S.L.O. Motion

We paddled out to this spot just south of Morro Rock in San Luis Obispo County.  Looked like a pretty local spot (I could tell because we were getting the 'one over' from a few of the guys in the lineup).  I turned to one of the surfers in the water and we started to talking.  "This spot has some good waves, but the current can get pretty gnarly".  A few minutes later, a right lines up and I take it down the line.  Pretty fun wave.  I paddled back out, sat on my board and all of a sudden, I felt this really strong current pushing me out to sea.  I looked back and saw Manav and Amal paddling back.  I tried to paddle back, but I wasn't making any progress.  By the time I knew it, I was past the jetty, way deep in Big Blue.  I called out to Manav, "MANAV!"  The thoughts that rushed through my head were:  (1)  Call the coast guard (2)  Goodbye California (3) I'm gonna miss pizza.

Even though he was outside of the rip, Manav paddled out to me anyway like the good friend he is and noticed that I was about to hit the panic button.  "Don't worry, follow me.  I got you.  Trust me," he said in a calm voice.  I followed him south and by the grace of God, we got out of that rip.  Once we got back in a bit, most of the locals that were in the lineup were on the beach walking home.  They probably knew something we didn't.  I followed suit, and bellied one in.

Lesson #204: Never paddle towards a jetty when a gnarly rip hits, paddle away from it.

After that, we surfed Morro Rock State Beach.  Epic, 1.5 over head sets flied in, all lefts.  This beach reminded me a bit of O.B., but instead of a chunky, booming wave bottoming out and destroying everything in it's path, this wave still had a ramp once it collapsed, allowing for smooth duck dives.

I think we caught it on a really good day.  The lefts were lined up for anybody that was out.  We settled on what must have been second peak (a bunch of locals were lined up at first peak about 100 yards north of the rock).  When waves came in, the lips had power, and the ramps were bit steep but not enough to where I got into those 'free falling' moments.  I caught a pretty epic, bowling left.  It made up for my freak out earlier.  That wave allowed me to leave with my head held high.  It also allowed me to leave with more confidence in going backside, which at times, can be a bit nervy for me when the waves get beyond overhead.

Morro Rock State Beach

The showers were pretty awesome too.  Who'd ever expect hot beach showers?  An old timer who just got out brought shampoo and offered us some.  Why not?  Washing off at the beach with shampoo and soap reminded me of my childhood days back in Hawaii.  That's just how we got down back in the day on the Islands.  The old timer also told us about a couple of breaks in town that we could check out the next day, one being Shell Beach.

Shell Beach

Shell Beach sits on the bottom of a cliff.  The cliff is home to an open space full of green grass, benches and a playground.  There is chunky right hander on the southside of the cliff and a left hander on the northside.  Once in the water, this spot reminded me of Santa Cruz, with the kelp and green water. Like Santa Cruz, even when the wind picked up, the kelp beds kept the waves pretty clean.  It wasn't big at all compared to how Morro was the day before.  At most, a 4 footer would pop up here and there.  I think we did pretty well, considering that lineup was filled with longboarders.

The locals were really nice here.  One of the locals and I worked together to get our share of waves.  A crew of three, college aged longboarders were doing their best to hog most of the good sets.  This local and I used the 'blocking" technique to help each other out.  I would sit in front of one of the longboarders, block him off and give the wave to the local.  He would do the same for me.  We applied this strategy all day.  And we caught some good ones.  I know it's an inappropriate way of grabbing waves, but when waves are getting hogged knowingly, strategies have to be applied.

I had the GoPro handy most of the weekend, and I was able to chop up this quick edit of two of our sessions.  I wish I worn it for our Morro session, but decided not to because of the size of the waves that day, not knowing that it was pretty manageable.


S.L.O. Motion from Kookingitup on Vimeo.

A lot of the locals said that we caught S.L.O. on a really good weekend.  The waves were happening, the wind stayed down and the weather was warm.  There is something about just getting away from it all on long weekends with good friends.  From waking up in a tent, warming up some good brew to chatting for hours around a campfire.  But no matter how long the weekend is, it's always too short.