July 25, 2012 Wednesday - Part 1

Ventura	Surfers Point
7:50 am to 9:50 am	2’ to 3’, sets head-high
Low upcoming tide	No wind to slight onshore breeze
Overcast	Fun session

What a great start to my 2012 Surf Safari, I surfed for two hours with my niece Heather at Surfers Point and had a great healthy and reasonably priced breakfast with her and her father Larry (my brother-in-law) at the Cajun Kitchen on Main Street in Ventura. Kate and I were on a two-week road trip to Southern California, Kate was heading to a writers conference in Anaheim, I was going surfing with friends and then we were attending a multi-year high school reunion, the school we both graduated from, but in different years. Our first stop was Ventura where Kate’s sister and family live.

The waves this morning were fun – glassy smooth, warm water by Bolinas standards, medium crowd, twenty surfers spread across several peaks, with consistent two to three feet waves and infrequent four feet or higher sets. The waves were gentle – no fear factor – wind waves on top of a small south ground swell.

I connected with Heather in the south parking lot – the free one. We suited up and entered the water at 7:50 am, which was early for me. The crowd in the parking lot bitched about the cold weather, apparently last week was a heat wave. To me the water was warm. With the infrequent sets I managed to paddle out to the line-up without getting my hair wet.

Heather is an excellent surfer and she had a good session this morning. She is tall, athletic and in great shape. She was a competitive swimmer in college and was on the water polo team. She proudly showed off her new Kelly Connolly longboard – 9’ 6”, three fins, and wide up front for nose riding. Being light as a feather with strong arms on a sizeable board, she quickly stroked out to the line-up, leaving me in her wake, went for a perfectly flat wave and glided right into it. I could never have caught that wave. Heather was constantly in motion, catching waves, quickly paddling back out, and moving from peak to peak anticipating the next set. In one hour she caught twice as many waves as I did.

At breakfast I asked her about her session. She stated that she connected on two sizeable long rights and one steep fast left curl where she walked the nose. She likes to go backside to make big cutbacks. I knew what she was talking about, the ability to sharply swing around left. Surfers Point is basically a right point break and Heather is goofy-foot with her back to the waves. She would drop down head-high rights, turn onto the soft shoulders, then cutback left into the white water to stay in the waves, let them build up, and swing right again to cruise through the inside sections. I watched her do this several times.

After an hour Heather went in to connect with her friends. I continued on for another hour. During my first hour I floundered around trying to get the feel of the waves. By the second hour, I had figured it out. I drifted south towards the Crown Plaza Hotel, which towers over the beach, to separate from the crowd. My confidence was up, my arms felt strong and I managed to connect on ten fast right walls close to shore.

After breakfast I hit the road. Next destination was Manhattan Beach to stay with my long time friend Jay. Cruising down Highway 1, past the Point Mugu Naval Station, past the crowded but beautiful waves at the Ventura/Los Angeles County Line, I cranked up the car stereo to blast the classic old surf music on my iPod. I basked in the glow of a vigorous surf session and a good healthy breakfast, thinking it doesn’t get much better than this. What a good start to my 2012 Surf Safari.