Tag: cowells

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Father’s Day at Cowells

2016-SCC-06-19

Surf: 3.9 ft at 14.8 s from the SSW at 199°.

Today was a test of the van’s ability to haul lots of us around. 3 adults, 3 kids, sufboards, boogie boards, snacks and beach gear from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. There was plenty of room in for everyone and all the gear. It was a great ride and what a day.

The surf was small, warm, and great for pushing kids into waves. Chris and I paddled out and got some fun long ones. The girls mostly wanted to stay near shore, but one of them was interested in catching a few so Chris pushed her into some waves. She did so well! It was awesome to see her go flying by.

Sure, it was crowded and all the usual Cowell’s snags, plus one unusual snag of a possible shark sighting the day before, but all around it was a pretty fun beach sunday.

 

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Cowells

2015-SCC-05-06

Surf: 9.5 ft at 10.8 s from the NW at 317°. Low tide.

There’s a moment after convincing a friend to get up super early and drive to Santa Cruz when I think “shoot, I hope the surf isn’t total crap.” I pretty much worry about this the whole ride down. Thankfully, there was still a bit of the swell from earlier in the week, the weather was warm, and the waves were nice and long.

I haven’t surfed the west side in a long time. Aside from the usual Cowells crowd, it was just lovely. Long cruisey waves, waves with a little bit of size, and waves with a little bit of pep (sometimes all at the same time even.) I got a little bit of stepping in, a lot of sneaking around sections, but mostly a lot of exercise paddling around and around. I’m so out of shape. Must surf more to get ready for June’s surf camp trip.

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Mellow Westside

Surf: Mellow, inconsistent. Knee to Thigh high at Cowells. Waist-Chest at Indicators.

Crossed our fingers hoping there’d be some waves after a very mellow, barely breaking week down south. With the low low tide there was a little something happening. Got some looooooong rides over at cowells. Not too much uumph but I did get to work on a few tiny style points.

Headed over towards the Lane to try a longboardy peak thataways for a while. Some big drops and short rides. I got one nice top turn/cutback move to stay in the pocket. Nice to feel occasionally competent!

Chris shot some video. Yay!

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South Swell, Whales, and Hot Chocolate


Photo by Chris

Surf: Waist-Chest high. Peeling. Long lulls but lots of energy.

Nice south swell rolled in this week. Cowells was breaking sooo nicely. It was crowded for sure, but plenty fun. Got some nice long waves that really zipped on the outside and held up all the way through. Plenty of otters chilling in the lineup and a whale splashing around outside the kelp. Grabbed some hot chocolate, a pastry, and cruised on in to work.

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Board Meeting

Surf: 1-2ft and 2-4ft. Mellow SW swell. Light Winds.

One of the projects I’m on involves frequent trips south of San Francisco and another needed me to swing by Palo Alto today. It’s been a negative low tide and nearly flat locally the last few days, time for some pre-work team surf in SC. 😀

Nicole, Chris and I paddled out at the Cowells side of indicators where Darren had already been catching a few of the small slow waves occasionally rolling in.

I got some nice long ones on the super mellow little waves, but the crowd was growing and the guys had their eye on some waves further west.

Paddled over to find the break to be still mellow, but bigger and with a punch at the end. I got a few really fun drops and enjoyed the sun.

Pastries, then off to client meetings. Excellent team work.

Meeting summary: Fun, chill waves were ridden.
Next steps: schedule more team board meetings.

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Santa Cruz!

Surf: Soft, mellow. Knee high. 8.9 ft at 17.4 s from the WNW at 300°

Finally! Been bugging Chris for ages to do an SC dawn patrol. Winds were light and the waves were mellow. Nothing epic but plenty of little fun waves. Sea otter chilled with us for a bit. Grabbed pastries after before making the trip back up to the city.

My old wetsuit is back from being repaired. Sadly RipCurl wanted $125 to repair everything so I just had them do the worn out knees. Looks like it will be a summer suit from now on. Poor suit, it was fun while it lasted but since it was deteriorating after less than a year I can’t imagine it will have too many summers left.

Hoping to get more SC time in now that the sun is coming up a little earlier. 🙂

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Welcome home, Cowells

Surf: Slow, mellow knee-waist high waves. Clean. 6ft @ 14s from W 278º

Nice to be back in the water after my work trip.

The surf was plenty big in the city and, after almost 2 weeks dry, I figured a mellow SC session was in store. Shannon also had SC on her mind. We took her big surf van down there. I haven’t had the luxury of taking BOTH longboards before. Swanky!

Cowells was slow and sweet. I got man long, mellow rides in with long mellow paddles back out. I was beyond beat. It’s amazing how fast one gets out of shape.

The drive was beaut. The surf was firing all along the coast. I saw whales spouting, barrels being thrown, and some of the most beautiful sunsparkled mist I’ve seen in a while. Great day.

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Storming in Santa Cruz

Checked 38th Ave

Blown out, cold, choppy and unsurfable.

The Hook was breaking, but still windy as all heck.

After cruising around a while, we decided on Cowells. It was looking small, inconsistent, sheltered from the wind a little. Nothing inspiring but we thought hey, at least it’s small and mellow right?

Surf: 1-6ft, inconsistent, stomping, mellow, choppy, clean….basically schizophrenic surf.

Looking from the cliff it seemed small, barely breaking. In the time it took us to change and paddle out, conditions had shifted to skattered waist high peaks with shoulder + sets. It was confusing, difficult to read, cold and grouchy. Shoulders would jack up, then die, then reform in seconds making most of the wave catching guesswork and luck.

It was like Cowells took a vacation and Linda Mar stood in for it, but was angry about having to do so.

Aaron and I both managed to work some good rides out of it. It was split between clean faces and meandering rights, unsure if the wave wanted you to ride it or not.

Just after low tide, it started to become more organized, Waist to shoulder high peeling waves. Around 4 it started to look like a hung over version of usual Cowells, but by then we were exhausted and ready for some post surf Bear Claws. yum.

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Shifting Sands at Cowells


Photo by Cynthia

SURF: 1-3ft. Light winds. Warm and sunny.
Gear: 9’4 Stewart, 8’3 Petty

The winter has done some strange things here in Norther California.

A giant chunk of Sloat is missing and a new beach seems to have appeared smack in the middle of Cowells. The spot where I picked off wave after wave back in November is now occupied by families grilling up burgers and lounging in the sun.

The waves were still mellow, but the crowd is a bit more compact. I was unable to navigate 20+ people got get down the line and get the long rides of last November. But the sun was warm and it was a good day out overall.

I spent a little time picking off waves at Indicators before heading back to the pack at Cowells. Had a minor tangle up with Cynthia on a wave resulting in a broken rail on my board. She uses Protek fins so the damage was minor. I ran up the cliff, grabbed the 8’3 and went back out for a few more waves.

One highlight for the day: spotted a sea otter at Indicators. I hadn’t seen one in the wild before. They are really dang cute.

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Negative Tide at Cowells

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SURF: 3-4ft and clean. Great day for the longboard.

After 2 solid longboard days my arms were mush. Jello. I could barely sit up to answer the phone when Luke texted me at 9:30am. I knew it was going to be a negative tide at Cowells but had written Sunday off as a day of rest.

Still, it’s really hard for me to resist a good longboard spot when it’s at its best and it was certainly looking wonderful today. Cowells really shines with a low low tide. I hopped in the car and drove back down south towards Santa Cruz. This weekend has been a marathon for both my arms and my car.

The sun was shining, the waves were great, the crowd was light (for a usually crowded spot) and I got in ride after ride. Nice long rides too. I started practicing my cross stepping on some of the longer rides. I haven’t quite gotten it yet. So far I’m really good and falling off, but a few more nice long rides like today and I might just have it.

Cross stepping is when you walk the board. It’s sort of a board ballet and the first step to nose riding like a pro:

It’s been really great to have a chance to spend some quality time on my longboard. The large winter swell can make it a challenge to find a good spot for it to really shine. Being able to spend three days letting my board do what it does best has been just awesome. My Stewart is a great match for me. Easy to paddle, catches waves wonderfuly and has enough speed and control to really take advantage of these sweet little waves. What a fun holiday weekend.