dawn patrol – Page 45 – Learning to Surf

February 28, 2011March 7, 2011

New Wetsuit!

Surf: 4.3 ft @ 10.8 sec from the NNW

I really can’t resist the opportunity to sneak in a surf before flying cross country. 😀
On top of all that, I had a new wetsuit to try out.

The surf was mellow, small and clean. Got in quite a few fun rides. It was pretty slow, but friendly out there.

The new wetsuit is pretty great. I picked up a 4-3-4 i-Evade from my friends over at Isurus Wetsuits. I’ll admit, after growing up wearing baggy ill-fitting men’s sportsgear because I was too tall for the women’s gear, I was hesitant to try on a men’s suit. Not because I didn’t hink it would fit, but out of principle.

The suit fits so well, I’m almost embarrassed that I had my doubts. Sure, it takes some getting used to. These suits run a bit tighter than usual. I fought like crazy to get into the thing. I don’t normally wear chest zip suits and the neoprene is like butter so I had trouble gripping. I practiced pulling it on and off a few times over the weekend to break it in and had almost no trouble getting it on at the beach. The way the side panels are built, there’s no problem with the whole curviness factor.

In the water, it was nice and warm. I’ve never used a full hood before so I was getting a kick out of being able to dive all over the place and have only my face get wet. It’ll take some getting used to to have my whole head and neck covered up, but the neoprene is actually thinner than my old hood so I can still hear. My ears are going to love staying dry and warm.

Best part, the thing dries lightning fast. I can drape it over my surfboard on top of my car while I’m at work and it’s almost fully dry by the time I head home.

In order to get to the airport for my 9:55 flight, I had to cut the session a little short. Chris very graciously dropped me off at BART and baby sat my gear while I was out of town. I got to fly to Indianapolis salty and happy. Yay!

February 24, 2011March 7, 2011

Springlike

Surf: Crumbly, jumbled. Low tide. Windy.

Somewhat rideable in a lefterly fashion, but beyond a moody sky it certainly wasn’t pretty. Lots of grumbling in the lot. Lots of short rides in the water. Pretty shallow on the low tide. Drug the fin across a few lumps and bumps on the bottom. Yikes.

February 22, 2011March 7, 2011

Imaginary Left

Surf: Low tide closeout fest. Full range of knee high to head high closeouts. Oww.

I have water in my ears, in my sinuses, and in the farthest reaches of my skull. I spent the luxurious winter with peeling left and rights and a sensible consistent rip so it’s been a while since I spent that much time getting stomped by closeouts. I spendt the morning trying to counteract the brain salt with a bearclaw.

Waveswise, I got a handfull of drop and wash waves of all shapes and sizes and one left that I can classify as a “ride.” Sun was great, water was nice and clear, surface was almost a little bit glassy, but the tide was not having any of it.

I snapped a pic that looked like a peeling left, but it was all lies

February 21, 2011March 7, 2011

Ski/Surf

Ski: Knee-Waist Deep fresh Powder. Overcast, some wind.
Surf: Waist-Shoulder High, little inconsistent with the low tide. 5.2 ft @ 10 sec from 310Âº NW

Lots of rain on to coast = lots of snow in the Sierras. 7ft from Wed-Saturday. Somehow Bon and I made it up to their cabin Thursday night with no trouble. We shredded some serious powder Friday and Saturday.

Well, everyone else did. I don’t have much powder experience, let alone waist deep stuff. There was a lot of me face first in the snow yelling a very muffled “I’m okay!” to my friends. It was beautiful and challenging, exhausting and exhilarating. We got 2 solid days of the fluffy stuff, one groomed day and headed home.

Came back to what looked like marginal surf from the lot. A few folks milled about before giving up and going home. We paddled out to the North end and went for broke. It wasn’t too shabby. Waist/Chest high and somewhat clean if a little inconsistent.

I got the one working left of the day. Other folks tried to repeat the performance, but the waves flat out refused to hold up on that side.

Chris got the most air I’ve ever seen someone get on a longboard, well….with a longboard.

Glad we gave it a shot.

February 15, 2011March 7, 2011

Before the Storm

Surf: Beaut! 6.2ft @ 10.85s from 274Âº W. Clean, offshore winds. Fun!

Windy and really dang fun. Waist-shoulder high waves with some larger ones here and there. Surprisingly clean and with a little bit of zip and a little bit of punch. Super fun with the longboard but enough steepness the shortboarders weren’t left out in the cold. I got some fast swooping rights that held up for turn after turn. Was expecting storm slop so I’m beyond stoked. 🙂

February 10, 2011March 7, 2011

More winter? Yes, please!

Surf: Waist-Shoulder high and peeling. 7.2 ft@ 14.8 sec from 294Âº West NW

After Tuesday’s windiness I was a little worried it was already spring. While mellow, it was plenty clean and breaking in all the familiar winter places. I got in a few nice rides on my familiar left.

February 8, 2011December 8, 2013

Better than Donuts

Surf: Crumbly, small and slow. 8.9 ft at 10.8 s from the NW at 322Â°

Today’s my Dad’s birthday! Happy Birthday, Dad!

The sun was out and beautiful, but the NW wind was blowing so we headed south. The plan was to check and if the surf was bad, go for donuts.

The Jetty was a bit more protected even if it was running on the smaller side. I hadn’t showered so getting wet was better than not as far as going into the office all funky. Lots of sparkly gold little rides. Not much oomf, but as the only people out we could goof off and paddle for every knee high little wave.

The bright sun made for some exciting times crossing the highway. Sure it’s only 2 lanes, but a little scary when you know one lane is coming at you blind.

January 13, 2011July 31, 2012

Misty Montara

Surf: Soft, but powerful. Mostly clean. 3.3ft @ 8.3s 247Âº WSW

I spent a long time standing in the lot looking at LM. It was barely breaking. Tiny ripples with far too many people already working them.

After some hemming and hawing, we looked further south.

I’m picky about Montara. It has to be small, it has to be clean, it has to be mellow.

I’d assumed that by now Luke had dragged J-Bird and Jacob out at Montara at least once, so I didn’t think anything about taking them out with us and skipped the “By the way, there’s a SHARP drop off right by the edge of the water” piece of advice and felt terrible as J-Bird disappeared in a loud splosh while getting in. Ooops! I’m a terrible surf guide!

Lots of fun waves and moody atmosphere. Saw Chris nail a big cutback with lots of spray! Yeah!

January 11, 2011February 6, 2011

Yay! Camera!

Surf: Small, clean. Fun! 267Âº W 3ft at 14.8seconds

Chris got a camera! Today was a perfect day to try it out. Super mellow, peak all to ourselves. Great great great.

I got in a few paddle-less takeoffs (and a few not successful attempts) and some great rides. Chris got some pretty fun pictures (including a great video of me completely wiping out and the wave that took me out taking him out.) Hopefully I can repay the favor on another super fun little day.

January 7, 2011February 6, 2011

Hats and Scarves

Surf:Inconsistent Waist-Shoulder high. 9.5 ft @ 16 sec from the NW 315Âº

Brr. Today felt colder than those days when the air temps were in the 30’s. Everyone in the lot was bundled in hats and scarves. Except for the hours of shivering after, there’s something pretty romantic about laughing with friends standing on the beach while all covered up in hats and mittens and scarves.

The waves were not so oddly picturesque. Indecisive warbley things. Hard to pick out. Got in a few fun rides but mostly paddle for lumps that turned out to be nothing or secretly 4 waves bunched together.