Month: November 2009

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Back to Steeper Waves

LM-11-30-09

SURF: 3-5 ft. waist to head high with occasional 6 ft. and fair to good conditions.

This morning’s dawn patrol: Mostly walled-up, glassy lines with open, workable corners to be had.

After a few good days of solid longboard waves, I’m back to Pacifica and the steeper mix of things. I got a couple good rides in. I had pretty low expectations given that my arms were burned out from the weekend. I was very happy to have an easy paddle out, but was missing the speed I needed to get some of these waves.

In the end, wasn’t too shabby. Dolphins were out, sun was shining. That bumps up the positive points for sure.

I’ve noticed I’m starting to get a wetsuit necktan to match my mitten tan hands. I’m laughing thinking that now I’m looking about as awkward out of the water as I am in it. Perhaps SPF 35 isn’t cutting it for winter.

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Negative Tide at Cowells

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SURF: 3-4ft and clean. Great day for the longboard.

After 2 solid longboard days my arms were mush. Jello. I could barely sit up to answer the phone when Luke texted me at 9:30am. I knew it was going to be a negative tide at Cowells but had written Sunday off as a day of rest.

Still, it’s really hard for me to resist a good longboard spot when it’s at its best and it was certainly looking wonderful today. Cowells really shines with a low low tide. I hopped in the car and drove back down south towards Santa Cruz. This weekend has been a marathon for both my arms and my car.

The sun was shining, the waves were great, the crowd was light (for a usually crowded spot) and I got in ride after ride. Nice long rides too. I started practicing my cross stepping on some of the longer rides. I haven’t quite gotten it yet. So far I’m really good and falling off, but a few more nice long rides like today and I might just have it.

Cross stepping is when you walk the board. It’s sort of a board ballet and the first step to nose riding like a pro:

It’s been really great to have a chance to spend some quality time on my longboard. The large winter swell can make it a challenge to find a good spot for it to really shine. Being able to spend three days letting my board do what it does best has been just awesome. My Stewart is a great match for me. Easy to paddle, catches waves wonderfuly and has enough speed and control to really take advantage of these sweet little waves. What a fun holiday weekend.

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Offshores in Bolinas

Bolinas-11-28-09

SURF: 3-4ft mellow waves. Light to VERY strong offshore winds. A little choppy with the wind but mostly clean.

I drove Josh and his friend Andre up to Bolinas. The WNW and NW swells hitting the other breaks made most spots anywhere near SF pretty big and junky but Bolinas was working nicely.

The offshores were blowing so hard that more than once my board caught a good gust and flipped over. Taking off on some waves the spray was so heavy I was taking off completely blind. Luckily (or unluckily depending how you see it) most waves I caught blind rejected me. The wind would push me back so I couldn’t drop down let alone complete a bottom turn. Wow was it blowing. I had to dash to the nose a few times trying to keep the board moving with the wave. I’m very glad I had my hood and my gloves. I was roasty toasty paddling even with the wind.

Even with the crazy gusts, I did manage to get in many many fun rides. Poor Andre though, with the low tide he didn’t have whitewater to practice on. It was his first day out and we didn’t manage to get him on anything. Josh and I can survive on stoke alone, but a good wave really makes the day newbie or not. 🙂

We spent about 3 1/2-4 hours in the water. I usually put in around 2. I think this session was the longest I’ve been in the water straight since my surf class. Maui may have been longer, it’s hard to tell how long you’ve been out without the shivering, ha!

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Longboard Waves in Capitola

Capitola-11-27-09

SURF: 2-4 ft knee to shoulder high. This morning’s dawn patrol: Clean, lined-up little walls.

Had a nice little mid day surf down in Capitola. Everywhere else was big, blown out, or just un fun looking today but Capitola has nice, smooth little waves. My favorite kind of waves.

I only got in a few rides. I need to be more assertive navigating crowds. The waves today were very catchable and mellow, but I missed more than a few worrying about whether or not the person near me was going to get the wave and I kept moving out of position to let folks already on the wave get by. I’m to easily pushed off a peak by crowds, something I’ll have to get over so I can get in more waves.

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Pre-Holiday Crazies

LM-11-25-09

SURF: 3-6ft. Great Head High peak by the pumphouse, mushier jumped 3ft waves on the south end.

After my interview and various other pre-holiday obligations, I managed to get in a little time at Pacifica. There was a great peak working by the pumphouse with quite a few people already on it. I paddled out there, say Hi to Steve, then paddled further south to try and get something a little less crowded.

Unfortunately my head wasn’t in the game. I had a feeling I’d come off pretty nervous in my interview earlier. I was kicking myself thinking I’d blown it. I hadn’t performed that poorly in an interview in quite some time. While thinking about all of this, I went for a wave without reading it first. It was a SOLID closeout. I got pitched off my board, did a two handed cartwheel in the sand underwater and sprung up just in time to get nailed by the second and third waves in the set. It was shameful, these weren’t even big waves. I bellied in, sat on the beach and tried to clear my head.

After some attempts to stop worrying about the interview I paddled back out and ran into Tom. I caught 2 decent rides on the softer stuff and we chatted for a bit. The wind was really picking up and the surf was so jumbled at this point that the waves had started heading back out to sea. No good at all. I was shivering and had plenty of holiday things to do so I wrapped for the day and headed home.

BAG-11-25-09

Wednesday was also Wet Wednesday at Riptide. The bar hosts surf films, free food, and a charity auction. I won this rocking messenger bag. I was so excited to win something AND something useful at that! 😀

I met up at Riptide with Tom, Josh, and Tom’s Girlfriend (sorry, I’m lousy with names). We talked a lot of surf spots and boards and really painful wipeouts. Tom’s girlfriend pointed out that I was exceptionally critical of myself as a surfer. She pointed out that I was talking about how I sucked at xyz, or times I blew waves I should have gotten, etc. I hadn’t really thought about it, but she’s absolutely right. I do the same thing to myself as a designer as well. It’s not that I want to be the best at everything, I just want to be better than I currently am. I’m overly modest when talking about my accomplishments, even if I was SUPER excited at the time. It’s okay to be modest, and yes I don’t consider myself a “good” surfer, but perhaps I could champion my small victories a little more after a really good session.

I love my new bag. Thanks Riptide.

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7′ Al Merrick

AlMerrick

SURF: 3-5 ft. waist to head high and poor conditions.

This morning’s dawn patrol: Mostly walled up lines coming through with just a slight texture to the surface. Occasional workable corners through the inside.

This morning was a bit mixed up. The pumphouse was showing some niiiiice waves for people who could catch them. After paddling out, waves turned a bit mushy, lots of closeouts, lots of repositioning myself against the south current and the winds blowing me out to sea.

I tired out Jamie’s 7′ Al Merrick Roundtail. It’s actually much easier to paddle than the 6’8 Rocket. I still struggled and the one wave I did catch I immediately blew, but I seemed a little faster out there. Pretty floaty, I didn’t even try duck diving. I haven’t gotten up enough on a wave to compare the roundtail to squash and squaretail boards I normally ride. I hope to do that eventually!

Highlight of the day: BABY DOLPHINS. Oh man are they cute!

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Bolinas!

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Surf: Knee to Shoulder high waves.

Went up to Bolinas with Luke and Beth. Everywhere else was blown out bigger waves and I’d been wanting to get up to Bolinas. It was a good day for it. Sunny, nice waves, pretty mellow. I got in once nice right. It switched up and went left making me realize I need to work on my cutbacks and turns so I can stay on a wave like that, but I got some good time in before kicking out.

We got locked out of the truck so I got to spend a few hours sitting in the back of the Marin sheriff’s squad car trying to keep warm. Of all the times not to have my camera!

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Quick Sunday Paddle

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SURF: 3-5 ft. waist to head high and fair to good conditions.

This morning’s dawn patrol: Fun, semi-walled lines with racy corners through the inside. Expect sets around head high. Conditions are clean and glassy with light wind.

Conditions were a bit more mixed than reports suggested. I’ve been fighting off a cold since Thursday so I barely made it out.

Sunshine was wonderful, waves were mixed. I took the 6’8 out for more practice. I got a full little boogie board ride and almost caught a wave but I’m still struggling with how hard it is to paddle. It’s going to be a long time without be getting in any waves before I get this little guy wrangled right. I keep telling myself that I >WANT< to be a more well rounded surfer (in that I'm crappy on a variety of boards, ha) so I've been able to push through the awkwardness of a smaller board so far. Hopefully a few good longboard days will come up for me to recharge with an easy paddle and easy to catch waves. While walking home from my car with my board on Oak St, a dude gave me a shout out and threw me a Chaka. Totally made my day. 🙂

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Almost Got One!

11_11_09_LM

SURF: 3-5 ft. waist to head high and fair conditions.

This morning’s dawn patrol: Just a slight texture to the surface with sectiony/broken up walls coming through. Plenty of scattered inside corners to work with.

Back on the 6’8. I am determined to ride this little board.

My duck dive practice on Monday was pretty uneventful. I don’t feel like I’m getting up the speed I need to complete the dive properly. Instead of spending the morning duck diving the whitewash, I paddled out past the lineup and started doing laps. I did two and a half laps from the south bathrooms to the north, or about 2500 ft total. I’m definitely getting more comfortable on the board. I was floating around just fine and paddling steady. It’s sooooo different than my 9’4. My Stewart paddles fast and easy. I could have done my laps in half the time with that board.

After recovering, I tried for a few waves. Most I was too slow to get on (practicing going for waves is just as important too) and one wave I actually managed to catch. I did a sloppy, wobbly job of trying to popup, I got to my knees and fell off laughing.

Small victories!

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Birthday Waves for Cynthia

11_10_09_HMBJetty

SURF: 3-5ft. Cleaner than yesterday. Good shoulder high waves for some folks, waist high closeouts for me.

Caught a mid-day session with Cynthia to celebrate her birthday. I caught one nice long mellow right and swamped a right I should have gotten. My neck is still really tight so I didn’t get in a smooth bottom turn like I’d hoped. Ahh well. It was a pleasure to paddle out on my longboard after the shortboard workout and very fun to see Cynthia get some great happy birthday rides. 😀

Happy Birthday Cynthia!