip, a local
named Larry cheered my wave and even pulled off a couple for me.
Hours later, the boyz are tired and ready to drive to San Clemente.
I couldnt stand leavin, never leave perfect surf looking for
surf some place else! I cried. No problem we'll just steal your
rig then and u can stay, they answered.
Next stop San Clemente. There's two hell camp spots overlooking
the whole coast, from Dana Point to Tressles one on each side of the
observation tower. My favorite was occupied by a camper from Idaho.
Bummer. The other was occupied by my surf hero, big wave hellman
and World Champion, RIchie Schmidt. Not such a bummer after all.
The rest of the day, i took the hell razing from the boyz accusing
me of hunting surf legends instead of surf. Forgetting that they
had drug me away from Rincon.
Camped next to the poor dude from Idaho. Put up the Pirate flag
first thing. Idaho takes off for supplies, we chased him down and
asked if he's leavin yet. Idaho comes back from the store and
finds Fang standing on his camp table with binoculars checking
Cotton Point. The crew ends the day with Jose (it IS Cinco de Mayo)
feasting and mulling over the Rincon waves. In the middle of the night I
discover Idaho has moved down the road to another site and we
take his camp, now having the full-on constant surf view. The
next day Ritchie wonders wot happened to Idaho? He couldnt wait
to get that camp! We run him out, i bragged. Now Richie starts
laughin, coz he ran the guy outta his side the day before.
All that was left of Idaho was an empty can of fat-free vegetarian chili
in the trash. Heartwrenching.
;-)
Nancy Jean
Nancy Jean Travis
Friday morning awoke to the panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean,
San Clemente looked small, but i could see a little crew tearing
up the pier, and a couple out at Cottons. We had scouted San Onofre
the evening before and that was the plan, Old Man's.
Wot a scene, my first time there. Lots of room, lots of breaks,
lots of surfers. Waaa, beach break, I cried. I want Rincon.
One of the locals said Ya its been flat for two months. Dont bother.
As he spoke, I could see lotsa nice rides being had all around.
Flat, yuh. I surfed the furthest outside south peak. I figured
Old Man's for a longboard spot, and picked out some long cool rollers
on the Stewart but as the tide dropped, the swell sucked up,
and I went back for a second session on the Arrow. Who woood have
thought the Old Man's break would produce some of the longest
short board rides i've ever had?
A couple 9 year olds came out and i hassled them about the age
limit at Old Mans and how it was a school day. They said "School?
What's that?" Two cool little heads from Dana Point, stoked and
happy. I wish it was just a little bigger one said, and sure as
sun shines, some screamers started rolling in, the whole crew
hooting and howling as the swell built. Damn good for flat!
Surfed till the arms turned to vegies.
Larry Roth, a San O local since 1937 (ya he still surfs and
butt paddles and took a few good lickings over the falls)
introduced me to OB and his family camped on the beach. They
said San O was the oldest surf club in Cali (yaaaa!) they
had been there five generations, just keeping the beach clean
and the stoke alive for everyone. A mellow crew and i'll neva
bad mouth beach breaks again after surfing San Onofre.
Nancy Jean Travis
Friday nite we get cocky and decide to do something crazy:
surf Rincon on Saturday. We break camp at 3:30am and
get there at 6:30. Its smokin! Its mucho bigger and got
a fair sized crew on it.
I've always heard the Point is guarded by vicious locals,
that one of the best point breaks in the state has been
ruined by hostiles, on and on. But the trip had been so
good so far, i had to do it.
The weekend crew was impressive, big muscled long haired tatooed
steelyeyed creatures that ripped and roared, not a kook amongst
the bunch, they've killed em all, i reckon.
Paddled out with the Gath helmet, haha. Seemed like a fine place for it.
One of the crew called me a space creature and i made seal
noises at him to ward him off. They've never seen helmets down
there, probably need em there more than anywhere.
The Con crew likes to surf in packs. They drop all over each
other and yell and name call but all in the most cheerful
abusive manner, big smiles and hoots for good rides. They're
not hostile, but they're KEEN. Greedy. Aggressive. Competitive.
Incredible. It was a bit big and dangerous for a crowd,
but they had such good style and control i didnt worry.
Then i got caught inside on a really big set and suddenly the takeoff
zone widens so its too big to paddle around. A really *BIG*
dude was screamin down the face and ran right over my ass as
i dove for it. When i come up i apologized for being a hazard.
He was really upset. I apologized again. Even more upset and confused,
he then paddled over on shoulder and started apologizing to my friends
for runnin over me, hahaha. They said he was cheering my rides
after that. A caffein junky named Freddy snaked everyone, smoked
the tube, every 6 rides or so he would paddle over and tell me
which wave was mine. I made sure i didnt miss any of those.
Well noodle arms lasted only till 9:30 am. Walking back up the
trail the boyz say, hey Nancy you got a big slash across the
ass of your wetsuit, mmmm he got me after all. Do they make
helmets for the rear? One of the crew came over and smiled
at the rig, you need more Sex Wax stickers on it, he says
and gives me a dozen. We invited the whole mess of them up
to Santa Cruz to give lessons in crowd control. I hope they
come.
Back on the road home, rain pouring all the way from SLO to SF Bay,
all the way home i'm lovesick thinking of the point. Its only six
hours to the baddest surf spot on the planet. I'll be back.
Nancy Jean
ooooooB-)
Daniel Hinojosa
> hours to the baddest surf spot on the planet. I'll be back.
wellll. i seem to be the only blacks proponent on this group. nancy, you an'
the gang need to go to blacks next. do it. don't ask no questions, other
than how to get there. when you get back, be sure to post a tome the size of
this one detailing how cool you though the blacks break was (assuming of
course you find it with wave).
how about it folks? blacks stories. when i get time, i'll post my particular
vision of blacks beach, ca. (north of scripps, west of ucsd).
daniel.
--
daniel hinojosa. email -=> hino...@nado.hp.com | Santa Clara, CA
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jesus Saves!... But Gretzky gets the rebound. He Shoots. He SCOOORES!!!
Mike Gleeson
>
>wellll. i seem to be the only blacks proponent on this group. nancy, you an'
>the gang need to go to blacks next. do it. don't ask no questions, other
>than how to get there. when you get back, be sure to post a tome the size of
>this one detailing how cool you though the blacks break was (assuming of
>course you find it with wave).
>
>how about it folks? blacks stories. when i get time, i'll post my particular
>vision of blacks beach, ca. (north of scripps, west of ucsd).
>
My favorite times at Blacks have been when its 2-3' everywhere else &
Blacks is pumpin' 4-6'. I don't live in the area anymore & my visits
have dwindled down to ~3 times a year. There's that north peak (still
3 peaks?) -> I'd dawn patrol it & end up with 6-8 guys working the peak
in a perfect circle. Paddle out, drop-in, ride the shoulder, paddle back
& take-off. We'd be spaced out such that everyone dropped-in from the
same position. Since I only dawn-patrol it there (perfect glass till 8:30 am),
there's the occasional suprising summer day when I walk down in the afternoon.
I'd go into details but I'm sure my comments would be mis-interpreted.
The best part about Blacks is that I've never seen any hassling. It's the
way surfing should be. I guess if there any dorks there, they stay on
the sand. There's grommets & I alway talk to 'em -> I've never seen a
fibreglass mishap at Blacks. If it's crowded, I head up to South Torry
Pines or 8th Street.
- Mike
"'cause kookin' ain't easy... shut-up & surf"
fair...@slacvx.slac.stanford.edu
hino...@nado.hp.com (Daniel Hinojosa) writes:
> how about it folks? blacks stories. when i get time, i'll post my particular
> vision of blacks beach, ca. (north of scripps, west of ucsd).
When I was an undergraduate at UCSD (and people cut out the
letters in the window decals and rearranged them to spell SCUD ...
this was before the missiles of the same name :0 ), when it got
really big at Blacks, we'd go sit on the cliffs, about 100-150 ft
above the beach, and listen to Ricky Gregg and friends HOOTING as
they took the set waves. Funny thing was, they'd take off, ride for
a while, and pull out _before_ you'd finally hear the hoots...that's
how far away they were.
The one time I went out at Blacks (this was before they paved
the road, made it all public access, and declared it clothing
optional, so you had a good long paddle, or walk, down from
Scripps), I got a really fantastic left off the north peak, about
10-12 ft, only to look back and see Gregg inside and below me. Made
me feel a bit chagrined, so I pulled out as soon as I could. He
didn't say anything, just sort of ignored me, but it wasn't crowed
so it really wasn't a big deal I guess...
The thing about Gregg is, that while he worked at Scripps, he'd
never go out if it was less than 8+ ft. I guess he'd had too much
Hawaiian stuff that spoiled the whimpy SD beach breaks for him.
-Ken
--
Dr. Kenneth H. Fairfield | Internet: Fair...@Slac.Stanford.Edu
SLAC, P.O.Box 4349, MS 98 | DECnet: 45537::FAIRFIELD (45537=SLACVX)
Stanford, CA 94309 | Voice: (415) 926-2924 FAX: (415) 926-4335
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
These opinions are mine, not SLAC's, Stanford's, nor the DOE's...
Tom Tweed
>wellll. i seem to be the only blacks proponent on this group. nancy, you an'
>the gang need to go to blacks next. do it. don't ask no questions, other
>than how to get there. when you get back, be sure to post a tome the size of
>this one detailing how cool you though the blacks break was (assuming of
>course you find it with wave).
>how about it folks? blacks stories. when i get time, i'll post my particular
>vision of blacks beach, ca. (north of scripps, west of ucsd).
Daniel-
You aren't the only one here that likes Black's, I've been surfing it since
1961 and still get down there a couple or three times a week. It is
definitely one of the premier S. Cal beachbreaks, but it is difficult to
compare it to a point break like Rincon! The rides are much shorter on most
days. There are usually 3-4 peaks to spread the crowd out and a semi-friendly
sand bottom to bounce off of. The wave is fast and round and takes a swell
from any direction, practically, but it is often closed out and thumping hard
and has no protection from the onshore wind (the water is too deep offshore
for kelp beds).
I've seen it hold perfect A-frame shape up to triple-overhead faces, but don't
get caught inside on a set! It'll suck the stingrays off the bottom and stuff
them down your wetsuit!
See ya,
Tom Tweed e-mail: ttw...@ucsd.edu or twe...@flosun.sdsc.edu
"Getting information off the Internet is like trying to take a drink from a
firehose." -Mitch Kapor
John Airey
In article <ttweed.2...@ucsd.edu>, ttw...@ucsd.edu writes:
> In article <2qoshm$5...@hpscit.sc.hp.com> hino...@nado.hp.com (Daniel
> Hinojosa) writes:
>
> >wellll. i seem to be the only blacks proponent on this group. nancy, you an'
> >the gang need to go to blacks next. do it. don't ask no questions, other
>
> >vision of blacks beach, ca. (north of scripps, west of ucsd).
>
> Daniel-
> You aren't the only one here that likes Black's, I've been surfing it since
> 1961 and still get down there a couple or three times a week. It is
> definitely one of the premier S. Cal beachbreaks, but it is difficult to
> compare it to a point break like Rincon! The rides are much shorter on most
> days. There are usually 3-4 peaks to spread the crowd out and a semi-friendly
> sand bottom to bounce off of. The wave is fast and round and takes a swell
> from any direction, practically, but it is often closed out and thumping hard
> and has no protection from the onshore wind (the water is too deep offshore
> for kelp beds).
>
Powerful beach break and good point/reef both have their advantages in
typically crowded California. I find that mixing it up; i.e. surfing both,
gives you an extra appreciation for each, and also greatly improves
your overall surfing skils. I've come away from good beach
break thinking I've never had so much fun, but I can also remember when
I felt like I died and went to heaven on a good point with a decent
swell and manageable crowds.
john m. airey ai...@asd.sgi.com (415) 390-5248
M/S 7U-553 Silicon Graphics, Advanced Graphics Division
2011 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mtn. View, CA 94039