Downsizing (HMB Jetty)

Finishing touches at Ward Coffey Shapes: Pro Teck fins and a leash string

7'0" behind 6'2"

Like last year, my birthday present to myself was a custom surfboard shaped in Santa Cruz by Ward Coffey. It was delayed due to issues with the glasser, but I brought the new board home yesterday and added a traction pad, nose and tail guards, and an XM Tangle-free leash.

At 6'2" long, 20.5" wide and 2.5" thick, it's a step down from the 7'0" Ward shaped for me a year ago to help me transition to a shortboard. 

Eager to try it out, I woke early and was at the Jetty half an hour past dawn. There were already a few surfers scattered on several peaks, waiting for mostly clean, but a little mixed up, thigh- to chest-high waves. I headed out farther south this time, near the traffic light, where an empty left was rolling through sometimes. All doubt that the transition would be smooth was erased when I caught and rode the first wave I paddled for, although it closed out quickly and left me bouncing atop whitewater. Woot!

As I paddled back out, a wave started to break in front of me, and I thought, might as well see if I can sink this board. It's been quite a while since I've been on a board small enough to duck-dive, but I had partial success. I pushed the nose down and under, but have a feeling my ass was hanging out in the air when the wave hit, as my old buddy Dwayne said it did when he made a small attempt to teach me the maneuver several years ago. Something to work on with my surf coach, but it may be that the board is too buoyant for me to submerge both of us all the way.  

J-Bird and Jacob had said they'd meet me, but were running late and didn't turn up until I was almost done. Their friend Denise joined us too.

J-Bird paddles into a nice wave

I bogged the nose paddling for a few waves, and missed some because I wasn't forward enough on my board or at the critical place on the wave. But I'll get all that sorted out soon enough. And I didn't miss many that I would've gotten on my longer board. I caught and rode a bunch of waves, maybe upwards of ten. A couple had shoulders that let me feel the speed and responsiveness of the new board, hereinafter called Rocket.

I rode one in and left the water with a perma-grin stuck to my face; so stoked! Rocket and I are going to be very good friends. I can't wait to see where it's going to take me.

Surfline: Old, fading W (250-290+) swell is reduced to leftovers as small S (170-190) Southern Hemi energy blends in. Expect inconsistent waist-chest high+ waves at average exposures, while the better breaks occasionally hit shoulder high. A nearly 6' high tide tops out around 11am, so expect things to slow down as we move through the morning. Westerly wind adds some texture and crumble to the openly exposed areas now. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 6.6 ft at 8.3 s NW 93 / WIND WAVE: 5.2 ft at 5.0 s NW / WVHT: 8.2 ft / APD: 6.6 s / MWD: 311° (Met) WSPD: 16 kts / GST: 19 kts / WVHT: 8.2 ft / DPD: 8.0 s / WDIR: 310° / ATMP: 54.5° F / WTMP: 53.2° F. Tide: 4' rising to 5'.

Birthday Party Wave (Linda Mar)

Emily and Max, ready to paddle out

The weather forecast was wrong, oh so wrong. And that's a good thing. My birthday dawned sunny and nearly windless, instead of south windy, overcast and maybe raining. The cams also showed flat surf, but my faith in predictions that swell was on the way was not as misplaced as my belief in the weather forecast. Lake Linda Mar had roused by noon, offering up to chest-high waves in the middle of the beach where Emily and Max paddled out with me.

I regretted that Scott had talked me into a birthday mimosa at lunch, because my timing was off and kooked up the first few waves I caught. Soon enough it wore off, and I got a few nice rides, including a right that flattened out and reformed into a left as I navigated around a guy paddling out. Fun! I took it nearly to the beach, where J-Bird was waving from dry sand. She'd just come from a meeting and didn't have her surf gear, but offered to use my camera to take photos from the beach. Here they are:

Birthday party wave! Max, Emily and me.

Emily and Max left when I rode a wave in to retrieve my camera from J-Bird, the lens sadly fogged from the temperatures changes and residual moisture inside. I wanted to get one or two more waves and Deepak joined me in the lineup, but the wave quality was dropping with the fast-falling tide and rising south wind and swell. It was hard to find a shoulder among the hard closeouts. At last I snagged a right that didn't slam shut immediately and came in smiling. I must've been a good girl this year, to get such a nice day and fun surf with my friends on my birthday. Stoked!

Surfline: Starting to build and still very clean. Shape is on the walled up side with some corners and will likely worsen through the afternoon as the tide drops and the swell builds. We're seeing a definite increase in new West swell (270-290) already. Conditions are still clean with light SE/ESE wind and surf is in the 4-5'+ range at the better breaks, with standouts up to a couple feet++ overhead. Look for a building trend through the afternoon, with many breaks getting better with the dropping tide. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 6.9 ft at 11.4 s WNW 92 / WIND WAVE: 3.0 ft at 4.8 s SSW / WVHT: 7.5 ft / APD: 7.2 s / MWD: 285° (Met) WSPD: 12 kts / GST: 14 kts / WVHT: 7.5 ft / DPD: 11.0 s / WDIR: 140° / ATMP: 54.5° F / WTMP: 54.1° F. Tide: 3' falling below 1.'

Early Birthday Surf (HMB Jetty)

I'm taking Thursday off of work because it's my birthday, and had hoped for a nice, uncrowded and leisurely surf that day. But the forecast is for strong southerly winds tearing up leftover dribbles of swell, so I decided to get in my birthday surf early. If it turns out the predictions are wrong, then I'll just do it again on the right day, like Kelly Slater re-winning his 11th world title.

It was c-c-c-old this morning, only 41F/5C when I pulled into the dirt lot. Darren joined me for dawn patrol but after seeing my texted report, "Glassy WH+", Luke apparently decided to stay in his warm bed. The swell is on the fade and was inconsistent, shifty and backwashy, but there were some fun waves to be plucked from the closeouts.

Darren, first in the water

Two guys paddled out to nearby peaks partway through the session but we had the break otherwise to ourselves. A sea otter floated in the distance, the first I've seen this far north. Our breath steamed in the chilly sunlight as we waited through the lulls. Darren lauded every wave he saw me ride, making me feel a little kookish, but I'll chalk that up to it being more of a challenge for me to get into the small waves on my 7'0" than for him on his longboard. Missing the slow and fat ones, I realized I needed more critical placement, closer to the peak, but misjudged the sweet spot a few times and got rolled in water slightly warmer than the air. I rode a nice left, and a long right with a second drop that took me far along the shore, plus a few others less memorable.

I'm glad Daylight Savings Time has ended so weekday dawn patrols are again possible. There's no better way to start the day!

Surfline: WNW swell-mix backs down through the day today, as small SW swell mixes in. The tide keeps most breaks sluggish early, but expect most to improve quickly as the tide turns around. Winds are light offshore and looking to stay down/offshore through the day. Size is in the shoulder-head high+ range for good exposures, with a few lingering 2-3' overhead sets for standouts. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 5.9 ft at 12.1 s NW 92 / WIND WAVE: 2.3 ft at 4.8 s NW / WVHT: 6.2 ft / APD: 7.3 s / MWD: 316° (Met) WSPD: 12 kts / GST: 14 kts / WVHT: 6.2 ft / DPD: 12.0 s / WDIR: 330° / ATMP: 51.8° F / WTMP: 53.1° F. Tide: under 5' rising to 5.5'.

"You've Gotten Better" (HMB Jetty)

While Kelly Slater was winning his 11th world title (really this time) in the Rip Curl Pro at Ocean Beach, I was in the water 20 miles to the south surfing with my friends. I'm not sorry to have missed it as we caught lots of fun chest- to head-high waves at the Jetty. The last time I surfed with J-Bird and Jacob was in mid-September, so it was good to finally meet up with them again. The forecast was wrong about rain today but it's turned cool, so I put the leaky Rip Curl 4/3 Insulator away and wore my new Xcel 4/3 Infiniti with all the trimmings (booties, gloves, hood).

J-Bird and Jacob getting ready to paddle out 

J-Bird reported it was blown out to the north, which probably explains why the protected Jetty was so crowded. We paddled out near the main peak, which wasn't too packed. There was definitely some power in the water, strong broken waves shoving me back to toward the beach, but I pushed through to the outside.

The waves were a bit jumbled with a mix of swells in the water, so it paid to be picky. When I paddled up next to him after riding a few, Jacob remarked "You've gotten better!" He said he'd seen me catch more waves than not, greater than my typical share from his recollection of earlier in the year. I feel like my surfing has improved with coaching, but it was good to hear someone make that objective observation.

J-Bird and Nikki

Nikki joined us in the water partway through the session, and J-Bird and Jacob traded off boards a couple times between J-Bird's 7'8" Coffey and a borrowed thick 7'3". It was interesting to watch die-hard longboarder Jacob wobbling on a shorter board, but they both got rides on it.

Nikki, J-Bird paddling, Jacob

When I noted that we'd drifted south into closeout land and started paddling back toward the Jetty, Jacob drew along side and challenged me to a race. It was pretty neck-and-neck until he asked "How far are we going to go?" and I said laughingly, "To here - because now I'm ahead!"

I rode a bunch of fun waves, mostly lefts (yay!) and a few with shoulders, under sunny skies with friends. Stoked!

Surfline: NW wind/groundswell fades as a new, reinforcing NW'erly (295-320) wind/groundswell blend picks up through the day and mixes with holding SW (200-215) energy. Head high to overhead+ (5-7') surf is common at the decent exposures, while top breaks see sets to several feet overhead. Peaky for beachbreaks exposed to the combo. Cleanest conditions early, but with a fat early morning high tide. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 9.5 ft at 11.4 s NW 91 / WIND WAVE: 1.6 ft at 4.0 s WNW / WVHT: 9.5 ft / APD: 8.3 s / MWD: 311° (Met) WSPD: 8 kts / GST: 10 kts / WVHT: 10.2 ft / DPD: 11.0 s / WDIR: 320° / ATMP: 53.4° F / WTMP: 53.1° F. Tide: 4.5' falling to 3'.

Post-surf walk: harbor seals at Fizgerald Marine Reserve (Google Nexus One)

Surf Stronger: Core Training Review

Several months ago, I downloaded Surf Stronger Volume 2 - Core Training with Serena Brooke. While I like Volume 1, the second incarnation is even better, doing away with the unnecessary downtime of the original.

The main workout is forty minutes, with about the first ten devoted to a pre-surf warmup you can do on the beach. The remainder is the core training, which requires a fitness ball and mat. Many of the exercises are analogues to those prescribed by my physical therapist after I compressed a disk in my lumbar spine on a bad wipeout at Linda Mar five years ago. They are designed to strengthen the core, which has as one benefit a protective effect on the back. As in the first Surf Stronger, there are explanations of how each exercise is designed to improve surfing performance, with illustrative on-the-water clips occasionally interspersed. If you need motivation to keep going, there it is. While none of the exercises seem too easy, only the last one before the stretching portion poses a serious challenge for me: plank on the ball for 60 seconds. I can do it, but barely.

An added bonus is the separate Quick Core segment which takes only 10 minutes and does away with the excuse of not having enough time.

Surf Stronger Volume 2 is my new favorite home training workout.

Into the Sun (HMB Jetty)

Daylight savings time ends next week, which means the return of dawn patrols but also forecloses workday sunset sessions until next spring. With winds forecast light all day, I decided to get in one last sunset surf and enjoy what may be summer's last breath before a cold storm fills in later this week. The weather did not disappoint; it was nearly 70 degrees and sunny when I arrived at the Jetty. Still I wore gloves and attached my hood, which I was glad to put on as the sun dropped to the horizon and a light breeze arose.

There were more surfers than I expected already in the water and just making the post-work dash across the road. The main peak looked best, so I paddled out to join the little pack. Unfortunately, before I'd even ridden a wave, I surfaced in froth and took in an accidental swallow of seawater. Uh-oh. I tried by shear force of will not to let it get to me, but grew increasingly nauseated as the session went on.

The downside of all the sunshine was that I was looking into the sun for waves, the brightness intensified by the long reflected trail of light on the near-glassy surface of the water. For the first time in a while, I wished I'd worn my Sea Specs sunglasses. The glare made it difficult to see, and I misjudged my placement on a few waves. I still have to remind myself to keep looking back at the wave until the last, but am getting better at making the final go/no-go decision.

I snagged a couple rights from the edge of the group on the main break before moving a little south to a shiftier and less consistent but empty peak. I was rewarded with a handful of nice lefts and another right. My surf coach has observed that a surfer's hand positioning helps the upper body connect with and control the lower body and the surfboard. I've been web-watching the Rip Curl Pro at Ocean Beach this week, and there is something to that. I tried to mimic it today, and while it feels a bit awkward, it does seem to work.

The sun fell to the sea in an orange blaze and I shivered as the temperature fell below 60 degrees. The last wave is always a while in coming, but I found a right that took me partway to the beach before being subsumed in another. Ah, sweet sunset session! Until next year.

Taken with Google Nexus One; all other media recorded with Panasonic Lumix TS3

Surfline: It's a beautiful fall afternoon with sunny skies and light offshore flow continues. Our NW swell mix is fading, but still providing good waves in the head high range at the exposed spots, with some overhead sets at best breaks. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 6.2 ft at 12.9 s NW 90 / WIND WAVE: 1.0 ft at 3.8 s SSW / WVHT: 6.6 ft / APD: 8.5 s / MWD: 304° (Met) WSPD: 2 kts / GST: 4 kts / WVHT: 6.6 ft / DPD: 13.0 s / WDIR: 40° / ATMP: 59.9° F / WTMP: 57.7° F. Tide: 4.5' falling to 4."