To go with the smelly red tides and prolific jellyfish, the beach vibe has been hurt by flat surfing waves. "This is as bad a summer as I can remember in a while," Corky Carroll, a 57-year-old champion surfer from Huntington Beach, told the LAT. At least the blue whales are happy. They're showing up all over the San Pedro Channel. Kudos for the sly sound bite in the Times by a sightseeing-boat captain who participated in the hype without going overboard: "There's only one whale that big, and that's a blue," said Dan Salas, captain of the Christopher. "I've been in this business 25 years, and that's what we saw today." And maybe yesterday too?