Author: Tracey

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Santa Cruz

2014-SCHK-05-20a

2014-SCHK-05-20b

Surf: 5.9 ft at 10.0 s from the WNW at 285°. Low tide.

Still sore. The waves were a little bigger than I’d thought, so I stayed out of the pack. It was still a good spot. About half the sets had a wave or two that swung wide and I got some real fun ones. Not as much walking. The waves were really zippy and I went more for swoosh than for heading up to the nose.

The tide was so low. I got hooked up in the kelp a few times. Sploosh!

Afterward, hung around and poked at the tidepools. Lots of little hermit crabs.

2014-05-23 22.49.04-1

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Warm Ocean Beach

2014-OBP-05-14

Surf: 3.6 ft at 10.0 s from the W at 261°.

Went back out again. This time paddling was easier, but turning still hurt. The waves were bigger, but thankfully still pretty gentle. I was treating my neck as gingerly as possible. I did get some fun ones. The first bottom turn was hard as I could look right, but I got some fun drops.

Already 70° by 7am. Gonna be a hot one today.

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Small Ocean Beach

2014-OBP-05-13

Surf: 3.3 ft at 6.7 s from the WNW at 296°.

Still a bit busted but I figured small surf might be okay. I got a few waves. Keeping up with the current was pretty tough. It hurts pretty good to look up when I paddle so I went with the current, not so bad.

My neck was hurting like crazy after. Ow ow. I want to keep active. I feel like it’ll just get worse laying in bed. It’s a very thin line between being active to help, and making it worse. Hopefully this didn’t make it worse!

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Swim

2014-LM-05-07

Surf: 6.6 ft at 9.1 s from the NW at 307°. Windy.

We had some folks visiting from England this week. They really wanted to surf, but the wind was not cooperating. I put my neck out last weekend and was hoping a light swim and a little bit of bodysurfing might do me good.

It was a little bit of a help. Getting the wetsuit on and off hurt like crazy, but swimming itself wasn’t bad. Not sure how much surfing I’ll be able to do in the short term. Hoping to get in a swim or two.

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Fish

2014-OBK-05-01a

2014-OBK-05-01b

Surf: 3.9 ft at 12.1 s from the W at 275°

Smaller today. I took the fish out hoping at the least I’d get some exercise. Wow, I barely remember how to surf that one. I got a couple waves. None of them steady. But hey, lovely sunrise.

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Bodysurf

2014-OBS-04-30

Surf: 5.6 ft at 12.9 s from the WNW at 290°. Low tide.

I came prepared for small waves at Lindy, but with the low tide there wasn’t much to surf. Heading back north the waves were looking better, but much bigger. I just wasn’t up for it. I was up for getting in some bodysurfing time so I threw on the fins and swam out.

We only had an hour, but yeeheew that was fun. I got a couple really long one with the handplane. Fun fun.

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Sunrise

2014-SCHK-04-23

Surf: 5.9 ft at 12.9 s from the NW at 311°

Lovely sunny little morning. More small waves. I got a little bit of stepping in, which was pretty fun. I watched another longboarder get in a solid head dip and once fall of his board, bodysurf for a sec before scooping it back up and continuing on. Pretty sharp. 🙂

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More small surf

2014-LM-04-11a

2014-LM-04-11b

2014-LM-04-11c

Surf: 4.3 ft at 10.8 s from the NW at 308°. Incoming tide. Light winds.

Brien brought his funky little camera to the beach so we goofed around with it while checking the surf.

More small waves and that same little right this morning. Things were holding up a bit better, but the crowd was pretty stacked so it was occasionally a bit of a challenge. I got a few super cruisey waves and a few steps. Lots of dolphins and sea lions out there. Sadly I plowed my board straight in to the dang beach on my second to last wave. Looks like I’ll be doing ding repair this weekend.

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Clear Water

2014-SCHK-04-09

Surf: 5.9 ft at 13.8 s from the WNW at 297°. High tide. No wind.

Headed south for a pre-client meeting surf.

Wow. The water was SO clear and dark. I saw lots of little fish. There were crabs, sea anemones, kelp, all kinds of things to look at.

Up at the surface, the grey skies and grey water were about as smooth as can be which made wave hunting a little exciting. (I think that’s a wave? Oh yep, it’s a wave.)

The spot I picked was perfect for grabbing scrappy little waves no one else wanted. I worked on some swishing, a little stepping, but mostly tried to squeeze every little bit out of these small waves. Got into a pretty good loggy groove.

Had a leisurely morning with breakfast, a cafe stop, and ice cream.

Sketch a Day 99, Clear Water:

Screen Shot 2014-04-17 at 12.36.02 PM

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Little waves

2014-LM-04-08

Surf: 5.3 ft at 14.8 s from the W at 280°. High tide. Light/offshore wind.

Fun little waves this morning. The peak with the best wave was pretty packed so we took the next peak over. It was a little more closed out, but still pretty fun. Some bodysurfers were getting wave after wave. Sun was out, even though the fog was thick all around the beach. Nice morning.