Surf: Windy! 20-25knots. Waist-Chest High.

Hoo hoo howdy. It’s plenty windy out there, plenty hard to catch, but plenty fun once you’ve got it. Cleaner than Wednesday, but a little more vengeful. Fair for the shoulders that held up, Poor+ if you count for vengefulness/closeouts. Ouch+ on the Hawaiian kickout I pulled on a wave about to close out on me on the inside.

I got a really fun wave that was evidently pissed I was able to break through the wind and catch it. Dropped me and my big board right into a churning unruly inside. After trying to fight that much foam back out, decided to call it a day early and fight the wind back to the lot instead.

Walking from the far north end to the lot was a battle. The wind was just howling. I had to stop and sit down at least once.

Packed up just in time to get out before the squall hit. Well, mostly. I’m pretty soaked. Stoked!

Weather got so rowdy there was a waterspout at ocean beach:

I love the ride anything mentality. Boards, inflatable mats, big waves, small waves, weird wooden board like things.

Really dig the song. I wish this video was higher quality, some of the shots are really beautiful.

And just in case you thought I was all folksy romantic guitars, I have this one from Modern Collective. Btw it’s ABSOLUTELY worth watching via Vimeo to see in HD.

Modern Collective teaser ft: Jordy from Poor Specimen on Vimeo.

Late entry to the game:

SURF: 3-4ft and clean. Great day for the longboard.

After 2 solid longboard days my arms were mush. Jello. I could barely sit up to answer the phone when Luke texted me at 9:30am. I knew it was going to be a negative tide at Cowells but had written Sunday off as a day of rest.

Still, it’s really hard for me to resist a good longboard spot when it’s at its best and it was certainly looking wonderful today. Cowells really shines with a low low tide. I hopped in the car and drove back down south towards Santa Cruz. This weekend has been a marathon for both my arms and my car.

The sun was shining, the waves were great, the crowd was light (for a usually crowded spot) and I got in ride after ride. Nice long rides too. I started practicing my cross stepping on some of the longer rides. I haven’t quite gotten it yet. So far I’m really good and falling off, but a few more nice long rides like today and I might just have it.

Cross stepping is when you walk the board. It’s sort of a board ballet and the first step to nose riding like a pro:

It’s been really great to have a chance to spend some quality time on my longboard. The large winter swell can make it a challenge to find a good spot for it to really shine. Being able to spend three days letting my board do what it does best has been just awesome. My Stewart is a great match for me. Easy to paddle, catches waves wonderfuly and has enough speed and control to really take advantage of these sweet little waves. What a fun holiday weekend.

SURF: 3-4 ft. + waist to shoulder high with occasional 6 ft. and poor-fair conditions.

Apartment hunting had put me in a pretty rotten mood and after failing to catch a wave on Tuesday I opted for an early morning with the new shortboard. I was trying to practice duck diving and paddling to get the hang of the board rather than trying for any waves. One puzzled guy asked me why I only paddled out to the white water, flailed around, and then boogie boarded it back. I told him what I was doing and he laughed and paddled on.

I still can’t get a clean duck dive in. I had wave after wave to the face trying to get the board under.
It should look more like this:

And less like a wave smacking you in the face.

El Porto Fridays has a great description on their site:

1. Prepare: Approach the wave with some speed. I’m not saying you want to go for a full sprint, but being idle when the wave approaches won’t help your cause either. Whatever rhythm and momentum you have, keep it up.
2. Nose down: As the wave approaches, push the nose down into the water like you are submarine and the captain just called out, “DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!” Timing this correctly will take some practice. Dive too early and you may pop up right in the curl; too late and you may get blasted by the wave. Just experiment a bit and you’ll figure it out.
3. Tail down: As the wave starts to pass over you, take your foot and push down on the tail of the board. If timed right, the curl of the wave will pass over you and you’ll roll under and get shot out the back. Some surfers like to use their knee instead of their foot to push the tail down. The choice is up to you, but I recommend using the foot for two reasons. First, using your foot will allow you to push to the tail farther down and achieve a better arc. Second, the knee is a much more focused pressure point and can cause more damage to the tail of your board in the form of a significant pressure ding or full de-lamination over time.
4. Exit: Finally, straighten out, sail to the surface of the water and paddle on.

I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it eventually, but I’m expecting to take a lot of waves to the face trying!

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.