Tag: dawn patrol

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Raining on the Eastside

Surf: 4-7ft. 10ft @ 16s WNW, 308°

Woo! Another solid day in Santa Cruz.

The waves were swinging wide of the point with a little bit of warble, but still managed to hold up all the way from the point to 38th. I got one ride so long with so many swoops and cutbacks that my legs were burning by the time I kicked out. Woohoo!

Chris got a beautiful big wave at the point too. I saw a big arc of spray coming off one of his turns and heard the lineup hooting for him the whole way.

After a few waves, some waiting in the rain, and one good ragdoll wave by me, we decided to work the smaller inside waves at 38th. I wanted to work on some noseriding moves. Close, but needs more work.

I’ve also been thinking about my cutbacks and how I need to work on staying in the pocket a little better. I’m certainly better about seeing where I am in relation to the curl and trying to correct, but in these larger waves I’m not really committing to a cutback. It’s more of a bottom turn-stall to get back in position. I’m worried the wave is just going to fold over on me so I’m out-running it half the time. The other half I’m very slowly trying to cut back to get back in position.

Only solution: more practice.

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Improved with tide

Surf: Waist-Chest High, mixed up waves.

It’s getting to be that time of year again. The winds are blowing all the wrong waves and the surf looks just plain sad in the morning. This morning was crumbling, closed out with long lulls, and heaps of whitewater, but hey I was there and plenty of other friendly folks were out.

With a little more tide, things shaped up from desperado to rideable.

I’ll admit, plenty of groveler waves and waiting in the wash for a reform that never came, but there were a few actual waves in that mess. I got a handful of long swooping ones that I’d put in the fun column. I love being able to steal something fun out of the mess. I got a few powerful top turns in that I was pretty stoked about. It’s hard to swing that much board around.

Also managed to launch myself off the back of a few waves as they closed out on the inside. Who doesn’t like flying through the air?

Somehow I also did this:

Wheeeeeeee!

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Crowded, sloppy

Surf: Kinda Terrible.

Almost a straight up desperado surf. For some crazy reason there was quite the crowd to catch closed out waves.

Plenty fun to watch Chris squeeze a few rides out of closeouts. A couple shortboarders were hooting up a storm every time he made a wave work. I got a few, enough to make it worth getting wet for, but not quality enough to keep pretending spring isn’t sneaking in.

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Clear Morning

Surf: Waist High, Mushy, light winds, sun and clear skies.

Beautiful clear skies (hellooooo Farallones!) but lemons galore in the water. I had a few waves that were more lemon meringue than lemon pledge, but there was a lot of lemon pledge. Warble, crumble, closeout, mush. Nice view of Mt Diablo driving over Sharp Park this morning. What a view.

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Eastside Tour

Surf: 5-8ft with 10ft standouts. 10ft @15s WNW 300° Little warbly and slowing with the incoming tide.

Wow.

I keep saying that, but wow. Not as clean as it has been, but solid on size.

I got probably one of the biggest waves of my life today (I keep saying that too.) I have no idea how large these waves have been during our recent SC sessions (8ft? 9ft?) but they’ve been large and beautiful to ride.

This wave I did everything right. I had a huge bottom turn to a tight top turn. I cut back exactly when I needed to, and I held on every last bit of the wave. I stalled, I snuck around sections, I blew through whitewater, and kept up on the racy inside sections. I kicked out after a nice long swooping ride with dry hair and a HUGE smile. 😀

Of course, not everything can be easy. I also got trounced. I had two savage beatdowns that actually scared me pretty good. I did everything wrong. I was too far inside and took wall after wall of whitewater. I panicked a little on the long hold downs. The second set I was thrashed by, I scrambled to the surface when my lungs were burning and foolishly sucked in a breath that was half foam, half air. I paddled like mad to get out of the way of the rest of the set before coughing up sea sludge. Uff.

After that stomping, we headed from the point down to the hook and snuck in a few more. On the way I got one wave with a big fun drop. Once there, I got a fun zippy one through sharks, kicked out, then realized I was caught in the current. Oh man. Ohhh man. I was exhausted from all the waves at the point, so getting out of this eddy and back to shore was hard. I made it in by digging my heels in and pushing my way against the current the last few feet. OOOOffff.

I did a little bit of sketching during my afternoon meeting to keep awake. Fun day, hard day.

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7’4 practice

Surf: Small, clean, and a little peaky. WNW 6.9 ft @ 12.9 sec

The winter swells have been swinging wildly from huge to teeny. The buoys were looking medium-ish so I pulled out the 7’4 for more practice.

Rolling up to the beach…it was nearly flat. Crap. I put my doubts aside and paddled out.

While today would have been pretty fun on a log, it was still fun on the 7’4. I got a handfull of waves and several successful dives. Yay! No wobbling!

I still need plenty of work, but I’m satisfied.

I’m actually a little surprised this narrow 7’4 is working better for me that the 7’0 stub. While narrow, it’s really full out to the rails and a little thicker than my 7′. The extra rocker is probably helping in Linda Mar closeouts. Either way, having fun figuring it out!

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Big Eastside Waves

Surf: 4-8ft+ Fairly clean. A few lulls but solid 5+ waves sets. Big big. 14ft @ 15s, WNW 283

Wow.

Those were by far the biggest, longest waves I’ve ever caught. I’m floored.

Every wave was big, fast, and racing from Jack’s house to the Hook. Holy cow. So many swooping turns, steep drops, and cutbacks. Lots of waves and LOTS of paddling. Each return trip was nearly a half mile. Chris would catch a wave then be gone for ages while he paddled back.

These waves were big. Usually mellow 38th was seeing 5-8ft waves. Most certainly the largest I’ve ever ridden. I couldn’t even see Chris for most of his waves. There was a good amount of power out there two. A few waves I got the tumble around, but my last wave was something else.

I got a big one, hoping to take it all the way in to the stairs. As I’m zipping down the line, I see it start to fold. I tried to get around it and got NAILED. Ouch.

The first washing machine tumble was expected. I mean, that wave clobbered me pretty good. The second wave on the head, I kinda figured that would happen. The THIRD wave, however, was freaking HUGE.

I swam and I swam as far down as I could go, but the thing still tossed me good. It seemed like I was down there for ages. My ears were burning and I was quickly running out of breath. I opened my eyes but all I saw was green, no white foamy bits. I either got caught back in the froth or got hit by a fourth wave, I’m not sure. More tumbling and flailing, still hadn’t made it to the surface.

Finally I made it up, just in time so see a fifth(?) wave. It wasn’t very big, but at that point all I could was get a good breath before diving again.

Once I was up, I foolishly(?) bolted for the outside to catch my breath. I realized the wash and current had put me right at the peak of the Hook.

After a breather, I tried for a small wave hoping to ride it in and back to land. Nope. Blew the wave, got nailed by the next, and flailed my way into shore trying to ride the whitewater.

I think that’s the longest continuous beatdown I’ve experienced. I was draining water out of my sinuses the whole rest of the day. My board’s dinged with some kelp wedged under the glass.

All and all, it was a pretty fun day. I wound up exhausted, but very stoked with a good story for my ding repair guy.

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Return of the 7’4

Surf: Long lulls and closed out Knee-Shoulder high inconsistent waves. Not as junky as it’s been, but not clean. Froggies singing.

My 7’4 appeared in my quiver about a year or two after I’d started surfing. A friend had it in is garage and thought it might be a good board for me to learn to shortboard on. I took it out. I flailed and failed. I pearled every which way. It was a disaster. I laughed it off, put the board in a corner and forgot about it.

I’ll admit, I blamed the board. Oh it’s narrow, it’s too thick to duckdive, etc etc. I’d only been surfing two years at the time, and hardly regularly. I’d only had a few months on my 9’4. I decided to focus on longboarding to learn the basics rather than pushing myself to shortboard.

Fast forward two years and I’ve had a lot of practice on my longboard and a little bit on my 7’0 stub. I’d been shuffling this 7’4 around in the corner to get at my preferred boards. It was dusty. I decided to get it wet and see if I could do a little better than last time.

I’d expected to burn a day being tossed around. The paddle out was fine. I splashed around for a while. I had a little lumpy peak all to myself and I decided to paddle for a wave…and got it! Yesssss.

Paddling back out, I decided to give duckdiving a go. Sure enough, did that too! I started to realize this was a pretty fun board now that I had half a clue how to use it.

I got two waves. Neither of which were pretty. The longest wave I wobbled along the face like a newborn deer. Still, I’m a little closer to competence on this board.

I’m really stoked.

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First Storm of 2012

Surf: Chest-Shoulder high. Offshore winds. Clean.

I gush about pre-storm surf. Every time the south winds are up and the leading edge of a stormy swell is about to show, I’m swooning over the surf.

Today was the first storm of the year. Light rain and winds in the lineup. Big open waves rolling through. And spray! So much spray.

Got some nice long rides with Chris and Josh. Lots of fun swooping rides battling the wind.

The water was a little junked up from the runoff. Funky bits, sticks, garbage. Not pretty. Skipped the post-surf pasty for a post-surf shot of rum to ward off the cooties.

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Flat Friday


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!