On Friday after school, Sasha, Jack, Henry and I headed up to West Camino Cielo. We had my truck and Henry’s and we were ready to go on the dirt road. We traveled a while along the bumpy dirt road until we were nearly 6 miles up, basically in the middle of nowhere. There was a very large puddle that Henry decided to try and go through, but he got stuck. His truck was a lot bigger than mine so I could not get him out. Sasha’s dad had to come to the rescue and pull him out late at night.
On Saturday morning I headed up to Santa Cruz for a surf contest on Sunday. The drive from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz takes about about 5 hours, depending on traffic. My dad and I headed up on Saturday morning, so I could get there in time to surf and get used to the colder water. I was surprised when the water wasn’t as cold as I expected, but it was still a few degrees colder than the water here in Santa Barbara. I surfed at Steamer Lane on Saturday, and the conditions were fun, though it was a bit inconsistent due to the south swell that hadn’t picked up yet. Steamers is one of the most known surf spots in Santa Cruz, and every time I have been there, there has always been waves, even if they weren’t the best. This weekend though, the contest was at a different spot, the hook, where I have never surfed before. I didn’t really know what to expect. I checked when my heat was on the NSSA website. 6:30 AM. I was a bit surprised at this, I wasn’t even sure if it was light outside at 6:30 in the morning. We got some great sushi for dinner, but we had to walk through 6 blocks to get there first.
I heard my alarm go off at 5:30 a.m. and really did not want to wake up. I quickly got dressed and grabbed my wetsuit, which was still slightly wet from the day before. We arrived at the Hook, a place I have never surfed before, at about 6:00 in the morning. The waves looked small and clean, and reminded me of Mesa lane, a break here in Santa Barbara. I surfed my first heat and made it which was a bonus. The crowd of free surfers around were respectful and didn’t interfere with us which was nice. I got out in the next round, the semifinal, which was a bummer. Overall it was a fun weekend up north.
jacekennedy 