Month: November 2009

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More shortboard Practice!

HMB_11_09_09

SURF: 3-5ft waves. Little choppy.

Gear: 6’8 Rocket

Most of the waves today up and down the coast were too big for me to catch and decent rides on my longboard. I decided to hit HMB to practice on the short board in at the jetty. It’s more protected so the waves were smaller.

I spent about an hour doing laps. Paddle out, fail at duck diving, keep paddling, fail again, turn around, boogie board to shore, paddle back. I’m trying to 1) learn to properly duck dive and 2) get more comfortable with overall balance on a board nearly 3 whole feet shorter than mine.

I did much better keeping control over the board, I didn’t fall off at all. Paddling is still slow, but a little better. I got in one okay “duck dive”-like movement that probably doesn’t count, but I’ll take it as a small win anyway. 🙂

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Big Nasty Swell

Chomping at Sloat

Some big waves moved in to our area Friday night. Buoys spiked to 30ft and a lot of folks were on edge wondering if the waves were going to come in clean and rideable or big and scary.

It was big and scary.

I met up with Tom in front of Wise. We walked around North Ocean Beach and the Cliff House, gawking at waves there. There were waves breaking so far out ir was unbelievable. We cruised on down to Sloat, Rockaway, and finally Linda Mar waiting for Josh to wrap up his session at Half Moon Bay.

Rockaway was, well, hurling rocks:

Seawall and Seacliff

There was one lone dude out there. He was holding his own, I didn’t see him get stomped but wow. He was a tiny dot surrounded by big angry waves.

One Guy at Rockaway

Linda Mar wasn’t as big as projected, but still looked rough. A handful of people were out getting waves.

Linda Mar Chomps

I stayed nice and dry. Had lovely brunch at the Cliff House instead.

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Offshores and Long Lulls

LM-11_3_09

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

This morning’s dawn patrol: Glassy, lined-up walls coming through with open, workable corners. Looking fun.

More beautiful weather this week. Waves were big and clean, sun was warm, offshores were kicking up a nice rainbow spray off the waves.

I like my little waves. My comfort level usual maxes out around waist to shoulder high but today was so nice I decided to push it a little. I paddled for shoulder high waves all day without being skittish. I didn’t catch any, but at least I’m more comfortable paddling for them. There were long lulls between sets so plenty of time to recover and build up confidence (and cold hands).

Wrapped the day sitting on the porch at my new apartment watching hummingbirds check out the plants.