Surf: 1-3ft. Inconsistent but clean. Warm sun, low winds, blue water.

Sunny and warm down in SC. Small waves, relatively small crowd given it’s a holiday, and lots of kelp. I got one very dramatic over the nose of the board pitch when I came to a dead stop mid wave on a big clump of the stuff. Lots of long rides if you could manage to stay high and I out of the kelp. Got a few into the beach. Really could have used the 9’4 instead of the 9. I went with the 9 just to try it out on that kind of wave and in case it was crowded. The 9′ is great for dodging kelp, but the 9’4′s big float would have made these soft little waves a breeze to catch.

Afterwards I headed to the O’niell shop for their Memorial day sale. The 9’0 now has it’s own bag.

Dropped by Ward Coffey’s shop. I’ve been drooling over one of his boards on craigslist and was looking for an opportunity to talk to him about what kind of fish or shortboard would be right for me. Looks like I’ll prob need something in the 6’4 range, about 2 1/2″ to 2 5/8″ thick so my craigslist board might be too small. His custom boards are really reasonably priced and he had a few suggestion of types of boards and hybrid boards he shapes for people looking to ride the mellow small waves I like to ride.

I still struggle with the idea of a custom board. Not becauseI doubt a shaper’s skill or question resale value or anything remotely considered to be a rational concern, but because all my boards are craigslist finds, giveaways, borrowed boards and I’m not quite comfortable with the idea of a brand spanking new board just for me. Especially a shorter board. I don’t really feel like I’ve earned the honor just yet. Silly, I know.

Blown out, cold, choppy and unsurfable.

The Hook was breaking, but still windy as all heck.

After cruising around a while, we decided on Cowells. It was looking small, inconsistent, sheltered from the wind a little. Nothing inspiring but we thought hey, at least it’s small and mellow right?

Surf: 1-6ft, inconsistent, stomping, mellow, choppy, clean….basically schizophrenic surf.

Looking from the cliff it seemed small, barely breaking. In the time it took us to change and paddle out, conditions had shifted to skattered waist high peaks with shoulder + sets. It was confusing, difficult to read, cold and grouchy. Shoulders would jack up, then die, then reform in seconds making most of the wave catching guesswork and luck.

It was like Cowells took a vacation and Linda Mar stood in for it, but was angry about having to do so.

Aaron and I both managed to work some good rides out of it. It was split between clean faces and meandering rights, unsure if the wave wanted you to ride it or not.

Just after low tide, it started to become more organized, Waist to shoulder high peeling waves. Around 4 it started to look like a hung over version of usual Cowells, but by then we were exhausted and ready for some post surf Bear Claws. yum.

SURF: 2-4 ft, knee to chest high. Clean, light/moderate west crosswind. Sunny, warm, nice peeling waves. Light crowd. Otters.

Gear: 9’4 Stewart

A good day in Santa Cruz feels like a vacation. Warm, blue water, sunshine, point/reef breaking waves groomed by the kelp forest.

Most surf spots near the city are beach breaks or rocky point breaks that reward takers with rocks. Lots of rocks. At our breaks (beach breaks),the wave breaks as it meets the shore. The prime takeoff spot to catch a waves shifts and changes with the sand on the bottom. It’s a workout to find a spot to sit and the waves are typically shorter. There are gems, but it takes patience. Reef and point breaks (like most of Santa Cruz) have fixed bottoms and the wave becomes more predictable, often with a nice clean shape and a long ride.

38th was long ride after long ride. The conditions were lovely. Mellow medium/small sized waves would roll through and give you a long, smooth ride with a few kelpy speedbumps.

That much time on the face of the wave gives you time to think and make choices. You have the opportunity to learn to be a better surfer. Being able to look down the line of a wave and read it is a big step for me. Linda Mar waves tend to be less predictable. A close out is a closeout and your ride is done. I drop in and go.

On this wave I was able to see the wave start to close out, get around that section and back into position. It was a great feeling to outrun the whitewater, have time to do cutbacks, top turns, bottom turns, and hold one wave all the way to the beach.

My friends Aaron and Pierce joined Luke and I on the trip. It was awesome to see them get nice long rides and come out of it stoked. A few waves in and they were starting to get wired to the spot. Few more trips down to SC and they’ll be nose riding with the locals. Luke was getting ride after ride.

And on the topic of locals, sea otters were everywhere. Eating, surfing, napping in the kelp. Adorable. I also poked a sea anemone and watched hermit crabs in the tide pools. Great day.

Sea otter photograph by mikebaird:

Ali, Kevin, Athena, Joyce and I getting ready to hit Santa Cruz. Photos by Ali

Conditions: 2-4 ft. + – knee to shoulder high and fair+ conditions.

Gear: 8’6″ NSP Epoxy.

After a year+ living in San Fran, I still hadn’t managed to get down to Santa Cruz. This weekend a nice, mellow swell and some warm weather came in so I figured it was time to try out a new beach.

Ali, Kevin, Athena and Joyce all came along. SC’s about an hour and a half south of the city on Monterrey Bay. Since I’d never been, I asked Dave at Wise what the good spots for beginners were. He made me a map.

He pointed out the good places to hit, how to get there, where to park, and what kind of waves to expect. He said he grew up surfing Pleasure Point and sent us off in that direction.

We got there to find a surf competition was going on. Not wanting to screw up the good waves (and look like fools getting smoked by high school kids), we headed to Cowell’s.

It was crowded, but the weather was great, the waves were clean, and we got in some pretty good runs. I was struggling a bit with the shorter board, but got a few solid waves using the 10′ board Ali was on. It definitely made me rethink getting an 8’6″.

I’m still agonzing about boards. 9ft, 9’6? I keep seeing boards go by on craigslist that are close, but not exactly what I want. If I can swing borrowing a friend’s board, I’ll try to do that for a little while, wait till I’m feeling more confident and then look again. I will probably drive everyone I know crazy till I decide on a board and catch a few solid waves.

All and all, a great day. Ali made us snacks and we spent our post-surfing time kicking back with some beers, fresh fruit, snacks, and mexican food. Can’t wait to get back!