NYE morn

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Surf: 5.6 ft at 14.8 s from the WNW at 297°

Fun little small waves this morning. Still struggling to get in to stuff (plus trying to take is easy on my sore neck.) Plenty of closeouts, but not a terrible little morning. Still feeling like I’m in a surf rut though. Hoping 2014 is a little more shredding filled.

Whiplash?

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Surf: 6.6 ft at 14.8 s from the WNW at 291°

Surf was whompin this morning, but still seemed pretty surfable. I managed to get in a really fun wave full of lots of little snappy turns before hurting myself. Ugh. Again. I think a wave overextended my neck on a duck dive because I was feeling fine, then after a rough dive, I turned to go for a wave and oh man did my neck hurt. Ow ow ow.

I spent the rest of the session hesitantly trying to get another wave while not looking up.

Eventually I swapped boards with brien and got a decent one in. Spent the rest of the day in bed with an ice pack. Yeeeow. I don’t want to do that again.

Winter Bo

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Surf: 5.6 ft at 17.4 s from the W at 273°

😀 YAY

Back from family holiday travels just in time for some warm sun and lovely waves up north.

It’s pretty rare to get in a beachy Saturday, but there were lots of long, fun, waist+ high waves, snacks, wine, and cookies. It’s a great “Welcome back” from the sunny coast.

I think my longboard cutback is really coming along, even if my cross stepping skills were still hibernating. Pretty stoked.

Holiday break

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Surf: 4.6 ft at 12.9 s from the W at 272°. Low tide.

Took a break from making holiday presents to sneak in a little surf. While Ocean Beach looked better, it looked like a lot of work and my shoulder still wasn’t 100%. It was low tide, but it wasn’t bad. There was the usual closeout into shallow water, but a few waves actually worked out. There were a few big ones out there. I had some fun duck dives and scrambles. Hey, it’s all practice. I’m still trying to get back up to my usual level of comfort with closeouts that should help me out on better days (or at least keep me surfing on worse days.)

Okay, back to screen printing!

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Weee/brrr

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Surf: 3.6 ft at 14.8 s from the WNW at 294°. Offshore winds.

This morning was a fun little morning! It’s been cold, but with the offshore winds it’s been worth the frosty fingers. Today had nicely shaped waves up north. I was having the usual little bit of trouble getting into waves, but figured hey, it’s pretty mellow, let’s see if I can add more and more paddles till I get something. Funny thing, it worked! I started getting a few more. It was still tricky going left since my shoulder’s still sore, but more waves is good. I really want to get more consistent on my fish and days like today are good days for getting there.

Vaquero Sunday

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Surf: 3.3 ft at 9.1 s from the WNW at 291°

Got an email from a former coworker asking about transitioning to a shorter board, specifically hull. While I love my Vaquero, it’s not really right for someone looking to move to a shorter board in order to surf a shortboard. I know, it doesn’t sound like it makes any sense, but what my friend wanted was a board he could duck dive, turn, and all around shred on. Hulls are really made for smooth cruising. I feel like I did learn a lot from my hull, but it’s very different from what I’ve learned from my fish.

Even though I;d pretty much talked him out of a hull, we met up give him a chance to try it out anyway. Plus, I hadn’t taken the Vaquero out in a while so it was nice to get a few waves on it again.

Saw Chris for a brief moment. Just enough to yell HIIII while zipping past.

I had plenty of fun cruising on little waves before trading for Scott’s pintail Owl. The Owl was pretty fun, but the waves were starting to close out and I wasn’t getting as much face time in to practice cross stepping. Still plenty fun.

Managed to totally put out my shoulder again. I don’t know what it is about that board, but oww. If I haven’t been on it in a while, I’m laid up the rest of the afternoon.

Cold fish

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Surf: 6.9 ft at 10.0 s from the NW at 309°

Today started off a little better than yesterday. Waves were still cold cold cold, but holding up a little better. Then… I just stopped catching waves. Of course that was about the time Beamer ans his friend’s showed up. Oh well. I managed to get one in and last a long longer in the cold than I thought I would. Brr.

Cold Longboards

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Surf: 6.6 ft at 10.0 s from the WNW at 286°

Back out there with the longboard. This morning was cold and plenty closed out, but still doable. Well, mostly. I don’t know what I was doing, but it was barely surfing. It was nice watching everyone get waves, get steamrolled by waves, and have fun, even while frozen nearly solid.