Misty Morning Magic (Montara)

It's still longboard weather, and it took some hunting to track down waves this morning. After multiple surf checks, J-Bird, Jacob, Manabu and I ended up at Montara with a small pack of other surfers. As I came down the stairs, I was excited to hear from a guy coming up that "There are some fun lefts out there!"

Sets were up to chest-high (even on Jacob) with long flat lulls in between. Fun rides were had by all. My friends all out-floated me on surfboards that were 9' or longer, but I did OK. I rode a bunch of waves on my 8'3" Magic, all rights. The water's warmed up a lot, to almost 60°F/15°C, and I kept my hood down but didn't go barefoot like the hardy New Englanders, J-Bird and Jacob. With the air about as warm and no wind, I was hot in my 4/3 until I dipped my head in the ocean.

J-Bird, Jacob and Manabu

Mostly the waves were mushy, and I had to really work to get into one of them, c'mon, c'mon, paddling hard for a distance until finally I felt the wave grab my board and popped to my feet. On another, I dropped in on (or let's say with) Jacob (what are friends for?) and he raced along behind me until near the shore, later remarking to the effect that I should stop acting like a shortboarder and move my feet more.

J-Bird attempts to summon the waves during a lull

Really I wanted some of those lefts I'd heard about, so I paddled away from my regular friends to the goofy side of the peak. I caught a few, none as sweet as the long rights on the other side, yet still nice to face the wave.

I want a wetsuit like that instead of boring black!

Scott turned up on the beach after his bike ride, but the tide was killing it and I was tired, so I wasn't able to manage anything more impressive than a reform in to the beach. Still, it was nice to have a board caddy to carry my longboard up the stairs in the misty drizzle that started when we left the water. In the parking lot, J-Bird played a ukelele serenade for the ocean, capping a fun summer surf.

Surfline: Small NW swell mix blends wih SSW swell with knee-waist high waves at exposed areas, while top breaks see better sets on occasion. Light onshore wind out of the West this morning, and the tide hits a 4.6' high around 10:30am. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 3.0 ft at 9.1 s WNW 49 / WIND WAVE: 1.0 ft at 4.0 s WSW / WVHT: 3.3 ft / APD: 6.2 s / MWD: 290° (Met) WSPD: 6 kn / GST: 8 kn / WVHT: 3.3 ft / DPD: 9.0 s / WDIR: 280° / ATMP: 59° F / WTMP: 59° F. Tide: 3.5' rising to over 4'.