BA Index html_Surf Reports La Jolla Surfing

May 19, 2004 -

Why [sometimes] I love wetsand.com, AND Sam George, via Surfer Mag, justifies, [at least in my opinion] You Guessed It, LOCALISM -

I am glad so many of you rely upon the web to help you decide where you're gonna drag your sorry surfing bu**s!

Sometimes, err, almost always - with an entire ocean for you to visit - you end up getting in my way, usually on the best wave of the day!

"In SoCal, south facing breaks are doing best, but size is still only knee high or so."
"West facing breaks are nearing the flat zone."
"South facing breaks can expect an increase in size later in the day, more so tomorrow."

Luckily for us, thousands of you musta stayed home, 'cause Sunday, yesterday and today, we had overhead, low tide, south wind bombs!

Topic Dos, in my opinion, the benefits of localism, as reported in Surfer Mag:

The article featured way too many photos of San Diego County, and way too many La Jolla photos.

B****'s - Surfer Mag photo by: Sullivan
Caption Is: "The same angle of Uluwatu in Bali launched a thousand surf trips. Just another day at Black's."
Green Rocks - Surfer Mag photo by: Balch
Caption Is: "Hospitals, in La Jolla, with everything in perfect working order.
Wind**Sea - Surfer Mag photo by: Sullivan
Caption Is: "A real gem among La Jolla's reefs."

The story and the accompanying photos sure gave me a California Woody

Wow - that Black's place sure looks like a fun place to surf - and really - it's just "another day" there?

How could anyone stay away - It's always perfect in California - and Sam George sez:

"Bali has Uluwatu, we have Black's - minus the razor reef and seasonal monsoon winds."

Since I got what once was an inquiring mind, and I wanna know:

If California has such good waves, err, actually, according to Surfer - "The Bible of Surfing" - Mag "The Best Surf in the World" why aren't there even more idiots in the lineup?

"The main reason California isn't known for its fabulous surf is because so little of its fabulous surf ever appears in the surf magazines."

"There are a number of reason to explain this. "Localism," that pervasive form of territorialsm so evident throughout the state, has contributed mightily..."

"In turn this NIMTS (Not In My Takeoff Spot) attitude has, over the past 35 years, effectively discouraged surf photographers from exploring the coast. In fact very few of California's best breaks have ever appeared in photos."

I've been surfing in California for almost 50 years, so I'm just a bit confused regarding this statement:

"In fact very few of California's best breaks have ever appeared in photos."

He [Sam George] has no problemo comparing / contrasting California's breaks to other non-California breaks, such as:

"Take Hawaii, for instance. South Shore? Waikiki? Ala Moana? We've got San Onofre and Cowells, two of the best beginners breaks in any ocean and any number of jacking lefts from Big Rock to Newport Point, that makes Ala Moana seem like a longboard spot - which it is, by the way."

The known surfing world about 40 - 45 years ago, according to the surf mags - consisted almost entirely of California and Hawaiian surf spots -

[I know, there were surfers on the East Coast, Gulf Coast, Australia, etc. but usually when the early surf mags featured surf spots other than those in California and Hawaii, they were often described as a "secret spot" or an "unexpected discovery," etc.]

I think that even Bruce Brown, Mike Hynson, and Robert August were surprised when they found surf in places other than the coastal US and Hawaii - and they didn't even really find any great waves in Tahiti.

Even I have appeared in the surf mags, surfing Big Rock and Newport Point - and - I know for sure that San Onofre and Cowells have been featured many times, even without my mug gracing their fabulous waves.

I lived with Ron Stoner in the early 60's - lotsa California Photos back then!

La Jollan Jeff Divine was taking photos, and they were published in the mags, of California surf more than 30 years ago.

How 'bout Neal Norris - another La Jolla photo guy - He submitted, and was published in the surf mags - many California photos in the 60's.

Ron Church - he encouraged Nick Mirandon and me to go out at Big Rock at LOW tide - Dudes - we made it big - "A Quick Trip to Lobster Lounge" or something like that.

The list of California Surf Photogs and their photos of California Surfers reads like a who's who in surf photo journalism.

In fact, many of them [California surf photogs] are selling their books and photos thru the surf mags -