Matt McCabe, Stands tall for his audience, North of LA

The Wedge isn’t the only wave in California that’s been going bananas during this recent run of South. Plenty of other beachbreaks, like this one here, did perfectly fine, just without the overload of lens-men and news vans. Ventura standout, Matt McCabe has been hanging with Nick Rosza for the whole swell, mainly sticking to this hidden gem of a spot. He recalls, “this was a pretty unique day at this wave. The water was the coldest I’ve ever felt it out there – low 50s f’sure. But, it was absolutely going off with a good amount of south and perfect conditions. It ended up being one of the best days I’ve seen out there in at least 3 years.” Photographer Justin Mehren adds, “this is from the second day of the swell when the energy had cleaned itself up enough to be manageable at this spot.  Matt and I were here the day before, but the energy was too raw and powerful that the sets were just eating themselves from the inside-out. It was pretty much impossible to get into them. This day, we could tell from the feeling in the air that all the variables were coming together much better.  This spot is really difficult to access,  so the crowds keep to a minimum. It was pretty much a Matt McCabe and Nick Rosza show in the water. They traded waves for about 30 minutes before this gem came in and Matt found himself in the perfect spot.  This was easily the largest wave of the day and Matt casually back-doored the wedge and stood tall.”