In October, Southern California turned into one big bonfire from Santa Barbara down to the US-Mexico border. Major contributing factors to the extreme fire conditions were the drought conditions in SoCal, really hot weather, and unusually strong Santa Ana winds with gusts reaching 85 mph. Unfortunately, about 1,500 homes were destroyed along with approx. 500,000 acres of land. There was a layer of ash on the cars for a week, and it honestly smelled like a bonfire, no matter where you were outside.
Here's a picture of the Santiago Canyon fire - I took it on the way to work at 6:30am
The sun dipping into an ash-filled skyThe guilty pleasure of this mostly bad situation was the fact that the Santa Ana winds were strong off-shore, which when combined with a good-sized swell, can create ideal surf. So, while California was burning, I headed to the beach for some of the best waves Southern California has seen in a long time.
56th - Newport
Everybody wanted a piece of this one..
There were a ton of waves, but still more guys out then waves. In Southern California the demand always outweighs the supply, especially when it's good.
After 2 hours of heavy paddling, my lungs were burning, and I was totally spent. But it was quite an experience to be out in those epic conditions. Hopefully next time we have these kind of conditions, they won't be accompanied by the fires.
The Huntington Beach Pier at sunset. This was at the end of the week as the smoke was finally clearing out.
