The Many Moods of the Ocean

Monday I surfed Tourmaline with Mike and Jess. The waves were small but nicely shaped for longboarding. We all got fun long rides, although Mike dominated as usual on his 9' log. While I was waiting for a ride in after my friends left, a sea lion surfed a wave near me and no one else in the crowd saw it. Way cool!

Spring flower from the road to Blacks

With a similar forecast for Tuesday, I headed to Blacks, where Surfline was reporting 3-4'. After walking down the gated road for fifteen minutes to reach the beach, I saw that Surfline had lied. The set waves were a couple feet overhead and the shorepound was 6'. One guy got a stand-up barrel despite the poor shape of the waves. If I'd driven up to see those conditions, I would've gone somewhere else. But after hiking down, I had to go in. I managed to get out past the shorepound on a lull and a cute college boy chatted me up in the lineup. He yelled, "Yeah!" as I paddled for one of the big set waves, which may or may not have influenced my commitment. I popped up, maybe a tad late, and a split second after my feet landed, the wave jacked up vertical. My board lost contact with the water and I free-fell to the bottom of the wave before the lip crashed down on me. I got dragged and rolled to the impact zone, spinning until I didn't know which way was up. The primitive part of my brain feared drowning and I had to tell myself not to panic. I surfaced, gasping, to see the rest of the set bearing down. When the shorepound is overhead and breaking in waist-deep water, you know you're going to get drilled, and I was. By the time I made it to the shallows, I'd bashed a finger and I think my head into my board. Shuffling through a long stretch of knee-deep water to the beach, I felt a little dizzy. I sat on a bolder until it passed before making the hike back to my car.

Today, as I checked the surf at Hennemans, someone at my side said hello. It was my friend Ian, who I hadn't seen him in a while. He paddled out ahead of me and we chatted a bit before drifting to different parts of the peak. Halfway through the session, Mike joined me, also on his longboard. On the high tide, the waves were fun but soft, in between Monday's gentle surf and Tuesday's gnarly swell. The ocean has many moods.

Feels Like Flying

The waves were really fun this morning and a couple provided especially good rides on my longboard.

On one left, I was speeding down the face and put my arms out like I was flying. At the end of the ride, a guy on the cliff had both arms raised in a cheer. Woot!

Yesterday I met the creator of these little guys who live in a front yard on my street.

Can't Feel My Feet

This morning's fun longboard session with Mike was so chilly that my hands and feet were half numb by the time I left the water.

Someone should make a parody video of The Weeknd's song called "Can't Feel My Feet" about winter surfing in California.

The Other Side of the Fence

This weekend, as the newest member of San Diego Surfrider's Executive Committee, I attended the chapter's leadership retreat. Our Chair is ex-Navy so he was able to rent cabins at Del Mar Beach on the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton.

I missed out on the first night's surf session at Trestles, and the next morning's pre-dawn surf at SanO. By the time the lunch break rolled around on Saturday, I needed to get wet. There were no other takers when I dashed across the driveway and a wide strip of sand to the big and messy surf.

It had been a while since I'd taken out my 5'4" shortboard, but I remembered my duck-diving lessons from Surf Simply and made it to the outside with little difficulty. Then it was a matter of finding a corner in the mixed-up waves. I only had half an hour, and I wanted to be able to say I'd surfed Camp Pendleton. "Feet on the the board, baby. Feet on the board," I told myself; that's what I needed to claim it.

Finally I got lucky on a right with enough face to let me land the 6-foot drop and ride a split second before the wave closed out. Yes! One and done.

Full Moon Sunrise Surf

The fun surf session with Jess and Mike was well worth enduring the early morning chill.

Great Way to Start the Day

At last night's Surfrider chapter meeting, I made tentative plans to meet Jon and Jason for a mid-morning session. Jon ended up surfing a little farther south and earlier while Jason and I paddled out at Hennemans.

Sewers

Hennemans, and Jason thinking maybe Sewers would be better

The crowd was light and a breeze put a slight chop on the water. I rode a bunch of waves on my 7'2" although most closed out. A head-high drop on a right made me hoot, and it was one of those days when I capped off the session by riding straight to the cobblestone beach. Stoked!