San Lorenzo River Mouth 1982

by David Schneider
(Bow, WA USA)

I guess it was the storms the winter of 1981-82 (I moved to Hawaii later that year so remember that spring) that the San Lorenzo River Mouth broke until around May. This was highly unusual, as a lot of years it doesn't break at all.

For a while, the lefts were really going off. Since most breaks in Santa Cruz (aside from the beaches) are rights, this was my first opportunity to really get into backside turns, and I was stoked! A lot of energy going backside on a bottom turn, laying back into the wave and the cranking front side of the top...

I'll never forget one evening when we were still in the water at about 8:30 p.m. The sun had gone down, but there was enough light to see the waves coming. Then, as you dropped in, the lights from the boardwalk were reflecting off the face of the lefts, not only helping to see the wave but adding a carnival effect to the whole atmosphere.

I remember now years later, the sound of the roller coaster and the girls screaming while my friends paddling out were hooting as I cranked into those beautiful waves.

Since then I have lived 8 years in Hawaii, 5 years on the surf beaches in Ecuador as well as Nicaragua, but that memory of the river mouth will always stick with me!

Since I don't have a pic of that, I will stick one in of my wife on the beach in Nicaragua, 2006.

David Schneider
www.OdysseySeaGlass.com