Surf: 10.5 ft at 19.0 s from the NW at 312°
Oh sure, I bring the fish expecting bad waves and find fun waves once, but do it twice and nothing cooperates. Sigh.
It was all big closeouts the morning. I got into a few waves, but did a lot of kooky falling all over the place. Not so successful.
I was hoping to get some practice on on a smaller, quadier board before my shaping lesson this week. No luck!
Surf: 7.9 ft at 16.0 s from the NW at 308°
After Wednesday’s success, I figured Linda Mar would be junky (it’s almost always junky after I go to Santa Curz) so I brought out the fish.
I managed to get waves! I would up having to swallow my pride and catch a few slightly broken waves on the inside, but I got up, I turned. Success! It’s a pretty fun board once I’m up, but I’m still working on the getting up part.
Also, arms. Oww. So sore after Wednesday.
Surf: 13.1 ft at 11.4 s from NW at 306° High tide.
I’ve been working hard over the last few months to overcome all the fear I was left with after last year’s bigger days. I took the breath holding class, I’ve been working on getting my confidence back little by little.
Today was a big leap. It was pretty solid out at Pleasure Point. Probably 6-8 feet, occasionally a little bigger. The tide was high so the waves were a bit gentler, but the cold cold air still packed quite a bite. There was ice and frost everywhere as we suited up.
I’d been reading Jaimal Yogis’ “The Fear Project” over the past few weeks. For me the biggest takeaways were: prepare and slow down.
Prepare for facing the thing you’re afraid of. If it’s an extreme sport: train, plan routes, study the break, work out, take a breath holding class, learn from others who have faced this before.
Slow down. One thing I’d really noticed in dealing with my fear was I kept putting myself in worse positions by either scrambling to get out of the way of a wave (using up all my energy) or being indecisive and choosing though inaction.
For me, taking this on involved a few steps:
I realized through this process that I’d always sort of felt that other people weren’t scared. Jaimal’s book was a reminder that fear is pretty universal, some people simply practice facing it more effectively.
The results of all this?
Well, I got a bunch of overhead, fun waves today. I didn’t get clobbered. I didn’t spend the whole morning running away. There was even some spray thrown off a top turn or two.
I’m sure I’ll have plenty of heart-in-my-stomach moments and plenty of really unpleasant beatdowns, but here’s to learning to facing it a little more effectively.
Surf: 7.6 ft at 16.0 s from WNW at 296° Low and incoming tide.
After Wednesday I had pretty low expectations and a pretty high frustration level.
I brought my longboard and I’m glad I did. Fun lefts! Nothing perfect, but fun. Plus it doesn’t hurt to feel competent. Oh and there was a whale. And sunshine.
The whole morning got me thinking. There were plenty of closeouts today. Sure it was a little smaller than wednesday and there was a bigger chance of the wave staying open, but still closed out for sure. This problem I’ve had with closeouts started with me getting clobbered last winter over and over again. It seems to be worse when I’m on a smaller board, probably because I can’t get into waves as early and have to deal with a steeper drop. But it seems like it shouldn’t be THAT much easier on a log. I’d really like to figure this out. As much as I love riding my longboard, I’m getting tired of the frustration on my shorter boards.
Surf: 11.2 ft at 16.0 s from the WNW at 297°
Last week’s winds seem to have teamed up with this morning’s unfavorable tides to make the surf less than exciting looking from the shore. I’d been out of the water for a week, so I passed on the usual spot and went looking for something working a little better.
That’s not to saw what I found was any better. It was passable and passable seemed worth getting wet for.
For the most part, waves were warbly, reflecting, or closed out, but I managed to sneak in one really nice drop.
I’ve been poking around on my Vaquero lately, picking up mushy beach break waves rather that waves with a little more push. This wave had some push. I forgot my little board could go that fast.
I took a wide bottom turn, way out in front of the wave, leaning super far into the face, just holding on by my toes. The board snapped up into the pocket like those little hulls do. Now this would have been the makings of a _great_ wave (for the day that is), but as I set up to take the line, the whole wave started pitching over and I jumped into the face hoping to avoid get smacked by the lip. Not only did it not work, but I should’ve just gone for it. Ahh well.
Oh, the guy in the photo I took for today’s surf, made the wave, got a nice drop, then claimed it big time. 😀
It made me smile. On days like today you need all the wins you can get.
Surf: 2.6 ft at 15.4 s from the W at 262°
Beamer let me borrow a 5’10 quad fish he’d learned on. I’ve had it in a corner waiting for me to stop battling with my 6’10 for a few sessions to take it out.
Ocean Beach was looking mellow enough today to give it a shot.
After paddling and paddling and paddling I finally made it out. While to board is a breeze to duck dive, it’s a workout to paddle.
I’ve been working on challenging my scaredy-catness, but being on a new board might have been too much to tackle all at once. I almost got in to one wave, but just missed it. Others I was way too outside for. Others I completely panicked trying to duck under because I was too far inside. Sigh.
I did manage to finally get an inside wave in.
The board seems fun. I’m looking forward to trying it out on some easier waves to better get the hang of it. Hopefully one day it’ll be zipping along at Ocean Beach nice and happy.
Surf: 7.6 ft at 14.8 s from WNW at 294°. Rising mid tide.
Yessss. Finally getting waves on my 6’10 again.
It’s such a relief after struggling and struggling. The waves I got weren’t amazing, but they were waves and there were plenty of them. I’m trying to work on committing to waves, giving a few extra paddles, and popping up quick. I still missed a few waves, but it’s nice just to get moving around again. I really want to get the hang of this board.
Surf: 4.9 ft at 16.0 s from WNW at 295°. High tide.
Hmm.
I was hoping there was enough energy in the water to get my favorite little spot working despite the tide. There wasn’t. Instead it was a mix of long lulls, broken up by HUGE closeouts and small peeling waves. I’d decided to give my little board another shot, but was getting nowhere.
I get into such a headgame when it’s closing out. I’m fine on the big board (which is way more of a battering ram in those conditions,) but on the little board I’m stuck. I just don’t commit and as a result, I don’t get into waves. I paddled around, trying to keep warm, before heading south.
Facing total skunkage, I swapped boards with Andrew. He had a rad 8’4 hot gen hully thing. Super smooth. I finally got something. First time riding leashless and of course I blew it and lost the board on a closeout set. Sigh. No harm done except to my pride. Fun to watch Andrew cruising around on my 6’10.
I gotta figure out whatever’s not working right between me and that board. I’m at that point where I have to decide if I keep frustrating myself trying to get past the holdup, or go back to my 9’4 for the winter so I feel like I actually know how to surf. Hmm.
Surf: 6.9 ft at 10.0 s from the NW at 317°
Wow that’s cold. Cold cold cold. I was fine in the water, but as soon as I was out…sheesh. My hands were screaming trying to hold my longboard in the offshore winds. I had to sit in Chris’s car to warm up long enough to get my key off the pesky short key loop. Oh man.
Surf was fine. Clean, long steep waves. I was struggling a bit, especially since the tide was rather low, but still managed to get a fun wave or two out of the morning. It was really starting to look nice was I was thawing out. The later session folks likely scored. 🙂
Surf: 7.6 ft at 11.4 s from W at 281°
Well, it finally happened. After 15 years and 135,000 miles, my Civic blew a head gasket.
I’d spent the weekend agonizing over wether or not to fix it. It was really hard to let the car go, especially since it was still running. The car had never had a problem before, so it very was unexpected when it started running rough in November.
After a lot of thinking, I decided to trade it in. It was hard, but I picked up a more surf-friendly Honda Fit to replace it. Believe it or not, this 13 and a half ft long car fits a whole 9’4 longboard inside, no problem.
Today was it’s first day at the beach.
Getting my 6’10 in as easy. It’ll take some work to figure out my new routine, especially now that I have a digital key instead of an old school metal key.
The surf was…not so great. I really struggled out there and got straight up skunked. Uff. That hasn’t happened in a while. Ahh well.
At least I had a sturdy new heater to keep my toes warm driving home. 🙂
