Month: August 2010

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Case of the Mondays

Surf: Sloppy, Disorganized 4ft. Rideable, sort of.

I’d hoped to sneak in a nice little morning surf before heading out to the desert for Labor Day. Out of “nice little morning surf” I got “morning.”

I was unruly out there. I got finned, I got dumped, but I did get a decent sized wave.

After that wave I said ehh, time for work.

Got to work and around noonish the surf sites and the twitters were all a buzz about a 100ft long monster shark sighted eating a sea lion about 100 yards out from the spot we were surfing.

Unruly beach day indeed.

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Santa Cruz Friday

Surf: Knee-Chest high, mostly in the knee-waist high range. Clean with long waits between sets.

I’ve been wanting to sneak down to SC on a weekday for a while. Thursday I sent ou over a thousand pages of work to be proofed and reviewed by the client so Aaron and I took advantage of his “every other friday off” schedule and cruised on down.

The plan was to swing by Pleasure Point. I’ll admit, it looked good. At 9 there were already plenty of people on it. The hook was a little more open and the lines were looking pretty good. Jumped right in.

I had a lot of fun. While there were long waits, the waves were pretty nice. Rather than my usual cruise/nose riding attempts, I decided to practice making some swooping turns. Man it was fun. Plenty of dipping down, then sneaking back up high side. I nailed a pretty fun little floater too.

The big thing I took away from the day was realizing how much I’ve improved since the last time I surfed the hook. After a summer going left at Lindy, my cutback and my dipping on my rights is a lot stronger. I got a couple hoots and a “that wave looked competent” from Aaron. He did well himself, he’s totally getting signed.

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PM Doublesun

Surf: Waist-Chest High, less consistent.

Yay! Freckled and happy. I got to watch a nice looooong sunset and catch a few waves. Wave quality was better in the am but I’m more than happy to doublestack my stoke. I saw both Chris and Aaron get some nice rights. Crowd was crowded, but mostly friendly. Saw a few faces from this morning out there. 😀

With the crowd I had to take a few slightly close drops. Sorry to the newbies on the inside I gave heart attacks to. I got a night left right around Aaron. Next time I’m gonna high five him and we’ll both get signed.

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AM Doublesun

Surf: Waist high, mellow, clean waves. Warm sun.

I couldn’t really sleep. It happens. When Chris checked in to ask about a dawn patrol I was up watching a documentary on netflix trying to fall back to sleep.

Man, was I happy I dragged myself out of bed. Warm sun, blue sky, friendly folks. Saw Chris get a few really nice ones as I was paddling out. After picking off a few half decent waves, I spent some time sitting on the beach. I rarely get to just sit on the beach. It’s usually cold and foggy and I’m rushing off to work.

I sat for a little while and watched the waves. I spotted a nice left that everyone kept trying to take right. After watching a few sets, I paddled out for it. Timing was key. I had to wait for a nice one that wouldn’t have someone trying to take it right. With patience and a careful set up, I was rewarded with a nice long fun left.

Most waves I ride, I enjoy, then they fade into blueish greenish greyish moving memories that soon fade. Waves are ephemeral and meant to be enjoyed in the moment so it’s natural to let them go. Waves like my morning’s left are the ones I get to remember. I had a long line, lots of deep blue wave face. I had speed, I had turns, I linked up to the inside section. Everything went smoothly right in to the beach.

I was so happy. Got a few compliments on the beach even. What a morning!

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Warm sun!

Surf: Waist-Chest High. Consistent.

Look at that blue sky. Blue! And all of a sudden it’s summer in San Francisco. The parking lots were packed and I found myself in the very foreign situation of walking barefoot across hot sand. Yup, hot sand. Just like a beach anywhere else in August.

Waves were fun, but a little crowded. Lately I’ve been pulling some funky grab rail action to get trim and dodge folks camping on the inside. Got a few fun ones. It’s nice to chill in the lineup with sun on my face and barefoot feet. Such a treat to surf in the sunshine.

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Not Quite a New Swell

Surf: Knee-Waist High, Little junky

Went on a wavehunt this morning. Drove by OB, the whole Pacifica coast, all the way down to Half Moon Bay. Pretty mellow, pretty warbly. Wound up surfing longer than I’d though, getting a few fun waves. Nice to be out. New waves to come soon.

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Flat and Dark

Surf: Ankle to Knee high and dark

We sort of got a jump on the sun this morning. Spent a little bit sitting in the parking lot in the dark watching hints of whitewater barely breaking and listening to NPR.

Sunrise didn’t find conditions to be much better than in the dark. 4 of us tried to will one little sort of peak into working with mixed success. At least I got some water time in and got to work early.

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Funky Bolinas

Surf: Knee to Waist High, Junky.

Mixed up junky day in Bolinas. Met up with quite a few folks up there and got a few fun little waves. Andrew was able to get a few stable rides in. It’s always fun to watch friends who are learning to get waves.

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Junky Surf, Pretty Weather

Surf: Knee to Waise high, junky.

Yeah, it was junky. Yeah the wind was on it and warbling it up. But hey, it was pretty dang fun. Poor wave quality but def a good time. Like most Linda Mar summer days, it favored those with foam. One spot breaking pretty well but Chris and I went for the surfari and rode the current up the beach checking out a few more. Some good shoulders. Much crumbly crumbling.

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Wild Wildlife

Surf: Knee-Waist High. Junky.

Pretty low expectations once again exceeded. Spent about 4 hours paddling around catching waves here and there, running in to friends. In the last hour or so of the session I was looking out to sea and saw a pretty big something jump pretty far away from us. Something big with a white belly and some serious heft.

Since it’s shark week on discovery, I’m not going to speculate. The ocean’s plenty wild and this season’s been rather active for animals of all sort. It spooked a few people, the rest of us kept on surfing. Seeing a quick glance of something very far away isn’t enough to know what is was. Dolphin, whale, big fish. Whatever it was it was far off and doing it’s ocean wildlife thing.

To put it in perspective I’ve surfed over a hundred times, once seen something like this and once been in the water when someone else had experienced something like this. It’s their ocean, the fishes, the mammals, the critters, and the plants. I’m doing my best to be considerate of them and I certainly hope they return the favor.