By Morgan Sliff
183 straight days of surf, stoke, and smiles for miles.
I picked an interesting span of time to challenge myself to surf for a year. El Nino has confronted California full force, and it happened to be a leap year, adding one extra day to what would have been a normal 365.
Like any other morning, I rolled out of bed with dreams of playing in the ocean about to come to fruition. This morning however was special, feelings of milestones buzzing about in the air and my surfboard shaper, sea sensei, and good friend Jose Barahona accompanying me for my morning session. We rendezvoused at Brother’s Burritos for some liquid jet fuel (coffee) and sped off to Topaz, where we found some bowling shorepound to set our lines in. Familiar faces were around us, and we all caught a few mackers that had everyone hooting and hollering. The occasional “Did you see that last one?!” would escape someone’s mouth, only moments later to have another crazy set come in that flung someone down its face.
Being a day of celebration, Jose kindly ended our session with mimosas, and I went home feeling a little warmer and rosy cheeked. After about an hour and knowing the day was free from work, I was feeling the surf stoke and didn’t want the surf or celebrating to end. I made some calls, then grabbed my stuff and hit the road South.
My friend Shane and I poked around, hunting for surf up and down Newport and Huntington Beach, going from sunny skies to a dense patch of fog. We didn’t find much, but the day surely wasn’t wasted, as we continued the celebration with churros, peach margaritas, and getting a brand new wetsuit designed and fitted by Shane, owner of JoneSea Wetsuits – 100 percent surfer-made suits cut, sewn, and stitched by him from start to finish.
Six months has gone by in a flash, and the time I’ve gotten to spend with the ocean, along with all the beautiful people I’ve met and reconnected with along this journey, keeps me in this joyous state of stoke. I am looking ever so forward to making the most of the next 183 days.
And always ringing in my ear, for good reason, is “let the sea set you free.”
