Tag: california

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Bodysurf + dolphins

2013-LM-09-20

Surf: 2.0 ft at 5.0 s from the NW at 306°

Winds were up, swell was down. We skipped the boards and grabbed some swim fins instead. While the water was a little brisk, the morning was pretty fun. I got probably the longest ride yet and had the fun of actually getting a shoulder and riding it out rather than getting pounded by the shorebreak. Yeeeeheeeeew.

There was a lot of dolphin activity this morning too. One jumped out of the water just a little bit aways from us in maybe chest deep water. It was a little spooky, but pretty cool. They were churning up the water a bit and I decided to paddle further south to give them space.

I’m sure if we’d really hunter, we could have found something surfable, but in was a pretty fun morning anyway. 🙂

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More size

2013-LM-09-19

Surf: 5.6 ft at 10.0 s from the WNW at 294°. Slightly offshore.

Winds were light again this morning and the waves were looking fairly clean. There were plenty of closeouts, but all around, things were looking fun.

I got a few okay ones, but on one I just got swallowed by the wave on the inside. I haven’t had a wipeout like that in a while. I got clobbered, went over the falls a couple of times, bounced off the sand, and got drug for long than I would have liked. After that, I want back to being scaredy cat and didn’t get another waves. Sigh. Made some progress, lost some progress.

On the upside, I didn’t get clobbered by incoming waves, which is a nice change of pace.

Chris got some great ones.

I was a little chilly in my beat up old suit. It might finally be a “summer suit.” Poor thing. I might need to upgrade my backup before it really gets cold.

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Less Wind

2013-LM-09-18

Surf: 5.9 ft at 8.3 s from the WNW at 284°. Light, occasionally offshore winds.

I’d written today off given how windy it was yesterday. Fortunately I woke up early and checked the winds. They looked reasonable (and almost favorable) so I headed out.

Things were a lot more organized, not too much cleaner, but fun! I’m getting a little better and getting into closeouts. After the big bad beatdown winter, I haven’t taken as many chances on waves. Some days all there is is drop and wash, so it’s been something I’ve been trying to get back into doing (as safely as possible.)

I got a few decent ones. I’m digging this whole snappiness thing. I don’t really know how to describe it, but since I can climb and drop faster, I feel like I’m getting a little more action in before the wave closes out and, when my timing is right) I’m getting in a good spot to straighten out when the wave finally closes out.

Maybe it’s my fear of snapping my longboard (or getting clobbered by it), but I don’t tend to climb when it’s on the more closed out side and I’m usually trying to figure out how to straighten out earlier or how to plow through a section using the weight of the board to get the last little bit out of the wave.

While I won’t say one is better than the other (I was totally jealous watching Chris grab the outside waves I couldn’t get into), it’s certainly been fun learning something new.

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Zippy slop

2013-LM-09-17

Surf: 5.3 ft at 7.1 s from the WNW at 282°. Windy.

Took a shot on this morning knowing the would would be howling both close to shore and out on open water. While it was a sloppy mixed up mess, it was actually surprisingly fun. There were some racy little scraps that lined up. I got a few rights that went pretty well. Fast, lots of quick squiggly turns. Crazy. Not sure if I’m stoked because my expectations were so low they were greatly exceeded or because I feel like being able to make terrible slop work with this board might mean I’m starting to figure it out.

Totally stoked on my orange fish. 😀

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Monday

2013-OBP-09-16

Surf: 3.3 ft at 14.8 s from the WSW at 242°. Incoming tide. Light winds.

The wind forecast has been all over the place lately. We took a chance on it being wrong and scored some ruffled, mushy, but forgiving morning waves. I heard plenty of “you should have been here yesterday,” but it was fun enough.

The 9’4 > 6’4 switch is still tripping me up. The first hour and a half I was struggling. Switching between the two I’m in the wrong spot or I blow my takeoffs. Eventually, I managed to sneak one in and finally get into a little bit of a groove.

I had two nice long ones (with some turns, whew) and quite a few drop and mush waves. Managed to get a nice long inside wave all the way in to the beach. Lots of work to keep that little wave going. Hop hop hop. Pretty fun kooky morning.

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Sun, crossteps, and hot tubs

2013-SC38-09-14

Surf: 3.9 ft at 13.8 s from the S at 174° with a mix of 3.6 ft at 7.7 s from the NW at 312°. Low tide.

Yay! Today’s surf was SO much better than yesterday’s.

The sun was out, some smooth mellow waves were rolling through, and it was warm. I wish I’d brought my Seea zippy and shorts. Today would have been perfect to try them out. I was cooking in my hoody 4/3/4.

I suppose it’s a fitting day to surf with Blam, back from Hawaii for a week.

While it was rather crowded, there was a nice spot just inside the crowd that was perfect for long rides. I got up the confidence to sneak in a few cross steps. They weren’t totally graceful (I kept having to watch for drop ins and wayward soft tops), but I got several steps in, many without faceplants. I totally shuffled back, I’ve got to work on breaking that habit next.

Esther also pointed out a bad popup habit I need to work on. Basically I pop up twice, once about half way up, then the rest of the way when I’m more sure about the wave. I know that comes from surfing closeouts and getting pitched over and over again. But it’s an extra step I don’t really need.

Got some great comments from friends on my positioning and wave spotting. That was really great to hear. Always glad to know I’m doing something right.

It was really nice to see everyone again. It’s been so long since we all surfed together. It’s great to see how much better everyone is.

All around, lovely Saturday. Capped it off with some hot tub time and a milkshake. 😀

2013-SCH-09-14

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Awful.

2013-MT-09-13

Surf: 3.3 ft at 12.9 s from the W at 275° and 3.9 ft at 13.8 s from the SSW at 206°. Windy.

I’m not entirely sure why I went out today. I’m guessing because I missed out on yesterday’s waves? It’s been the kind of season where if I don’t go, it’s decent and if I do, it’s windy.

I’m also not sure why I paddled out into this mess either. It was too big, too messy. It was just awful. Paddled around in the soup for 30 min, then bellied in for donuts very disappointed.

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Bodysurf day

2013-LM-09-11

Surf: 2.3 ft at 13.8 s from the SSW at 195° and 2.6 ft at 9.1 s from the NW at 323°.

The surf was plenty small this morning. We surfed the knee-waist high shorebreak for a little while. I got a few wiggly fish rides that were kind of like surfing. Plenty of fun, although nothing impressive.

After a while, we swapped out for fins and grabbed a little peak to bodysurf on. This was probably some of the best bodysurf waves I think I’ve gotten. Mostly because I rarely bodysurf and absolutely because I’m terrible at it. But this time, I actually got in to waves and went somewhere. Woooooh. That was fun.

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Offshore/Shorebreak

2013-MT-09-10

Surf: 3.6 ft at 9.1 s from the NW at 319°. Offshore winds (S).

Lindy was looking might flat so we kept hunting. While our alternative spot was looking mighty nice, it was also breaking very far inside pretty much on to the sand.

If there’s one thing I’m not fond of, it’s shallow water. Uff.

I watched folks get lovely rides, kicking out before the shorebreak whomp, but I just could not get into anything to save my life. I was struggling and struggling.

I got into a few, lined up with the face, and got swallowed whole by the close out a few seconds later. Ouch.

One upside of the morning, Chris mentioned that I”m getting pretty speedy on my orangefish. That’s a big change from feeling like I was paddling in slow motion when I started out on it. Zip zip zip. Now I just gotta commit to my waves instead of backing out cause it’s too shallow/closed out/blue/excuse of the day.

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Surf Sunday

2013-OBP-09-08

Surf: 4.6 ft at 8.3 s from the NW at 322°.

Paddled out int he very dimmest of the morning light. I’m not fond of the low visibility + ocean beach combo. Add jumping baitfish to that mix and you basically have me paddling around whimpering inside my own head like a big wuss.

Still, it WAS nice to get a few waves in with the guys before the rest of the beach showed up to get theirs.

I got a few fun ones, but between me being sorely out of practice on my fish and me being a scaredy-scaredy cat, I didn’t really get anything GOOD. I know I can do better than just cruising down the face till the whole thing closes out.

It was fun to watch the other folks get some nice ones and great to see a few folks I haven’t in a while.

At one point a small group of dolphins zipped by right below me and surfed the wave as it broke off to my left. Wow.