Tag: california

Surf: 8.2 ft at 17.4 s from the WNW at 288°, incoming.

With sprint in full effect, it was pretty interesting to see a big front of swell moving across the forecasting charts. Would it be a mangled, wind swirled mess? Would it be waves? Only one way to know. Headed down to the beach for a look.

Crowded, little bit closed out, plenty foggy and cold, but not so bad! Most of the bigger ones were closing out, but I found a few middle sized waves that passed everybody by. I was working on taking one step, stepping back, turning back into the pocket, repeat. It’s a pretty good little exercise.

Upside of the crowd was seeing lots of friendly folks I haven’t chatted with in a while. If you’re going to be elbow to elbow, might as well do it with a smile. 🙂

Surf: 2.3 ft at 14.8 s from the WNW at 282°

The swell decreased in size and increased in jumble. Most other spots were either flat or looked worse than the usual spot. Hoping for a repeat of yesterday, we paddled out looking for a left that might work. There was a little, mostly closed out spot to try. It was decently fun. Hard to beat that sunshine and beautiful morning air.

Surf: 3.6 ft at 9.1 s from the WNW at 287°

I had some exceptionally low expectations for this morning. The wind has been up, that cams haven’t looked great, but if I want to get back into my weekly routine, sometimes I have to go out and surf some complete crap.

Watching from the beach, there was one little right that looked like it could work. By the time I’d suited up, it looked like it was working. A whole beach of slop and here’s this right, peeling away (lumpily, sure, but it was working.)

I had a plenty fun time in catching that right. I worked on a few steps.Chatted with some folks. It was a way better morning than expected.

Surf: 6.2 ft at 10.8 s from the WNW at 294°. Incoming.

It was a rough week and I didn’t feel like surfing. When I got “want to go surf?” wake up alarm, I checked the buoys (22mph winds, ugh) and I check the tide (low, ugh) and nearly bailed. I’ve been in this situation before where I feel too down to surf, go anyway and it cheers me up. So I got my gear together and headed out.

Usually if it’s calm at shore and howling winds out at sea, the surf is junk. Even light offshores don’t usually counteract the open water winds. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t half bad.

Had a nice little morning working on my cross step and making the most our of what was on tap. I’m getting more and more comfortable sticking the rail into waves that look like they’re about to close out, just to see if I can sneak in a step or two. So far so good!

Surf: 5.6 ft at 11.4 s from the W at 271°. Windy.

Well, it’s spring, that’s for sure. Windy, sloppy, and a little hard to get motivated.

My friend Brien busted his face all up in a surf accident a few weeks ago. While he’s recovering, he offered to snap some photos on the beach.

The waves weren’t exactly photogenic, but it wasn’t totally unsurfable. Lots of zipping into and out of closeouts. Here’s a few snaps:

Surf: 6.9 ft at 12.9 s from the WNW at 288°. Incoming.

Last week was an off week (really not loving this on/off schedule) so I was itching to get out this week. Unfortunately the spring winds were up and the waves were closed out. My blue board is dinged so I took my hull out and was just not really getting in to waves. I got a couple short fast ones. Chris was cruising no problem. I mostly spent my time duck diving. One positive note for the day, there were a few larger closeouts out there. I had a moment where I was scrambling to get out and over but didn’t make it in time. I didn’t freak out, but instead got a good breath and held on. Whew.

Hoping next week will break the on/off pattern.

Surf: 3.6 ft at 14.8 s from the WSW at 257°

In keeping with an on-week, one more day of surf! Today was a little more closed out and definitely more crowded, but workable. Chatted up some folks, soaked up some sun, got in a step move. Can’t beat this March weather. The wind was blowing so hard G had to pull and extra special move to jam the nose down and zip off on a wave. Fun stuff. Seems a little late for a south swell, but as long as some of my favorite corners see a little bit of wrap (or cross swell) and favorable winds, I’m happy.

Surf: 3.6 ft at 16.0 s from the WSW at 241°. Incoming. Offshore.

Yay! I’ve been promising Esther “Small clean waves” for a while only to have meh bleh waves show up. This morning had the right amount of everything. Little waves, offshore winds, hardly anyone out. Couldn’t ask for more!

It was great to catch up with folks and catch lots of little waves. I even managed to get a cross step up with a cross step back. Back has been a really tricky move for me. I can step up, then I shuffle back. This time, I pulled it off. Smooth little waves are pretty much perfect for that kind of thing. 🙂