Big Wave Challenge

Photos by Steve Gaffney (SteveGaffney.com) by Kevin Cody The South Bay Boardriders Big Wave Challenge for the largest wave ridden in the 2023-24 winter season had plenty of worthy entries. Photographer Steve Gaffney’s photos from the last week in December are among the contenders. The swell invited comparison to the swells that flooded the Hermosa…

Read More

Women fearless in SB Boardriders/El Porto shorepound

photos by Steve Gaffney (SteveGaffney.com) Photos made the surf look good at the South Bay Boardriders/El Porto Surf Shop contest two weeks ago in El Porto, but only because the level of surfing in the Boardrider contests keeps improving. Nowhere is this more evident than in the women’s divisions. In the Women’s Open division, competitors…

Read More

Torrance surf a surprise at SBBC/Dive N’ Surf contest

Photos by Steve Gaffney (@SteveGaffney) Historically, the South Bay Boardriders/Dive N’ Surf contest at Torrance Beach has had the best swag bags and worst waves of the annual SBBC seven-contest series. Dive N’ Surf is notoriously generous to surfers, and this year was no exception. Torrance Beach surf is notoriously stingy with waves, but this…

Read More

Jimmy Surf Fiesta takes the plunge for Browning

Surf photos by Steve Gaffney (SteveGaffney.com) “A Plunge for the Cause” was among the highlights of the 18th Annual Jimmy Surf Fiesta held during the first big swell of fall, at 42nd Street in El Porto on Saturday, October 14. The ice tub plunge was a benefit for surf filmmaker, and former pro surf Greg…

Read More

Gale force winds challenge SBBC surfers

Photos by Steve Gaffney (SteveGaffney.com) Gale force winds, approaching 20 miles per hour during the South Bay Boardriders/El Porto Surf Shop in El Porto contest two Saturdays ago left announcer Mark Cole at a loss for words.  “I’ve said, ‘Challenging conditions’ a hundred times already. I need a new word,” he apologized   over the…

Read More

Manhattan/El Segundo big wave bombs

Photos by Steve Gaffney (SteveGaffney.com) Los Angeles County Lifeguards Matty Mohagen and Shane Gallas pushed the limits of paddling into big waves at the Manhattan-El Segundo border about 7:30 a.m. on January 6. The shore pound was 10 feet. The outside waves, breaking past the end of the jetty, were two to three times that…

Read More

Surf photographer Steve Gaffney advice: Stay low, keep moving

Steve Gaffney is a fine arts photographer who finds inspiration in surfing, and returns it. When surfers see him running up and down at the waterline, their surfing ratchets up a notch.  Gaffney has been photographing South Bay Boardriders contests every winter since 2012.  The contests are held six times a year, generally in North…

Read More