Halstead heads up to Santa Cruz for the USA Surf Team training camp

This week me, my Dad, my Mom and my dog named "Rocky" piled into our SUV... and headed up to Santa Cruz to train with Ian "Kanga" Cairns and the USA Junior Team. I was super excited to get on the road to surf Steamer Lane and other Santa Cruz spots that get good this time of year. Yes, I knew it was going to be risky taking my 25lb French Bulldog along for the trip since he hates cold weather and likes to fart alot. Although he did fog up the car with a few nasty ones, he was really easy and fun to have along for the trip

The weather was as nice as can be with sunny, clear days and cold nights but the surf was really small. Our first session at "The Lane" was barely breaking at the high tide. We were the only people to paddle out at 7:00am in the fridgid knee high inconsistent surf. After a few waves, we decided to hit a more remote spot about 20 minuets up the coast. We found a beach break with fun peaks at a place the locals jokingly refer to as "Shark Park". At one point in the session a few dolphins popped up in the lineup and gave Cam Richards quite a scare when everyone on the beach yelled  "Come in"!

I would say the highlight of this surf trip was our afternoon session at a place that I will not name. Many of you will notice it from the pictures. But this place is a wedging, sand bottom bowling peak off the side of some cliffs. The cliffs provide shelter from the wind and the sand builds around the rocks making shallow sand bars. Even though the session did not last long, everyone had a blast in the 2-3ft perfect peaks with mini air sections.

So, the drive home was about 8 hours back to San Diego and Rocky had eaten some bad dog food, and we all paid for that the whole way home.

Shoots.....Jake