A Flock of Seagulls

A northwest swell is forecast to fill in today, but since the nearshore buoy still showed small in the morning, I figured I'd just surf local beach break. Then I saw the Surfline report:

My favorite reef break is next door to Birdrock, so of course I had to check it. At first, all I saw was a large flock of seagulls bobbing on a flat sea. Despite the report, there was no one out at Birdrock. 

Aside, since it's Throwback Thursday, do you remember the band A Flock of Seagulls?

Also, one of my favorite books when I was a kid was Jonathan Livingston Seagull. And Shore Buddies offers these adorable squawking plush seagulls with a donation to Surfrider San Diego for each one you buy.

Now back to the present day surf story. A set happened to roll through while I was checking, a bit south of where I've been surfing the SW swells, and it looked promising. Plus a shortboarder paddled out to inside Sewers. And I was starting to overheat in my 3/2 fullsuit; probably could've gotten away with the 2-mil short jane today. So hell yeah, I'm grabbing Rocket and going in!

The water was clearer than it's been. I could see my feet below my board, and the small fish (anchovies?) that had probably drawn the seagulls. With no pack of surfers for reference, long lulls, a bit of current, and the shiftiness of the waves, it was not easy to line up. But I found my place after a time and achieved one quite nice left, the green wall rising beside my head and smooth water sliding under my board before the wave sectioned. On the high tide, the backwash put a big bump in the face, and that was the only wave where I'd already been on my feet and able to navigate it, with a "Whoa", and then a "Wooooo.... hooooo!" as it formed up nicely beyond. The other rides were less memorable, but I paddled back through the flock toward the stony beach with a smile on my face.