Mavericks Contest Window Closes...or Does It?

The Mavericks contest window closes in a couple days. Too bad they didn't open it earlier to catch the great swell at the end of November. At least we have memories of 2008.

But wait! Now there's talk of extending the window into April. We may get lucky yet.

Update: April is breeding season, when a young seal's fancy turns to love. So the Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary is off-limits, and rightly so, to droves of spectators and roaring jet skis that would disturb nesting birds and baby marine mammals. Better luck next time, when contest organizers hope to open the window on November 1st.

Toga Beach Changing Towel Review

Once I saw my old surfing buddy D change into his wetsuit in the rain while simultaneously holding both an umbrella and a towel around his waist. I still don't know how he pulled that off without dropping either.

Jamie models a Toga Beach changing towel in hot pink.

In a pinch I can manage the towel-changing act, but I prefer a hands-free, less-risky robe. The blue hibiscus changing robe I've used for several years has worn out, so I just got a new changing towel from Toga Beach (motto: "Don't get caught with your pants down"). "Robe" is a loose description; it's basically two towels sewn together on three sides with openings for head and arms. Very handy for drying off and changing après-surf, and a pretty good deal at only $16 from Swim Outlet. I got a hot pink one since S talked me out of getting a pink Gath helmet, but it also comes in blue and tan.

HMB @ Jetty, 28 March 2009

I met up at the Jetty with L and some of his Coastside Surfers Meetup crew. There were a lot of other familiar faces in the dirt parking lot and on the water, since it seemed that was the place to be on the Peninsula coast this morning, although conditions weren't the greatest and the water was c-c-cold.

With the crowd and a southward drift, I lost the rest of the group within half an hour. I had some success catching the waist-chest high waves on the fish, but kept stalling the board on the lip and slipping off backsides. The waves were slow moving, and I think perhaps I needed to push my weight farther forward right away. Next time.

Halfway through the session, I had an unfortunate encounter with a blind surfer. At least, I assume he was blind because when I was paddling back out, and he was far enough away to avoid me, he took off on a wave and aimed right at me with a slight turn. I could swear we made eye contact and I paddled like hell toward the whitewater to get out of his way, but he didn't bother to change course and ran his fin across my leg. Dude then tried to blame me for the collision! Hello?! I'm grateful for the protection of 4mm of neoprene, since the damage was limited to a couple big bruises, which I'm icing as I write this, and some surface cuts in my wetsuit. Nemo also took a superficial scratch. My leg's pretty sore and is going to look a little scary when I do Swim 4 Life next week, but it could've been worse.

I didn't know the GoPro Hero camera was capable of special effects.

The Hook, 26 March 2009

Neptune smiled upon me today. When L and I reached the Hook, it was small but glassy, with hardly anyone out. In contrast, the view toward Pleasure Point showed the usual crowding. I borrowed L's ugly beautiful 8' longboard again, which is similar enough to my own to feel pretty comfortable.

I also took the opportunity to try my new Gath helmet, a long-delayed purchase I finally made after a woman died from hitting her head in a little fall on a ski slope. Knowing my history of hard snogging with my short boards, the first thing L asked when he saw it was "Did it come with a mouth guard?" Ha, very funny, but no.

We made an easy paddle out to our very own peak - a rare find in over-popular Santa Cruz. It was L's first time, and I think now he's got the wrong impression of the place. My long ride-less drought was soon broken. Stoked! I lost count of how many waves I caught, and had about four very nice rides, getting in some turns before the low-tide reef rose too close to the surface.

We stayed out until well into shark feeding time, watching the rippled silk water reflect blue sky and sunset pink clouds. Re-stoked, I raced the curves of 17 home in my Mini with a lingering smile.

Where is everybody?L waiting for waves.Alien surfer sighting.

Kelly Ave, 21 March 2009

This morning I took my shortboard as well as the fish, and L had a spare longboard available for me as well. I've had the wrong board too many times lately, and wanted to be ready for any sort of waves. As it turned out, I ended up on the fish anyway at Kelly. Unfortunately I didn't bring a backup camera, and despite an empty memory card and fresh lithium batteries, the GoPro Hero turned balky, refusing to record anything* but this one little video clip of outward-bound L.

We made it out once through the shorepound and short-period whitewater. L drifted south and bagged one ride on his big-guy shortboard, while I worked north and briefly found a sweet spot. Sadly I blew the pop-up on the only wave I caught, as is always the case when I'm this rusty. After that, Kelly decided to deny us entry back into the green water. Starting from the beach again, we made a couple attempts to use a rip, but kept getting sucked south into the lull-less walls of whitewater. I tried one last time while L prudently watched from the beach, but with arms turned noodly from the near-constant duck-diving - must do more push-ups! - I finally had to concede defeat.

There's a storm coming later today, but I'm going to try really hard to get out for a sunset session next week. Can't keep letting work get in the way of play!

*Good customer service with a prompt email response from GoPro. My problem was: "If you are using a Mac to download and delete files, make sure you delete the files from the memory card AND the trash can before you disconnect the camera from the computer. If you do not do a complete delete, then the card will show ‘0' files but the space will not actually be cleared." D'oh!

Dear & Yonder

Finally a surf flick by and about women, to be released sometime this year. In addition to great surfing in Indo and at other warm-water breaks, there are local angles. Santa Cruz surfer Ashley Lloyd shapes and rides a BioFoam board, and a geophysicist named Judith Sheridan who bodysurfs Mavericks (!) explains the forces that shaped the Bay Area coastline.

It still amazes me to see women surfing in bikinis. Even if I was good enough not to risk giving folks on the beach a topless show (and I have a ways to go before I'm at that point), I'd still want to be able to push myself without fear of indecent exposure. But maybe those women just don't care, while I was raised by prudes.