Around The World In 80 Waves

Once I collect the car from the garage I decide to drive into the Sierra Nevada mountains to give it a proper test run. This shot was actually taken an hour and a half before the sun went down in amongst some of the Giant Redwood trees. The trees are so massive they block almost all the sunlight. It is all a bit Blair Witch Project and bloody cold so I drive back to Santa Cruz and make my final visit to 99 bottles, where I take my tally there to 17 different beers. (Must try harder!) Have a chat with a few people at the bar in which the subject of gun control comes up. One of the blokes who seems quite normal tells me he has an AR15 assault rifle on the grounds that you never know. He and the rest of the US are still living by the ‘peace by superior firepower’ train of thought and I think they will keep having gun problems until they grow up. Shame, because almost everybody I have met is thoroughly normal.

I find a nice spot to sleep in the little green surf machine for the first time. It is next to a beach, just around the headland from Pleasure Point and everything goes well until I set off the car alarm at 5am in the morning because the bloody thing has auto armed in the night, which it did because I had the audacity to take the keys out of the ignition overnight. It is dark and I can’t find the key for ages, the alarm works very well and all the lights come on in the houses nearby. So much for surreptitiously getting a crafty kip! I start the car and hit the road as soon as I can.

Pleasure point is just around the corner so I wait for the sun to come up and check out the break which you see here. The house in the middle is owned by Jack O’Neill the inventor of the wetsuit, purely so he could stay out on his surfboard longer and catch more waves. His son is also responsible for the surfboard leash because so many boards were getting washed into the cliffs and destroyed by the powerful waves here. As you can see the tide is high again which I have realised was where I went wrong at Steamer Lane, so I dont fancy getting into another bad situation.  

 The locals tell me it will be better as the tide drops and I hang around for a bit even checking out The Hook which is the next break along. The waves are very small and clean but already massively over crowded. The only ones who appear to be having a good time are the Sea Otters (a big nod to my channel swimming buddies at this point) who hang out together like this making ‘rafts’. VERY cute. It doesnt tempt me into the water though and I break the cardinal rule of surfing, i.e to never turn your nose up at surfable waves, and head south finally leaving Santa Cruz.

This logan is on Tshirts and car bumpers everywhere. I hope they do manage to keep the eclectic mix of surf dudes and shred Bettys, recumbent bicycles, skateboards, coastal joggers, freaky tattoos, and the great atmosphere that goes with all of it.

I head south and no sooner do I get sufficiently far from town for returning to be a real pain but the engine management light comes on. #*&$!!!!!!!!!