Santa Barbara... score!

Wow- the California coast lit it up today. Here's some photos of what I was sampling today up here in SB/Ventura:

Photo: Daylight right outside my door, coffee in hand, truck fueled, ipod loaded (new Steeldrivers), 9'1 in the back... ready to ramble down my favorite stretch of coastline in the world.

Photo: First stop, first surf... this is a super easy wave with a mellow crowd. I surfed it with six or seven others- paddled off to the side of the main peak and scored head to head and a half high lefts all morning long.

Photo: Sunny, glassy and hot, even the water was warm- I wore my 2mm long-sleeve spring suit (thanks Emerald City!) and was perfectly comfortable. This is the Rincon carpark- that weird land of trailers all in a row inches from trucks whizzing by at 60 mph- peaks all over the place.

Photo: If you've grown up surfing the Ventura/SB coast, then you definitely know this spot. This is the best spot to learn how to catch a wave on a stand up board on the whole California coast (in my humble opinion) and today it was looking super inviting. The wave up at the top was firing (guess where I'm surfing tomorrow morning).

Photo: This is the first spot I take paddle groups- everyone loves it because everyone catches waves here- it's a fun little spot if you've got a big board and the right attitude.

Photo: Had a killer lunch at Cold Spring Tavern (the one and only- a must see if you're in town... killer beer, killer tri-tip, don't miss it) chased that with a nice two hour nap and then jammed up to this little bend in the coast. It was small but fun- I passed on the surf session for a three mile paddle down the coast (got the Battle of the Paddle coming up) but it did look fun.

Photo: I'll leave you with a close up of that little point- how about that one-look-take-off? Be good to each other out there.