The Hook, 31 December 2007

Just me and 3 dozen of my dearest friends on the sunny warmish last day of 2007. There were definitely some waves I could have caught on my Xanadu, if one or more of my buddies wasn't already riding. So, since a zero wave count was a near certainty, plus the water was freeeezing and my new 4/3 wetsuit wasn't up to the task, I bailed early and headed to Zelda's to meet up with S for lunch and some mimosas to soothe my frustrated soul. 

I've decided I'm just going to have to get a good warm wetsuit and suck it up to do winter dawn patrols. I need some waves!

Buying a Wetsuit

Recently I've been looking for a new wetsuit. I bought my tired and biggish 5/4 O'Neill on the Washington coast about 3 years ago, and the 4/3 Hotline I got just 10 months ago hasn't held up well. It's really hard finding a wetsuit in women's size 2, but I was resigned to getting my next wetsuit at Hotline anyway since at least it fit. The O'Neill wetsuits I've had before seemed much better quality, but the smallest size was 4 so they were always a bit big on me. That's why I was happy to find O'Neill has started selling some of their line in size 2. I called the store before I drove down to make sure they had some:

Me: Do you have any 4/3 wetsuits in women's size 2?

O'Neill Wetsuit Room Guy #1: Oh, yeah, we have PsychoII, Mod, D-Lux, Epic, all of those here in size 2.

Me: Great! All in stock in size 2?

WRG1: Yeah, yeah, in stock.

He lied. Here's my in-store conversation with a different guy:

Me: So you only have the D-Lux and Epic in size 2?

WRG2: Yeah.

Me: Well, can you order in the Mod?

WRG2: I dunno. I'll check.... No, O'Neill doesn't make the higher end suits in size 2.

Me: Because size 2 women wouldn't want to buy higher end suits?

WRG2: Riiiight.

To make matters worse, I was kind of counting on a new 4/3 being warm enough to get me through the winter, since the Hotline mostly did last season. But the D-Lux I bought, though it fits well enough, is too low-end to pull it off. I felt the cold right away today, so after a brief sesh, I headed back to the store in search of a 5/4. Alas, O'Neill also doesn't believe size 2 women would want to do dawn patrol in January in NorCal, because they don't make 5/4s for us either. So in O'Neill's mind, women my size all dust off our Softtops and go surf just a few times a year on warm, sunny summer days. Sigh.

HMB @ Jetty, 25 December 2007

I would've surfed here today, if I didn't have a stupid cold...

Merry Solstice!

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.

'We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,'
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.
- Oliver Herford, I Heard a Bird Sing

Now the daylight will start to increase again, so more time for surfing before or after work. Hurray!

Capitola, 15 Dec 2007

Resolved: 1) Always bring a longboard to Capitola. 2) Replace wetsuits that are more than 3 years old. 3) Put really, truly fresh batteries in the surf camera.

Pleasure Point, 9 Dec 2007

By the time S and I finished our Sunday morning stuff, drove to Capitola, and picked up my repaired* Xanadu at Paradise Surf Shop, I had much less than a hour to surf and Pleasure Point was closest. It was sunny, cool, clean and 3-4'. As usual, PP was crowded, and got more crowded by the minute. I sat on the left at the second break from the point and hoped for something to come my way with no one on it, in vain as it turned out. I was forced to attempt a duck dive at one point, executed it badly, and got a nice roll and tumble in the wave. But that's kind of fun anyway, when the hold-down isn't too long. And as always it was just good to get wet!

* Why did my 5'8" Surftech Xanadu need repair? Stupid story: When I picked up my nice 7-spray-pattern heavy metal hose nozzle to rinse off the board after my last surf session with D before he moved to SoCal (cry) , it slipped from my hands and landed - SMACK - on the top deck of my favorite board (cry). But Felix from Sand Dollar Ding Repair did an adequate repair job (though not wholly aesthetically pleasing).