Wednesday Morning

Surf: Clean and mellow waist-chest high waves, as usual.

I took Ed’s log out at the main peak. It’s amazing how crowded it’s gotten from one year to the next. Last year we saw half as many people, only a handful of Stand Ups. I took the log because I feel more confident on a bigger board and I was going to need that confidence in all those people. Crazy.

Plenty of sea turtles checking out the crowd, too.

Beamer took my board while waiting to get his back from ding repair (dinged in transit, doh!) It’s fun watching friends on your board. I got some fun ones on Ed’s board. You can really stick the tail of that thing into the wave and walk around. I’ve done a little bit of walking around, but nothing I’ve done has felt as glued into the wave as the waves I got today. I snuck way way way up. I should have gone for the nose, but I was worried about dodging in the crowd. Still pretty fun and now I have an idea of what my board should feel like when I’m trying all those fancy longboard moves.

Tuesday Evening

Surf: Glassed off. Getting smaller.

It’s been plenty windy during the day, but it still cleans up around sunset. I took the 7’0 for a few waves. I got a nice late drop and surfed till sundown.

Tuesday Morning

Surf: Waist-Shoulder High. Clean.

Paddled out early on one of the house longboards. It was glassy and grey with plenty of fun waves infront of the house. After a while, Ed swung by with one of his longboards. It’s pretty beat up, but man is it fun. I could do a fair amount of walking around on it. A couple local kids hooted as I tried to cheat a little five on a left. Fun stuff.

Mexicooooooo! :D

Surf: Head High+ and windy.

Back in Mexico!!! YAAAAY!!

We rolled up in the early evening, surfboards in tow. Warm water, warm air, and big whomping surf. Yiiiii.

Ed said it’d been flat for weeks before this swell moved in. We hugged our hellos and unpacked the gear for an evening surf.

Now I’d brought my 7’0 with the expectation of soft mellow waves to practice on, not steep waves to practice ducking under. I stood on the beach a while, board in hand, heart in throat, trying to get myself prepped to paddle out. I’m not confident on that board and almost left it on the beach in favor of one of the house longboards. Watching Ed, Beamer, and Aaron paddle away I thought: “Well, I came here to learn this board. Time to go learn.”

Sure, the first two duckdive attempts didn’t exactly go so well, but I got into the swing of things, made it out, and got some fuuuuunnnn waves. The lefts were fast so I mostly just held on. Woooohooo. Love that warm water.

Warm water wax on the 7’0

Friday in Mexico – Early am

Surf: Knee-Waist high. Glassy. Inconsistent.

Yaaaawn. Woke up the latest so far. 9:30, crazy. Robert was already out so I joined him for a wave or two. He got some really nice ones.

Pretty mellow, glassy, worked up an appetite. 😀

Thursday in Mexico – Midday: Marathon Float

Surf: Super mellow knee-waist high waves.

Spent most of the day floating around our break from one end to the other. Occasionally a set would lazily roll through. Emily was so kind as to paddle out beer in the kayak for some in lineup Tecate time. Cracking open a beer is a great way to ensure a set will roll through.

I tried a few one armed paddles but didn’t catch a wave with the beer. I did make it through three waves and nearly all of my beer before taking one on the head, saltifying the beer, and catching one in to recover the floating can. Stefan worked it out a little more elegantly: pound beer, put can in rash guard, catch wave.

After hours of floating, had some fruit and beer in the shade nursing some awesome knee sunburn. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Thursday in Mexico – Early am

Surf: Knee high, glassy.

Surf has come down a bit, but still fun. These mornings are glassy and beautiful. Wow.

It’s great to wake up, surf, throw my gear on a line to dry while I chow down on breakfast. If I could, I’d do this every day. Warm water, morning waves, breakfast. Pretty great.

Wednesday – Late day: Pelted with fish

Surf: Waist-Shoulder high. Full of fish.

The other day Ed had mentioned these needle fish that get spooked and jump out of the water. After scratching to get over a shoulder high closeout, got to see the needle fish first hand. I was quite suddenly pelted by hundreds of these crazy skinny fish. They were all over my board, hitting me from every direction. I shrieked like a little girl before laughing. Fish! Everywhere!

Pretty fun session. Lots of fun peeling waves. Still haven’t made it to proper sunset, dinner is just too tasty.

Wednesday in Mexico – Early am

Surf: Foggy, mellow. Knee-Waist High.

Another wonderful morning. Smooth, glassy, now with Fog. Just like SF with air and water temps in the 70’s. My arms are finally starting to get sore. Spent some time waiting for the tide to come up stretching.

Still loving going straight from the water to the breakfast table.

Tuesday in Mexico – Late Afternoon

Didn’t surf in the hazy afternoon. Napped and let my jello arms recover. Did photograph some of the guys surfing. Rather unexpectedly BEES descended on us. Nicole and I escaped to the seawall for some much needed sitting around time while the bees passed.


Nicole, skeptical of the ocean.


Stefan, on a left.


Chris, heading right.


Robert! (Taken by Stefan)


Matt gets a nice one (Taken by Stefan)


Blam, Chris, Stefan, and Nicole. Chillin post-surf.