stoke

after a painfully long dry spell, i packed up my gear and headed up the coast this weekend in anticipation of a strong northwest swell that had walloped hawaii a day or so earlier and was expected to march along california, bringing much-needed surf to our wave-starved souls. zuma on saturday proved disappointing, with mostly walled-out conditions and a few rogue bombs rolling through to clear out the lineup. on a longer journey the following day, i scored in ventura county at a fairly uncrowded spot that managed to focus the swell energy without offering up only closeouts. with a nice set rolling in as i pulled up, i had worries that it would be a rough paddle out, given my general lack of swimming stamina of late. but the waves proved a bit inconsistent, and i was more than happy to accept that fact, given that i only had to duck-dive once on the way out. a few monster sets caught me inside, but the waves weren't as steep as zuma and i easily ducked under most of them. storm energy is supposed to start fading through the next few weeks, so it may be a return to business as usual as far as this winter is concerned. so much for working on my stamina.