Surfers are some of the most nostalgic, blinded by rose-tinted glasses so caked in romanticized memories of the past, folks you’ll ever meet.
Even when the waves are good, historic even, they will forever be comparing them, scrutinizing them down to the slightest blemish, to swells and seasons of yore.
Hence the classic surf euphemism, you should’ve been here yesterday.
And so, with all the swell bombarding California recently thanks to a super El Niño season churning up the world’s oceans, surfers are drawing comparisons to season’s past, seeing how this particular run of waves stacks up.
“When’s the last time it broke?” New Jersey visitor Ben Gravy asks San Diego natives Jacob “Zeke” Szekely and Skip McCullough, following an historic, rare big-wave session at the typically dormant La Jolla Cove.
“2014, right?” Zeke suggests, somewhat unsure.
“It could’ve been 2014,” Skip confirms. “El Niño ‘14/’15…the timelines line up.”
Whatever the case, seeing double-overhead waves roll through La Jolla Cove is an uncommon occurrence. Even for the locals, Zeke and Skip, it’s like a wave in their hometown that they’ve only heard old-timers tell stories about, maybe seen glimmers of once or twice, had fully come to life before their very eyes.
Must’ve been like seeing bigfoot or something.
One day, Zeke and Skip will be the salty old locals, hunched in a dark corner of a local watering hole, muttering hushed tales of the fabled 2023/2024 season to any grommet who’ll listen.
Gravy captioned the clip:
“It’s not often you experience the ‘day of the decade’ surf at any spot, let alone the world renown big wave novelty of La Jolla Cove in San Diego. Obviously this wave isn’t the craziest thing ever, but it is cool to hear that it hasn’t broken since Big Wednesday 2014 or something…? haha hope everyone is enjoying the California VLOGS, believe it or not there’s still much more to come! Thanks for the stoke!”
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