Surf: 2.3 ft at 13.3 s from WSW at 257°. Low tide.
Reports from Bolinas sounded flatter than flat. Andrew was still looking for a lesson (and looking to avoid Linda Mar) so we wound up at Ocean Beach.
I’m still pretty convinced the Beach is a terrible place to learn. With the low tide the inner bar was just dredging and the whitewater was super shallow. Not the best place to learn.
He caught white water for a while, I rode a few waves on the edge of a rip. Ehhhh. Not exactly a “surf” day.
Surf: 3.6 ft at 9.1 s from the W at 270°. Low tide.
After last week’s pint sized glass fest, I was really hoping for perfect little cruising waves. Sadly no, it was mostly closeouts. I got one or two decent, real rides and then a lot of drop and wash.
Funny moment of the day, Brien dropped in going left, Beamer going right. Beamer cannonballed over Brien. >_< Whew. That's some small wave acrobatics.
Surf: 8.5 ft at 10.8 s from WNW at 293°
I spent some time watching the storm surf over the weekend. Saturday was almost tempting (although huge and crowded, it was smooth and looked great) but Sunday had that mixed up brown sludge look that made me question the sanity (and sanitation) of a Monday surf.
Thankfully, low expectations were exceeded. I had some fun rides and a little bit of improvement. This morning’s session included a few little cutbacks (getting quicker on these) and got in to plenty of waves. It’s getting much easier, especially at our little pointish left. Still having some trouble in the beach break, especially with closeouts. On the log you can get in early and squeak out a little bit of wave in a closeout. Sitting further inside feels more like I’m going to get whalloped than I’m going to squeak out a ride. Since some days closeouts are all there is, I’m still working on it.
Surf: 2.6 ft at 11.4 s from NW at 305°. Incoming tide.
Nice clean little waves. Andrew said something along the lines of “This is the kind of stuff this beach actually does well.” That might not be what he said, with ear plugs and a hood I can’t hear anything, but if it was, he’s pretty spot on.
Sure, when it’s small there are only a few working peaks and it favors a board with more foam, but… it stays open. Long waves, no closeouts.
Before things got overcrowded, I got a few fun swooping ones. I blew a really nice one that I’d love to blame on Chris being in my way, but it was more that I fell into old habits and grabbed rail when I should have just popped up. Crashed right back into the wave.
Lots of fun. I like nice clean days where I feel like I know what I’m doing. 🙂
Oh and cookies. Brought some of my mom’s peanut butter and hershey kiss cookies to share in the lot. Yum.
Surf: 6.2 ft at 12.9 s from NW at 308°. Incoming tide.
Weeyeeeew. Nice long wave to make my morning!
What looked a little uninspiring from the lot, turned out to be a little bit of fun in the water. I got one really nice long swooping right. I looked back to see Chris on the wave behind it, also swooshing along. Fun fun fun.
Overall a little inconsistent. There were some big ole closeouts and some mixed up mush. A few good waves (and some compliments in the lineup) made things just fine.
Nice fog bank around the cove to keep things moody.
Surf: 7.6 ft at 13.8 s from WNW at 292°
Wow, that was some unsafe surf this morning. Waves weren’t big, current wasn’t strong, but there were quite a few people in the lineup who weren’t paying attention or just plain didn’t know how to surf. I had some very close calls with a gal who would look me straight in the eye as I was up and keep paddling, once I got close, she couldn’t pull out of the wave in time and went crashing over. Yikes. More than one person paddled ONTO Chris’s board, including that gal.
For a moment I thought about calling a time out and explaining to a few of these folks about right or way and about how to pull out of a wave without going over the edge. I dunno, it seems a little too bossy. I’ve been in their shoes. That gal had some serious attitude (which I hope I never did when I was a kook.) Those folks were really dangerous though. I hope they figure things out before they hurt somebody.
We paddled more north and away from the fray. I didn’t get much. My cough is back and I was starting to feel plain miserable. Headed in to work.
Surf: 2.6 ft at 10.8 s from WNW at 289°. Incoming tide.
Might as well do a full beach tour!
Smaller fun little waves and lots of people. Swapped boards with Josh after padding out. He got to try out the hull and I splashed around on a 5’11 fishy. I did managed to pull off a little wave on the swishy fish. It wasn’t anything glamorous, just a little hopping on some small waves. Still nice to know I can actually get a wave on a 5’11. Meanwhile Josh went screaming by as one does on a hull.
Other than that, saw Chris get a really nice little wave. I stepped on a crab. I face planted some more on a few waves. I coughed some more. Pretty typical Thursday.
Surf: 3.0 ft at 12.1 s from W at 277°. Incoming tide.
Decided to give a different stretch of the beach a shot this morning. Still coughing, I appreciated the smaller waves.
Spent the morning trying for steeper inside waves. It’s a good way to realize exactly how little rocker my hull has. Yeeeesh. Faceplant after faceplant. I’ll admit, it’s almost entirely that I don’t know how to surf this board in that kind of wave, but man, it still smarted a little.
Upside of the morning was watching Brien get a couple great waves and watching Beamer screaming down the face of some steep little inside waves.
While I know hulls aren’t exactly meant for Ocean Beach, it’s still been good getting it out there and paddling paddling paddling. I’ll need all that paddle for Pleasure Point this winter.
Eventually I’d love to get a board just for Ocean Beach, but I’m a ways off from that. I made the mistake of mentioning something to that effect on twitter and got quite a few opinions back. Yow. When I’m ready, I’ll either look for something generic off the rack (that I won’t cry if I snap in half) or I’ll drop by Sunset Shapers for a chat. For right now, I’m not going to think about new boards. Gotta learn things one board at a time. Slow and steady.
Surf: 4.3 ft at 12.1 s from the WNW at 4.3 ft at 12.1 s. Incoming tide. Minimal winds.
Of course I get a cold right before the start of a smooth friendly week at Ocean Beach.
Standing in the lot in the dark, the only sound louder than the waves was my coughing and sniffling. Ugh. I started to feel better on the paddle out, but every other duckdive ended with me barking and carrying on. Once outside, I caught my breath watching folks drop into some very lovely waves. Things swung between soft waist high waves to shoulder high with a few just barely overhead waves here and there.
I struggled a bit on the softer outside waves. I finally set up right for something steeper and flipped right over the falls. Unlike most days, it was a pretty forgiving flip. Most of the waves today were forgiving, which I was grateful for as I was in the wrong spot almost ever time.
After finally getting something, I found a great little spot on the inside for some very fun zippy smooth waves. I drifted past Parkside on my way to catching a few more. Nice little morning.
Wrapped it up with some Trouble Coffee hot chocolate. 🙂
Surf: 5.3 ft at 10.0 s from the NW at 310° High to outgoing tide. No wind.
I had one of those surf bigger better waves vs acknowledge I’m tired and surf smaller waves mornings. Smaller waves won, but smaller waves delivered. Clean, nicely shaped chest high waves and plenty of sunshine. Got into a few fun ones even with the high tide. On the days when I”m actually making progress with the little board, it’s super fun. I got some fast rides, practiced my cutbacks, and zipped all around. Towards the end of the session (as the crowd filled in and my arms got tired,) I was more frustrated and missing waves, but otherwise fun.
This board’s really made me realize that 90% of the time I’m surfing a left, with the exception of Santa Cruz, everywhere I go I’m going left. I’d tried to shift spots to get a right, but once I got over there everything set up to go left again. I’m hoping when the sandbars form in the next rainstorm or two, they’ll give me a little peak to practice my displacement hull slide on. 🙂
