Capitola, 17 Feb 2007

Swell direction: NW
Tide: Falling, in between 6' high and -1' low
Wind: Light to none
Air/Water Temp: 73/55 degrees
Wildlife: 3 sea otters (or one 3 times?)

A beautiful summer day in February, with glassy 2-4' waves - perfect! Capitola was more crowded than I'd seen it the few times I've been there before, with about 2 dozen people split between the outside and inside breaks. A sea otter was floating on his back, snacking on an unlucky crab, as I paddled out. I missed getting his photo as a nice wave was headed my way, and I caught a sweet right.

Since it was a bit crowded and most everyone was going right, I got in position on the inside end so I could pick off the empty lefts. A bit shorter ride heading that direction, but it was all mine. Being goofy does have its advantages.

As the tide dropped, so did the crowd and the already light wind, and I moved to the outside break. Not used to surfing in kelp, I made the mistake of sitting in a patch of it. When I spun around to paddle for a fine-looking wave, I wrapped a length of it around my right leg, and went precisely nowhere as the wave passed by, empty.

The wait for waves got longer too on the falling tide, but I bagged a total of 8 or 9, all nice rides. On the last, I finally managed to sit back down on my board at the end instead of making a planned fall - yay! Now I can look more like I know what I'm doing out there.