2020: A Year of Surfing in Review
A recap of my time spent in the water this past year
As it was for most people, 2020 was an unusual year for me. While we all suffered or were at the very least inconvenienced due to the global plague which has largely characterized the year for me, I spent much of the year wrapped up with managing a massive renovation of the house I spent part of my childhood in and now call my own. Much luckier than most in that, despite losing my job at Bird due to the COVID pandemic back in Spring, I could afford to focus my time and energy managing this massive ( and extremely expensive) renovation project to my house ( and now-home). Apart from a period of time this past Spring when all Los Angeles County beaches were closed off to the public due to pandemic concerns, I am extremely grateful to have been able to (temporarily) wash away my woes in the waves of the great Pacific Ocean — which has always been just a short drive away.
According to my Surf Log count, I made it into the water 98 times this year ( probably a little over a 100 if counting every session on a handful of days where I had multiple same-day sessions or perhaps a couple of sessions I may have forgotten to write about). That is an average slightly better than one surf session every four days — not too bad considering that I was strictly a weekend warrior when I was still working at Bird up until late March, the L.A. County beach closure which lasted for a good part of Spring making it much less convenient to get to the beach, and the numerous mornings where I needed to be or felt that I needed to be present at the house to attend to renovation-related matters.
Broken down by month, my surf frequency ranged from once in March and not at all in April to about once every two days during September, November, and December. All of them were in the Southern California region — the vast majority of these surf sessions were at local beaches along the Santa Monica Bay ( Manhattan Beach, Dockweiler, Venice, Santa Monica) with a couple of sessions in Orange County ( Huntington Beach and San Onofre Trails), a couple more in North San Diego County in September ( Leucadia and Cardiff), and a couple trips up in Ventura County ( a couple sessions at County Line and my first and only time surfing Ventura Point / C-Street) back in May.
I would consider most of these surf sessions to be mediocre or poor due to the reality that the waves just aren’t very good or consistent at the local beachbreaks I frequent, however, I have had a few absolute gems this year, including a recent wave at Dockweiler a couple weeks ago on my 5'10" Al Merrick Pod that was one of the best waves I have ever surfed in terms of my form and the turns I executed. 2020, in particular the nearly 2-month long local beach closures and the numerous dawn patrol paddle outs in the cold, really highlighted the lengths we are willing to go to for some waves! After almost no surfing for 2 months, I remember the feeling of joy I had to simply being able to paddle out into the ocean that day back in May when I made the drive up to C-Street in Ventura because all of the beaches in Los Angeles County were closed and I was longing for some waves!
My friend Cherilyn has been by far my most consistent surfing companion for the past several years and it’s been good to have a friend to surf with during many of these sessions. I also night surfed for the very first time at a point break in Palos Verdes with my friend Jon.
In terms of equipment, this year I have been favoring my 8' Almond R-Series which has been my go-to foamie all-rounder since I bought it back in October of 2019. Worth every penny! A close second in recent months would be that 5’10" Pod that Cherilyn gave me back in September. While not quite what one might consider a high-performance shortboard, I’ve been liking it on days when the waves have some rippable corners, and honestly it’s been great to regain my confidence surfing on a fiberglass shortboard as opposed to being strictly a soft-top cruiser! I(somehow) lost my 5'8" Meyerhoffer Supernormal about a month ago when I left Dockweiler without it in my car — good thing I didn't love that board that much! I bodysurfed a couple times this summer but not since. Recently brought a new pair of DaFins as my old ones were getting worn and cracked.
It’s been real 2020. Hello 2021.
