surfer fires across the point at Da Lane, in Santa Cruz, California.
I took this photograph with my Nikon/F2 that has a 230mm x 65mm Vivitar telephoto lens. It’s a shot of a longboard surfer riding the west side famous surf spot called, “The Steamer Lane”.
The Lane is a very local wave and you better be respectful of that or you will get hassled by them. I surfed there from 1992-2008, off and on, as I mostly resided in the east bay of San Francisco. That’s where I worked as a journeyman plumber on new, commercial construction sites, all over the bay area. The spot is a fun and juicy right hand point wave and on bigger swells it has an outside west peak that will hold a short rideable left. The place is big and spread out so that a bunch of people could be out and the surfers are dispersed throughout the line up and shoulder zones. It can get pretty hairy out there when there are too many folks in the water.
I was never really stoked on having a session when it was that crowded, so I would have a nice siesta in the back of my truck. This place was going off all the time in the warmer Spring months. That’s when the swells changed from the cold, northern hemisphere to the relatively warmer southern hemi swells. I remember south swells so big that the US Coast Guard would forcibly pluck you from the water and then you would paddle back out when they left the area.
It happened to me on one, huge swell in June 1996. I asked permission to board the CGV, those Coasties thought that was hilarious, that a long haired dirtbag surfer would use proper sailor decorum to board their vessel. I pleaded with them to not set me on the boat dock, where I had a mile and a half paddle back up the point to my truck in the parking lot. I must have made a good impression, they let me off with a strong warning, and after a properly crisp salute to the Skipper, I dove overboard, and I was gone, surfing “Da Lane” once again, so stoked.
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