A beautiful hot summer day, with warm water (relatively speaking), no wind (sooo glassy!), 3-4' inconsistent waves. Near perfect. Except that there were 16 guys out already at First Peak when I got in the water before 8 am. Those guys can be really aggro, so I sat off on the shoulder hoping for leftovers. When none were forthcoming, I moved east toward the next peak, to the left of a couple dozen of my closest friends. On one wave, I saw six guys trying to take off, so close together they could have held hands. Ironic that no one made it.Having caught nothing and despairing after a while, I started chasing vacant whitewater, just to get up and get the feel of my shortboard under my feet again. That's what I get for trying to surf PP on Labor Day weekend... But on the bright side, I saw 2 otters, and a seal swam by about 10 feet away. And I had fun on a borrowed bodyboard at Sea Cliff beach later at a family picnic. Amazingly, I was able to go in the water sans wetsuit, it was that warm. Add the pods of dolphins and a few more seals swimming past, and it was a fine seaside afternoon.
I'm in frustrating place in my surfing right now. For personal reasons, I've had to cut back to only one or possibly two sessions a week. Then there's the catch-22 that it seems I can go to either a crowded spot with good conditions, or a more empty spot with poor conditions. Either way, I have trouble catching waves because of competition or crappy surf. So I feel I'm just not progressing. I wish I could get away to a good uncrowded wave like Pavones for a week, spend some quality time on a a quality wave, and bump up my skills to the next level.
And now, another hiatus...
