Author: Tracey

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Exhausted in SC

Surf: Beautiful peeling Waist-Shoulder high waves.

So. Tired. OMG.

I think I’m surfed out. It was perfect conditions today and I was slogging along, barely able to catch anything. My arms and my shoulders were burning.

Other than the frustrating lack of waves, it was a pretty fun day. Nicole, Tim and I met Beamer, Robert and Blam down south. Tim got some GREAT waves. He threw some serious spray. Dang.

I mostly floated around and watched everyone else score. Proxystoke is little comfort when you’re out in the water, but much moreso thinking back on it.

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Sunset Soup

Surf: Waist-Shoulder high. Sloppy.

I said I wasn’t going to surf today. I’m tired. I was settled in to my day nicely when Blam and Emily said they were heading out.
Well if they were heading out, I guess I should to?

I got down there a little late. It was a mess. Crumbling, closing out. Not pretty. I was really hoping Emily wasn’t out in this slop. I did managed to get one good ride out of it all. That made the paddle out worth it.

Afterwards we had a nice dinner at Blam’s. Got to meet a few new folks including a couple from San Diego who were in the water while I was out. They commented on my no-booties/no-hood style. 😀 I like being able to pretend I’m hard core but it’s summer! Summer is a good time to go without booties!

Dinner was great, fun day.

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Steep Soup

Surf: Waist-Head high. Lots of closeouts.

Whomp. Yesterday was downright good compared to today. Got a few fun rides in and there was some size/power, but man that soup. Soupy soup soup. Do they make soup out of lemons and closeouts? Cause if they do I had plenty.

I took out my 9’0 thruster since the 9’4 was dinged. It was a great board for today since it’s thinner and it can take a steeper wave. I got quite a few exciting ones pumping through a few quick big carves before outrunning the wash. It’s always fun seeing people’s wide eyed looks when I manage to get a board that big to power through a bottom turn on a wave like that.

Had one pretty harsh wipeout tho. Ouch. I saw the wave just bottom out right about the time I hit a warble. I was pretty close from slamming into my board as it got pounded by the closing out wave. I missed it by a whew inches. Whew.

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Sunny. Swell’s not yet here.

Surf: Waist-Chest. Soft.

It was soft out there, but catchable. I got a handful of okay rides. Sun was out. Aaron was out after a long time out of the water with a shoulder injury. Size came coming up slowly but not the big pulse everyone had been twitching in anticipation for. Low expectations were helpful.

Saw nicoleslaw get a nice one. Woot.

No pastries.

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Foggy, Low Tide

Surf: Small, low-tide.

I got there a little late (Chris is out of town and my own internal alarm clock isn’t as precisely set) so I may have missed the better waves. I also opted to avoid the crowd and went for something a little less groomed.

Glassy on the outside, boiling gurgling sloshing funk on the inside. Plenty of drops into closeouts and some soft shoulders.

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4th of July Beach Adventure


Photo by Blam.

Surf: Ankle to Thigh High. Warm, sunny, calm.

Beach days are beautiful.

With the fog and the often cold mornings where I rush off to work after surfing, beach days often get overlooked. Today was a pretty brilliant beach day.

Blam and I headed up to Bolinas early. While we missed the Bolinas/Stinson Beach tug of war, we were there just in time for the parade. The whole town was out dancing and strolling about. I got a carrot from the vegetable stand boat. Yum.

Temperatures in the 90’s at the beach is pretty uncommon but welcome. We built a lovely beach hut and went out for a small wave surf. Lots of little fun splashing around but not too much in the way of surfing.

After a little while, more folks showed up and the beach hut got bigger and everyone busted out their snacks. Taka and Toshi brought some rice rolls. Robert and Vi had cheeses and fruit salad.

The weather was so beautifully warm that Stefan and I paddled out without wetsuits to meet up with Blam and Beamer. I haven’t actually surfed in a bikini before, even in Mexico. The water was a little brisk, but I managed to get a few fun rides out of the little waves. Bikini and sunglasses both stayed put.

On the way home, Blam and I got a little lost. There’s only one fork in the road and we took the wrong one. There was a beautiful lake along the way.

Came home to fireworks, sunburn, and a whole lot of stoke.

Beach days are, well, beautiful. They are pretty much everything I could ever ask for and I’m happy to have been able to enjoy this one.

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Less Zippy Holiday

Surf: Less zippy. Waist high. Crumbly.

Today was a little less pep and a lot more crowd. Got a few fun little ones but mostly enjoyed the sunshine. Forgot to snap a pic.

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Zippy Holiday

Surf: Waist to Shoulder high. Plenty of pep.

Crowded, thumping, looked like a mess from the lot but MAN did I have fun. Picked off some good sized waves in the Leftorium with frequent waist high waves rolling through. Plenty of waves held up on the inside right into the closed out shorebreak. WHOMP. Rest of the beach looked like Chest-Head high angry wave soup. A few people were working it for all it was worth though, saw some great rides on the occasional clean shoulder.

Other than that, friendly folks, sunshine, picnic on the beach.

Chris usually spends his weekends with his little daughters so it was quite the treat to get to hang out, eat food, play ukulele and catch up with friendly folk. Blam, Robert and Stefan were out. We ran into a german couple touring the west coast by awesome surf van. Even caught up with Ed, a guy I kooked up every wave infront of a few years ago.

Chris and I drove around and checked out the other beaches doings. Fog had socked in most of the coast below Linda Mar. Lots of happy families out enjoying the coast regardless. Nice day.

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Picking up

Surf: Ramping up! Started out Waist high, built to a solid Chest High groove.

Lot more fun that I thought it would be. Peely small stuff for a mellow warm up. Some drop, zip, wash stuff to round out the day. Sunny, warm, tad crowded for the morning but all around fun.

I got some solid swoopy waves that left me stoked for the coming weekend.

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Flat

Surf: None.

Oh summer, you fickle season. The swell was down to pretty much nothing. I saw Sharon all by her lonesome trying to will the ocean into making waves. Someone in the lot yelled “SET WAVE!!!” as a knee high ripple wandered through.

We checked out a few other spots, not much happening. Montara, flat. Jetty, flat and junky. Decided to have a pastry, cafe went out of business. Sheesh!

Wound up eating a snack and wondering what the bottom looked like at Hey Whale (also not breaking)

At least it was a pretty morning and the storm stayed off shore. Pouring down rain later.