Not Ready

I was nervous on the way to surf Garbage at Sunset Cliffs this afternoon, and not just because the waves would be overhead. I wasn't sure my back was ready for the long paddle out to the peak, plus the constant repositioning in the lineup and duck-diving of outside set waves. Alas, it was not.

Staying out just long enough to say "hi" and "bye" to Steve, I managed to catch a broken overhead wave partly to the inside, after watching a shortboarder slash and burn it. Now I'm drowning my physical and psychic pains in a big glass of pinot grigio.

I can't go on, I'll go on. -Samuel Beckett

Kelly Says

There's a dynamic duo in the UK, Hannah Bristow and Dannie MacLellan, who are making a series of surf videos based on doing what Kelly says:

You have to surf all kinds of waves (including the crappy ones) to improve. -Kelly Slater

Although this morning's surf with Ian and Todd didn't start out as a KSS session, it rapidly turned into one. The guys came in and intercepted me on the sand before I paddled out to join them at Scripps, where the closeouts were plentiful and large, and we walked back to La Jolla Shores for less threatening waves.

Within ten minutes the ocean became choppy, and the waves were lumpy, dumpy and bumpy. I caught some on my shortboard but didn't manage any full rides, mostly just drops into closeouts that swept me off my feet, plus assorted other takeoff wipeouts. I saw Todd score a nice right on a wide shortboard he'd borrowed from Ian. "It only takes one to make the session!" he said, smiling. With the wind rising and the chop getting choppier, we decided to catch a wave in. That was my best of the day - a belly ride to the sand.

But you know what Kelly says...

Father's Day

The surf was big yesterday in San Diego.

Crystal Pier was closed due to high surf yesterday

By this morning the swell had dropped and looked fun at Tourmo, so I planned to meet Kelly in the water. With the chilly ocean tugging at my bare toes as I shuffled out, I was only a little hopeful that I could locate her in the Sunday crowd, but she found me by spotting orange/black/white Nemo.

Despite the weekend throng, we gained some space and a handful of fun waist- to chest-high rides. Heading back out after one of those, I glanced right and saw a wrinkled 70-year-old woman paddling her longboard near a 7-year-old girl stroking back toward her father on her shortboard. That made me smile. There were three fathers coaching their young daughters, so lucky to be learning at that age. They reminded me of my dad, who would have been 84 in a few days. He got me used to being underwater by carrying me on his shoulders in the apartment complex pool, singing "Teddy Bear's Picnic" and dunking me after the last line. Later, the gromette swooped by me on a wave and then asked her dad if he'd seen her awesome ride. He was lukewarm, but "Yeah! It was awesome!" I cheered, and she grinned at me.

The surf looked better toward the Point but also full of longboarders party-waving. And my back wasn't up to the long paddle. It still troubles me but I'm learning to live with the heightened level of pain and do my best to ignore it.

There were definite lulls, one so long that another shortboarder said, in his best announcer voice, "And this concludes this morning's surf session." Kelly and I paddled in nearer the cliffs, and I caught my best ride of the day, a partly broken left that reformed and let me work it way inside, surprisingly far as it lost energy and flattened out only to reform again nearshore. That's one benefit of my nice floaty 3-inch-thick fish.

Back home, I said goodbye to my 8'3" Magic, selling her to an Arrow fan from Santa Cruz named Corey. My 7'0" Emm went to a new owner last summer for less than I think she was worth, but there are a lot of surfboards for sale in San Diego, and the estimable Ward Coffey isn't as well known as in NorCal. Corey usually surfs at Tourmaline, so maybe I'll see Magic again sometime. My quiver is now down to three shortboards: 5'4" Firewire Spitfire "Kat", 5'4" 9:Fish Clownfish "Nemo", and 6'2" Ward Coffey "Rocket".

Magic at Tres Rocas

Sneaker Sesh

When I woke up this morning and saw that the swell at the Mission Bay buoy had only recently jumped up to 4.6 ft at 22s, I didn't dally over breakfast and made it to the beach to sneak in another surf before the swell fills in and it gets too crazy.

There were looong lulls between sets of waves up to head high. My best ride was a chest-high right. It didn't hold a face for long but partly reformed and I had fun turning off the sections. Score!

When I left the water, an old longboarder pointed to my Timbertek Firewire and asked "Did you find that piece of wood on the beach?" Ha ha.

A Break in the Crazy

Winter came into California with a roar. We're having a little break of fun-size surf today before it jacks up again to possibly double-overhead. The Maverick's contest will run tomorrow, and I may head down to Tijuana Sloughs to watch big-wave surfing.

Kelly was already in the water when I paddled out but she had to leave soon after. I rode a few fun little waves on my shortboard north of the pumphouse before belly-boarding in to where Steve was warming up on the sand next to his yum-yum yellow longboard. That's surfing in shifts.

Soft Sand

The best thing I can say about today's surf is that the freshly-raked sand felt soft and floury on my bare feet. But I did get some decent on-the-water shots for an article I'm submitting to a local free paper. So, the morning in pictures:

I wanted to surf Calumet, but it was too big and burly

Tourmaline looked more my size