Month: September 2014

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Fujii

2014-LM-09-20a

2014-LM-09-20b

Surf: 3.3 ft at 13.8 s from the WSW at 239°. South winds. Outgoing tide.

Back out there. Did some bodysurfing and swimming, but also tested this board out.

It’s shaped by Stan Fujii out of Ventura. Turns out, my friend David worked for Stan back in the day at the Ventura Surf Shop. This board is HEAVY. Wow. Tapered t-band stringer. Tail block. Beast and a half to turn, but super stable once it’s going. I walked waaaaay up before I ran out of ocean.

The weight is not the best thing for my shoulders. Happy to let it’s owner handle it from here on out.

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Achievement

2014-LM-09-18a

Surf: 6.9 ft at 10.0 s from the W at 265°. Incoming tide. Light S winds.

Day two of getting up and getting out. It was raining when I left the house. How great is THAT? I’ve been waiting for these south wind mornings and we could really use a wet winter to ease this drought. (Note, I may not feel the same way after my third sinus infection from dirty water.)

Got down south and the waves looked fun. I decided to skip the bodysurfing and go straight for the board. Wheee. Sure, it was kinda closed out, but lots of friends I hadn’t seen in ages were out and there were a few makeable waves.

The big highlight: making it through a whole session without the sharp pain I’ve been having in my neck. Sure, I’m sore in all the usual spots, but it’s a big step up from the kind of pain I’m normally in these last few months.

I think that’s a win.

I’ve been adding a sticker to this thing every time I’ve had a really great session, pulled off a surf move, or something else pretty rad. So far, not a ton of stickers, but today I added one for cooperative shoulders. Not bad.

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Jetty

2014-JT-09-16a

2014-JT-09-17b Photo by sarahvgrives on instagram

Surf: 2.6 ft at 21.1 s from the SW at 214°. Incoming tide. Calm winds.

I know I’ve said this a few times, but I’m trying to get back out there, slowly but surely. Today’s plan was to go walk on the beach if I was too sore to surf (or there was no surf.) After checking a few spots, I was in the tricky situation of: 1- that wave looks really fun 2- it’s the only thing breaking and 3- it’s also a little too big/steep/closed out/excuse for what I was hoping for for an easy morning out. It was also too crowded to bodysurf safely.

I paddled out with a plan of mostly watching and picking up the little mushy waves. Saw Greacen get lots of really fun long waves. There were some grom kids shredding till mom yelled at them to come in for school. Seals swimming around. I did catch a few softer ones. It was tricky with everyone trying to go for every way, but I got one or two solo waves that made the paddle out worth it.

Also have enough sand in my ears for the rest of the year. Uff.

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LZ Surf Team

2014-OBP-09-13

Surf: 2.3 ft at 10.0 s from the WNW at 290°. Windy.

Brief LZ surf team outing in total slop waves was actually pretty fun. Nice sunset, nice views of the headlands, a little bit of bodysurfing, and silly sloppy waves.

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Beach day

2014-LM-09-07

2014-JT-09-07

Surf: 3.0 ft at 16.0 s from the SSW at 197°

Sunny, warm, with tiny waves, perfect for a beach day with lots of groms. After a thorough check of semi-grom friendly spots, we set up camp on the beach. Groms on boogie boards, groms on soft ops, groms on beat up surfboards. Lots of folks getting waves and having fun.

I surfed for a little bit, bodysurfed for a little, and attempted to boogie board before my shoulder said “nope, no boogie boarding. This is where we draw the line.” At that point I had snacks on the beach.

Groms got all kinds of waves. 🙂

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Labor Day + Franklin Point

2014-FP-08-31a

2014-FP-08-31b

2014-FP-08-31c

2014-FP-08-31d

2014-LM-09-01

Surf: 5.6 ft at 8.3 s from the NW at 306°

Last minute weekend getaway on the coast!

Meghan had some extra space on her tent-cabin camping trip so I tagged along. It’s a great spot, plenty of hiking including a nice hike out to the dunes and cliffs Franklin Point. What a view! As the sun started to go down, there were hundreds of searbirds diving just offshore. Pelicans, gulls, cormorants, all kinds of birds. Total amazing mayhem.

The next day we walked to other direction to check out some tidepools.

Ant the way back we met up with some friends in Pacifica to cool off (so hot this weekend!) The rips were very strong and the shorebreak really stomping so bodysurfing was kept to a minimum. Still nice to get wet (carefully.)