Month: November 2013

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Wednesday Afternoon

2013-HIOAMB-11-20

Surf: 2.0 ft at 13.3 s from the SSW at 199°

After a short break, we headed back out. This spot was smaller, but had some punchy waves in shallow water. Like, really shallow.

Really shallow water I tend to stare at the bottom instead of paying attention. The upside is I saw lots of fish! Downside is I kicked out of a bunch of waves early yelling aaaaaa loudly in my head.

This wave was a little more competitive. I saw a few minor verbal tussles over drop ins, but since I was on a log instead of my short board, it was pretty easy to stick to the softer peak and snag waves without getting in the way. 🙂

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Wednesday Morning

2013-HIODH-11-20

Surf: 2.0 ft at 13.3 s from the S at 179°. High Tide.

I’ll admit, checking the surf forecast religiously before this trip, I was worried there’d be no swell. South shore was showing flat. North shore was showing flat (well, alternating flat and like 20ft which I’m not sure I’d even be able to watch without nearly drowning.) So it was a very pleasant surprise to roll up to the break this morning and see waves! Lots of waves! 😀

Lots of people, but lots of waves!

So far I’ve found people to be pretty considerate, there’s enough waves to go around and everyone’s been really friendly. The one thing I did find odd was no one moves. If you’re going for a wave, no one will move out of your line. I think part of that is that the majority of the lineup is way better than the majority of the lineup at home, so it’s expected that you will be skilled enough to go around. Why should people give up their spot when you could avoid them on your own? I’m not sure. It’s a little unnerving watching people paddle for a wave so close together, but didn’t see anyone collide.

It’s so nice to surf warm peaks and really nice to watch other people surf. There are some amazing longboarders out here.

Surfed and surfed and surfed and then got Açaí bowls. 😀

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Tuesday Evening

2013-HIO-11-19

Surf: 1.6 ft at 11.1 s from the SSE at 164°

Hawaii!!! 😀
YAY for Hawaii!

Flew into Oahu, picked up some very fun looking Takayamas from Surf Garage (In the pink), picked up Esther from the airport, and paddled out as soon as possible at Waikiki.

Sure, it’s small, but man. Warm water! Beautiful sunset! Nice little wave faces that were so much fun on those logs. I took out my Seea Jacket and Shorts for the first time. They are totally comfortable, but man, they were toasty. Sure this was a sunset surf, but the 2m neoprene was likely overkill. I’ll do a full review on the set soon. Short of it: I love em.

Hit up hot pot after. Stoked stoked stoke.

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Fog and rocks

2013-OBKC-11-13a

Surf: 3.3 ft at 9.1 s from the W at 262°

More fog and more car-pooling this morning. Things were looking pretty sloppy when we pulled up, but got a hair cleaner as the morning went on. The waves were still a little chunky. Closeouts mixed with longer rides mixed with steep drops into mushout. Other than being in the wrong spot half the time (not sure which closeout to go for) it was a nice enough morning.

2013-OBKC-11-13b

2013-OBKC-11-13c

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Small waves

2013-LM-11-12

Surf: 3.3 ft at 11.4 s from the W at 264°

Fun little waves today! We only had a chance for a quick pre-meeting surf, but the waves were small, frequent, and lined up just right that I could practice my cross step a bit. Super super fun. I managed to ride most of one way on one foot, ha. I got stuck trying to cross step, started to step back, then decided “nah, I can step forward” and started to go forward again before changing my mind again. 🙂

Nice to get some real practice in.

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Surfmobile

2013-LM-11-08a

Surf: 4.3 ft at 13.8 s from the WNW at 284°

The morning started out with heavy fog in the city, but beautiful sun down at Linda Mar. Surf was a little smaller, but still decent.

The surfmobile died on the way back. Big cloud of smoke going back up highway 1, then it barfed out oil on the 280. Hung out on the side of the freeway waiting for a tow.

2013-LM-11-08b

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Fun loggy morning

2013-LM-11-06

Surf: 6.2 ft at 14.8 s from the W at 279°.

Hooo boy, that was fun. That was a much better combo of longboard + waves. Got some decent size for fun swooping ling rides, but not so much size or whomp that it wasn’t fun on the longboard. Although there was a little bit of crowd navigation, there were lots and lots of waves. Man, I needed that. The rest of the day was tough, but at least I got a few waves.

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Even more frustrated

2013-OBP-11-01

Surf: 4.3 ft at 12.1 s from the NW at 304°

After being frustrated on my fish, I decided to take my log out. All of the forecasts suggested small waves. I should have checked the buoys because it was not small at all. Uff. For the most part, the thrashing wasn’t that bad. Being inside for a few waves I expected to be brutal, wasn’t too bad. I was getting frustrated not really getting any waves. I got a few drops into a closeout, but nothing really fun. Towards the end I got pretty wrecked. I had a wave where I just wasn’t coming up and wasn’t coming up. The big old log was dragging me in the worst part of the inside to get drug in. I had to really stop and remind myself not to gasp and suck in water. Not fun.

I paddled back out, hoping to redeem myself, but wound up dropping on on someone. I figured between being sick and being tired, I should cut myself some slack and head in. Ugg. Not fun. I could really use a win on the surfy front before hawaii. :\