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!

Surf: 3-5 ft. waist to head high and fair-good conditions.

PM REGIONAL OVERVIEW: Mix of old Southern Hemi swell and new/building NW swell on offer this afternoon. Better breaks have waist-chest-shoulder high+ surf, while top exposures are pulling in head head high+ sets at times. Conditions are still clean, with most spots seeing scattered peaks, with lined-up, workable walls. Surf if you can.

I’m currently living in the Inner Sunset. Ocean Beach is a quick MUNI ride away. I headed over that way, snapped a few pics and watched the surfers.

The surf looked rougher than I like, but people seemed to be having fun. A few dolphins were catching waves, what a trip to watch. I think one snaked a dude’s wave tho. Who has the right away? Surfer near the peak, or dolphin anywhere anytime? Hmm…

Check out the rest of the photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tracey_t/3866424640/

Conditions: 1-3ft. Glassy, peaky lines with soft/mushy corners looking semi-workable to the beach.

The mellow little waves followed me home!

Sure it looked pretty flat out there, but I got in some nice long rides on little waves. Jamie and I found a nice spot that, with a LOT of patience, set us up for a few 2-3 ft waves with both lefts and rights. High tide and an unwillingness to let go of the wave meant most of the rides ended abruptly at the beach. Jamie got a few rolling dismounts into the sand. I didn’t get anything that graceful.

El Niño has been forcing Anchovies and Sea Lions up north making the bay area waters extremely active. We had dive bombing pelicans and probably about a dozen or so sea lions around us. It’s a little spooky! Unfriendly fin sightings have been up in Ocean Beach and with Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, everyone’s a bit jumpy.

I snapped this pic of a sea lion near my board:

Not very friendly looking…

SURF: 1-3 ft ankle to waist high and poor+ conditions.

This morning’s dawn patrol: Weak, scattered peaks, with soft, semi-workable little corners on offer.

Wow. Today was a small, clean little day. It looked pretty unassuming from the beach, but man did I have fun. The waves were pretty easy to catch and gave some long mellow rides.

I caught two good waves for my first clean rides on the new board. I got a nice long right and another wave that gave me a few good turns including a left turn. That’s actually the first time I’ve ever turned left. I also made a few clean exits from the wave instead of just falling. Marked improvement is a big win for the confidence.

SURF:
2-3 ft.+ knee to chest high with occasional 4 ft. and fair conditions.

This morning’s dawn patrol: Mostly walled up lines with inside shoulders that are open and workable, but a little soft and crumbly. Clean conditions.

Headed out early for another dawn patrol. Short swell period made a tough paddle out. Weather was beautiful. I got spooked pretty good by a tricky sea lion who decided to catch the same wave I did.

Nothing like seeing a 4ft long black shadow coming at you in a wave :p
I wussed out and sat on the beach for a good 20 minutes trying to get the nerve back up to charge out in the waves. Still didn’t really get any rides, but a nice day to be out.

REGIONAL OVERVIEW: The surf is looking fun this afternoon as NW swell and S Southern Hemi energy back out. Better breaks are still seeing knee-waist-chest high waves with some shoulder high+ sets making it through standouts. Conditions remain clean this afternoon, with some fun, peaky surf on tap with racy/lined-up corners, especially through the inside.

82 and Sunny.

Nice clean mellow surf at Pacifica today. Great compliment to the 80+ degree weather and sunshine.

I got in a few clean runs. I saw a whale. I chatted up some folks in the lineup. I worked on my awesome wet suit tan.
All around fun.

Conditions: 3-5 ft. – waist to head high and fair-good conditions. Things are staying clean this afternoon with fun, workable waves in the shoulder-head high+ zone. Top spots see sets running a couple feet overhead. Winds are offshore and the tide drops to a 2′ low @ 12:20PM.

Gear: 9’2″ Sunset Soft Top.

Today was a pretty clean, mellow day. Lots of folks were out, lost of patient waiting for waves. I saw another seal hanging out in the line up. Mostly I watched other folks snagging waves and tried to figure out how to work on my timing.

What do I mean by timing? Timing is your sense of when to turn around, start paddling, how fast to paddle, and when to pop up. Good timing gets you up on a wave easily. When you’re learning, timing trouble can cause you to miss waves and wear yourself out paddling like crazy.

From what I’ve been told, timing is pretty much the hardest thing for a beginner to learn. Every surf spot is different, every wave headed to that spot is different, every day has variations in wind, swell, crowd, vibe no to mention the differences in style and ability from surfer to surfer. Unless someone is right there beside you saying “paddle! pop up!”, there’s not a lot of advice someone can give you.

It just takes time to learn.

I sit, I wait, I watch other people for when it’s time to paddle, but then when I’m paddling I haven’t been able to truly size up a wave and I’ve been early on my pop up leaving me sliding out the back of the wave as it rolls by.

I’ve been getting a little frustrated. Missing waves over and over eventually starts to wear down the “I’m just happy to be here” spirit. To try and help myself stay focused on fun, rather than performance, I decided to look up a little about timing hoping if I can kick it around in my head maybe thinking about timing on land will help me out when I get in the water.

Here’s what surfline had to say:

A common question asked by beginners is, How do I know when to turn around to paddle for a wave? Unfortunately, there’s no correct answer. For one, the surfer closest to the curl has the right of way, so if there are other surfers paddling for a wave and you’re on the outside of them, let it pass. When a wave does approach that has your name on it, you want it to come underneath you just as it’s about to break. If you’re in perfect position to catch the wave, you may only have to take a couple of strokes just before the wave reaches you. If it looks like the wave is going to break well inside from where you’re positioned, you may have to start paddling well before the wave approaches.

The shape of the wave should determine your angle. If it’s a slopey, slow-rolling break, you should paddle into the wave straight-on and still find the curl. If it’s steeper, you might have to approach it at an angle to help avoid pearling. When you feel the momentum of the wave and pop up, be sure to arch your back and compensate for the downward motion so your nose won’t pearl. On the other end of the spectrum, be sure that you don’t stand up too soon, or you’ll go out the back and lose the wave. Whatever the case, you want to stand up at the top of the wave and enter into it in one smooth, gliding motion. You want to tap into the speed of the wave right off the bat.

Checkout their site for a helpful little video: http://www.surfline.com/surfology/surfology_sschool_feat06.cfm

I know I stand up way too soon. I’ll start to pearl and figure “better get up while I can” and then the wave rolls on by. I’m thinking next time out I might goof off in the whitewater a bit, remember what it was like to successfully catch a wave, then head back to the lineup to keep trying to get my timing right.