South Swell Pokes In

Thursday October 14, 2010

I didn't think we would see any of this south swell. Nothing much was right about it. It was inconsistent, birthed from a series of weak storms in the southern pacific, coming in at too steep a swell angle, and best of all...the commercial forecasters weren't really touting it as anything much. But when I picked it up this morning, first on the nearshore buoy, and then on the tourist town's smudged and spider web shrouded surf cam, I thought it was worth checking out. Glad I did.

I haven't been out for a week having endured a major muscle spasm last week doing what? Trimming my toenails. I kid you not...trimming the nails. There are just certain positions that my stenotic arthritic back won't do, apparently the posture I used to trim is one of them. It was one of those T-12 lower thoracic spasms that feels like an earthquake and you just have to wait it out, hoping it ends soon. Then when it's over you just say to yourself, "that was a bad one." This one was the kind where you can't stand up straight. You're bent over like the stereotypical cartoons you see of a little old man hobbling down the street, hunched over his cane.

I tend to treat muscle spasms with ice and gentle stretching but I did too much. I underestimated the severity of the injury and therefore made it worse. Two days later I was on the doc's exam table getting a prescription for muscle relaxers and in "take it easy" mode. But that did the trick, a couple days rest, and back on the the ibuprofen trail along with working my way gently into my stretching and strengthening routine. So by today, eight days after the injury, I was ready to go.

Fall is the time of readjusting our tide patterns from low in the morning to high in the morning and so forth. Usually a dawn patrol surfer, I've learned to enjoy sleeping in a bit, and then catching the mid-morning low tide, which usually isn't all that low. But on the positive side, with low tides in the 2.5 to 3 foot range, the kelp issue isn't as severe. Granted, it takes a better swell to show at the higher tides, but you know you take the bad with the good.

I paddled out on the L41 8-0 SIMSUP, heading across the backwash from the point at Sarges, enroute to GDubs and some nice looking sets peeling in over the reef. You couldn't ask for a more beautiful Fall day. Only ten surfers out, all longboarders having a great time in the 2-3 ft., clean and glassy waves. As per usual I hid out off to the side, taking the swing wides that were dealing out unmakeable sections for the folks sitting on the main peak. The SIMSUP does it all in surf this size so I could grovel for the smallest waves on the inside, or paddle hard out the back and pick off the set waves if they were lined up well for my position. While the south wasn't super consistent, it put up a lot of waves and there may even have been some WNW wind swell waves in the mix. But from the way the waves were moving in and over the reef, the beef was all south.

Barry joined me after a while and we rode quite a few off to the side. Then the main peak emptied and I took a few from there. But it was just about that time that a gusty southwest wind blew up and cranked hard enough to make stand up paddling a chore. Not impossible, but a chore. I took a few more and was blown back down coast to Sarges where Sam was surfing. I haven't seen Sam in a couple months so we blabbed and surfed together for another half hour before taking a windy, bumpy couple of waves into the pocket beach. Once in we talked Tahitian stroke, new boards (Andy loaned Sam one of the new 9-0 Angulos which he's diggin'), shoulder injuries, otter tail paddles and the political/domestic necessity of blaming me for all this SUP madness. I've got big shoulders, lay it on me.

Steve and MikeyB hustled down the stairs with their longboards, heading for a lunchtime session at Sarges and for whatever reasons the wind calmed. Sam had to go and I thought "shoots" I might as well paddle back out and surf with those guys for a while. The wind died down but the tide was pushing a lot of water through so it was fat and bumpy. It didn't take long for the "southerly surge" as the NWS likes to call it, to carry in a dense fog bank which eventually penetrated deep into the landmass, especially for Fall. The wind kicked back up, vis went down to nothing and I was done.

But overall it was a great "tweener," that was both uncrowded and fun.

Postscript: On Friday and Saturday we experienced a Summer Redux, or should I say the "Season That Ate Our Summer" all over again. Friday was gray and overcast but the south swell was still showing, and putting up some fun waves according to Ron who grabbed some fun chest/head high peelers on the L41 8-2 bat tail SUP. Saturday morning was overcast and gloomy, and the south swell wasn't even showing on the local buoys. But the southern buoys are still spiking a southerly swell periodically, even though the swell angle is mighty steep to be getting into our local breaks. But who knows, maybe we'll get a little jump up later today or tomorrow?

Near Perfect Session in Dropping NPAC Swell

Monday October 4, 2010

Every once in a while, it all comes together. Good waves, great conditions and a sparse crowd. That happened today.

Surfing in town has a lot of positive things going for it. My side of town has surf spots galore, just a lot of good breaks tucked in right next to each other over a couple mile stretch. But as good as the surf spots are, is as thick as the crowd can get. Most people I think would rather surf by themselves or with just a few friendly folks. That doesn't happen here very often, and when it does, it's rare. That's why it was so sweet today.

I was supposed to meet Ron at noon. He would be riding the 7-10 SIMSUP, I'd be on the 8-0 and we would swap around and compare notes. The slowly dropping NW swell was still in the water, not great but surfable. More problematic was a low pressure trough moving through, kicking up sideshore to onshore winds that were making the locations look downright ugly. So I bailed on the noon surf, but kept my eye on the point weather station, just in case. That proved to be a good move.

Right around 1PM, the winds went offshore. An anomaly thinks I. But when the station kept reporting consistent increments of N, NE and NNW winds, I grabbed my stuff and was gone. I found myself paddling out at Sarges for a two-hour plus session, into a brisk offshore wind, consistent 2-4 ft. waves, and a total of six guys out, including Graydon (who surfs almost every day) and Mike (who I hadn't seen in quite a while...an old college buddy from San Diego many years past). The pack was sitting on the point so rather than paddling out there and getting into that mix, making for another person, I hung inside and picked off the smaller waves that were sectioning too far in front of the outside riders to make. It was just crazy. After my first five or six non-stop waves I had to dive into the ocean to cool down. And it wasn't hot out. 95% cloud cover, air temps mid-60's and water temp mid-50's, offshore wind at 2-10 mph. The biggest inside waves were maybe chest high, and the best ones walled across the nudie beach allowing for some fun carving, snaps and foam floaters on the SIMSUP.

Then about forty-five minutes into the session, everyone got out. I mean everyone! For the next half hour the surf got better, the offshores were steady and perfect, and I was solely responsible for making sure that no really good waves went unridden. I did my best to make this happen. After a half hour, Graydon paddled back out again, I guess he couldn't stand it and I can't say as I blame him. For the next hour we traded waves in this near perfect surfing situation. Then he paddled in and I was out there alone for the next little while before three others paddled out. But by then the tide had fattened causing the waves to roll over the reefs, taking away the steep and fast inside sections where when you snap off the top and re-enter, you're all on the inside rail, just hoping you've got enough rail pressure on to keep the outside rail from digging, but not so much that you over-weight on the inside and fall into the wave face. Pull that scenario off consistently and you're addicted.

I can't say that today was epic, or even classic, it was just totally bitchen, and so much fun! I want to thank everyone for not surfing. You made my day!

NPAC Swells Continue to Roll In

Friday October 1, 2010

Northwesterly swells from a series of storms in the North Pacific continue to roll into the bight. A 21 second swell made landfall late yesterday afternoon, and the surf was probably off the hook at low tide last night around midnight. Daytime tides have been in the 3 - 5 ft. range, which has put a sloshy finish on the wave faces at times. To be sure the best spots are going overhead on the best sets, but conditions are poor to fair. Add in an onshore wind condition now that the high pressure ridge has moved on and you have a recipe for somewhat sloppy surf in between the fog and the occasional bouts of glassiness.

With that in mind, and knowing that I'd be teaching all day tomorrow with no time to surf, I opted to pay some dues on the 9-6 Pearson Arrow CJ Nelson noserider. I paddled out at T's for a 70 minute session in surf and conditions that resembled what I wrote in the first paragraph. I hit it lucky as I was in between a crowd change from the dawn patrollers to the sleep in late college kids. Eight in the line-up at 0910. I chose to surf the inside peak that was smaller, but which had a better shaped nose riding wave across the inside reef.

It's fun to the push the 9-6 longboard through it's paces, especially leashless where one has to be more attentive to a lost board. No bailing and yanking on the cord to get it back before it washes into the rock cliff face. I only had to put in one exuberant racing sprint after some kelp ejected me on my fifth or sixth wave. Just as I got to it and grabbed a hold of the slippery knife edged rail, a line of whitewash ripped the craft out of my hand as it headed for what I was sure was a ding producing date with the rocks. But I lucked out and there was no damage. I death gripped my ride firmly when I got to it this time, and paddled hard for the outside as a new set of breaking waves came boiling my way.

As winded as I was after I got out the back, it felt good. It felt good to be surfing without a leash and to have to work harder for the pleasure and satisfaction of surfing. I think one could make a credible argument that leashes may be the single greatest cause of overcrowding and bad vibes in the line-up. How many times have I watched a beginner take-off, eat it and bail and then climb right back on and take off on the next wave! In the old days kooks earned their stripes by putting in the time crawl stroking after their boards. Everybody did it that way. It leaves less people in rotation and therefore gives everyone a better chance of getting waves. Dennis says that the two things that have hurt surfing the most are the "re-advent" of longboards and the leash. I'll have to think about that some more, but I can see his point.

Of course surfing a noserider with no leash is a no brainer. Why ride a noserider with a leash? The idea is to walk all over the place, get on the nose, run back, throw a cutback, turnback and head to the tip again. Rope free. I'm not advocating the "leashless way," I wouldn't surf my SUP leashless...too much to manage with a thick board and a paddle. But I surf my 5-11 Ghostbuster without a leash at the beaches, and I wouldn't be opposed to surfing my 7-4 quad without the ubiquitous leg rope. Swimming without the life buoy has to make you a better waterman, woman, child, whatever.

Another thing I like about the 9-6 is that it is completely different than any of my other boards. The Nelson is built to noseride...period. The rails are designed to direct the water over the tail of the board, the deep concave in the nose designed for lift and to keep the nose afloat as is the serious tail kick. The bottom goes from deep concave to vee so the thing will turn. All my other boards are designed to go fast, turn and be maneuverable. A different way of riding than the noserider for sure which is built to trim on the nose in up to about 3 or 4 ft. surf. Put it on a fast head high wall and it feels a little shaky. You don't get that solid feel on the noserider that you do from rails that have a hard edge shaped to hold you and your board into the wave face.

The crowd fattened around 10 o'clock and people who were having a hard time catching waves started burning people in frustration of not riding anything, so I decided to call it a day. The difference between surfing standup and laydown is significant on my back. My mid and lower back were aching after an hour and fifteen minutes on the laydown this morning. The other day I surfed the SIMSUP for three hours and sure I was tired and sore, but there was no irritating achiness that always seems to accompany my laydown sessions.

But I had fun, got wet, felt good, got more acquainted with the leash free big dog and honed my seriously deficient noseriding skills. Life is good.

No pics today. I didn't want to lay down on my Oly and five minutes after I got out of the water, T's completely socked in with thick fog. I couldn't even see the line-up.

Indian Summer And An Awakened NPAC Series of Swells

Monday September 27, 2010

As bad as Summer wasn't, is as good as this year's Indian Summer is. A high pressure ridge gave the boot to the infernal low pressure trough that moved in like a box canyon squatter, making life miserable for any kind of Californio beach goer.

But last Thursday Indian Summer bloomed right in the nick time. I can't remember a better time of year than this one has been. And to top it off, the NPAC mixed up a batch of WNW work week swell that has kept the minions pumped and going strong.

I dawn patrolled it into the midst of the usual suspects at Sarges this morning. I admit, I was a bit disappointed in wave size and consistency. The models over amped it calling for surf and periods in the double digits. Not quite, but you didn't hear any complaints. Tides in the Fall don't exactly play along, going a wee bit too high in the mornings, but a decent swell will overcome the tide and riding above the kelp is a pleasure.

I picked off a few good ones at several spots, this morning riding the 7-10 SIMSUP, my 8-0's little brother that Eric has been letting me borrow. The 7-10 is just a shade smaller all around in size, coming in at 129L vs. 130L and weighing 1.5 pounds less than the 8-0. The board surfs loose and fast, and is stable. Not as stable as the 8-0, owing to the slightly smaller size, but if I was a few years younger I'd have one of these in my quiver for sure.

My two plus hour session had me taking waves at Sarges, Middles, GDubs, T8's and back again in that order. By the end of the session the tide had ushered in a lot of water, but good sets were still streaming through in spite of the waits.

The weather just doesn't get better. Clear, warm and supernatural. It's impossible to take this for granted.

Tuesday September 28, 2010

The buoys all showed the swell dropping in size this morning, but there was no way I was going to miss the last day of clear warm morning weather. T8's had been even more inconsistent than the other spots yesterday, but I was hoping that the swell had seasoned some, and it would be good. It was pretty good. The waves were smaller but in my first 20 minutes it was just a merry-go-round. I couldn't paddle back out fast enough. Herby and Christian were out, making the day an event.

After an hour or so everything slowed down and got swampy so I headed up coast to Whore House Point (there IS a story here) where it was more crowded but bigger and more consistent. I floated around near the pack and managed to paddle into two good waves while sharing heaps of other combers with the crowd. Steve picked off the set wave of the day during my part of the session and turned in a dazzling performance on his 8-10 L41 custom bat tail quad. He surfed the board rock steady, utilizing smooth sweeping turns and bursts of speed all over the cleanly peeling length of this 150 yard, overhead beauty. Stoked, he went to work a happy man.

After my second good wave I paddled back to T's and into a small shore liner where I rode the white wash into a small pocket of sand and rock next to the stairs. Then out and up through the foam rushed rocks at the base of the chipped up concrete steps, picking my way over the now you see 'em, now you don't moss covered rip rap. At the top, winded, the panorama of five or six surf spots comes into view. The warm morning promised another hot, beautiful Indian Summer day. What a place!

Wednesday September 29, 2010
The bumped up WNW swell arrived about six hours ahead of schedule (my calcs and at least one other model) and peaked in the dark last night. By this morning consistency and size was the best it's been so far, but we missed maximus goodness by a few hours. The high pressure ridge that has captured the heart of an incredible Indian Summer finally broke down, ushering in cool winds and low stratus from the south east.

The sea surface this morning when I paddled out at 0635 was bumpy and uneven. This from the southeasterly, onshore wind and backwash bump from the increased wave size. There may be no more such a thing as dawn patrol. This morning it was dawn platoon. Seems like the Beach Boys 60's song, Surfin' USA (Everybody's Gone Surfing) was more prophecy than recording. Indeed, everybody's gone surfing...with me! And it's only bound to get worse as the rest of we baby-boomers retire. (Do you suppose people will turn from being SUP haters to fossil haters? Or worse, Old SUPers haters. Perish the thought.)

I got a few waves at Sarges that were fun. One particularly nice head high, very late drop that I took blinded by the pitching take off section. The SIMSUP stuck it perfect and all I had to do was hang on. Four fins definitely increases your odds. But it was already crowded and Middles looked good with less folks so I headed there for a couple. The waves were o-head but super lined up. Kirk was surfing his 8-10 k-rail at GDubs where the crowd was surprisingly light so I thought I'd try a couple up there.

Tides in the Fall are generally a lot higher in the early morning and throughout the day. Just the way that nature made it. So even with sizable waves, that energy is still pushing a lot of water which makes the take-offs somewhat fatter than when the zone is standing up over a shallower spot in the reef. Sometimes what this leads to is a later drop in because you're pulling yourself over a fat lip instead of a thinner pitching one. There were a lot of those this morning as I dragged myself over some fun ledges and into some steep drops and sections. The SIMSUP made up for a world of my inadequacies. A truly fun board and without a doubt my go-to surfing stick.

I like to take water based pics with the Oly waterproof camera, and with the clear Fall conditions they usually come out better than in the thick, dark fog. I don't however always end up being in the best spot to get a few shots. That happened today. I just wasn't where I needed to be to get a decent shot of someone surfing. And as also happens in the Fall, I surf early, usually in the lowest tide of the morning. Tide today at paddle out was about 3 ft. and rising. Usually land based shots after a session aren't all that great unless the swell is really thumping. The high tide water just swamps the lineups, making for poor conditions.

Kirk paddled in for work and I hung out at GDubs before paddling back to Middles and surfing a super fun forty-five minutes in the best conditions and waves of the day. The south wind disappeared, it glassed off and the sets got really consistent. Only two or three guys counting me, in the lineup. Middles started putting up clean and steep takeoffs that fed into a series of ramps and sections moving almost into Sarges. The SIMSUP handled spectacularly, allowing for hard ninety degree plus snaps off that big square tail, but also maintaining maximum speed over, through and under the fastest sections. The SIMSUP owns the high line. No need to pump this bad boy, simply aim and shoot, find the line and the section is yours.

Joe paddled over on his monster Angulo SUP. He uses it for everything, fishing or surfing, pleasure paddling or racing. That craft will catch just about anything, and I'm always surprised by how well it surfs.

By then I was coming up on a three hour session and my legs were getting pretty tired. I am pleased though, at how quickly I've gotten in shape for longer sessions. SUP surfing is an incredible workout and I don't realize how effective it is until I stop doing it (usually due to lack of energized surf).

The rising tide had it's effect on the incoming waves, making it smaller in size. It was less consistent but there were still some fun sets coming in. But I bid Joe adieu and headed for the takeout. The best surf I've had this month, and we've a lot of good surf this September.