Our favorite surf photos

Lines in the Sand: Stretching on the shore, a surfer punctuates the patterns of his surfboard and the shadows of the Huntington Beach Pier.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A body boarder launches off a big wave on the south side of the Seal Beach Pier.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A surfer takes to the skies while riding a wave in Ventura County.  (Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Tim Curran performs an aerial at Lower Trestles.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Surfer James Taylor is caught in silhouette by the late afternoon sun as he cuts up off a wave near the Huntington Beach Pier.   (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A surfer rides the swells as the spray lifts off a breaking wave near the Huntington Beach Pier.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

While watching a surfer in mid-wipe-out, a body-boarder rides a giant 30-foot wave at the famed Wedge in Newport Beach.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A surfer ducks into a small tube while another goes left at sunset on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Storms may be bad for beaches, but Jeremy Kipp of Santa Barbara enjoys the wild rides after a weather system churns up surf.   (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

A body-boarder is separated from his board while attempting to ride the surf at the Wedge in Newport Beach.  (Karen Tapia-Andersen / Los Angeles Times)

A surfer in Newport Beach bails out of a large wave generated by former Hurricane Linda, which brought swells as tall as 15 feet.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A surfer dives off his board over another while riding a tube on a big south swell at the Newport Point at 18th Street in Newport Beach.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Surfer Jake Pryharski,15, holds his board in the parking lot of the Seal Beach Pier after waves got the better of him.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A exhausted surfer at the Wedge in Newport Beach.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Santa Ana winds blow spray off the top of a peeling wave as a surfer is silhouetted at dusk at the Huntington Beach Pier.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A surfer takes off on a wave during strong offshore winds at the Huntington Beach Pier as the sunset lights up the spray.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A young surfer leaps from the Oceanside Harbor jetty for a sunset try at some big waves.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

A surfer catches one final wave before the sun sinks over the horizon off Redondo Beach.   (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)