Our friends at Quality People’s have shot a few videos of spots I love to surf in MX.
Here’s one with the Seea crew at a boat spot I surfed on my last trip:
Diosa De La Costa from Quality Peoples on Vimeo.
And another at my favorite spot, the first day of this last trip:
Getting Lost In The Beauty Of It All from Quality Peoples on Vimeo.
In addition to their wonderful videos, they have wonderful clothes!
They’ve just launched their online store:
I’ve already picked up a shirt. <3
Surf: Soft, slow, but fun. Waist high with the occasional shoulder high set.
I packed up the fish, threw my clothes in the board bag and joined the guys for pancakes. Everything wound up taking less time than I’d planned so I figured I could sneak in one last surf.
Paddling back out I saw a puffer fish darting around and what I think was a skate cruising between sandy-colored spots. One of the guys out every day joked “shouldn’t you be on a plane?” I said one or two more, then he could have his wave back.
I got a few, but was having trouble making the section on these smaller waves. I was down to my last half hour before I had to go wrap the Vaquero up for the flight when a set finally came.
I got a nice wave. I swished around that section, no problem. I cruised down the then very end, then, in a rare act of competence, managed to lay down on my board and belly in to the beach with a little flair at the end to avoid the rocks. Not a bad way to wrap a lovely little trip.
Surf: Thigh to chest high, long waits between sets. Clean and fun.
Last morning! I woke up early to check the surf. It was pretty much the same as it’d been all week. Good enough for me.
I wanted to get in one more surf on the fish before packing it up, but with conditions as soft as they were, I figured the Vaquero would have a better shot.
I got a few fun ones off the bat. Gotta love these clean waves.
Chatted for a bit with a gal from Palo Alto who seems to spend most of the year surfing in Mexico. We talked about the bay area and boards. People usually have a lot of questions about my little hull. I mentioned Sunset Shaper’s class. Hopefully they’ll wind up with another customer out of it. 🙂
Cruised around till breakfast.
Surf: Clean, mellow, and lovely. Just like yesterday.
Took it easy this morning and slept in. All these late night surf sessions are catching up with me.
Ed swung on by with the camera again. I managed to get a few good rides, but I’m not sure we got any closer to getting Beamer a good shot on his board.
Once the photo shoot was over, Ed walked out to the beach with my fish and we swapped to give him a chance to try out my hull. I love letting folks try out my boards. I like hearing other perspectives on what I’m riding. Every board fits every person differently. Because I’m pretty inexperienced, it’s hard to tell when a board is quirky or when I’m surfing it wrong. (Usually I’m surfing it wrong)
Ed got some nice cruising hull rides.
I’m definitely surfing mine wrong.
I got a quick fish ride before swapping. It’s still a little soft for the fish and the difference between a concave bottom and a hull bottom is huge.
I’m hoping not only to get some time in on the fish in steeper conditions when I get back, but also to have someone else try it out and see how my first shape worked out. I have a feeling it’s a really fun board, I just need to learn to surf it. 😉
Surf: Glassy, waist to chest high
This morning’s surf looked a little crowded and by midday I was wrangling requests for work, so evening’s was the only shot.
After seeing myself on camera yesterday, I’ve realized a few things.
1- My stance is pretty comical. I need to square off my hips.
2- I could stand up a little taller, that might put more swing in my swoosh.
3- Better wave position. I managed to stay pretty well in the pocket last night on the longboard, but with the hull it’s a little more critical.
I set out with that in mind. The first few waves I was focusing more on squaring my hips than setting my rail, but once I got the hang of it, I got in some pretty good hull swishes and swoops. I made a few sections I didn’t expect to make.
I can do a lot more than I think I can, maybe not with style yet, but there’s plenty I can do if I keep trying.
Surf: Glassy, waist to chest high with a few larger sets. Fun fun fun. Super glowy.
After being filmed all day, Beamer was hoping to try his hand at shooting. I was pretty tired from the first few sessions, so I grabbed a longboard.
After spending so much time between my hull and my fish, it felt great to be on a longboard again. I’m way more confident on a longboard and was able to set up closer to the peak, take off later, and hold a better line (or at least that’s how it seemed in my head.)
Beamer said the best way to get a shot is to try and run him over. First wave I took off, lined up and shot down the line. Weeeehooo. Fun fun. He got a few good videos before the sun went down too far to see.
After that we surfed for a while in the fading light. The whole point was lit up with little glowing jellies. We’d seen a few in other sunset surfs, but just a few, kinda like fireflies. These were everywhere. Every eddy and wave around the boards was full of little glowing spots.
I went to take off on a wave and absolutely everything was glowing. I almost didn’t make the drop, it was so distracting.
I also tried to go for a noseride in the dark. That didn’t work. I got clobbered by a section. Whoops.
I heard Beamer get one in (at this point I couldn’t see anything) and decided to get one in myself. I realized I had no idea how close I was to shore. I bellied a bit, listening for the waves on the rocks on the beach. Thankfully the tide was high and I cruised in no problem. Whew.
Surf: Waist high and a little windblown.
Ed showed up with his camera gear to get some shots of Beamer. I headed back out with my fish and rashguard and bikini combo. a few duckdives in, I was not feeling very confident in my bikini bottoms. Walking back to the house to change into my supersuit, I couldn’t help but think about boards.
The one problem with bringing two boards is you still can only surf one board at a time.
I knew if I switched to the hull, I’d get more waves given the conditions…but I really wanted some shots of my on the fish. From a vanity perspective: OMG I made this board, I want shots of me ripping on it! From a reality perspective: I want to see how horrible I surf my fish so I can fix it.
Sure enough, Ed got shot after shot after shot of me missing waves. I’m so close, then at the last minute I’m just not getting it. I need more paddle and more weight on the front. It’s plenty mushy out here so I need extra “more paddle” and extra “more weight.” While I might not get the fish figured out this trip, I’ll keep all of this in mind for when I get home.
The other thing I saw from the footage was something that I can’t quite explain. Either it’s an optical illusion from the shot angle or it was actually happening, but it sure looked like I was surfing sideways. With my hull that’s supposed to happen, but I’m pretty sure with a concave bottom there’s no crazy slide allowed. That whole ride I felt stuck in the wave. I think I need more weight over my front foot and better rail engagement.
All around I think it was a frustrating session for everyone. Beamer didn’t get the shots he was hoping for and I didn’t get waves. But hey, water’s warm. Missing waves hurts a heck of a lot more when it’s cold.
As it’s been every day, the surf picked up again in the evening.
Surf: Glassy and small.
The surf looked so good last night, I was surprised to find it to be smaller in the morning. Ahh well. I’ve been hearing it’s flat back home so I’m happy just to have something clean and surfable.
Went out for some fun long cruising waves on the hull.
Man, the weather’s just perfect out here. I’ll take it.
Surf: Cobblestone, soft, waist to shoulder high.
We started out the morning one one boat checking one of my favorite spots, but sadly the break was flat. I’m sure if we waited long enough, there would be a set, but at 30 min or more apart, it’s a big risk.
We headed back, then drove over an hour to another boat. This time it was breaking.
This is a beautiful spot and we were fortunate to have it all to ourselves. On a normal day, it’s supposedly packed. Shallow, rocky, and urchin covered, I imagine it’s pretty intimidating with any kind of crowd or with real size. I had a few takeoffs I wasn’t so sure I could clear the rocks and this was a pretty easy day.
I’d brought my hull expecting we’d be going to the right hand boat spot and not the left, but the hull worked just fine. I know people say hulls aren’t supposed to surf well backside, but for me they surf the same as any other board. I guess I’m not really doing anything fancy anyway, so it doesn’t feel that odd? Not sure.
The ride back was tricky. I was nodding off and I’m sure it had to be rough for Ed driving with all of us asleep. When we got back to the house, the surf was looking really nice. I was too fried and tired to get on it. I know they say never walk away from a good wave, but man… I was so beat.
I’ve also been getting demolished by mosquitos this trip so I busted out the mosquito net. I’m not sure it really helped, but hey, it adds a little flair to vacation sleeping.
I took the fish out for a sunset session. I think it’s conditions, but I feel like I’m less capable on the fish than I’ve been surfing it in SF. I’m not getting the weight right or the rail right. Something’s not quite right.
It also might be that switching between the hull (glide machine) and the fish (only a little glidey) makes the fish feel like it’s in slow motion.
Complaining about not knowing what I’m doing aside, I did have some really fun rides on the fish this evening. Every now and then I get a run where I catch most of the waves I’m going for (instead of missing them) and I’m starting to get more of the cruising pump down. It’s really fun to turn quicker. The waves aren’t exactly right down here, but it’s really fun to try.
