Author: Tracey

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Bodysurf party wave

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Surf: 5.3 ft at 10.0 s from the NW at 307°

Ahh colorful fall mornings and closeouts. Warm winds were blowing which I think was the only thing holding up these waves. Could still sneak in a little bit of a ride. I went for some smaller ones to work on wedging my rail into the face and working out a step. It was fun, but eventually me neck started hurting again so I swapped out my board for fins.

Since I’m trying to be ginger when it comes to my upper body, I had to pull out of a few whompers just before they whomped. These steep waves held up by the wind were otherwise perfect for bodysurfing. I even managed to get a party wave with J-bird. I hadn’t thought about what it was going to be like sharing a wave with someone on a board and, well, it’s kinda scary! I pulled out and let her rock the rest of the wave solo. Hoping to get her into a pair of fins so we can bodysurf party-wave sometime soon. 🙂

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Fujii

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Surf: 3.3 ft at 13.8 s from the WSW at 239°. South winds. Outgoing tide.

Back out there. Did some bodysurfing and swimming, but also tested this board out.

It’s shaped by Stan Fujii out of Ventura. Turns out, my friend David worked for Stan back in the day at the Ventura Surf Shop. This board is HEAVY. Wow. Tapered t-band stringer. Tail block. Beast and a half to turn, but super stable once it’s going. I walked waaaaay up before I ran out of ocean.

The weight is not the best thing for my shoulders. Happy to let it’s owner handle it from here on out.

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Achievement

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Surf: 6.9 ft at 10.0 s from the W at 265°. Incoming tide. Light S winds.

Day two of getting up and getting out. It was raining when I left the house. How great is THAT? I’ve been waiting for these south wind mornings and we could really use a wet winter to ease this drought. (Note, I may not feel the same way after my third sinus infection from dirty water.)

Got down south and the waves looked fun. I decided to skip the bodysurfing and go straight for the board. Wheee. Sure, it was kinda closed out, but lots of friends I hadn’t seen in ages were out and there were a few makeable waves.

The big highlight: making it through a whole session without the sharp pain I’ve been having in my neck. Sure, I’m sore in all the usual spots, but it’s a big step up from the kind of pain I’m normally in these last few months.

I think that’s a win.

I’ve been adding a sticker to this thing every time I’ve had a really great session, pulled off a surf move, or something else pretty rad. So far, not a ton of stickers, but today I added one for cooperative shoulders. Not bad.

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Jetty

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Surf: 2.6 ft at 21.1 s from the SW at 214°. Incoming tide. Calm winds.

I know I’ve said this a few times, but I’m trying to get back out there, slowly but surely. Today’s plan was to go walk on the beach if I was too sore to surf (or there was no surf.) After checking a few spots, I was in the tricky situation of: 1- that wave looks really fun 2- it’s the only thing breaking and 3- it’s also a little too big/steep/closed out/excuse for what I was hoping for for an easy morning out. It was also too crowded to bodysurf safely.

I paddled out with a plan of mostly watching and picking up the little mushy waves. Saw Greacen get lots of really fun long waves. There were some grom kids shredding till mom yelled at them to come in for school. Seals swimming around. I did catch a few softer ones. It was tricky with everyone trying to go for every way, but I got one or two solo waves that made the paddle out worth it.

Also have enough sand in my ears for the rest of the year. Uff.

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LZ Surf Team

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Surf: 2.3 ft at 10.0 s from the WNW at 290°. Windy.

Brief LZ surf team outing in total slop waves was actually pretty fun. Nice sunset, nice views of the headlands, a little bit of bodysurfing, and silly sloppy waves.

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Beach day

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Surf: 3.0 ft at 16.0 s from the SSW at 197°

Sunny, warm, with tiny waves, perfect for a beach day with lots of groms. After a thorough check of semi-grom friendly spots, we set up camp on the beach. Groms on boogie boards, groms on soft ops, groms on beat up surfboards. Lots of folks getting waves and having fun.

I surfed for a little bit, bodysurfed for a little, and attempted to boogie board before my shoulder said “nope, no boogie boarding. This is where we draw the line.” At that point I had snacks on the beach.

Groms got all kinds of waves. 🙂

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Labor Day + Franklin Point

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Surf: 5.6 ft at 8.3 s from the NW at 306°

Last minute weekend getaway on the coast!

Meghan had some extra space on her tent-cabin camping trip so I tagged along. It’s a great spot, plenty of hiking including a nice hike out to the dunes and cliffs Franklin Point. What a view! As the sun started to go down, there were hundreds of searbirds diving just offshore. Pelicans, gulls, cormorants, all kinds of birds. Total amazing mayhem.

The next day we walked to other direction to check out some tidepools.

Ant the way back we met up with some friends in Pacifica to cool off (so hot this weekend!) The rips were very strong and the shorebreak really stomping so bodysurfing was kept to a minimum. Still nice to get wet (carefully.)

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Modest south

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Surf: 5.9 ft at 12.9 s from 170°. Low, incoming tide.

While it’s both a little too early for the Marie swell and Santa Cruz doesn’t pick up much of the super steep south, there were still some fun, clean, tasty waves this morning.

I got some real nice, long, fun-sized waves and worked on cheating my way up to the nose. While I’m not sure how successful I was, I got some really good practice working my way around sections while way up in the front. Whee.

Really nice morning.

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BIRTHDAY!

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Surf: 3.3 ft at 14.8 s from the WNW at 291°

It’s my birthday 😀 Yeeww

With a tent filled with snacks on the beach, I spent hours and hours surfing, bodysurfing, snacking, and pushing Meghan into waves. It was sunny, water was warm, surf was decent enough. So much fun. Meghan got three pretty good waves! She was starting to get on the face (with a little push from Chris in the right direction.)

I got some great bodysurf rides. Probably one of the best I’ve gotten without a hand plane. Most of the board rides and bodysurf rides were almost right into the sand. Pretty punchy for little waves!

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Following day (after much sleeping in) I did some kayaking on San Pablo reservoir. So swimming here (aww) but so pretty! And perfect weather. Just enough breeze to keep cool. Plenty of sun. Super nice day. Had a picnic on a rock!

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Lovely lovely weekend. Birthday stoked!

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Morning party waves

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Surf: 4.3 ft at 11.4 s from the W at 276°

Fun little waves this morning. Plenty of people but still plenty of space to share a wave. I worked on a few steps, even sharing a wave with Chris while trying to sneak up the nose a little. Sure, it was small, but there were a few that were worth getting up and driving down for 🙂

Big highlight of my morning was surfing and paddling a ton without totally wrenching my neck and shoulder. I’ve been doing physical therapy trying to get all these aches and pains under control. I was bummed to hear “stop surfing until your shoulder is better”(as well as “stop drawing”!) Naturally, have not stopped doing either of those things (with plenty of wondering “Gee, why isn’t it better?”) I’ve been doing my workouts, stretching often, and I’ve been trying to focus on my posture and my paddle form. So far, so good. I am surfing less, but I feel like having some form of activity is healthier than just laying in bed expecting a magic recovery.

Just being able to make it through a session with only minor necktweak pain is a pretty big win.