Soft Shoulders

Surfline's Pacific Beach cam showed the best shape at Tourmaline this morning, so I went there instead of Crystal Pier, my usual local break. When we arrived in San Diego a year ago, Tourmo was initially my go-to spot, until I got over my unfounded fears of being too incompetent or unwelcome to surf with the shortboarders at the pier.

Besides the constant crowd, there's another good reason why I moved on from Tourmo: the wave is soft, a point I'd momentarily forgotten. It wasn't as closed out as the rest of the beach, sure, and there were shoulders aplenty, but the waves were challenging to get into on my shortboard. Longboarders were snagging them on the outside, and the lucky stayed on past a flat section till they reformed. Still, I was able to play on a handful on the inside, and enjoyed watching a shortboarder more skilled than I work them for all they were worth. Someday that'll be me.