Tag: pacifica

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Rockaway

Surf: 2-4ft, Mellow and Crumbly. Sunny.
Board: 5’10 Retro Fish.

With summer on it’s way, I’ve been eying a few smaller wave shortboards on craigslist. The shortest board I’ve been able to stand up on was something like a 6’3 or a 6’4 so I figured I’d try one of Josh’s little fish and see how it goes.

I spent most of the day practicing my duck dive. I’ve been working on this for a while, usually flailing around on boards that are WAY too thick for someone my size.

Shove, kick, dive, surface. Seems pretty easy, but with the thick boards I’ve been using I just haven’t been able to do it.

With Josh’s help, I practiced keeping the board stable under water, practiced kicking, and FINALLY got on some clean duck dives. I was really starting to get frustrated not being able to do it.

I also pulled off a spectacular arial display. I dove under the wave, the wave pulled the board out of my hands and then SHOT about 4 feet straight up. Josh got a kick out of it.

Mostly I stayed out of the way, went for a few waves, and floated around. I had pretty low expectations. This fish is about 4 feet shorter than my usual boards so I wasn’t expecting to shred. Getting in the clean duck dives was a pretty special bonus and the post surf BBQ was pretty extra special. 😀

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Lightning, Thunder, and Rainbows

Surf: 2-4ft. Inconsistent and soft on the low tide, picked up as the tide came back.

Fun, but storming morning in Pacifica. Driving rain, thunder and lightning, slightly jumbled waves. Surprisingly, the waves weren’t that bad. Caught quite a few before my hands were so frozen my thumbs were opposed to being opposable.

Great rainbow arcing in to the ocean made this a pretty great day to start a Thursday.

Still haven’t worked out all of my thyroid stuff. Got the new meds, have definitely been feeling better, but was WIPED out around 3 or so after this session. Wow. Still not back to 100%, but trying hard!

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Slosh Patrol

Surf: Mixed up, 2-4ft waves with 5-6ft occasional standouts. Very sloppy, inconsistent and hard to catch.

Early morning waves were looking pretty messy. Paddled out, sloshed around, and got some exercise. Looong paddle out on the longboard. Plenty of pushback. Great sunrise through the fog though. 🙂

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Springtime sun!

SURF: 3-4 ft + waist to shoulder high occ. 5 ft. This morning’s dawn patrol: Clean, glassy lines with workable inside sections. Offshore wind with sets running shoulder-head high.

After yesterday’s jumbled surf and worn out arms trying to catch it, I decided to take a few more laps at Linda Mar. Soft waves on a high tide means a hard paddle to get into a waves that’s lacking the oomf to turn into a good ride.

I only had a little time before I needed to head to Berkeley for lunch so I picked off a few nice waves, socialized in the lineup, soaked up some sun and packed it in. Not the best waves, but a nice morning.

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Jumbled, rocky morning

SURF: Waist to Shoulder high. VERY Disorganized. Choppy, sloppy, and an all around mess.

Gear: 10’6.

Having finally recovered from the weekend and convinced by my friend’s stoke from the day before, I hit Linda Mar for a morning session. The clean organized waves he’d caught the day before were messy, nearly uncatchable and wildly unpredictable.

He managed to snag a few decent looking rides, a leash snap, and a long swim in to shore. I got one clean face for a few seconds and another that I swamped a rail on.

The leash snap got me thinking about protocol in a leash breaking situation. I did a quick check in with Chris who signaled he was okay, then scrambled over an incoming set. I felt like I should paddle in and stay with him till he made it to shore, but the waves suddenly picked up and I was doing my best to stay out of trouble. After some time underwater rolling about, I managed to spot him again, happily reunited with his board.

Had he not been confident he’d been able to swim in, I suppose we could have ridden out the set holding on to the monster 10’6 I was on just outside the impact zone. If I’d been closer to the beach than him, I wouldn’t have hesitated to chase down his board and hope both boards and myself would make it through the big set of waves. Thankfully another surfer on the inside was able to snag the board, get out of the way of incoming waves and hold on till Chris was able to get it from him. Whew.

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Sunny Morning for the 7’4

SURF: Waist to Shoulder high waves. Fairly clean, but a little swamped with the tide. 5.5ft @ 9s from NW at 306°

Gear: 7’4.

With the Stewart in the shop being patched up, the 7’4 was a good choice for a little paddle practice. The waves cooperated enough that I could paddle out without too much trouble, but still get into position on a steeper wave to really try the board out.

I caught two waves.

I faceplanted them both.

It’s all practice. I practiced being in the right spot to catch a wave, I practiced paddling, I practiced safely tumbling around in the wash after pearling a board.

I’ve been practicing a lot of things lately.

I’ve been under the weather a bit. My thyroid has been out of whack. It’s a reoccurring problem, this time cause when my doctor was unable to give me a new prescription before my old one ran out. It pretty much makes me tired beyond tired. No amount of sleep can make me feel better and since I know sleeping in will do me no good, I get up early and surf instead. I ache, my muscles are tired and I can barely keep up, but I keep going. I keep practicing.

The more engaged I can keep my mind and body, through surfing, skiing, biking, skateboarding, anything, the easier a time I think I will have hanging in there till my system recovers. I take on the challenging surf days, THEN sleep in, exhausted for good reason and resting deservedly. Like in surfing, I’m learning to practice balance.

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Sunset to Snow

Surf: 2-4ft, clean, inconsistent. Dark.

After Tuesdays bigger wave morning, I was pretty excited to hear the swell was dying down. At high tide the waves were mushy. It was an easy paddle with lots of sprinting for mushy waves. I wound up doing a fair amount of kooky riding, trying to make bottom turns standing on my nose.

I surfed till I couldn’t see, went home, packed a bag for Tahoe. California living is pretty special.

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Paddle Out in the Storm

Surf: 4-10ft, 20s period. Raining, Windy.
Gear: RipCurl G-Bomb and 7’4 roundtail.

We’ve had storm after storm the last few months. I’ve watched the buoys spike, heard the rain pounding away at my windows, and grumbled about how it was soo big and too rough to go out. I had a new wetsuit and a new board but no beautiful day to try them both out on.

Sometimes you have to suck it up and take on unruly surf.

Josh talked me in to a dawn patrol at Lindy. Long period waves were pitching into closeouts but I did manage to paddle out AND paddle back in without getting stomped. Didn’t catch a wave, but got to claim some success in at least getting out in conditions I’m not comfortable with.

The waves were really beautiful, giant blue-grey walls on a big grey black sky. Slices of whitewater peaking through right before it slammed shut in a curtain of whitewater and a roar of spray. Not too shabby too look it. The rain wasn’t mixing well with the salt water so there was a sliver layer on top disappearing into the sea. Pretty cool.

The new wetsuit is amazing. Warm, flexible, no flushing. I’ve always liked my old suit. It’s sturdy, warm and comfortable, but the G Bomb is very toasty. Even in the pouring rain and howling winds I stayed warm and even a little dry. Definitely digging the upgrade.

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Mellow Morning at Lindy

Surf: Knee to Waist High. Clean, but inconsistent.

Lovely morning. The moon was setting over the ocean, lighting up the water like a big ole painting. I watched the little waves for a while waiting for Chuck arrive. We paddled out to small waves, great for a longboard but a little trickier for Chuck on the shortboard.

I got a few mellow rides. The best wave of the morning went to Chuck. He’d called me into the wave, but it was the first good sized wave all morning so I called him into it instead. He got a nice little ride out of it.

I love calm mornings.

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Catching closeouts before the rain

SURF: 3-4ft, inconsistent and mostly closed out.

Luke, Emily and I hit Linda Mar in an attempt to get a little surfing in before the HUGE winter storm on it’s way to the west coast. The rain hovered just offshore, occasionally lightly drizzling. Surf was meh. Most rides involved outrunning the closeout so none of the finesse I was hoping for.

I tried out one of Luke’s boards. It’s amazing how well suited my Stewart is for me as well as how different a board that’s the same size feels. Slight variations in shape really do feel different once you’re used to a certain board.

It was good to get in the water after 2 weeks out sick. Rain was already coming down when I brought my gear home.