Strange days.
The sun rose this morning in a cloudless sky above Southern California. Weekend rains have given way to lightly warmer, but fairly typical early November weather and surfers from Huntington to La Jolla thrilled at a little pulse of (hopefully) hepatitis-free swell, yours truly included.
The wife and I woke early, thanks to daylight savings, wandered to the kitchen for morning cups of coffee, I grabbed my two-mil full suit from the backyard, she her short-leg long-arm two-mil from the upstairs shower and off we coasted to the beach.
Now, I knew the water had been warm enough, in the 73s, and I have been trunking in the afternoon, but morning surfs with a hint of autumnal crisp get me slightly skittish. We saw a friend in the parking lot who told us it is fun out there. I asked him for ocean temperature and he laughed.
It’s 76.
That’s 24.4 for my metric brothers and sisters.
I looked at the two-mill full and felt disgusted with myself. I had failed to bring trunks but maybe the friend was exaggerating and maybe the slight air nip might render a wetsuit pleasant.
He was not exaggerating and the wetsuit was not pleasant whatsoever.
As I sat there boiling like a hippo boiling in my tank, I wondered about this brave new world and what it means, broadly. The record water temp in San Diego is 78.8 set back in August ’25. 76 and change in November ’26 is certainly more impressive but will Southern California turning into Hawaii spike participation even more?
Will we all start eating each other?
Strange days.
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The ocean around the filos has been hot as… A horrible feeling paddling in from way out, paradise vibe replaced by boiling frog reality, miles to go through the lagoon. I’ve seen people throw up from heat exhaustion, in the panic to get to… A sauna with a locked door and busted thermostat, waiting under the palm trees. The onshore that sent them in, coating them in a lovely mixture of salt and hot water. The humidity level ensuring that they’ll never have to worry about dry skin, and neither will the millions of newly discovered, still to be classified forms of fungi and bacteria, gleefully setting up shop on their newly discovered, nature luvin’ buddy. As the dengue riddled orchestra, buzzing and prancing about, performing their own never ending karaoke wail, in glee. And lets not forget the crocs, n the preeners…
In some places, GL for instance, home of the famous ‘crowd nine’, named by warring locals, hordes of surfees prepare themselves for the day, by proudly donning their, ‘I conquered pipe… after I conquered waimea… in july…’ garments. And as they paddle battle and jockey for poll position calhoonz lenz trained… ‘like simmo n tulleedy dun’, and launch themselves, often with a, ‘itz okaye na’… ‘juss 1000 pesos lang’, mabaway helpin’ hand, they run over an armarda of hundreds and hundreds of water crafts, many jettisoned in terror, as they all paddle exactly where… where the core, the cardinal rule of… sez not to, under any… And howls and screams, in every lingo on the planet, even ozzy, and worthy of any ziff production, push the co2 saturation levels even higher!!!
‘Etz are farkin’ inta farkin’ fereantz… yare dezzed arp, farkin neggy C… Eye scene ert dun ta farkin’ rizzy… n…’
‘Oye, ‘ang orn, eyema a zen, swillnut goofey line dancin’ shredda, n eye allwayz farkin’ gert mizztakin’ fur koer farkin’ roffman, ya farkin’… n lakeez ud farkin’ sought ya… ya farkin’. Nar, nort vat youzless laykey sheerla… wot r ya, a farkin’ mall teeza wokesta… farkin’ proppa laykeez ya…!!!’
But, thank… thank… thank… him… thank swillnut (I said swillnut, not the mascot, the swillmutt), stupe’ nuttle’!!! Coz, stupe’ the west coast official… has revealed that heez now an official pinoy ledge, and has announced, for a quid, that next year, at precisely, exactly, the season, the wind, the tide n stuff…
In the filo’s…
FFS, jeezus and co bawled their eyes out.
But, then again, I layed under a car for hours, in the desert, miles from anywhere, with a couple of others layin’ under theirs, in the limestone dust. 45 degree in the shade northerlies, blowies buzzin’, pingin’, waiting for the glass off. And finally scored mind bending perfection. While prayin’ that the fish were happy and that nothing would go wrong on the drive home. And that stupe’ n calhoonz n co woodn’t say ‘hi’…
Surfeez… ya gotta luv ’em…
Full suit or lavender trunks are so contra edgy Chas!
special for you pm
Love watching planes bounce down that runway!
SNA?
Si!
Mate of mine who I text with nearly everyday was on the Sunshine Coast surfing with their son. Big fucker sitting under all of them, damn gray suit. Would have made me very sad. Be careful out there boys (and gal).
Sunny Coast, QLD?
Yessir
Anything below 83 is a 3/2 situation
anything below 75 is, obviously, 4/3 weather. Best to be warm, you see.
The ventucky boys broke out the hoods today. boardshort/jacket season is over 🙁
Today? Been suits on for days in Ventura.
I didn’t get to get out last week, so this was my first wetsuit day of the fall.
Chas was spotted heading out for a wave at his beloved Cardiff-by-the-Sea in his new flatulence powered suit this morning. And no need for his new longboard now (as seen in this photograph)…
Having a delayed watch of the contest. The WSL finally found the winning formula: barrels supported by advertisers that cannot calculate ROI on ad spend with any accuracy (tourism boards.)
I went to see a popular pinoy band in a major town in Samar, by myself, i knew what it felt like to be leo dicaprio.
Pretty scary.
Figure I’ll help our boy Bogs with todays update that Cloud 9 was named by Kevin Davidson after a candy bar wrapper that fell out of Jackoff Semen Cuntyhan’s ass and certainly was NOT discovered (or named) by Jackoff Semen Cuntyhan.
Community building.
xx
A bastardisation of the moniker I gave him. Absolutely brilliant. We are still having a pulse.
xox
bahahahaha Who takes the credit for naming him that?
Not sure but we been calling him that since he got on here.
Ive heard the surf break was originally called Davo’s.
Mainland Americans whinge about cold weather and flock to Hawaii for respite. Mainland America gets weather resembling Hawaii. Americans whinge.
America = England with guns and monster trucks.
Come at me.
I would come at you but, while reading that, my mind was wandering directly into what I believe is the point. Who the fuck complains about warm water and tropical weather? Maybe it’s the same people who think the Cloud Cunt contest had some of the best waves ever surfed in a CT. I need some of that smoke, drink, or whatever else has people believing in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.
Warm autumns are the best.
I enjoyed the comp. I hope they keep it on tour. I just don’t count it in the top 5 comps I’ve ever watched. But then again, I was fully sober for the entire contest (Drs orders in prep for surgery).
I prefer warm year round.
Oooo, hopefully that’s a minor procedure.
Soba Surfer
haha!
That’s good !
Surgery? What are you having fixed?
Hip replacement. Blah. I hear it’s easy peasy these days. I may not even need to stay overnight. I’m still a little nervous though.
It’ll go great! And good as new soon after 🙂
You’ve got this! Nine years ago I had a labral tear repaired in my hip and one of my clients had his hip replacement the same month. His recovery was so much faster than mine so I expect you to crush it! I’m not far behind you as my hip is starting to scream at me so please share the recovery with us. GOOD LUCK and enjoy the naps!
Little late to the comments for the day. Everything will go great and rehabing in warmth of autumn.
Maybe not the best but definitely the most entertaining of the year. Consecutive days of contest surfing from beginning to end for once. Slabbing toobs, hacks, and crazy airs over dry reef. And lastly… Drama! Lots of drama! Just had to make sure it was on mute.
100%
The speed available was my key takeaway from the event.
‘Shabu’, as they call it over there, was always many surfers ‘key takeaway’ in the general General Luna loony area in the era that the event site was discovered and surfed (but not publicly named) by heaps of travelers prior to that twerp J.S.Calloused-hand and his post-littering chocky-bar exposé in 1992.
Easy to take away, but it was the successful arrival with it in your home destination that caused legal problems for some…
Or Batu
Shabooh Shoobah!
were those all dealers standing there in the lagoon?
Rondog was good
always is
I had to only listen at work, ron and ritchie made it good, couldnt listen to the others
“of the year” being the key in that statement.
It’s a weird thing to get riled up about Barrelled.
Not riled up, except being told my opinion “misses the point spectacularly.”
Would you like me to explain?
or should we just let it go?
I’m fine either way.
and certainly no beef from my end.
If my memory serves me correctly it wasn’t too long ago you were having a whinge about being in Sydney and how crowded it was whilst drinking a scooner on a weekday afternoon looking over the most beautiful of beaches?
A very common disease in Aus
Alcoholism is a global disease.
Major Strasser: “What is your nationality?”
Rick Blaine: “I’m a drunkard.”
Captain Renault: “That makes Rick a citizen of the world.”
Casablanca
Humans complaints about the weather are never about the pure numbers and more about the difference from what was expected.
If I’m someplace warm and wearing jeans and a t shirt I might get sort of cold if it’s 65 deg (~18 c) but will be fairly comfortable in the same clothes if it’s 55 deg (~13 c) but was 32 deg (0 c) the day before.
Monster Truck are epic.
Nothing like being at a rally with the roar of many horses rumbling the stadium as they full send 6 ton vehicles into backflips and such, burning up fuel like it was an endless resource.
I’m a fan.
It’s a tragedy that America doesn’t have a culture of meat/savory pie. I imagine living in a Commonwealth country and being able to pop down to the corner market for a good ‘ol steak and kidney is probably worth having to look at the Queen’s face on the money.
it’s heaven.
did you get your fish?
Not yet. It’s probably a good time to look for used ones now that everyone is ready to move on from their summer boards. Funny thing about being in the water was that I was happy with what I had. It’s only when I’m on the couch that the urge to accumulate takes over… like maybe a 2-1 swallow for the winter, or a new something with a rounded tail… I’ve been trying to clear out the garage. Sold a mini-mal last weekend and gave an old thruster to a grom. I put in the Craigslist ad that 300 non-AI-written words would get it. The kid who responded to the post has a bright future ahead of him if he keeps it up.
@Barnycle – Excellent idea on the Jamaican patties. I limited myself to thinking of Jamaican food here only as jerk chicken (and only from the good spots tucked away by LAX). It looks like there’s a spot not far from my school. One of these days I’ll take the walk over there and give them a try.
They’ve put the King’s sausage fingers on the currency now. Extra saucy. Extra tasty.
in the absence of good pies see it you can get Jamaican patties anywhere close by. Those pesky Jamaicans get everywhere and their patties are very flaky; when done correctly. Probably even available on Amazon and can pop straight into the oven.
Yawn 🥱.
Dogs bark, and the caravan keeps moving.