Spicoli

2013-HMBD-06-18a

Surf: 2.0 ft at 8.3 s from the WNW at 291°

Having been out of the water almost two weeks, I figured I’d take a look at the surf.

I hauled Aaron’s 9’6 Junod roundtail to the beach. I’m holding on to it while he moves to a new apartment. It’s a big ole board. Heavier than mine. Round rails. A coat of housepaint from a previous owner.

While a little slow and probably better suited for nice Santa Cruz waves than dumping beach slop, it does have some good weight to it. I was able to sneak up pretty far towards the nose. I got some fun swinging pivoty turns that were unexpected.

The board will probably hang out at the office for a while, I don’t have the space for it. But nice to try something else.

2013-HMBD-06-18b

Boom.

Surf: 5.9 ft at 13.8 s from WNW at 292° SLight texture and wind.

Went hunting for some waves. The usual spot was crowded and uninspiring. The second usual spot was big and mean. Another spot was warped and weird, but the last spot on the hunt seemed okay. It seemed a little large, but workable with a few folks out.

By the time we’d suited up, everyone else had gone in and the waves had come up. I’m not quite in shape for this kind of stuff yet. My first attempt paddling out, I got tossed pretty good trying to get through a closeout. I’m not sure what happened, but I couldn’t catch my breath. I had to dive the next two waves without a good lungful of air. As the fourth wave approached, I called for a do-over and bellied in.

Huffing and puffing and coughing up water on the shore, I briefly though going back to uninspiring usual spots might be worth the wet car ride of shame. Chris seemed to be doing fine, so I put my fears aside and paddled back out.

I got one good, fast ride down the line into closeout city. BOOM. The rest of the time I spent dodging outside waves and bailing out of other waves like a big ole chicken.

Saw a guy get a really nice hollow one as I was getting out (or rather, struggling to get to the beach on the inside), but as soon as we’d packed up the gear all the other folks were gone too.

I think I need to hit the gym a little before heading back out in conditions like that again.

Summer slowdown

Surf: 2.6 ft at 13.8 s from 210° (SSW) Light winds.

Small and glassy all to yourself is a upside of the summer slowdown. That and not wearing booties.

Had some fun trading my 7’4 for Chris’s battleship 10’6. I’m pretty sure at one point that big longboard was riding two separate waves, one for the nose and one for the tail. I tried to cheat some fives but the waves were just too little. Slow motion faceplant! Chris got plenty of waves on my little wobbly board too.

A seal, some moody, atmospheric fog…fun enuff little session. 😀

Back in Half Moon Bay

Surf: Waist High. Somewhat peeling.

I had my expectations set to “low” and they got lower which each junky, barely-breaking spot we passed. By the time we reached this particular side-road-of-a-side-road, my expectations were set perfectly to have a nice litte morning taking some small peppy lefts. The lulls were long and you had to use the wave reflection to your advantage, but hey, it worked!

No whales in sight, but a few cruising pelicans and several people who watched from the cliff but didn’t find our little wave to be that exciting.

Nice to be back in cold water.