Wave Quest (Linda Mar)

This morning, I started my search for waves in Half Moon Bay. Dunes was small and breaking too close to shore...

...but the flowers were pretty, sprinkled with misty drizzle. Farther north, the Jetty was flat.

Montara was messy and sad with no takers. I thought I saw waves on the north end and stopped again to check it more closely, but no.

That left Linda Mar. Sigh.

I dithered on whether to try the north end, which had glints of fun amidst bigger closeout cleanup sets and a more punishing paddle out, or the cleaner and easier but smaller south end.

Since I'm already injured, I decided it wasn't worth the fight for slop on the north. As I walked down the beach, I had trouble holding my board against the wind until I reached the lee protection of the hill near Boat Docks.

My expectations were low when I paddled out. I kept distance from the longboarder clump, sitting on the next peak over with a couple of guys. 

My first wave was a fun left that let me play on the shoulder. I rode it unexpectedly long and finished with a smile. Of course that raised my expectations again.

Alas, another nice wave proved elusive. I rode some meh ones, then found a decent right in to the beach.

Linda Mar gave me one good wave and 25¢ for my trouble

Rockaway was "super fun" according to BD; maybe I should've driven a little farther. Still, I got one good wave, and sometimes that's enough. Stoked!

Surfline: Ankle to knee high occ. 3 ft. [Wrong! It was bigger, even on the south end.] Poor conditions. Soft, crumbly lines [and whomping closeouts] with some Westerly wind texture to the surface. Small-scale and weak overall. Increased NW windswell on tap today as fun-sized SSW (185-200) swell blends in. Average areas run knee-waist-chest high, while top breaks can see sets to shoulder high on occasion. SW-West wind early along with some texture and crumble to the surface at the openly exposed areas. Tide hits a 4.2' high around 8:30am. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 1.3 ft at 12.1 s SSW 58 / WIND WAVE: 7.6 ft at 9.1 s NW / WVHT: 7.6 ft / APD: 6.2 s / MWD: 312° (Met) WSPD: 19 kn / GST: 21 kn / WVHT: 7.6 ft / DPD: 9.0 s / WDIR: 320° / ATMP: 53° F / WTMP: 55° F. Tide: Around 4' high.