Merry Solstice (Linda Mar)

After hoisting that big rock a few times, the dude in trunks ran into the surf. Brr!

It's International Surfing Day and summer solstice. I couldn't use Surfrider's absence excuse note to take the whole day off, but got in a dawnie with my posse before work. Though the waves looked totally meh, we were all in the spirit of the surfer holiday and paddled out anyway. J-Bird, Jacob and Darren went north of Taco Bell, while Perrin and I plus new buddy Marcia from Meetup stayed around Boat Docks. Deepak found us there later. 

It looked to me like the waves were closing out a lot more, and harder, just to the north, while the far south end offered the occasional shoulder with less risk of thrashing. I was on my 6'2" Rocket, but to ensure a decent dose of stoke, planned to switch partway through to my handplane, Ondine (Latin name meaning "little waves"). Marcia was also shortboarding on her similar M10 but she's better than I and had considerably more success. (She said "last wave" about five times and kept coming back for another, which made me smile.) I was having a lot of trouble getting into the waves, which often mushed out. No doubt the wrist splint's having the same deleterious effect on my paddling efficiency as it does on my swimming stroke. After missing two, I was likely too far inside of the next, but thought it might work out given the softness. Unfortunately wave #3 pitched up and tossed me over, and the nose of my board swung 'round to clock me in the kisser. First time snog of Rocket, I think. There was no blood, though my upper lip swelled to look like I got botoxed by a quack.

Marcia waiting for one more last wave

After more frustration, finally I was in the right place with the right timing and locked into a nice shoulder-high left with a decent shoulder. Woot! Marcia had cheered me into it, and said for her it often took just one like that to break a slump and then she'd get lots of waves for the rest of the session. Alas, that was not meant to be for me, though I kept trying until there was no time left to swap Rocket for Ondine.

I got a kiss from my board, one good wave, and a new shortboard surfing buddy. Happy ISD! 

Thanks to Perrin for snapping this pic of me leaving the ocean

Surfline: 3-4 ft+, poor conditions. Crumbled surf with mostly closed out shape on the negative low tide this morning. Look for an improvement in the surf as the tide fills back in through the morning. Primary NW windswell continues this morning and is joined by small NW groundswell (280-300) and minor SW swell. Surf isn't great, but very rideable for the first day of summer. Many breaks are in the 3-4'+ range, with head high and larger waves at standouts. Wind is light out of the South/SW this morning, and surface conditions are crumbled but overall pretty smooth. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 8.9 ft at 10.0 s NW 46 / WIND WAVE: 3.0 ft at 4.8 s NW / WVHT: 9.2 ft / APD: 7.8 s / MWD: 307° (Met) WSPD: 12 kn / GST: 16 kn / WDIR: 320° / ATMP: 52° F / WTMP: 51° F. Tide: Less than zero, rising.