Low expectations

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Surf: 4.6 ft at 10.0 s from the WNW at 282°

Sadly, work finally broke my streak. Ahh well. It had to break some time. Conditions didn’t sound all the great for the latter half of week, but with an upcoming conference, I knew I had to get in what I could.

My low expectations paid off. It was intermittant, shifty, and often closed out, but there were a few waves here and there. I’m glad I made it back out.

Surfing and Painting

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Surf: 3.6 ft at 12.1 s from the WNW at 284°

The swell came down a bit today. The warm sun was still as lovely as ever, but the waves took a little more work. I wandered up and down the beach getting waves here and there. There were some fun rights, a few dumping lefts. Pretty soon my shoulder began to feel the last 5 days of sessions and I bailed.

Chris stayed out another hour while I painted on the beach. He found a spot to make all the soft tops jealous. I found a few sketches. All and all, a great day.

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Into the weekend

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Surf: 4.9 ft at 13.8 s from the W at 276°

I kept my streak going into the weekend! Sure, I got up late, but I got out there. Chris was able to join this time and I got to show him the corners I’d been surfing all week long. The waves were a better than Friday, but still a little lumpy. The sun way amazing. Happy to have every wave I could get.

Afterwards we got break from Boatdocks Bakery. It was so good. We ate almost the whole loaf of challah before making it up the hill!

Funky

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Surf: 4.3 ft at 12.9 s from the W 261°. Incoming Tide. Light local winds, 15kt+ at the buoys.

I’ve been dying to take my Vaquero out. I keep saying “I’ll get in a few sessions, get back in shape, THEN I’ll take it out.” And instead, my schedule earts up my mornings or it rains and I’m back to being out of shape. Today I said “To heck with waiting” and took it out anyway.

The surf was pretty funky, much more challenging than either of the previous days. I knew right away I’d be missing my longboard’s ability to cruise over all the junk. I paddled out with a group of the usual morning crew. Unfortunately this spot had a lot of people on it and I was a wobbly mess on my 6’10. I got one wave on my knees and another that staggered around before petering out.

I tried the next peak over. Still crowded. I’m not all that comfortable sitting inside when I don’t feel like I can proficiently paddle out of everyone’s way. I paddled around in circles before heading for the next peak.

In between peaks, I found a wave. It was my best wave all day. I did everything competently! Popped up, right in the pocket, swooshed, kicked out. Oh man, I was so happy to finally get something. The only problem was this wasn’t a peak. I paddled back out hoping for another wave and…nothing. Eventually I reluctantly moved on. I got a few more inside waves after lots of work. I hope I get a chance to take this board out again before I forget everything I re-learned.

Fogbows and a little funky

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Surf: 4.3 ft at 12.1 s from the W at 265°. Incoming/High.

Today wasn’t as clean, but the side was up and the waves were breaking further back. Everyone was still a little bunched, but only a small group of people was making the post I was at work.

Some of the folks from the luau were out. It was nice to see some friendly faces while out solo. My first wave I had a no paddle take off. Oh man, it was a nice ride. I got some hoots. Naturally, I feel on my face the wave after. Ha!

Eventually it went from a sunny morning to heavy fog. At this point I was tired and the next shift of surfers was starting to bunch up on the right I was surfing. I said ehh and took the next wave in. At that point it was too foggy to even see the shore! It cleared up just enough for me to snap a photo after packing up.

Sunny litte waves

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Surf: 3.3 ft at 14.8 s from the WSW at 253°. High tide. Light winds.

This week was a solo week. Chris was busy and the forecast was small, so I thought it’d be worth a paddle out or two. My schedule’s been so off an on that I have to take advantage of any free mornings I can.

This morning was all small waves breaking right onto shore. Amazingly enough, there were waves to be had, just with everyone a little bit ontop of each other. Things were clean enough that everyone was getting a little something to keep th emorning stoke going.

 

 

Solo Bolinas

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Surf: 8.9 ft at 13.8 s from the WSW at 253°. Outgoing.

Headed north for a little weekday getaway. There was a torrential downpour pretty much from sunup to sundown Monday that made for an exciting drive up there. The mist and the rain was just beautiful going over Tam. Wow. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that but I was a little busy driving around mudslides and through streams that decided the road was the best place to be.

By Wednesday things had calmed down enough that we thought we’d give it a shot. Chris wound up feeling under the weather so I headed out on my own.

I don’t love when the water is murky, especially up here, but I thought “There’s plenty of people out, it won’t be too bad.” Unfortuantely, all those people paddled in just as I paddled out. Doh! With the rain there was so much sediment I couln’t even see my knees in the water. It was spooky. The waves were breaking a little better futher out, but every time I started to get too far from shore, I thought better of it. Finally I saw another surfer. I paddled over to say hi. It wasn’t another surfer. It was a sea lion who was entirely uninterested in catching waves. Oops.

After a few waves another woman paddled out and we made the most of the funky waves. They would rear up, then back off. Not that unusual for this spot, but great when you can just hop on the next one because there’s no one around already on it!

Post session I found enough silt in my wetsuit to build a sandbar. All this rain brough down plenty of sediment!

Surfing while I can

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Surf: 5.3 ft at 12.9 s from the WNW at 282°

I tried to pack in as many mornings as I could this week. I know the rain will be back and I know work will pick up again. It’s been hard to get out!

Thankfully we had a relatively uncrowded corner this morning to work with. If I’m only going to get out once and a while, having space to catch all the waves I can is pretty nice. Like yesterday, there were plenty of closeouts and like yesterday there were a few gems. I’m just so happy to be out that it doesn’t matter if I’m kicking out right away. Getting in the water is better than getting to my desk early.

Valentines

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Surf: 4.3 ft at 14.8 s from the W at 274°

This morning there were pink puffy floating over San Francisco in celebration of Valentines day. The surf was a little more closed out than I’d expected. Chris and I picked a northerly corner to work away at. Most of the waves closed out right away, but there were a few gems in there. I saw Chris get what started out as a great looking one, right in the spot. Then the whole wave just hucked right over into the shallows. Ahh well. Sweet tart candy hearts. <3

Late and windy

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Surf: 6.2 ft at 9.1 s from the WNW at 283°. Breezy.

I couldn’t quite decide wha tI wanted to do with this sunny weekend. I did some hiking, I did a little painting. I loafed around and finally did some surfing.

Naturally, things were already starting to get a little windswept and a little funkier by the time my lazy self got to the beach. The weather was great though, especially after being couped up from weeks of rain and work.