Month: November 2013

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Looking good

2013-OBK-11-27

Surf: 3.6 ft at 16.0 s from the W at 275°. High tide and falling. ENE winds.

Swell had really come up from yesterday. More than I was really comfortable on my log. I really wanted to take my fish out, but missing a fin would have been about as bad as having too much board.

But it was clean and pretty, so I paddled out. The paddle out was actually pretty easy. There was the usual too soft outside, too steep inside problem to contend with, but overall I wasn’t really getting anything because of my own headgame. Uff, it’s frustrating. I don’t really like surfing ocean beach. Yeah, it’s a better shape, but sometimes it’s not that much fun. Ehh.

After getting a few poorly-surfed waves, I went further down the beach to watch the crowd surf it much better than I could. That was pretty fun. Folks were getting some really nice ones. It was also a little reassuring to see people blow waves too, it’s not just me.

Watching from the beach had the added bonus of listening to all the next-shift surfers in the dunes freaking out at how good the surf looked. After how small it’s been, people were practically skipping across great highway. 🙂 Yay for happy surfers.

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Welcome back

2013-OBK-11-26

Surf: 1.6 ft at 11.4 s from the WSW at 256°. High tide and falling.

Normally when I come back from a trip, the surf is junky and miserable. It was a nice change to have small, clean waves. I tried working on some of the moves I learned in Hawaii. It was much harder on a performance log and a punchier little wave, but I got a few proper rides in. Swoosh swoosh step step back swoosh. Whee. I also launched myself in the air pretty good. Yeee.

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Saturday Evening

2013-HIODH-11-23

Surf: 1.6 ft at 11.1 s from the SW at 233°

Wooohoooohooo. Took the fish out at Diamond Head for an evening session. It was a little harder to navigate the crowd on a smaller board, but man, I got some fun ones. I got one long right where I felt like I did all the right things. Cutback, speed around a section, turn turn turn. 😀 Finally!

Unfortunately I got a little greedy on my last wave in. I was cruising down the line when uh oh, ROCK! I tried to go high around it, but I heard a THUNK as I passed over. Thankfully the board was fine, but the fin popped off. Whoops.

Still, fun last session. I’ll miss you, Hawaii!

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Saturday Morning

2013-HIOHA-11-23

Surf: 2.0 ft at 13.3 s from the NNW at 331°.

Headed back up to the North Shore today. The surf was looking a little mixed up, but man, the weather was amazing. There was a sunshower while we watched Hale’iwa and a beautiful rainbow. Woo.

We drove around a while checking spots before deciding to see if one spot would clean up. It didn’t, but we took a crack at it anyway. Lots of short rides that either doubled up or died out. Not terrible, I’ve surfed worse, but nothing epic.

After we went back to Hale’iwa to watch the surf comp and nap on the beach. The pros really know how to work a wave. Most of those waves were junk, but they still managed to pull off a face where it looked like there was nothing but closeouts. Super fun to watch, but I was out cold after one heat which is pretty much what I do watching the heats online.

2013-HIOCH-11-23

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Friday Afternoon

2013-HIOHA-11-22

Surf: 2.0 ft at 11.1 s from the NNE at 21°.

Headed north in the afternoon. The surf was pretty small on the North Shore, but we got pies at Ted’s, drove around, looked at stuff. Eventually we paddled out for a bit at Hale’iwa. I haven’t surfed the fish in ages, so it was nice to get my feet in the wax. The waves were super small so I mostly wobbled around.

Afterwards, we drove around the windward side for more scenery gawking and macadamia nuts. After a slow drive, we got malasadas and took them over to Dan’s friend’s place where he made us the most amazing gnocchi dinner. Wow. The food on this trip has been just awesome. Hawaiians know how to eat.

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Friday Morning

2013-HIODH-11-22

Surf: 2.0 ft at 11.1 s from the SSW at 214°

Got a quick surf in before having to return the longboards to Surf Garage (thank you, Surf Garage!) Still nice and smooth, but with a little less punch. With the longboards, we were cruising. Lots of fun lil waves. A guy in the lineup joked about how were were getting all the waves and asked when were heading to work so the old guys could get a few. I wound up getting a super nice left while working on my stance. Yew. Starting to figure out this stuff.

These boards were pretty fun. Nice and stable for walking around, but a solid belly for quick turns. I didn’t want to give them back!

2013-HIODH-11-22c

2013-HIODH-11-22b

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Thursday Evening

2013-HIOQ-11-21c

Surf: 2.0 ft at 11.1 s from the S at 182°

After dim sum and shave ice, I was beat. I really wanted to go back to Ala Moana, but I also really wanted to sit in the hot tub and nap in a beach chair. So I did! Zzz. After that, went out for a few more waves in Waikiki. It was lovely out, but man, I was so tired. I got some sloppy waves before winding up paddling in when it got dark because I just couldn’t get that last good wave in I wanted. Ahh well. Warm water! Still can’t beat that. 😀

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Thursday Afternoon

2013-HIODH-11-21

2013-HIODH-11-21b

Surf: 2.3 ft at 12.5 s from the SSW at 193°

So glassy smooth. Wow! Aside the morning’s minor setback, we scored some seriously amazing waves today. Glassy, not terribly crowded, a little smaller than yesterday but wave after wave after wave and plenty of sun. There was one just brilliant set where I got a big fast one. I’m not sure I kept my stance for that one, but wheee was it fun. Man o man, what a nice surf session.

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Thursday Morning

2013-HIOQ-11-21

Surf: 1.6 ft at 11.8 s from the S at 190°. High tide.

Up early for more Waikiki waves. Got up, grabbed our gear off the balcony, and headed down to the beach. With the high tide, things were a bit mushy, but still pretty fun. Swissh swissshhhh.

Unfortunately post-session we returned our gear to the balcony and discovered the car was gone. The hotel towed it. Ooops. A quick uber and a couple hundred bucks later and we were back in business.

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Wednesday Evening

2013-HIOQ-11-20

Surf: 1.6 ft at 12.5 s from the S at 186°

Back to Waikiki for a sunset surf 🙂

Esther’s helping me work on my stance. She suggested standing a bit narrower (less power-stance, more style stance) and Queens is a great spot to work on it. The new stance feels really out of control. I’m used to planting my feet, cranking a turn, and following through more like a short board. This is more about smaller movements, swinging hips, and using my knees to absorb the impact of turns.

It makes cross stepping easier, since I’m not covering so much ground.

I almost got in a great cutback using this stance, but launched myself at the end from not keeping my knees flexible enough. Ooops. Still, a cutback! Holycrap! To have that be a fluid movement instead of basically a clunky stall is super exciting.

Thai food tonight! Nom.