Surf: Mellow, Waist-Chest high. Clean.

Yay for SC Thursdays. Started out at the hook. It was fun, but a little crowded on the inside. We paddled over to 38th where a fun, small little peak was breaking. Got some fun little rides in while Chris shot a little video and took some pics. Soooo stoked about the vid. Also saw a whale again. Nice!

Pics turned out pretty good, too! Here’s me on one ride. I tried to get out in front of a section in the second shot. Was hoping to get a cover up out of it or something. So close!

Thanks for the pics, Chris!

Surf: Waist-Chest high. Peeling. Long lulls but lots of energy.

Nice south swell rolled in this week. Cowells was breaking sooo nicely. It was crowded for sure, but plenty fun. Got some nice long waves that really zipped on the outside and held up all the way through. Plenty of otters chilling in the lineup and a whale splashing around outside the kelp. Grabbed some hot chocolate, a pastry, and cruised on in to work.

Surf: Waist-Shoulder high. Full of fish.

The other day Ed had mentioned these needle fish that get spooked and jump out of the water. After scratching to get over a shoulder high closeout, got to see the needle fish first hand. I was quite suddenly pelted by hundreds of these crazy skinny fish. They were all over my board, hitting me from every direction. I shrieked like a little girl before laughing. Fish! Everywhere!

Pretty fun session. Lots of fun peeling waves. Still haven’t made it to proper sunset, dinner is just too tasty.

Surf: Waist High+ dumpy, mushy waves. Warm and Sunny.

It’s good to be back. 5 days on dry hot earth is too much and the pile of work waiting for me when I got back wasn’t helping.

Surfed a short bit. Got a few waves in. Saw a dolphin take a wave on in inside.
Chris got lots of stellar long lefts in. Nice work.

Great sunset over the water. ++

Here’s on parting image from the desert experience. Gotta love the west coast where even camping involves funny costumes and hats.

Surf: Sloppy, Disorganized 4ft. Rideable, sort of.

I’d hoped to sneak in a nice little morning surf before heading out to the desert for Labor Day. Out of “nice little morning surf” I got “morning.”

I was unruly out there. I got finned, I got dumped, but I did get a decent sized wave.

After that wave I said ehh, time for work.

Got to work and around noonish the surf sites and the twitters were all a buzz about a 100ft long monster shark sighted eating a sea lion about 100 yards out from the spot we were surfing.

Unruly beach day indeed.

Surf: Knee-Waist High. Junky.

Pretty low expectations once again exceeded. Spent about 4 hours paddling around catching waves here and there, running in to friends. In the last hour or so of the session I was looking out to sea and saw a pretty big something jump pretty far away from us. Something big with a white belly and some serious heft.

Since it’s shark week on discovery, I’m not going to speculate. The ocean’s plenty wild and this season’s been rather active for animals of all sort. It spooked a few people, the rest of us kept on surfing. Seeing a quick glance of something very far away isn’t enough to know what is was. Dolphin, whale, big fish. Whatever it was it was far off and doing it’s ocean wildlife thing.

To put it in perspective I’ve surfed over a hundred times, once seen something like this and once been in the water when someone else had experienced something like this. It’s their ocean, the fishes, the mammals, the critters, and the plants. I’m doing my best to be considerate of them and I certainly hope they return the favor.

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:

SURF: 3-5ft, inconsistent, steeper than yesterday, much more closed out.
Gear: 7’4 and 8’3 Petty

With the size and steepness building for Sunday, I decided to go back to the 7’4. I paddled around, I didn’t catch anything. I saw a large crab floating around. I didn’t catch anything.

I switched to the 8’3 and caught one wave. I bailed on it early. I was high up on the wave taking a line and as I turned to drop down the face an align more in the pocket, I realized I was only in about a foot of water (not counting the 4ft wave I was on top of). The waves were closing out an a wrong move would cause me to pretty unpleasantly and forcefully hug the beach face first. I bailed. I bailed and tried to land flat. I figured a blown wave was better than nosing the board into shallow water.

At least the paddle practice was good.

SURF: 1-3ft. Light winds. Warm and sunny.
Gear: 9’4 Stewart, 8’3 Petty

The winter has done some strange things here in Norther California.

A giant chunk of Sloat is missing and a new beach seems to have appeared smack in the middle of Cowells. The spot where I picked off wave after wave back in November is now occupied by families grilling up burgers and lounging in the sun.

The waves were still mellow, but the crowd is a bit more compact. I was unable to navigate 20+ people got get down the line and get the long rides of last November. But the sun was warm and it was a good day out overall.

I spent a little time picking off waves at Indicators before heading back to the pack at Cowells. Had a minor tangle up with Cynthia on a wave resulting in a broken rail on my board. She uses Protek fins so the damage was minor. I ran up the cliff, grabbed the 8’3 and went back out for a few more waves.

One highlight for the day: spotted a sea otter at Indicators. I hadn’t seen one in the wild before. They are really dang cute.

SURF: 3-5 ft. waist to head high and poor conditions.

This morning’s dawn patrol: Mostly walled up lines coming through with just a slight texture to the surface. Occasional workable corners through the inside.

This morning was a bit mixed up. The pumphouse was showing some niiiiice waves for people who could catch them. After paddling out, waves turned a bit mushy, lots of closeouts, lots of repositioning myself against the south current and the winds blowing me out to sea.

I tired out Jamie’s 7′ Al Merrick Roundtail. It’s actually much easier to paddle than the 6’8 Rocket. I still struggled and the one wave I did catch I immediately blew, but I seemed a little faster out there. Pretty floaty, I didn’t even try duck diving. I haven’t gotten up enough on a wave to compare the roundtail to squash and squaretail boards I normally ride. I hope to do that eventually!

Highlight of the day: BABY DOLPHINS. Oh man are they cute!