Tag: ocean beach

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Whales!

2016-OBR-05-14

Surf: 2.6 ft at 14.8 s from the SW at 219°. South winds. Outgoing tide.

The swell has really died down this week. We drove around a while looking for something breaking. There was one corner that looked pretty dang good, but there were a lot of people on it and it’s a spot not known for it’s party waves. Back up north things has a little bit of wind on them. The tide was coming in and it didn’t look too bad so we paddled out.

I surfed terribly. I was struggling with the steep closeouts, even on these little waves. Ahh well. Once the tide came up, I got into a better groove. In the mean time, there were dolphins and whales all over the place so there was plenty to watch. A dolphin cruised right past Chris and a couple whales jumped out of the water on their way north.

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Sunday Beachday!

  
Surf: 4ft @ 8s from the WNW at 307°

Rad! Another Beachday! It’s even hotter today so I was relieved to tag along to a friend’s son’s beach birthday. The waves were gentle and fun. It was great to see lots of beachy folks, too. 

Almost got up on the nose during some zippy inside sections. Tons of fun. 

Wrapped the weekend up with fish tacos, beer, ice cream, and an amazing sunset!

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Slop

2015-OBS-02-17

Surf: 2.3 ft at 13.8 s from the SW at 229°. High tide.

The tide was a little too high this morning for the lack of swell. Most places were seeing shin high shorebreak, if that. After a little driving around, we settled on somewhere with a bit of a wave shaped blob and lots of wind. Upside, very few people out. There were a few waves that worked here and there. I blew what was probably the wave of the day, but managed to squeeze lemonade out of a few other barely-wave waves.

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Unresolved

2015-OBP-01-05

Surf: 3.9 ft at 16.0 s from the WNW at 289°.

I might have gotten a little over ambitious with the new years resolutions. Yes, I want to get back into the swing of things, but taking out my fish (which I’ve barely ridden since getting hurt) in conditions I knew would be bigger (not huge, but still not the gentle softies of NYD) may have been unwise. Oh, and I’ve got a mean barking cough, too.

The first tip off probably should have been taking my board out of the bag to find the glassing around the fin cracked. Damn. I taped it up.

Second tip off probably should have been the shooting pain on a duckdive halfway out to the lineup. I turned around, I bellied in and tried to stretch it out.

I paddled back out, made it this time (with surprisingly little pain when diving), but was just not feeling it. I wasn’t trusting my board (mostly because I didn’t want to damage it further,) not trusting my body (both ability to dive or keep a good breath,) and really, I just wasn’t up for this.

I still wanted to try so I went for one. I blew the take off and got wrecked. I started coughing. Oh man. It was embarrassing and actually pretty scary. I could see the next wave in the set right there but could not stop coughing long enough to get a good breath. Fuck. I was panicking. I went under, did the best I could, came up and tried to calm down and stop coughing before the next wave.

If there’s anything I’m proud of in this disaster, it’s that I did regain my composure and I used that next wave to belly in.

It was frustrating and embarrassing, but a good reminder that: while it’s great I want to get back out there, it’s not something I can stubbornly force. I have to be gentle in the right places, and tough in the right places.

Oh and stretch more. I need to stretch more.

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New Year’s Day

2015-OBP-01-01

Surf: 3.3 ft at 12.1 s from the WNW at 288°. High tide.

So clean and beautiful and mellow this morning! What a way to ring in the new year. Soft, rolling long waves, an easy paddle, and almost no one out in the early hours. Saw some folks dancing and playing music on the beach, keeping their NYE party going as long as they could. I was pretty beat after so many lovely waves, I opted for brunch and a nap on the sand instead. Super stoked. 🙂

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New Year’s Eve

2014-OBJ-12-31

Surf: 2.3 ft at 12.9 s from the W at 262°. Onshore.

As the year comes to an end, folks start talking about their year: surf stats, highlights, etc. It got me thinking a little bit about this past year. Uff. It was a tough one surfwise for sure. This nagging injury is now a year old and, while I have a much better range of motion, it still hurts every day.

I did a quick scan of how often I’ve surfed this year. I normally average 150-175 surf sessions, this year barely hit the upper 80’s.

It’s been hard being out of the water, being so far off from my usual morning routines, and I miss saying hi to folks, being at the beach, all the things that come along with surfing. It’s also been hard trying to find a balance. Maybe if I hadn’t been so insistent on still surfing when I first got hurt, I might not still be hurt now. But on the other hand, not being physically active also has it’s drawbacks. It’s frustrating to “take it easy” only to have nothing change. I think a few of these aches and pains are from not being mobile. I feel both lazy for not going, and guilty for going.

After wrapping work early, I thought I’d sneak out for a few more waves. The forecast looked small enough not to set off too much neck pain and man, it’s awesome to watch the sun set on NYE from the water.

The wind had sadly switched to onshore and the little waves were a lumpy mess, but ahh well, I’ve surfed worse. It was silly, sloppy wave fun and wow, so clear! What a sunset.

Happy New Year!

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LZ Surf Team

2014-OBP-09-13

Surf: 2.3 ft at 10.0 s from the WNW at 290°. Windy.

Brief LZ surf team outing in total slop waves was actually pretty fun. Nice sunset, nice views of the headlands, a little bit of bodysurfing, and silly sloppy waves.

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Cheese puff

2014-OBP-08-02

Surf: 2.6 ft at 7.1 s from the NW at 311°

Yup, windy and terrible as forecasted but not totally awful. I’m dogsitting and snagged DSaka’s wavestorm for kicks. It was actually pretty fun, even with the sloppy messy waves. Weeeheeehooo. Also very nice to walk down to the beach, surf, walk back, and hot in the shower easy peasy.

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Bodysurf beach day

2014-OBP-07-26a

2014-OBKC-07-26

Surf: 5.3 ft at 9.1 s from the NW at 319°. Windy. Outgoing tide.

It’s been so warm we took advantage of the weather for a beach day. The surf was pretty terrible and my shoulder was acting up again so I traded the board for fins. While I mostly just got drug around by the current, there were some fun little corners and lots and lots of By-the-wind Sailors coming ashore.

After an ice-cream pit stop at Polly Ann’s, I stopped by the north end of the beach to say hi to some friends.

2014-OBP-07-26d

2014-OBP-07-26b

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Warm Ocean Beach

2014-OBP-05-14

Surf: 3.6 ft at 10.0 s from the W at 261°.

Went back out again. This time paddling was easier, but turning still hurt. The waves were bigger, but thankfully still pretty gentle. I was treating my neck as gingerly as possible. I did get some fun ones. The first bottom turn was hard as I could look right, but I got some fun drops.

Already 70° by 7am. Gonna be a hot one today.