Sunday, July 22, 2007

Dynamic Favorable Forecast

The surf forecast for Tuesday the 24th looks very promising. A combo of Southwest groundswell and Northwest windswell will hopefully create super fun, waist to shoulder waves throughout San Diego County.

In the meantime, i have been having a blast getting to know the area and chilling with the numerous close friends that are becoming established locals. On Friday, Tom and i went to the Scripps Pier and surfed waist high, crowded waves with an increasing wind. On our way to get some lunch, we quickly stopped to check out a famous spot in La Jolla called Windansea. Much like San Onofre and Malibu, Windansea is a seminal location in the culture of California surfing. Many of the greatest characters in surfing history grew up surfing these reefs. Miki Dora, Phil Edwards, Mike Hynson and Butch Van Artsdalen: all world-wide legends.
When we arrived, to our surprise the peak was relatively uncrowded. Waist to chest high peaks broke over the shallow rock reef shelf. The iconic grass shack stood watch over the beach. Built in 1946, it has seen more of surfing's soul than any other structure on the planet.

Sitting in the lineup was an honor and an interesting sensation. I've never felt water shift and move like it does over these reefs. Sets peak up head high and immediately dissolve into knee high shoulders. Sometimes it felt like the current was running 4 directions at once. Windansea: a very dynamic Oceanic arena that i will visit frequently.

Windansea circa 1960.


Windansea today.

On Friday night, Tom, Pattie and I went to play the ponies at the Del Mar Race Track. It was my first time at a horse race::: It was actually a really cool scene. I didn't even gamble much but as the horses would come down the home stretch, i boisterously cheered on whatever horse i deemed to have the coolest name. Tom is a veteran, so he was running all the numbers and making educated, pretty accurate bets.


Del Mar Race Track


Tom, Pattie and I....she was the big winner.

Tonight, i sit on an Ocean front balcony in Solana Beach. My parents arrived in San Diego yesterday and are staying the week in this amazing condo. I sleep on this balcony to the sounds of Mother Ocean and the sun wakes me up early to simply walk down some steps and surf a spot called, Rockpiles. Goodnight.

4 comments:

mowrey said...

Simply amazing that the grass shack @ Windansea is still standing after some 60+ years--looks as if a strong headwind would blow it right over! Man, you've reached the epicenter now. No reason to ever leave. Watermelon Man

(btw, Tom Wolfe's Pump House Gang includes an hilarious look @ So Cal beach culture circa 1962)

Stoke said...

Pump House Gang is set at Windansea.

Stoke said...

The reason i have to leave is to expand my surfing horizons worldwide: Hawaii, Tahiti, Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, South Africa, Central and South America etc. I'll never truly settle anywhere but in the tube.

mowrey said...

I meant leave spiritually, of course.
Be just my luck to bring my honey to Cali & yr expanding yr surf horizons inside some South African tube. Guess I could call first but that goes against my land-locked nomadic sense of neo-surfer type improv. Great new pic, by the way.