Tag: montara

Surf: 3.9 ft at 16.0 s from the W at 281°. High tide.

The usual spot was looking pretty flat on the high tide (and pink, thanks to the sunrise), so we continued on. Sadly the spot I was hoping to hit was not yet in summer form.

I’m not sure why I paddled out. I think I wanted so badly to make it work or to think I could make it work. The waves were shifty, fast, and raw. I paddled out. I looked around. I got clobbered by a set and went right back in.

It wasn’t even a bad clobbering. I wasn’t down long, I didn’t get drug, I didn’t hit the bottom. But for whatever reason, I freaked out. No excuses. It was frustrating. Even on the beach I was still huffing and puffing watching Chris go for waves and really wasn’t feeling better to he was back on shore. Sigh. I really thought I’d been doing better managing surf-related fear, but I’m not sure it’s working.

Surf: 3.3 ft at 12.9 s from the W at 275° and 3.9 ft at 13.8 s from the SSW at 206°. Windy.

I’m not entirely sure why I went out today. I’m guessing because I missed out on yesterday’s waves? It’s been the kind of season where if I don’t go, it’s decent and if I do, it’s windy.

I’m also not sure why I paddled out into this mess either. It was too big, too messy. It was just awful. Paddled around in the soup for 30 min, then bellied in for donuts very disappointed.

Surf: 3.6 ft at 9.1 s from the NW at 319°. Offshore winds (S).

Lindy was looking might flat so we kept hunting. While our alternative spot was looking mighty nice, it was also breaking very far inside pretty much on to the sand.

If there’s one thing I’m not fond of, it’s shallow water. Uff.

I watched folks get lovely rides, kicking out before the shorebreak whomp, but I just could not get into anything to save my life. I was struggling and struggling.

I got into a few, lined up with the face, and got swallowed whole by the close out a few seconds later. Ouch.

One upside of the morning, Chris mentioned that I”m getting pretty speedy on my orangefish. That’s a big change from feeling like I was paddling in slow motion when I started out on it. Zip zip zip. Now I just gotta commit to my waves instead of backing out cause it’s too shallow/closed out/blue/excuse of the day.

Surf: 2.0 ft at 10.0 s from the W at 275°.

We looked everywhere this morning. Most breaks were completely flat and what wasn’t flat was pretty junky. We managed to surf a little bit of shorebreak that wasn’t too horrible. I got a wave or two that might have been a real wave. The rest was wash and warble and mush.

Saw a pod of dolphins cruise by with their little ones in tow.

Surf: 3.3 ft at 10.0 s from the NW at 305°. High tide. No wind.

That’s the Montara I remember. Glassy, shoulder high, and fun. Yeah there’s the big closeouts, but woooohhhhoooo that was fun. What a great birthday surf. 😀

I took out my steep wave longboard. I’m sick and I figured the bigger board would help keep me floating when out of breath and coughing up a storm. Thankfully I avoided getting clobbered and instead got some plenty fun drops and a few long ones.

There was sun, fog, dolphins, sea lions, jellies and most importantly, waves. All around fun fun birthday surf. 😀

Surf: 0.7 ft at 10.0 s from the WSW at 304° but very mixed, lots of wind.

After yesterday’s fun surf, today’s junky waves were a little bit of a let down.

Another challenge was a dude who wasn’t exactly looking before he’d paddle for a wave, take off right on top of me or other people, then blow the wave and shoot his board and yet even more people. Uff. I was tempted to say something. When it’s this junky, there’s no peak and it’s easy to not see where others are sitting on your inside. It’s really important to be aware because no one wants to be that jerk that injures someone on a lousy 2 ft day. I couldn’t quite find the right words so I tried to exercise some patience and paddle to another peak. The problem was, the dude followed. I appreciate all the slack people have cut my ridiculously kooky self over the years, but there’s a fine line between cutting slack and letting someone continue to do something dangerous. I’ve certainly had other people call me out when I was doing something dangerous. Yeah it’s embarrassing, but better than someone getting hurt.

Oh well.

Moving to yet another peak, I was able to get a few waves and forget about the other group.

I had some amazing faceplants on my fish. Ha. I kept slipping my front foot and plowing right into the wave. Got a few longer ones, but MAN it’s hard to connect all the little bits when it’s this junky. Made it around some sections, that’s a plus.

I miss clean waves!

Surf: 3.0 ft at 6.7 s from the NW at 306°.

I had pretty low expectations for the morning. It sounded windy, it sounded like crazy short period, but all around it wound up okay-ish. I took out my 7’0, but could have done okay on my fish. Got around some sections, got some nice long ones. Bogged a few turns, but not bad.

One of the guys asked if I’d seen the dolphins go by. I said no. He said really, they went RIGHT past you in the wave. Bummed that I missed a wave full of dolphins, I went back to paddling around. A few waves later, sure enough, that wave was full of dolphins. Rad!

Surf: 2.3 ft at 14.8 s from the S at 181°. Low tide.

The swell was too small and too sharply south to really do anything up here today. Linda Mar was unsurfably flat. Montara had a little bit of wave, but plenty of jumble and close out.

Thankfully, there were occasionally bits and pieces that held up, either for a long ride or for a swooping drop and a hint of a turn before closing out.

I tried to work a little on my step, but as the waves alternated between steep closeout and mush, it was hard to really get a good first step in.

I keep crossing my fingers we’ll get those glassy rolling summer days, but sadly it’s all wind and wrong swells.

Surf: Mix of 3.3 ft at 9.1 s from the NW at 316° and 3.3 ft at 14.8 s from S at 191°

I had a little bit of hope that yesterday’s swell and wind would hold up, but Linda Mar was pretty much flat. Almost unsurfably flat.

I’m not really surprised, the buoy readings looked like this:

ENE swell? Umm okay.

It was small and fairly junky, but occasionally a peak would line up and I could zip around on my fish before it all closed out in the shallows.

Good to see all the guys. 🙂

Surf: 3.3 ft at 16.0 s from the SW at 232°. Low tide.

After a busy busy week and a few flat flat days, I was looking forward to getting out there. I brought my hull thinking it might be fun at Lindy, but Lindy was pretty flat. Flat enough for me to pass and keep looking.

The tricky part being that I’m not sure I’d taken my hull out at this particular beach break. With the new find on it, I was feeling a little nervous. Some nice looking waves rolled by as I paddled out. “I wish I’d brought my fish” looking waves. As the tide swapped things got a little softer, so the extra paddle came in handy.

I got once really nice long left that was pretty fun. I’m always surprised by how much this little board goes and goes and goes. Swishing around little sections. Where I get stuck is that I tend to blow waves when they are steep so I’ll kick out or not commit to a take off.

I really wanted to get a solid right in, but I settled for a very fun belly ride in. Jumped a few of the outgoing waves before plowing face first into the beach. 😀 Weeee