Sunday Jumble (Dunes)

The congregation was small for today's midday Church of Surf, and that suited me just fine. Luke, Perrin, J-Bird and I enjoyed Dunes all to ourselves. And we even had our own surf photographer, Beanstalk, who's been beached for a knee injury that occurred when he was hit by a car saving nuns, or slaying a dragon, or fell wrong on trampoline, depending on which version of the story they're telling. He hobbled on crutches over to the edge of the bluff to watch us surf and take pictures (full set here).

Luke and J-Bird heading to services at the beautiful Half Moon Bay Church of Surf

The waves were around shoulder high+ with steep drops, many of them closeouts, and jumbled on a swell mix. I was on Rocket, and had trouble keeping the nose up as the waves pitched. I badly positioned for my first wave and flipped nose over tail while still clinging to my board.

Wipeout! (photo by Jacob)

At last I got a nice left with a couple of turns, which earned me a raised crutch salute from Beanstalk. Yeah! That was my best wave of the day.

My left (photos by "Beanstalk" Jacob)

Current kept pushing us south, so we were paddling back frequently to stay in sight of out photog. My wipeouts continued until I caught a short right, popping up and making the drop only to trip at the bottom. Arrgh! A larger set wave came through and I paddled toward the outside, not quite making it over the top; sucked over the falls backward, I took a hard fin hit to my elbow as the wave threw my shortboard down on me. Ouch.

Beanstalk, taking photos from the bluff top

Perrin had no success on Luke's 8'3" and had gone inside to play in the whitewater. Soon after, Luke and J-Bird rode to the beach, leaving me alone in the choppy surf and wondering how long it would take me to catch a wave in. Fortunately I didn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes, as the ocean delivered me a smaller right that got me mostly there, and then whitewater for a belly ride to the sand in front of my friends.

J-Bird, Luke and Perrin sporting stoked smiles

Luke said he got a few decent rides with a couple of turns, and he'd also landed an air drop on a big closeout that slammed down with a loud boom, after I'd pulled back when I intuited its intentions. I saw J-Bird making some waves on her new board too. Conditions were advanced for Perrin but she found joy in the whitewater after abandoning attempts in the lineup. And I tried hard and got a couple nuggets.

Beanstalk said he saw me have perfect takeoffs but then fall or nose dive, which is funny since I didn't feel like I was in the right place - I seemed too late, too deep much of the time. He suggested starting to turn sooner, halfway down the face, and digging in my rail - something my surf coach told me a while back that I needed to hear again. I think it comes down to that I need to be quicker and more confident and in control.

Luke commented that I was definitely surfing more aggressively today. You know that saying, "It is better to have surfed and wiped out than to have never surfed at all." I'll just keep on trying until I make it more often.

Post-surf lunch at Gherkins (photo by Luke)

Surfline: Slow start for most of the region as a blend of old/fading SW swell and slow building West-WNW was swamped out by a deep morning high tide. Fairly clean surf prevails across the region throughout the afternoon, though, and with the dropping tide and rising new West-WNW swell fun surf prevails for better exposed breaks running waist-chest-shoulder high. The most open exposures through SF are slightly better with some head high to slightly larger peaks. Buoy 46026: (Wave) SWELL: 3.3 ft at 6.7 s WNW 94 / WIND WAVE: 3.0 ft at 5.0 s WNW / WVHT: 4.6 ft / APD: 5.7 s / MWD: 303° (Met) WSPD: 14 kn / GST: 17 kn / WVHT: 4.6 ft / DPD: 7.0 s / ATMP: 53° F / WTMP: 57° F. Tide: 4.5' falling to 2.5'.