SoCal

Manhattan Beach

No trip is complete without a little mishap, right? In town for a wedding, I decided to extend my trip for a little bit of surfing in Sunset beach. I borrowed a board and drove down early morning, the fog still huffing along thick as goose down over the ocean. I paddled out on the miniature breaks for an hour before the chill got to me and the shortcomings of the board (no pun intended) became so very apparent. I reached my car and saddled up to find a longboard and before I hit the highway, I was hailed aside by some construction workers who noticed my flat tire. I was wondering what that sound was.

Later, my host suggested it might've been a turf thing. Or a race thing. That Orange County was very unfriendly toward outsiders. Which kind of made sense when you consider how else does a person get a flat while parked?

After the mechanic switched out my tire, I figured I might as well drive down to Huntington and check out that beach as well. It was still a little flat out, but I got a couple in before the chill got to me again. Cali beaches are not warm, which I guess I knew, but was somehow in denial about.

Rrrrrrr

D'ARC by Matuse

Want this.

Breakwater Surf Co.

Photo: Courtesy @urbansurfergirl

I hit up Beach 67 on Sunday with a friend and checked out newly opened Breakwater Surf Co to rent a couple boards. Nigel, the owner, was super helpful and even let us trade in our shortboards for something more forgiving when we'd had enough of roughing it (rookies, what are you gonna do). The shop just opened in August and everything was still new, which is a nice contrast against the battered foamies you'll find at some of the other rental shops. We even got to test a Greenlight Subway Series demo "longboard" that you can carry on the subway. Wide and thick like a longboard, but only 6'10, easy peazy for subway navigating.

Originally from Barbados, Nigel's been surfing these waters for the past 20 years so had plenty of advice on the best breaks and seems just as concerned about establishing a community hub as he is about turning a profit.

I'm not even gonna talk about the actual surfing, except to say, it's still pretty humbling.

SURF FORECAST: SATURDAY

Saturday afternoon is looking good for both Rockaway and Long Beach care of Nadine. Small 1–2 feet waves starting Sat around 1p (low tide), with strong 12–15mph offshore/cross shore winds and long, fat swells stretching 15–18 seconds for both beaches. Perfect for rookies.

Waves will peak on Sunday reaching 3–5 feet (chest to head high), winds easing into single digits, and swells getting shorter as we get to Monday afternoon.

Weather will be cool. You'll definitely need a full 3/2 or 4/3 suit.
It's going to be a good weekend. Go get some.

WOMEN WHO SURF(ED): MARGO OBERG

Old timey news story from Australia paper, The Age.

"This woman won seven world surfing titles — several of those were amateur titles — her first when she was 15 in Puerto Rico in 1968 (Fred Hemmings won the men's title that year)…."

"At her first contest for under 12s (she was the only girl competing) she beat 70 boys."

"Of course, women like Jericho Poppler, Debbie Beacham and Becky Benson won events, and Boyer took three world titles, but Margo dominated for a long, long time. People got sick of her winning. She was in another league a lot of the time. Women then tended to surf 'stylish and pretty', as Hawaiian resident and former pro surfer Randy Rarick puts it. But Oberg was aggressive, she was not as elegant as the others. Her turns were deeper and harder and she liked big waves.

"The men liked Margo, too. They liked her grit, they liked the way she surfed. They took her seriously, which is saying something when you consider the machismo of Hawaiian male surfers. For one thing she could surf three to four-metre Sunset better than a lot of men, says Rarick. 'She had exceptional wave knowledge, so much experience basically from spending so many hours in the water.'

"…Oberg was exceptionally good. She acheived standards in the surf that few women have in recent decades; excelled at a a sport than can be incredibly demanding physically and a sport that women have always put in the too-hard basket."