Tag: pacifica

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Dirty, Funky

Surf: Waist-Shoulder High mess. Strong Current.

I saw a pair of surfers standing on the beach for a while when I was suiting up. A softie and friend who I am guessing were hoping to ride whitewater. The north current on the inside shot them out of view very quickly. For anyone looking to just catch foam on a day like today today, take caution when currents are pushing hard. It’s a very short trip from messy unruly foam to OH GOD WHY sized whitewater.

Plenty sloppy on the outside, too. Got some fun rides out of it and a lot of sloshy sloshing. G stole way more waves from the jaws of slop than I did, but I’m happy enough with what I got.

While I was getting ready to leave, a guy drove up and cheered for having even gone out. Yay for friendly parking lot folks.

Debated rinsing my mouth out with some of the office scotch this morning to ward off any dirty water. There was a meeting going on in front of the booze and I didn’t want to disrupt them with my 9:30 shot o scotch. Maybe tomorrow.

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Tsunami

Surf: No surfing due to tsunami warning.

Terrible tragedy in Japan last night. Major earthquakes, devastating tsunami, volcanic eruptions, and nuclear power plants on the brink.

The Tsunami was scheduled to hit our shores around the time I’d normally be out surfing. We got donuts and headed to higher ground. There is no bravery in paddling out in those conditions. A tsunami is not surfable.

Where we were, we didn’t see much change (we were facing deeper waters.) Over at our usual surf spot, there was plenty of draining.

Not sure where the photo came from (I got it from stokereport) so I unfortunately can’t credit it at the moment.

Click here to donate to the Red Cross Relief Efforts

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One long left

Surf: Fair–/poor++

Started out looking pretty closed out and unpleasant. Took a little surfari around the beach trying a number of peaks. The waves that held up were surprisingly good. I got some long long lefts. Ranged from mellow knee high to solid shoulder high. Course the shoulder high ones were the ones looking to close out right on ya, but I managed to get a nice unintentional bodysurf out of one of them.

Sun came out as I was leaving, sadly pumps also turned on as I was leaving. Ew.

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Fun Sized

Surf: Clean, waist high, mellow waves.

Made it back from Indy in time for some more fun little waves. More energy in the water than Monday, but still on the mellow side.

Skipped the rashguard under my suit today. Still toasty in the 4-3-4.

Aaron made it out this am. I saw him throw a thumbs up to Chris while coming down the line. Yay for friendly surf. It was totally a “we’re gonna get signed” kinda day. Lots of goofing off that worked out to almost look like we meant it to happen.

Not sure if it was all the very uncomfortable cross country flying or what, but wound up straining my lower back pretty good. Not sure how, no wipe outs, no crazy falls…I think it’s about time to start paying attention to the rest of my muscles, not just the ones that paddle.

Ahh well, it was beautiful and sunny and fun at least.

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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!

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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.

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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

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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 310º 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.

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Before the Storm

Surf: Beaut! 6.2ft @ 10.85s from 274º 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. 🙂

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More winter? Yes, please!

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