@mitchell I assume there is still a little Tiki Hut on the beach there. Great wave, but there is a reef pass about 4 spots north of there that I would frequent a lot more. A lot less crowded, but when good, an even better wave.... Definitely not like Trestles. There are actual locals ALL OVER that stretch. And all of the waves on that stretch of coast gets SUPER fucking heavy... Like any reef slab. Pipe and places are obviously the holy grail and all that. But waves like that "look" perfect when they are firing, and a lot of the video you see make the waves look so easy, but when it's a few feet overhead and firing, those waves go inverted on the drop and mistakes are costly and dangerous. There are plenty of playful, fun ass waves like Trestles in SoCal. But there are stretches like the JL reefs that will challenge the most competent of surfers. 

Also, they made 120+ rescues at that beach in one day back in July. Crazy. 

This is unrelated, but kind of regarding how challenging some of those SD waves can be, especially when after mega swells, we all just see the 15 minute highlight reel and miss the 10,000 blown waves, wipeouts and closeouts....

So yesterday, it was on FB I think, but it was a professional surfer surfing at a wave pool. Looked like the one in Waco maybe? At any rate, the beginning of the video is like a 40 second clips. It's the guy getting a couple nice barrels, landing a couple of airs and hacking the fuck out of the wave pool. After the 4 second clip, it says on the screen "That was 3% of my session, including only the footage i wanted you to see. The other 97% was this:" And it goes on to like a 2+ minute clip of the same guy just EATING SHIT. pearling multiple drops. Getting pulled over the falls like 10 times in barrels. Snaps that just shot the board straight up in the air because the water moves faster. About 20 air attempts that were complete failures...

Anyway, I thought it was a pretty cool insight into what real sessions look like, even for an up and coming sponsored pro....

So for every perfect barrel at that San Diego spot that you see on photo or video, there are like 20 bone crunching wipeouts and failures that lead to it...

So, unless you are surfing perfect Cloudbreak or something, even the best of the best, spend a lot of their sessions eating shit and getting worked like the rest of us, just on a higher level. 

@mitchell Dude, that is so funny. When I lived in San Diego, there were 2 El Ninos. Both of which (7 years apart) produced "Bid Wednesdays".... The second of which, was the biggest shit I have ever seen or surfed. It was so fucking big that the sunset cliffs were closing out and I hit a spot called "Indicator" which is a 3rd reef like 1/2 mile out and you NEVER see break. It was fucking insane. My wife had the video cam that day. There were like 2,000 people and tourists lining the cliffs. So, I surfed about an hour, then got out and I filmed some of the sets myself. The footage is crazy because it's legit 30 foot waves and we looked like ants out there. You couldn't tell who was who and most of the time, you couldn't even see the dots that we were. 

So anyway, the next day, I see this girl that we surfed with. Hot ass Russian chick that was my buddies friend. She could surf, but was by no means a "good surfer". She could stand up. But she also let her board go on a small day at a reef pass and she almost knocked me out. I am sitting in the lineup next to her, and a small set comes, and it moves right underneath of us. All the sudden, BAM, I almost black out.... Board hit me square in the back of the head. I look at her and was like, WTF was that? She bailed on her board....

So anyway, I see this chick in downtown OB. She says "Did you surf yesterday"? Yes I reply. It was heavy as fuck. Glad to be alive. Biggest shit I have ever seen. Then I ask, what did you end up doing? She says "Oh, I went north and surfed for about 2 hours. It was so fun"...

So I sitting there thinking. NO fucking way. Every beach break in the county is closed out. It's 30+ at Blacks and the Cliffs. OB is a death zone...

So I am like, where the fuck did you surf? She says "Tourmaline".... Then I chuckled and walked away... Ahh. Gotcha. 

I don't know what it is about that place, but no matter the swell size, I have never seen that place get over HH+.... It's crazy. I have no idea why. My novice buddies would always go there and after a few times, I am like, the only time I am EVER coming here is if it's huge and I want a fun little beach break....

Also Ironically, there was a surfing post on FB from this dude that is in San Diego for a couple weeks and wants to take surf lessons and all this shit... After a million people chimed in with advice, and warning him about the big swells out there right now...

I chimed in with one simple answer: Don't pay for a lesson. Rent a board. And go to a spot called Tourmaline in PB every single day. After two weeks, you will be plenty good at standing up and riding down the line. Do NOT listen to what anyone else in this comment section has told you....

So that my friend was no dream. That was a premonition. That is a reality that you will some day face on a trip to San Diego.....

Especially this year. If any of you buoys pick a 7 day stretch this January and go to San Diego.... I guarantee you by day 3, you will be like damn, I need to find something more similar to home. A fun little beach break to get some turns in. I am over this DOH shit!!! And at that very moment my friend, you will be cruising down mission blvd to hit up Tourma....

Also, that house right on the corner of the cliff on the North Side is often used for music videos and TV shoots and shit. It's rather common place to see half naked chicks and cameras in the hot tub right there. So if you go, take a peak. You never know what you might see in that spot.