Hot Air and Cold Water

My old surf buddy Luke came down from NorCal and we had a fun late afternoon surf yesterday at Tourmo, after he fixed a couple of broken things on my new freelance writing website (check it out here). Yesterday was crazy windy, with a maximum gust of 39 mph recorded at my home break, Crystal Pier. The Santa Anas have been blowing strong, hot and dry, and the normal afternoon onshore seabreeze couldn't counter them until partway through our session, which thankfully was after the worst of the wind.

The swell dropped overnight and the day started calm, but the hot offshore breeze turned on before we met up for another surf mid-morning. I checked breaks from Bird Rock to Reed Avenue south of Crystal Pier.

I was stopped in a red zone at the end of Reed and had texted Luke to meet me at Law Street when a tourist asked if he could take a picture of my MINI Cooper at the beach, for his wife. I stepped out of frame to let him snap it, then got back in the car in time to see a nice set roll through with peeling lefts and rights. "Changed my mind," I texted, "Come here instead." I'm glad I said yes to that picture.

Under a hot sun with the air temperature already over 85°, I sweated in my 4/3 wetsuit while I waited for Luke. He'd gotten cold in his sleeveless long john yesterday and donned a 4/3 himself. I wished for booties and a hood too once we paddled out; an upwelling has dropped the ocean temperature to 55°, which brought on short ice-cream headaches after a few duck-dives.

The waves were up to shoulder high and held open by strong offshores that made paddling into them challenging. I didn't get into any green until my last wave. I had to hold the nose down hard against the wind as I popped up and then rode left as my buddy watched from the beach. Stoked!