Surf: Mix of 3.3 ft at 9.1 s from the NW at 316° and 3.3 ft at 14.8 s from S at 191°
I had a little bit of hope that yesterday’s swell and wind would hold up, but Linda Mar was pretty much flat. Almost unsurfably flat.
I’m not really surprised, the buoy readings looked like this:
ENE swell? Umm okay.
It was small and fairly junky, but occasionally a peak would line up and I could zip around on my fish before it all closed out in the shallows.
Good to see all the guys. 🙂
Surf: 4.3 ft at 10.0 s from the NNW at 332°. Strong south winds.
More waves and more wind this morning. Yeah!
I took the fish out, which was great for duck diving sets and super fun squeezing in every turn before shallow water closeouts. Where it was challenging was getting in to the wave in all that wind, and trying to keep in position. Wow. Today was so much work.
It’s great for getting me into fish paddling shape, but oh man was I beat after. I just wanted one wave in and I couldn’t find it. I managed to belly one in to the shallows in the end. Still, pretty fun!
Surf: 4.6 ft at 9.1 s from the NW at 317. Howling south winds. Incoming tide.
Andrew wanted to surf today. Unfortunately Bolinas sounded too small and everything else sounded too big. We should have gone to Bo. Lindy was howling sideshore and generally not friendly for beginner surf.
I’m not a good surf-lesson giver. I don’t want to hound people too much with “don’t sit there” “don’t do that” “watch out for this” but in the end people wind up having a worse time when they sit where they want to sit and do what they think is easier, even when it’s really not easier. It’s hard to explain to people why one way of doing things, the way that’s harder right now, will be easier later on.
So, he wound up getting clocked in the head with the board and having no fun. Oops.
Moral of the story, take professional lessons if you want to learn how to surf. It takes a lot to learn how to teach someone and you’re much more likely to have fun with an experienced teacher than with surfer friends. 😉
Surf: 3.3 ft at 16.0 s from the SW at 232°. Low tide.
After a busy busy week and a few flat flat days, I was looking forward to getting out there. I brought my hull thinking it might be fun at Lindy, but Lindy was pretty flat. Flat enough for me to pass and keep looking.
The tricky part being that I’m not sure I’d taken my hull out at this particular beach break. With the new find on it, I was feeling a little nervous. Some nice looking waves rolled by as I paddled out. “I wish I’d brought my fish” looking waves. As the tide swapped things got a little softer, so the extra paddle came in handy.
I got once really nice long left that was pretty fun. I’m always surprised by how much this little board goes and goes and goes. Swishing around little sections. Where I get stuck is that I tend to blow waves when they are steep so I’ll kick out or not commit to a take off.
I really wanted to get a solid right in, but I settled for a very fun belly ride in. Jumped a few of the outgoing waves before plowing face first into the beach. 😀 Weeee
Surf: 3.9 ft at 9.1 s from the NNW at 329°. Low tide. Sideshore wind.
After a good surf in SC, I can set my expectations a little too high for old Linda Mar. The surf was small, closed out, and a bit choppy. It was surfable enough on the fish, so not too bad. I managed a full somersault wipeout. Haven’t done that in a while.
Chatted with a guy in the lineup who had asked about my longboard a week or so back and took a turn on Chris’s monster board. He’d picked up a 9’4 that was shaped by Gordon, just like my fish! 😀
Small world.
Surf: 3 ft at 16 s from the SSW at 196° rising tide. Light wind.
With a new swell coming after a long dry spell, I knew Santa Cruz would be crowded.
Most of the folks out at 38th were floating around, chatting, so it was pretty easy to pick off waves other people were letting roll past. Still, there were a few close calls when party waves got a little too crowded. For the most part, there were plenty of long rides.
I was starting to feel like a bit of a wave hog as the day went on. We surfed for four hours. At one point, I got an early wave in a set then picked off a later wave on my way back out. No one had cone for it and I was in exactly the right spot, I just had to do it. After that, I let a few sets go, hoping others would snag a good one.
I tried to work on my noseriding again. I had one or two waves where I got really far up. I’m sure it looked beyond awkward. I tried to find myself on the cams, to confirm my inner cringe, but sadly every time I took off on a wave, the camera panned. ARG.
I’m hoping to get some lessons in this year. I want to work on my style and longboarding competence.
The ride back, we went up the coast. Dog out the window. Checking all the surf spots. Sunburned and happy.
Surf: 2.6 ft at 9.1 s from the WNW at 296°
After yesterday’s fun, I had my fingers crossed more little waves. While the wind was lighter and a less crazy, but the waves were smaller too.
There were still a few fun rides, but we were basically riding the shorebreak. Lots of wobbling, lots of kicking out at the very last moment before crashing into the beach, lots of faceplants into closeouts. I got a pretty solid faceplant that stung pretty good, but also got lots of little link ups that worked out just fine.
Surf: 2.6 ft at 13.8 s from the SW at 223°
I had hopes of a south wind, but the cams were showing ragged and barely breaking mush. The break in person didn’t look that much better.
Ah well. At least there were friendly folks out or on their way, so I suited up.
The session turned out to be pretty fun. Lots of laughing. And the waves even cleaned up a bit, how about that? Everybody got a few fun ones. Wow. Worth getting wet. 🙂
Surf: 3.9 ft at 9.1 s from the NW at 323°
Met up with Beamer and John this morning. Pretty slim pickings around, but something working at Montara. I fell on my face a lot. Switching back and forth between longer boards and my fish, I get all off rhythm and,fall pretty much straight on my face. Sigh.
I was trying really hard not to gush about how cool I think the boards John shapes are. Both of them were on one and those boards looked pretty fun. Dang.
Session was short and sadly the waves were cleaning up as we packed up. Got at least one good one in, so I’m happy.
Surf: 3.9 ft at 8.3 s from the NW at 310°
I swapped out the A-flex fin that came with my Vaquero for a gl-flex fin I borrowed from Beamer. The waves are a little sloppy to really test it, but man, it’s different. I can’t tell exactly how it’s different, but it feels like the board snaps around. Maybe it’s more out of control, I can’t really tell both cause I don’t really know what I’m doing and because of waves.
The whole session turned out to be pretty fun. Some long rides. Brien’s brother got a few and it’s only his second time surfing ever, that’s always fun to see. All and all, decent sunday.
