Author: Tracey

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Sup?

Surf: Junky waist-chest high.

I saw one of the funniest wave-steals by a SUP in the very brief history of me surfing.

The guy went out of his way to row right infront of Chris as he was paddling into the wave. Not like “oh he’s further inside and thinking about it if Chris doesn’t get it”, like the guy frantically rowed over and went for the wave about a foot infront of Chris’s board. There was some emergency breaking happening on Chris’s part to avoid him. Everyone around said “what the heck was that?!” and laughed. All except for the SUP who triumphantly surfed away, clutching his mushy chest high wave proudly. Such precious waves out there today! Can’t let even a single closeout slip by!

Meanwhile, other SUP-goers caught waves peacefully, evidently unaware of how epic each wave truly was.

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Bolinas Marathon

Surf: Thigh to Waist high. Slow. Cold.

Wow. LONG day up north.

I got up early for a morning surf with Chris. At low tide things were a little closed out on top of being very slow. While throwing ourselves into little dumping waves, it looked like the other side might actually be breaking. We took the 1/2 mile long paddle thataways and caught a few more. I think one or two actually counted.

After 3 hours or so, we met up with Andrew who I’m helping learn how to surf. I spent another 3 hours in the whitewater with him catching fun little rides. When I got too tired to surf, I bodysurfed a while and watched Andrew get a few more waves. It also gave me a chance to test out my new earplugs. My doc says I have the very start of surfer’s ear and if I start wearing earplugs now, it shouldn’t get any worse. The plugs are awkward. I can hear everything fine except myself. My breathing is so loud it sounds like I’m out of breath before I even am. BUT, they seem to stay in place and they seem to be keeping water out.

After all that water time, I was BEAT. Beat and hungry and sunburned. Just another successful California day.

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Back in Half Moon Bay

Surf: Waist High. Somewhat peeling.

I had my expectations set to “low” and they got lower which each junky, barely-breaking spot we passed. By the time we reached this particular side-road-of-a-side-road, my expectations were set perfectly to have a nice litte morning taking some small peppy lefts. The lulls were long and you had to use the wave reflection to your advantage, but hey, it worked!

No whales in sight, but a few cruising pelicans and several people who watched from the cliff but didn’t find our little wave to be that exciting.

Nice to be back in cold water.

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Last morning surf in Mexico

Surf: Chest high.

I paddled out early for a last morning surf on my 7’0. I got three fun long waves before even getting my hair wet. A gal from Texas paddled up to me and said “that was some wave you just got! and you didn’t even get your hair wet!” I blushed a little. I was having a pretty good morning and caught one in. As I got close to shore, I spotted Aaron with a camera. He motioned for me to go back out so he could get some shots. Of course I didn’t get a single wave the whole time he was on the beach. HA.

I came in, had breakfast, then paddled back out in front of the house, just to squueze in a few more waves and make up for my waveless photoshoot.

I’m so glad I paddled back out. I got a handfull of zippy little swooshy waves in the warm sun. Just lovely. I’m very grateful for all the waves on this trip. I hope to get a chance to come back soon.

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Monday Night Surf


Beamer surfing at sunset

Photos by Aaron.

Surf: Waist high with a few closeouts.

After a wonderful last dinner at the house, we waited for the evening glass off. All of us paddled out, even Jesse. We spent the evening cheering her into waves. It’s always fun to watch your friends get stoked!

Aaron shot some video of Beamer surfing in the dark. It turned out really cool. It’s mostly dark with a little patch of sunset, then WOOSh Beamer goes flying by.

I stayed out till the last little bit of sunset was almost gone. Bobbing around waiting for a wave I realized, there were phosphorescent shrimp in the water! They were like little fireflies glowing away. I finally managed to catch one in and we started a bonfire. Lovely end to a great day.

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Monday AM boat ride


Photo by Beamer

Surf: Glassy. Waist-Chest high. Awesome.

After surfing only the breaks by the house all week, we finally got to hit another spot. Yeah! And on from a boat! Double yeah!

I’d never surfed from a boat before, so I was pretty excited. We met the captain in the harbor at sunup. He brought us out around the point, dropped us off, and said he’d be back in a couple of hours.

It was beautiful out there. Just the four of us, glassy peeling waves, and the sun coming up over the hills. The waves were super fun. Beamer and Ed got some very stylish rides. I got a few swooshing down the line. I couldn’t have asked for a better morning. The water was so clear.

After an hour or so, another surfer ooched ouched his way across the sharp rocky beach and paddled out with us. Turns out he was from SF.

Just about the time we were wrapping up, another boat pulled up, anchored and folks got out to surf. Valuable lesson learned: you want the boat captain who drops you off to surf alone, not the captain who anchors the boat and hogs all the waves 😉

All and all, great morning. Wrapped with lunch in town and beautiful weather. I love Mexico. 🙂

Thanks for setting us up with the boat, Ed!

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Sunday Evening Bodysurf

Photos by Aaron

Surf: Shorebreak. Always overhead when you’re on your belly.

Luis and Alica have Sundays off which made for a lovely excuse to get out of the house. We went up to San Pacho to check out the break and get a bite to eat. Last year, the surf was just stomping at San Pacho. We watched a guy snap a leash. There was barely even a wave there. Beamer and I brought surfboards just in case with fins and boogie boards as a just in case just in case.

There was a wave, but it wasn’t a good one and there were so very many people already fighting for it. Instead Beamer and I boogie boarded and body surfed a while. It was a sand-in-your-ears good time. We met a guy from Oregon who drives to southern mexico every year in his van. He and his girlfriend were going to drive up to Chicago next to see her family, then back to Oregon. Wow.

We got absolutely pounded by the shorebreak. I think I broke one of the boogie boards. Yipe. Pretty fun, but exhausting!

Afterwards we got an amazing dinner in town. They had vegetarian food for Beamer and delicious everything. Drinks, food. Lovely spot.

The drive back home was long. Mexican roads are a little crazy. We had a bus race up behind us, so we pulled off the road, then the bus slowed to a crawl through a town I was calling Playa del Speedbumps. There’s got to be 50 speedbumps in this town. We stopped at a few Oxxos looking for toiletries and only finding candy before finally making it home for some much needed sleep.

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Sunday Morning

Surf: Small. Thigh to waist high.

Wow, I’ve finally started to get sore. I suppose I’m in better shape than last year to have lasted this long without getting stiff and tired.

The waves were pretty small and with my sore arms, I opted for the longboard. Talked to some friendly folks in the lineup, including a gal visiting from Santa Cruz. It’s a small, surfy world.

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Saturday Evening Hike

Surf: Slightly bumpy with a chance of chicken out.

The house we’re staying in has a recording studio. Kings of Convenience recorded and album here and sat on the same stretch of wall for their album cover that we do for our surf checks. Beamer and Aaron decided to pay homage. Check out the original.

After our photo shoot, we hiked down the coast a ways to try and find this spot Ed had mentioned. It was a bit of a walk and a lot of rocky scramble. We got to the last bit of walkable beach and the tide was too high to keep walking. Beamer wanted to paddle out and work our way over to the beak from there. I… well, I chickened out. I saw lots of rocky boils and shadows and didn’t go. It was a bit of a walk of shame back to the house break. I surfed mostly to cool off from the hot walk in my 2 mil. Sigh.

Tonight was the supermoon. We went for a bit of night swim to celebrate.

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Saturday Morning

Photos by Beamer

Surf: Waist-Chest high. A little bit closed out. Chilly.

I try not to laugh when Ed says it’s cold. Coming from water in the low 50’s, even this unseasonably cool spring in Mexico feels like paradise. However, this particular morning was a little brisk, even in my 2mil wetsuit top. I sured with Aaron and Ed a while before breakfast while Beamer got some shots from the shore. The waves were a little bit closed out, but still added up to a wonderful morning.