Friday, August 28th, 2009
Watching from the Beach
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/
No Comments » - Posted in thinking about surfing by Tracey
Monday, August 3rd, 2009
Back in Pacifica
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…
No Comments » - Posted in surfing by Tracey
Friday, July 17th, 2009
Good rides!
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.
No Comments » - Posted in surfing by Tracey
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
Sea lions!
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.
No Comments » - Posted in surfing by Tracey
Monday, April 20th, 2009
Fun, warm, sunny day. Now with whales!
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.
No Comments » - Posted in surfing by Tracey
Saturday, December 6th, 2008
Slow sets and rough timing
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.
No Comments » - Posted in surfing by Tracey
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
Making Friends with the Wildlife
Conditions: 2-3 ft – knee to waist high and fair conditions. Fun, semi-peaky lines with workable shoulders. High tide left things pretty flat around 3 pm.
Gear: 9’2″ NSP Epoxy.
The project I’m working on got pushed back a week. I found myself with a clear week of no daytime olbigations and semi decent surf. What’s a girl to do but get out there.
I headed down to Pacifica on a beautiful warm day to find it socked in with fog. Cold and foggy, I spent almost 2 hours with the folks at NorCal looking at boards. They gave me even more to think about. Man, I’ve got a lot to decidine on. Do I want to pay as much for a locally shaped board as a big name brand? The guy there picked out a few that matched my height and weight with what I intend to do and the durability I want. Some decent choices. More hemming and hawwing on my end.
Surfwise, I got out late after checking out boards. The high tide and the mellow swell meant a lot of waiting. I didn’t get that many waves. Really close but man, my triceps were sore. I mostly practiced my knee paddling and chatted with folks out there. A kid from Denver only on his fourth day surfing, a few folks talking about the weather, a guy buying his first board in 35 years, and a guy going up the cali coast on a motorcycle. Best of all, I hung out with a seal for a little bit.
This is similar to the guy I saw, but thanks to cuteoverload.com, it’s way more cute.
Lil guy was adorable. I was torn between AWWWW and AAAAAA SHOO. With a little seal smile and cute wink, it’s easy to forget these guys are wild animals and shark bait. It’s the first seal I’ve seen surfing, so that was kinda cool.
I’m so sore now, so tired.