Southern California has a great surf break
in a remote area that breaks very hollow and fast and to
our knowledge has been surfed by few female surfers because
of limited access and the difficulty level required by advanced
surfers. Savannah spent a few weeks surfing California with
the Thornsley and Wilson families warming up and chilling
out during the NSSA National Championships.
Point Mugu, California Surfing Location
When I was told that I'd be surfing on a remote,
restricted military base in southern California, all I could
think about was white sharks, cold water and big threatening
waves. Tyler's dad had been emailing us photographs
of them getting shacked for several days before I departed
Florida and I was biting at the bit and ready to joust with
my first U.S. west coast waves. Josh and Amy Wilson
escorted me on my plane ride from Orlando to Los Angeles
Airport where we were immediately chauffeured by Kevin Thornsley
on a couple of hour drive to our surfing destination. As
the mile markers went by and we drew closer to Point Mugu
in our rental suburban the reality that we were gonna be
in great surf within a short time was making my senses tingle
with nervousness. When we were within a few miles
of Mugu, Kevin started chanting... "Mugu...Mugu...Mugu...."
my heart started pumping and once I spied the waves, my
anxieties grew to anxiousness to surf the perfect 3 - 5
foot tubing hollow waves beaconing us on to their challenge.
Orlando's Sea World did not prepare me for
swimming with the barking dogs of the lineup including sea
lions, elephant seals and smaller harbor seals. Having
never surfed with seals before I was surprised that we were
almost immediately inspected upon entering the water as
several seals casually slipped by to check us out as if
additional security for the military police.
Kevin's description of this wave seemed understated
and for the first time in my life I was faced with perfect
pitching waves that looked like something out of Hawaii
or a surf magazine, having the strength
to snap your board or your neck with a wrong decision or
slip of the foot. My goal... to get the best tube
ride and go home with the story, experience and possibly
photographs for Mom & dad, I had no idea how unyielding
Mugu would be in taking me on my first real deep tube and
possibly giving me the confidence to attack the north shore
of Hawaii's Pipeline later this winter.
I sat in the lineup for what seemed like an
eternity while my coach Josh took his first wave and then
another. Josh is regular footed (left foot front)
and was having a difficult time negotiating his first waves
backside but managed to grab a nice one and pigdog his way
into a nice barrel or two by the second day. I know
Josh is out of practice on these but each successive wave
and everyday he managed to get deeper and deeper into the
barrel while I struggled to get the nerve to stall into
the pit and disappear into a cavern of water I needed to
satisfy my itch for that perfect tube.
A great start for my coach Josh Wilson in
a Point Mugu barrel above. (click
here to continue with my quest for the perfect tube).
