Memorial Day

2015-LM-05-25a

2015-LM-05-25b

Surf: 4.9 ft at 11.4 s from the NW at 309°. W winds at 7kn.

Totally different today than it was yesterday. The waves were cleaner, the beach was more organized. It was also more crowded, but a few friendly folks out in the water, too. A mix of whomping closeouts and long waves with lots of cutbacks. Followed it up with dinner at Puerto. Pretty tasty and a lovely view of the beach.

Mermaid swim day

2015-LM-05-24

Surf: 5.3 ft at 9.1 s from the NW at 311°. NW winds at 14kn.

I was hoping to get some outdoor time in this weekend. It’s been the coldest May on record so the beach wasn’t too crowded. The waves were on the meh side so Meghan, Chris, and the girls, and I went for an icy swim. Brrr.

Early Shift

2015-LM-05-21

Surf: 3.3 ft at 13.8 s from the W at 280°. Low tide. NW winds at 6kn.

Got up super early to take a friend to the airpot. Upside, we were one of the first ones out and we got to work at a civil hour. Downside was that the surf really didn’t really get fun until just before we were leaving. Ahh well, got some exercise and some drop and wash closeouts.

Friday

2015-LM-05-15

Surf: 4.9 ft at 11.4 s from the WNW at 299°

Hopefully it rained in the mountains because the city stayed dry and sunny most of the day. The wind picked up a bit, but I thought perhaps the surf would still be worth checking. The waves were bumpier for sure, but I’m glad I went. I’d shaken off some of the dust from my 6’10 skills and got a few more waves than yesterday. Saw lots of folks and got a little more exercise. Not bad!

Better wind

2015-LM-05-14

Surf: 3.6 ft at 13.8 s from the WNW at 282°

Now that we are deep into this drought, the chance that it might rain is pretty exciting in and of itself. The chance for better winds ahead of the storm (rather than howling NW winds) had me very hopeful for a couple surfy mornings.

I took out my 6’10 (9’5 is in the shop) so I was struggling a little, but still plenty fun to get a few and watch everyone else cruising by.

Fingers crossed for rain.

Late NW Swell

2015-LM-04-17

Surf: 8.2 ft at 17.4 s from the WNW at 288°, incoming.

With sprint in full effect, it was pretty interesting to see a big front of swell moving across the forecasting charts. Would it be a mangled, wind swirled mess? Would it be waves? Only one way to know. Headed down to the beach for a look.

Crowded, little bit closed out, plenty foggy and cold, but not so bad! Most of the bigger ones were closing out, but I found a few middle sized waves that passed everybody by. I was working on taking one step, stepping back, turning back into the pocket, repeat. It’s a pretty good little exercise.

Upside of the crowd was seeing lots of friendly folks I haven’t chatted with in a while. If you’re going to be elbow to elbow, might as well do it with a smile. 🙂

Leftish

2015-LM-04-10

Surf: 2.3 ft at 14.8 s from the WNW at 282°

The swell decreased in size and increased in jumble. Most other spots were either flat or looked worse than the usual spot. Hoping for a repeat of yesterday, we paddled out looking for a left that might work. There was a little, mostly closed out spot to try. It was decently fun. Hard to beat that sunshine and beautiful morning air.

Rightish

2015-LM-04-09a

2015-LM-04-09b

Surf: 3.6 ft at 9.1 s from the WNW at 287°

I had some exceptionally low expectations for this morning. The wind has been up, that cams haven’t looked great, but if I want to get back into my weekly routine, sometimes I have to go out and surf some complete crap.

Watching from the beach, there was one little right that looked like it could work. By the time I’d suited up, it looked like it was working. A whole beach of slop and here’s this right, peeling away (lumpily, sure, but it was working.)

I had a plenty fun time in catching that right. I worked on a few steps.Chatted with some folks. It was a way better morning than expected.

Pleasantly Surprised

2015-LM-04-03

Surf: 6.2 ft at 10.8 s from the WNW at 294°. Incoming.

It was a rough week and I didn’t feel like surfing. When I got “want to go surf?” wake up alarm, I checked the buoys (22mph winds, ugh) and I check the tide (low, ugh) and nearly bailed. I’ve been in this situation before where I feel too down to surf, go anyway and it cheers me up. So I got my gear together and headed out.

Usually if it’s calm at shore and howling winds out at sea, the surf is junk. Even light offshores don’t usually counteract the open water winds. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t half bad.

Had a nice little morning working on my cross step and making the most our of what was on tap. I’m getting more and more comfortable sticking the rail into waves that look like they’re about to close out, just to see if I can sneak in a step or two. So far so good!

Saturday Sunset

2015-LM-03-28

Surf: 6.9 ft at 8.3 s from the WNW at 292°

What a day! I had a rehab workout in the morning, hiked 6 miles, then jumped in the ocean to cool off. The surf was pretty lousy, but not totally unrideable. It’s been a couple months since my last sunset surf. It was nice to get a few evening waves, even if they were lumpy and bumpy.

Happy and exhausted.