Surf: Waist high and closed out.
Forget washing machine, that was a freaking rock tumbler. Oooch owch eeech. Got a few fun ones, but even the nice open faced waves had a rough ending. I don’t suppose it helped that my neck was jacked up so it was harder to turn off the line before the wave closed out. I managed to faceplant one wave and land flat on my back for another. Ooooch. May hair was full of seaweed and sand by the end of the morning.
Surf: Waist high and clean with some Chest high sets. 5ft @ 11s WNW – 301°
The wind has been howling for days so I didn’t expect much from this little morning. Reports suggested surf on the larger size of average, maybe with favorable winds, maybe not. Rolling over the hill I spotted some rather small, but very clean surf instead.
With the longboard I know I can catch waves in even the smallest of small peelers. With the 7’4 beside me in the passenger seat I was thankful to be still super stoked from Sunday and mentally gearing up for a paddlefest.
I managed to sneak four lovely waves in. Sure, lots of paddling to get them, but not bad! I practiced duck diving a bit and enjoyed the sun.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
