Surfing

People assume that I surfed from a young age since I grew up in Newport Beach. However, in High School I was involved mainly in the jocks, nerds and religious cliques, which were pretty much all diametrically opposed from the surfer’s clique. I did go out on a board several times, but was so tired from paddling out that I caught the first wave in to the beach.

Rockaway Beach

It wasn’t until years later that my friend Pat Costelloe asked me to go boogey boarding with him at Pacifica that I tried riding the waves again. At first I didn’t like the cold and the waves crashing down on me, but then I realized that if I looked at these things as part of the overall experience, rather than hardships, then I could actually enjoy it.

Live Oaks

Later another friend, Vinh Luong took me boogey boarding at Live Oaks in Santa Cruz (where it was usually sunny and you could get out without getting crashed on) that I really started to enjoy it.

Then in 2003, Andy Purmort gave me a surfboard (which they said was my birthday and Christmas presents for the next three years :-) ) and gave me some lessons, and I was hooked on surfing.

Cowells

I spent the first couple of years surfing at Cowell’s Beach in Santa Cruz. Cowells is a great spot for learning because the waves are small, they break for a really long time, and the bottom is sandy. My main surfing partner at that time was Ron Esparza, and we had a great time surfing at Cowells. By the way, if you are interested in surfing at Cowells, you can rent a wetsuit and board for $25 at Cowells Surf Shop

Here are a few pictures of Maxie and me surfing at Cowells and a picture of Ron with a board he refinished:

The Hook

In 2005 I hooked up with Eric Brazelton who did a lot of surfing in his youth, and convinced him to go out again. He wasn’t too keen on Cowells, so we started to go to his favorite surfspot, the Hook. Actually, we went a bit to the left which is called Sharks (not, I hope, because of the creatures that inhabit that area.) Sharks is still a pretty friendly place to surf, but the waves are bigger than Cowells, usually about 3 to 5 feet.

We haven’t been able to get many pictures of us at the Hook, but here are a few of Eric:

38th Street

Surfline Surf Reports

In 2006, Stacie Hibino sent me an email saying that a friend of hers was on sabbatical and also liked surfing so Wido Menhardt and I started surfing together. We soon discovered that we had a lot of other common interests too, like Ruby on Rails. We had a great time surfing a lot for about a year until he flaked out and got a job. Then we only surfed together on weekends and a few other sporadic days when he could escape from the office without being noticed. Although we have surfed a lot of different places together, we like 38th Street the best for its mellow crowds and long rides. Now Wido is in India and I miss surfing with him.

San Jose Surfing Group

With Wido going back to work, I needed to find some other hardy souls to go surfing with. So I started a Meetup group with the daring name of San Jose Surfing Group. As of August 2010, we have over 400 members!