Jalama Weekend

The weekend started out a little different than I had envisioned. I, along with some others was to go up early to reserve spots as this camp books solid virtually every weekend. The family all got sick and I was the last to get it so I drove up Friday afternoon with a sore throat coming on, feeling worse all the time. But it had to be done and although it would have been fun with the whole family, it was not meant to be.

The view coming into the camp is spectacular, it is an awesome thing to be living in the city for three months and suddenly to be surrounded by nature again, rejuvenating, refreshing and awe inspiring.
The main group came in late, around 7 or 7:30. It was funny because you constantly hear how teenagers are lazy and unmotivated or can't be expected to get up early because they are growing and need their sleep.

Well I can tell you that this group of teenage guys were all in bed before 9:30 and waxing their boards at 4 am in the morning to walk to a reef to surf. Out of all the Christian high school trips that happen across the US, we have to be in the 99.9th percentile for that happening! Makes them a dream to chaperone though.
Sunrise surf check at Jalama, you can see a reef in the distance and a van checking it out.
The younger guys like Austin and Pat were especially funny, everything was the "best ever!" Which we were amazed at until we realized that that's not hard when you've only lived ten or twelve years! =) Pat especially had a story for everything, it got to the point we would throw out random topics like grasshopper and have him tell stories, really funny!
Here's Patrick I believe, cutting back.Austin, friendly and about to be dumped by the wave.Matt, duckdiving a wave sideways.A set approaching.

Pat and Austin, the coldest they had ever been "in their whole lives."
Breakfast doesn't last long with hordes of hungry surfers around!
Jalama campground from the bluff above it, truly a beautiful spot and a place I want to go back to! I had to leave late Saturday morning because of getting sicker and my wife at home alone with a house full of sick kids. But I look forward to hearing how the rest of the weekend went. We had the CS tent up by that morning and were looking forward to doing some outreach with all the surfers that were there.

I'll leave you with the wave sequence of the day that I shot that morning.
Setting it up...
Tucking in...
Starting to throw...
Good times...
Spoke too soon!
Still a lot of fun, hope to see some of you on one of our CS Santa Barbara camping trips sometime or at a bible study, check out www.christiansurfers.com for more info!