Kooking It UP!: Cold Water Classic Sun Burn

The Arena. The Lane.

I've learned a lot about the sea over the last year and a half. So many very important factors have to come together for surf to be great. If one thing is off, everything is off. One thing that is very important is tide. For some spots, incoming to high works best (The Hook). On other spots, outgoing to low is the charm (The Lane). It's not a secret so I'm just going to spill the beans, The Westside of Santa Cruz works best on outgoing to low tide. Anything above a 3 1/2 feet, forget about it.

Manav, Amal and Viv enjoying great surfing and a beautiful Santa Cruz day.

You'd figure that the A.S.P. would have that dialed in, right? Na, they were a bit off the mark. I know the promoters were praising the surf gods for the semi large swell that sped in and out of Santa Cruz on Sunday evening. The swell was large enough to send unridden waves through water filled Middle Peak. By the afternoon, the contest was really on! (I didn't get to see this live as we were down the ways enjoying the swell also).

We were able to catch some of the mid morning A.S.P. action from the cliff, just in front of The Slot. The waves were there for sure. But the tide kept most them from breaking. Here are some pics that I and newly anointed Kiwi Hippie, Amal, were able to capture:


John John making his way up the stairs after his heat.

John John going off. Photo by Kiwi Hippie Amal.

Photo by Amal.

Adriano de Souza smacking some lip.

Tiago Pires snapping off the top.

Owen Wright throwing a bucket and a half.

Tiago Pires saying "Veja Ya"!

Owen Wright heading to the Cliff just before his heat.


The contortionist. Photo by Amal.

Backside expertise. Owen Wright. Photo by Amal.

No, he isn't an amateur. Photo by Amal.

Adam Melling looking for a ramp.

Wipe out!

Adam Melling looking for another drop.

Kolohe Andino Getting focused.

Kolohe Andino getting unfocused.

The sun was out in full force. With it shining brightly over the water, silhouettes of powerful surfing could be seen from all sides of the cliff. Surfers and non surfers held there breathes as one by one, the worlds best sped down the line throwing snaps and cutbacks, floaters and airs with power and grace. The Lane is such a great spot for this type of an event. Out of all the spots in the world, The Lane itself is shaped like an arena. It is probably one of the only spots in the world where the surfers can hear the roar of the crowd, where the "12th man" becomes relevant. Nat Young and Jason "Ratboy" Collins supplied the crowd with a home team or "home man" per say to root for. Even though I wasn't present, I was rooting for both! But both were knocked off by the worlds best, #1 and #2, Nat Young by Joel Parkinson and Ratboy by Kelly Slater. Both gave the world's best a run for their money.

We stayed for the second round, heats three through eight. We just missed Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning. It would have been awesome to watch, but I have already witnessed Kelly's awesomeness in person, and I am also a fan of Mick's powerful, streamlined cutbacks but the sun was kicking our asses. Between the four of us, we either forgot our sunglasses or a hat. And after getting half baked (no, not the 420 way) and stomachs empty we all decided to head to "Burger" for some late morning grub.

Manav, Amal (behind the lense) and I waiting for the tide to drop.

Manav, Amal and I decided to head to my third favorite spot (which may be headed up the charts after another epic sesh). Being that the spot is on the Westside and high tide had just hit, we decided to wait it out. We took a nap on the rocks below for a few hours.

Bums. Photo by Amal

We saw one guy jump in and watched him for a while. The cove was still to full for any decent action, but being that we are crack heads for surf and sea, we decided to suit up and jump off the point anyway. After forty-five minutes of wadding in back washy, high tide mess, waves started coming. The swell that had been promised arrived. With the falling tide and the building swell, rides were to be had. We spent the last spawning hours of the day chanting "You gonna take a chance? Take a chance!" as each of us paddeled for mid tide nuggets. Each of us "took that chance". And all of the "chances" seemed to work out.

Post surf undress rehearsal.

Our pre-mood before our surf was low and sorta unhopeful. But our post surf mood was full of high fives, smiles and childish giggles. I watched the replays of the Cold Water Classic when I got home, and The Lane was definitely pumping the same time we were out surfing a half a mile away. We could have been riding the same sets that Kelly and Parko were on... who knows? I'm really happy that Santa Cruz hosted this event. S.C. has always honored and given surfing the reverence it deserves.