Month: November 2012

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Dark

Surf: 2.6 ft at 11.4 s from NW at 305°. Incoming tide.

Nice clean little waves. Andrew said something along the lines of “This is the kind of stuff this beach actually does well.” That might not be what he said, with ear plugs and a hood I can’t hear anything, but if it was, he’s pretty spot on.

Sure, when it’s small there are only a few working peaks and it favors a board with more foam, but… it stays open. Long waves, no closeouts.

Before things got overcrowded, I got a few fun swooping ones. I blew a really nice one that I’d love to blame on Chris being in my way, but it was more that I fell into old habits and grabbed rail when I should have just popped up. Crashed right back into the wave.

Lots of fun. I like nice clean days where I feel like I know what I’m doing. 🙂

Oh and cookies. Brought some of my mom’s peanut butter and hershey kiss cookies to share in the lot. Yum.

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Sunspot

Surf: 6.2 ft at 12.9 s from NW at 308°. Incoming tide.

Weeyeeeew. Nice long wave to make my morning!

What looked a little uninspiring from the lot, turned out to be a little bit of fun in the water. I got one really nice long swooping right. I looked back to see Chris on the wave behind it, also swooshing along. Fun fun fun.

Overall a little inconsistent. There were some big ole closeouts and some mixed up mush. A few good waves (and some compliments in the lineup) made things just fine.

Nice fog bank around the cove to keep things moody.

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Traffic

Surf: 7.6 ft at 13.8 s from WNW at 292°

Wow, that was some unsafe surf this morning. Waves weren’t big, current wasn’t strong, but there were quite a few people in the lineup who weren’t paying attention or just plain didn’t know how to surf. I had some very close calls with a gal who would look me straight in the eye as I was up and keep paddling, once I got close, she couldn’t pull out of the wave in time and went crashing over. Yikes. More than one person paddled ONTO Chris’s board, including that gal.

For a moment I thought about calling a time out and explaining to a few of these folks about right or way and about how to pull out of a wave without going over the edge. I dunno, it seems a little too bossy. I’ve been in their shoes. That gal had some serious attitude (which I hope I never did when I was a kook.) Those folks were really dangerous though. I hope they figure things out before they hurt somebody.

We paddled more north and away from the fray. I didn’t get much. My cough is back and I was starting to feel plain miserable. Headed in to work.

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Little Middle

Photo by Brien

Surf: 2.6 ft at 10.8 s from WNW at 289°. Incoming tide.

Might as well do a full beach tour!

Smaller fun little waves and lots of people. Swapped boards with Josh after padding out. He got to try out the hull and I splashed around on a 5’11 fishy. I did managed to pull off a little wave on the swishy fish. It wasn’t anything glamorous, just a little hopping on some small waves. Still nice to know I can actually get a wave on a 5’11. Meanwhile Josh went screaming by as one does on a hull.

Other than that, saw Chris get a really nice little wave. I stepped on a crab. I face planted some more on a few waves. I coughed some more. Pretty typical Thursday.

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Northern Faceplants

Surf: 3.0 ft at 12.1 s from W at 277°. Incoming tide.

Decided to give a different stretch of the beach a shot this morning. Still coughing, I appreciated the smaller waves.

Spent the morning trying for steeper inside waves. It’s a good way to realize exactly how little rocker my hull has. Yeeeesh. Faceplant after faceplant. I’ll admit, it’s almost entirely that I don’t know how to surf this board in that kind of wave, but man, it still smarted a little.

Upside of the morning was watching Brien get a couple great waves and watching Beamer screaming down the face of some steep little inside waves.

While I know hulls aren’t exactly meant for Ocean Beach, it’s still been good getting it out there and paddling paddling paddling. I’ll need all that paddle for Pleasure Point this winter.

Eventually I’d love to get a board just for Ocean Beach, but I’m a ways off from that. I made the mistake of mentioning something to that effect on twitter and got quite a few opinions back. Yow. When I’m ready, I’ll either look for something generic off the rack (that I won’t cry if I snap in half) or I’ll drop by Sunset Shapers for a chat. For right now, I’m not going to think about new boards. Gotta learn things one board at a time. Slow and steady.

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Flip it

Surf: 4.3 ft at 12.1 s from the WNW at 4.3 ft at 12.1 s. Incoming tide. Minimal winds.

Of course I get a cold right before the start of a smooth friendly week at Ocean Beach.

Standing in the lot in the dark, the only sound louder than the waves was my coughing and sniffling. Ugh. I started to feel better on the paddle out, but every other duckdive ended with me barking and carrying on. Once outside, I caught my breath watching folks drop into some very lovely waves. Things swung between soft waist high waves to shoulder high with a few just barely overhead waves here and there.

I struggled a bit on the softer outside waves. I finally set up right for something steeper and flipped right over the falls. Unlike most days, it was a pretty forgiving flip. Most of the waves today were forgiving, which I was grateful for as I was in the wrong spot almost ever time.

After finally getting something, I found a great little spot on the inside for some very fun zippy smooth waves. I drifted past Parkside on my way to catching a few more. Nice little morning.

Wrapped it up with some Trouble Coffee hot chocolate. 🙂

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Sunday

Surf: 5.3 ft at 10.0 s from the NW at 310° High to outgoing tide. No wind.

I had one of those surf bigger better waves vs acknowledge I’m tired and surf smaller waves mornings. Smaller waves won, but smaller waves delivered. Clean, nicely shaped chest high waves and plenty of sunshine. Got into a few fun ones even with the high tide. On the days when I”m actually making progress with the little board, it’s super fun. I got some fast rides, practiced my cutbacks, and zipped all around. Towards the end of the session (as the crowd filled in and my arms got tired,) I was more frustrated and missing waves, but otherwise fun.

This board’s really made me realize that 90% of the time I’m surfing a left, with the exception of Santa Cruz, everywhere I go I’m going left. I’d tried to shift spots to get a right, but once I got over there everything set up to go left again. I’m hoping when the sandbars form in the next rainstorm or two, they’ll give me a little peak to practice my displacement hull slide on. 🙂

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In the mix

Surf: 4.9 ft at 10.8 s from WNW at 282° Outgoing tide, calm winds and fog.

It wouldn’t be Linda Mar if you’re weren’t up one day and facing beach long closeouts the next.

Camped out a weird slightly choppy corner with lots of familiar folks. I managed to pick out a few waist-chest high zipping rides that didn’t immediately end in closeout. All the rest was paddling and faceplanting into waves as the slammed shut. It’s another one of those days where the wave breaks in the rip rather than next to it (go figure.) Kinda fun to see Andrew cruising around on a traditional thruster. Lots of pelicans swooping just above the water looking for fish.

Not bad.

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Heel side slide

Surf: 7.6 ft at 14.8 s from W at 279° Outgoing tide. Offshore wind.

Wheeeeeee. Fun first hour!

I’ve been struggling to get into waves for a while now and this particular spot pits me against soft waves and a tightly packed crowd. Today I paddled out and got every wave I paddled for right off the bat. Some of them from a little farther out than usual. So great to get a nice, long, good sized wave or two on my little board. That actually felt pretty competent and I got a little hull swish in the mix despite going heelside.

After a bit the crowd came up, tide went down, and things went back to same ole same ole. So stoked on those first waves anyway. 🙂

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Little better

Surf: 7.2 ft at 12.1 s from NW at 305° Outgoing tide.

Still closed out, still a mix of whomp and mush, but I’m finally surfing my crummy home waves a little better.

Waist (occasionally chest) high at the left hand break. Got some fun little cruising rides and missed far fewer waves than I have been the last few sessions. That was a big relief. I’ve been getting so frustrated missing wave after wave.

After a while, I moved north and went for some closeouts. I’ve been closeout shy for a few months. It was actually kind of nice (in a totally backwards way) to get a few whomping chest high closeouts without wincing.

The lineup could still use a sandbar to smooth out the rough edges, but overall, not bad.