Sunday, July 23, 2006

Better than yesterday

Yep, better than yesterday. I caught more waves than yesterday and it was less crowded. The parking lot was a lot emptier, but there was still an RV camped out in two or three spots. I can't tell anymore.

The first few waves, I kept popping up too far in front and kept pearling or I'd get up towards the nose and tried to turn too hard. The board kept going straight, I went sideways off the board.

The water was warm, the air temperature was not due to cloud cover. By the time I was done changing after 2 hours of rideable surf, the lightning show started and I heard the distant sound of thunder. The rain started soon afterwards. It was really cool to see from the water. You could see the thunderclouds looming over land with some bits of really, deep blue sky peeking through. Pretty cool view. Too bad I didn't have my camera to capture it. Next time.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Black Balled

I am a firm believer in this system now. The inside section was littered with so many bathers that I was really hesitant on riding out a bunch of waves, what little waves there were today. The lifeguards didn't black ball the beach until about 1pm and I'm surprised they didn't do it much sooner.

Since the waves were so small today, I brought out the Peter and just caught some ankle slappers to the shore. I tried to turn on the first half-dozen waves, but fell flat on my face cause there wasn't enough speed for much maneuvering.

I love the warm, sunny weather, but hate the crowds screwing up the beach with their litter.

Parking became an issue for people who came late. I don't understand the people with the RVs. They take two spots at a minimum, one RV party parked their bikes in an adjacent parking spot, which I think was a social faux pas. There clearly aren't enough spaces that you can just park your freaking bikes there. The most puzzling part of this crew? They never leave the asphalt! What gives? Might as well lounge on your front porch or yard. They are sitting their in their beach chairs, chit chatting, but they don't move the 30 yards to at least lounge on the sand, in view of the water. I want them reprimanded for taking more than the 2 spots they need to park their damn RVs. Frustrated with people's inconsideration towards others.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Three of a Kind

Number of waves pouring in today? Infinite. They just kept coming in. How many did I catch, just 3. There were some clean up sets rolling through and the place was drained out in the morning. I didn't get to the beach till a little before 10 because of the tide, but my friend said that it was good earlier even with the low tide. The swell was big enough to work through the lunar issues and was completely clean with no wind.

By the time I got out there, the wind had picked up and got worse as the session wore on. There was one wave where as I was about to pop up, when the back wash jacked up the whole wave and I had to bail out. Would have been interesting if I were to have pulled that off. Alas, we won't know what that ride would have amounted to.

I kooked out of the best wave that was all mine. It had a great right shoulder and as my board was getting into the wave, it became super steep and instead of just crouching down and going for it, I jumped off. What a wuss!

The first wave was a broken right. I got up, turned immediately at a sharp angle right into the broken part of the wave and was leaning into the wave so much that I wasn't able to straighten out to get more speed to make the section.

I finally caught a decent wave going right, but it lost its sizzle. The ride was a right and I just cruised for a long time and my board couldn't get the speed to get past the whitewater and get to the shoulder. It was bit frustrating seeing the shoulder only a few yards from me, but constantly eluding me.

Last wave of the day was the swan song. By this time, the inside section was filled with families searching for respite from the hot weather we've been having. The whole beach was crowded, something I'm not accustomed to. I usually get there early and leave by 11am or so, before the crowds get out of hand. I caught the wave, was going right, nice and comfortable like. I couldn't see much past the wave in front of me, but as it rolled to shore, I saw two bobbing heads. I straightened out as much as possible and bailed out, hoping that my board doesn't go flying toward the swimmers, which it didn't since I'm here writing this blog and not filling out a police report. Good thing, too. Although, one of them was pretty big and my board might have suffered worse from such a collision. I kid! I kid! I wouldn't run over anyone and I'm sure my board would have put a nasty bump on that person's head without suffering any ill effects... maybe.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Causing Trouble

Yep, that's me, troublemaker. The waves were about 2-3 ft on Sunday and I knew it so I brought out the Peter, aka 9'2 noserider. Perfect board for those conditions, caught a ton of rights on Sunday. The sun was shining, the water was green, the bathrooms were tagged with graffiti (not even the artistic type), and the sand was peppered with litter from all the people who show up in the summer. (I loathe you people by the way because you trash the beaches. There are trashcans everywhere and the state even went so far as to replace the old metal ones with plastic ones. Use them!)

There wasn't much of a drift earlier in the morning, but sure enough, the home break did not disappoint and started sending people farther north. Good for me cause if I just kept catching rights (regular footed), then the people clustered around me on the outside would be farther down the break when I got back out again. I did this a few times just to get out of the crowd. There were quite a few people, but not unmanageable.

However, I did get a few dirty looks. The first one was from some shortboarder who wasn't even in the water that long. I caught a wave, rode it in to the inside and was starting to go back out when this guy was paddling for a wave. He's on a shortboard, on a 2 footer, and trying to catch a wave his buddy was already kicking out of. He could only go straight cause by the time he got up, there was no shoulder, left or right and the wave barely had enough power to push him straight. He saw me in his path, so he bailed out within 2 seconds of getting up. I shrugged, paddled out and saw him look my way and say something to his buddy. Thems the breaks son! There were more waves to be caught, but I don't think that guy was good enough to catch them on his shortboard at a beach break in waist high waves.

The other dirty look was totally my fault. A wave came my way, I turned and started to paddle for it, there was another guy who was to my left, but he didn't call out or anything. I should have stopped, but figured there was enough space between us. I got up, turned right immediately, started going down the line before the wave closed out. I kicked out, looked back, and the guy was still roughly 10 yards behind me and he just kicked out. I apologized to him and paddled farther south to get out of his way. He seemed nice enough, but I'm sure he was cursing my name. Ah well. Live and learn. There isn't much of a swell this week at all, so it'll be the Peter that will be making its way out to the home break over Toothbreak (7'0), the Creamsicle (7'3), or the Twinkie (7'11). If you see the boards, you'd understand, except for Toothbreak. That board was named for what it did :P

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

4th Eve



Had a great day back in the water after a few weeks out of it. Caught some fun waves that I can't believe I caught, but lost power right away. Not that I was tired, just didn't have the power to get into the waves after the first hour. Paddling strength goes away so fast. I don't know what goes faster, paddling strength or girls I ask for their number?

The week and a half out of the country brought about some perspectives. I should be thankful for the waist high days cause I saw some people paddling for knee high waves as if it was the best thing out there. These people were on shortboards on these tiny waves. They paddle, get up, bottom turn, top turn if they are lucky, and then sink as the wave dies. The above pic is one of the bigger waves. Imagine when this is a good day and then be thankful for the waves we have.

Can't wait for the next swell.
Clerks II - July 21, 2006