Tag: Mexico

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Friday Morning Dawn Patrol


Aaron. Me, taking a wave in.


Carl

Photos by Beamer

Surf: Waist to chest high. Not as clean as usual, but fun.

We got up nice and early to get on the main peak for the the crowd. It was still dark and very foggy when we paddled out. Already there was a handful of people. Still always nice watching the sun come up from the water. Can’t beat that. I got a few zippy little waves before things got too crowded and breakfast was ready.

After breakfast I went for a walk on the beach and totally missed saying goodbye to Carl and Natalie. I feel like a jerk. There were super nice folks, they even helped translate for us so we could sort out what being a Vegetarian meant to Luis and Alicia. Hope to run into Carl and Natalie again sometime.

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Thursday Evening

Surf: Waist – Chest high. Little bit closed out.

Fun (and slightly ridiculous) evening session. Carl took the big ole epoxy house longboard out leashless for a little bit of mayhem. The one place I did not want to be: behind that boat of a board. The once place I ended up right as a set was coming. Ohhh man. I sprinted waaay of to the side. Nothing happened, but so many years of Linda Mar cleanup sets flashed before my eyes…boards everywhere. Yiiii. A big challenge for me on a shorter board is sitting on the inside after seeing that kind of carnage over and over. Yiiiiii.

After my moment of spaziness, I got a very nice left. Grabbed the rail and did a little hand drag for extra style points. I love staying low on this board. It’s great for grab rail takeoffs on these little waves. Fun fun.

One thing I’m having trouble with is that I’m missing waves. Beamer and Carl pointed out that I’m taking off like I’m on a longboard. I paddle, then I straighten out my arms and lean back and look around (anti-purl technique?) I need to be keeping my weight over my shoulders and pushing down/in to the wave. I’ll get it, I’m sure.

After surf, had delicious chile relleno. Yum. Love the food here. Luis and Alicia are amazing.

Lots of sea turtles out tonight and Venus shining like crazy.
Venus is soooo bright in the evenings. Then again, Mexico is pretty dark.

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Thursday Morning

Surf: Waist high. Clean. Later a little more closed out.

I took out Ed’s log early while surfing by myself before breakfast. I’m still working on feeling confident on the 7’0. I chatted with some folks in the lineup. A gal from Santa Cruz. A local guy who says he’s working on his cross step because he hops to the nose and it’s just “not classy.” A few folks laughing about how slow the surf was because of the tide. There is only about 6in to a foot of tide swing here, yet every time I go out and it’s the slightest bit slow, someone will say “the tide’s killing it.” High tide, low tide, in between tides. It always makes me smile a little.

After breakfast I took the 7’0 out and hucked myself into closeouts. I’m feeling a little better on the 7’0 but I need to stop making excuses and stick to riding it. Gotta learn! It’s a pretty fun board. I got into a steep drop I didn’t think I’d make. Since I’ve got it as a single fin right now, I did some swishing around when the faces held up a little longer. Fun fun.

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Wednesday Evening

Surf: The usual waist-chest high. Little rough around the edges from the afternoon wind but glassing off.

We’ve got some new friendly folks staying at the house. They’re adding a few extra days to their trip hoping for this phantom swell everyone says is coming “tomorrow.”

After the crowded morning, I stuck by the house to get a little bit of room to breathe. Things were closing out a little, but I got a few including one screaming fast one down the line. Yeeeew.

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Wednesday Morning

Surf: Clean and mellow waist-chest high waves, as usual.

I took Ed’s log out at the main peak. It’s amazing how crowded it’s gotten from one year to the next. Last year we saw half as many people, only a handful of Stand Ups. I took the log because I feel more confident on a bigger board and I was going to need that confidence in all those people. Crazy.

Plenty of sea turtles checking out the crowd, too.

Beamer took my board while waiting to get his back from ding repair (dinged in transit, doh!) It’s fun watching friends on your board. I got some fun ones on Ed’s board. You can really stick the tail of that thing into the wave and walk around. I’ve done a little bit of walking around, but nothing I’ve done has felt as glued into the wave as the waves I got today. I snuck way way way up. I should have gone for the nose, but I was worried about dodging in the crowd. Still pretty fun and now I have an idea of what my board should feel like when I’m trying all those fancy longboard moves.

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Tuesday Evening

Surf: Glassed off. Getting smaller.

It’s been plenty windy during the day, but it still cleans up around sunset. I took the 7’0 for a few waves. I got a nice late drop and surfed till sundown.

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Tuesday Morning

Surf: Waist-Shoulder High. Clean.

Paddled out early on one of the house longboards. It was glassy and grey with plenty of fun waves infront of the house. After a while, Ed swung by with one of his longboards. It’s pretty beat up, but man is it fun. I could do a fair amount of walking around on it. A couple local kids hooted as I tried to cheat a little five on a left. Fun stuff.

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Mexicooooooo! :D

Surf: Head High+ and windy.

Back in Mexico!!! YAAAAY!!

We rolled up in the early evening, surfboards in tow. Warm water, warm air, and big whomping surf. Yiiiii.

Ed said it’d been flat for weeks before this swell moved in. We hugged our hellos and unpacked the gear for an evening surf.

Now I’d brought my 7’0 with the expectation of soft mellow waves to practice on, not steep waves to practice ducking under. I stood on the beach a while, board in hand, heart in throat, trying to get myself prepped to paddle out. I’m not confident on that board and almost left it on the beach in favor of one of the house longboards. Watching Ed, Beamer, and Aaron paddle away I thought: “Well, I came here to learn this board. Time to go learn.”

Sure, the first two duckdive attempts didn’t exactly go so well, but I got into the swing of things, made it out, and got some fuuuuunnnn waves. The lefts were fast so I mostly just held on. Woooohooo. Love that warm water.

Warm water wax on the 7’0
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Sunday in Mexico – Last surf

Surf: Waist-Shoulder high+, glassy, long lulls, low and incoming tide.

Ah Mexico, thank you for everything.Thank you for nice waves, warm water, ukelele on the beach, more wonderful food than I could ever eat, mixes of frozen juice and tecate, lots of laughing, thanks for all it. I’ve had a wonderful time.

Many thanks to Ed for generously showing us around and patiently surfing with us stoked to the gills fools. Your support was much appreciated. I hope I can repay your generosity sometime.

For the last paddle out we hit Burros on the morning. It was glassy and beautiful, just a bit crowded. Waits were a little long, but the sets rolled in with plenty of great waves to pick off. Stefan got some nice bigger waves. I had one huge drop that just demolished me on the inside. Like la lancha, the left was much steeper and faster. I had to punch through a crashing section for one wave.

Caught one in for breakfast and just enough time to return our boards before the flight.

Mexico! So stoked!

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Saturday in Mexico – Late afternoon/sunset

Surf: waist high close outs, waist-shoulder high

Started as a blown out desperado session of waist high closeouts after many tecates. Despite strong offshore winds the heat lured me in. When Ed arrived the wind started to mellow and we hit Burros.

I blew my first five waves. Sigh. Too much tecate.

The waves and I both shaped up and I got some great rides in. It was a little crowded (can a single break really hold SIX stand up paddle boards?) but still lots of fun.

Got in another sunset before heading back to the house. They had made the most amazing feast of fish, octopus, veggies and rice. Just when I couldn’t possibly eat any more: ice cream. Amazing!