Eaten Up Pretty Good

Name: Dakota

Lives: Ocean Beach

Surfing: Dog Beach

Despite the ripping winds and freezing water, 30-year-old Dakota is out at Dog Beach looking for surf. The cold isn’t new to him; he recently moved back to California from Bellingham, Washington. “It’s gnarly out there.”

Dakota, raised in Ocean Beach, learned to surf at the Dog Beach jetty. “I kept coming to Dog Beach and getting hammered on the Dog.”

He’s moved back from the rough waters of Washington and is looking forward to returning to Sunset Cliffs, although his usual haunts are the O.B pier and the jetty. He has surfed down in Baja but returns to familiar waters. “It’s nice around here; the jetty is sweet and the peel is good off the jetty.”

He has never been seriously hurt surfing but does mention the trouble with the spot just behind him. “I’ve been eaten up pretty good over here when it walls up and pounds you. Dog Beach, when it gets a little bigger, is not the best place for surf.”

He has had a close call with a shark. “It wasn’t that big, maybe four feet long. It saw me and then kind of skidded out.”

Dakota mentions one new concern: “My buddy told me about his friend getting a rash from getting in the water less than 72 hours after it rained. I didn’t used to take it too seriously, but now I wait after a good, heavy rainfall.”