sunset session – Page 3 – Learning to Surf

June 22, 2013June 30, 2013

Sea and Surf Weekend

Surf: 4.6 ft at 8.3 s from the NW at 326Â°

One of my roommmates works for NASA. Her project is launching into space this week so NASA threw a friends and family day to come learn about the project and see the launch vehicle.

We made a roommate weekend trip out of it. A few of the girls went down early and had a surf lesson. The rest of us came down the next day.

The surf at the Pismo Beach Pier was looking fun (more fun than Linda Mar was all week), but I had to rush off to Vandenberg.

The presentations and the launch vehicle were super cool. This project uses a commercial jet that gets to altitude, then drops a three-sage rocket. The rocket fires off into space and deploys the satellite. A-mazing. If there’s anything I like more than learning about the ocean, it’s learning about space.

After the NASA trip, we headed back to the beach. Kaitlyn and I surfed a while at the pier. It was mostly closed out, and a little mixed up, but rideable. Watching some of the locals long board was making me jealous, but my hull fit better in the hotel room and still managed to pull off some fun waves.

I’m always happy to check out other breaks, especially when my friends can hang out on a nice warm beach. 🙂

May 15, 2013May 27, 2013

Wednesday Evening

Surf: Glassy, waist to chest high

This morning’s surf looked a little crowded and by midday I was wrangling requests for work, so evening’s was the only shot.

After seeing myself on camera yesterday, I’ve realized a few things.

1- My stance is pretty comical. I need to square off my hips.
2- I could stand up a little taller, that might put more swing in my swoosh.
3- Better wave position. I managed to stay pretty well in the pocket last night on the longboard, but with the hull it’s a little more critical.

I set out with that in mind. The first few waves I was focusing more on squaring my hips than setting my rail, but once I got the hang of it, I got in some pretty good hull swishes and swoops. I made a few sections I didn’t expect to make.

I can do a lot more than I think I can, maybe not with style yet, but there’s plenty I can do if I keep trying.

May 14, 2013May 27, 2013

Tuesday Sunset

Surf: Glassy, waist to chest high with a few larger sets. Fun fun fun. Super glowy.

After being filmed all day, Beamer was hoping to try his hand at shooting. I was pretty tired from the first few sessions, so I grabbed a longboard.

After spending so much time between my hull and my fish, it felt great to be on a longboard again. I’m way more confident on a longboard and was able to set up closer to the peak, take off later, and hold a better line (or at least that’s how it seemed in my head.)

Beamer said the best way to get a shot is to try and run him over. First wave I took off, lined up and shot down the line. Weeeehooo. Fun fun. He got a few good videos before the sun went down too far to see.

After that we surfed for a while in the fading light. The whole point was lit up with little glowing jellies. We’d seen a few in other sunset surfs, but just a few, kinda like fireflies. These were everywhere. Every eddy and wave around the boards was full of little glowing spots.

I went to take off on a wave and absolutely everything was glowing. I almost didn’t make the drop, it was so distracting.

I also tried to go for a noseride in the dark. That didn’t work. I got clobbered by a section. Whoops.

I heard Beamer get one in (at this point I couldn’t see anything) and decided to get one in myself. I realized I had no idea how close I was to shore. I bellied a bit, listening for the waves on the rocks on the beach. Thankfully the tide was high and I cruised in no problem. Whew.

May 12, 2013May 27, 2013

Sunday Evening

I took the fish out for a sunset session. I think it’s conditions, but I feel like I’m less capable on the fish than I’ve been surfing it in SF. I’m not getting the weight right or the rail right. Something’s not quite right.

It also might be that switching between the hull (glide machine) and the fish (only a little glidey) makes the fish feel like it’s in slow motion.

Complaining about not knowing what I’m doing aside, I did have some really fun rides on the fish this evening. Every now and then I get a run where I catch most of the waves I’m going for (instead of missing them) and I’m starting to get more of the cruising pump down. It’s really fun to turn quicker. The waves aren’t exactly right down here, but it’s really fun to try.

May 11, 2013July 1, 2013

Saturday Evening

Surf: A little more windblown, but about the same.

Pretty much more YAY. Fun cruisey evening rides on the hull. <3 After surf, we settled down for dinner and a movie. Only two minutes in to Gangs of New York, this guy decided to join us.

This guy is one of only two scorpions I’ve seen in all my trips down here. Unlike the tiny yellow (very poisonous) one we saw the first trip, this big guy did not run away. Beamer poked him with a shoe. He raised his tail and held his ground. We tried to shoo him away, but he was not having it. Sadly, the confrontation ended with the scorpion being squashed and the humans uneasily tiptoeing around the house for the rest of the night.

May 10, 2013May 27, 2013

Friday Night – Mexico

Surf: Windy, waist high.

We’re in Mexico 😀 Wooo.

The surf is a bit windblown, but the water’s warm. I took out my hull, perfect for gliding around chop. Sure it was a little closed out, but it was fun out there.

I traded Beamer my hull for a wavestorm. Those things feel so fast. I have no idea why. Got a good laugh out of it.

Ahh warm water.

The place we’re staying is cute and cozy. Much more jungle than beach, but still charming. Beamer and I stayed out in the water past sunset and saw plenty of little glowing jellys, just like the last trip.

We made dinner, ate ice cream and watched movies. Yay vacation.

April 10, 2013April 13, 2013

Terrible

Surf: 5.3 ft at 14.8 s from the NW at 321Â°. Winds: ARG.

Wow. The wind has been blowing like crazy, but even with rock bottom expectations, I didn’t think the surf could be this bad. What a frustrating afternoon. Not only did I not get any waves, but I put the first ding in my new board. Sigh.

Waves were big, disorganized, lumpy, closed out, and just plain bad.

February 13, 2013February 16, 2013

Fat lip

Surf: 6.9 ft at 12.9 s from WNW at 289Â°. Low, outgoing tide.

I snuck out early for a sunset surf, hoping conditions had cleaned up since yesterday. They had not.

There were corners here and there, but for the most part the waves closed out. I didn’t get into anything on the shorter board, so I paddled around, ducking here and there. One failed duck dive, my face went right into the rail. Oww. Thankfully it only bled for a few moments, and didn’t puff up too bad. It didn’t help with me feeling competent, but otherwise no harm done.

Stayed out till it was almost dark, rode some whitewater in.

This shorter board stuff is so hit of miss. Some days I’m on, the rest, skunked. So frustrating!

January 17, 2013January 20, 2013

Thursday Sunset

Surf: 2.3 ft at 13.3 s from the W at 270Â°

Yesterday’s sunshine and fresh air was pretty great, so I decided to sneak out again for a few more waves.

It’s been ages since I’ve taken my 9’4 out at Ocean Beach. I usually take my tri-fin longboard, but it’s still dinged, so single fin it was. A few waves were hilariously kooky. We’d camped out on a mushier smaller peak so there was plenty of room to goof off. I got one really fun wave along the seam of the rip. Broke right, left, right, left again. Worked on getting up the nose a bit for some great faceplants.

Great sunset, dolphins, all that good stuff.

January 1, 2013January 20, 2013

2013 – Sunset

Surf: 8.2 ft at 13.8 s from WNW at 294Â°

Morning waves in SC were windblown and not terribly appealing. We wolfed down some breakfast and did a spot check of everything between Capitola and San Francisco.

Most places were big and burly.

Heading up the coast, I saw a bobcat hanging out on a dirt road.

As the sun was setting, we snuck in a quick cold one at the Jetty. Surf wasn’t great. Super closed out and ranging from waist high to head high in a bit of a jumble. Ah well. At least the ride, and the sunset, was beautiful.