I hoped that yesterday's pounding of the sand in Del Mar would lead to a lot of it moving around and settling favorably, so as to provide peaky A-frames. I shot down there, stopping to check only Pillbox out of sheer curiosity as to what it would do with this swell. It sucked so I kept going.
Dog Beach wasn't great, some of the waves looked fat, but there was some size. I briefly considered pulling over and having a go, but changed my mind upon missing the turnoff.
20th Street had size and power but lacked makeable waves. Every set wave just slammed down, if not all at once then damn close to it.
I drove back up north, wary of my wife's hard out at 9:40 for Baby Yoga class (eye roll).
I knew the farther north I went, the smaller and wimpier the waves would be so I was hoping one of the my first checks would be the call. Seaside looked pretty good but the crowd there was massive. Cardiff Reef was ok but the crowd was even worse (only three sweepers though). There was no need to check Pipes due to the sheer number of cars parked there. D Street looked like a smaller version of 20th with not a single surfer out (!).
I was going to check Beacons, but there was nowhere to park. I made Grandview my do-or-die. After watching everything but Gview proper (wasn't working and when waves jacked they were plundered by ravenous brobrahs) and decided to surf Avocado's. Upon descending down the stairs with gear in tow, I briefly considered surfing the meaty but completely unpredictable and shifty rights to the north, but Avo's looked so good with that sun shining down.
I caught all three of my waves within the first ten minutes.
The first was a juicy left that felt bottom before it got to me, then seemed to fatten and flatten. I pumped on it for a ways but there was nothing really there. I was too high up to do anything worthwhile to the end section and caught slight air kicking out.
I paddled back out and immediately caught a right. I was a little behind the peak and did a small hit/floater, which moved me up the wave, harnessing potential energy thanks to gravity, which then turned into kinetic energy. I used that to do a nice hit at the top of the wave. I then pumped a couple of times to get going some more and did another, less critical, hit. In an attempt to see how much water I was throwing I turned my head and that was the end of me.
When I surfaced I was surprised at how close to the beach I was.
The third wave was a short right that didn't do much, and I kicked out right away hoping to snag another one to the shallow-land.
I spent the next forty minutes paddling out with the large crowd and trying to get in on some overhead beasts. I gave up about three or four waves that I had good position on, but someone had better. Also of note is that I surfed with a black guy for the first time in over a year, easily.
I went towards the inside at the end of the session as a few nugs were peeling away there but that lulled out and the mackers started up again outside of me. I bailed so as to avoid yet another dressing down...
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