One More Cold One for the Road (Linda Mar)

As an unemployed surf bum, I've been avoiding dawn patrol, especially now that the weather has turned wintry. But last night I saw there might be a small window of decent surf ahead of the next blustery storm - Limited time offer! Act fast! - so I booked an early session with a buddy for added motivation. After all, I couldn't move south without at least one more cold one for the road.

Marcia was already in the water at Boatdocks when I arrived, taking her inaugural surf on her Christmas present, a new longboard with lollipop swirls of red and orange on the bottom. Right off the bat we rode a party wave together, and I knew it was going to be a good session. It wasn't too crowded (maybe one advantage of the cold) and there were lots of fun lefts with shoulders. I got a bunch of good rides, enough that I decided to go bold and try leading with my arms to initiate turns. Why am I not doing this already, you might ask? Well, sometimes it takes watching surf videos - in this case A Girl's Surf Addiction (boring surf porn) and The Surfer's Journal: Biographies: Greats of Women's Surfing (pretty good history of the pioneers) - to remind me of stuff my coach told me long ago. Anyway, it definitely speeds up turning but will take some practice to maintain control and not oversteer.

By the time I rode one in, my toes were froze and my fingers were so numb I had trouble turning the key in the car door lock. The offshore breeze was brisk and I shivered out of my wetsuit. But it was so worth it. Stoked!

Surfline: 3-4 ft + occ. 5 ft, fair conditions. Looking a little walled out on some of the bigger sets, but there are some decent corners to pick off. Clear skies with light offshore wind. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 8.2 ft at 12.1 s WNW 113 / WIND WAVE: 5.3 ft at 7.1 s W / WVHT: 9.5 ft / APD: 7.1 s / MWD: 297° (Met) WSPD: 21 kn / GST: 25 kn / WVHT: 9.5 ft / DPD: 12.0 s / WDIR: 170° / ATMP: 54° F / WTMP: 56° F. Tide: Above 3' falling to about 2'.