great surfing conditions at Santa Cruz - Steamers Lane

Man, all that new beachfront there still really trips me out. And now people have chairs?! THe ocean is a strange, ever changing place.

There were a few Reporters further up the break. @kooktastic and myself surfed middle peak and indicators and @cryptomail decided to go make some new friends up at the slot. He got lots of hugs and kisses, along with compliments on his new-found sexual orientation while @kooktastic and myself got a few really nice walled up waves all to ourselves despite the mob scene.

I saw one guy on a shortboard repeatedly ramming a bodyboarder with his surfboard, trying to knock him off the wave as they screamed at one another on their way by. Good times.

Still, the surf was excellent.

After surfing Lindamar closeouts most of the winter, I didn't know what to do with myself after I made a couple of turns and still saw nice clean wave face in front of me. What a beautiful break! Many thanks to @tcannon for hauling us out there. That was my first session with stokereporters and I've got nothing but good things to say about it.

Except for one thing: @cryptomail, what are you thinking, oaring the SUP into the top of the lineup?

Four Mile was maxing out... the vibe was almost maxing out with those mothertrucking tweeker crazy local surfers. I still had fun with my buddy. Santa cruz surfers are freaking crazy.
I miss Linda mar...

from @cryptomail's blog:

"There was this big, leather brown, pot bellied, long haired guy, wearing nothing but flip flops. His pubes were washed out and blond like his balding skullet style mullet hair, and his balls were pretty dangling around his junk. I guess this guy was a nudist or something. It was kind of like a car crash. I didn't want to look twice but I did."

All I gotta say is: the reason @cryptomail is able to report the fine details of his pubes, hair and balls, is that @crypto took a long, hard look at him, if you catch my drift. Then he took another one with a dreamy look in his eyes. :)

@daniel: I didn't think the local vibe was anything to stress about so long as one didn't paddle out to the slot like @crypto did. I didn't get any attitude from anyone, but @tcannon and I were a good 100-150 yards away from all that.

Did see some non-pube-related local action that I've never seen before. We watched from the cliffs before going in and a guy was ripping a nice wave at the slot and this other guy drops in on him and does a 720 right in front of him! I've never seen a 720 anywhere, let alone as an intimidation drop in move. Talk about entertainment!

Oh man how i love santa cruz. in 2006, that sand aligned in such a way that cowells would break from the point and peel in both directions all the way to the beach. I'm talking about unbelievable fun. Nose rides, cheater 5's and head dips all the way to the beach.

I'll never forget one wave that winter, I rode it all the way from the point to mid way on the nose, did one cutback to a head dip and then another nose ride all the way to the sand. One of the best waves of my life. I don't even log anymore?!

cowells is looking pretty decent this year but not quite the same. might have to take the trip anyhow.

Even back in November you could get rides from the edge of the cliff all the way to the beach (dodging obstacles sure!). Now it's a little trickier with the beach cramming everyone and every wave together. It's still warm, it's still mellow, it's still beautiful, just now there's folks bbqing where a few months ago I was snapping up some peeling litte lefts. The ocean man, always changing...