July 19th. 2016

A couple of days ago I caught wind of a small kine swell that was showing up. I decided to go check out a spot that I have never shot at, called Al's. Its called that because a guy named Al said so, and if you hav ever met Al, you don't want to argue with him! There are nasty rumors that have been floating around for about thirty years of Al regulating certain people off his beach. So when I pulled up, I noticed there were a couple of cars already there. So I made the fifteen minute hike into the spot and arrived down on the coast and there were three guys just walking in, and none of them was named Al, so that was a relief. They said the waves were fun, but the wind was coming up a bit and they all had other things to do. I decided to hang out a while and make a couple of shots anyways. Hey, I was the only one down there. After about a half hour went by and I spotted two surfers walking down the trail, just hoping neither of them was Al! They were heading directly towards me, so I figured it was either gonna be good or bad. One guy was carrying about three boards.When they got right up in my face, I could tell that it was all good. They both had red hair, freckles and spoke with the thickest Irish accents, that I could hardly understand their English! They asked me a bunch of questions about the spot, and I mentioned to them that they would have it all to their selves. They got stoked, and the guy carrying three boards and wearing the baseball hat which read "IRA" introduced himself as Schacter O'Shaunessy and his friend as Webley MacGreggor and said they were from Northern Ireland and on vacation. They seemed like competent surfers and after a few more minutes of conversation, they paddled right out. They surfed for about an hour as the wind was picking up, and they both seemed to surf pretty well. Schacter kept changing boards trying to find the right one? When the wind got almost too strong, two kite surfers showed up and proceeded to get about fifty waves per hour! Schacter and Webley soon paddled in and we said Aloha, and they were back on their way to surf Malibu! The kite boarders were ripping and that was pretty cool, as I have never been able to photograph them. All in all it was a fun session, and I dont look forward to meeting Al next time. Always remember my Motto: "Stay Stoked, and Stay Forever Young." Da Lieb