SURF: 3-6ft. Great Head High peak by the pumphouse, mushier jumped 3ft waves on the south end.

After my interview and various other pre-holiday obligations, I managed to get in a little time at Pacifica. There was a great peak working by the pumphouse with quite a few people already on it. I paddled out there, say Hi to Steve, then paddled further south to try and get something a little less crowded.

Unfortunately my head wasn’t in the game. I had a feeling I’d come off pretty nervous in my interview earlier. I was kicking myself thinking I’d blown it. I hadn’t performed that poorly in an interview in quite some time. While thinking about all of this, I went for a wave without reading it first. It was a SOLID closeout. I got pitched off my board, did a two handed cartwheel in the sand underwater and sprung up just in time to get nailed by the second and third waves in the set. It was shameful, these weren’t even big waves. I bellied in, sat on the beach and tried to clear my head.

After some attempts to stop worrying about the interview I paddled back out and ran into Tom. I caught 2 decent rides on the softer stuff and we chatted for a bit. The wind was really picking up and the surf was so jumbled at this point that the waves had started heading back out to sea. No good at all. I was shivering and had plenty of holiday things to do so I wrapped for the day and headed home.

Wednesday was also Wet Wednesday at Riptide. The bar hosts surf films, free food, and a charity auction. I won this rocking messenger bag. I was so excited to win something AND something useful at that!

I met up at Riptide with Tom, Josh, and Tom’s Girlfriend (sorry, I’m lousy with names). We talked a lot of surf spots and boards and really painful wipeouts. Tom’s girlfriend pointed out that I was exceptionally critical of myself as a surfer. She pointed out that I was talking about how I sucked at xyz, or times I blew waves I should have gotten, etc. I hadn’t really thought about it, but she’s absolutely right. I do the same thing to myself as a designer as well. It’s not that I want to be the best at everything, I just want to be better than I currently am. I’m overly modest when talking about my accomplishments, even if I was SUPER excited at the time. It’s okay to be modest, and yes I don’t consider myself a “good” surfer, but perhaps I could champion my small victories a little more after a really good session.

I love my new bag. Thanks Riptide.

While hunting for some photos of Saturday’s big waves, I came across a few surfing videos shot by people with waterproof cameras. It’s a lot of fun to watch other people out there having a good time. The fun thing about the boardcams is seeing people fall off and come right back up smiling and laughing.

While traveling in Europe , I found a little bit of surf culture in just about every place I went. This poster is for surf classes in County Clare Ireland, just off the Burrens. It’s an astounding landscape and I did see some people out surfing while I was there. Wow. What a trip. It’s supposed to be great up and down the western coast of Ireland. I wonder if it’s any colder than the Pacific in winter?

I also saw a surf shop in Chamonix, France! Way up in the alps, at the foot of Mt Blanc there is a surf shop! Boards, wetsuits, the works. I saw quite a few surf fashion shops around Geneve and Wein but actual surfboards for sale in the Alps was just crazy.