who here has been surfing this week?

Made it out for an hour of liquid lunch at da Juno Pier. It was Good, Bad, and Ugly:

The Good: Chest to shoulder medium period north swell, long rides, clear blue water, trunks, mellow and semi clueless crowd (I guess from my perspective). Long lulls, easy paddle outs, and lots of cutbacks on the semi mushy walls south of the pier on my 6'6" NA pig fish round nose. It was the perfect boart for this wave. I could catch them as easy as the longboarders, and do more radical maneuvers in the gnar.

The Bad: My wife delayed me so long by the time I got there the wind was on it and it was textured and the drops were kinda bouncy and the faces were crumbly. I heard it was glassy all day until the minute I made it out into the lineup, that was the exact nano-second the wind went onshore.

The UUUgly: As I was approaching the stairway at the foot of the pier, two Juno cops (Barney Fife's personified) were interviewing a young surfer dude. They had concerned looks on their faces. I heard from the skinny kid, "he punched me in the throat as I was coming down a wave, and then said the boyz would get me if I didn't leave."

When I was out there there was some prolonged discussion aboot paddling priority, and such, but the whole crowd was too far outside and too close to the pier to have a clue where to get waves. Bob, Bob, Bob, pelican, Bob, Bob, pelican, that was the lineup. Total kooks, none of them so called enforcers. Then when I walked back to the pier to paddle back out the rip, some guy who was surfing the northside asked me what all the fuss was aboot, he heard "ON THE BEACH!" yelled a few times. I laughed and told him it was now officially chill, I missed all the drama in the water, late for the party. Life is goode...

 

Slept in this AM. Didnt think it was gonna be goode with the high tide & fading swell.

Walked up to the beach an hour before I was supposed to be at work and glassy 2-3's were rolling through. Grabbed the 7'0 single fin an caught a handful of waves in 40 minutes. Not a bad day - Not a soul in the water either! Only 30 minutes late to work ;P

 

Women ruin everything

 

I went surfing Sunday! First time in six weeks.The conditions were perfect for me because the waves were forgiving and under waist high, clean. It wasn’t crowded; likely the dudes were coming an hour later, what with the tides. I surf whatever tide falls into my window of functioning. And just enjoy what the ocean delivers. That’s a secret of life right there.

I went with four of my awesome surf friends. One dudette picked me up at the house drove down with me , wheeled me to the beach and back to the car, drove me home and helped me clean up my gear. The other crew dudettes also helped out on the beach. What an amazing crew since it cuts into their water time....and, the wheelchair isn’t available until 8 a.m. —- I sure miss Paddling out at sunrise.

It was so good to be back in the ocean and under gentle conditions. The beauty of the translucent turquoise wave was not to be missed. Loved spotting the party of six silvery fish glinting in the sun as they jumped out of the water behind the lineup.

I caught 4 waves . My last was my best ride. It was about thigh high . I got up pretty quickly and had that treat of floating along the face of the wave. The sesh will hold me for a few more days— at least! I guess I can still say “I’m a Surfer,”

But what will hold me for the rest of my life was the generosity of spirit by my surfing crew. That they would cut into their weekend fun so that I could surf was a gift I will always treasure.

 

Those are some good friends you have, glad you got out there for another session!

 

Thanks DP!

There is always a way to surf if you’re willing to let go of the perfect and seek the doable.

 

Photo from Tuesday at Blacks Beach

 

Snuck in a nooner sesh for a little over an hour at work today. Nothing spectacular, but it was do-able. Certainly nicer and more productive than the lunchtime meeting of questionable value that I "missed". Air temp around 60, water mid to upper 40s. Had the break to myself.
Repeat tomorrow.

 

Scob3, you ever surf with Jeff from RAT Surfboards out there?

 

Just back from PR. Fun wind swell. Smallest I have seen it there but was still waist to chest most days. The island is recovering very well. It was good to see it first hand.

 

Got out at first light in MoCo before work. It basically sucked. Peak high tide and semi-strong cross shores. Only got a few rides and nothing special. Should have brought my foamie. Better than not stepping into any liquid I suppose.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s redemption sesh and early next week.

 

Nahh. Looks like he shapes out of encinitas - That's like a different state from Mission Beach

 

Ha, yeah, I knew he was a little north of you, but I didn't know how far you roamed.

 

Got up early and put three boarts in the truck, with low expectations (the secret to happiness). 62 degrees at dawn! Water was around 50 in the surf zone... hot in the 4/3, but too cold for a 3/2.

Sideshore for the first hour or so, then the wind died and it glass off beautifully for a golden hour +, with only one other local dude coming out to join me for some really fun ones. He's a really mellow cat... young... has built a few boards... ALWAYS surfs alone. Don't know his name, but I've seen his face at my local for at least 10 years. Smooth style... rides all kinds of boards. It's funny... we don't even say hello. Lol!

I got tired and left... and just as I was packing up my gear to leave, three cars whip into the parking lot. Perfect timing...

 

Just got back from an afternoon session on the Fish. Waist - chest and bumpy, crumbly, drifty, and not very organized but with patience a fun one would roll through. Better than sitting on the couch is what I told someone on my walk back up the beach.

 

Soulrider and I traded a bunch of fun waves yesterday. Kinda crowded, but fun. Waist to stomach hi. Lots of waves came through.

We took turns riding the Simmons he shaped me and the performance oriented small wave board he shaped himself. Good times in the dirty jerzee.

My endurance feels shot as of late. After that 3hr sess I literally just felt like death. We were catching and paddling for waves non-stop tho. No breaks. Such hardos.

Tmrw evening and Tuesday could produce.

 

This morning was more fun than expected. With 10-15 mph SSE / SE winds I decided to head North and surfed on the North side of the Pier. First I rode my LB and caught several really fun waves at high tide. Way more fun than it looked from the beach.

When the tide dropped I switched to the Fish and surfed for another hour or so. I got some fun rides but the wind got worse after a while and really started messing it up and the drift got worse. After a several waves and long paddles back to the peak I was tired of fighting it so I caught one in and called it.

My wife decided to join me for food and drink on the Pier afterwards. I had blackened Grouper with eggs over medium, red potatoes, and wheat toast. I washed it down with a few rum punch beverages. Nice way to unwind on a Spring morning / afternoon.

 

Better than expected surf conditions over the wknd. Didn't think Saturday would turn up well, had a 3 session kinda day. Took the LB out at the Washout in the morning, returned in the afternoon for another LB on my front break, then brought out the 7'2" Hog Molly fish for the incoming hi tide evening session (no one out for that one for some reason). All were waist to chest hi, light winds. Gale force winds expected on Sunday (and in the late evening i'd say that was close), but the early morning riled out shoulder hi's at the Washout. Brought out the 6'9" projekt board which is bullet shaped. A buddy showed up later that morning and i donned the nylon once more taking out a bigger 7'6" funshape which fared well considering the chop. Sunday brought out the gnarliest and a few rippas but i thought Saturday was a lil more comfy n all around easy going surf sessions. Keeping an eye on this evening for leftovers

 

Surf is 7-10 ft according to bouys.
Wind is 35-40mph onshore according to bouys.
As per usual this year....winds screw everything up once again.

 

Fun morning today, lots of fun rides early, started to drop by 9:00. Water is nice at 66 but the 48 degree air this morning had me and the 2 others I saw out back in the suites