***Official 2022 Community Surf Journal***

Kento

Duke status
Jan 11, 2002
68,679
20,889
113
The Bar
Someone has to start it off so it might as well be me.

I ate way too much steak and potatoes last night. Restless, digesting sleep but was going to drag myself out regardless. Parking lot already pretty full by 7:30, nice fat 7 foot high tide peaking around 8:30. I felt sluggish as hell and surfed like it, just really slow. But still got a few decent turns in here and there and some good waves. Waves were about chest to shoulder high with some maybe(?) head high sets but really burgery. I actually had a decent rhythm at first, getting several waves off the bat but had more of a tough time when that tide turned and started going low.

Pretty clean conditions considering how it was howling onshore yesterday. Turning into beautiful (although still chilly) day. Stocked to get out there, kick off the New Year well.
 

bigglesworth

Legend (inyourownmind)
Mar 8, 2017
486
534
93
Surfed an empty beachbreak further south. Air temp was 31 according to car. Never bothered me back east but i’m a bit of a weenie about it now. Spent about 15 minutes psyching myself up because open beachbreak in the pnw when alone is always a bit spooky to me. About head high on the sets, really had to pick them as it was closing out.

Didn’t surf well but the damn the water was clear when i duckdived. Felt revivified each time I came up. Saw two seals in a wave which was cool.

Happy New Year all.
 

j_mac

Legend (inyourownmind)
Aug 16, 2020
418
1,567
93
Mostly chest high, a few shoulder to head high waves, I decided to surf the 6' 6" Townsend as my buddy got a new, large CI midlength yesterday. I didn't want to miss out and have him doing circles around me - haha! I haven't surfed a board over 6 ft in a few months. For the conditions, it was the right board as the waves were relatively slopey at the onset of breaking. I felt as though I had endless time to catch the wave and pump down the wave. It was fun to change it up and appreciated the relative ease of the longer board. Normally I have radiator fluid pumping through my veins, but the chilly offshore winds and wait times for the bigger waves dropped my core temperature.

Happy New Year!
 

doc_flavonoid

Billy Hamilton status
Dec 27, 2019
1,740
3,198
113
frozen morning king tide and double whammy holiday saturday had me overthinking it. figured id give it a chance to groom up and catch the start of an 8.5' tide pull

sort of worked

roamed some empty outer bars on the 11er. had a few moments of flight early on but conditions deteriorated fast with the pull. at least for what i was hunting.

beautiful morning none the less and got a bonus swim in trying to squeeze an extra 50yds out of 300 yarder.

no real funny chit save for the astonished stares you get from the inlanders on holiday as a bearded old man soloing a giant board way down the beach
 
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Aruka

Tom Curren status
Feb 23, 2010
11,981
22,510
113
PNW
Crossed up junk swell at the cobblestone left. W
Air was chilly and i got kind of cold walking down to the paddle out spot wearing my 2mil short sleeve. Once i hit the water i was fine though. Rode the gigglebox but maybe should have opted for a fish. Pretty challenging conditions regardless. Got a few snaps but never felt completely satisfied. Probably should have surfed the beachie in front of camp, it looked pretty fun when I got back for lunch. The wind really picked up in the afternoon so I just hunkered down and read my book. Im already on book 5 of this trip and at this rate Ill run out of things to read before I head home.
 

Mr J

Michael Peterson status
Aug 18, 2003
2,250
1,454
113
Regional Vic, Australia
Feeling re-invigorated after my rest day on New Year’s Day. Surf still holding enough for some fun ones. My wife took a video of my first wave of the arvo session. She did a deal with the local surf hire and got herself 4 days of body board rental for 1,000 baht. Water temperature is 81.5 erBB which translates to 27.5 celcius.

My last wave was one of those rare rideable cross ups where I transferred from a right peak to another sideways right almost all the way to the beach.

 

Mr J

Michael Peterson status
Aug 18, 2003
2,250
1,454
113
Regional Vic, Australia
frozen morning king tide and double whammy holiday saturday had me overthinking it. figured id give it a chance to groom up and catch the start of an 8.5' tide pull

sort of worked

roamed some empty outer bars on the 11er. had a few moments of flight early on but conditions deteriorated fast with the pull. at least for what i was hunting.

beautiful morning none the less and got a bonus swim in trying to squeeze an extra 50yds out of 300 yarder.

no real funny chit save for the astonished stares you get from the inlanders on holiday as a bearded old man soloing a giant board way down the beach
That is an impressive amount of board you are navigating doc. Could you give us a design run down. Rails, fins, bottom contours etc. A description of how you turn it would be great too.
 
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Kento

Duke status
Jan 11, 2002
68,679
20,889
113
The Bar
Another frigid morning with car completely iced over. What land was green yesterday was a sheet of white this morning. Wind blew offshore all night and waves were much cleaner than yesterday. Even though it was only about chest-shoulder with head high sets for the most part, the 6'7" roundpin was the right call. It kind of felt like cheating because that board paddles fast even though it's relatively low volume.

Many waves rolled with the high tide but that push helped things a lot, made it so easy to glide into waves from outside. Until the tide flipped, so much fun. There were some lefts but there was such a beautiful sandbar right that held shape perfectly and I found a good section of ones swinging wide that I had pretty much to myself. Lot of small squeeze barrels but a few that opened up wide enough, just so easy to glide into it off the takeoff and wedge yourself right in the pocket. Got a good one where I was slotted almost the whole way into the sand, kicking out right before it dumped, other guy about to paddle out from right there was laughing, that wave just didn't stop wedging!

Day started off with just a handful of the usual dawn patrol but crowd beefed up a bit and with tide turning, making it harder to get into waves, was a good time to call it in time to listen to Raider game on way back home and watch them seal the win with a couple beers. Good day. And great way to start off the New Year with 2/2 fun sessions. :jamon:
 

teeroi

Miki Dora status
Oct 21, 2007
5,107
9,269
113
eastside oahu
Waves were fun and a tad bigger than yesterday. Great conditions. Only fumbled one pop up. Got some vert smacks and wraps. Good crowd, everyone taking turns and cheering for each other.

All that tempered by the news one of the older guys that frequent the spot down the beach was pulled out of the water and passed away. Used to see him walking his dog when I paddled in or out. Didn’t really know him but he was part of the area. RIP Kevin.
 

Aruka

Tom Curren status
Feb 23, 2010
11,981
22,510
113
PNW
A glassy morning turned to stiff offshores. Pretty fun on the plasmic but unfortunately it felt like the outgoing tide and strong winds blew the last remaining energy out of the swell. Beautiful conditions with crystal blue water and groomed faces but just kinda weak. Still, put in a solid 3 hours, came in, packed up camp and drove six hours north. Staying in a hotel on the sea of cortez. Hot showers! A toilet! The lady has a remote work thing tomorrow and then we are heading back out to the pacific side to camp again and hopefully catch the next NW swell.
 

bluengreen

Michael Peterson status
Oct 22, 2018
1,763
4,641
113
SF x Encinitas
New Year's Day surf. Wife gave me the go-ahead to surf the dropping tide around noon. Hard to find parking on the inner Great Highway. Beach was packed. Surf was also packed with all manner of surfer and craft. Shoulder to head-high but super crossed up and wonky even with the dropping tide and offshores. Rips everywhere. E-foiler way out the back probably having more fun than most of us. Zuckerberg!
 

doc_flavonoid

Billy Hamilton status
Dec 27, 2019
1,740
3,198
113
That is an impressive amount of board you are navigating doc. Could you give us a design run down. Rails, fins, bottom contours etc. A description of how you turn it would be great too.
11-0 x 15n x 23 1/4 x 13 1/2t x 3 1/2 rnd pin
hull entry slight belly to vee
lifted rail forward to soft 60/40 turning down and hard the last few feet
single fin box running a thick no name 9" volan fin

not the board. this one is wider and fuller through the nose and tail but similar enough

28AFCD92-AE9D-4A42-A7FF-5F613E976FFC.jpeg

just for laughs mined a little high tide inside novelty wedge on 5 ft less board this morning. as you might expect ate sh!t on my first wave after losing all that foam but respectable enough after that. cool to have something you can actually duckdive, but gotta admit i kept thinking that i could have been out the back on the big board.
 

Mr J

Michael Peterson status
Aug 18, 2003
2,250
1,454
113
Regional Vic, Australia
11-0 x 15n x 23 1/4 x 13 …
for laughs mined a little high tide inside novelty wedge on 5 ft less board this morning. as you might expect ate sh!t on my first wave after losing all that foam but respectable enough after that. cool to have something you can actually duckdive, but gotta admit i kept thinking that i could have been out the back on the big board.
you must hold the erBB record for downsize of board from your regular ride.