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SHINE ON YOU CRAZY….

Matt Diamond Charges Todos Santos and Speaks of Venmo Trollers on Still Massive Friday: Friday, December 29, 2023

The Big Thursday swell of December 28, 2023 generated lots of stories around Malibu and up and down the California coast. Malibu Road resident “Jonesy” said he was checking big Zuma and saw a guy getting caught inside on a double-overhead wave, but he spun it, took off, stuck it and got a massive barrel: “It looked like Backdoor Pipeline,” Jonesy said. “No exaggeration.” Meanwhile, on Still Massive Friday, Malibu resident Matt Diamond and friends chose to have a go at a surf spot called Killers on the island of Todos Santos, about 10 miles southwest of Ensenada. Diamond remembers the time.

It's been a week since the Big Thursday swell and it looks like the ocean is bubbling again. You decided to have a go at Todos Santos for that swell. What inspired that decision?
Well in January at the beginning of 2023 - which was last winter surf season - I was on Point Dume at Skylar Peak’s house to pick up a board bag to head to the North Shore of Oahu to meet with Skylar for a big swell. I ran into Mike Baily at Skylar’s and I mentioned that I was gonna go to Hawaii that night but that I also had Todos on the brain as it was gonna be 20-25 foot. 

I’d never been but really wanted to. Right there we made the executive decision and loaded my truck and within an hour we were en route to Mexico to surf Todos Santos - Aka Killers - the next morning.

Have you surfed Todos much since then? 
Once last winter. And this was the third session this winter.

Seems like the place has fallen out of favor in recent years. During the 90s a lot of guys would do the Devil's Triangle - Waimea, Mavericks, Todos.

Yeah Mavericks has become the new big wave attraction. In 1998 I was a senior at Malibu High and I had the poster of The Taylor Knox K2 Big Wave Challenge. Taylor won that award in 1998. 

Click here for Taylor Knox wins $50,000 at Todos on Surfline.

Yep I think I interviewed Taylor on the back of that poster. I was out on a boat for that event. Taylor took a chance and sat way outside hoping for a bomb and he got it. I know Brad Gerlach, Mike Parsons, Greg and Rusty Long really put it on the map for the 1990's and 2000.

That’s right, Gerlach and Snips and the Long Brothers were towing and paddling it then and winning some XXL Awards.

Now I remember. I was still involved for some of that. Taylor won 50 grand or something for that wave and deposited the check in an ATM machine. I thought that was weird and hilarious at the time.

What was the strategy: When did you drive down there, who did you go with, what boards did you take, how did you get out there, did you have a ski, who else was out there.

That first time I had my 10-footer and Mike Bailey had his 8'0. It had been years since we ventured across the border but it went smooth. We found a decent hotel near the harbor and found a boat captain within an hour of landing in Ensenada. Just like that we were all set up for the morning pre-dawn strike to Todos.

What did the coast look like on the drive down and the drive back? What were your indicators something major was happening?

The coast was magical. The swell was building. It felt like Portugal. There is a section of coast between Rosarito and Ensenada that is gorgeous and unspoiled. It's really refreshing to see wide-open, unspoiled coastline.

For this Big Friday session you said you were the first one in the water while the moon was still up - did you approach it with caution and diligence?

Yes we were the first boat to Todos. Other boats showed up but the other surfers watched it for an hour or so. We had just been there a month or so before so we were kinda comfortable with Todos. Of course we knew there were bombs a brewin’ out there and the game plan was to be cautious and sit deep and slightly wide of whatever boil the waves were breaking on as Todos has many boils that come to life at different tides and swell directions.

Looks super clean in the photos. Was it like that all day?

The AM was clean but strong offshore and very shifty. 

Giant and shifty = no bueno.

The sets were a bit all over the place. We had to do our best to hold the line and wait for the tide to drop a bit. From about 10 AM on it glassed off, the tide dropped and it got more consistent.

How many people were out there? 

In the early AM about three to five other surfers. In the afternoon about eight and it remained that way all day.

How many skis?
There were only a few water safety skis. Team Venmo for one surfer and our guy that came with us.

Team Venmo?

They were a water safety team that collects venmo payments for guys that need a lyft out of the impact zone. I guess it’s the new hustle in the lineup.

Say what? They rescue random strangers and charge them?

I guess so. Peeps need to make that Venmo $$. 

Do tell.

Yeah it's interesting. Some surfers have their own select water safety team that they hire to look after them for that day. If there is a random surfer in need of a save from the impact zone or a tow back to the lineup, some of the water safety guys will ask them to pay them in Venmo for the pick up or rescue. It's kinda a double dip/side hustle in the water.

Well when you’re drowning - name your price.
Technically all surfers should have their own water safety if they are gonna need to get scooped from the impact zone. But what if you don't and a ski driver is just sitting there watching you and available. It is kinda a universal thing that as a lifeguard/water safety person you are supposed to help someone in need no matter what.
The crazy thing is that some of these water safety people are yelling out to the surfers and demanding Venmo payment if they want a ski to come grab them even and if the surfer don't agree to pay whatever exorbitant fee they bark out on the spot that may well exceed the driver’s day pay rate. All while there may be a life or death wave pounding only seconds away from the surfer. They will simply leave the surfer to get pulverized.

Yikes. Brutal.
I really find this disheartening while at the same time understand all surfers should have their own safety team and plan but there is clearly a gray area of humanity and the code of ethics for lifesaving around the world. I grew up as a lifeguard as did a lot of our friends - praising legendary and iconic watermen like Eddie Aikau who would always look out for any human that needed help. 

This 21st Century is full of wonders.

It's definitely a weird thing that’s starting to happen in the water. Hard times financially for people I guess. They call some of these guys Venmo Trollers.
Hopefully it corrects itself or maybe a mutual universal standard of what’s fair to charge surfers who already don't have much $ for a pickup.

Pay up or drown down. What kind of universe is this?

Side hustle racket. Heard some people are doing it at Jaws as well. I don’t think it’s cool but whatever peeps gotta do to survive, I guess.

Survive getting beat? Or survive financially?

Both.

From what I saw online, it looked like you needed a bit of rescuing on one. One of your waves was posted online but it looked like a wipeout.

I strived for a few bombs right out of the gates just after sunrise. They were beasts and I got up to be blown off. I got two like that.

How bad were the beatings? 

I do not believe anyone got seriously injured. I definitely had a very sore neck and back for a few days as I took about two, 12-second-range hold downs and one face first slam at the bottom of a solid wave towards the end of the day on a low tide drainer. Epsom Salt baths and hydration are the best for recovery and lots of stretching.

You’re a long way from shore out there if anything goes wrong.

Well Todos is a 45-minute boat ride from the mainland and you are catching waves pretty close to the rocks on the island. If anything goes really wrong you need a helicopter ride out or a boat ride back to Ensenada and whatever the proper medical attention plan would be from there:  A local hospital or jump in the car back to the US. Really just depending on the severity of an injury.

What was the story on that wave? What would you do differently? Looked windy and that don't help. 

Well the board I was on is a great Pearson Arrow from a legendary Santa Cruz shaper. It was a 10' 6” but had a high performance glass job.  Basically light board + light dude + offshore wind on a huge wave = Super Matty Flight Mode.... So next time for waves that size I would try for a heavier board and do my best to consciously be as aerodynamic with my board and aim straight down for calmer conditions at the bottom of the wave before attempting a bottom turn....

You also said it was giant and shifty which would be no bueno out there and a recipe for getting cleaned up. Did you get caught by any of them?

I did not get caught by any of them. Just the early am rogue 40 foot wave I barely made it under. Our charge buddy Eric Nicholson who had been charging big Mavs just before this Todos swell. He was 20 feet behind me and got caught and taken for an “island tour” as we call it. He got dragged under water about two football fields length. It was a serious beating that Eric took like a champ.

So looking back on that session in the fullness of time: What did you do right and what did you do wrong?

Well I did my best to stick to the plan, hold the line, be patient and stay deep. I can't say I did anything wrong. I could have maybe strived to keep my board straight for the big bomb but it all happened so fast and the wind was strong at the top of that beauty. So who knows. But I went for it. And I'm super stoked that I did....

What happened in the following week? Any other notable sessions?

We came home to surf some of our home breaks around Point Dume. It's always special to surf your home break when it's 10-15 feet. Mike and I took out the guns and got to catch the biggest sets and take off as deep as humanly possible. It was great to score with Skylar and the local boys.... always fun to surf with familiar faces....it was a solid session to say the least. We got Westward the next day for some epic barrels for the last session of 2023.

What's your strategy for the rest of winter? Any big goals? Mavericks? Hawaii?

Oh yeah. The season is really just starting. Of course big snow here in CA, Utah, CO, NM and beyond. As for big waves. Mike, Eric and I keep eyes on Hawaii, Mavs, Todos and all in between weekly. Looks like a week or so of rest/back to work in preparation for the next strike.....

And beyond that, what’s next for Matt Diamond? 

Yeah beyond that. Playing a lot of drums, keeping the chops tight, working on some wellness events, a couple of summer festivals in Malibu and Ventura, selling real estate here in Malibu as well as developing sustainable open space, net zero communities in Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I am off to Austin

To party with the Stones?

… no, to meet with a very innovative 3D home builder who just got awarded a grant from NASA to build a space station community on The Moon.

 Austin and the Southwest are very interesting places - especially these days. Very innovative, creative  energy out there. 

But that's another story to share in the near future.