Been Sick and High Surf

Yep. Sick. Again. It's just a theory, but I think I've gotten sick a lot after surfing in red tide in 2003. After that, sinus infection and ear infection that lasted a month. Ever since, I've gotten sick at least 2 times a year. Oh well. It's the price I pay for something I like to do. So far, Mother Nature 10, me 0. That's not to mention my tooth-breaking board incident.

Anyway, southern California was hit hard over the last two days with big surf. Someone was even swept away while standing on the shore. Not a good thing at all. Surfers and bodyboarders were out in full force at all the breaks, trying to catch the action. Some surfer interviewed for the news said it was the most epic it has been in 20 years. This include Big Wednesday from the winter storm of 2005.

Back to the whole surf thing. I think my sinuses are still filled with red tide stuff which makes me quite susceptible to colds and such. Has anyone tried this nasal spray? I'm thinking it might be worth the small investment if it does what it says it does. My nose used to drain soon after a surf session. After red tide, it drained an hour after. Once I got the sinus infection, I'd be lucky if my nose drained at all. If anyone has tried, please let me know.

Ice Cream Headaches

I think I'm going to invest in a hood to keep my head warm in these icy times. My feet were number even with booties. My hands were the only exposed part that didn't suffer too much from the low temps.

Water was icy, at least for me. Sunny outside, without a cloud in the sky. In fact, the San Gabriel Mountains could be clearly seen if not for a bit of brownish haze that is part of So. Cal weather. There was a slight offshore breeze, but nothing too bad. The tide came up fast so things shut down after a couple of hours after getting wet.

No real great ride on Sunday.

I didn't go out on Saturday after waking up and checking Surfline.com over and over again along with wavewatch.com. The cameras showed 1 - 2, but a friend who went out anyway said it was closer to chest with some over head sets. Oh well.

Icy Cold

Waters are still chilly. High tide was around 5' at 7am over the weekend. Not great conditions for epic surf. The skies were overcast, which made it all the colder when in the water.

There weren't too many people out, probably because the read the swell report saying that there wasn't one. The high tide in the morning had something to do with the thin crowds and I am not complaining there. We surfed on the south side of the normal spot because it was breaking a bit better.

I brought out the longboard because of the knee to waist high swell report. The sets had some decent waves, about shoulder high or so. I kooked a few trying too hard to turn the board. Just had to be a little more patient and make the bottom turn a little later. The adjustment paid off with a beautiful right that even reformed on the inside. Great ride that made me realize why I was out in chilly waters instead of a warm bed. What a rush!

No surf on Sunday due to rain. The forecast calls for much of the same this coming weekend.