Help Support The Blog by Clicking Through to Amazon.com

Monday, July 29, 2013

7.20.13 Swell Bumps up to Beachbreak Max

It being a Saturday, I got out there earlier than usual, hoping to beat the crowd.  Weekends in Oside don't really get crowded until mid-morning, and even then, it's a mellow crowd.  The weekend early morning crowd gets  slight jolt compared to its weekday brethren, so in order to lessen the waves I miss due to others' dibs, I had to do it early.

I was pleasantly surprised by what greeted me in the extreme-angled light.  Solid waves coming through and no one out!

I caught my first four waves within ten minutes of one another.  This is one of the great byproducts of a rising swell coupled with no crowds, consistent rides.

The sandbars are still a bit funky, so the form suffered, though the size was there for the most part.

The first wave was one I had to paddle quite a bit for.  The thought of a steep drop crossed my mind, having paddled for shallower water.  Once the wave and I met, I had to keep paddling, as the wave hadn't quite developed to the point of allowing me entry (man that came out dirty; that's what she said).  I pumped once, made it past a flat section, came back up and the wave shelved out on me.  I adjusted in time so as not to pitched onto my back, but with my lack of speed I awkwardly dropped down and got tousling my balance. 

The conclusion to this wave happened quickly and the surprise was apparent on my face.

My second wave swallowed me whole after I dropped in.  I made it to the whitewash and stopped, then disappeared into the water.

My third wave was a contender for the wave of the wave.  I dropped in and was thrilled it had a line.  I rose up and decisively snapped, throwing a bunch of spray.  Ultimately, it was a no-make.

My next wave was initially pump-heavy.  It then got really fat and slow.  I slashed/cutback lazily and made it past the deep spot, then was again surprised by the speed with which this wave turned inside out.  I made up to the lip, but even that was fat, and I sank down into the wave.  Oof.

Ten minutes of passionate waveriding begat ten minutes of waiting.  Then, the vehicle for the next step of my journey arrived.  I took a lateral approach on this one.  I was trying not to overshoot the section with slop, so I traversed more than pumped.  BOOM! The lip came at me and I did the best I could with my trajectory.  I was still going up when the lip and my board made contact and I endo'ed over the lip sans board.

The next set was a little bigger than sets of minutes past.  I paddled for it, then realized I was a bit inside of my preferred take-off zone on a wave like this.  I stopped paddling, then really laid into it once I was on the wave.  I was concerned with pearling, especially considering it would happen in the shallow part of the bottom.  

Here's my take of what went down:

As soon as I felt the fins engage, I stomped on the gas, putting most of my weight on my front foot.  What I didn't expect was for the lip of the wave to foam out the water.  This caused my fins to immediately release, making me instinctively put my weight back on my left leg.  I did it too quickly, though, and in essence launched myself backward.  I had a great view of the falling lip going down the line, forming a small barrel.  I don't think I would have been able to fit in it though.

This next wave was possibly my highest scoring wave of the day, according to surfing contest judges.  I pumped up, did a small snap, pumped again, then laid into a drawn-out slash.  The wave rewarded me by fattening up and not allowing me the opportunity to get back into it.  More foam may have saved the wave, but I don't think there was much left.

Continuing the steep-flat-steep pattern, my next wave involved a small bobble on takeoff, a pump, an even flatter pump and a closer-than-usual-to-making-it layback snap.

 My next wave was a smaller facsimile of the previous wave, but my trajectory was more lateral and I threw more spray.

A wave steepened to the point of raising my board and me.  I popped up and made the drop.  But it was a drop to nowhere as it quickly sectioned off/closed out.

And my last wave featured me going up for a hit just as the wave flattened out.

The day held so much promise, but it really wasn't as good as it had looked.  The upside was I caught every wave I'd wanted, giving none up to someone who had me outpositioned.  This is a rare feat on a SoCal summer weekend.

No comments:

Post a Comment