Month: April 2016

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Ladybugs

Surf: 4.6 ft at 17.4 s from the W at 273°. Outgoing tide. NE wind.

I’d said I wasn’t going to surf this week because I didn’t want to get sunburned or bruised up before the wedding, but I wound up with three really lovely sessions this week and only a little sunburn and a few small bruises.

Today’s session was a little closed out and occassionally sideshore, but wow, can’t beat that weather. To keep from getting roasted I slathered myself in thick hippie surf sunblock. It’s basically mud and zinc. I didn’t want to wear my normal sunblock because it causes my skin to break out, but the hippie sunblock has burned me before. My solution was to layer it on so thick I looked like a muddy ghost out in the water. I think it worked. I’m not any more sunburnt than yesterday.

The waves were tricky due to all the people, but we managed to make the most of it. I finally got one great ride in. It was a right whene verything had been going left and it gave me a nice long ride with plenty of time to try and walk up. I’d told Chris “one or two more” but after that one I thought “well, I’m not going to do better today.”

On the way back, there was a swarms of thousands of ladybugs. I’ve never seen that many, even having released them in my garden a few times. Crazy!

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Meghan’s Birthday Surf

Surf: 9.2 ft at 12.1 s from the NW at 309°. Outgoing.

Happy Birthday, Meghan!

We couldn’t have asked for a better day for Meghan to take out her new wavestorm and her new wetsuit. It was warm, sunny, the waves were super mellow. Even the crowd was relatively light given what a beautiful day it was.

I got a few really fun ones. I tried to keep working on my steps and a little of the left-go-rights Ashley taught me, but mostly I stayed near Meghan and yelled “PADDLE!PADDLE!PADDLE!” whenever a wave looked like it would get even remotely close.

I hope to have another surf day with her again, soon. 😀

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Bo Getaway

Surf: 5.3 ft at 13.8 s from the W at 268°. Low tide.

Whew. Work has been busy. Getting ready for my bro’s wedding has been busy. There are birthdays and professional things and house stuff. It’s a lot going on. I headed north for a few easy waves and some sunshine.

The tide was low (low enough that I had to bail on waves that turned into dry sand) but the short rides were plenty fun.

After a while I opted to bodysurf. Jumping in the waves I stepped on something that was not real happy to be stepped on. It was like a large chicken cutlet. Chris B stepped on it, too. A few minutes later, it swam across Chris’s feet. Amazingly, none of the kids stepped on it. Chris poked around instagram and found this guy:

Poor Angel Shark probably got hooked the night before, then stepped on by us. I hope things got better for the little creature.

The rest of the day was a mix of beach time, painting time, and other chill out time before it was back to work. I’m pretty sure I’m the only person to walk on the beach in Bolinas in a suit, but I had a meeting to go to. At least it’ll be a good story for all the people who spotted me.

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Pre-storm Surf

Surf: 3.3 ft at 11.4 s from the WNW at 283°.

I love love love my pre-storm surf sessions. It had rained a little already, but everything was still in the south winds, mellow waves part of the storm. I was happy to get out there while I could. Once it rains I’ll be out of the water for a while to avoid getting sick before the wedding.

The waves were small, but clean and fun.

Bring on the rain!

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Better

Surf: 5.3 ft at 10.0 s from the WNW at 292°.

Yesssss. It was much cleaner today. Sure, the size went down, but the shape was a lot better. We started out with a few small waves at the south end where we’d been the day before. Those really held up and I could work on a few steps. Sadly, it was pretty crowded and a little too much chaos.

Paddling north, the waves got larger. What I couldn’t see in the glare was the crowd was about the same size. Thankfully many people in that crowd were friends and people were sharing waves well. I got a few really fun fast ones. It was a blast.

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Occasional Waves

Surf: 6.9 ft at 8.3 s from the WNW at 287°.

The surf looked less than great when I rolled up. It was ragged and a little jumbled. We made it work, though. There was a spot that somehow turned into a wave or two, but man, when it wasn’t it was funky, closed out, and not great.

The first wave I got, however, was a long, peppy right that let me walk up, cut back, and surf it like a real wave. Wow! I didn’t expect that at all. Things improved as the wind died down and the tide changed. Hoping it will be better tomorrow.

We took my car today as Chris’s was out of commission. Thankfully I’ve gotten the manual lock working more smoothly. Someday car manufacturers will figure out that surfers need to get in and out of their cars, too.

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A few quick waves

2016-BO-04-02

Surf: 5.6 ft at 13.8 s from the WSW at 249°. Low and incoming tide.

I only had a little bit of time today, but I wanted to: get out of town, get a few waves. Sure enough, I got both. The waves up here have been fun, but a little funky the last few times I’ve been up. It’s been a little on the mushy side, but when everything connects, there are some nice long rides in store.

I would have loved to stuck around longer as things were just starting to pick up, but I head to back out for some errands.

Oh! First session taping up my foot with KT tape. About 1/3 of it fell of almost right away, but my foot wasn’t sore, even with the long walk down to the patch and back. I’m hoping this will hold up for my SanO trip in June. It’s a long walk from the campsite down the trails and I want to do my best to keep my feet in good shape.