Lorette Jumps Up to SUP

Lorette and the 11'9" Angulo Nui were a perfect match this morning for a first time SUP. After a few preliminary instructions, Lorette pushed off from the beach, pushed up to a four point stance and then right up to a nice and steady parallel stance. She was a bit hesitant as she took her first tenuous strokes. "I feel a little wobbly," she says..."Well duh!" says I (not really, I was nicer than that). But it didn't take her long to get her sea legs.

Now Lorette doesn't surf but is a water enthusiast and certified diver. She's interested in SUPing for fitness and fun, and the Nui provided her with both this morning. This flagship Angulo SUP is perhaps the perfect starter board. It's stable, paddles like a dream, surfs really well, is an excellent fishing and diving platform, hauls booty down wind and is a board you would want to hang onto, even when you decide to move up to another SUP when building a quiver. There's a reason why the Nui took top honors at Pono Bill's Maui SUP showcase this year. Everyone loves it for it's very user-friendly versatility.

This chilly May morning (AT=45, WT=49, ten degrees colder air than this date last year) was overcast with a light easterly wind blowing. No surfable waves though, so the sea surface was smooth, and launching from the beach easy. We paddled out of the light wind ripple and into where everyone is usually riding waves. But with the paucity of surf, we had the place to ourselves. Inside the kelp bed it was glassy with water visibility easily 8-10 feet. The rock reefs would rise up and fall away to meet the sand bottom. Sea grass and kelp strands big and small languished in the lagoon-like setting. Saw a couple of tennis ball like jellies and there were lots of sea otters and seals. But mostly it was just Stand Up Peaceful.

After about an hour touring towards NB's and then heading out to sea while circumnavigating the big offshore kelp beds, I paddled in to feed the parking meters and Lorette stayed out SUPing, just getting better and better. How'd she like it? We had to send Andy down to the beach to wave her in! Lorette, you're violating the "Having too much Fun" Rule!

The verdict: another SUP convert.

I Got All the Cheat Codes

If you've ever played video games you know that the fastest way to beat the game is to get enhancements to your character aka "cheat codes." These codes will give you extra powers like infinite health, super weapons, invisibility, etc. When it comes to stand up paddle surfing, I've got all the cheat codes. I can beat the game.

Take this morning for example. I went for a Wednesday morning redux except that there isn't any surf, not much that is. But on a SUP, like the name of Gerry Lopez' new book, "Surf Is Where You Find It." And you can find it anywhere and everywhere.

From the reefs to Scimi's and back I logged about two dozen waves. Small? Yes! Fun? Double Yes! Seeing as how there are a lot more "no surf" days than "surf" days...everything is better on a SUP.

Even though Dan here (doing a nice reverse take-off on his longboard) managed to get into a few waves, he was trapped by the kelp to one location. Me? I surfed half a dozen spots and got four times as many waves. Where were the shortboarders? A) At home in bed. B) At the lookout seeing nothing to surf C) Wishing they had a SUP!

Who'd of ever thought that cheatin' could feel so good!

May 9, 2008 (F)
In: 0720
Out: 0920
AT= 47 to 55 degrees
WT= 49.3 degrees at the nearshore buoy
Wx: Cloudy
Tide: -0.64 Falling to -1.3, Rising to -1.2
Wind: Calm
Sea Surface: Glassy
Buoy: NWS
Sporadic buoy data
0700: 8.2 feet @ 9.1 NW
0800: 7.5 feet @ 10 NW
1000: 6.6 feet @ 9.1 NW
10'4" Angulo SUP with Infinity paddle
Fin set-up: Thruster with Bluecoil 5.5" center fin and FCS Occy sides
Bathymetry: Rock reefs
CDIP: 6.4 feet at 9 seconds from 310 degrees and .5 feet at 12 seconds from 170 degrees

Peaceful Paddle With A Surprise

Just when I thought I was getting good at lowering my expectations; my expectations were exceeded beyond my, well....expectations!

I put in at the Pier, set for a mostly paddling day, while bagging a few small and weakly wrought wind waves. I knew there would be something because (it pays to watch those buoys!) a 15 second small wave swell popped up on the nearshore buoy yesterday at midday. A glimmer of it showed on the farshore buoy, but the data is so sporadic these days (Hey NDBC! Need some maintenance here...) it's hardly reliable. Local windswell was going to be within reason too as it blew pretty hard last night 27nm out to sea, thus whipping up a few combers for the dp.

A super minus low tide enabled Rip-raps to rip at put-in. Rip, if you think quick little ankle biters is ripping that is. But hey, I haven't seen it break but once so far this year, and that was on a mackin' West swell a few months ago. I played around there for a while before deciding to paddle up-coast. So I paddled and surfed at all the little reef breaks that were giving it up as I headed towards the Point. This is where the surprise came in.

Little did I know Scimitars was going to put up a short, glassy A-frame, breaking about 50 feet offshore of the dry rock reef, with a takeoff oasis in a desert of kelp, putting up a fun little wall back into the exposed reef. And I was the only one out! I could not believe my good luck. This NEVER happens! I suppose everyone was thinking that there was "zero" swell and therefore no waves and the tide was too low anyway. Packed up a half dozen consistent waves in 15 minutes by myself at this primarily shortboard spot, before the cliff spies decided it could be surfed. Another fifteen minutes with two other guys, another four or five waves and it was time to move on. Paddled through 8's and up to the Point, picking up a few waves here and there, then reversed course and did it all over again back to the Pier.

Weather was considerably improved over yesterday's June gloom preview. Cold air aloft moved into the district, pushing out the warmer air that was causing the inversion which made it colder and frostily foggy. What? Weird, but thats how it works. It took cold air to make it warm.

Today was also perfect for the SUP. I could catch just about anything that was catchable, while staying above the kelp and never getting tangled up in it. Had a couple snags but no big deal. And I could paddle into the waves at Scimitars way before the shortboarders could. They almost had to be sitting in the perfect spot. Too far out and they couldn't get the speed they needed to drop in, too far in and the wave jacked up too late to take-off.

Stand up paddle surfing is such a great way to go. I had a long peaceful paddle in a beautiful environment, great exercise and a couple dozen waves to boot. Walking on water in the wilderness, 200 yards from the morning commute. Did I say, Life is Good?
May 7, 2008 (W)
In: 0620
Out: 0840
AT= 46 to 52 degrees
WT= 48.6 degrees at the nearshore buoy
Wx: Cloudy with some patchy fog offshore
Tide: -1.56 Falling to -1.71, Rising to -0.9
Wind: Calm to light out of the SW to moderate NW
Sea Surface: Glassy in the kelp beds to light wind ripples
Buoy: NWS
Sporadic buoy data
0600: 5.2 feet @ 12.9 WNW
0900: 3.6 feet @ 12.9 W
1100: 4.9 feet @ 9.1 WNW
10'4" Angulo SUP with Infinity paddle
Fin set-up: Thruster with Bluecoil 5.5" center fin and FCS Occy sides
Bathymetry: Rock reefs
CDIP: 5.6 feet at 9 seconds from 315 degrees and 1.1 feet at 12 seconds from 215 degrees

May Pre-June Gloom

The passage towards summer leads inevitably through the Straits of April and May. Here we find the frigid days of the long, thick marine layer which insulates the Pacific Ocean from all semblance of solar gain. Thus, last early morning water temps were left stiffly clinging to the 48 degree mark for a time.

It was not Mark (Twain) who said it but he surely could have and would have been no stranger to the truth. "The coldest winter I've ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." (Fortunately for him, he missed the Spring...)

The outlook for swell is only slightly less gloomy than our current weather situation, with some faraway south swell modeled (at 138 hours no less) for SoCal but nothing said for us NorCalians (although swells that weakly modeled don't inspire much confidence). So we turn to the NPAC surface winds with some glimmer of hope for a longer period swell than we should rightly expect.

There is some hope for the landing of a longer period swell from the west (are you watching the farshore buoy?) But who would have thought that local wind swell would be so highly favored? Me, as I've learned to discover. Tomorrow? Minus tides might just be the fingers that tickle and coax my favorite reefs into a few giggles. This whole thing may call for an adjustment in expectations....and why not? Sometimes that even works!

Postscript - Sometimes writing is like taking a crap...if you sit there long enough, and push hard enough, something usually comes out. You just hope it doesn't stink too much.