Month: March 2014

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Not closed out!

2014-LM-03-28a

2014-LM-03-28b

Surf: 7.6 ft at 11.4 s from the NW at 306°. SW winds. Rising tide.

Drug myself out of bed this morning hoping to make up for Tuesday’s disastrous surf while still full expecting frustration and slop as the result. Thankfully the usual spot was serving up somewhat unusual breaks in the closeout party.

With the exception of Tuesday, it’s been really nice to have my longboard out lately. It was nice to get into waves early, cruise past lumps and warbles, and have the weight to plow through incoming waves.

Sunshine, a rainbow, some birds. All kinds of good stuff this morning.

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Not Summer

2014-MT-03-25a

2014-MT-03-25b

Surf: 3.9 ft at 16.0 s from the W at 281°. High tide.

The usual spot was looking pretty flat on the high tide (and pink, thanks to the sunrise), so we continued on. Sadly the spot I was hoping to hit was not yet in summer form.

I’m not sure why I paddled out. I think I wanted so badly to make it work or to think I could make it work. The waves were shifty, fast, and raw. I paddled out. I looked around. I got clobbered by a set and went right back in.

It wasn’t even a bad clobbering. I wasn’t down long, I didn’t get drug, I didn’t hit the bottom. But for whatever reason, I freaked out. No excuses. It was frustrating. Even on the beach I was still huffing and puffing watching Chris go for waves and really wasn’t feeling better to he was back on shore. Sigh. I really thought I’d been doing better managing surf-related fear, but I’m not sure it’s working.

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Bodysurf

2014-OBK-03-23a

2014-OBK-03-23b

Surf: 5.9 ft at 16.0 s from the WNW at 295°

Did another beach day with all the kiddos. There was plenty of playing in the dunes and collecting beach junk. I need to remember to bring a trash bag. There was so much junk already on the beach and I can only carry so much back to the car. I’d love to really round up all the stray beer bottles and other crap.

I brought Blam’s handplane to see if I couldn’t make something out of the junky surf. It was pretty dang fun. I got a couple solid rides in before handing the plane off to the guys to try. Chris got one wave so long it took me a good 10 minutes to find him again. I almost go into a pretty good sized wave, but needed just a few more kicks.

Headed to dim sum after.

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Closeout crowd

2014-LM-03-20

Surf: 7.9 ft at 14.8 s from the W at 279°

Hooo. Crowded out there today. I’m not sure I’ve seen so many beginner shortboarders trying to get in to shallow water closeouts.

With the longboard I was able to squeeze plenty of rides out of the whompfest, but not without a face full of sand and silt here and there. Plus banging around into my board.

Around the end of the session there was a moment when there wasn’t a single wave in sight. Everything turned into a mixed up wash. Huh. I tried to belly in but there were just so many people in thigh deep water on the inside. Oookay. I suppose you could surf there if you really wanted.

Paddled up a little further to an empty spot to take one in.

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Hull + 38th

2014-SC38-03-17

Surf: 12.5 ft at 14.8 s from the WNW at 298°

Solo surf mission this morning.

Took the hull out in SC for some super super fun ones. This has to be my favorite spot when the surf gets to be around chest to shoulder high. It was perfect for the hull. Most folks were at the larger point so I got wave after wave pretty much uninterrupted.

Today was all about hull-cutbacks. I tried to find myself on the cams to see if I could get another view of what it was I was doing, but sadly I couldn’t spot myself. It felt like I was rolling more on the middle belly and tail to keep myself in the pocket. Hulls don’t really “turn” the same way other boards do and I haven’t learned the BIG drawn out cutback people do on them. Any progress in being able to stay in the pocket rather than totally outrunning the wave is fine by me.

Last wave I got around section after section and pretty much hopped off my board on to the sand. Guy paddling in near me said “well, that seems like a good one to end on.” Pretty stoked.

Hull cutbacks can be graceful if you know how to do it:

Hull-O Malibu – Sea Movies from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.

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Not so bad

2014-LM-03-14

Surf: 6.2 ft at 13.8 s from the W at 267°

Today looked absolutely awful, but was super fun to surf. It’s always funny how that happens.

Took the longboard out for plenty of swoop and step practice. Sure it was sloppy, but it was workable and a few of us were working it. There were a couple gals (one on a log and one on a mid length) tearing it up. I got a few hoots and comments, too. It was a totally unexpected morning, given how it looked.

Of course this is only fueling my belief that I can only surf when the surf is crap 😉

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Like Waves

2014-LM-03-13

Surf: 8.5 ft at 16.0 s from the W at 271°

I think this is the most like a wave I’ve seen the usual spot be in ages. Of course, that made for some exciting crowding. It always amazes me when it’s only a light crowd, but that crowd is always getting itself in trouble. Sigh.

Ah well, I got some waves, didn’t run anyone over (not for their lack of trying), AND got some sunshine. Yay.

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Closeouts

2014-LM-03-09

Surf: 5.3 ft at 10.8 s from the W at 270°

Wow. Close out, party wave city today. I’d left my fish at the office, so I took the hull out. These were pretty much anti-hull conditions. Closed out, shallow, and just meh. Man this board is a beast to duck dive, especially under closeouts. I got so much sand blasted into my suit on these dives, I had to stop and flush it out. Ow.

Went home, got a beer, and hung out on the deck.

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Semi lousy

2014-LM-03-07a

2014-LM-03-07b

Surf: 9.8 ft at 12.9 s from the W at 261°

Brought my fish out this morning. Unfortunately waves were sectiony and lumpy and all around not that fun. Got a couple waves, but nothing terribly exciting. One day of many in the struggle to figure out this shortboard stuff. But hey, cool sky!

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Handplane

2014-LM-03-05a

2014-LM-03-05b

Surf: 6.2 ft at 14.8 s from the NW at 304°

Surf looks seriously closed out this morning so I skipped taking my board out and went for the handplane and fins.

I realized how out of shape I am about 3/4 of the way out. Huff puff huff puff. Still, it was pretty fun. Lots of sand in my ears and my eyes trying to get a barrel. I managed to lose BOTH fins on different waves. Thankfully I found them. There’s nothing sadder than one lonely fin.