Tag: the hook

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.

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.

Surf: 5.9 ft at 9.1 s from the NW at 310°. Low tide.

A little unexpected to be back so soon. The guys had another meeting. Smaller today and I wow was my neck hurting, but still rideable and still kinda fun. I had a little moment of surf etiquette to debate. My friend lives down in SC and was leaving the state soon for grad school. I’d told him we were surfing yesterday, but wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to call him at 4am, when I found out we were headed back, or even 6 am when we were suiting up. Around 7:30 I saw him giving me the “huh?” shrug from the cliffs. Thankfully he wasn’t mad I didn’t give him the heads up. We got a few waves and all was well. After that: breakfast!

Surf: 5.9 ft at 10.0 s from the WNW at 285°. Low tide.

Still sore. The waves were a little bigger than I’d thought, so I stayed out of the pack. It was still a good spot. About half the sets had a wave or two that swung wide and I got some real fun ones. Not as much walking. The waves were really zippy and I went more for swoosh than for heading up to the nose.

The tide was so low. I got hooked up in the kelp a few times. Sploosh!

Afterward, hung around and poked at the tidepools. Lots of little hermit crabs.

Surf: 5.9 ft at 12.9 s from the NW at 311°

Lovely sunny little morning. More small waves. I got a little bit of stepping in, which was pretty fun. I watched another longboarder get in a solid head dip and once fall of his board, bodysurf for a sec before scooping it back up and continuing on. Pretty sharp. 🙂

Surf: 5.9 ft at 13.8 s from the WNW at 297°. High tide. No wind.

Headed south for a pre-client meeting surf.

Wow. The water was SO clear and dark. I saw lots of little fish. There were crabs, sea anemones, kelp, all kinds of things to look at.

Up at the surface, the grey skies and grey water were about as smooth as can be which made wave hunting a little exciting. (I think that’s a wave? Oh yep, it’s a wave.)

The spot I picked was perfect for grabbing scrappy little waves no one else wanted. I worked on some swishing, a little stepping, but mostly tried to squeeze every little bit out of these small waves. Got into a pretty good loggy groove.

Had a leisurely morning with breakfast, a cafe stop, and ice cream.

Sketch a Day 99, Clear Water: