Stinky and Fun

What smells like fish and brings pure pleasure? That's right, the surf at the cliffs right now. 2-3 occ 4' and super clean peaks, peeling in both directions. Saw old man Neil get piped this morning. Guy was smiling ear to ear as he rarely gets the wave of the day.
I got my share of waves. Again loooooooooong rides by HB standards. I got about 5 hacks on one wave all the way to the beach. Peeling shoulder high and throwing fins the whole way.
Surf picked up a little from yesterday and the NW should fill in some more tomorrow so I'm looking to get another fun session in the morning. End this thing right!
Red tide has been coming and going bringing in some cold water with it and stinking up the water. That's the only down side. The water was clear this morning but the reek of the red tide was lingering.

Smaller but still fun

Surfed NS this morning. It was smaller than yesterday but still had some fun sets come through. The crowds came out with the smaller size though so getting your wave was a challenge. I was short on time because I checked the wrong spot first this morning (60th st Newps). These mornings are getting tighter and tighter. Anyway, I only surfed for about 40 minutes and I only managed two waves. Both were decent, but nothing compared to yesterday.
I snapped a couple of pics to give an idea of size/conditions.

September Session

Epic morning this morning. Pulled up and Jeff, Mike and Neal were all checking it with the cool light offshore winds blowing on it. I saw it and thought perfect. HH sets, peeling rights and lefts, light offshores creating nice little acorn shaped barrels.
Jeff was skeptical and was griping that the swell dropped but there was still plenty of size and in fact the conditions were so much better this looked to be a great morning.
First wave of the morning might have been my best of the summer. 200 yard long peeling HH left hitting it off the top the whole way down. My surfing has never been better.
Turns out there were more to come, some a little bigger, some a little smaller, all with smooth faces and peeling.
About 1/2 hour into the session about 30 dolphins came by and just hung out. Were'nt really swimming around much, just hanging out and chilling. Coming within 10' at times.

Awesome.

Big and Nasty

Ugh! Went to the cliffs this morning expecting a repeat of yesterday, or at least hoping for one. When I got there Jeff was standing at the cliff and hurriedly came down and met me in the parking lot and said "Don't even check it, just suit up." I figured it must be good and Jeff was just anxious. It was supposed to get bigger so I expected it to be a bit bigger than yesterday.
Well, as we walked up to climb down I noticed it had gotten a lot bigger, and there was some texture on it. I began to realize Jeff didn't want me to look at it because he knew I would've said "Lets go somewhere else". Now that I was suited up I was committed. Jeff was excited because he likes the size.
Well, as we paddled out I was realizing it was really big, and we paddled out at absolutely the wrong time. No channels at the beaches right now so it was just take it on the head one after another. After taking about 20 waves on the head I turned and came in. Jeff wasn't deterred and he just kept his monkey arms going and made it outside eventually. I watched from the beach for a bit trying to decide if it was worth another go. After all, I hadn't logged a wave to count a surf off session yet. I was watching and no one was getting any wave that looked very good. A bunch of big bumpy closeouts and a lot of work paddling around. About the time I decided I had the surf off wrapped up and I didn't need to put myself through the agony of paddling out and getting worked I noticed an owner desperately calling their dog who was attempting to swim out to its owner. I jumped in and paddled to the dog and turned it around and it headed back to the beach. At this point I was already half way out so I figured I would go the rest of the way.

As I neared the lineup I saw Jeff motioning to me to hurry up...a set was coming and he didn't want to be responsible for my drowning. I made it out and over the set, realizing that it was big and I had little chance on my 6'0" of catching anything. About the time I looked over at Jeff and said "I have no chance out here, I'm just going to try to find a way to get inside and catch a tweener in" another set came. I turned and looked at a right but Jeff was inside and decided to go. As I looked over the ledge it was confirmed, these drops were gnarly and it would be a miracle if I could paddle in for one and make the drop secondly.

The next wave came and I decided to give it a look. I turned and there was a left coming through I paddled and looked over the ledge, all the while thinking "there is no way I'm going to make this wave". Before I knew it the bottom was dropping out on me and the decision was mede for me before I had a chance to make up my mind. I was going and it was just a matter of whether I was going in the preferred controlled fashion or going to be held underwater for who knows how long. I popped to my feet and the bottom kept dropping out and I was just focusing on staying ahead of the lip. As I went down the face gaining speed and my balls went up into my throat I was on an adrenaline high and suprised with the ease of which I was able to navigate through the lumps and bumps and the really fast hollow wave. As I saw the whole thing start to throw out I turned and straightened out to stay in front of the lip for fear of ending up in traction. I succussfully made it out in front and I laid down on my board took it in and figured I had conquered the day, no need to tempt fate.

Smart move as I looked back outside and saw my friends all ditching their boards as a solid 8' set came rolling through cleaning everyone up.

So I figure I pushed my limits, and took the best the day had to offer at this spot. An adrenaline filled drop to fast shoulder and a closeout ending.

Yeaaaaaah!

So fun at the cliffs today. Ch-Sh high with some HH sets, even bigger at times. I stayed out for two hours and got a ton of waves. It was crowded but Agro Rob and Od Rod were around and most people stay clear of them. They don't mind me hanging with them though. Kinda nice cherry picking off of the enforcers.

Mullet Mike does the same thing and we were kind of yucking it up in the parking lot afterwards. Man those guys just don't stop hassling the whole time in the lineup. They kind of have their own set of rules. If they don't recognize you they feel like they don't owe you anything and if anyone burns them or any of the people they know, they hassle them right out of the lineup. Not sure I really endorse their behavior but I'm glad I fall in the category of "people they know".

Not as fun

Well. Surfed this morning. The surf was textured but there was a little swell in the water so Jeff and I decided to paddle out and hope the morning sickness would subside. It didn't really. We each got a couple of decent waves but all in all it was pretty bad.

Oh well. A swath of NW is supposed to come in this weekend, along with some hurricane swell from Linda. Hoping for the best.

Fun Times at the Cliffs

I was heading to NS to see if I could meet up with Jeff, but we hadn't arranged anything so when I saw Agro Rob and Mullet Mike at the cliffs I stopped and paddled out with them.
It was fun. Kind of soft on the outside but gaining in speed as you went down the line. I got a few long rides on my new 6'0".
Not sure I really like that board. It is a bit too fishy and isn't snappy enough. I'm figuring out what it or I can/can't do and almost blew a couple of waves. Luckily I held on and got some fun long rides. Good times all around though.

Sunday Family Time

The Mrs. and McCoy came down early with me to the cliffs and I got another session in. Got a lot of very bad waves. Water was warm and it was nice to have the Mrs. down where she got to meet the crew.

Saturday Suprise

Went down with the dog Saturday and while it wasn't great there were some waves on tap. I had a fun session on my 5'8". As the tide came up it pretty much mushed out but I had pretty low expectations so it was all good.

Trunkin it!

Surfed small but fun waves on the NS of the pier in HB. My Spring suit gave out with a crack in the crack and my short john rashed up my underarms so I trunked it instead of using a full suit.

Water was cool at first but it warmed up. While there wasn't a lot of size this morning there were a lot of ridable waves. Very consistent so I did a lot of paddling and caught a ton of waves. Surfed the new/used 5'8" this morning. That board is a pretty fun ride. Especially in smaller but nice shaped waves.

I heart jimena

Got a bit of hurricane jimena swell. Not too big...kinda small actually. But there were a few fun ones and the water was WARM. It felt good.
Surfed my newest quiver addition, a 5'8" little disc that a buddy sold me for $100. Thing has no rocker but is a really fun little board. Surfs like a little skid pad. Got a ton of waves.

After the session I did my usual routine and went over to get a juice at jamba juice. I parked at a meter, where I thought my beach pass worked. When I came out five minutes later a parking cop was writing me a ticket! I explained that I thought the beach pass worked there and she explained that this stretch of meters are the ONLY meters where the beach pass doesn't work. I then explained it was an honest mistake and had I known I would have parked in the very next spot over (a meterless 24min limit spot) or put one of the 100 quarters that are in my ash tray in the meter. She said "too bad, it's already done". 45 bones. That's almost as much as my new skid pad cost.

Good Fun

Surfed NS of Huntington pier this morning. It was chest high with maybe a couple of bigger sets. Very fun playful warm waves. Good to be back where the water is warmer and the crowds are nicer.

Sharks

After surfing in the AM and then my friend went skydiving while Erin and I had breakfast with some friends. Then we played softball, to top it off we paddled out again at a spot called sharks. All the more spooky when we saw what looked like a floating dead seal about 50 yards outside the lineup. Turns out it was just a seal shaped log.
The tide was a bit high causing a ricochet bump off the waves, which were already suffering from the high water. Anyway, it was good to get out in the water...again.

The Santa Cruz Experience

Yeah, I made it up here last night but I got hear just in time to see the last of my friends paddling in from their night surf (around 10:00PM). Oh well. This morning I was on it for the typical Santa Cruz experience. Great waves, cold water, lots of Kelp, and even more attitude.

Surf was mostly waist to chest and kind of soft at the hook this morning. Occasional head high sets coming through. Talk about unintimidating waves. These things just kind of push through for a nice slow easy takeoff with a long playful wall. Some would barrel and saw a few guys get tubed but even the tubes were not really sucking out that much. Duck diving the set waves was so easy, (as long as you weren't all tangled in a kelp patty).

I got my share of waves for sure. My friends made fun of me because I was paddling all over the place. The take off zones are so well defined you only need to sit there and wait for one to come to you. All my paddling around was mostly futile effort, although I got some good exercise. I guess surfing beach break has made me a little trigger happy.

I always tell people that if you paddle out in SC you will see an arguement. Today was no different. A longboarder paddled out and cherry picked three set waves within 10 minutes. A hot shot (dude could have been a pro he was so good) shortboarder had enough and on the third wave just took off in front of him. The longboarder, having taken off at the peak, just stood his ground and a collission ensued. The shortboarder was so pissed (even though he technically was the culprit) that he grabbed the guys longboard and broke the fin off with ease. It was such a reflective action that it was obvious this guy had done this (broken fins off guys boards) many times before. Then he told his bros "I just wanted that guy out of the water and I didn't want to spend a long time arguing about it". Typical Santa Cruz.

Fun times all around though.

32nd Fun

Surf was fun and a bit smaller at 32nd street.

Got in really early this morning so I could get a few off the Jetty before the crowd showed up. I got two really fun waves, and then the place was packed.

Might get a night time session in tonight with the boys from Santa Cruz. We'll see if I can make it up there in time.

Same story

Similar anyway. Checked HB pier and it looked a bit walled. Hit 38th st instead.

It was bigger still, even though the forecast keeps saying it's going to drop. This time I got some time at the jetty so I got a couple that lined up before I reverted back to the dumpy barrels. Man so many people getting shacked this morning. Unfortunately I was not one of them this time.

Dumpy Barrels

Surfed 38th st. this morning. It was a bit bigger than the past couple of days. 2-4 and barreling but dumping on the sand. It was a get up, tuck in, get worked kind of morning. All fun, but I've got sand everywhere and feel thoroughly exfoliated.

32nd

Did 32nd in Newport again. Not sure why. It was kinda small yesterday and it was kinda small today. I guess I didn't want to deal with the current at HB.
Tomorrow I'm going to the Cliffs for sure. Enough of Newport.

Monday Newps

Hit Newport early this morning. It was a bit on the small side, but there were a few sets that came through. Fast lefts and rights. I got a couple but mostly was caught behind the sections.

The best wave I caught a guy started to burn me and then unsuccessfully tried to pull out and went over the falls, almost into me. I was able to avoid the collision so no damage done. :)

Sunday Trestles

My friend James and his wife Kirsten came down and we met up for lunch and then James wanted to go for a surf. I heard Newport was going off and it is close to home so we headed down there. Parking was impossible, I saw a black ball flag, and the surf looked on the small side so we just hit the road south and did the trestles experience.

We surfed uppers...or at least the north end of uppers. Not sure what people call it but the main uppers break looked so packed we didn't want to deal with the crowd. We basically paddled straight out from the end of the road. There were head high sets that were mostly walld, warm water, and lots of people. I got a few corners that allowed me to make a couple of turns in. I swear I was invisible as I got burned so many times it was ridiculous. Getting burned is bad, but getting burned by guys that fall off and shoot their boards at you is even worse. I guess it's all part of the trestles experience though.

Training Again

Got a call from the Washington State gremmies Friday and I took them out again, this time at Bolsa Chica. Surf was mixed up and smaller than expected.
Took them back and and headed back down to the cliffs where it would be bigger. It was bigger but totally mushed out because of the wind/tide. I decided not to paddle out.

Cliffs This AM

Upwelling has the water cool again in HB. Probably around 60 or so so I had to revert back to the full suit. On a good note the swell is finally starting to show, if only a little. I got my first couple of real surfable waves on my new board. So far so good. It carries speed through the flat spots well, drives down the line and allows me to generate speed. It might be a good board for me.
Probably one of the few times I've outsurfed Jeff. Jeff broke his board last week and has had to use his backup board which is really thin. The weak surf did not allow him to catch waves very easy or generate any speed. He was totally frustrated...especially when he saw me get a couple.

Surf School

My cousins from WA were down and requested a surf lesson. I obliged in what were good teaching conditions. I got a couple of small waves to log the session and spent most of the time pushing my cousins into waves.
The water cooled down a bit which I hope changes as the new south fills in. I can't wait until we get some surf and I can try my new board on waves with a little punch.

New Board

Checked river jetties and it was miniscule this morning. Ended up back on the North side with my new board. Surf was small but I got a few waves.
The new board was different than I expected. I wanted something almost the same as the board I ran over a few weeks back. This one is wider in the tail than I wanted and has a deeper fish tail. The surf was so weak this morning that I couldn't tell how it performed so the jury is still out. The only thing I know is that it paddled well and caught waves easy. Any other assessment will have to wait until we get some waves. hopefully this weekend.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaack

Came back and got wet this morning on the north side of HB. I've got a new board due today so I'm amped about giving it a go tomorrow.

Surf was small/weak this morning. Water was warm and it was good to be back on a board again after my 10 day hiatus in the surfless Aegean sea.

Surf off payoff

Today is the day the Surf off paid off. I looked at it and almost didn't paddle out in spite of the surf off. But the surf off was the last little push I needed to get myself into the water. The surf didn't look like much and I knew it would still be cold like the day before.
The surf turned out to be better than it looked and I scored some waves and was glad I chose to give it a go. But it was damn cold!

So Lame

The surf was horrible this morning. I drug my friend Jeff out kicking and screaming. We got a few pseudo-waves. All in all the surf stunk the water got colder, but I got in.

Cooler

windswell picked up this morning bringing an upwelling of cooler water. I wasn't really into it but I still caught a couple of waves and then got out to get to work early.

Fun times

8/2/09- Surf was fun this morning. 2-3' and consistent. I started off thinking quantity not quality but after I got a few fun waves I figured both were available to me. Surfed for nearly 2 hours and scored around 30 waves at least. The whole crew was out, including the new legend Odd Rod. Ralph was nowhere to be seen ;-)
The only thing that dampened my morning, albeit briefly, was that at the end of one of my better waves I decided to pull a floater air drop which I executed pretty well. But precisely the time I landed it I saw a guy on a 8' fun board trying to drop in back side right into me. The board hit my shin while I still had plenty of speed. I heard the crunch and hoped it was the sound of a weak glass job on a beginner board and not the sound of my bones crunching. It took me a good 30 seconds to figure out which it was while the guy asked me repeatedly if I was all right while I didn't answer. Partly because I didn't know yet, and partly because I was so pissed, even though his biggest transgression was being a bad surfer which I can't really hold against him because depending on whose scale you use I can fall into that category sometimes. Turns out I was OK and paddled back out without saying anything. I got a pretty big lump on my shin, but I take solace in the fact that the guy probably has a pretty big ding repair ahead of himself. :-)

Catching Up

Saturday 8/1/09- Hadn't surfed the cliffs since the Big Swell last weekend and so I got the opportunity to talk to the crew and find out all the stories. I figured the place was unsurfable because of the current and size and just wanted to find out where everyone turned to when their home break wasn't ridable. Agro Rob, Mullet Mike, and Neil never paddle out anywhere else so I was just wondering where they would stray off to when it was just too crazy at their home break. Well it turns out mullet Mike actually paddled out in the peak of the swell on Friday at the Cliffs. The way he tells it he watched it for an hour and figured out how to time the sets to get out. Talked a guy named Jeremy, who I'm sure I met but can't picture, into giving it a go with him. Jeremy got washed into shore, mullet mike not only made it out but surfed six waves without even getting his long mullet wet. He drifted nearly a mile north though and had a pretty long hike back.
Sunday is when all the action was I guess. The surf was dropping enough to lure the die hards back in the water. Agro Rob, who's a much better surfer than me, got washed into shore, got pissed off and took his act to Bolsa Chica, where I was surfing that day. Mullet mike paddled out and said he had a fun session but had to do the run around to keep up with the current. The real story from that day was when Odd Rod mixed it up with a guy named Ralph on a SUP. What Ralph was thinking I have no idea.
Rod is in his late fourties, has a completely square head that he makes even more square by attempting to self sculpt a flat top that is no more than 1/8th of an inch on top and completely bald on the sides. He has a neck tatoo, is about 6'1" and weighs probably around 205 of solid muscle. When he speaks you can barely understand his mumbling, and might even have an indistinguishable accent. The guy shreds too and is one of the best surfers out there on any given day. Only bested by his fifteen year old son Dirk and maybe a handful of pros that occassionally show up. If Rod told me a story about how he shanked some guy in prison in his younger wilder days I would totally believe him. He really reminds me of Brad Pitt's character in snatch, which is why the following story completey dumbfounds me.
This guy...Ralph...is on a SUP on this pretty big day. It's breaking 5-7' consistently and some 10'+ sneaker sets coming though. I've seen Ralph out before and wouldn't know his name if not for this story being relayed to me from Mullet Mike. He's an average surfer at best and probably shouldn't have been out at all but there he was on his SUP trying to cherry pick a wave out the back. Rod caught the wave at the peak and Ralph decides to go waaaay out on the shoulder. Rod doesn't say much in the water, and if he does you can rarely understand him anyway. His style is to just surf around people, obey ediquette and if you burn him he won't say anything to you, he'll just run you over or pull some unbelievable maneuver to get around you or push you out the back. Rod, true to form, charges hard and the wave had enough face for Rod to go high around the much slower and unsteady Ralph. It all looked great and Rod was sending a message without saying anything up until everything went horribly wrong. Rod's leash caught the back end of the 10' SUP and took both of them down on top of each other. Rod was now caught up in seven feet of whitewash with a 10' Stand Up Paddleboard, Oar, and Ralph so he just goes deep and stays there as long as possible to avoid collisions. Much to Rod's surprise when he finally surfaces Ralph is on him throwing blows. Ralph was pissed because he says it was his wave because he was standing first...seriously. WTF. Of all the people to make a crazy claim against and to throw down with. Bad move Ralph.
Rod decided to take the whole thing to the shore. Ralph stayed in the water while Rod put on a ball cap and glasses as if to disguise himself. Ralph paddles way up the beach to the lifguard stand in hopes of getting some protection, maybe the smartest thing Ralph did on this day. Unfortunately for him the guard stand was empty, either because of budget cuts or the lifeguard was off helping someone on what was probably a pretty busy day. Rod now challenges Ralph by pulling off his glasses and saying "now what?", at least that's what they thought he said. Ralph lunges at Rod again but this time Rod is ready, jumps on him breaks Ralph's nose and opens his lip before Ralph went for his oar and started swinging it wildly before a fellow SUPer talkles Ralph, knowing full well the SUPs would likely be banned or beaten down by every surfer on the beach if someone got injured by Ralph's antics. With the intervention the altercation was over.
Man, I guess I missed all the fun.
The stories were more exciting thant he surf. It was small, only breaking on the inside sandbar, but fun nonetheless. Water is ridiculously warm so afterwards I threw on my trunks and took McCoy for a swim against his will. He'll forgive me at some point.

Lil' better

The surf improved a little this morning. Surfed on the North side with big hair Steve and Jeff. It was a pretty fun session with really warm waves, until it all went completely flat.

Mushy

Soft and mushy high tide lines. Got a couple but they fizzled quickly.

I was worried the water might drop in temp so I wore my full suit only to find the water was really warm. Ooops.

Jaded

After our run of excellent surf things have backed off. Today is what would be a normal summer surf day with shoulder high sets warm-ish water. But the tide had it kind of soft and there was an early crowd of unfamiliars. Jeff, Steve and I surfed and we actually all got some pretty good waves all things considered. But we complained anyway. After the epic surf last Friday and Saturday I guess we expected to have HH+ barrels for the rest of the summer or something.
Back to the water...it was warm with cold spots. This is dangerous in HB as the water can quickly drop 10 degrees from an upwelling. Lets hope not.

Back to normal

Surfed 38th st in Newport this morning. More like 37th st close to the 36th st jetty. Anyway, there were fun hollow lefts coming through. Didn't surf particularly well but I got a few fun waves. Water is the warmest it has been.
Some HH sets coming through but mostly waist to chest high.