Surf Etiquette

Surf etiquette, from the wall at Capitola Beach:

• Don't drop in
• Don't paddle through the middle of the break
• Take turns
• First one up has the right of way
• Communicate your direction
• Respect the ocean, the beach, other surfers
• Aloha

Half Moon Bay @ Jetty, 3 July 2009

This wasn't quite the high wave-count longboard session I had in mind. The Jetty was bigger than the 2-3' forecast (thanks for nothin' Surfline) and it wasn't serving up mushy mellow longboard waves. Rather, the up to shoulder-high waves were steep and curling, and made me wish I'd brought the fish instead.

It didn't take long to realize that the reason I was pearling so much was that surfing steep waves on the LB was a skill I didn't master before moving to shorter boards. The 8' plank is just a different beast, and it was hard to keep the nose up. I was getting a bit frustrated but it felt good when I finally managed to land a drop for a nice ride. And I got a few more decent ones as well. So stoke is somewhat restored. Although, as always, I'm still thirsty for more.

Apologies, but technical difficulties ruined the best video, of a raucous party wave.

Half Moon Bay @ Jetty, 29 June 2009

When he called me with a report in the midafternoon, L had already surfed his first session of the day at the Jetty and said it was 2-3' and punchy enough for a fish/shortboard. (He also said he'd surfed in the upper 50-degree water wearing only boardshorts and a vest - either crazy or telling tales - and I said I'd believe it when I saw it. I have yet to see it, as he put on a wetsuit for his second sesh, claiming the first outfit was too wet. Hmm.)

By the time S and I reached the beach after work and met up with L and his newbie friend R, the SW swell had come up a lot more, with some set waves overhead+ on the main peak. Unfortunately there were also a lot of people cluttering the best waves. This video was recorded near dusk when a bunch of them had left.

Because of the crowd (which had me almost longing for a shark sighting to empty the lineup), I ended up on the less-ideal second peak, where I searched for shoulders among the close-outs and high-tide mushburgers. I caught a couple closeouts that threw me, but got in some got in some good duck-diving practice. My duck-diving is starting to feel more right, and both L and S remarked that it looked right too. Still, another sesh without a good ride. Sigh. I'm going to have to haul out my longboard soon to bring my wavecount back up, and my stoke along with it.

Seal Beach, 27 June 2009

Since a migraine ruined last week's surf session at Seal Beach, I wanted to go back and make up for it. And on my first day without my morning soy mocha (since they say caffeine is a headache trigger), I needed some cold duck dives just to wake up. After S and I went on a hot forest hike at Butano State Park, I was more than ready for a dip in the chilly Seal Beach water.

This time I took Nemo instead of the shortboard, and got a couple little lefts. L rode the wave of the day on his longboard, solidly in the pocket on a long right. In the face of a near head-high crashing closeout, I made my worst ever attempted duck-dive, sucked over the falls with my lower legs shooting into the air as the wave spun me ass over teakettle. But still, it was a fun non-scary tumble. Shortly after, I surprised myself with one perfect duck dive on an admittedly easier just-breaking wave.

It was a fun surf session on an absolutely gorgeous sunny summer day on the NorCal coast!

Butano State Park

Seal Beach, 21 June 2009

It's true, the water is much colder at Seal Beach.

Most of the coast was blown out like Pomponio.

Roosevelt, 18 June 2009

The west winds are back, sadly here to stay for the foreseeable future. And the south swell that brought those nice lefts has departed, replaced by short-period windswell garnished with chop. Sigh.

As long-time surfer J had room in his schedule to give me some duck-diving pointers, we planned to meet up in HMB after work, with L joining us. But J was not having a good evening, arriving late and sans board and wetsuit, after discovering his wife took the key to his gear locker on an out-of-state trip. L pulled an extra wetsuit from his cavernous truck and offered to share his shortboard, so we were still on, sort of.

J gave me some duck-diving advice on the beach, including the observation that most people start too early, so I should wait a beat longer before pushing the nose down. He also said sinking the back of the board is best done with the knee rather than the foot as I've been doing.

There's some disagreement on the knee vs. foot question, and I think it may just come down to what feels comfortable and works for each individual surfer. A friend pointed me to this article, where Coco Ho, a woman about my size, says "using your foot instead of your knee will allow you to push the tail deeper," something I've found true as well. Using my knee never felt right and the times I've executed perfect duck-dives were with my foot sinking the tail. Yet I plunged past the shorepound to give the knee another chance. That change threw me off and wasn't working for me, so I went back to my old style and just tried to better-time the entries.

When I joined L in our lineup of two, I had no success catching any of the fickle waves. Poor J's evening kept getting worse once he borrowed L's shortboard and started to paddle out. Indecisive in the face of a breaking wave (over or under?), he got sucked up over the falls; the board's tail hit him hard in the ribs and he lost his wedding ring. Sidelined back onto the beach, he lamented that "Those who can - do. Those who can't - teach."

Not that bad, J, and I appreciate the tips, although I think I'll stick with Coco and keep using my foot. On the plus side, I didn't smack my mouth or chin on my board as I'm wont to do on bad duck-dives. No breakthroughs, but I'll keep working on it.

It was a bit disconcerting to see Harvey the Headless Sea Lion on the beach.