Better with Buddies (Kelly Ave)

My first and bestest surf buddy, Dwayne, drove up from SoCal for a wedding this weekend, arriving a day early to surf with me. It was a great excuse to take a day off and comb the coast for surf. With a deep high tide around noon, we needed to get out early, kill some time at midday, and then hit it again on the falling afternoon tide.

Dwayne wanted to see my secret spots, so I thought we'd start our surf safari at "Rachel's Point" and work our way south from there.  In Half Moon Bay we met up with my newest buddy J-Bird, who we also crammed into my MINI, and Dwayne's friend Rush, but Rush had come with an East Bay dude named John, and I wasn't too keen on sharing the special spots with a local stranger. Luckily, I didn't have to. Rachel's Point was looking too mushy for the shortboarders and John knew of it already, so we drove south, stopping at Kelly Ave in Half Moon Bay. It's not a secret spot, but the $10 parking fee for the state park is a deterrent. The guys looked at the waves for barely a minute before figuratively jumping up and down and striding back to our respective vehicles to get suited up. There was no one out, it was glassy under the warm sun, and the waves were around shoulder-high.

We had the entire break to ourselves for the hour-and-a-half we were out, and it was pretty sweet. Dwayne duck-dived his way to a peak while J-Bird and I rode a handy rip current for a dry-hair paddle-out. My hair didn't stay dry for long, though. Just after I reached the lineup, regular-foot Dwayne took a left, and I rode a nice right backside, bailing out before the sand-sucking shorepound. A good time was had by all, and I snagged some good lefts too. One wave I rode too far in, falling into the shorepound and getting sand everywhere, even in my mouth. I also earned the prize for best wipeout, getting barreled while free-falling. (Sadly, I landed on my board, and while my bruises will heal, it's got a significant ding perilously close to the wood stringer, which I'll have to get repaired soon.) Backwash from the rising tide started to limit the fun after a while, and with the four others watching from the beach, I caught my last wave, sticking the nose on the steep drop (D'oh!) and crashing (too much pressure?!) then getting a fast belly ride in past the shorepound for a graceful exit. It was time for a long lunch break, waiting for the tide to turn.

Surfline: Well exposed combo beach-breaks continue to see a fun, peaky mix of mid-period NW swell and old, fading Southerly swell with waist-chest zone waves and occasional shoulder high+ sets. The more sheltered spots are seeing much smaller surf overall. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 3.9 ft at 11.4 s NW / WIND WAVE: 0.3 ft at 3.2 s WSW / WVHT: 3.9 ft / APD: 9.1 s / MWD: 308°