LA Style with the Dump Rider Crew

I was lucky enough to surf with some locals while transiting through Los Angeles. Considering the size of that place, having access to a car and some new friends is necessary to get around. Public transit in LA is a pretty scary concept and it would take a committed surfer to bus to the good surfing beaches.

My Hawaiian friend, Randy who I met in Pacitan, Java put me in contact with Matt, his younger brother. Through Matt, I met various members of the Dump Rider Crew - a group of local LA surfers.....'struggling to improve' (ain't that the truth!) and surfing at every opportunity possible.  'Leave egos at the door, and surf for the love of it!' is this crew's philosophy.

Old Man's, San Onofre State Park

My first surf was at San Onofre State Park over a long weekend. A 4 - 6 foot swell was forecast and Matt had a friend with a beach side campsite on the army base. Christina, a fellow yogi, surfer and good friend of Matt's, picked me at from the hostel at a very early hour and together we drove to Matt's place in El Segundo. From there, we piled into one car and took off an hour south in San Diego county.

The swell was rolling through when we arrived with a number of different peaks firing nicely. Being a long weekend and all, it was unbelievably crowded but a wave is a wave is a wave and its always nice to get wet. I didn't even stop to consider that the water temperature would be significantly less the Costa Rica and my bikini's and rash guard were not going to cut it. 

The first duck dive was a killer and I was lucky enough to score six on the head on the way out. It is always nice to time the entry well. I tried to take off on a few but struggled to find my rhythm. It was really crowded, really cold and my buoyancy in the water was different to that of Indonesia and Central America. I felt like I was sitting lower in the water and just couldn't move through it at the same pace as I had. I gave up after 45 minutes, sprinted out of the water and run to Rick's campsite to warm my hands up over the stove top. 

The rest of the crew - Khang, Sheryl, Rick, Christina and Matt dribbled in over the next few hours and joined me for coffee and breakfast. I'm not sure anyone had an epic surf, with that crowd it was almost impossible but each had a few fun waves. 

The wind picked up for the rest of the day, so we sat reading, eating, chatting and waited out the late afternoon glass off. I managed to borrow Matt's wettie for the session which made all the difference. I had such a fun surf at Old Mans on a 6'1 Spyder (similar to a fish) belonging to Rick. At 22 inches wide, it was so easy to paddle on to the waves and pull down the line. After such a dismal surf in the morning, I was relieved to have some fun and take nice little waves. 


My final surf with the Dump Rider crew was at Manhattan Beach, their local break. The wave is a series of beach breaks running from the sewerage factory along the coast for a few kilometres. It reminded me way too much of surfing Scarborough Beach over summer to really enjoy myself but it was nice to meet more of the local crew and catch up with Christina and Matt again. Looking forward to surfing waves in the warmer waters of El Salvador!