Still warm!

I didn't get to surf last week because traffic prevented me from getting my car back from the dealership in time and was too tired from a nice wedding on Saturday night for a Sunday morning run. Another nice wedding last night prevented me from going out this morning. Well, it didn't really stop me, but coming back in time for a one hour nap before heading out again, is clearly not enough for me.

I did go out yesterday and the water was still very warm! When I got out of the water, there was that bit of chill in the air with a slight offshore breeze going on. The breeze made me think that it would be a good idea to wear a full suit, what a mistake! I was burning up in that suit.

The waves were bowling early, a combination of the swell and the low tide. The waves were zippy early on and the crowds were sort of thinning out from 2 weeks ago. Most of the waves were lefts and that's the way I went. There was a slight drift going north, but wasn't bad at all.

The funnest wave was a right. I dropped in a little late, turned right as soon as I stood up, and away I went. I should have tried to crouch and get closer to the wave face to see if I could have got covered. That's not instinctive for me going front side. Going backside, I just pig dog it and tuck in. Not to say I get covered a lot and the few times I have been covered, ended with me in the wash. No spectacular wipeouts either yesterday.

Next week, a trip down south to either Torrey Pines or Carlsbad. Can't wait!

Zoo is still in session

Yep, still crowded. You would think that things would thin out a bit after Labor Day weekend, but the crowd was as thick as ever. I only caught a few waves on Saturday because I wanted to avoid any hard feelings by dropping on people. Little did I realize that there isn't much of a priority list on waves. I may have passed up on waves for others, but they didn't do the same for me. Guess I just have to charge and see who gets up first. If it's not me, then I had better come up with an exit strategy.

First wave, went left, grabbed the rail, got covered and then went into the wash. That was a ton of fun. I have to figure out how to get out of it now.

Sunday was much the same, caught more waves, while fighting the perennial drift northward. Nothing really of note, except that the air temp was colder than the water temp, making me consider breaking out the wetsuit for the coming weekends.

Ding! Ding!

Almost ran someone over yesterday. The guy caught a wave and went right. Two waves later, I caught a wave and went left. I was cruising along, when his head suddenly popped up in front of me, after the wave in front of me crashed. I didn't see him because of the wave in front of me. I kept the trim tight and went left as much as I could. I said, "Holy Smokes!" The guy looked a bit annoyed with me, but I didn't run him over and he was still 5 ft. away, which isn't much, but I steered clear of him. After that, he went a bit farther north from me. Is someone going to invent a bell or a horn to let people know they are coming through or something? Much like a bell on a bike?

The best waves of this 3 day weekend was by far Sunday. There were some chest high waves that rolled in every so often. The water was nice and warm, with little smelt like fish jumping all over the place. The seal swimming around sort of freaked me out. I don't like to be around shark food.

I took out the big board again and just kept catching wave after wave. Was loads of fun and I went both left and right.

Today, the waves sort of died off. The wind started up really early. I was at the lot early, but sat there for 45 minutes waiting for a friend and her friend to show up. The friend's friend wanted to learn how to surf and I don't know where people get the idea that I like to teach people? It's not as if I'm all that great, I'm still a kook at times. Not only was I suppose to "teach" this person, but I had to bring an extra board, too? [I cut out the rest of the rant. Got way too negative.]

Since I brought two boards, I could only bring two fun boards, 7'3 and 7'11. The waves were smaller than Sunday, so I struggled a little on the 7'3. I did catch a few waves before going in to check up on the new guy. I told him I'd help him catch some of the waves on the inside, broken waves.

I did catch enough fun ones that I can't really complain. I was exhausted after my first 3 day weekend of surf in ages. There's supposed to be a swell later this week, can't wait!

Reverse Switch

Last week, waves were bowling, current pushed us North. This week, waves are small and mushy, current pushes us South. The current wasn't super strong, not as strong as last week, that's for sure, but there was definitely a drift.

I brought out the 9'2 in anticipation of the small waves. It was definitely the right board for the day. I caught a bunch of waves. It's simply amazing how many waves that thing can catch. I was just catching so many waves.

I had 3 problems surfing this board today though.
1) I tried for a wave and sort of dropped in on a local, who I know. I felt I had priority since I was sitting out there when the local just got out again after riding a wave to the sand. He turned around and went after the same wave I was going for. I pig dogged it going left saw he caught the wave as well, so I pulled as hard as I could to go over the wave. Didn't work too well. I yelled "sorry" to him and we chit chatted for a bit after he got back to the outside. No hard feelings. Helps to surf the same place enough that he knows I normally don't drop on someone (though I still maintain I should have had priority on that wave; what happened to taking turns?)

2.) I pearled a few waves. Being a longer board, I need to angle drop it more. I didn't do it enough and did more than a few somersaults over the front of my board. There were some spectacular wipe outs. I wish I could have seen them.

3.) Turning on the big board on smaller days is a bit tough. I ate it a few times when I tried to turn the board and the board just didn't want to turn. I was too far ahead on my board and should have shifted back to the tail to use the back foot as a pivot. I started to get it right after a few waves, but towards the end of the day, I wiped out on a small wave trying to turn it again too hard with my feet too far up on the board.

The water was warm and the sun was shining early. There was very little wind in the morning, but that didn't last too long.

There was a huge line to get into the lots, but a lot of these people turned around and left after seeing that the waves were tiny.

The most unexpected visitor to the home break was a sea lion. I don't like surfing anywhere sea lions because they happen to be the favorite dish of sharks, the ones big enough to dine on sea lions. I know why he was there though, there was an abundance of fish today. I know that after seeing a school of smelt jumping out of the water and that I think I stepped on one. Whatever it was, it was squishy and squirmy. It took off as soon as my foot touched it. Creeps me out. I worry that it's a stingray and always lift my feet off right away. Stingrays suck ass!

2 more days of surfing to go before the work week starts up again!

Pig Dogging 2, Frontside 1

Current was pretty fierce last Saturday. The waves weren't as big as the reports said it would be, but, the waves were hollow. First wave, pig dog going left, got covered before I pulled too hard and went out the back. Still can't change directions too well. Trying, but it's on my list of things I need to work on. Have to learn to cut back.

The majority of the waves were going left and you could see the swell from the beach hitting a funky angle. Most everyone was going left, but I was seriously waiting for rights. Two reasons for this. 1) I need to learn to take steep waves going front side (Pig dogging helps on those fast drops.) 2) The current was sending everyone North.

You want to know how bad the current was? I'll give you two examples. I try for two waves. The key word is *try.* I end up 2 lifeguard towers north and I didn't even catch the wave. When I decided enough was enough, I took one in and walked out, thinking I was probably only 1 more tower down since I went right. Nope! I was 4 lots down!!! A lot of people were doing the long walk back to their cars far to the South. Any farther North and I would have been itching to get a Breakfast Jack on Warner.

Sunday saw a huge drop in size. The current was bad, but not as bad. It was good in some ways because packs of people would just drift on by. I just had to keep paddling south while catching as many rights as possible. My friends were 4 lots down before they hiked back to where I was. By that time, I was too tired to stay out much longer and just rode one in. Only one tower south this time, if that.

Sunday was probably one of the first times I saw a girl in a bikini who was both good at surfing and was deserving of wearing a bikini. Not too often you see that combo.