Author: Tracey

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Indicators and Steamer Lane

Surf: This morning’s dawn patrol: Mainly knee-waist high with some inconsistent + sets. Conditions are clean and glassy, but expect a solid wait between waves. Less tide helps.
Gear: 9’0

Yup, small and inconsistent in Santa Cruz. With warm sun, temperatures in the 80’s and almost no one out, I really wasn’t complaining about the long wait in between sets. I’d have probably been better off with the 9’4, but after seeing the rocks I’d have to scramble up and down, I’m glad I had the 9. Slippery rocks, cliff faces, and delicate surfboards don’t mix well.

Stop by some of the west breaks on the way home to gawk at the sunshine and waves. Gotta love California.

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Glassy Morning

Surf: 3-4ft with 5ft standouts. Glassy, mostly walled-up lines with a few workable corners through the inside.

Nice warm little morning at Linda Mar. The sun managed to work it’s way through the thick fog and the waves were holding up pretty nicely.

Chris and I managed to find ourselves with our own little peak to work. Plenty of fun lefts and rights. It was really nice to have the 9’4 back in the water. The superglide was really helpful. I’m hoping for another day like today sometime soon so I can take the side fins out and try the board as a single fin.

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Rockaway

Surf: 2-4ft, Mellow and Crumbly. Sunny.
Board: 5’10 Retro Fish.

With summer on it’s way, I’ve been eying a few smaller wave shortboards on craigslist. The shortest board I’ve been able to stand up on was something like a 6’3 or a 6’4 so I figured I’d try one of Josh’s little fish and see how it goes.

I spent most of the day practicing my duck dive. I’ve been working on this for a while, usually flailing around on boards that are WAY too thick for someone my size.

Shove, kick, dive, surface. Seems pretty easy, but with the thick boards I’ve been using I just haven’t been able to do it.

With Josh’s help, I practiced keeping the board stable under water, practiced kicking, and FINALLY got on some clean duck dives. I was really starting to get frustrated not being able to do it.

I also pulled off a spectacular arial display. I dove under the wave, the wave pulled the board out of my hands and then SHOT about 4 feet straight up. Josh got a kick out of it.

Mostly I stayed out of the way, went for a few waves, and floated around. I had pretty low expectations. This fish is about 4 feet shorter than my usual boards so I wasn’t expecting to shred. Getting in the clean duck dives was a pretty special bonus and the post surf BBQ was pretty extra special. 😀

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Small Wave Holiday

Surf: 1-3ft. Inconsistent but clean. Warm sun, low winds, blue water.

Sunny and warm down in SC. Small waves, relatively small crowd given it’s a holiday, and lots of kelp. I got one very dramatic over the nose of the board pitch when I came to a dead stop mid wave on a big clump of the stuff. Lots of long rides if you could manage to stay high and I out of the kelp. Got a few into the beach. Really could have used the 9’4 instead of the 9. I went with the 9 just to try it out on that kind of wave and in case it was crowded. The 9′ is great for dodging kelp, but the 9’4’s big float would have made these soft little waves a breeze to catch.

Afterwards I headed to the O’niell shop for their Memorial day sale. The 9’0 now has it’s own bag. 😀

Dropped by Ward Coffey’s shop. I’ve been drooling over one of his boards on craigslist and was looking for an opportunity to talk to him about what kind of fish or shortboard would be right for me. Looks like I’ll prob need something in the 6’4 range, about 2 1/2″ to 2 5/8″ thick so my craigslist board might be too small. His custom boards are really reasonably priced and he had a few suggestion of types of boards and hybrid boards he shapes for people looking to ride the mellow small waves I like to ride.

I still struggle with the idea of a custom board. Not becauseI doubt a shaper’s skill or question resale value or anything remotely considered to be a rational concern, but because all my boards are craigslist finds, giveaways, borrowed boards and I’m not quite comfortable with the idea of a brand spanking new board just for me. Especially a shorter board. I don’t really feel like I’ve earned the honor just yet. Silly, I know.

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Lightning, Thunder, and Rainbows

Surf: 2-4ft. Inconsistent and soft on the low tide, picked up as the tide came back.

Fun, but storming morning in Pacifica. Driving rain, thunder and lightning, slightly jumbled waves. Surprisingly, the waves weren’t that bad. Caught quite a few before my hands were so frozen my thumbs were opposed to being opposable.

Great rainbow arcing in to the ocean made this a pretty great day to start a Thursday.

Still haven’t worked out all of my thyroid stuff. Got the new meds, have definitely been feeling better, but was WIPED out around 3 or so after this session. Wow. Still not back to 100%, but trying hard!

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Big Jetty Sunset

Surf: 4-6ft, some larger sets. Little bit choppy, but surprisingly clean for the size and the howling winds elsewhere.

Left work early to sneak in a little sunset surfing. The sunset was beautiful. Big gold waves moody clouds. The surf was big. I tend to get skittish around 4ft on the longboard. It’s a lot of board to have in the water. Even with the 9′ (which is meant to be ridden on a bigger, steeper wave), I was making whimpering noises paddling out.

The waves were fairly clean so the paddle out wasn’t hard. I was doing my best to avoid going for a wave, but did finally stop being a complete wuss long enough to catch two nice waves, probably the biggest I’ve caught. definitely the biggest I’ve caught and held a clean line all the way down. That 9′ can really fly.

I had a pretty exciting wipeout too. Over the falls, me and to board held down by the wash, bouncing along the sandy bottom. Oooof. I laughed it off because it must have looked spectacular. I also gave my friends on shore another good laugh watching me get caught inside on a BIG set just after sunset. I must have spent 10 minutes scratching over waves, diving under them, being a tiny dot in a big blue grey wall, before I caught one that had already broken and bellied in to shore. Whew.

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Slosh Patrol

Surf: Mixed up, 2-4ft waves with 5-6ft occasional standouts. Very sloppy, inconsistent and hard to catch.

Early morning waves were looking pretty messy. Paddled out, sloshed around, and got some exercise. Looong paddle out on the longboard. Plenty of pushback. Great sunrise through the fog though. 🙂

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Windy

Surf: 1-4ft. Blown out, closing out. Warm sun but too windy and small for most people.
Gear: 9’4

Aside from the screaming winds, it was a warm, beautiful day up in Bo. The 9’4 was back from the shop and I was more than happy to get it back in the water.

Bo was small, choppy, and being ravaged by the winds, but still catchable with the 9’4. Anything smaller, thinner, or with a steep rocker would have had a hard time picking anything off to call a ride, but the 9’4 took on anything coming in. I got a handful of long rides in.

The first few I out and out pearled the board after standing up. It took a few tries to recenter myself after being out on the 9 for a few weeks. After that it was back to business as usual. The new center fin didn’t feel much different, but all that float felt pretty good in the water.

On the way back I realized I forgot to snap a pic so the pic above is from highway 1 on the way back to the city. The California coast is one of the best places to drive/bike/hike. Every turn is another amazing view.

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Cold Bolinas Morning

Surf: 2-5ft, inconsistent, windy, hard to catch.
Gear: 9’0

With the upwelling in full swing, my hands and face burned to touch the water. Oh man was it cold. Upwelling is a yearly event caused by the NW high winds. Warmer surface waters are blown into shore and are forced down by the bathymetry causing colder deep water to rise to the top to replace it. One day the water will seem a little colder than usual, the next it’s painfully cold and it stays downright icy until the winds stop. I absolutely made the right decision buying a new wetsuit when I did. I need every ounce of warmth.

For Monday’s session I’d worn my fuzzy hat and mittens to the rendezvous point. Today I’d almost wished I’d worn them in the water. After a few hours my pinkies had given up on me and refused to join the rest of my fingers in cupping my hand to paddle. The wind just added insult to injury. I have no idea how Chris goes without booties. That’s soul beyond soul right there. Brrrrrr.

Buoys and reports had suggested bigger waves, so I took the 9. As soft as these waves wound up being, the 9’4 would have been better. It’s got the float to take on anything and the weight helps with the drop on mushier waves. The 9 did hold a nice line on my last wave in. It’s fast enough to keep out ahead of the wave and as a result I managed to connect the outside wave with two inner breaks and make it all the way to shore. Yay.

Once on land there was a lovely numb footed shuffle back to the car. My hands stayed frozen for a good hour. Brrrrrr.

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Sunset at the Jetty

Surf: 2-3ft, Inconsistent, Mushy but smooth.
Gear: 9’0 Stewart LSP?

After wrapping work early, I decided to go for my first double session and catch a few waves at the jetty. Conditions were a little weak, but at that point, so was I. I haven’t done double sessions before (especially after getting up at 5am), so I was sloppy out there. I got maybe one okayish wave. There was a pretty embarassing moment when another woman in the linup (who was TEARING it up on a longboard) asked if my board was mine or I was just borrowing it.

Ouch.

She was legitimately interested in my board and suggested that perhaps it’s an LSP and not a hydro hull. After looking up the specs on the LSP, I’d say she’s right. The upside is that I’m learning a new board and it’s one that should be able to handle steeper, larger waves next winter. It’s what Stewart calls their “9’0 shortboard”. Hopefully it will help me learn to be more agressive and take on steeper waves. I’m also hopeful those skills will translate to my shortboards once I get better at riding them.

The lineup was pretty great to watch. Between the woman cutting screaming lines down the face and Jeff Clark turning a mushy peak into magic, there was a lot of great surfing going on.

Hopefully I’ll be able to up my second session game in the future.