I busted out and went out of town for surf today. I traveled two towns south to a river mouth I've actually never surfed. Driving down, all the name spots in town were PACKED with cars, this was 7:30 am. Caught lots of good rights, I don't think any were less than overhead. I had no idea I was in the middle of a local crew (that's how mellow these guys were), until one latecomer showed and was blabbin at all the guys. I sized him up as better than the others and a wave count threat. I decided he wasn't going to get the very first wave off me. I repositioned and was rewarded with a set in less than a minute. New guy gets the next one, paddling back out, he asks how mine was, I said great. I confessed to him that I felt bad that I preemptively decided to counter him. He laughed and says I look familiar, I told him where I usually surf for past few decades, we agreed we've seen each other. Another guy paddles out, looks at me, says "I don't think I've ever seen you anywhere else but Cardiff". A decade ago, we used to catch lots of the same swells there. The tide turned, or swell was dust, I dunno, but the waves went lullaby at the end.
Coming in, absolute madness of volume at the dog beach. Two bull mastiffs broke their leash and their "playing" was crushing a pipsqueak size mutt. Not a mask in site. The volleyballers were already going strong when I showed, and were in full force when I left. Driving home, I cruised through downtown Encinitas, I couldn't believe all the people waiting in lines to eat at tables in the street. Again, no masks in site. I drove all the way up to compare with PPP, it was a lot smaller.
As I write (1:30pm), I just checked the cam, PPP is glassy, tide is low at 2:00pm, I'm going for a round two, I need to muster up the energy that Aruka possesses. Got a party to go to tonight, it's a great day, happy fall!