Tag: half moon bay jetty

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Self Imposed Skunking

SURF: 3-5ft, inconsistent, steeper than yesterday, much more closed out.
Gear: 7’4 and 8’3 Petty

With the size and steepness building for Sunday, I decided to go back to the 7’4. I paddled around, I didn’t catch anything. I saw a large crab floating around. I didn’t catch anything.

I switched to the 8’3 and caught one wave. I bailed on it early. I was high up on the wave taking a line and as I turned to drop down the face an align more in the pocket, I realized I was only in about a foot of water (not counting the 4ft wave I was on top of). The waves were closing out an a wrong move would cause me to pretty unpleasantly and forcefully hug the beach face first. I bailed. I bailed and tried to land flat. I figured a blown wave was better than nosing the board into shallow water.

At least the paddle practice was good.

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Mellow longboard day with a 10’6

SURF: 2-4ft, very mellow, very clean. Long period small south-southwest swell.
Gear: 10’6

A perfect longboard day spent on a shortboard is just cruel. A day like today is when longboards can really shine. They can catch even the smallest waves and float down the line like it’s nothing.

With the Stewart still off being repaired I was prepared to suffer in the 7’4. Thankfully Chris was up for a good longboard Saturday and lent me his 10’6. It’s a huge singlefin board that turns surprisingly well and had just the right amount of float to pick of anything coming by. It was great.

I love sitting in the lineup, spotting a hint of a wave no one else would give a second thought to, charging for it and getting a beautiful little line out of a wave that was barely even there. 😀

My friend Aaron (who has the most amazingly patched up Michel Junod longboard) came out with us after 3 months on land with a skiing injury. He got a few nice ones.

Chris and Luke both picked off their fair share and beautiful ones on both their longboards and the Alia. Great sunny day for everybody.

Taking the 10’6 home was a bit of a feat. 3 flights of winding stairs with that baby was hard work. At least I have 12ft ceilings. 😀

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The Jetty Gets Angry

Surf: Shoulder High to Well Overhead waves. Jumbled up, short period surf. Angry.

I’ll admit it, I’m a little out of shape. 20 days between surf session is killer for surfing fitness. I’ve tried to do at least 20 pushups a day (made it to 40! yay!) but there’s no substitute for water time. That said, the Jetty was seriously unruly today. Waves were double and tripple stacked with little time in between sets to paddle out. With most sets being well over head high it was not the day to be on a longboard at the Jetty.

About the third or fourth time I was pushed back I thought to myself “Am I really about to get denied at the JETTY?”
I fought for a while, but I love my board and that pounding break was not looking exciting. I didn’t want to snap my board or fight that hard so I rode some white water like a kook, called it a day. Sigh.

After some pizza, a little surf shop browsing, I headed home. My friend Frankie had a new loaner board waiting for me. Yay! Nothing rounds off a seriously punishing session like having a new board to wax. It’s a 7’4, with a pretty mellow rocker. I’m hoping it will help me get used to riding a shorter board since it does not require the steeper waves my 6’8 requires. It is still plenty thick so I will most likely not be duck diving any time soon, but hopefully will help me get the feel of less float and more turning ability.

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Catching Waves on a Saturday

SURF: 3-4ft with 5ft standouts. A little inconsistent, not terribly clean but protected from the winds. Warm for the season, friendly and sunny.

Trying to wait out the high tide, Aaron and I rolled up to the Jetty early afternoon. Aaron has pretty much the raddest board ever. I need to snap a pic next time. It’s this old Mike Junrod 9’6 roundtail that someone had done years of home repair jobs on the dings that they then pained over with a variety of paint colors. The deck is red and white checkers. It’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.

We managed to score wave after wave after wave. Sure, not the most epic waves but man it feels good to get something. I nailed my bottom turns, kept trim, threw in some slow gentle cutbacks. It was really really nice to not completely suck at surfing.

Good way to leave things before heading home for the holiday. Can’t wait to get back soon.

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Early Friday at the Jetty

SURF: 3-4ft, mellow and fairly smooth.

Second attempt at dawn patrol before my new gig. I’d already lost time putting my roof rack before I even got around to picking up Mike. He was a pretty good sport with my relentless swearing and freaking out about needing to be at work by 9.

The delay gave us a nice sunrise over Devil’s Slide on the way to the Jetty. Sun was beautiful, air was relatively warm, and with only 2-3 people in the water we had the place to ourselves.

Paddling out I say Luke getting a nice ride. He picked off a few waves while we were out there. I got skunked. I dunno, too mushy or my energy is still low. My system’s been all screwy. Low vitamins, muscles burning out fast. My unemployed surfer bum diet certainly isn’t helping. With this new gig I should be able to make a big push towards balanced nutrition and actually eating for the intense physical workout surfing provides.

Wrapping up I realized I was exceptionally late for work. ARG. My contract is flexible, however that doesn’t stop me from being hard on myself. I wound up taking a cab to work muddy, salty, and frustrated. Grrr.

Hoping as the days get longer the work/life balance will get easier.

In the mean time, Luke took a pic from the Jetty as we were packing up.

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Birthday Waves for Cynthia

11_10_09_HMBJetty

SURF: 3-5ft. Cleaner than yesterday. Good shoulder high waves for some folks, waist high closeouts for me.

Caught a mid-day session with Cynthia to celebrate her birthday. I caught one nice long mellow right and swamped a right I should have gotten. My neck is still really tight so I didn’t get in a smooth bottom turn like I’d hoped. Ahh well. It was a pleasure to paddle out on my longboard after the shortboard workout and very fun to see Cynthia get some great happy birthday rides. 😀

Happy Birthday Cynthia!

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More shortboard Practice!

HMB_11_09_09

SURF: 3-5ft waves. Little choppy.

Gear: 6’8 Rocket

Most of the waves today up and down the coast were too big for me to catch and decent rides on my longboard. I decided to hit HMB to practice on the short board in at the jetty. It’s more protected so the waves were smaller.

I spent about an hour doing laps. Paddle out, fail at duck diving, keep paddling, fail again, turn around, boogie board to shore, paddle back. I’m trying to 1) learn to properly duck dive and 2) get more comfortable with overall balance on a board nearly 3 whole feet shorter than mine.

I did much better keeping control over the board, I didn’t fall off at all. Paddling is still slow, but a little better. I got in one okay “duck dive”-like movement that probably doesn’t count, but I’ll take it as a small win anyway. 🙂