Tag: pacheco

Surf: 3.9 ft at 8.3 s from the NW at 323°

This session started out fun. I got a wave, so that’s pretty nice. It was a left and I was relieved (after much paddling on my little fish both to get out and to get the wave) and I wasn’t going to be skunked.

After that it was all sunshine and me being exactly in the wrong spot. I got almost right under Daniel as he was taking off. Sigh. Kook+ move. Then Chris, Eduardo, and Brien somehow got all kinds of tangled up. I had to dive a wave so I couldn’t see what happened, but when the spray settled Eduardo had a big old cut on his head.

We helped him in where Chris patched him up with a comically large band aid that had probably been in his wagon since the 80’s. Eduardo is thankfully okay. No stitches needed.

Surf: 2.6 ft at 15.4 s from the W at 262°

Beamer let me borrow a 5’10 quad fish he’d learned on. I’ve had it in a corner waiting for me to stop battling with my 6’10 for a few sessions to take it out.

Ocean Beach was looking mellow enough today to give it a shot.

After paddling and paddling and paddling I finally made it out. While to board is a breeze to duck dive, it’s a workout to paddle.

I’ve been working on challenging my scaredy-catness, but being on a new board might have been too much to tackle all at once. I almost got in to one wave, but just missed it. Others I was way too outside for. Others I completely panicked trying to duck under because I was too far inside. Sigh.

I did manage to finally get an inside wave in.

The board seems fun. I’m looking forward to trying it out on some easier waves to better get the hang of it. Hopefully one day it’ll be zipping along at Ocean Beach nice and happy.

Surf: 2.0 ft at 10.5 s from the W at 276°. High tide.

This was probably one of those days where I should have said “yeah, you guys go to Ocean Beach, I want to take it easy” and headed south. But I didn’t.

Things weren’t rough, waves were fine, but I just couldn’t get into anything and was getting really frustrated. I was already grumpy enough after waking up to find my roommates had trashed the kitchen again. I couldn’t really get over being mad to focus on surfing. Yuck.

I finally got a pity wave to the inside where I struggled to get a follow up wave on the inner bar. Nada. Bellied in disappointed.

At least the sun was out and the beach was beautiful as always.

Surf: 2.6 ft at 10.8 s from WNW at 289°. Incoming tide.

Might as well do a full beach tour!

Smaller fun little waves and lots of people. Swapped boards with Josh after padding out. He got to try out the hull and I splashed around on a 5’11 fishy. I did managed to pull off a little wave on the swishy fish. It wasn’t anything glamorous, just a little hopping on some small waves. Still nice to know I can actually get a wave on a 5’11. Meanwhile Josh went screaming by as one does on a hull.

Other than that, saw Chris get a really nice little wave. I stepped on a crab. I face planted some more on a few waves. I coughed some more. Pretty typical Thursday.

Surf: 3-5ft. Clean. Occasionally inconsistent. 3ft @ 11s from the W 261°

Oh man, it feels like I’ve been out of the water for EVER. There’s been wind, there’s been rain, there’s even been me not being able to get out of bed before 7.

There’s nothing to get my stoke meter back in black like a nice mellow Ocean Beach day.

After a few logistical hangups and some confusion, I wound up paddling out by myself before running into Drew and Josh in the lineup. I got some very fun waves. While I normally ride a singlefin, it’s a lot of fun to swoosh around nice Ocean Beach waves on my tri-fin. Wheeee-hhheeee. Worked on some mean leans and some cutbacks. Had pretty much all solid waves till I got greedy taking a wave in and faceplanted on a hollow inside section. Nearly bodysurfed that wave in.

Very happy to be back in the water!

Surf: Knee-Shoulder high. Somewhat clean. 3 ft @ 12.9 sec – NW 323°

I’ll admit, Ocean Beach makes me nervous. I pick days on the smaller side and I’m typically out with a buddy or two. As a longboarder there’s that moment where I’m sprinting for my life to get outside knowing I can’t duck the wave that’s coming. I’m worried about breaking a board. I’m worried about blowing a wave and making a fool of myself. I still remember my terribly kooky first time out at Sloat where I had no business paddling out and, after much floundering, washed back up on shore.

All that said, I don’t want tell someone that they shouldn’t try paddling out (assuming it’s not genuinely dangerous conditions) so when my brother said he’d like to join me at Ocean Beach, I agreed. I worried quite a bit, not that he’d get hurt or he’d break a board, but that he wouldn’t have fun. Chris teased me for reminding Wes he could stay in the whitewater if he wanted, or that he didn’t have to go in if he didn’t want to. And in the end, I was being a little silly. Wes paddled out to his own level of comfort and got lots of whitewater rides to the beach. Everything worked out just fine. Sometimes you can’t help but be a big sister, even when you don’t really have to.

I paddled farther out on my 9’4. I don’t take that board out at Ocean Beach as much since it’s sooo thick and the 9′ has a narrow tail for steeper drops. I got a few really fun waves. It was crowded. It’s funny, I hardly ever notice a big difference switching between my tri-fin 9 and my single fin 9’4, but on two of my waves I had probably the widest bottom turn that could still make the wave. Man, I was leaning so far in, my face was nearly in the wave. Ha!

Afterwards we loaded up on Devil’s Teeth cookies and brownies to take into the office. Mmmmmmm.

Surf: Started out 3′ @ 9sNW, cranked up to 4′ @ 17sNNW. Clean, long rides. Went from Waist High to Shoulder/Head High.

Lovely sunday.

Paddled out with Josh and Brein in the early morning for some fun, small, clean waves. As the morning went on, the waves got a little beefier and the rides a little longer. I got some great lefts. There were a few I manage to work some tighter turns into. I got in some great practice listening to the wave and making adjustments with some slow, but slightly better cutbacks. My last wave I might have been able to try and tuck into, the lip was curling right over my head. Still a great wave tho, got me all the way in, stoked as punch.

Lots of fun watching everyone tear it up out there. Some folks were getting beautiful waves.

Sunny, dolphins hanging out. Very nice.

Surf: Start – Waist High, Finish – Head high. Clean, lully.

Yay, another mellow Ocean Beach day! Or at least a day that looked like it was going to be mellow…

Paddling out the waves were very mellow. Waist high sets would roll through with some frequency but the paddle was relatively easy. After a few waves, it was pretty evident that the size was increasing.

I’ve been pretty lucky my last few times out at Ocean Beach. I’ve been out on mellow days with low to no current and an easy paddle. Today was a bit harder. I had at least two paddles back to the lineup that must have taken at least 20-30 minutes. It may not seem like very long compared to the 45 minute paddles most folks do on bigger days, but on my longboard unable to duck dive it was a lot of punching, pushback, punching, paddling, pushback, etc etc.

I was really starting to appreciate those lulls. Whew.

I got some pretty dang fun waves today. Lots of big drops, long rides, and swooping turns. I got one big one on the outside that was quite a drop. There was a moment when I was screaming down the line that I realized all the shortboarders on the inside were looking at me with some very wide eyes. I’m sure it was a mix of “that girl on the longboard is going to run me over” and “I am about to take a pretty big wave on the head.” I hope I did everything right to not embarrass myself. I made my drop, I didn’t run anyone over, and I almost made it to the shoulder after a few tentative turns.

After a few more lovely waves, I decided to go for another big one. I was way too deep. I fell out of the air, attempted to still land, bit it, then went over the falls with my longboard. Oww. I managed to whack my forearm and my shin on the rail pretty good while swashing around, but hey, I didn’t “lose” my board I guess.

I paddled back out to shake it off before getting a super fun right all the way to the beach. Fun fun.

Surf: Waist-Chest High, smooth, and super mellow. 4′ @ 10s, NW.

I love mellow days at Ocean Beach. I get to surf with folks I don’t normally get to surf with and the change of scenery is nice.

With the high tide things were pretty soft. I had a few embarrassing moments paddling out and paddling for waves. I’m still huffing and puffing from being sick and I”m always nervous at Ocean Beach since I don’t normally surf there. After a few blown waves, I got into a much better groove.

Stoooooked. I got a few nice drops followed by long swooping rides. Beautiful morning too!