Bluebird Surf

It is rare, but when it all comes together it is beautiful. San Francisco is one of the few places where as you get closer to the Ocean the real estate prices drop. It takes a special type of person to weather the thick fog, harsh winds, and damp cold. As a surfer, it is the only place I would want to be. The smell of the ocean and the roar of the waves at night is what makes me feel alive. People often question those who live out here and when you say you live in the Outer Sunset they say, oh you must surf.

And I say, YES I DO! Ocean Beach is not all fog though, the locals will tell you that when it all comes together those few times a year it makes all those other cold onshore windy days worth every bone chilling bit.

75 degrees in November. Not bad at all. Everyone was out at the beach enjoying the beautiful weather and warm offshore winds that groomed the overhead surf. Here is a guy on one of the little insiders.

Saturday was a bit more full and had some size and mass in the morning, whereas today was just firing. a little smaller with more time in between sets, but just rifling lefts and rights with definate cover up potential.

You could even get away with a bikini it was so nice.

I surfed three hours in the morning and got some of my best waves out at OB. I had a couple lefts that were all time. I was able to link about three big top turns on one fast little wedge that had me giddy by the time I kicked out.

Another one that stood out was a right hander that I got into late and pulled in tight under the lip to have my hand skip across the face of the wave as I picked my line and drove for the shoulder finishing it off with a little slo mo cutty. I caught so many waves that towards the end of the session I could barely push myself up on a wave and keep from being catapulted into the flats. I know I wasn’t the only one. Why else would you turn your back on a wave like this.

Ocean Beach can get gnarly and certainly lives up to its reputation, but on weekends like this you forget all about it as the whole city comes out to enjoy one of the best things about living here in the City of San Francisco.

Going back to work with a bit of sun, sore muscles and a grin from ear to ear will keep me pacified until the next round of Bluebirds. Images like this will be branded in my mind as I think back on the spray taking the tops off and leaving a full circle rainbow in their wake. The pelicans surfing up and down the beach cruising effortlessly on the unridden swells and the numerous cracking barrels that I duck dove under.

With daylight saving time kicking in and the the extra hours to get wet during the week vanish my weekends will become more and more precious. These last 6 or so hours that I logged in the water will be the stuff that keeps me dreaming for more.

Olaus at Marazion, Cornwall, UK – January 2007

Photo Courtesy SurfersPath.com

The International Surfing Association, ISA, and BluebirdSurf.com is shocked to learn of the British Airways (BA) ban on the carriage of surfboards (effective from 6^th November) and supports the British Surfing Association’s petition to lobby the airline to reverse their decision. Like the British Surfing Association, the ISA is also urging all surfers to utilise a new members group on the social networking site Facebook, complain directly to British Airways and spread the word amongst other surfers. 

Karen Walton, National Director of the British Surfing Association says, “If everyone who surfs could take five minutes to go online and follow our recommended action steps then we will have a real representation of the swell of support for the reversal of this absurd decision. The Facebook site already has in excess of 1,000 members and lots of our members have been making complaints to BA. The British Surfing Association online petition means that people all over the world can add their support to our campaign and can add their personal comments about the issue. We will then be personally delivering the petition to the management at BA in the near future.”

Surfers are urged to take the following steps to help us lobby British Airways to reverse their decision:

1) Go onto www.britsurf.co.uk and click the ‘SIGN ONLINE PETITION OF PROTEST IN THE NEWS SECTION ON THE HOME PAGE’. Follow the easy steps to sign this online petition and add any comments.

2) If you have a Facebook account, join the Facebook ‘British Airways Surfboard Ban’ group

3) Click this link http://www.britishairways.com/travel/custrelform/public/en_gb and register a complaint with BA directly

4) Encourage all other surfers to follow these steps

 

More Information from the BBC:

 

The ban, due to start on 6 November, will include BA flights between London Gatwick and Newquay in Cornwall, one of the UK’s main surfing destinations.

BA says that “large size and handling complexities” mean it will no longer carry surfboards, hang-gliders, javelins, canoes and pole vaults.

Members of the Newquay-based British Surfing Association (BSA) have reacted with “disbelief and anger”.

We’d find it extremely hard to believe that the average Mini Mal (surfboard) would be more difficult to handle when compared to a double bass Karen Walton, BSA

BA says on its website: “Due to the large size and handling complexities, some sporting equipment cannot be accommodated through the airport baggage system or within the aircraft hold.

“Therefore we no longer accept the following equipment at check-in as part of your sporting equipment allowance.”

Karen Walton, national director of the BSA, said the ban was “inexplicable”.

She said: “We’d find it extremely hard to believe that the average Mini Mal (surfboard) would be more difficult to handle when compared to a double bass and a full bag of golf clubs.”

She added that the ban would be bad news for the growing numbers of surfers travelling to destinations around the world.

Ms Walton also said that among those who would be disappointed were the British surfing teams, who have previously chosen BA “mostly as a result of their generally fair baggage policy”.

Ms Walton continued: “We therefore feel completely let down and angered by the news that our national airline is banning surfboards rather than following some other airlines and charging a supplementary fee.”

BA restarted its flights between Gatwick and Newquay in March after a three-year absence.

So leave your Javelins and Pole vaults at home guys next time you’re traveling.  Don’t even think about bringing one of those stand-up paddleboards…It ain’t gonna happen!

 

NorCal and its lucky waveriders lit it up on the first swell of the season.

It started out on Friday night talking with my family about the plans for the weekend. We decided to take a spur of the moment weekend trip down the coast. Didn’t really have any plans but were excited for the forecasted warm weather and solid swell hitting on Saturday.

Woke up Saturday morning way too early and it was already shaping up to be a beautiful day. My son and I walked out to Ocean Beach to check the waves and it was a pretty good size…no one out and a lot of water moving. Not the best shape, but plenty of good swell. We packed up the car with boards, suits, and other toys and meandered our way south.

The waves at Pacifica weren’t all that encouraging as it looked to be only slightly overhead on the best portions, but you could see on the points and just south of OB that there was some good swell running. A bit windy, but had a lot of potential.

Driving past Montara and all the other nooks and crannies before Half Moon Bay I had to struggle to keep my eyes on the road. Montara was pretty large with no one out. Easily double overhead macker close outs that looked heavy and uninviting…despite the nice weather.

As we continued our drive we made a last minute decision to stop and get a first glimpse of the North Pacific swell hitting Mavericks. The parking lot was packed and there was a small squad of cameras up on the hill, so me and the boyz ventured out to check all the action.

There were a bunch of pros out and several jet skis. Rumor has it that there was a crew that flew in from Hawaii to charge the 25ft. faces.

Speaking with Mark Sponsler from StormSurf.com and others that were out there I was told that the faces weren’t massive but they were pretty thick and powerful. One look at the mountains of whitewater and the way they come careening into the boneyard will tell you that it was pretty serious.

The really good sets would come every ten minutes or so and it was quite a spectacle to see it all go down. Just paddling out there into the Arena is a feat in itself.

We watched the brave souls out there for about an hour paddling into the massive walls as they fell down the faces and raced for the shoulder. Utmost respect to those guys.

The pack was all sitting close together and from my vantage point up on the cliffs you could see three wave sets building as they approached the takeoff zone….the pack would then sink into the trough and disappear until you saw them dropping vertically with total commitment. The rights were really impressive freight trains, but the lefts were something else. The power was pretty clear from about a half mile away.

Check out the shadow that is cast by this heaving lip. Certainly not a good place to be. I remember hearing one of the pioneers of the place, Grant Washburn talk about how heavy the place is and that you have to ball up when you eat it. The sheer force of the wave was described as being able to rip your appendages right off.

Leaving Half Moon Bay we stopped to have lunch across from Peter Mel and a friend. Everyone was out and all a buzz with the contagious energy of the sea.

We drove past Waddell and Scott Creek watching sailboarders and kitesurfers launching sometimes 20ft in the air over the tops of the lips. There was some good wind and no shortage of swell to serve as launch ramps.

By this time it was late in the day and so arriving in town I went straight out to Pleasure Point on the eastside hoping to get some long rides to warm up on. Surfed for about two hours until just the moonlight shone on the faces of the waves. It was pretty tame, except for the sets that would come through every twenty minutes or so. A couple times I got caught inside between Sewers and First Peak and had to swim down deep to avoid the eight foot+ walls of whitewater bearing down on me. There was so much froth on the surface that it was like swimming in a creamy milkshake.

Waking up the next morning I went to check the surf on the Westside and was greeted with the Lane at its best. Large glassy walls that broke perfectly and a good sized crowd starting to form.

Everyone was stoked and so I sat up on the cliff shooting some photos of the morning action. Santa Cruz is truly a mecca for surfers and Sunday was about as good as it gets in offering a little something for everyone. Longboarders were jazzed picking up rides from way outside on the bombies all the way into Cowells.

Shortboarders were airing out with the little speed ramps that were lining up from out of the slot. Sometimes you would get a super fast left and right hander from the cliff and two guys racing towards each other both trying to find their ramp. It was a little like a game of chicken and certainly entertaining for everyone on the cliff.

The inside waves had some nice juice and sometimes the waves after the sets were the best…all frothy and rippable.

Saw one guy pulling into some little cover ups that didn’t end so well. He was pissed when he came up to find that the only thing attached to his leash were his three skegs. The little board just got snapped on one of the little grinders.

It felt like it was about 85 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and although the wind picked up a bit around noon, by the time I got out in the afternoon it was glassy as ever and stayed that way for the rest of the day. It was a beautiful weekend in one of the most unique places in the whole world. This place has it all, from rivers to mountains, redwood forests that have marched right up to the sea and more. I know that this won’t last as we quickly approach winter and the impending storm action that batters the coast, but until then the Golden State is the place to be.