*** Official 2020 Community Surf Journal ***

bluengreen

Michael Peterson status
Oct 22, 2018
1,763
4,641
113
SF x Encinitas
Spent the week groveling in NCSD. Physics and math were against me, a 6'3 195lb human trying to catch either mushy 2 foot reef waves or 2 foot dumpy beach break on the stupid Ben Gravy "El Slammo" that I thought would go well often enough in the waves down thar. It's basically a squashed shortboar that needs waves at least waist to shoulder high with some curve. Every spot everyday was crowded with turbo groms, midlengthers, and vets that know the lineups better than me. Caught two good waves in three sessions. Back north where it's looking big to massive with questionable conditions all week. There goes my glorious two-week teacher vacay!
 

retodd

Duke status
Feb 23, 2009
16,757
2,177
113
Afternoon honey hole had some fun ones . Waist to hh with the odd bigger one . Bunch of good lefts and rights . Burch toe was a good call since the tide was bottomed out and could walk about the line up.

Glad to have an easy sesh to end the 4 day weekend
 

sdsrfr

Phil Edwards status
Jul 13, 2020
5,854
11,262
113
San Diego
paddled out to a decent crowd of folks that weren’t surfing. few cleanups later it was me and a couple others taking turns.

wind came on as the tide was dropping but that’s when the fun started. chunky lips and bowls on offer.

saw a broken board in the dumpster on my way out.
 

feralseppo

Billy Hamilton status
Feb 28, 2006
1,469
1,125
113
Surfed a South LA reef today. The Wavestorm brigade is strong. Series of lefts and managed to stake out my own take off spot for most of the morning. Couple Duffys over head on the sets. Big playing field today. Cleaned up often. Lots of paddling. My back and neck are feeling it. Got some long rides. Nice to get more than 2 turns and a wipe out. Had a Waverstormer and his dyed bright red hair girlfriend paddle over to me and both of them stuffed me on the same wave. They got their comeuppance right afterwards. They got cleaned up and sent in.

The Wavestormers and WFHers are an interesting group. Someone had a nice 8 or 9 foot twinzer fish with belly channels running the twinzer fins backwards. Another Waverstormer had his big single fin with his full size thruster sides.

All in all, can't complain. Got my new 5 fin set from GG last night (somehow lost the other 5) and had some fun ones on the GG Rocket. Good to have the extra paddle power today.
 

b.r.

Phil Edwards status
Dec 19, 2003
5,921
3,033
113
Leucadia
www.youtube.com
texted a couple friends mid day xmas eve, hey guys do some last minute shopping( aka meet me at ______ reef) the lineup cleared out and we had a great session on smallish clean waves for an hour and a half, super fun, didn't surf xmas but the next day I saw how crowded it was and waited and waited then swooped at a spot when 8 guys all came in at once, my shoulder was screaming but the waves were a fun mixed bag of southerly swell lefts and nw swell rights and every once in a while one would hit the reef just right and the sk pleasure pig was flying like a skatepark down hill run, so fun, a couple were great waves and my jacked up shoulder didn't feel any pain when I was up and riding, the rest of the time not so much. yesterday was bigger and more organized, i grabbed an oldie but a goodie out of the surf shed, 7'0 early 90s Rusty round pin thruster with glass on fins, duck diving was painful but I knew I needed the foam as I am paddling like bethany hamilton (one arm) without the strength or skill of Bethany. so cheating on the 7'0 was the call and I was stoked to grab some sets and fly down the line and lay that big boy over on the rail and a couple straight up hits, stayed out too long but everyone left and the wind didn't' come up as predicted, eventually I got cold and stiff and barely popped up on my last wave and did a little wheelie kook drop in, , time to go. jacuzzi felt good and mamas tamales afterword hit the spot, windy and rowdy out there today but there are a couple spots where you can still make a go of it, team advil out...
 

Iceman

Phil Edwards status
Apr 1, 2002
6,254
1,017
113
NorCenCal
Saturday - afternoon low tide at the Lane. Pretty crowded but got a couple fun lefts and rights sitting outside. Waves were DOH+, but I was sitting where they hitting a little smaller but had a better wall on them. Swell was mixed up and sometimes had a chopped off shoulder, sometimes not. Lucked into a sweet walled double-up that took me from way outside, all the way to the statue. I was only out an hour, but considering the crowd and the lack of good ones, I made that my last wave.

Sunday - low tide at Cowells with the girlfriend. She's been surfing more a lot lately and it shows. I had a blast on my old 8'6'' Freeline, which was the first board I ever surfed on. My dad gave it to me earlier this year, after it was given to him over 30 years ago by a family friend.

Today - drove to SF with the girlfriend in the new whip. Beautiful morning, and offshore pretty much the entire way. OB was huge but had great shape. Watched 5 guys make the paddleout in about 20 minutes which was impressive. Saw a handful of waves ridden before heading home.

Surfed a reef/point setup this evening for an hour and absolutely scored. Caught 5 or 6 waves, 4 of them pretty good ones. Sets were easily DOH+, super glassy, and crowd wasn't too bad. I kept picking off the insiders and/or ones that swung wide and was rewarded. Last one was a screamer across the whole reef that I just took a speed line on, then laid into one nice carve once it slowed down. Took it to the beach, watched the sunset, drove home and ate a pizza. Lovely day.
 

Mr Doof

Duke status
Jan 23, 2002
24,850
7,747
113
San Francisco, CA
Surfed with Friend #1 the other day, well, other morning before work to be more accurate.

It was jumbled and sloppy with some size here and there with somewhat unpredictable sets. Intermittent puffs of offshore wind made some waves better than others, but it was difficult to tell what wave was going to respond well.

Anyway, had one good wave, one great wave, and a host of other waves that were more tests of my leash than anything else.

The one great wave was really three parts:

1 - It was 2nd wave of the set and it swung a little wider than the first, so no 2nd wave of the set being ruined by the 1st wave of the set action....got lucky there. Wind had been slack a few minutes before but picked up a teeny bit offshore for this set, more luck. Had to really paddle a lot longer and harder than I would have thought, the wave was at the edge of a rip, and water was drawing of the sand bar that formed one side of the rip. Popped up moment before the wave jacked up, lots of weight over the fin cluster, and leaning to get the rail engaged before I hit the flats.

2 - Drop done, fins and rail working together, was able to start the "bottom turn" early, more like a "3/4th to the bottom" turn. Able to redirect back to the top and hook into the pocket under the clamshell that was the lip just as the wave moved over a deep spot and backs off. So what was going to be a wide open barrel turns into a wedge for a moment and I am at the top of it. Then just as fast, the wave feels the bar again, now downcarve and bottom turn with right hand skimming the overhead wall with the bowling section ahead and me needing to gas it if I want to make it.

3 - As the wave bowls and throws, I'm already taking the high line and crouching down, having just done the pump. Now it is hold on, hold on, feel the back end/rail for any slippage, hold on, waves splash on the back, disengage rail and side slip, no more water weight on the back, pump and out. Wave backs off, go over the side and then get mowed by the rest of the set on the inside.

After getting a few more rides, fail to catch a wave, get cleaned up and break the leash. Long cold swim to the sand, and the nearshore trench is full of softball sized stones that make the exit a teence more exciting. Collect my board and see a new ding on the tip of the nose.

Then, about four hours later, as I type out a report, realize my feet never really warmed back up, so make myself a pint of hot lemon water with rosemary and honey.
 
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CutnSnip

Phil Edwards status
Sep 11, 2018
5,736
6,043
113
Probably dropping in on you, California
Bomb's over Baghdad this morning on a fat but dropping tide. Im exhausted. SLA OH+ - barely anyone out. Took out the GX stepup (6'4) for the extra paddles and glad I did. Tons of waves, sadly no made barrels but tons of visions and lots of beatdowns. Probably the coldest Ive been surfing Socal since I can remember and the water smelt pretty rancid - netipot for sure in a few.. Highlight was watching a WFH'er techbro try and get out on his 10 noserider..probably 45 minutes of half assed turtle diving before a lull and a rip finally let him in.. then he floated and floated and at one point, he mustve been 150 yards out past the lineup just hoping to not get cleaned up. After my sesh concluded about an hour later I could see he was still out there from the parking lot. Not one wave attempt and Id bet he's still stuck out there.
 

Yewstreet

Legend (inyourownmind)
Nov 8, 2019
422
760
93
OBSF. First day out on a ...lost 7'0 Retrogun. Never have surfed a board this long before in my life. Paddle out was a bit of an effort, but made it out eventually. Board gets into waves insanely easy. Not too many people out, shared a peak with another gent who had what looked to be a 9'0 Linden with some really weird looking rails.

Managed to get 3 good set waves and didnt get crushed too badly. Nice day out as well. I think this is my 10th day in a row in the water.
 

Aruka

Tom Curren status
Feb 23, 2010
11,981
22,508
113
PNW
Santa delivered this year.

Had some memorable sessions at our newly formed left. Few feet overhead on the sets and raw power. Outside roll in drops, enough wall for a turn or two to a running, sometimes barreling inside section. Rode the IF15 for both sessions at the left. It handled well. Had some fails pulling into the end section pig dog style. Not leaning on the front foot enough I think. Made the adjustment and got one of my better backside tubes of the year.

Surfed our south wind spot with just one friend on christmas eve. This friend is not the best surfer but he's a frother and is usually game. Looked solid and epic from the cliff. I didn't watch for long so as not to loose my nerve. We paddled out to a quiet ocean and the current pulled us deep. Macking set appeared. I scrambled to the shoulder, barely. My buddy got crushed. I looked back after first wave and he was swimming, broken leash. I took the last wave of the set, got a couple turns and then angled towards his board which was already way inside. Managed to get to it before it hit the channel and got swept out to sea. Buddy was shook but he had spare board on the beach so he went in to switch. I paddled back out and got some smokers. My buddy came back out and right as he hit the lineup a really nice wave stood up out the back. I was deeper but I told him this is all you man. He gave a big shout as he kicked out 100 yards down the line. Stocked. I think he got one more fun wave in the session, i got about fifty. Another guy from the next town down paddled out but he seemed scared and mostly stayed on the shoulder. There were some big sets but I didn't think it was all that bad. At least there was somewhat of a channel. Any time it's good enough to ride the CDG Jordy round pin I'm happy.

Couple town sessions, nothing special. Closeout dumpers with the occasional corner. Lots of work.

Last night surfed the 6-6 Twinny at my local. Minus tide A frames. My local never barrels but it was barreling last night. Just me and a good friend at first. Then a father/son duo paddled out. I'm familiar with them and we usually have no prob. They were hassling pretty hard though right away and eventually we had to call them out after each of them dropped in on my friend. The dad was a mouthy one and was trying to claim local status. I was laughing, I said you live an hour away and surf here every few months. Stop pretending. He got red faced and stuttered something as he paddled away. The son kinda wanted to talk trash too so I didn't take any mercy on either of them for the rest of the session. The tide was draining and they were kooking it on the steep drops mostly anyways. Waves absolutely fired for the last hour of daylight. Multiple clean in and out tubes. Townsend handled better than expected.
 

sdsrfr

Phil Edwards status
Jul 13, 2020
5,854
11,262
113
San Diego
some tasty nugs on the dropping tide. nailed the timing and had a conveyor belt with one other guy out. eventually the crowd showed and I took one in.

riding the 6’2 blackbird to get a feel for the thing. feels like I’m cheating. no issues weaving across the high tide fat sections into the bowl and goes ridiculously well through chop and backwash. JJF medium felt good but want to try something with less area.
 

doc_flavonoid

Billy Hamilton status
Dec 27, 2019
1,740
3,198
113
Got up early to try and beat high tide. High tide won!
I will try again later hahahaha
this is funny. hanging at a surf fort this morning waiting and waiting and waiting for the swell to show. turn to my buddy and im like soooo... who's gonna win? the swell which has been popping all night on the buoys but not on this reef? the south wind ahead of the rain, or the tide turning this thing into a rock dance?

we were both pretty certain the tide was going to win out... and it did
 

ZZ Soft Top

Nep status
Sep 22, 2013
732
594
93
Manta Sonica
Had a nice lunchtime quicky session with no one around. Waves were stomach/chest high at best but had enough juice to be fun. I got it at the right time, too b/c they started to disappear as the tide dropped and wind picked up.

And then I realized I locked the blade key in my car along with the fob. Had to use the lifeguard's phone to call the missus to bring the spare. Good times.