Around The World In 80 Waves

Whilst still at San Onofre I am joined by a local surfer called Wyatt who I had met previously in a bar a Newport Beach. Wyatt runs a very successful house cleaning business, but is more than a bit jealous of my own exploits and is keen to join me for a few waves along the way. We are not tempted back into the water at San Onofre but decide to head south to see if we can find some more exposed breaks where better waves will be showing. We hit the freeway and as soon as we do I realise that I have got no fuel in the car. By no fuel, I don’t mean in the red. I mean below the zero. Nothing is close by in the USA and Oceanside where we are heading is 20 miles away. I am frankly staggered that the car makes it to the petrol station where I fill up quickly because it is getting late and we are both itching to get another session in.

We go down to the harbour area and choose this salubrious place to park up. At first glance the surf looks naff but the sun is already going down and we both have longboards so we do quick changes into our wetsuits and go in anyway. The wind is actually blowing offshore here and although the waves are three feet high at best we both catch a hat-full of clean rides until we are effectively stealth surfing in the dark, trying to pick out slight changes in the horizon to see if a wave is coming. Surfing so much on my own it is great to have some company in the water and it is just a shame we couldn’t have got in the water earlier. We are both trying to get that last good ride in when it dawns (or I should say dusks) on me that it is fish feeding time, and I paddle in with a degree of haste not often seen on this trip.

Another quick change and we go for some victory beers and some grub at a bar next to this lighthouse on the other side of the harbour. You can see how dark it was when we got out though. Wyatt has to drive 30 miles back home to his wife so it isn’t a monster drinking session. Although I now have a powerful thirst on and realise it is Saturday night. It turns out the motel I am booked into for the next couple of nights is just around the corner so I race round there have a quick shower and stroll into town. I take a seat at the bar in Breakwater Brewing Co and am kept amused by the enchanting Christina who is serving me drinks. I’m having lots of banter with her and the other customers, but after scoring two breaks and having so much fun I don’t really want this day to end. I am warned that this is a US Marine party town and that they can get a little boisterous, but it doesn’t stop me briefly checking out a nightclub. It isn’t my scene, but I enjoy people watching for a bit and have one gin and tonic before strolling home.

The damage to my surfboard means that I would be unable to surf for a few days. However on this trip that is unacceptable and after packing up the car in its Mexico rigging at the motel in Newport Beach, I head down past San Clemente where my board is being straightened out and hire a 9’4″ molded board from the Rip Curl shop near the Trestles break where I was surfing yesterday. From there I drive another freeway junction south to the San Onofre state run beach park.

This beach is famously next to a nuclear power plant and I am reminded of that upon turning off the freeway. The facility is adjacent to the sand and one suspects that in this seismically active part of the world they have revised their tsunami risk management procedures in light of the recent events at Fukushima.

The two huge reactors which are actually being closed down are in sight the whole time I am in the water, and for some reason they keep reminding me of something I saw at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.

As for the surf it is average at best. There are plenty of people out in the slow knee high conditions, and every ride is a party wave with everybody dropping in. I saw six people on one wave before going in. Having to hire the bigger 9’4″ board was a blessing in disguise because the extra volume meant I could easily catch many of these waves during the two hour session. Things quietened down in the water and for half an hour there were just myself and a lady in her fifties working on our nose riding technique which was lots of fun. (I have to say that hers was much better than mine too.)

On the down side there is so much kelp in the shallow water which keeps wrapping itself around my legs, the fins, the leash. I am not too freaked out by the sensation at first, which I can only equate to feeling like you are having an ongoing battle with an octopus. The good thing about the kelp is that the sharks are not supposed to come through it because they are also afraid of getting trapped and they need to keep moving for their gills to work. However one cheerful soul in the water tells me I should put San Onofre Shark into You Tube, which I do later in the day. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOBeXD91fI) Having moved quite far south I had hoped I would be far less likely to see anything. Apparently not. Great

I’m not glowing like the Ready Brek kid after surfing this nuclear break although I can now turn light bulbs on just by walking into a room and start the car without needing keys!

In my wasted haste to get in to the shore to see if the dolphin pictures came out I surfed the last wave too far in and clattered a submerged rock with one of my fins, nearly ripping the fin box out of the surfboard in the process. Doh!

The knock has put the back of the fin through the fibreglass layer on the underside of the board and I have also broken the figure of eight FCS plug that the fin attaches to, so will need to get this fixed before I can get in the water again

A hectic dash to a local surfshop before it closes and I am put in touch with Ding Dr X who says he can fix it as well as the other minor dings (or damage for the non surfing reader) which I have picked up so far.

It is going to cost me a few bucks to sort the problems out, but a board without a fin is like a ship without a rudder, so I have no choioce but to deal with it.

It will mean I am without my own board for a few days but I can hire one tomorrow (probably treating myself to a longboard for the day) and the Super Bowl is on Sunday when I wasn’t planning on surfing much anyway, so I wont miss the L’Oreal Studio Line board too much. However apart from the unnecessary cost it does create faff for me, because I had already booked a place to stay further down the coast and will have to yo-yo up and down the pacific highway a bit.

There really isnt much surf about at the moment and I have to drive for miles to find a wave. Newport Beach where I am currently based isn’t working, the picture you see here of Doheny will show you that people had paddled out more in hope than expectation. San Clemente Pier was much the same so I push on past the county line to Trestles which is another legendary break that was on my list of breaks that I must surf, hoping for more swell to be showing there.

As well as being a legendary break it is notoriously difficult to find. You park in a burger bar car park, walk over the freeway bridge. Down this track for half a mile turn right continue down that track for half a mile, scramble under the elevated railway pilons (or trestles hence the name) and then across the sand. I feel like I have been hiking by the time I get to the water but am amused by the rabbits running all over the place as I walk down the tracks, because they are a new addition to the Doolittle collection.

The break itself is split up into Uppers, Middles and Lowers and I paddle out at Uppers to avoid the massive crowds in the water at Lowers where the waves can be legendarily good. The sea surface is like glass and I think that I am in for an amazing session but the truth is that there were not enough waves coming through and those that did were only really breaking on the shore. You had to wait ages for a half decent ride. This was todays best shot.

However during one of these long lulls some more dolphins came through and unlike my experience at Rincon I had my camera with me this time. In no great rush they idled by me in the water and I was hoping that you could see them behind me. I was looking for ages but have failed to get the photographic proof I would love. They hung around for about 20 minutes which was awesome.

I’m in the water for a few hours and chatting with some local guys, but the wait between waves is boring so I eventually paddle in keen to see if I caught anything useful on camera.

Santa Cruz may claim to be “Surf City USA” but Huntington Beach has actually registered trademarks on it! It is known for its surf culture and eight mile stretch of sandy beach that gets consistent surf all year long. Alongside the pier is home to the US Open Surf Championships each summer, to which as many as 500,000 spectators come to watch.

I get up early to enjoy a feast of waves in the sunshine here and have a great chat on the phone with my brother James whilst I take in the sights. Straight away I knew there was a reason I came to California.

However it is all about the waves and I have a ball in the clean waves for more than three hours. I lost count of how many I caught, but my GoPro camera took 3723 pictures which I have worn out my delete key distilling down to just 69. This one of me with the sun in the palm of my hand is probably the picture of the day.

However not every one of the shoulder high waves goes as well as others! You can just see the pier in the background.

The skill level is unbelievably high here. I lost count of how many 360 airs I saw people landing. I’m not US Open standard but I put a great account in of myself and even bagged a few lefts which have been rare on this trip. I chatted with a few locals, even doing a bit of networking with a fund manager about job opportunities, which is a different kind of board meeting I suppose. I have good laugh with a surfer called John who has loads of great advice about the forthcoming journey through Mexico where his work regularly takes him, and he may also be able to put me in touch with a few friendly faces along the way which would be cool.

Huntington Beach is also the location of the International Surfing Museum and I check that out after the session. It has a particularly impressive collection of surf wax which I suppose would appeal to some more than others! The town also boasts a surfing walk of fame akin to the stars on the pavement in Hollywood. Miki Dora honoured here is a legendary beatnik surfer who went more than a bit off the rails.

I go for a stroll around the town and along the pier, where I watch these California Girls playing beach volleyball as the sun goes down. Having enjoyed a courtside seat at the Olympic tournament I was casting my expert eye over their form and technique for a good hour before retiring to the Longboard Bar for a few beers.

All in all a fantastic day and the sort of time I was hoping to enjoy when I got to the west coast of the USA.

The Wedge is a famous break at the east end of the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, which can produce huge waves up to 30 feet high. Sadly when I get there to check it out it isn’t breaking mostly because the current swell is coming from the north and it needs a southerly swell to work best.

The waves are a result of a rock jetty on the west side of the Newport Harbor entrance built during the 1930s. When a wave approaches the shore at the proper angle it reflects off the jetty creating a second wave. The reflected wave meets up with the following wave of the set and forms a peak. The combined effect of the reflected wave and the incoming wave creates a combined wave much larger than either of the two separate waves and occurs very rapidly and forms waves in a very unpredictable pattern, so that no two waves are alike and the exact breaking point is difficult to predict. Huge air drops, broken boards and broken bones are very common so I’m a little disappointed no to see it crashing in. However this link should give you some idea of what it is like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2a9wsmKUjo

I give the car a once over to try and identify any issues before I head south of the border. Straight away I spot this massive gouge out of one of the tyres which must have been waiting to blow out. I dont remember curbing the car badly so have no idea how I managed that.

I try to change to the spare but find that there are locking nuts on the wheels but no adaptor to fit them. Doh!

Finally I test the oil only to find that the dip stick was dry. Oops! Thankfully I had bought some just in case.

Sorting these things out, buying some new bolts for the wheels and some locks for the roof rack takes me most of the day, which is a pain but better now than half way down a dusty track in Mexico or further south.

I treat the bug to a new flower while I am sorting car issues, because the vase on the dash has been woefully empty sp far on this trip. It is green daisy with the VW logo in the middle, and the colour should match at least one of the body panels.

I have booked into a motel for a few nights because I want to be able to get the little green surf machine prepped for the journey south. I need to completely empty it and then start again from scratch so finding a place that I can park this near my room is awesome.

Motel 6 is a very reasonably priced chain and I may use them again because I need to get into a security focused regime to minimise issues as I cross the border. If I am not sleeping in the car I must bring the board inside every night as well as everything that is not in the boot.

I am staggered at how much stuff I have collected already and somewhow I need to squeeze all this into the bug without anything of value being on display for the next few months. It will be like a giant version of tetris, but I like a challenge.

I head towards the Newport Beach motel I have checked into for the next few days and check out the beaches along the way. This part of LA doesnt is sheltered by the islands and the surf is little more than a drop and a turn everywhere I look. This is actually a picture of Redondo which I had taken a couple of days previously but it is typical of what I see in that the waves are just dumping on the beach and because my foot is quite sore after the knock it took in Manhattan I dont go back in.

I also check out some other great breaks that are much the same including the intrigueingly named ‘Rat Shit’ which is enough to put you off going in on its own. I am very nearly tempted in by the lefts working off the reef at Haggertys at the southern end of Los Angeles Bay but the scramble down and back up the huge cliffs and the rocks I can see everywhere from the top put me off. I forgot to take a picture there but this one is just around the corner at Palos Verde Cove where the issue is much the same. I did meet a surfer called Paul who offers his place in Mexico for me to stay in, so I make a note of his details and will see if that works out.

I push on around the headland past Donald Trump’s golf resort and am treated to an exquisite sunset at Point Vincente lighthouse, which you can see here. The island in the background is Catalina, off which Hollywood superstar Natalie Wood drowned after a night of partying on a boat with her husband Robert Wagner and Chistopher Walken in 1981.

The sunset gets better as I move a bit further south but I dont hang around long because I have to cross south central LA. I immediately get lost, and this is not the sort of area you want to hang around in for too long. I end up doing laps of the massive port area for some time before getting back on the road after resorting to the navigation on my smartphone, which works well until it tells me I have reached my destination in the fast lane of route 55!

Manhattan Beach is where Dale Velzy first walked down his board to stand on the front ‘Hanging Ten’ toes over the nose of his board in 1950. It is a beach I have to surf. After checking out of the hostel and sorting more dull phone problems I drive down there pleased to note the wind has dropped off massively since the day before. The sun is out and I am back in shorts although I may be the only one.

As you can see waves are breaking on both sides of the pier but I opt for the left hand side, and the waves which should be peeling right there. It is my forehand side i.e I am facing the wave rather than looking over my shoulder at it going the other way. However despite there being no wind it is really lumpy on the water and I am upended by the choppy water several times including one where the board flies out from under me with a fin slamming rather painfully into my foot. It almost feels like there are several swells arriving at once and they cant decide who is boss.

I still catch enough waves to keep me happy and they are actually quite big when they roll through as this picture of the day should demonstrate. You can just see the pier in the background where groups of people would stop to see if I got mangled by the sea or eaten by any of the angry fish. I even got a few whoops and a round of applause after one wave so I’m doing my best to put on a show for them. I cant manage a nose ride because my board is the wrong shape for that and the fins are too small, but I bag a some lovel rides and get out with a big grin on my face.