Summer Lovin' (HMB Jetty)

Had me a blast! I wanted to charge the main peak at the Jetty on this gorgeous warm weekday afternoon. And I was excited to see only three people out when I arrived, and that the swell hadn't dropped a whole lot from yesterday. Too bad a bunch of other folks had the same idea, and it crowded up fast as the tide dropped from high. So I sat on the edge with Luke, and luckily the waves were shifty so some came our way.

Today is expected to break heat records for this date, as well as come in as hottest of the year despite being the first of October. Although it was 95°F/35°C when I left home, the coast was comfortably in the 70s. Luke went with his sleeveless wetsuit and did not want to hear about the jellyfish I paddled past in a patch of mucky water, or the one at the bottom of a wave I didn't make. He'd already snagged a few rides when we caught a right together. The wave was head-high on me, shoulder-high on him, and as he overtook me he dropped off to let me have it. (Nice thing about surfing with friends!) It was a frickin' awesome ride with three drops as it reformed twice. I raced along the face doing my tentative little turns to keep the fun going all the way to the shallows. Yee-haw!

Luke caught a bunch more waves than me, and I think one reason is because he goes for more of them while I let the funky mutants and closeouts roll on past. I stopped paddling for a wave when I saw it converging from two sides, but Luke continued on and they smashed together as he popped up at the intersection yet somehow stayed upright and rode a little. He pays a price for boldness though, getting hurled into the bottom when another wave broke on his back.

The growing main peak crowd pushed me away to the second peak, where I caught a nice left but sadly fell as I tried not to run over Luke paddling back on the inside. A swarm of shortboarders was forming on the second peak too, everyone jockeying for position. Then another right came my way and I took it, angling the drop down the big face and getting another fast fun ride. Woot! I wish I could do this every day.

Note on photos/video: As yesterday, the pre-surf shots were taken with my smartphone, an HTC One S, and the post-surf shots were with my new (refurbished) waterproof Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS4, which is the warranty replacement for my TS3 that was having trouble staying focused. I've been trying out the burst mode, which yielded the sequence above. When the waves are smaller, I'll get it wet. On days like today, I just want surf!

Surfline: Fun size mix of old NW swell and peaking SSW groundswell on tap today. Shape is fairly peaky and crossed up with waves running chest-head high+ pretty regularly while standouts go 2-3'+ overhead on sets. Winds are light and conditions clean but watch for the mid day high tide to slow some spots down a little. Buoy 46026: (Wave) SWELL: 4.6 ft at 10.8 s WNW 83 / WIND WAVE: 1.3 ft at 5.0 s WNW / WVHT: 4.9 ft / APD: 8.5 s / MWD: 290° (Met) WSPD: 12 kn / GST: 14 kn / WVHT: 4.9 ft / DPD: 11.0 s / ATMP: 58° F / WTMP: 56° F. Tide: Above 4' falling to 3.5'.

Beautiful Bookends (HMB Jetty)

When I got to the Jetty not too early this morning, there were already 20 surfers on the main peak (swelling to 30 by the time I left), with good reason.

I didn't want to fight for waves, so chose the less-popular and slightly smaller second peak instead. After a well-timed dry-hair paddle out, I chatted with one of the two guys nearby for a couple minutes before a head-high left swung to me and I got my wave of the day. Woot! Back in the lineup, the same guy said "That was a nice one!" Grinning, I replied that it was a great way to start the session. 

My last wave was a head-high right that was almost as good as that first left, and I took it all the way to the shallows. In between those beautiful bookends were mostly closeouts or short sections with a few memorable moments. On a shoulder-high left, I dragged my hand in the whitewater to hold the frontside turn down the line. And I was stoked to land a 4' drop on a closeout, coming down with the lip and riding it out.

I wanted to give Rocket a great big hug when we left the water and was smiling from ear to ear. Woo hoo!

Surfline: WNW (295-310) groundswell continues to move in, blending with fun-sized SW (200-220) Southern Hemi swell. Good exposures run head high+ to several feet overhead, while standout breaks see larger sets as we move through the day and the WNW'er fills in further. Buoy 46026: (Wave) SWELL: 6.9 ft at 13.8 s W 82 / WIND WAVE: 1.0 ft at 4.0 s WNW / WVHT: 6.9 ft / APD: 9.5 s / MWD: 278°  (Met) WSPD: 2 kn / GST: 4 kn / WVHT: 6.9 ft / DPD: 14.0 s / ATMP: 49° F / WTMP: 54° F. Tide: 4' rising to 5'.

Crowdfunding the World Tour

The 2012 ASP Women's World Championship Tour ended in August, four months ahead of the Men's. Paige Hareb from New Zealand finished the year ranked 10th, and in late September, she started to raise money for her 2013 bid using a novel approach. With a video posted on a new Kickstarter variant called Sportfunder, the best female goofyfooter makes a plea for grassroots support from her fans:

As with most Kickstarter projects, you get a little something if you donate or pledge - from email updates or t-shirts to personal surf coaching with Paige or your logo on her surfboard during contests. Her target is NZ$30,000 (around US$25K) by November 20th, and so far she's raised over $2000.

The hard truth is that it's not easy to finance a shot at the world title, even if you're considered the 10th best female surfer on the planet. The top women struggle to make ends meet while competing for prize purses which aren't that lucrative, especially when compared to the men's. While the best male goofyfooter, Owen Wright, is comparably ranked on the men's side (currently tied for 9th), he's hauled in $77,800 so far this year while Paige took home just $48,100. Owen's already earned more this year than the female champion Stephanie Gilmore ($72,600), but significantly trails number one Mick Fanning ($221,950 and counting). That the guys have three more events doesn't account for the big disparity in prize money.

Female surfers have to pay travel costs and other expenses just like the men, but aren't rewarded the same. And of course they can't count on winning enough to fund their world tour efforts in the first place. That's where sponsors come in. As Tetsuhiko Endo explored at length in (Surfing), Tits, and Ass, it can be hard to get those sponsors. So Paige is trying something different, a method that has been used to fund projects from video games and albums to electric skateboards and 3D printers: crowdfunding. While companies like Kickstarter have brought the idea to the fore, it's not really new; way back in 1997, fans underwrote a British band's U.S. tour.

Remember that old bumper sticker, "It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber"? Well, maybe someday all the great pro surfers will be fully sponsored. But for now, best of luck to Paige in crowdfunding her world tour campaign.

An edited version of this post appeared on The Inertia.

Tripping (HMB Jetty)

Although the first northwest swell of the fall season surged in a few days ago, my non-surfing life kept me out of the water until today. I figured the Jetty would still have something to offer even with the swell fading. There were only five guys out on two peaks when I arrived, and lots of loose kelp torn up by the earlier big waves. The shape was wonky with backwash of the riprap walls just past a high high tide, but expected to improve as it fell.

I thought he'd make that one

I was back on Rocket, as the conditions deserved. But who would've figured that after spending so much time lately riding my 5'3" fish on weaker waves, I'd have a lot of trouble keeping the nose up in stepper surf with a board 11 inches longer? Let's just say I did a lot of tripping this morning, so much so that a body-boarder remarked on my great wipeouts when he paddled out, using it as his excuse for surfing prone instead of upright.

To be sure, there was some pretty funky waviness going on out there, so a good share of those wipeouts were not entirely my fault. With all the backwash, the waves were as hard to read as the label on a record spinning on a turntable. (You kids who are wondering "Record? Turntable? What's that?" go look 'em up on Wikipedia.) As I paddled for one left, sidewash surged in and I found myself at the corner of two straight walls, looking down to the floor at least six feet below. This is not going to end well, I thought as I fell over the cliff.

I nevertheless thoroughly enjoying playing in the ocean and getting a taste of its fall power. I did nail the drop on a good head-high right with a short section - woot! - and rode a smaller left in close to the breakwall. For a time, I was blissfully alone out there, just me and the chilly sea.

As I paddled back out after another of my great wipeouts, I closed my eyes as whitewater hit me and before I could open them again, a rogue backwashy wave unexpectedly slammed Rocket into my face. Whoa, where did that come from? I could feel a bump rising above my right eye, but I kept on paddling out. "Low Tide" John doesn't call me "Timex" for nothin'. 

Clearly it was time to go in though, but I wanted to ride in, not make the paddle of shame. I caught a sectiony right, my brain yelling, "Nose UP!" and landed it, riding to the shallows with a smile.

Goodbye Summer

Surfline: Easing WNW-NW wind/groundswell mix combines with small and inconsistent SW southern hemi swell today. Waves are generally hanging in the chest-head high range with sets running 1-2' overhead at top exposed spots. Winds are onshore from the West to WSW so many spots do have some texture/bump. Buoy 46026: (Wave) SWELL: 6.6 ft at 10.0 s WNW 81 / WIND WAVE: 1.6 ft at 3.6 s WNW / WVHT: 6.9 ft / APD: 6.9 s / MWD: 294° (Met) WSPD: 2 kn / GST: 4 kn / WVHT: 6.9 ft / DPD: 10.0 s / ATMP: 51° F / WTMP: 54° F. Tide: 4.5' falling to 3'.

Hello Fall

Quantity Not Quality (Linda Mar)

Despite careful evaluation of the forecast and available reports, I wasn't expecting Kelly to be shortboardable this morning. Alas, I'd brought Nemo and not Rocket.

Kelly

The Jetty was sucking sand and breaking near shore, and Montara looked choppy as I drove past.

Jetty

I ended up at Linda Mar. After riding some weak waves at Boatdocks that fell apart in uncomfortably shallow water over seagrass-covered reef, I moved more northward, where I picked up some slightly more energetic lefts and rights.

Linda Mar

Paddling a bit farther north on my way to a different peak (since the next one always looks better), I turned quickly and caught a left, getting a short shoulders. As I came up to a section, the whitewater belatedly revealed a kook bellyboarding on his WaveStorm, perpendicular to my path. I tried to turn up to miss him, but Nemo's Pro Teck fins ran him over, and I was dragged shoreward by my leash entangled with his as he kept on straight toward the beach. First question: Are you OK? Yes. Second question: Did you see me on that wave? No, not at all. I suggested as nicely as I could that it's always a good idea to look both ways before taking off on a wave. Fortunately, no harm was done to either of us or our boards.

That's a contaminated water sign on the right. How nice.

Unlike yesterday's infrequent quality waves in Capitola, today was all about quantity. Few shoulders to play on, but a lot of rides. As I walked back on the beach, some tourists asked to pose with me and my surfboard for photos, and then shook my wet hand. Nemo's going to be famous in Hong Kong.

Surfline: 1-2 ft occ. 3 ft, poor to fair conditions. Crumbly, soft, broken up lines working through this morning as the tide drops. Occasional marginal ends for a big board. Small mid period WNW (300-310) swell slowly eases today, mixing with old NW windswell and Southern Hemi swell. Better breaks are good for knee-waist-chest high surf, with some rare slightly larger sets for top breaks. Winds are light/variable onshore from the WSW-West with some residul texture/warble from yesterdays onshore flow, but there are still some rideable waves to be had. Buoy 46026: (Wave) SWELL: 3.6 ft at 7.1 s WNW 80 / WIND WAVE: 3.6 ft at 5.9 s NW / WVHT: 4.9 ft / APD: 5.2 s / MWD: 302° (Met) WSPD: 14 kn / GST: 16 kn / WVHT: 4.9 ft / DPD: 7.0 s / ATMP: 54° F / WTMP: 55° F. Tide: 3.5' rising to 4.'

Fishing with Janitors (Capitola)

The Hook

The waves in NorCal have been grim lately, mostly small hacked-up windslop. This morning I drove south to surf a bump of south swell in Santa Cruz. The Hook was overcrowded as usual, so I kept looking.

Although the tide was a bit high and going higher (shoulda been here earlier!), there were still fun-sized waves rolling through at Capitola and only a handful of longboarders in the lineup.

By the time I got out, three stand-up paddleboarders had joined the little group, waiting through long lulls for the groundswell sets. They weren't too greedy though, and I claimed a decent share of waves on my fish. Plus I rode every one I caught - no takeoff wipeouts - and that's a rare event. I'm having so much fun on Nemo this summer! I think my longboard will be gathering dust for a long time.

One of the janitors turned out to be Ed from Club Ed surf school, and he was giving out free advice to me and the other surfers. First, he said I should keep my knees closer together when I paddle so I'll know I'm properly centered, which will help to keep me centered when I pop up. Ed also said his forte is surfing big waves - Maverick's, Ghost Tree, etc (OK, now that's just bragging) - but one thing that's more challenging on a shortboard in small waves is getting into them. Since "you can't chase it down like on a longboard," he suggested getting into position, then pushing the board back/under and letting it pop forward to generate momentum right at the peak when catching the wave. I think I need to have one of my shortboarder buddies demo that one. It sounds a bit tricky to get the right timing and motion.

Eventually it was just me and the three janitors, who were chatting when I saw the first wave of a set incoming and began stroking into position. Ed called me into it with "Go for it, Cynthia!" and he and his friends let me have the wave, a sweet chest-high right with some facetime, a couple of turns and a floater before I bailed just inside the rocks at the base of the cliff. Stoked!

Surfline: This morning there's a primary South groundswell is mixing with some small SSW swell. Surf is 2-3'+ for exposed spots, while top breaks are hitting head+ high on inconsistent sets. Light/variable winds early for mostly clean conditions. Buoy 46026: (Wave) SWELL: 3.0 ft at 16.0 s S 79 / WIND WAVE: 3.9 ft at 5.6 s NW / WVHT: 4.9 ft / APD: 5.0 s / MWD: 316° (Met) WSPD: 17 kn / GST: 21 kn / WVHT: 4.9 ft / DPD: 6.0 s / ATMP: 54° F / WTMP: 55° F. Tide: 3' rising to 5'.