Surf: Windy. Waist to Chest.
Snuck out for another post-morning meeting surf. The surf wasn’t especially thrilling, there were a lot of closeouts and trying to fight my way into the wind with my newly repaired 7 was hard. The tide went out fast, turning makeable waves into wash. Post surf I ran into Max, back from some very exciting travels and Daniel who was headed out to see what he could make of the outgoing tide. Always nice to catch up with folks in the lot.
Surf: Thigh to Waist high. Clean. Slow.
My 7’0 is in the shop, and my 9’4 had a ding I’ve been meaning to repair. With new swell supposedly on it’s way, I grabbed my 9’0 and headed down to the beach.
As I unzipped my bag, I had the sinking realization that before I’d sent the 9′ to Alex for a bunch of work I had stripped all the wax. Stripped all the wax and not put any back on.
Crap.
I found myself standing in the lot with a very smooth and shiny board gleaming back at me. There was no way I was going to turn around and head home. I dug half a bar of wax out of my bag and spread that little lump of wax as thin as I could trying to cover the board.
I wore the wax down to a tiny tiny nub, but it worked.
The first half of the session the tide was too high and things were slow and plodding. The second half, things picked up. Kinda fun to see what I’ve started to learn on the quad translating to a try fin. I managed a few tighter cutbacks digging in.
Not an epic day for sure, but happy to have made it work.
Surf: Thigh High, clean.
Fall is here. Warm temps, lower winds, lovely mornings.
Plenty crowded out there though. Wow. 2 waves in and my board was dinged crashing into a dude dropping in. Thankfully no one was hurt, but I wasn’t ready to get out of the water just yet.
After a few too many close calls, I headed up north to throw myself into some closeouts. I got a few waves that made me feel slightly more competent on the 7′ (which I badly needed after the earlier tangle up.)
Nice to have the warm weather.
Surf: Crumbly Waist-Chest high surf.
Looked better than I’d expected and, given that I was taking a very long scenic route back from a way too early client meeting, I gave it a go.
Surprisingly not awful. I’ve surfed way worse. Wasn’t junky, wasn’t too closed out, it wasn’t all that bad it just wasn’t all that great. The sun was out a while and there were even a few moments the onshore winds stopped blowing and I got a couple smooth waves in. huh.
Thank you, o ocean, for a little bit of something in an otherwise desperado session.
Surf: Waist-Head High. Closed out, Crowded.
Got the stubby back from the shop. Now that it’s old dings are fixed correctly, I took it out for a spin. The waves today were crowded and womping shut. Not ideal for struggling with a board. I had quite a few duckdive attempts that went wrong and false starts on waves, but FINALLY finally managed to land two. One was pretty respectable and linked up all the way to the inside.
Afterwards got sandblasted by the sideshores a while. All my gear is sandy.
Surf: Waist-Shoulder high. Backwards. Closed out.
Ahh, physics. Physics does not always do what you think it will, or what you want it to, or even really what it should. Today it was reflecting waves pretty strongly off the beach, jacking up waves into steep closeouts left and right.
Every time I get a little air on a longboard it tends to be accompanied by a considerable amount of surprise. Usually me getting air on a 9’4 means something weird is going on.
Today’s surprising air move was brought to you by me catching an outgoing wave while paddling out, ramping the incoming closeout at pretty good speed, and launching myself back into the lineup. If you wanted exciting, ungraceful chest high waves, they were out there.
From the time I first saw post-cards of Big Sur, I’d wanted to visit. Like many “someday” ideas, I’d put it off. Oh but I have to work, maybe next month, maybe if I have someone to go with me?
My good friend (and amazing photographer buddy) Katie came to SF for a few weeks to visit. What better time to visit Big Sur than the sunny fall with your talented photographer friend.
It was beautiful. Sure, we did only light hikes and probably visited some of the more travelled paths, but for a first trip to Big Sur I can’t imagine anything better. We walked a number of beaches and cliffs, snacked on scones and trail mix, and enjoyed the scenery.
Katie’s pictures are up at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/visus/tags/california/ and
They are well worth checking out.
Part of me wanted to bring a surfboard. Much of the coast there is not meant for surfing, but there are a few spots. I didn’t want to make Katie sit on the beach while I attempted breaks I’d never surfed before, so I thought it best to leave the boards at home.
I did hike out to a little point and watch someone else surf the lonely bit of coast. The sun was bright, the water was clear. The black dot out in the lineup struggled to stay on-peak, but was rewarded with a number of smooth chest high waves. He seemed pretty familiar with the spot and it was a pleasure to watch him surf while snacking on dried fruit on the shore.
Thank you, Big Sur, for a lovely weekend.
Surf: Waist-Shoulder high. Little crowded. Long lulls.
Got a couple chest high waves that left me stoked (especially the one I had all to myself, crowded out there today). Wandered to a less crowded peak for some shoulder high drop and wash. Mostly wash. It was sunny and decent enough. I’m happy. Def “fair”
