Tag: pleasure point

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Eastside Tour

Surf: 5-8ft with 10ft standouts. 10ft @15s WNW 300° Little warbly and slowing with the incoming tide.

Wow.

I keep saying that, but wow. Not as clean as it has been, but solid on size.

I got probably one of the biggest waves of my life today (I keep saying that too.) I have no idea how large these waves have been during our recent SC sessions (8ft? 9ft?) but they’ve been large and beautiful to ride.

This wave I did everything right. I had a huge bottom turn to a tight top turn. I cut back exactly when I needed to, and I held on every last bit of the wave. I stalled, I snuck around sections, I blew through whitewater, and kept up on the racy inside sections. I kicked out after a nice long swooping ride with dry hair and a HUGE smile. 😀

Of course, not everything can be easy. I also got trounced. I had two savage beatdowns that actually scared me pretty good. I did everything wrong. I was too far inside and took wall after wall of whitewater. I panicked a little on the long hold downs. The second set I was thrashed by, I scrambled to the surface when my lungs were burning and foolishly sucked in a breath that was half foam, half air. I paddled like mad to get out of the way of the rest of the set before coughing up sea sludge. Uff.

After that stomping, we headed from the point down to the hook and snuck in a few more. On the way I got one wave with a big fun drop. Once there, I got a fun zippy one through sharks, kicked out, then realized I was caught in the current. Oh man. Ohhh man. I was exhausted from all the waves at the point, so getting out of this eddy and back to shore was hard. I made it in by digging my heels in and pushing my way against the current the last few feet. OOOOffff.

I did a little bit of sketching during my afternoon meeting to keep awake. Fun day, hard day.

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Big Eastside Waves

Surf: 4-8ft+ Fairly clean. A few lulls but solid 5+ waves sets. Big big. 14ft @ 15s, WNW 283

Wow.

Those were by far the biggest, longest waves I’ve ever caught. I’m floored.

Every wave was big, fast, and racing from Jack’s house to the Hook. Holy cow. So many swooping turns, steep drops, and cutbacks. Lots of waves and LOTS of paddling. Each return trip was nearly a half mile. Chris would catch a wave then be gone for ages while he paddled back.

These waves were big. Usually mellow 38th was seeing 5-8ft waves. Most certainly the largest I’ve ever ridden. I couldn’t even see Chris for most of his waves. There was a good amount of power out there two. A few waves I got the tumble around, but my last wave was something else.

I got a big one, hoping to take it all the way in to the stairs. As I’m zipping down the line, I see it start to fold. I tried to get around it and got NAILED. Ouch.

The first washing machine tumble was expected. I mean, that wave clobbered me pretty good. The second wave on the head, I kinda figured that would happen. The THIRD wave, however, was freaking HUGE.

I swam and I swam as far down as I could go, but the thing still tossed me good. It seemed like I was down there for ages. My ears were burning and I was quickly running out of breath. I opened my eyes but all I saw was green, no white foamy bits. I either got caught back in the froth or got hit by a fourth wave, I’m not sure. More tumbling and flailing, still hadn’t made it to the surface.

Finally I made it up, just in time so see a fifth(?) wave. It wasn’t very big, but at that point all I could was get a good breath before diving again.

Once I was up, I foolishly(?) bolted for the outside to catch my breath. I realized the wash and current had put me right at the peak of the Hook.

After a breather, I tried for a small wave hoping to ride it in and back to land. Nope. Blew the wave, got nailed by the next, and flailed my way into shore trying to ride the whitewater.

I think that’s the longest continuous beatdown I’ve experienced. I was draining water out of my sinuses the whole rest of the day. My board’s dinged with some kelp wedged under the glass.

All and all, it was a pretty fun day. I wound up exhausted, but very stoked with a good story for my ding repair guy.

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New Year – Santa Cruz

Photo by Chris

 

Surf: 4-6ft with some 7+ standouts. Soft. Little bit of texture. Little wind.

Oh MAN was that fun!

I caught a handful of big long waves and watched the sun come up from the water. The tide was high so we were sitting way outside to get into the big softies early instead of the steeper shorter inside waves. With the long lulls and the softness, it seemed like ages before I got my first wave.

That first one was a beeeeeaut tho. Dropping in all I could see was a wall of deep purple. Swooping up for my top turn, the orange gold peeked over the lip. It was quiet. Just me, the wind, and swooping turn after swooping turn. Amazing. The wave was well over my head. Maybe 7? 8?

I got a handful more waves like that, each one a little less purple and a little more gold as the sun came up.

I learned a group of cormorants is called a flight. Fun and educational surf. Superstoked!

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Exhausted in SC

Surf: Beautiful peeling Waist-Shoulder high waves.

So. Tired. OMG.

I think I’m surfed out. It was perfect conditions today and I was slogging along, barely able to catch anything. My arms and my shoulders were burning.

Other than the frustrating lack of waves, it was a pretty fun day. Nicole, Tim and I met Beamer, Robert and Blam down south. Tim got some GREAT waves. He threw some serious spray. Dang.

I mostly floated around and watched everyone else score. Proxystoke is little comfort when you’re out in the water, but much moreso thinking back on it.

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Turnaround session, SC

Surf: Waist high with occasional shoulder high waves. Little bit bumpy. Low tide.

Caught plenty of long fun rides with Chris on the usual 6:30-9 shift.

Packed up, got some patries when Robert and Stefan rolled up for the 10-1 shift. Not sure this counts as a double session but the sun came up and the waves still looked pretty good. I unpacked all the gear,fought to get into my sopping wet wetsuit, and headed back out.

Not bad. Crowd up, wave frequency up, sun WAY WAY up, attitude up, wave size and relative cleanness stayed about the same.

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Welcome back, SC


Photo by Chris

Surf: Mellow, Knee-Waist high. Glassy.

Ahh, back in cold water. Missing Mexico with all my heart but still feels good to be home. Surf was super mellow with long lulls. Got some nice little rides in.

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Stoked!


Photo by Chris.

Surf: Fun, glassy, 2-4ft with some bigger sets. Mellow.

What a morning! I’m still stoked.

Went in with low expectations. Higher tide, forecasts were all suggesting conditions would be “just okay.” Still, happy to get a change to surf Santa Cruz before work.

It turned out to be a really fun session. The waves were clean and had a nice little kick to them. Bright warm sun, blue blue water, and long peeling waves.

My first wave started out mellow and medium sized. As I completed my bottom turn I realized I was looking up at the lip. My mellow warm up wave was turning out to be a nice, peeling, substantial wave. So stoked. So much fun.

Got quite a few nice rides and some compliments from my friends. Spent the whole day beaming. Stoked!

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Day Off!

Surf: 2-3ft, mellow with long lulls. Clean.

Work has been pretty stressful and pretty frustrating for months now. MONTHS. Every week I’d tell myself “If I can just get through this next thing, next week I’ll take a day and drive down to Santa Cruz.” Every week I’d get through the next thing only to find a large pile of thing after that. Sigh. With much of the project now at the printer, I found myself with some warm weather and a day where no one really needed me to do anything. It was soooo on.

I was taking a little bit of a gamble with a small wave forecast, but figured at the least I’d get some sun, some water and a milkshake. Things were in fact small. I spent a bit of time waffling between two spots before deciding. It was plenty mellow and I chased down a lot of waves that didn’t turn into anything, but I got some really nice ones as well.

Lots of waist high rights I spent wiggling down the line, connecting on all the way into the shore. A few solid smooth longboardy lefts. I spent some quality time up on my logo working on a nose ride I just didn’t quite make. It’s funny, I feel like I surf completely different depending on which direction I’m going. Left is more stand tall longboard, few turns, lots of rail. Right is more dips, turns, and the occasional mini-floater. No idea what it is. Seem like today I had to navigate more sections (and kelp) on the right, but I’ve noticed this trend elsewhere. HMMM.

Crowd was pretty friendly too. I got a few compliments on my rides and a big thank you from a guy I called into a wave. Everyone was really stoked to be enjoying some warm sun with their little waves.

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Small Wave Holiday

Surf: 1-3ft. Inconsistent but clean. Warm sun, low winds, blue water.

Sunny and warm down in SC. Small waves, relatively small crowd given it’s a holiday, and lots of kelp. I got one very dramatic over the nose of the board pitch when I came to a dead stop mid wave on a big clump of the stuff. Lots of long rides if you could manage to stay high and I out of the kelp. Got a few into the beach. Really could have used the 9’4 instead of the 9. I went with the 9 just to try it out on that kind of wave and in case it was crowded. The 9′ is great for dodging kelp, but the 9’4’s big float would have made these soft little waves a breeze to catch.

Afterwards I headed to the O’niell shop for their Memorial day sale. The 9’0 now has it’s own bag. 😀

Dropped by Ward Coffey’s shop. I’ve been drooling over one of his boards on craigslist and was looking for an opportunity to talk to him about what kind of fish or shortboard would be right for me. Looks like I’ll prob need something in the 6’4 range, about 2 1/2″ to 2 5/8″ thick so my craigslist board might be too small. His custom boards are really reasonably priced and he had a few suggestion of types of boards and hybrid boards he shapes for people looking to ride the mellow small waves I like to ride.

I still struggle with the idea of a custom board. Not becauseI doubt a shaper’s skill or question resale value or anything remotely considered to be a rational concern, but because all my boards are craigslist finds, giveaways, borrowed boards and I’m not quite comfortable with the idea of a brand spanking new board just for me. Especially a shorter board. I don’t really feel like I’ve earned the honor just yet. Silly, I know.

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Storming in Santa Cruz

Checked 38th Ave

Blown out, cold, choppy and unsurfable.

The Hook was breaking, but still windy as all heck.

After cruising around a while, we decided on Cowells. It was looking small, inconsistent, sheltered from the wind a little. Nothing inspiring but we thought hey, at least it’s small and mellow right?

Surf: 1-6ft, inconsistent, stomping, mellow, choppy, clean….basically schizophrenic surf.

Looking from the cliff it seemed small, barely breaking. In the time it took us to change and paddle out, conditions had shifted to skattered waist high peaks with shoulder + sets. It was confusing, difficult to read, cold and grouchy. Shoulders would jack up, then die, then reform in seconds making most of the wave catching guesswork and luck.

It was like Cowells took a vacation and Linda Mar stood in for it, but was angry about having to do so.

Aaron and I both managed to work some good rides out of it. It was split between clean faces and meandering rights, unsure if the wave wanted you to ride it or not.

Just after low tide, it started to become more organized, Waist to shoulder high peeling waves. Around 4 it started to look like a hung over version of usual Cowells, but by then we were exhausted and ready for some post surf Bear Claws. yum.