Surf: Mellow. Waist-Chest high with long lulls, no wind.
Got a late start on a mellow morning. It was so mellow I took my 9’4 out, which I rarely do since it’s so thick I worry about it in waves that break as heavy as Ocean Beach (even when small!)
Lots of fun waves this morning. I like a good long wave where I have some time to think. I worked on my cutbacks to keep from outrunning the wave. I worked on some exits. Nice day with some nice mellow surf.
Surf: Knee-Waist high. Little bit textured. BE-UUU-Tiful weather.
Yay for van trips up to Bo!
Sure the surf was a little inconsistent, crowded, and less than epic, but you can’t beat the weather or the views along the trip. Wow.
We took some backroads instead of the usual route and were treated to a ridgeline surfcheck that was just amazing.
I had plenty of fun mellow waves on the 9’4 and did a little paddle practice on Beamer’s 5’6. I got a few belly rides and plenty of duckdiving practice. I would have been soooo stoked if I’d gotten a wave on it, but I’m not quite up to a board that small yet.
Still a beautiful day, CA adventure van style. 😀
Photo by Aaron and his spanking new GoAmateur
Surf: Flat! And when not flat: closed out! Also, chilly.
Today was one of those “take out the 7’0 and try to keep a good attitude about it” days. It’s one thing to tell myself “that was good paddling practice” or “well I did X better this time,” but it’s another to huck myself into shorebreak just to have something to do. Oh man.
The longest of long lulls with only closeout out waves. I got so much sand and water in my sinuses trying to will something into working. Aaron got a few and was able to test out his cam. I mistly splashed around trying to keep warm. Sheesh!
Surf: Waist-Chest high. Little bit of texture. No winds.
Big moonrise and a big new fin for my 7’0. I had it set up as a quad, but was oversteering most of my waves. I thought I’d give a singlefin a go.
I didn’t notice too much of a difference. I’m still have trouble catching waves on this board. Thinking about fins might be getting ahead of myself for now.
Surf: 11.8 ft at 16.0 s from the WNW at 287°
Big, messy waves up and down the coast this morning. Watched the show from shore.
Photo by Chris
Surf: 4-6ft with some 7+ standouts. Soft. Little bit of texture. Little wind.
Oh MAN was that fun!
I caught a handful of big long waves and watched the sun come up from the water. The tide was high so we were sitting way outside to get into the big softies early instead of the steeper shorter inside waves. With the long lulls and the softness, it seemed like ages before I got my first wave.
That first one was a beeeeeaut tho. Dropping in all I could see was a wall of deep purple. Swooping up for my top turn, the orange gold peeked over the lip. It was quiet. Just me, the wind, and swooping turn after swooping turn. Amazing. The wave was well over my head. Maybe 7? 8?
I got a handful more waves like that, each one a little less purple and a little more gold as the sun came up.
I learned a group of cormorants is called a flight. Fun and educational surf. Superstoked!
Surf: Small, crisp, and a little closed out.
Low tide desperado session. The water was so shallow you could walk halfway to the Farallons before getting your knees wet.
Nice to get wet. Nice to get a few little waves. Always good to be back in Cali.
Happy New Year!
Surf: Shoulder High, closed out.
Maybe I’ve been working too late, but I miss last winter’s sandbars. This morning was mostly closed out with some occasional waves. Long lulls and two solid rides, but mostly disorganized closeouts.
Found myself later in the day thinking about last year. Those two sandbars lined up SO well damn nearly every single day last winter. There have certainly been some fun days out there this year, but so far it hasn’t lived up to the glassy peeling chest-shoulder high glory I remember.
Maybe my nostalgia hoodie is on a little too tight?
I’m sure after two weeks in Indiana I’ll be happy just to be in the water. 🙂
Surf: Start – Waist High, Finish – Head high. Clean, lully.
Yay, another mellow Ocean Beach day! Or at least a day that looked like it was going to be mellow…
Paddling out the waves were very mellow. Waist high sets would roll through with some frequency but the paddle was relatively easy. After a few waves, it was pretty evident that the size was increasing.
I’ve been pretty lucky my last few times out at Ocean Beach. I’ve been out on mellow days with low to no current and an easy paddle. Today was a bit harder. I had at least two paddles back to the lineup that must have taken at least 20-30 minutes. It may not seem like very long compared to the 45 minute paddles most folks do on bigger days, but on my longboard unable to duck dive it was a lot of punching, pushback, punching, paddling, pushback, etc etc.
I was really starting to appreciate those lulls. Whew.
I got some pretty dang fun waves today. Lots of big drops, long rides, and swooping turns. I got one big one on the outside that was quite a drop. There was a moment when I was screaming down the line that I realized all the shortboarders on the inside were looking at me with some very wide eyes. I’m sure it was a mix of “that girl on the longboard is going to run me over” and “I am about to take a pretty big wave on the head.” I hope I did everything right to not embarrass myself. I made my drop, I didn’t run anyone over, and I almost made it to the shoulder after a few tentative turns.
After a few more lovely waves, I decided to go for another big one. I was way too deep. I fell out of the air, attempted to still land, bit it, then went over the falls with my longboard. Oww. I managed to whack my forearm and my shin on the rail pretty good while swashing around, but hey, I didn’t “lose” my board I guess.
I paddled back out to shake it off before getting a super fun right all the way to the beach. Fun fun.
Surf: Thigh-Waist+ and Crumbly. Very textured.
I wasn’t going to surf. I had plans to work, do laundry, and other rather dull things. As usual, a little bit of nudging got me out of the house and down to the beach.
Conditions were pretty much not great. Onshore winds, small crumbly waves, and lots and lots of disappointed shortboarders.
Luckily I have a lot of experience surfing junk. ;D
I got a handful of scrappy shoulders in. After one especially long ride doding section after section, another surfer paddled over to me and said “That last ride you got convinced me it was worth paddling back out for one more.”
Made me feel pretty warm and fuzzy on an otherwise cold and crummy surf day. Hopefully my wave didn’t lead the poor dude astray.
