Tag: linda mar

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Quick Sunday Paddle

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SURF: 3-5 ft. waist to head high and fair to good conditions.

This morning’s dawn patrol: Fun, semi-walled lines with racy corners through the inside. Expect sets around head high. Conditions are clean and glassy with light wind.

Conditions were a bit more mixed than reports suggested. I’ve been fighting off a cold since Thursday so I barely made it out.

Sunshine was wonderful, waves were mixed. I took the 6’8 out for more practice. I got a full little boogie board ride and almost caught a wave but I’m still struggling with how hard it is to paddle. It’s going to be a long time without be getting in any waves before I get this little guy wrangled right. I keep telling myself that I >WANT< to be a more well rounded surfer (in that I'm crappy on a variety of boards, ha) so I've been able to push through the awkwardness of a smaller board so far. Hopefully a few good longboard days will come up for me to recharge with an easy paddle and easy to catch waves. While walking home from my car with my board on Oak St, a dude gave me a shout out and threw me a Chaka. Totally made my day. 🙂

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Almost Got One!

11_11_09_LM

SURF: 3-5 ft. waist to head high and fair conditions.

This morning’s dawn patrol: Just a slight texture to the surface with sectiony/broken up walls coming through. Plenty of scattered inside corners to work with.

Back on the 6’8. I am determined to ride this little board.

My duck dive practice on Monday was pretty uneventful. I don’t feel like I’m getting up the speed I need to complete the dive properly. Instead of spending the morning duck diving the whitewash, I paddled out past the lineup and started doing laps. I did two and a half laps from the south bathrooms to the north, or about 2500 ft total. I’m definitely getting more comfortable on the board. I was floating around just fine and paddling steady. It’s sooooo different than my 9’4. My Stewart paddles fast and easy. I could have done my laps in half the time with that board.

After recovering, I tried for a few waves. Most I was too slow to get on (practicing going for waves is just as important too) and one wave I actually managed to catch. I did a sloppy, wobbly job of trying to popup, I got to my knees and fell off laughing.

Small victories!

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Offshores and Long Lulls

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SURF: 3-5 ft. waist to head high and fair-good conditions.

This morning’s dawn patrol: Glassy, lined-up walls coming through with open, workable corners. Looking fun.

More beautiful weather this week. Waves were big and clean, sun was warm, offshores were kicking up a nice rainbow spray off the waves.

I like my little waves. My comfort level usual maxes out around waist to shoulder high but today was so nice I decided to push it a little. I paddled for shoulder high waves all day without being skittish. I didn’t catch any, but at least I’m more comfortable paddling for them. There were long lulls between sets so plenty of time to recover and build up confidence (and cold hands).

Wrapped the day sitting on the porch at my new apartment watching hummingbirds check out the plants.

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Chasing Small Peaks

LindaMar_10_30_09

SURF: 2-3 ft knee to waist high and fair – conditions.

PM REGIONAL OVERVIEW: Mostly clean, fun zone little waves are on offer this afternoon as our NW swell mix drops further. Better breaks have knee-waist high+ surf, with a few sets to chest high for standouts.

This morning’s dawn patrol: Peaky lines coming through with glassy, but soft corners.

Followed my sunset surf with a morning session to catch a few more small waves. Pulled on a still wet wetsuit and jumped on in. Waves were nice, a little mushy at the start but picked up. I did my fare share of paddling up and down the beach looking for waves to catch. It’s been ages since I was this sore after surfing.

I got two nice clean lefts in and a handful of sloppier waves. I’m trying to practice my lefts. I used to have no trouble going either direction, I guess I’ve been ignoring left for a few months or something. I got one wave and started on a bottom turn that was too aggressive for such a slow wave. I swamped the board and flailed off into the water. I want to get back out there asap, keep working on it.

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Taking out the Shortboard

thursday

SURF: 3-4 ft. + waist to shoulder high with occasional 6 ft. and poor-fair conditions.

Apartment hunting had put me in a pretty rotten mood and after failing to catch a wave on Tuesday I opted for an early morning with the new shortboard. I was trying to practice duck diving and paddling to get the hang of the board rather than trying for any waves. One puzzled guy asked me why I only paddled out to the white water, flailed around, and then boogie boarded it back. I told him what I was doing and he laughed and paddled on.

I still can’t get a clean duck dive in. I had wave after wave to the face trying to get the board under.
It should look more like this:

And less like a wave smacking you in the face.

El Porto Fridays has a great description on their site:

  1. Prepare: Approach the wave with some speed. I’m not saying you want to go for a full sprint, but being idle when the wave approaches won’t help your cause either. Whatever rhythm and momentum you have, keep it up.
  2. Nose down: As the wave approaches, push the nose down into the water like you are submarine and the captain just called out, “DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!” Timing this correctly will take some practice. Dive too early and you may pop up right in the curl; too late and you may get blasted by the wave. Just experiment a bit and you’ll figure it out.
  3. Tail down: As the wave starts to pass over you, take your foot and push down on the tail of the board. If timed right, the curl of the wave will pass over you and you’ll roll under and get shot out the back. Some surfers like to use their knee instead of their foot to push the tail down. The choice is up to you, but I recommend using the foot for two reasons. First, using your foot will allow you to push to the tail farther down and achieve a better arc. Second, the knee is a much more focused pressure point and can cause more damage to the tail of your board in the form of a significant pressure ding or full de-lamination over time.
  4. Exit: Finally, straighten out, sail to the surface of the water and paddle on.

I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it eventually, but I’m expecting to take a lot of waves to the face trying!

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Sneaking in Some Tuesday Waves

tuesday

SURF: 2-4 Ft. A little disorganized, building in size as the swell starts to come in.

My project team was in meetings all morning so I was able to sneak in a few extra hours of surfing before heading in to the office. It was surprisingly crowded for a non-dawn patrol Tuesday. Between the crowds and the building size I didn’t get any rides in. It was nice to get out before the bigger and messier swell hits for the rest of the week.

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Getting the Board Back Out

lindy

SURF: 2-3 ft.+ knee to chest high and fair conditions.

This morning’s dawn patrol: Glassy, mostly closed out lines on offer this morning. Again, it’s looking like the best corners are making it through the inside.

Made it out for another early morning. I’d figured a nice small day would be a good day to take my newly repaired board back out. It was sunny, waves were decent, but I wussed out.

I got out of the water with dry hair after an hour or so of paddling around trying to pick off little softies.

Tomorrow is also looking small and clean. If I can keep up the getting up early business I’ll try and be a little bolder and actually get a few waves in before work.

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Post Bonk Outing

Soft top at Linda Mar

Surf: 2-4 ft. Mushy and Disorganized.

I managed to fit in an early morning outing before some big meetings in the city. I didn’t want to wait too long after getting konked to get back in the water. My board was in the shop so I got a soft top for the day. A soft top is a pretty good board for getting back into the swing of things. I had a nice soft board, nice soft waves, and a good morning to practice not being scared.

The soft top was pretty slow, but I did manage to get in one clean ride, a few mushy rides, and a really fun boogie board ride into the shore. I had to cut things short to jet to my meeting, but all and all a nice morning out.

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>BONK<

Battle Damage

Surf: 2-3 ft.+ knee to chest high and poor-fair conditions.

PM REGIONAL OVERVIEW: Semi-clean surf prevails this afternoon as our mix of NW wind/groundswell and SW swell continues. Better breaks have knee-waist high+ surf, with set to chest/shoulder high for standouts. There are a few workable corners and sections to be had if you have the time.

This morning’s dawn patrol: Foggy…expect clean semi-peaky lines with some workable corners.

Oww.

I dinged up my board pretty good today. I wiped out on a wave in such a way that the board pearled, was pulled under, then shot out the back of the wave before coming down rails first on my head. It hurt pretty good and it took a chunk out of my rails, but my head is fine. I was able to make it to shore okay and with a little ice I was right in no time.

I did get once nice little ride out of the day before hurting myself.
There was an awesome moment when I was paddling out over a wave and as the face started to steepen I could see hundreds of blue and green fish lit up in the sunlight. Totally beautiful.

Can’t wait to get back out (but hoping for fewer bumps and bruises).

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Surfing away the sniffles.

photo

SURF:
2-3 ft.+ knee to chest high and fair conditions. This morning’s dawn patrol: Glassy, mostly walled up lines, with a few workable corners through the inside.

I’ve been laid up in bed sick most of the week, the rest of the week I’ve been battling potential clients for contracts and “Sure thing” gigs that have fallen through.

Today the sun was out and, uncooperative lungs or not, I was going out.

Most of the waves were closed out, it was kinda crowded, but man, the sun was out and got some fresh air to heal my sad little lungs. Didn’t catch a single wave all day. I was huffing and puffing with every paddle and pearled the few waves I did catch. Ah well, at least I’m feeling better!