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*** Official 2020 Community Surf Journal ***
- Thread starter jkb
- Start date
Morning sesh was bumpy and big at our most protected spot. Took the 6-10 R. Blackbird out and got a few wild lefts. Mostly just steep drops, race a few sections and then get mowed by the closeout. Got one that slowed up and allowed for a couple turns which was nice. Winds got even worse so I cut the session short and hoped for cleaner evening conditions.
Evening tide was lower than ideal but the winds had faded. Pink mushroom clouds bursting from behind the mountains as the sun dipped toward the horizon. When I got to the lineup I looked back and a full, sharp rainbow stood over town. The waves weren't half bad either. Size had dropped slightly but solid energy was still present and there were actual clean faces to be had occasionally. Rode the Driver which felt like the perfect choice. First wave I pig dogged through a cheeky little barrel, came out, tried to engage my toe rail and face planted. Got a few fun ones after that and had a good rhythm going until the local noob crew glommed onto my little corner. These guys used to be afraid of my grumpy ass but it seems like now they've decided to band together to terrorize me lately. There are 4-5 of them. All have moved here within past couple years. They are just good enough at surfing to be annoying. So, basically like they can catch waves and usually get to their feet but after that all bets are off. Oh, and they are super nice guys which is probably the worst part. It kind of sucked for a bit but I got a few more fun ones before dark. Driver felt great. Definitely one of the best squashy thrusters of all time.
Evening tide was lower than ideal but the winds had faded. Pink mushroom clouds bursting from behind the mountains as the sun dipped toward the horizon. When I got to the lineup I looked back and a full, sharp rainbow stood over town. The waves weren't half bad either. Size had dropped slightly but solid energy was still present and there were actual clean faces to be had occasionally. Rode the Driver which felt like the perfect choice. First wave I pig dogged through a cheeky little barrel, came out, tried to engage my toe rail and face planted. Got a few fun ones after that and had a good rhythm going until the local noob crew glommed onto my little corner. These guys used to be afraid of my grumpy ass but it seems like now they've decided to band together to terrorize me lately. There are 4-5 of them. All have moved here within past couple years. They are just good enough at surfing to be annoying. So, basically like they can catch waves and usually get to their feet but after that all bets are off. Oh, and they are super nice guys which is probably the worst part. It kind of sucked for a bit but I got a few more fun ones before dark. Driver felt great. Definitely one of the best squashy thrusters of all time.
Zero expectations when I showed up, but paddled out to a light crowd at a stretch that’s been packed with a couple friends on the HPTC log and had WAY more fun than I expected! Got a few lefts that just had these tiny little well formed pockets to trim across in like a foot of water. Highlight was a stomach high right that I thought was going to section multiple times, but just trimmed it from forward the front third of the board for daaaays to almost the sand. Friend said other friend told him he should have gone when he saw how deep I was...then looked back and saw me connect it for the wave of the day. Yew! Breakfast burrito and beer to top it off.
just time after my last work appointment for a quick afternoon low tide sesh at reef #4. Traded a few soft waist-high waves with 3 other locals (on 7'6"+ boards) for 20 min, all being friendly and chatty. Beautiful conditions, just not quite enough swell. Mildly annoyed when one of the dudes on a blue ML didn't kick out when I was behind him, coming from deep. But then I heard him in the lineup a couple min later loudly telling his friend he couldn't hear much with earplugs in, and he was practically blind without glasses. LOL. Ok man, no worries. Some slow sections but still plenty fun on 5'10 fishy groveler when they lined up enough. After a decent set, the session was pretty much killed by a combo of a 15-min lull and 6 bros on MLs/longboards paddled out. F'n mid lengths! Cannot compete for waves with 9 big crutch boards. Had to get home anyway. Got a small inside left and then bellyboarded the rest of the way in
LOL, says the guy where they were invented. Is a midlength 9 foot?
Anyways, PPP yesterday afternoon at low tide. Glassy and clear water. Caught a few fun ones. Once again, lullaby time and rising tide just crushed the second half of the session.
Cool thing: Ripper kid taking off his wetsuit in middle of highway playing matador with oncoming cars. LOL, he wound up hopping to side of road with wetsuit around his ankles.
surfed the same zone the last 3 days at the bottom tide and had some great waves every day, lovely long board ladies paddled out to where i was sitting yesterday and i thought oh to be young again, traded waves all afternoon with the beauties and one friend, 8 hours of surf the last 3 days so I've earned the tasty grub my wife and kids have planned all day today starting with bagels and lox and big kahlua and coffee, ending with pecan and apple pie sometime later this evening with a tasty madeira.
have a great day erbbers of the big blue marble.
have a great day erbbers of the big blue marble.
epic b.r.
happy thanksgiving to all y'all.
morning session at the local. clean and decent sized. kind of a fat tide but there was enough energy that the lefts were standing up and running. the morning sun angle was blinding when going right. a couple wedgy ones came through and i gave it the braille mary try which did not end well. rode the Driver. probably should have been on something else. there was enough size for a shortboard but it was all lefts and they were so fast. had a few that slowed up enough for a turn or two and overall had a fun session but I think something with a little more glide would have increased the fun factor a bit. just a few locals and a random cali kid who was a good surfer and chill to surf with. as the tide dropped and the sun rose the rights became more surfable. the good ones were a wedgy takeoff, an opportunity for a snap or wrap and then a fast, steep section into oncoming left. snuck a couple of those and then everyone followed me over. waited for a while for my last one, a nice set with an obvious shoulder. pulled rank on the kid who was eyeing it and rode it to the beach. one of my better waves of the session.
happy thanksgiving to all y'all.
morning session at the local. clean and decent sized. kind of a fat tide but there was enough energy that the lefts were standing up and running. the morning sun angle was blinding when going right. a couple wedgy ones came through and i gave it the braille mary try which did not end well. rode the Driver. probably should have been on something else. there was enough size for a shortboard but it was all lefts and they were so fast. had a few that slowed up enough for a turn or two and overall had a fun session but I think something with a little more glide would have increased the fun factor a bit. just a few locals and a random cali kid who was a good surfer and chill to surf with. as the tide dropped and the sun rose the rights became more surfable. the good ones were a wedgy takeoff, an opportunity for a snap or wrap and then a fast, steep section into oncoming left. snuck a couple of those and then everyone followed me over. waited for a while for my last one, a nice set with an obvious shoulder. pulled rank on the kid who was eyeing it and rode it to the beach. one of my better waves of the session.
some fun little closeouts on the inside bar this morning on the GX. NOC, waves would peak, back off and then double up on the inside for some gaping but short lived barrels. perfect offshores, no one else within 50 yards. stocked. happy thanksgiving everyone.
Beach break, 8am, solid 3-4ft, Stretch Quad. Started out alone and then got 000d when like 15 people paddled out. It was spread out enough but still. Bunch of waves, mostly rights, mostly close-outs, but a few were just spectacularly fast and stayed open, even got a tiny little cover-up. After a couple hours tide drop fucked it up. Fun day.
surfed a spot in town this afternoon that was actually fun as sh!t with a tiny crowd . Ended up surfing for 3 1/2 hours. Got some turns I was really happy about and even sprayed the hell out of a potential drop in. Score one for old man shortboarder! My surfing has not been great lately so I needed a session like this.
good times, I’ll cook my turkey tomorrow
good times, I’ll cook my turkey tomorrow
no. I was trying to say there were 9 midlenths or logs in the lineup. I was the only one on a shorter board... Session: over
It's just frustrating as they sure seem to be a majority of the lineups these days. Novice to average surfers and none of them can surf those boards as good as they think... or like those videos CI Mid apologists post on here. Like others have complained, it's practically an arms race now. And I hate to say it, but sometimes, when I can't beat em, I join em... on my 8' mini glider. It's fine, but I really got it for tiny waves under waist high when I wouldn't otherwise motivate. If the waves are better than that, I'd always rather be on something shorter. Anyway, it is what it is now. I'll stop ranting about f'n midlengths. Hope everyone had a good holiday!
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9-0 is the shortest longboard contest length allowed. i paddled mine this morning. had a ton of fun. was head and half teepees running into head+ bowls. current was ripping. 3 shortboarders gave it a go and got swept while i was making it look easy.
they all went in and paddled back out 15 minutes later on more foam.
like a guy said to once when i was fighting the current and bitching about a paddleboarder. he said, "hey you can't hate on the guy just because he brought out the right equipment"
That's the issue. It's only the "right" equipment because of the arms race to paddle battle- not to actually surf the waves on offer. They're all over-foamed to ride the waves and outrunning the pocket on every wave.
Need a solid OH swell to sweep these kooks away.
yes and no. sometimes you arent getting into position unless youre on more foam or your kai lenny (and hes gonna be on more foam too).
probably more of a norcal playing field reality than socal. and...
guys who know how to surf, know how to surf. its not all just kooks flopping around and not keeping it tight. some guys rip regardless of what equipment they choose that day. tudor being the example that comes to mind
Surfed up @Havoc 's way today. Knee-waist high grovelers. It was packed mostly with plankton on longboards floating well outside where they could catch anything. A couple of peaks over were Simpo and Mick and everyone trying to be Simpo and Mick so there was no point surfing there. Didn't see any tech bros which are usually identified by confusion on their faces and cubicle ET bodies. @Havoc might be too much of a jock to accurately identify them. He'll have to bring me sometime since I've been surrounded by them my whole career.
Got 8-10 and went in.
Got 8-10 and went in.
@doc_flavonoid Sure. Tudor can rip a midlength, but as I said in another thread, 95% of these guys on new resin-tinted CI Mids are not Devon Howard either. Large majority of these are novice (just off wavestorm) to average surfers. My rant is not aimed at the 5% of surfers riding these re-branded funboards who know how to surf and yes, can surf them well. And for one individual surfer, yeah go ahead, ride what makes you happy... the best surfer is the one having the most fun, etc. But these guys don’t know the rules, meaning dropins every wave, can’t get out of the way when paddling out, nobody willing to split peaks, etc. The sheer number of these boards that have flooded SoCal lineups since the Spring when most office employees started working from home throughout this pandemic- combined with consistently small surf during the same time- has effectively ruined many lineups around here. That’s the reality of the current situation down south. Maybe it’s been different up north.
I’ve been surfing these reefs for 30+ years. The Akila AIPA contemporary fish I was riding was perfect for those conditions.
Edit: sorry Doc, got me ranting like @Havoc
Maybe I’ll take up foiling offshore like many other fed-up longtime surfers around town here... if only there was a forum for that!
I’ve been surfing these reefs for 30+ years. The Akila AIPA contemporary fish I was riding was perfect for those conditions.
Edit: sorry Doc, got me ranting like @Havoc
Maybe I’ll take up foiling offshore like many other fed-up longtime surfers around town here... if only there was a forum for that!
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It's like this: next summer there will be tons of mid-lengths windmilling dangerously through the lineup on every set. think of the kooks diving off their wavestorms to get under waves without a care of who's behind them. Think of their drop-ins. Now imagine both with hard boards.
i feel ya. the particulars and scale maybe different north to south but the kookery is endemic coastwide. annnd for what its worth, a 9-0 is fun as fck but its not a funboard re-branded or otherwise