Conditions:
2-3 ft.+ with occasional 4 ft. and fair conditions. Soft, weak waves on tap this afternoon. Expect inconsistent waist-chest high surf with a few larger sets at the standout spots. Winds are still mostly light, but onshore flow builds later.
This morning’s dawn patrol: Glassy lines staying semi-walled and sectiony with a few workable inside shoulders.
Got a few people together for pre-bay to breakers surfing. The waves were small, but it was a little tough of a paddle to be teaching on today. I got my new surfer out into the lineup and we practiced paddling and turning the board around to face the shore. I only caught one wave for the day, but man, when it’s 85 degrees in San Fran, there’s no better place to be. 😀
REGIONAL OVERVIEW: The surf is looking fun this afternoon as NW swell and S Southern Hemi energy back out. Better breaks are still seeing knee-waist-chest high waves with some shoulder high+ sets making it through standouts. Conditions remain clean this afternoon, with some fun, peaky surf on tap with racy/lined-up corners, especially through the inside.
82 and Sunny.
Nice clean mellow surf at Pacifica today. Great compliment to the 80+ degree weather and sunshine.
I got in a few clean runs. I saw a whale. I chatted up some folks in the lineup. I worked on my awesome wet suit tan.
All around fun.
Conditions: Foggy. 4-6 ft with some 8ft standouts. Short swell period. Clearner in the morning, crumbly but harsh by noon.
Wow. I’ve never been out on a day so foggy. I couldn’t see the lineup from the shore. Swell period was so short and with low tide on the way we opted to walk the boards out instead of paddle and pick off whitewater and reform waves on the inside.
We got a bunch of fun quick rides that way. I practiced some right hand turns.
Pizza and beer was definitely a highlight after battling that mess. I’ve never had such an intense leg workout surfing! I’m looking forward to Monday’s S hemi swell and 85 degree temps. Who’s in? 😀
Conditions: 2-4 ft. – knee to shoulder high and fair+ conditions. Clean/glassy lines with some fun pick and choose corners.
Amazing day today. Clean waves, good sets, mellow paddle out. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and the waves were just as nice. Veronica and I scored some great rides and the experienced longboarders out there were noseriding and cross stepping to their heart’s content.
After a few solid hours or good rides and great fun, we snagged some cheesy breadsticks and beer in the sunshine.
Great day!
Conditions: 3-5 ft. Mostly walled-up lines with open, workable corners. Fair shape overall.
Gear: 9’0″ Sunset Soft Top.
It’s been windy and rainy here in Nor Cal. The bad weather, some sewage spills, some oil spills, and an overall lack of funds have been keeping me out of the water. Finally I caught a break, money coming in, mellow waves, and a few friends ready to hit the beach.
I managed to get one clean ride in. I was so happy. I don’t think I’ve respectably caught a wave since november so it was nice to get one for a change.
Waves were mellow, long stretches of downtime between sets, but all and all a good day for practice and hanging out in the lineup.
Conditions: 4-6+ ft. – waist to head high and fair conditions. Rough paddling out there today. Short swell period. Good waves, just a few too many too fast for me.
Gear: 9’0″ Sunset Soft Top. Finally tested out my surf hoodie. It’s toasty warm but fills up with water. I’ll keep using it. Abandoned my gloves again. They just get too heavy!
My friend and surf crew member, Athena, is off to India to great adventures. In honor of her going away, we hit the beach.
And then the beach hit us. Ow.
Pretty strong winds and a short swell period made for sets that took way more paddling to get outside than we’d hoped for. I didn’t make it even halfway to the lineup before a wave knocked me off my board and I rolled end over end over end over end underwater. The weirdest thing about getting tossed around and held under waves is that I spend that time thinking of ways to improve my lung capacity, or how cool it would be if I could open my eyes in salt water and see what this crazy wave looks like. After I’m all safe and sound, that’s when I get around to thinking “uh, that was kinda scary…”
I wound up paddling back to shore, emptying the gallons or water from my hood, emptying gallons or water from my lungs and stomach and then setting off again for the line up.
I made it, I fought some waves, didn’t get any clean runs in. Joyce and Athena also fought the angry wave roller coaster to make it to the lineup. Joyce made it about halfway to Hawaii before Athena and I could even get out. She wins the fierce paddling award.
After a few hours of getting tossed around, wiping out, and being beat up, we opted for pizza and brownies. Overall fun day, lots of laughing and being silly in between being under water.
Conditions: 2-3 ft – knee to waist high and fair conditions. Fun, semi-peaky lines with workable shoulders. High tide left things pretty flat around 3 pm.
Gear: 9’2″ NSP Epoxy.
The project I’m working on got pushed back a week. I found myself with a clear week of no daytime olbigations and semi decent surf. What’s a girl to do but get out there.
I headed down to Pacifica on a beautiful warm day to find it socked in with fog. Cold and foggy, I spent almost 2 hours with the folks at NorCal looking at boards. They gave me even more to think about. Man, I’ve got a lot to decidine on. Do I want to pay as much for a locally shaped board as a big name brand? The guy there picked out a few that matched my height and weight with what I intend to do and the durability I want. Some decent choices. More hemming and hawwing on my end.
Surfwise, I got out late after checking out boards. The high tide and the mellow swell meant a lot of waiting. I didn’t get that many waves. Really close but man, my triceps were sore. I mostly practiced my knee paddling and chatted with folks out there. A kid from Denver only on his fourth day surfing, a few folks talking about the weather, a guy buying his first board in 35 years, and a guy going up the cali coast on a motorcycle. Best of all, I hung out with a seal for a little bit.
This is similar to the guy I saw, but thanks to cuteoverload.com, it’s way more cute.
Lil guy was adorable. I was torn between AWWWW and AAAAAA SHOO. With a little seal smile and cute wink, it’s easy to forget these guys are wild animals and shark bait. It’s the first seal I’ve seen surfing, so that was kinda cool.
Conditions: 3-5 ft. – waist to head high and fair+ conditions. Offshore texture with walled up lines and open/workable shoulders. High tide swamped things out around 1.
Gear: 9’0″ Sunset soft top.
Wow, fall in California is full of surprises. Awesome 70-80 degree weekend out of the blue. Pacifica of course was pretty crowded. I just barely managed to get a board, solidifying further my need to buy one. My friend didn’t get one and napped on the beach scoring a decent tan while I was out busting my triceps trying to land a few waves.
High tide had things breaking seriously close to shore which spooked me a bit. I didn’t get up on any waves the whole day. I kept bailing because I was so close to shore and not willing to take out the tykes on boogie boards just ot get in a 30 second ride.
I met a few folks out in the line up. Some kids from Pittsburgh out for a wedding wanted to know what bars would be showing the Steelers game (aww Steelers, just like college) and I met a surf instructor who told me to stick with my instincts on the 9′ 0″ board.
For a chilly, rainy day, conditions couldn’t be better. While mellow, the waves were pretty clean and winds stayed pretty calm for most of the day. My friend and I were on boards a little short for us so we didn’t get in that many clean runs, but it was fun.
Surfing in norther California on a cold day is a trip. Paddling out you can smell a fire burning somewhere and the fog makes for a mysterious looking coast. The rain makes a cool little noise hitting the waves. It’s definitely not what most people think of when they think of surfing.
I’d love to get a waterproof camera to take out with me. The California coast is a beautiful place and I’d love to send pictures back to everyone.
I rode an epoxy board for the first time. So far I’ve been on only soft tops. I think I have a few more bruises here and there, but overall it went well. It’s one step closer to me actually getting a board. I liked the grippiness of the wax too. Soft tops don’t need waxing.
I also took out my new gloves for the first time. As far as warmth goes, they are great. My hands were nice and toasty. Unfortunately they fill up with so much water it’s like paddling with weighted boxing gloves. I wore myself out paddling way too fast. I’ll definitely keep them on hand for cold days, but I’m thinking I might prefer to go barehanded.
My new surfing hood didn’t get any action today. For being a cold day, I was actually pretty warm. I’m planning on using it in the future. Silly as I might look, getting a cold wave to the side of the head is a lot like getting nailed with a snowball. Plus it should keep my hair out of my face and cut down a little on the salt water in my eyes. Other downside to the gloves, wiping your eyes isn’t easy.
I’m looking forward to getting a few more runs in this year.
Best part of the day was this little guy chilling by the surf shop!
Conditions: 8-10 ft. – 3 ft. overhead to double overhead and poor conditions. Overhead+ to double overhead waves with bigger sets at the standouts. Mostly clean, light winds, but a pretty tough paddle.
One of a handful of valuable lessons one can learn from surfing is to know your strengths, know your limits and act accordingly. A few of my first times out, I tried to surf in waves too big, or surf too junky to really have fun. It’s hard to resist going out when you’ve gone all the way to the beach, but Saturday was one of those days.
We started out with “well, we’ll go down there, see what the surf is like and if the waves are too big maybe we can just hang out on the beach”. Once down there it was “well, maybe we can get some boards and just surf in the whitewater…”
At that point the surf wasn’t too crazy high, maybe about 6 foot. The guys at the surf shop made sure we knew what we were going out in. I spent a lot of time watching the waves down on the beach, figuring out the inside smaller breaks to surf, worrying about getting hung up in bigger surf.
I paddled out to a good spot close enough to the shore to be safe from the big breaking waves. The whitewater was moving fast enough it was easy to catch waves, but I only made about 2 runs before going back in. Some bigger 10 foot sets started to come in and the waves were looking beastly.
I wish I had pictures. It was definitely something to see. Big, rough looking barrels smashing into the water. Surfers wiping out in some spectacular waves.
UPDATE: Check out the waves at Ocean Beach for the same day. Scary.
In the interest of safety, we chilled on the beach watching the good surfers get chewed up by some seriously angry waves. I’m sure they were having an awesome time. Pacifica had some decent looking barrels. There was a surf/golf competition going on and imagine riding the big waves has got to be a rush…just a rush I don’t have the skills to pursue yet.
I’m glad we did things conservatively. Watching the waves was much better than being in them. Instead of getting knocked around out in an angry ocean, we got some pizza, said hi to a cool little dog in a Hawaiian shirt and napped in the sun.
