Tonight I had one of the best sessions ever at the Jetty in Half Moon Bay. My friend Dave and I threw the trip together last minute and decided to drive 30 minutes from Mountain View where we live to Pacifica and rent me a board. I used to have two boards, a Channel Islands Flyer and a custom Al Merrick board but I sold them a year and a half ago when I started to slow down. test.

On our way we passed Sea Bowl which is one of the coolest, most random bowling alleys I’ve ever been to. I haven’t actually bowled there, I went to an awards ceremony once after a surfing contest (where I placed last of four) when I lived in Linda Mar. Today it looked like there was a carnival in town, the Ferris Wheel was going when we drove past.

I ended up just buying a used board at the Log Shop in Linda Mar because rentals were due back by 7 and it was already 6 by the time we arrived. This time I bought a 6’8″ Merrick Flyer F that’s about three years old. The board is in great shape and has a yellow Channel Islands logo on it, which is sweet. My last Flyer was an epoxy board in light blue and the owner who sold it to me had named it Plastic Fantastic. That board was definitely fantastic, I caught so many great waves and got pretty beat up learning with her but eventually I slowed down and decided she was better off in use than sitting on my deck collecting dust. It’s interesting to see dents and dings in your board and know that it was your body that created them. One time I actually got held under pretty long and the leash wrapped around my neck,that was a bit freaky.

So we picked up the new board, got a new stomp pad and leash on her and fresh wax. Linda Mar was looking really flat so we drove down to Mantara which looked better but still wasn’t great. Time was running short and we knew we had limited light left so both Dave and I were relieved when we saw the Jetty in half Moon Bay going off. We parked right there on the side of the road, jumped into our wetsuits and paddled out.

The waves were awesome and we were having a blast, summer time is a bit smaller up in Northern California and that’s great for two guys jumping back into the sport after over a year. The crowd was really friendly and fairly small and I started cheering a few guys. I had my waterproof camera out and that attracted the attention of one Asian guy. Some other guy asked about my surfing helmet and I told him a story about how I got plowed by some guy at Linda Mar once. I think he shot his board at me on purpose even though I was trying to get out of his way. I got blasted on the side of my head and when I got back on my board and saw him paddling out past me I shouted “glad I had my helmet on” to which he replied “yeah, I don’t want any dings in my board! That sucked… shortly thereafter some other guy was like “bro, your head is bleeding, you should go in”. Not all NorCal surfers are dicks, but some definitely are. I blame road rage.

So anyway, on this evening the crowds were awesome and everyone was stoked. I actually made friends with one guy there named Cameron who explained that he was former air force and had lived in Colorado Springs (where I was born). We all surfed until the sun began to set and then we talked for a while just floating out past the breaks. The moon was shining full and we continued catching great waves until the sun was completely gone… We were surfing by moonlight, it was perfect.

One of the other neat things about this surf trip was the water clarity and temperature. Not only was it a warm night outside (60′s and clear) but the water was warm and clear too. I spotted a couple of moon jellies floating about, even pushed against one with my had while I was paddling out. Moon jelly fish don’t really sting, they have a symbiotic relationship with some algae that grows inside of them. They keep the algae alive and also feed off of it slowly for survival. Northern California has a lot of smart people and I’ve had the chance to ask a few of them about the ecology. One of them said that all jellies do sting but some are just weaker. You should avoid the tentacles when possible and even with Moon jellies, which you can’t feel the sting of on your hand, could sting your tongue if you licked one for some reason. If that were to happen your tongue would swell up and you might choke and die.

We all had such a great time we decided to exchange numbers and Dave and I met up with Cameron after we changed out of our wetsuits back at the car. I told Cam that we were planning to get a bite and he suggested a place and asked to come along. We ended up going to the Fish Shack which was closed and then on to Italiano or something like that. The food was great and our waiter was also a surfer who had spent most of the day down at Wendals.

Chris, the waiter, said he has surfed at a few other places before that he could recommend as local spots with great waves and less crowds (especially on south swell days like this). He told us a crazy story about surfing Mavericks, which is just off shore from the Jetty. Basically, he and his buddy were out one day in the channel and a great white shark hit his friend from below and threw him up into the air! The shark left a tooth in the board but his friend was okay. Mavericks is known for being a dangerous, shark infested area. Jeff Clark surfed there for a dozen years alone before anyone else really checked it out. Chris had worked for Jeff in his younger years and said he is an amazing surfer, he can do Mavericks both regular and switch footed depending on which side of the wave he gets. Awesome stuff.

We talked and ate at an outside table next to a war, heat lamp under the full moon. I had vegitable lasagna and Dave and Cam had pizzas. We stayed there until 11:30 when they basically kicked us out and then Dave and I drove back home. It was f-ing amazing and I suggest anyone who has legs try surfing at a small local spot like this, at least once.