California dreaming

Hell yeah dude, you're livin the dream!

 

This thread is going to have alot of people moving. haha

 

Moved to CA 4 years ago and haven't looked back. If you like the sun, nice weather, nice water, cool things to look at from the water, laid back people, better and more consistent surf then what are you waiting for? What is holding you back? You are wasting your life on the East Coast.

 

Scobeyville, we still need to hit up my "secret spots" =) . Im in LJ everyday for work! Ive been surfing OB a lot lately though. The wife is due with the new baby any week now, so I have the lifeguards in OB on alert. If the wife goes into labor, she will call the guard station in OB and they will megaphone me in from the lineup at the pier. I promised the wife I would be accessable if she goes into labor. Shes like, what if you are at blacks or something and I cant get ahold of you for 3 hours.... So, needless to say ive been in front of the guard station on a daily.

But Im still working on that smog thing for you. I will PM you. There are some shady cats down in SE SD that may do it. It may cost you doulbe though. Again, ill hit you up.

 

Just do it man... you got nothing to lose. It might be the best decision you ever make in your life; even if it doesn't work out you'll always be able to say you gave it a shot and you scored great waves. Who knows you might use the move as a jump off point to somewhere even better. If you have no ties holding you down then I say do it!

 

He did do it . Where have u been for the past 13 pages LOL

 

+1 literally, ROFL

yo scobes, need a roommate?, haha...I got to get out there...

 

Well, you see there are indeed 13 pages and I didn't want to spend an hour reading each post, so I thought I would reply to the initial post instead. Come to find out the first post actually happened in January...guess I'm the a**hole, right. Didn't have to call me out on it though...jeez...nah it's all good. Glad to see you made the move Scobey... I would have done it. And Matt...thanks for keeping on point with it - somebody's gotta do it.

 

I envy the hell out of you. Someday bro, Ill be out there. and I may just PM your or Zach

 

Ehhhh, not so sure about the "laid back people". I prefer the Outer Banks for that. California surf is far more consistent, but the idea that the rest of us are "wasting our lives" back on the Atlantic is hogwash. I've lived both places and prefer to stay here. It's a personal choice that involves more than wave quality. If you base it on surf alone, NorCal or Hawaii wins hands-down.

 

Whoops, clicked too soon! Having said all that crap above, bravo for taking the chance. Most people would shy away from the risk, and I'm stoked you are happy with the result.

 

I do agree that its a personal choice, but I will side with chill21 that life and people here are much more laid back. Even in a huge city, life moves at a half speed out here. That will be what I miss most about CA if i leave, not to mention the waves. The second I step off a plane back in maryland, the pace is noticeably faster until you get way out of the city.

 

I totally agree. Went to work out there for a few weeks to help our San Diego division, ImI am use to a project being GO GO GO, we are behind need to get this done, or that done. NOt out there it was really laid back, wether we wree behind or on pace, everyone had the same mentatlity. Not just work, everything is laid back. I agree the Outer Banks is laid back, but honestly its because 75% of the people down there are on vacation. I use to live there for two years so i have a pretty good diea of tourist vs local ratio. The people that do live there work jobs that pay the bills and no real pressure type of lifestyles. Somehow in the suburbs along the east coast we have driven ourselves into a frenzied pace, because things are faster now, instant access to this or that via the web or some sort of small electronic devices we feel like we have to hurry in everything we do. SoCal is extremely laid back dealing with the same project on the west coast vs the east coast the mentality on the west coast was completely different.

 

And the funny thing is , San Diego and the Outerbanks are my two favortie places in North America. Has alot to do with the energy of those places I guess.

 

I agree and disagree. I lived out there about 15 years ago in the SD area. I agree that people are laid back but almost everyone is phony. I've never met so many phony people in all my life. They give you that fake smile but the knife comes out when you are not there with them. My friend and I from the East Coast would always let each other know when they were talking crap. We would get a kick out of it and could see the bull**** overflowing out of their mouths. The waves are great though. If you like great waves and phony people, try southern California. If you like real people and decent waves, stay on the East Coast. Now if you want the best waves and great people, Hawaii is the place.

 

yeah, I can see your point there. I felt that way for a while too at first, but I have met some really good people out here at this point. I think most people with roots here are usually well to do and have not really gone through a lot of lifes struggles the way most of the rest of america does, not just the east coast, so people are different. Lots are phony. But people are phony everywhere. There are a lot out here, granted, but i still see lawyers in la jolla wearing flips flops. My old boss at Merryl Lynch is a multi-million air and on the weekend, he would be driving around windnsea in his restoed VW bus with long boards on top. At two different jobs, I have ended up being in the same lineup with my boss and I didnt know either of them even surfed. I take my dog everywhere in my neighborhood. Every bar and restaurant owner knows my black labs name. We always get greeted with a bowl of water for him. If I am not in my suit and tie for work, everywhere I got and everything i do is in flip flops and boardies, all year round... This area is just a chill place if you embrace it. There are bad seeds, but everybody in san diego seems generally happy to me. Wall Street closes every day on the west coast at like 2 in the afternoon, so there are tons of business guys and stuff just going home at 2:00 and grabbing a surf. Every weekend, someone you know is having a party at the beach, or the bay, and everytime you meet all these new people, everybody is so chill. There arent fist fights. There aren't wanna-be-gangsters walking around. I think even if you are a transplant, if you surround yourself with people who live here, you will see that you are probably like-minded with most of them.

I love OBX too, dont get me wrong, but OBX is more of an isolation kind of thing. Its cool there in the off season cause its so quite, so beautiful, so empty. Its a great place, but OBX to me is like New Zealand. Just a rugged, beautiful place, but maybe not somewhere you want to live. I just like SD cause it has big city ammenities. Pro sports. 80 miles or surfable beaches and millions of jobs. Tons of sh** to do. Tons of places to hide as well. In the middle of the summer, I can think of 5 secluded beaches I can go to with my wife and will be the only ones there. Its a place where you can live the city life at a leasurely pace.

I love OC MD in equal but different ways tho. I miss it a lot for different reasons. But for this particular thread, we were discussing the laid back aspects of it.

 

Agreed on both counts:

1. There's really lots of phony people everywhere. Way more people surf in SoCal, so it just happens. I do agree that there are more fake people in general. No matter how far from LA you might be, the "cool culture" always did seem to prevail in lots of places. Gaslamp SD comes to mind. On the other hand, PB is pretty chill. I think if you know where to go, the people in Cali are alright. That's just my opinion, of course. Having been in the military, I have friends from just about everywhere, particularly SoCal because I always try to find the people who surf...anyhow, most of my buddies from the area are very accustomed to surfing in crowds and just take it easy in general.

2. Hawaii is f#@%ing awesome. Anyone who argues with that...well, I feel bad for them because they missed out. I lived there for 2.5 years. Spent my summers living in a high-rise in Waikiki next to a 1 bedroom apartment where 6 Swiss gals shared 3 beds. When the surf was flat, and by flat I mean less than chest high, I hung out with the Swiss hotties and other exchange students. In the winters, I lived with a friend on the North Shore and surfed every single day that our ship wasn't out at sea. Most weekends or Fridays (yes, "aloha friday" means hardly anyone ever works on friday, might as well make the "3 day work week" official, even in the military) we'd surf 3+ sessions at Lani's, Rocky Point, Log Cabins, or wherever. I mean, every day the opportunity to hit some of the craziest waves around, and the winter swell's so consistent that "every day" means exactly that. I remember my first year in March, just praying for the waves to die down because I was physically exhausted from surfing so much. Being from the east coast, I showed up with the mentality that I would always go surf whenever there's waves. In Hawaii you can actually take a break and watch when it's perfect...because it'll probably be just as good again tomorrow. Anyhow, just had to vouch for the Aloha state.