Spoiled Rotten

If this keeps up I’m going to be spoiled rotten come spring time.

It was another beautiful weekend of surf starting with Friday morning before work. It was about 4-5ft with some 6ft sets, offshore winds and only a couple guys out. It was breaking on the outer bar, then reforming on the inside. I was surfing between two peaks…one going left but not quite connecting through to the inside and the right breaking out a bit further and then connecting up with the left that would go away in the rip current but then reappear as a corner on the inside of the right…making for a fun and exciting wedgy inside section. My last ride was the best as I took off on like a 4 fter which as soon as I stood up jacked into like a 6fter which sent me crouching down low just to keep the bottom from dropping out on me. It was pretty exciting and ended up taking me out as the white water outran me. I had a similar wave earlier that morning that I got ahead of and as the wedge came out toward me I was just finishing up my bottom turn…ran that into a mid face stall just ducking the cascading lip and then slingshotting out onto the quickly diminishing shoulder with a snowboard esque carve that if I was more flexible could have had me grabbing my rail all throughout the arc. Better than coffee any day.

Saturday was a bit smaller, but had some killer shape. Pretty solid offshore winds which made for some beautiful moments as the pelicans rose and fell gliding along the swells and then kicking out, so to speak, only to go on to the next peak. They are so graceful and look to be really enjoying the ocean as much as us humans. So peaceful to watch. Love it when they come in real low and right in front of you and you are able to get a glimpse of their prehistoric eyes. Amazing creatures.

I took these photos a bit later in the day when the tide created some really unique and fast tubes. It was just starting to do this when I got out. I was surfing a bit further outside in the morning and as I was coming in, sampled some of the shore break which resembled the kegginess of the late afternoon. The barrels had a bit of a chill to them, not just that the water was cold, but they were sneezing left and right.

That is always fun to see, and hear. They make like this thunderous clapping sound as they squeeze shut. It’s always fun to watch the crowds jockeying for position on these too. The results are often comical. Everywhere you looked there were little peaks doing their thing.

With the low tide the waves were doing their best impression of the super bank as they stacked up nicely on the little bars that have formed this winter.

Today, Sunday was even better. With a few more feet on it and no wind it looked really promising from the beach. My friend Ted and I noticed as we were about to paddle out that everyone had some pretty big boards. Ted was riding a newish board called the Biscuit, that was a shorter fatty, almost thumbtail at around 6′. I was on a 6’5″ and felt pretty good. The paddle was pretty gnarly….took about ten minutes to get outside. I actually snapped my leash on the way out. Lazily let go of it on a sloppy duck dive and the leash just popped. Just between the inside and outside bars. I didn’t have to swim all the way in to retrieve it and since I just started paddling five minutes earlier, figured I’d give it a go without a leash. Once I got outside realized I was about 75 yrds down from where Ted got out further south. I knew I had to pick my waves so that I didn’t lose my board right away and have to swim the 100+yrds back to shore. The first sets rolled in and they were absolutely perfect and big lefts, about three of them. The largest of which had to be about four feet overhead on the peaks. They were just massive walls too, not a drop of water out of place and barreling. It was sick. Felt like I was at Ulu’s or something.

Took off on my first left, not a set wave, but a good size overhead left that provided a couple nice turns before I kicked out making a point not to get too far inside. It’s funny how a leash is so psychological. If you surf with a leash all the time, your surfing becomes reliant on it and you get lazy. You don’t keep your board under you, you try to pull stuff you know you can’t pull etc. My next couple rides were perfect smooth take offs. Got a really nice righthander that walled up beautifully as I sped across the wall, dodging the lip halfway down the line, coming around the end section and ending with a nice round cutty. On my way back out I was duckdiving a set wave and tried with all my might to hold onto the board as I get twisted all around and right at the last second it popped out of my hands. I swam to the surface to find my board about ten feet away. I swam to it quickly and hopped on. I was about to take that as a sign that I should go get a leash, but another surfer on his way out said something to me….not sure what it was since I had earplugs and water still swishing around in my hood, something about a good ride and …?? I took it to mean, ‘that was a good ride you shouldn’t paddle in just cause your leash snapped. Surf till you lose your board completely and have to swim all the way in.’ So I swung back around and paddled out again. Caught one more wave which was really fun, but on my next wave got a little lax and got the tip of my booty stuck on the wax as I was getting to my feet and just fell forward into the face of the wave and then gone was my board to the inside. So much for feeling good about surfing OB without a leash…any bit of confidence was dashed away with that kook maneuver. I did some backstroking, tried to bodysurf a few…but kept missing them. Hard to swim with all that neoprene. After a couple minutes retrieved my board in the inside channel and then figured I’d find Ted who I hadn’t seen in about thirty minutes or so. Tried to catch an inside hollow one and it basically exploded behind me and took my board the remainder of the way to the beach. As I got in I saw Ted up on the dune watching my whole ordeal …pretty comical. The rest of my Sunday flowed along really effortlessly. Another great weekend down.