VAST LIFE DIARIES - WEST COAST TRIP | DAY 10 MORRO BAY - SANTA BARBARA

We’ve been watching the surf reports closely and it looked like a new swell is hitting Socal late this afternoon, building into the weekend.  We were supposed to camp at Carpentaria tonight, then spend a night in Ventura, but after some discussion, we decided to hit up Rincon later today, find an Airbnb nearby to let everyone charge their batteries, and get up early to surf Rincon again.  It’s an usual late season Northwest swell and we’re feeling pretty lucky!


After waking up, we made breakfast with leftovers from the night before.  We had steak, and some onion and tomato egg scramble. Stuffed and content, we packed up camp and shot straight for Rincon.  By now, riding any distances seemed easy. None of the guys had been to Solvang, which was one the way, so we made a quick stop for some danish sausages and pastries.  As we rode in to town, childhood memories of when my parents brought me and my sister here came flooding back, and I thought to myself that next time they visit LA, I’d like to bring them here for a family vacation.


After lunch it was a quick and beautiful ride to Rincon.  As the 101 approached the coastline, I noticed that the strong winds we had been experience has died down.  No more white caps and the conditions were glassy. More importantly, waves were breaking nicely! When we got to Rincon, the boys were antsy to surf and ran down to the beach to check the waves immediate after we parked.  There were a bunch of people in the water but it seems that swell had not arrived yet. The waves were maybe thigh high. We watched the waves for 20 minutes or so, and decided that we should come back a little later and hopefully it’ll pick up a bit.  


Channel Island Surfboard is literally just down the street, and Jun Jo’s childhood friend, Scott Martinson, had hit him up early to see if we’d been stopping now.  Jun checked that he was still at work and we went for a visit. Scott was kind enough to give us a tour of a facility and it was inspiring. As a young brand ourselves, I’m always looking to established surf brands, true to the culture, and learning about their history and experiences.  I hope that one day we can build a rich legacy with and our own brand, VAST. More importantly, do things that let surfers do what they love most—surf. To learn how Channel Island grew from a small shaping shop, to the internationally known surf brand and the the ups and downs over the years, gave my spirits a much needed confidence boost.  It is possible to do what we love, and build something based on our passions.


Before heading to Rincon, we checked a couple nearby spots but thought that they didn’t look better.  We arrived back at Rincon around 5pm, suit up, and went down to the beach. We were greeted by much better waves.  Finally! We had been waiting for this. The peaks weren’t quite connecting, but as we surfed, the swell picked up and got some fun rides.  We surfed to our hearts content and got out only because it was starting to get dark. With stoked smiles on our faces, we headed to our Airbnb.


Throughout the trip we had joked about going to the theater and watch the new Avengers movie.  Since Jun will need to head back to Hawaii tomorrow, we agreed that tonight will be movie night.  I was excited to see the movie since I had been waiting for it to release, but I’ll be honest and say that I was pretty exhausted and slept through maybe two thirds of it.  


As I said yesterday, positivity brings around good vibes and more positivity.  Hopefully tomorrow will be head-high Rincon but we’ll gratefully take what nature decides to give us.  Now we sleep.