Surf: 5.6 feet at 12.1 seconds from the S (176°) Light south winds. Low tide.
Wheeeeeeeeee. Fun stuff. Not as smooth as some of the other, smaller breaking waves we checked, but plenty fun with a little pep. Lovely peeling Waist-Chest high waves and just enough space between sets not to get pounded.
Beamer and his intern joined us. Beamer was in a shortie (brr) and tearing up the rights on a leashless fish. I watched him make a daring bodysurf down a wave to snag his board after a wipeout. When I went to duckdive, he had it, when I came up it was sproinging away flying fish style. Doh. Fish just love to jump.
Had a peak all to our lonesome for a little while, too. Grey, almost glassy at times, and plenty of waves.
Surf: 4.9 feet at 10 seconds from WNW (299°) No wind. Low tide.
Probably not the best day to take my 7’0, but fun enough. I knew it was going to be on the smaller side of things, but I need a little more water time on my little board. There was a possible option to swap with Andrew to try out one of his hulls, but the waves didn’t cooperate. It’s for the best, I was kooking out a little. I stepped off the back of my board twice. Ieee. Still managed a few fun waist high peeling waves. Small is just fine so long as it’s clean.
Major shift change as I was leaving. Seemed like everyone was itching to get out. The tide and the lineup filled up fast.
Surf: 5ft @ 17s from SW 177° Very low tide. Light winds.
When it’s good in Santa Cruz, it’s really good. It’s also really crowded. I brought a longboard figuring I’d be picking off the mushier scraps for off peak that no one wanted. I certainly did plenty of that, but wow, the sets were SO long that I was able to grab my own set wave or two. Woooo.
I got three lovely shoulder high to head high waves, all to myself. Nice long rides with some swooping loggy turns. It’s been so long since I took my trifin log out that my first few turns were a little weird. Oh yeah, fins, gotta use the fins. Can’t just hang out up on the nose.
My third lovely wave, I decided to try for a little head dip on the last section. I got a bit of a splash, then went to straighten out as the wave closed out. I fell, no big deal, business as usual, then I saw a bright flash of yellow and realized my board wasn’t safely by my side and was instead bouncing up at my face. Thunk. The board hit my wrist, my wrist hit my head, and all of us went under into the kelpy shallow soup. Thankfully I was fine, just a little embarrassed and plenty sore. I paddled in and cut the session short in favor of some icepack+face time.
Surf: Crowded. Waist-Chest with a few Shoulder high was in the mix. Offshore S winds. 7.6 ft at 10.0 s from 316° NW
Weekend crowds make me anxious but it’s nothing compared to holiday crowds. Yikes. So many people I wanted to surf with had told me they were going out so I figured as long as I got there early enough to get a parking spot, it’d be worth getting wet.
It was pretty fun. I love watching friends get great rides. It was still pretty crowded. The rest of the beach was hucking some hefty sets so many folks were crowded where I was. The wind was keeping things fairly open on our side too, which was lovely.
I haven’t taken the 7′ out since Mexico. I knew a log would be better for the spot I was surfing, and better for me in the crowds, but I’m pretty determined to keep at this shorter board gig. It turned out to be just fine. I got a few fun waves picking up scraps on the inside. Managed a cutback, a few duckdives, and a handful of other fairly competent seeming things.
Surfed about 4 hours, hit a little back deck cookout at J-Bird and Jacob’s, then back to the city for fireworks. I think this is the only year I’ve successfully watched the SF fireworks. No impenetrable fog, no looking sideways out half a window, no driving from a highway, just fireworks from a friendly rooftop.
Shifty, sloppy, and waist highish. I took out my 9’0 since my arms were toast from wakeboarding. I got a handful of waves, but man…my arms were burning. Little bit of sunshine and some friendly folks. Not bad.
Ahh Shasta! Warm, saltless water, mud, and wakeboarding.
We camped on an island out in the lake. Just us and some really hungry deer. The first night I scared a deer out of our food box multiple times. It wasn’t the slightest bit scared of me and my RAAAAARRRRing and stomping.
Weather was beautiful. We even had a light thunderstorm Saturday night. It was so nice to fall asleep in my tent to thunder and light right.
I also got in two days of wakeboarding. I haven’t wakeboarded since 2010 so my expectations were pretty low. I managed to get up pretty easy and hang on tight. By the second day I managed to swish down the face of the wake. I haven’t quite figured out this whole crossing the wake thing just yet. Once it gets bumpy I tend to lose it. I made it over once, so there’s a start.
Pretty minimal on the faceplant side of things too. 😀
Yeah, progress!
Surf: 2.6 ft at 13.8 s from 210° (SSW) Light winds.
Small and glassy all to yourself is a upside of the summer slowdown. That and not wearing booties.
Had some fun trading my 7’4 for Chris’s battleship 10’6. I’m pretty sure at one point that big longboard was riding two separate waves, one for the nose and one for the tail. I tried to cheat some fives but the waves were just too little. Slow motion faceplant! Chris got plenty of waves on my little wobbly board too.
A seal, some moody, atmospheric fog…fun enuff little session. 😀
Surf: 3.6 ft at 13.8 s from the SW (218°) Winds 6 kn from the S (170°)
With the swell still set to “mellow,” Chris and I headed back to Montara for a morning surf. It was pretty much just us at this peak. Lots of soft waves, moody skies, and a little bit of glassiness.
I figured I’d be worn out from yesterday, but I managed to do just fine on my 7’4. My cutbacks still need work (they’re a bit more of a longboard lean than a cut) and I need to work on not making such serious faces. > : | You wouldn’t think I’m having any fun at all.
Surf: 3.9 ft at 14.8 s from 218° SSW. Waist high with occasional shoulder high sets. Light Winds
I’ve been house sitting in the Sunset. It’s been lovely. Unfortunately I haven’t felt confident enough on my 7’4 to paddle out alone at the beach, so I swung down to Montara to meet up with some folks. It’s always nice to have someone to laugh with you when you’re kooking things up.
Sunny, warm, and plenty mellow at Montara. I had an exciting paddle out blowing a few duckdive attempts. The waves were pretty soft. I did my share of furious paddling to get into them and actually got a few. Not a lot in the way of turning, but I’m feeling much more stable on this board than I used to feel.
Towards the end of the session, my arms were beat and I just wanted one wave in. I missed wave after wave before finally getting into a right. I got hung up at the lip! I was not going to let this wave go. If I didn’t get it, I was most certainly going to have to paddle in. I heard J-Bird yell “C’MON!!!! YOU CAN GET IT” I threw my weight forward and made the drop. It was a big wide swoop of a drop. I heard J-Bird howling from the shore. YESS!!! I made the bottom turn, got in a little cruise, then swamped my cutback. Still, I’d made it back to shore. Whew.
While walking back to the car, I passed a little girl and her brother on the stairs. She saw me with my blue surfboard and said: “SEE! I told you girls can surf!”
Between the drop and the little girl’s comments, I was beaming. 😀
Super stoked.
