***Official 2021 Community Surf Journal***

MathDebater

Michael Peterson status
Apr 13, 2016
2,582
6,122
113
SD
Waited for the wind to pick up… I mean for the ride to drop before I surged. Went to my usual spot for a grovel and was pleasantly surprised by how semi decent it was For blown out 1-3’. I rode the Manta but could’ve been on my fish or GX by the end of the session I think. I got a few fun off the tops and speed runs to end section smack with A max of two other people out. Stock!
 

bluengreen

Michael Peterson status
Oct 22, 2018
1,763
4,641
113
SF x Encinitas
Took the log out at VFWs cuz groveling for me is stomach to chest high. clean waist high runners at low tide. a little too fast and short for me to get up to the nose, but some fun pocket rides nonetheless.

heading to NCSD for Thanksgiving week. forecast says Flat-1foot. bummer! hopefully ocean stirs up some local windswell.
 

Aruka

Tom Curren status
Feb 23, 2010
11,983
22,515
113
PNW
o_O Those are the purple keel-ish ones?? Whoa.
yeah for the plasmic ive been digging the semi keels like the fascination and alkalai's over more upright sets.

might try the JS's again now that i'm pretty comfy with the board.
 

Aruka

Tom Curren status
Feb 23, 2010
11,983
22,515
113
PNW
fun lil sesh at the kelpy reef on the plasmic. water is still warm but the wind was chilly. waves were pretty good for about an hour but then the tide drained out and the wind shifted, quickly turning it to crap. i felt inconsistent today. like, i had a few waves where i had a good flow going and a few where i felt like i was just not quite solid on my feet. overall pretty fun though especially the one turn on a good set wave where it felt like i got half the board out the back.
 

MathDebater

Michael Peterson status
Apr 13, 2016
2,582
6,122
113
SD
^What he said. I surfed Machado reef with some groms. I got a few fun small racey ones to start, then threw it up into the lip late on a right and cracked my elbow on the nose my board. Minor ding. Couldn't put a decent wave together after that.
 

Mr J

Michael Peterson status
Aug 18, 2003
2,250
1,454
113
Regional Vic, Australia
I now into week 6 of my re-learn to surf program. After 1 lesson a week and one 2 hr group surf skate session the cost is approaching that of a new surfboard.

I'm very happy with the instructor, I have a strong feeling that what he is telling me to do is good technique. It is taking some serious re-learning to adapt. Easiest to fix has been my frontside pop-up. I used to do the jump to the feet in one go, but have been instructed to get the back foot on the tailpad first with the back leg in a sort of grass hopper position. Alex Knost can make the the jump to the feet look cool on a mid-length, but for short boaring I can see that the two stage process is more practical. It takes less physical effort, the hands stay on the front of the board longer which helps press the nose nose down, particularly good in blustery offshore conditions and helps get the board down the wave in all situations. More stable and I am blowing less waves by not making the basic mistake of getting to my feet too soon.

Re-programming my surfing is a more difficult process. The smoothstar surfskate is always used at the start of each lesson to get the arm movements, body position and knee bend burnt into my reflexes. To help with this I have to go through choreographed sequences on the surskate. They have names such as Waitress->Elbow for the backhand lip approaches. Tiger->Superman for the frontside. Waitress->tiger for the full backhand cutback which I have been able to do just once.

Instructor is encouraging, but at the same time critical. "Look more over your shoulder", "you didn't follow through with your back arm", "your front arm swung across your body into superman, it needs to punch straight out" etc. He makes the lessons fun, so its not getting too serious. On two occasions just prior to padding out he has told me "remember to have fun". This was particularly good advice for the lesson which took place in epic open ocean conditions, there was about half a dozen longboarders on the perfectly formed peak and a grommet and couple of short boar riders ripping it up, so this relieved the pressure.

A difficulty with the new program is that I sometimes go into a wave with what looks like a waitress->elbow possibility, but it turns out to be more of a waitress->tiger situation.

Its all very tiring, the surf skate is very energetic stuff compared to my normal skateboard. Last week's lesson was with another student, a powerfully built soldier who was just getting back into it after 2 years in Afghanistan - he told me his legs were cramping up during our surf skate instruction. Now that I am crouching more and putting more torque into my turns surfing is burning more energy too.

This is soloshot from yesterday morning. I am going through the new motions on the 2 lefts, not timing the off the lip right, on the plus side I have learned to look over my shoulder and rotate my shoulders better. A rare for me right appeared and I got exited at the prospect of it lining up for multiple lip approaches that I forgot to say the cues to myself, but I think I did get the the sequence roughly right. I remind myself that there is a limit to what I can expect to achieve. I used my normal skateboard for recreation this morning in the skatepark, physically it is less demanding than the smooth star and surf boar. A much needed rest tomorrow.

 

Senor Sopa

Billy Hamilton status
Mar 11, 2015
1,366
2,176
113
Ponto
I now into week 6 of my re-learn to surf program. After 1 lesson a week and one 2 hr group surf skate session the cost is approaching that of a new surfboard.
Sheesh, those waves look struggle. I see improvement on the backside. You're getting much more speed on the initial turn. My suggestion, hold those turns a bit longer and try to push the board up into the lip. You have the top snap down, but perhaps you could wait just a bit more before doing the top turn.
 

MathDebater

Michael Peterson status
Apr 13, 2016
2,582
6,122
113
SD
Went to my high tide hide out but it was breaking but below even manta grovel level quality. Went to the next beach over and wow, what a zoo. Normally I would get in the mix anyways just to get wet but the crowd looked aggro. It was a combo of noobs flopping around, skilled longboarders and aggressive younger shredderz. In the 5 minutes I watched I saw multiple collisions and very few waves without a drop in. That’s a pass for me dawg
 

Kento

Duke status
Jan 11, 2002
68,684
20,892
113
The Bar
Hurting this morning a bit after tossing back a few too many last night - it was the warm Costco eggnog that truly curdled the stomach. But nothing like a few duck dives to clear the cobwebs. Fun waves, mostly chest to head high with the warbles working themselves out as morning progressed. Actually glad I didn't dawn patrol it; friend of mine was getting out as I was suiting up. Swell was dropping a little but also getting a lot cleaner. There was a nice sandbar peak, shifty enough the spread the crowd a little. Nice fat channel for hairdry paddle out. Promptly ate it on first wave, just too late with it burgering on me. Lot of redemption after that.

Crowded as I've seen it; think the whole local crew was out, something like 50 to 60 people. Used that Senate again, perfect for today as a lot of flat sections and, as long as you establish that early momentum, it glides into flatter faced waves very well, not to mention holds speed well through cutbacks and such on flatter sections. Was nice because I was able to get into a lot of waves from the outside; I let quite a few go though. Surfed for a couple hours or so and got at least 30 waves. There were some good rights but the crowd inside and down the line was thick; had one of the better rights blown with two people paddling out right in my line. In their defense, that current does fuck with you and with a 10 second period, there really wasn't much they could do. Shrugged, bailed, and back out for another. Not complaining as it was pretty consistent and I got a lot of really fun waves.

The lefts were a little shorter and dumped you where you usually do a lot of duckdiving but was pretty mellow today. Had a nice hack on one of the bowlier lefts and got overexuberant trying to throw the fins and some extra out the back, really damn lucky I didn't land with my gut on the fins. Coworker of mine out there was laughing, what happened, slide out a bit? :roflmao:

Need to figure out what's going on with my back. Getting back spasms in center right of it last couple weeks, throbbing ache that twinges when doing motions like going to sit on my board. Feel fine paddling, oh well, hopefully it works its way out.
 

Mr J

Michael Peterson status
Aug 18, 2003
2,250
1,454
113
Regional Vic, Australia
Sheesh, those waves look struggle. I see improvement on the backside. You're getting much more speed on the initial turn. My suggestion, hold those turns a bit longer and try to push the board up into the lip. You have the top snap down, but perhaps you could wait just a bit more before doing the top turn.
I think you are absolutely right about waiting a bit more before trying the backhand top turn. I am having difficulty with timing, both in which part of the wave to approach and when to try and snap it back down - too early, too late and going for it too early before the lip has not properly formed.

Regarding the waves looking a struggle, I love that place. Finding gems amongst the junk is such a nice feeling and I'm completely free from crowd hassle. Even with a moderate number of people out the randomness spreads people out.

My neighbour who I started doing the surf lessons with described that place as infuriating. After sitting getting nothing he would paddle over to where he saw someone get a wave, then it would start breaking somewhere else. A visiting surfer told me "there is no warning, the waves pop up out of nowhere". Another one said to me "a bit of a bump on it today?" remarking at the lumpiness despite the light offshore breeze. I said its always like this at low tide from the currents. When its clean at mid-tide it can be a total close out and that's when I encountered the two board breakages I have had in the last year. I have stopped surfing it in those conditions. I will do mid tide when its really messy and mixed with windswell, it breaks up into more gentle peaks then - many of which go nowhere. Those 3 waves in my vid were the best ones I got in 1 hr.
 
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sh3

Michael Peterson status
Dec 1, 2008
2,403
3,117
113
Surfed a shI+ ton in Texas for two days. : )

Got well over 100 waves. It was perfect all day. Chest to head high throughout, crowd was never a factor with 10 guys out and everyone trading off waves, and never smiled so much. My shoulder is killing me today after this, but I'm not complaining. I couldn't be happier.

Yeah.. BSR. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO worth it. If you ever get the chance to go, for the love of everything holy and good in the world, you must go. Had a friend invite me for his birthday, brought only my V4 round nose, and couldn't be happier. Wore the same clothes for 48 hours and just surfed a ton. Felt my turns getting crisper. That's a good feeling. I will be back & this time I'll pay full price without a single delay. Not luxurious in the least, certainly is no WSL Surf Ranch, but it's a truer surfing experience for the masses. I loved it, love it, and will love it more in future.

God surfing rules.

-sh3
 

sh3

Michael Peterson status
Dec 1, 2008
2,403
3,117
113
I'd really like to check that place out. Was just talking to my buddy about it. He's taking his two boys in a couple of weeks.
The bottom there is BRUTAL. It''s brushed concrete, so it has the feel of 50 grit sandpaper... maybe worse. It hurts. And it'll be very cold in a few weeks, so booties and maybe even gloves would be the call.

Last, tell your buddy to expect the nose of his board to get broken. The water is incredibly shallow, making the wave exciting, but also it just eats surfboards. A ding repair business there would absolutely kill it.

If they're planning to surf for more than 2 hours, then bring at least 2 boards for sure. It is soooooo much fun. They're stoked. Tag along if you can, SBD!