Around The World In 80 Waves

After a very dull day sorting things out for Mexico and then an even more tedious Southern California 8 lane traffic jam trying to get out of San Diego I travel north to Today’s Pizza in Encinitas to meet up with Bill and his wife Sue at the Ukulele Kanakapila jam session which is held there every week.

It is the perfect filip and unlike the uke jams I have attended in the UK where a lot of contemporary tunes are played, almost all the songs are Hawaiian love songs. All through the night the ladies adorned with tropical flowers in their hair get up and dance Hula in front of the house band. There are loads of kids having a go too and everybody is having so much fun.

It is brilliant, and my own ham fisted playing is drowned out by the 50 other ukesters at the restaurant. I even risk some off key singing to the songs, which seem so much more relevant having just been out to the islands myself.

As you can see I dressed for the occasion, and have loads of fun talking to the regular attendees who are really interested in my trip. Of all those playing I would have to say that the majority are quite a bit older than me, but I am most impressed that just about every one of them has an Ipad or equivalent with their songbooks stored on them, as well as a mini music stand to place it so that they can read the songs and play easily. It is the first time I have ever seen so many older people so whole heartedly embracing digital technology and is a wonderful sight.

Joanne, who has travelled up from San Diego to join the fun, is also attired to enter the spirit of things with her flower lei, and borrows Sue’s uke for a song or two. Its a small world because she bought one of her previous cars from Bill’s dealership in Carlsbad, and is serenaded with a version of George Formby’s ‘On The Wigan Boat Express’ by Bill and Sue as soon as they know its her home town. (It was his home town too.)

It isn’t rock and roll, but I love it.

Through our mutual friend back the UK, Andy Hughes, I have been put in touch with San Diego resident Joanne who has been kind enough to receive some mail for me and takes me out to see San Diego old town. Taco Tuesday is a big tradition so we go to a Mexican restaurant where I enjoy my first fish taco and we share a pitcher of Margarittas whilst getting to know one another.

Joanne is from Shevington near Wigan in the North West of England, and Wigan is my favourite night out in the whole of the UK, so we are getting on brilliantly. So much so that I completely forget to take any pictures.

Later in the evening we head into the historic gaslamp area downtown so that Joanne can ditch her car and enjoy a few more drinks. We have a really great night but she has an early start with work the next day so we think it best to call it a night some time after 1am. 

I’m keen to get another wave in today because I think it will be my last day surfing in the USA. I drive past Torry Pines, and Blacks beaches but am not tempted by the surf on offer there, so push on for La Jolla. The cove there is one of California’s big wave spots but it hasnt even broken sufficiently for people to surf if for nearly 6 years according to a local diver I get chatting to. There is no chance today but I watch the local swimmers working their way through the water and the sea-lion colony, most of whom are sunning themselves on the rocks you can see in the background here. I might have to go for a swim here with the Go Pro if time allows to get some close up footage of the Sea-lions.

I drive around the bay to the beach alongside the pier and paddle out there with all the others in the water. It is a frustrating session due to a cross shore rip which is dragging me down the beach and preventing the waves from breaking properly. I only have an hour here but catch a couple, but this was the best picture of the session

Quitting while I was ahead after one wave I caught in, I am in the shallows and notice something moving behind me. I have been followed in on my wave by the two inquisitive sea-lion pups you can see here. Apologies for the picture quality but it is the best I could do quickly using my board as a camera stand. I couldnt hang around for long because I am meeting somebody this evening so do a quick change and head back to my room.

The only other thing to report here is the breathtaking Mormon Temple which is alongside the road on the way back to the motel. The hard edges of the white stone look fantastic against the night sky.

Steve, the surfer I was chatting to in the water at Del Mar told me about the Cardiff Kook, which is the nickname given to this statue which has been erected adjacent to the beach at Cardiff-by-the-Sea. I had missed it on my way south, so I drove back northwards to check it out.

Apparently there was some degree of dismay when it was first installed that the surfer looks like such a geek even a tad effeminate, and the statue has been dressed up and abused by mischievous pranksters ever since. However the town has now embraced the statue and regularly goes to some efforts to decorate him. He is naked as the day he came into the world on the day that I get there but I have added some pictures of their best work below. There are many, many more. Check them out at http://thecardiffkook.org/

The statue’s official name is Magic Carpet Ride and there is an engraving of this poem of the same name on the side.

Enjoy these:

Del Mar is probably most famous for it’s racetrack, where the turf meets the surf. However I have come here looking for a different kind of action. The swell has dropped since yesterday so I head to reef break at the bottom of 15th Street, which is supposed to be the most consistent break of the waves available here.

As you can see there was only one guy out in the water and I didn’t think twice before getting suited up and jumping in. However I haven’t been in the water more than ten minutes and then about 50 school kids start paddling out simultaneously. What had been and exclusive break is all of a sudden mobbed.

I chat to the surfer next to me called Steve, who it turns out is a parent to one of the grommets. It is actually their P.E. lesson. The school doesnt provide tuition but the parents take it in turn to car pool the kids to the beach and keep an eye on them in the water. Given today’s waves Steve wasn’t too upset he had to ‘supervise’ them and it is only right that he paddles out on his own board so he can do that better, whilst perhaps catching a wave or two himself.

I catch loads of rights which is surprising because this is supposed to be a left. That is until my final wave of the day, which went on for ages on my backhand side. I rode the head high wave from all the way out past the breaking waves into ankle deep water on the shore. It was awesome, check it out. 

Given a two second interval on the camera I reckon that was a 30 seond plus ride. Outstanding and definitely the best left of the trip so far.

😎

In my haste to get to this beach I had driven past the break without realising so, but how I managed to miss the Self Realization Fellowship Hermitage & Meditation Gardens which identifies where to pull in is beyond me. After driving past Cardiff-by-the-sea I eventually doubled back because this is another classic right hand point break I had to surf.

Bill had earlier told me this break is known locally as Swarm-ies because it gets so busy, and there is a big crowd in the water when I arrive because the surf has really picked up since yesterday. I dont have a great deal of daylight left after putting the fins back into my repaired board so don’t rig up the GoPro camera, but can tell you the surf was head high and bigger on some of the sets. A lot of the waves are dumping quite heavily and I have to work hard to get out back.

There could be many reasons for it (e.g. surfing a smaller board again, superbowl hangover, the grey sky, not enough wax on my board, etc) but I am feeling really uncomfortable in the water here. I also catch a fleeting glimpse of a fin breaking the surface in the half light and I wasn’t entirely sure it was curved, so spend a few nervy minutes trying to decide if I should paddle in. However sure enough the dolphins appear again right next to me and I havent got my camera with me. Doh!

It is getting quite dark and I haven’t really caught anything, and am only pleased when the rogue huge set of waves rolls through the break absolutely wiping everybody out apart from myself who has stratched just fast enough to the horizon to get over it. Most surfer will tell you there is a massive dose of Schadenfreude whenever this happens and you look back at the carnage and all the boards tombstone-ing behind you, and I am chuckling to myself even if I havent caught anything yet.

About to give up having blanked, I spot a huge wave coming in and go for it. I nail my take off and have a twenty second ride carving the wave, which is walled up and peeling beautifully, all the way in to the beach. Outstanding! I haven’t got as many rides as I would have liked but wanted to end on a high there so walked up the steps going up the cliffs and took this shot of the break from the top.

The only other highlight would be taking a shower to wash off the salt water after my surf session at the same time as Amy, a beautiful surfer girl who lives down the road in Del Mar, and wishes me well on my trip. Grrrrr!

The cruise control on my car stopped working a couple of days ago. I wasn’t going to worry about it because it is a luxury rather than a necessity, but out of curiosity ran the issue past Google and am told it is very likely to be the brake light switch under the brake pedal. A quick check confirms that indeed I do not have any brake lights! Oops.

I drive to Bob Baker Volkswagen in the next town called Carlsbad and am quickly chatting with the General Manager of the operation who spotted my surfboard and wanted to know if the surf was any good. Bill Kornik, pictured here showing off his gorgeous new tenor ukulele, has surfed since he was a child and despite running the operation still takes his surfboard to work every day.

When I let Bill know I’m from the UK he tells me he is going there later in the year with his family to hopefully get some waves in Cornwall, but also because he loves playing ukulele and is going to attend a convention of the George Formby Society in Blackpool. When I produce my own uke and tell Bill about my ukulele world record the two of us are getting on famously and Bill is kind enough to take me to lunch while his team take care of my car. I also suspect that a quiet word has been had in somebody’s ear because his team give my car a good going over (as well as a clean) without charge, identifying a few other niggly things that I am best sorting before things get a tad more rustic. All of which I’m very grateful for.

We have lunch in a wonderful surf themed restaurant called the Beach Break Cafe which has an exhibit by the California Surf Museum at the back. There are loads of classic boards by legendary shaper such as Hobie, Velzy Jacobs and Dick Brewer hanging from the roof and the two of us are having a great chat about surf tours and breaks all over the world.

All the issues with the car are addressed by the time we get back and I head south to get a surf in before dark, but I will be catching up with Bill again because he has invited me to a ukulele jam session on Wednesday just down the road from where I will be staying in San Diego. He even gives me his mobile number in case I have any more issues with the car so that he can help out

Upon getting back to the hotel last night I took advantage of the on site laundry facilities. Sorting through everything this morning I am horrified to notice that one of my Animal socks is missing.

They are my favourite pair of socks so I get half the hotel staff looking for the errant sock and am delighted when it turns up. All is once more well with the world.

It always used to be said that if the Soviet Union were ever to invade the USA it would happen on Super Bowl Sunday because everyone would be distracted. I don’t know if that would be true but it is certainly quiet on the road back to Oceanside and I put my foot down because I am missing the start of the game. The Baltimore Ravens are taking on the San Francisco 49ers with brothers coaching the rival teams and when I arrive at the bar just before half time the Ravens have built a commanding lead.

Beyonce is the half time show to which I have only one thing to say. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

Baltimore extend their lead early in the second half with the longest return from a kick in the history of the NFL, however their progress is stopped soon after when a power cut takes out the lights in the stadium and the game is halted for over half an hour. San Francisco come out firing once the match resumes and get within a score of winning the match after three great touchdowns. However Baltimore hold their nerve and have enough left in the tank to see the game home. It was a great contest but the Californians in the bar couldn’t see it that way even if most were San Diego Chargers fans they were still supporting their local side. Great fun to watch in the bar but a lot of  people attend house parties, which is apparently how almost everybody enjoys the game in th US.

The bar is desserted soon after the final whistle leaving me with the random bloke from Singapore who tells me he has just got out of prison after a four month sentence for selling US secrets to the Chinese. (A charge that he denies still.) He gos on to tell me that he knows somebody in Indonesia who will sell me his sisters for $10.

Time for bed me thinks!

I get a call early from Ding Dr X who tells me my board is ready. After catching up on a little bit of admin I scoot back northwards to San Clemente where I check out his handywork.

I have to say he has done a brilliant job and he gives me a pile of stickers to soften the blow of the bill, all of which I almost lose straight away, by driving off after leaving them on the roof whilst attaching the board.

I am in San Clemente so check out the break by he pier there. It is the weekend and straight away I notice that there are loads of young ladies looking very fine in bikinis.

I dont take any pictures though (Sorry boys!) because I am pretty sure that they are all jail bait, and my fears are confirmed when I get to the beach and find that there is a high school surf contest going on. The contest is taking place on both sides of the pier monopolising the best of the waves, and the rest of us have to put up with the scraps outside of that.

The surf still isn’t much to write home about, and unless you are in the contest each wave consists of a drop, a quick turn and then the wave closing out, dumping on the shore in the proces.

I still have the hire board so choose to take that out so I can get into the waves as early as possible and also because it will prevent any further damge to the L’Oreal board for at least this session. The paddle out is very easy but as soon as I get out back I am met by a sea-lion popping out of the water next to me just to remind me I am not the only thing in the water.

Unperturbed I catch three great waves (albeit brief ones) and three monster wipeouts soon after, but spend most of the session being heckled by the grommets (or young surfers) who are getting peeved that I am able to catch the waves far easier than they are on the bigger board I am armed with. Surfer don’t get older they just get bigger boards and the groms will learn that soon enough. I dont hang about in the water for long today because I hear there is a big game on, so I get changed quickly and then head southwards again to my hotel and the match.