who here has been surfing this week?

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Yup... head high on set, glassy, and purdy. Kinda deep with the high tide, but the sets were perfection.

 

lotta fun waves the last two days...yesterday evening's conditions were almost perfect where I was at (Nt., below)...still had a bit of push even during high tide his morning...playful almost all day...

 

arent you like, in north carolina?

 

Sweet! Did you surf stuart rocks? I caught it yesterday chest to shoulder and very lined up, the longboard was the ticket, long long lefts,with 4 guys out at not to be named spot. Today I watched it on the cams from my desk, Juno Pier was getting long period OH swell breaking out past the end of the pier, the lefts closing out, the against the grain rights holding open, long lulls. Tomorrow am early before the wind gets it, it should be good in Stuart and Hobe Sound for an hour or so. Glad you made it down. Check out Harbor Branch Oceanographic Center while you're here if you have the time.

 

Yeah, i got two really memorable sessions this trip. one at that spot yesterday, and another at Lake Worth pier on the way back from a day trip to some nice birding spots west of Palm Beach. Dude is it normal for water temps to be this warm in late Jan? crazy...

 

Pretty stoked for you buoys reading these accounts over the last week. Jonas sounded like a good time. trevolution has already locked up a Swellie with his storm chasin, then again, you cats don't even give the awards out no more.

Life's been more than hectic for a few months now and I've got next to no surfing in until recently. Made sure I fixed that in the last week and hit if 4 of the last 5 days. Me and the lady did a weekend in Santa Barbara so I hit S****'s P***t on the way up two days in a row, then C****s P***t on Saturday night, then back to the first Sunday afternoon following the game.

Wednesday was a brief session as I paddled out with no leash and lost a fin in the well-overhead. Drift was unreal and took you a solid 100 yards in 3 minutes if you didn't paddle to stay in your spot. Thursday was chest to shoulder and I had a couple of my best technical rides to date. Rocking the 5-10 that got split in half at Honeyton over a year ago, and now it's riding better than it was pre-breakage.

The SB spot was protected as hell, which was a great surprise given the high teen winds around the corner. Long ass lines made it look like Ste*m*r Jr. Pretty mellow waves north of LA even 14-15s period. Rippable as all hell.

Capped off the weekend with a night sesh back in Ventura and that was loads of fun. The tide was pretty drastic with the full moon and things got swampy fast. Same for the previous night. It's almost like you had to paddle hard north constantly just to stay in the break. Handful of fun rides and great workout all around.

Driving 40-60 minutes to the break is a new experience. Not like I didn't go to other breaks than the home one back in EMass, I drove to others all the time. But when you drive that far or longer, you're definitely getting in the water upon arrival. I felt like I got to the point living on the coast where waves had to be real nice and no BS with gnarly paddle outs or closeouts (Zippy!!).

Then again, it's El Nino and I'm in SoCal in the winter. There's swell every damn day within a reasonable drive and you have your pick of the litter for which break you want to hit. Feels like I'm back in the spring of 2013 when I started all this fun, there were waves on the daily that spring. I'm stoked to be out here though and happy it won't soon be changing.

I just have to start getting on my other boards. I'm charging with 30-34L sticks and doing fine. But everyone else in the lineup is getting more and longer rides as they look to be pushing 7-9' boards mostly. I may paddle out with the 7'7 Stretch this week since that's a wave machine and can still hack a bit. I'll just be pissed off on the duck dives with it lol

Hope you cats have a good week and manage to keep catching some EC swell. Now's about the time the cabin fever sets in. Good luck.

 

Emass you just came full circle.

 

stoaked ur getting some out there. ill be out west with my girl sometime in march after puerto rico. if theirs still some el nino juice left we should charge. I can show you some gems far north of the cali border where the californians rarely venture.

 

Ya bud! We will for sure

 

lol bc I am open to riding longer boards now?

 

Yesterday after work until almost dark. Warm spell. Air temps in mid 60s.

 

After the first week of Jan. I can't seem to catch a break. Seems it's been pretty flat here or a really short window of waves. I'm starting to get twitchy. Glad ya'll are scoring some. Family tells me San Diego has been good. Jealous.

 

Swell is starting to fill in down here in la jolla!
Surfed some peaky head+waves this am. Super fun and only a few other guys out.

 

I've been surfing kind ****tily the past couple sessions... and even though I go through these phases, every once in a while, at my age, I start to think... "Is that it? Am I done? Have I lost it once and for all?" Then I start to get seriously depressed about the thought of the slow, steady, incessant decline into surfing oblivion. Is that it? Am I done? I start thinking about my next board... maybe a 7'6, with a big, wide nose... something "easy to paddle into waves with." God... how depressing.

Yesterday was a beautiful day... I grabbed the log after work (haven't ridden it in a while) and went down to my local. Surfed crystal clear, thigh to waist high liners alone for almost two hours. Saw countless rainbow sprays in the offhsore wind. Watched the sun set for the millionth time... noting the exact spot it disappeared below the horizon and correlating that with the time of year. Yep... that's where it sets at the end of January, on it's way north until late June, when it turns around and heads back down south. Interestingly, it sets at exactly the same spot around the end of November.

I look down at my feet hovering over the sandy bottom. Tasted the cold, salty water on my lips. Spun around to glide into another little peeler... faded the bottom turn left, then cranked it around to go right and set my rail. The wave peeled quickly down the line and my board seemed to lock into the pocket automatically... my hand reaching over the pitching lip and skimming along the back of the wave as it curled over the back of my board.

I kick out and paddle back out.

"Is that it? Is this all that's left?"

If it is... it's not so bad.

 

Righteous as fu(k LB.


Liners.

 

Speed Bumpe, were you at a mellow PB today? Do you have a white and purple sponge?

Anywayz, took the 7'7 out today at the point when I should've taken the 5'10 out but only had 45 mins to hit it and wanted to be sure I got in enough rides. Didn't know it would have the punch it did. Got about 7 rides in though and definitely my longest ever, a 200yd+ trip. Caught 3 rides on my way in at the end. Love PBs.

Man, another foot and a half on a board and you feel like everything REALLY slows down. Gives you a ton of margin for error. I worked on my angled takeoffs and dropping in right on the peak today. Nice, fast rides. Gotta get my hand in the face of a wave though real soon, it's been too long.

Oh yeah, to the guys who said cross-stepping kind of comes natural, you were right. Your body just works to find balance as well as maintaining propulsion on the wave. Not a bad change of pace but I'll get back to throwing amateur hacks on Saturday if I hit St****r at dawn. Looks like it will be head and a half and clean.

 

A lot to appreciate and be thankful for.

 

LB, I am glad I am not the only one who has these days! Sometimes I paddle out and everything connects, other times I feel like I have no clue what I am doing. Glad you had a good make-up session!

 

I didnt take this picture, but it was shot this morning at one of the Reefs in LJ.