Surfing in San Diego

September 16, 2011

Posing on Pacific Beach

Ben chose San Diego as the destination for his bachelor weekend, with surfing as the main event.  Ben's brother Sean rented a great home on beautiful Mission Beach for the occasion and we came together for a couple days of good times.

After some travel snafus, I arrived on Saturday morning and we headed up to La Jolla where we rented kayaks and paddled over to check out the dramatic sea cliffs and caves south of the beach area.  There we found dozens of Brown Pelicans nesting in the face of the cliffs above us while sea lions sunned themselves and swam in the water below.  There was a real abundance of marine life in the area and we paddled and floated around for a couple hours, enjoying the sights.  A couple times a harmless leopard shark darted right under my kayak, giving me a momentary startle, but mostly it was a low-key float, with little orange Garibaldi fish swimming around below us.

Closer to the beach area we had fun with the kayaks in the waves, surfing the white water and riding some waves in toward shore.  Sean was pitched out on one particular wave - but he was back in his boat in a flash.  Ben even had a close encounter with a sea lion who was checking him out and the sea lion continued to surf with us in the waves, seemingly having a good time too.

Saturday night we went to a Padres game at Petco park, one of the beautiful new ball parks that has been built in the last 10 years.

On Sunday morning it was time for our surf lesson with Craig at the Pacific Beach Surf Shop, just down the beach from the house.  After learning a little about the history of the sport, we started with some static drills on the beach before getting into the ocean.  Craig helped each of us get up on our boards on the first try and ride in on a wave.

The concept of surfing seems so easy, including getting in position to catch a wave, paddling forward to gain some momentum, and popping-up on the board, but in practice, making a fluid transition from lying prone to standing on the board is a lot more difficult, requiring good balance, stamina, and a whole lot of practice.

We continued to practice catching waves and I could quickly see that Ben's windsurfing experience gave him a good feel for the board and good balance.  Sean was also taking some nice long rides in on the waves and it seemed that each time I found myself back in the shallow water he was already back out beyond the breaking waves.  I underestimated the amount of effort required to get back out past the surf to re-start in between attempts.  Standing there with board in hand, I was feeling like a rag doll! 

After our lesson wrapped up, we continued to surf for another couple of hours.  I discovered that it was challenging to find the right balance on the board front-to-back and I nose-dived quite a few times down the face of waves, getting driven down to the bottom and pounded by the waves.

Catching a party wave

After a lunch break for some great local Mexican food, we went back out in the waves for a couple more hours of surfing.  The whole experience was a lot of fun, although humbling too!  I'd love to go back and get better, although I don't think I'm going to be hanging ten anytime soon...

Sunday night we grilled out at the house and played some cards.  I was just a little kid when I was in San Diego last, and it was fun to be back.  I usually think of myself as more of a mountain person, but I could easily get used to this comfortable, laid back oceanfront living.  An awesome weekend all around and a great way to celebrate with Ben.

Mission Beach & Oceanfront Boardwalk