Surf: 5.9 ft at 17.4 s from WNW at 290°
Last minute SC new years eve camping trip in the van! 😀
Surf was okay. Crowded, but I got a few fun long ones. It was hard work.
Afterwards, a little hot tub time, some Japanese food for dinner, then smores. Slept in the camper van.
Super chill NYE.
Surf: Started out Chest high and slow, became slightly overhead.5.9 ft at 12.5 s from W at 270°. Outgoing tide.
I had a little bit of free time today and I’ve been itching to try out my Vaquero on a nice point break.
The cam’s looked okay. Fairly manageable, a little slow, but I wasn’t exactly racing down. Hell, Beamer and I stopped for lunch on the way.
Getting down there, it looked fun enough, but still slow and on the smaller side. I was relieved. I still have a pit in my stomach from last years Pleasure Point beatings. Even after paddling out and into some reasonable sized waves, I was still a little nervous.
I got a slow wave off the bat, missed a few for a while, then went inside to pick up some little steeper ones. Looking back, the size had really come up. Suddenly things were head high+, clean, and beautiful. The sun was out, people were smiling.
I paddled around till my back muscles were burning. When I got tired, I headed to 38th and cruised along on some chest high waves a while. I was getting a little bit of a look from some longboarders eyeing my little Vaq skeptically, but I got into to plenty of waves and swished and zipped around.
Met back up with Beamer for a hot tub soak and a couple of slices of pizza. Pretty good day.
Surf: Waist to Shoulder High.
By evening, the surf had come up and so had the attitude.
Lots of people in the water including local boys who were shoving each other off waves, dropping in on everyone and their brother, and generally being cocky teenage boys.
I got into a few waves, but had to either swing left to avoid the fray, or kick out. Left was shallow and rough. I skinned my knee pretty good on the coral. Yeoow.
A storm started to roll in and we headed up the beach for drink’s at a friend of Johan’s. I showed up bloody and full of sea urchin spines. Johan’s friend grabbed me a first aid kit and a beer. Patched back up in no time and got to watch the lightning over the sea from a lovely porch on the beach.
Surf: Knee to Shoulder high shorebreak.
Picked up some DaFins before this trip, just for beachies like this. Too whomp to surf (tho there were some local kids picking off rides that ended on dry sand more times than I’d care to take on) but plenty fun on your belly.
Above picture if of Johan bodysurfing a right, and Scott boogie boarding a left. I kinda kept chickening out. I did NOT want a face full off sand. I did finally manage to get some real rides in.
After wearing myself out, I opted for the beach. I peeled off my rashie to find that at some point during thie bodysurf bonanza, I’d scooped up a minnow in my shirt. Poor little dude. Back to the sea you go.
Wonderful dinner. Scott and Steve caught hundreds of pounds of tuna on their fishing expedition. We had tuna steaks, tuna sashimi, tuna sushi, tempura tuna and tuna salad, all on one meal, all deliciously prepared. A-mazing. We listened to the guys tell their sailing and fishing stories till well after the sun went down.
Beamer surfing at sunset
Photos by Aaron.
Surf: Waist high with a few closeouts.
After a wonderful last dinner at the house, we waited for the evening glass off. All of us paddled out, even Jesse. We spent the evening cheering her into waves. It’s always fun to watch your friends get stoked!
Aaron shot some video of Beamer surfing in the dark. It turned out really cool. It’s mostly dark with a little patch of sunset, then WOOSh Beamer goes flying by.
I stayed out till the last little bit of sunset was almost gone. Bobbing around waiting for a wave I realized, there were phosphorescent shrimp in the water! They were like little fireflies glowing away. I finally managed to catch one in and we started a bonfire. Lovely end to a great day.
Photos by Aaron
Surf: Shorebreak. Always overhead when you’re on your belly.
Luis and Alica have Sundays off which made for a lovely excuse to get out of the house. We went up to San Pacho to check out the break and get a bite to eat. Last year, the surf was just stomping at San Pacho. We watched a guy snap a leash. There was barely even a wave there. Beamer and I brought surfboards just in case with fins and boogie boards as a just in case just in case.
There was a wave, but it wasn’t a good one and there were so very many people already fighting for it. Instead Beamer and I boogie boarded and body surfed a while. It was a sand-in-your-ears good time. We met a guy from Oregon who drives to southern mexico every year in his van. He and his girlfriend were going to drive up to Chicago next to see her family, then back to Oregon. Wow.
We got absolutely pounded by the shorebreak. I think I broke one of the boogie boards. Yipe. Pretty fun, but exhausting!
Afterwards we got an amazing dinner in town. They had vegetarian food for Beamer and delicious everything. Drinks, food. Lovely spot.
The drive back home was long. Mexican roads are a little crazy. We had a bus race up behind us, so we pulled off the road, then the bus slowed to a crawl through a town I was calling Playa del Speedbumps. There’s got to be 50 speedbumps in this town. We stopped at a few Oxxos looking for toiletries and only finding candy before finally making it home for some much needed sleep.
Surf: Slightly bumpy with a chance of chicken out.
The house we’re staying in has a recording studio. Kings of Convenience recorded and album here and sat on the same stretch of wall for their album cover that we do for our surf checks. Beamer and Aaron decided to pay homage. Check out the original.
After our photo shoot, we hiked down the coast a ways to try and find this spot Ed had mentioned. It was a bit of a walk and a lot of rocky scramble. We got to the last bit of walkable beach and the tide was too high to keep walking. Beamer wanted to paddle out and work our way over to the beak from there. I… well, I chickened out. I saw lots of rocky boils and shadows and didn’t go. It was a bit of a walk of shame back to the house break. I surfed mostly to cool off from the hot walk in my 2 mil. Sigh.
Tonight was the supermoon. We went for a bit of night swim to celebrate.
Surf: I honestly can’t recall what the surf was like this evening. I suppose that’s what I get for waiting two months to update my little surf journal. I’m sure it was lovely.
This seems like a good time to talk about patience and progress.
I will admit that I’m not always patient. Sometimes I make the 10 minute pasta dish instead of the 50 minute rice dish. Sometimes I take a challenge head on, in such a rush to “get it right” or to see results that I don’t always take the time to really see what it is I am learning to do.
I’ve been fairly patient with surfing, for the most part. I’ve tried to approach surfing from the perspective that this is something FUN I do, not something I need to be the best at. About two years into learning to surf, I got a little impatient. I had a little bit of mild success with longboarding. It wasn’t huge, but it was just enough to make me think “yeah, I got this” and become impatient to move to a shorter board. I struggled quite a bit stepping down. My longboarding skills were too green to smoothly translate to a shorter board. Rather than persistently throw myself at the problem and get frustrated, I put aside the idea of shortboarding to focus on improving my longboarding skills in the hopes that with enough time and practice, I’d be able to take on shortboarding again with more success.
When I spotted my 7’0 on craigslist a year and a half later, I thought it’s wide shape and longboard-like outline might be a little easier to catch waves than the other more traditional shortboards I had tried to ride. Remembering the frustration and difficulty I’d had earlier, I approached this board with patience and low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised to find I did not struggle as much as I had on my previous attempts. I still struggled then, and I still struggle now, but I’ve paced myself. I’ve learned to give credit to all of the skills I’d built up in that year and a half. Instead of focusing on what I “can’t” do right now, I’ve been focusing on how much more I can do than I could before.
When I decided to go back to Mexico, I knew I wanted to take a board. The waves last year were so forgiving and I learned so much through being able to surf every day. I knew this would be a great opportunity to really learn a shorter board away from the Linda Mar crowds. I’d also never traveled with a board before so this trip offered an additional opportunity to learn something new.
While I’ve missed my share of waves on this trip, I have also learned so much. I’ve learned plenty about where to position myself to the peak on a shorter board, how to catch waves, and how to turn. I’ve gained a great deal of confidence on this smaller board that will help keep me motivated as I continue to learn on it. The most important lesson I think I’ve learned is that sometimes it’s okay to step away from a challenge for the time being. It’s not giving up to say “I’ll try again when I am ready” any more than it is progress is relentlessly throw yourself against a challenge hoping it will budge. Determination and patience both have their place and both can lead to progress.
I still have plenty to learn (I feel like I have noooooo style), but I’m looking forward to learning it.
I spent the evening drawing a hermit crab I found sitting by my beach chair at sunset. Drawing is another area where I’ve learned I can set something aside and return to it when I’m ready. So far, so good.
Surf: Waist – Chest high. Little bit closed out.
Fun (and slightly ridiculous) evening session. Carl took the big ole epoxy house longboard out leashless for a little bit of mayhem. The one place I did not want to be: behind that boat of a board. The once place I ended up right as a set was coming. Ohhh man. I sprinted waaay of to the side. Nothing happened, but so many years of Linda Mar cleanup sets flashed before my eyes…boards everywhere. Yiiii. A big challenge for me on a shorter board is sitting on the inside after seeing that kind of carnage over and over. Yiiiiii.
After my moment of spaziness, I got a very nice left. Grabbed the rail and did a little hand drag for extra style points. I love staying low on this board. It’s great for grab rail takeoffs on these little waves. Fun fun.
One thing I’m having trouble with is that I’m missing waves. Beamer and Carl pointed out that I’m taking off like I’m on a longboard. I paddle, then I straighten out my arms and lean back and look around (anti-purl technique?) I need to be keeping my weight over my shoulders and pushing down/in to the wave. I’ll get it, I’m sure.
After surf, had delicious chile relleno. Yum. Love the food here. Luis and Alicia are amazing.
Lots of sea turtles out tonight and Venus shining like crazy.
Venus is soooo bright in the evenings. Then again, Mexico is pretty dark.
Surf: The usual waist-chest high. Little rough around the edges from the afternoon wind but glassing off.
We’ve got some new friendly folks staying at the house. They’re adding a few extra days to their trip hoping for this phantom swell everyone says is coming “tomorrow.”
After the crowded morning, I stuck by the house to get a little bit of room to breathe. Things were closing out a little, but I got a few including one screaming fast one down the line. Yeeeew.
