california – Page 44 – Learning to Surf

November 7, 2012November 7, 2012

In the mix

Surf: 4.9 ft at 10.8 s from WNW at 282Â° Outgoing tide, calm winds and fog.

It wouldn’t be Linda Mar if you’re weren’t up one day and facing beach long closeouts the next.

Camped out a weird slightly choppy corner with lots of familiar folks. I managed to pick out a few waist-chest high zipping rides that didn’t immediately end in closeout. All the rest was paddling and faceplanting into waves as the slammed shut. It’s another one of those days where the wave breaks in the rip rather than next to it (go figure.) Kinda fun to see Andrew cruising around on a traditional thruster. Lots of pelicans swooping just above the water looking for fish.

Not bad.

November 6, 2012November 7, 2012

Heel side slide

Surf: 7.6 ft at 14.8 s from W at 279Â° Outgoing tide. Offshore wind.

Wheeeeeee. Fun first hour!

I’ve been struggling to get into waves for a while now and this particular spot pits me against soft waves and a tightly packed crowd. Today I paddled out and got every wave I paddled for right off the bat. Some of them from a little farther out than usual. So great to get a nice, long, good sized wave or two on my little board. That actually felt pretty competent and I got a little hull swish in the mix despite going heelside.

After a bit the crowd came up, tide went down, and things went back to same ole same ole. So stoked on those first waves anyway. 🙂

November 5, 2012November 5, 2012

Little better

Surf: 7.2 ft at 12.1 s from NW at 305Â° Outgoing tide.

Still closed out, still a mix of whomp and mush, but I’m finally surfing my crummy home waves a little better.

Waist (occasionally chest) high at the left hand break. Got some fun little cruising rides and missed far fewer waves than I have been the last few sessions. That was a big relief. I’ve been getting so frustrated missing wave after wave.

After a while, I moved north and went for some closeouts. I’ve been closeout shy for a few months. It was actually kind of nice (in a totally backwards way) to get a few whomping chest high closeouts without wincing.

The lineup could still use a sandbar to smooth out the rough edges, but overall, not bad.

November 3, 2012November 5, 2012

Go

Surf: 4.6 ft at 10.0 s from W at 274Â° Shoulder to head high. Clean.

There’s a certain set of conditions I wait for. I look for a small forecast and light winds at Ocean Beach with things falling into place nice and early in the morning. Typically it’s just on the edge between sounding like it’s going to be terrible and sounding like it’s going to be awesome.

I’m not exactly confident on the shorter board. After yesterday’s disappointment, I was hoping for clean little cruising waves. In the dark I could hear it wasn’t little. As the sun started to rise, I could see that it wasn’t little. It was clean, but with some good size. I gulped and suited up.

Whenever I surf ocean beach, I’m anxious the night before, I’m anxious on the drive over, anxious suiting up, paddling out, waiting for waves. There’s a quote I heard recently “‘If you’re nervous, you’re afraid you’re going to fail. If you’re anxious, you can’t wait to get out there and succeed.’ -Robert Griffin III”

I think I’m somewhere in the middle.

Paddled out to find some really beautiful waves. So great to watch other folks zipping by on clean head high waves holding up. And that’s mostly what I did. Watch. Watch and chicken out.

Josh kept yelling GOOOOOOOO!!!! and I kept…not going. Or I’d paddle, feel like I was already too late and pull out when I should have gritted and put a little more paddle into it.

I still got a few and they were still really really fun, but I’m struggling. Thankfully the weather was amazing and the folks I was surfing with were stoked enough to keep me stoked. Gotta get back out there and gooooooooooo!!!!

November 2, 2012November 5, 2012

Disappointed

Photo by Darren.

Surf: Closed out. Largeish. 6.2 ft at 10.8 s from WNW at 283Â°. Lowish tide, incoming.

I’ve found good days at Santa Cruz are often followed by messy, terrible days at Linda Mar.

The whole beach was one whomping closeout. Chris broke his leash on the first wave. I was super uncomfortable paddling into anything and paddled out…where I continued to be uncomfortable paddling into anything.

Ugh. I managed to pick off two and back out of a dozen. Had to belly in after not getting anything for a while. I left the beach super bummed.

November 1, 2012January 3, 2013

What it’s made for

Surf: Started out Chest high and slow, became slightly overhead.5.9 ft at 12.5 s from W at 270Â°. Outgoing tide.

I had a little bit of free time today and I’ve been itching to try out my Vaquero on a nice point break.

The cam’s looked okay. Fairly manageable, a little slow, but I wasn’t exactly racing down. Hell, Beamer and I stopped for lunch on the way.

Getting down there, it looked fun enough, but still slow and on the smaller side. I was relieved. I still have a pit in my stomach from last years Pleasure Point beatings. Even after paddling out and into some reasonable sized waves, I was still a little nervous.

I got a slow wave off the bat, missed a few for a while, then went inside to pick up some little steeper ones. Looking back, the size had really come up. Suddenly things were head high+, clean, and beautiful. The sun was out, people were smiling.

I paddled around till my back muscles were burning. When I got tired, I headed to 38th and cruised along on some chest high waves a while. I was getting a little bit of a look from some longboarders eyeing my little Vaq skeptically, but I got into to plenty of waves and swished and zipped around.

Met back up with Beamer for a hot tub soak and a couple of slices of pizza. Pretty good day.

October 30, 2012November 7, 2012

Closeouts

Surf: 3.9 ft at 10.8 s from WNW at 288Â°. Incoming tide.

I’m sooo out of practice for closeouts. Given that closeouts are often the only thing Linda Mar has to offer, I’m usually fine to throw myself into them for a while. It’s a game of chicken with gravity that sometimes has hilarious results.

This summer was pretty mellow so I didn’t spend the whole thing groveling in the wash like I normally do. As a result, I’m skittish. I don’t want to paddle for a wave about to slam shut.

After passing on wave after wave, I finally got a few little corners to ride including a really fun ankle slapper of a wave in for the day. Guess closeout jumping is something else I’ll need to work on.

October 27, 2012November 7, 2012

Shallow

Surf: 2.6 ft at 5.3 s from WNW at 306Â° Low Tide. Junky.

Attempted to sneak in a few waves before needing to be responsible. The tide was super low and the junky waves were dumping into just inches of water.

I took out my 7’4 as the 6’10 was at the office and I was too lazy to pick it up. Got one ride that seemed fairly legit. Everyone around me was on a soft top so I got a few hoots from people for my waist high sand bomber. The rest of the rides were short, ending with my fins catching in the sand and me trying not to faceplant. At least it was sunny?

October 26, 2012November 7, 2012

Friday

Surf: 3.6 ft at 8.3 s from WNW at 299Â°

Sometimes it feels like all there is to surf is junky windswell. Fought quite a bit to get into anything, but still made the most of it.

Looked like there was a class about to paddle out, turned out to be a memorial. If anyone’s interested, the family is taking donations for Baykeeper.

October 18, 2012November 7, 2012

Offshore, crowded

Surf: 6.9 ft at 12.1 s from WNW at 298Â° Offshore blustery winds

Waist high and blustery with low water visibility and high crowds. Struggled quite a bit, but got something. Sitting on the inside is a challenge, especially at this particular spot. I feel like I’m infront of a firing squad and spend more time getting out of the way than surfing. It is an interesting perspective tho. I can see what people are up to a little easier. Watched a dude with a go pro drop in on everyone, absolutely everyone. Wow. Nice to have a warm wind.