Tag: santa cruz

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Visiting

2016-10-02-09-15-04-2

Surf: 6.6 ft at 10.0 s from the NW at 310°. Incoming tide. Increasing winds.

Aaron was in town this weekend. We headed down to the Hook early hoping to get some waves before the wind and the tide came up too much. It was small but still pretty fun. I went with my usual strategy of catching the barely waves and working on my steps. I got a set wave or two down at Sharks where there weren’t so many people. Lots of little fish on the inside. Aaron got back into the swing of things. With the tide coming up it started to get funky. Around the time we wrapped the wind was howling. Grabbed a burrito, ice cream, and headed home.

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Father’s Day at Cowells

2016-SCC-06-19

Surf: 3.9 ft at 14.8 s from the SSW at 199°.

Today was a test of the van’s ability to haul lots of us around. 3 adults, 3 kids, sufboards, boogie boards, snacks and beach gear from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. There was plenty of room in for everyone and all the gear. It was a great ride and what a day.

The surf was small, warm, and great for pushing kids into waves. Chris and I paddled out and got some fun long ones. The girls mostly wanted to stay near shore, but one of them was interested in catching a few so Chris pushed her into some waves. She did so well! It was awesome to see her go flying by.

Sure, it was crowded and all the usual Cowell’s snags, plus one unusual snag of a possible shark sighting the day before, but all around it was a pretty fun beach sunday.

 

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Meghan’s Birthday Surf

Surf: 9.2 ft at 12.1 s from the NW at 309°. Outgoing.

Happy Birthday, Meghan!

We couldn’t have asked for a better day for Meghan to take out her new wavestorm and her new wetsuit. It was warm, sunny, the waves were super mellow. Even the crowd was relatively light given what a beautiful day it was.

I got a few really fun ones. I tried to keep working on my steps and a little of the left-go-rights Ashley taught me, but mostly I stayed near Meghan and yelled “PADDLE!PADDLE!PADDLE!” whenever a wave looked like it would get even remotely close.

I hope to have another surf day with her again, soon. 😀

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Long Session

2016-SCSH-03-26

Surf: 8.5 ft at 12.9 s from the NW at 324°. High and outgoing tide.

Whew! I surfed three hours today. Blam was in town and wanted to get in a few waves. We headed south and, which the swell had come down a bit, there were waves to be found. While the hook was pretty packed, a nearby peak was wide open. Eventually we got the spot to ourself and stayed out till I was sunburnt and exhausted.

I’ve been surfing Bo so much that I’d forgotten what it’s like to have a nice zippy long wave. I got some steps real far up and couple cutbacks. It was a really nice day and great to see Blam and Robert.

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Cowells

2015-SCC-05-06

Surf: 9.5 ft at 10.8 s from the NW at 317°. Low tide.

There’s a moment after convincing a friend to get up super early and drive to Santa Cruz when I think “shoot, I hope the surf isn’t total crap.” I pretty much worry about this the whole ride down. Thankfully, there was still a bit of the swell from earlier in the week, the weather was warm, and the waves were nice and long.

I haven’t surfed the west side in a long time. Aside from the usual Cowells crowd, it was just lovely. Long cruisey waves, waves with a little bit of size, and waves with a little bit of pep (sometimes all at the same time even.) I got a little bit of stepping in, a lot of sneaking around sections, but mostly a lot of exercise paddling around and around. I’m so out of shape. Must surf more to get ready for June’s surf camp trip.

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Ouch

2015-SCHK-04-22

Surf: 12.1 ft at 11.4 s from the NW at 307°. Low tide.

Work’s been busy so I haven’t been able to make many SC trips. I think today was the first time I had made it down since October. Conditions were pretty mellow and the tide was very low. Second wave in, I went to kick out and instead flipped the board and landed right on my fin. Ouch. I landed pretty hard, the whole leg cramped up from the shock. I paddled back out hoping to stretch it out and get a few more waves. Unfortunately bothw aves I tried hurt too much on the pop up to make it worth catching more. Too bad. I watched some other folks catch waves before heading back north with an ice pack and a bruise.

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Sunny morning

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Surf: 6.6 ft at 12.9 s from the WNW at 285°

So lovely to wake up in Santa Cruz and walk down to the water. My wetsuit was freezing cold and pretty wet from last night’s surf, but warmed up quick on the walk down.

Waves were much smaller today, with a few good sized ones here and there. The sun was out and, for the most part, people were super friendly and having a great time. I shared a wave with an older guy I see out there often. After he called me into the wave, I looked back to make sure there was enough room for both of us and saw he was crouched down inside the most pint-sized of barrels. Yeah! 😀 What a fun wave to share.

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A key

2014-SCPV-10-21

Surf: 9.8 ft at 14.8 s from the WNW at 294°. Incoming tide.

After a very busy and very stressful run at work, I snuck off to an airbnb in Santa Cruz for a much needed getaway. In a rare stroke of luck, some sizable swell came in as well. My host happened to have a key to Privates and let me borrow it for the evening surf session. That is a lovely staircase and park.

The waves were pretty perfect for surfing that break, too. The waves had just started to glass off and the rides were really long and smooth. I’d gotten out a bit late and it got dark far too soon. I couldn’t resist watching the sunset over the water. My last wave was in almost complete darkness, which was fun and fast (I could see the even darker patches of kelp streaming along below.) I did have a bit of a moment when I realized I hadn’t been keeping track of where I was in relation to the stairs and now the tide was too high to walk along the beach till I found them. Thankfully it didn’t take too long to work it out. I kept looking for a shadow with a hard edge, anything different from the rough cliffs and trees.

Wrapped up with a nice dinner and a show. Perfect getaway!

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Modest south

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Surf: 5.9 ft at 12.9 s from 170°. Low, incoming tide.

While it’s both a little too early for the Marie swell and Santa Cruz doesn’t pick up much of the super steep south, there were still some fun, clean, tasty waves this morning.

I got some real nice, long, fun-sized waves and worked on cheating my way up to the nose. While I’m not sure how successful I was, I got some really good practice working my way around sections while way up in the front. Whee.

Really nice morning.

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Morning party waves

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Surf: 4.3 ft at 11.4 s from the W at 276°

Fun little waves this morning. Plenty of people but still plenty of space to share a wave. I worked on a few steps, even sharing a wave with Chris while trying to sneak up the nose a little. Sure, it was small, but there were a few that were worth getting up and driving down for 🙂

Big highlight of my morning was surfing and paddling a ton without totally wrenching my neck and shoulder. I’ve been doing physical therapy trying to get all these aches and pains under control. I was bummed to hear “stop surfing until your shoulder is better”(as well as “stop drawing”!) Naturally, have not stopped doing either of those things (with plenty of wondering “Gee, why isn’t it better?”) I’ve been doing my workouts, stretching often, and I’ve been trying to focus on my posture and my paddle form. So far, so good. I am surfing less, but I feel like having some form of activity is healthier than just laying in bed expecting a magic recovery.

Just being able to make it through a session with only minor necktweak pain is a pretty big win.