Blacks Beach is a relatively remote beach in the middle of San Diego. Access is granted by walking in from the beaches of Torrey Pines or Scripps both roughly 2 miles north or south of the main break. The other option is to scale down a large cliff through a number of trails such as the Goat Trail, the Ho Chi Minh, or the Road. Each one gets you much closer to the wave, but can be a leg burner on the way up. In the background you can see the La Jolla Cove which is famous for its snorkeling and on the biggest of swells can break as a long, heavy left. The day this image was made at blacks was on a hot, high pressure afternoon with a negative low-tide and a very clean west swell. I had been shooting water photos most of the afternoon when I went in after feeling sick. This had been the 5th day in a row of waves. As I was walking up the beach I saw this set coming and stopped to shoot a photo of it through my housing. The funny thing about this image, is that it appears empty, in reality, there were probably 150 guys out.

San Diego has great food, a variety of waves to surf from reefs to beachbreaks, an active community, half an hour from Mexico, an hour and a half south of LA.

My perfect day is to wake up at 5, surf until the sun comes up, drink some coffee, surf a bit more, eat lunch, nap, maybe surf again at sunset, than make dinner at home or go out to one of the restaurants around town.

It’s home. My family and friends are all here, the weather is always pretty good, and whenever I am flying home from a trip, there is someone on the plane flying here for a vacation so it can’t be that bad!!

Traffic.

The waters not always as warm as it should be in the summer.

Ireland

Michael Halsband, Patrick Trefz, Spike Jonze