Unseasonal

It’s been grey , for a long time . Cool days that start shrouded in a light sea haze , not the rolling fogs that creep in off the horizon , or the traditional June gloom that accompany pre summer in LA . Winter was cold and wet , at least for LA standards . Summer is only 15 days away , yet there’s barely been a beach day to be had , the temperature has hovered between 16 and 21 degrees Celsius for months . The sun has stayed away .

It hasn’t been all bad …… you know where I’m going ?….. The waves . Week in , week out they’ve been doing their thing . The water has stayed cold , even this close to summer I’m wearing a 4 by 3 wetsuit . I’ve never done that in my life , and I’m from Melbourne’s east coast with its heavy icy water . It’d be early December and the lighter wetsuits would be in use back on the Peninsula . Lots of weather fronts north and south of LA , hovering in the Pacific have kept the coast cool and active . With the plentiful waves the beaches are exposed to more wash , there’s stuff in the water , mostly plastic but the beaches have been dirty . The SouthBay beaches capture a lot of the storm run off . The best waves tend to arrive with accompanying warnings of poor water conditions . Perfect , it keeps the crowds down , but there’s a price to pay , a 6 week sore throat and multiple ear blockages . Only yesterday did the ear open up , but alas there were waves at my sneaky right . ( that’s it above ) I had no choice , now I’m back to deaf again . There’s plenty of sea life here , just weeks ago I was attacked by an albino Mantaray . In stormy waters a strange shape flanked me from the right . From the corner of my eye it appeared , gliding effortlessly beyond the nose of my board . When I began to breathe again it became real ……. it was a large sheet of white plastic travelling in the current two feet under . This is something that you get used to , the plastic . The beach authorities do a great job in cleaning the coast but 25 million people and run off adds up ………. its gotta go somewhere. So with just a fortnight until Summer , I hope it stays grey , it’s been great to have waves ,low crowds and to walk outside without always having to wear a cap or sunscreen. The only loss ? My hearing and yeah , I do miss those g strings . Don’t worry ,I’ll be sure to send you pictures when the sun comes out .