2.10.2012 Big and Nasty 20th St. Del Mar with Missed-it-Mike

It had been about a week and a half since my last session. Usually, when returning from surfing in the tropics and knowing cold water awaits, I tend to need quality waves to put up with the colder-feeling water.

Since I got pretty much skunked in Hawaii, I was aching to get out there. The surf was doing what I like to call its winter tease. Big waves, bad conditions and/or polluted water.

I also managed to pick up a bug on my last day in Hawaii which I'm still battling. I'd made plans with Mike to surf the previous day, but I was just too sick.

I met Mike there at 6:30. He'd checked it before I got there and seemed to approve. He checked it with me and we saw head-high waves with some overhead sets. There were a lot of close-outs but, we saw some corners that looked delicious. Mike made the call and we suited up.

The paddle-out was a doozy. We managed to time it so we would paddle out at the worst possible time. Both Mike and I took some mackers on the head. It got to the point where my arms were screaming for me to stop paddling, but we made it out there.

We got swept down a bit. There were many waves I'd paddle for, but have to pull back as it would turn into a monster closeout.

My first wave was a right. It was just a little overhead. It closed out just after I bottom-turned. The corner I thought I'd seen disintegrated more quickly than I'd expected. If I could surf this wave again, I would've tried for a backside floater.

About twenty minutes later, I caught my next wave. It was a couple of feet overhead and, you guessed it, another right. I paddled for it and thought I was going to be too late. I managed to see someone paddling out and I didn't want him to see me puss out so I pressed on, popped up, air-dropped down and bounced right off my board, getting TROUNCED.

Mike had yet to catch a wave and we were drifting dangerously close to one of his least favorite waves: 15th Street Del Mar, Home of quite possibly the most foam per person in mid-County.

Mike and I both paddled for a big wave, and he hooted me on to it. It was another big closeout and I opted for straight-off Adolph, possibly the smoothest maneuver in my arsenal.

I went in and watched Mike catch a big right while managing to turn while his board went straight. He shoulder-rolled into the water, making the big splash the most spray I've seen him throw this year!

Once Mike came in, I told him that the last time I saw him on a wave was the gnarliest thing I've seen in the water in a long time, and that day's wave was the least gnarly thing I've seen him do. He is an enigma!

There was no footage worth showing. The big bounce off the board would've been cool but I must have not pressed the record button long enough to capture it...

1.5.2012 15th Street Del Mar with Forrest AND Missed-It Mike!

After yesterday's less-than-stellar day at Oceanside, we were hoping to find a place that could handle the swell's energy directly and with open faces. We found it in 15th Street Del Mar. We paddled out without incident.

The crowd was on a wide range of wave-riding vehicles. We saw spongers, longboarders, shortboarders and sweepers. The only unrepresented populations were kneeboarders, kayakers and bodysurfers.

The waves were pretty consistent overall, but I was having a tough time catching any. If the wave broke, there was someone on it already. If there was no one on it, it would break on the inside. It was a frustrating thirty five (!) minutes, compounded by the fact that very few people out there could keep control of themselves or their equipment.

The good news is I was getting a lot of exercise and I was building a sweet callous on my Go Pro thumb, from all of the false starts.

Finally, I caught one that wasn't spoken for. A left came through and I popped up on it. I levitated on to the lip for a mini-floater, but I put too much weight on my toes and faded.

My second wave arrived about ten minutes later. It was a nice-sized right and I was able to hit it once well. I tried to put it on rail but I for some reason (probably a lack of volume on the rail) couldn't hold it. I think this is a disadvantage with this board as I rarely have issues with this move on other boards.



Not too long after this one, I caught a left. It didn't have too much of a line so I went for the smack quickly. I ALMOST pulled it but I guess I just didn't want it badly enough.



Another left came, very similar to my first wave of the day. I advanced across the wave by climbing up the foam a bit, got some speed and the wave really petered out on me after that.



My last wave was pretty good. A left came through and though it was a bit slow at first, I was able to gain some speed. Then I went lateral and went for a slash. At this point, I realized the wave and I were on the shallow part of the reef. The wave jacked up over my legs. A tail slide would've been a much better choice on this section, but I just didn't anticipate the change in steepness.

11.29.2011 Del Mar Sesh with Missed-it Mike, Trevor and that same Other Guy

The waves on this day didn't look great. They were ok in size, but they were closing out all too often. I elected Missed-it Mike as session captain because he can be indecisive and I thought it'd be funny. After much prodding, he meekly suggested he wasn't interested in surfing there. We drove from 20th St down to N. Torrey and though we saw a sick left from the road, we were faced with the same scenario there, just smaller.

We hoofed it back to 20th. Missed-it Mike made it clear he wasn't interested in surfing, but we were able to strong-arm him into it. Thanks to my years of feedback, as well as this blog, MiM has become more self-aware about his complaining. His new game is to complain and keep us guessing as to if he's seriously uncomfortable or if he is just trying to be cute.

I suited up into my 4/3, straining to remember if my wetsuit was this stiff before Panama or if I was just being a pansy, coddled by the tropical waters of yesterweek.

Gauging by the wind's chill, I decided to go ahead and RUBBER UP! Booties came on, and I slipped into my virgin 4mm gloves I picked up months ago at the Rip Cur Outlet northwest of Lowers in San Clemente.

MiM was giving me grief over the Panama pictures, saying that the crab-grab was wack. While I can't say I disagree, EVERYONE* in the water agreed that he was just jealous he hadn't invented a new barrel-riding technique.

He briefed Trevor on my tendency to crab-grab and they were cheering me on to my first wave, a sick right that was quick to develop (unlike the author). Hearing calls for crab-grabs, I tucked into my old familiar stance and got barreled. The wave dumped over and I zoomed through the barrel fast, tucking my leading (stalling) arm behind me and went quite a ways through the spinning hydro-tunnel.

I had quite the thrill going quite that far. When I pull in to a closeout, I have a certain expectation as to how far/how long I expect to go. For every half-second I go beyond that expectation, the euphoria increases exponentially.

I surfaced and let out a hoot.

On the next wave, I pulled a proper pig-dog and did my damnedest to stall hard. A stranger paddling about 20 feet inside of me who had just snagged a good one gave me a long hoot as the lip finally cascaded over me. I don't remember what happened, but I didn't make it (I'm pretty sure I over-corrected into the wall).

I caught a very similar right, tried it again, and in my burning desire to get barreled with a proper pig-dog stance while NOT going into the wall, had the lip drive my throat into my knee. OUCH! Painful and a little scary, but no long-term damage. Swallowing left me sore for a few hours afterward.

I later caught a left and, upon first pump, I was reacquainted with my glorious DHD board and the speed its rail generates. Though I kept pumping, the beautiful curves of my foam masterpiece were not enough as I slowly lost the race to the speeding lip.

The waves' consistency slowed down and the likelihood of closeouts increased. MiM, having an eight-hour day ahead of him bailed. I waited about ten minutes before a belly-boardable wave came (!) and hit the sand.

*not really.

11.3.2011 20th St Del Mar with Missed It Mike, Trevor and some other Guy; October Wrap-Up

October Session Count: 8

Black's 2
Lowers 2
Shorebreak 2
25th St 1
Oceanside 1

No-Gos 4

October wasn't a great surfing month for me. It started off very well with back-to-back sick seshes (Oside and Black's) but stalled and sputtered for much of the rest of the month. Four No-Gos (where I drove to surf but it was terrible and didn't paddle out) leave me with a D+ in terms of surf consistency.

~11.3.2011 20th St Del Mar with Missed It Mike, Trevor and some other Guy~

We met at North Torrey and the waves were small and fat. We checked 20th and it looked slightly bigger and slightly steeper. I wouldn't have gone if Trevor wasn't itching to paddle out and Mike had expressed disinterest in not going. In order to pressure Mike into going, I said, "I'm out thar!"

The air was really cold, and the offshore made it that much colder (this sentence will win some sort of writing award). Going from a nice warm car to the cold air and then resigning yourself to shedding clothing so you can get in a "wet"suit to get into sub-60 degrees water is daunting.

Mike did his amazingly hilarious bit of complaining about everything. His feet were cold. His feet hurt from walking bare. I asked him if he was coddled as a child and he responded, "What's coddled?". This guy is a comedic genius!

Mike and I were the first to hit the water. Mike had to turn around as he left his wedding ring on, so I had it all to myself. I caught a left and did a weak, but extended, off-the-lip and came down smoothly.

Another left came and I thought it would be a doozy. I bypassed the first hittable section (Mistake 1), pumped way down the line (Mistake 2) and tried a cutty (Mistake 3). This wave should've been hit from the get-go and the rider should have stayed close to the curl, the power source of the wave. Upon the wave ending, a sick slash would have ended the ride nicely.

A right came just as the rest of the crew was paddling out. It looked steep, so I got into my kneeboard barrel stance. I put too much weight on my too far forward stance and ended up sliding over my board and bodysurfing as the lip pitched over me. Bummer, but still a cool view.

Once Mike paddled out, the waves shut down and we drifted south. The water has dipped below 60 degrees, which makes it booty and glove territory for me. I made a mental note to bring those along next time.

I did catch one wave that was a pretty sick barrel. Mike enlightened me as to my sick facial expression just before and in the barrel. Apparently, I open my mouth pretty wide as I'm in there, giving the audience the impression that the barrel is sicker than it is. Pretty funny! The wave barreled all at once, as it was a closeout, and I saw a good twelve feet in tunnel ahead of me.

9.29.2011 Del Mar Reef, then Beach with Moondoggie and 'Missed It' Mike! (4/3 Season is Here)

This morning I got up early and met the bros at D Street after my glowing review of yesterday's session. Unfortunately, the tide was extremely low and all we could see were glowing (literally, from the bioluminescence) closeouts.

I figured with the combo swell, Del Mar would be better. I led the three-car caravan down PCH. Dog Beach/29th St (from what we could see) was tiny. Since the tide was low we hoofed it to 15th Street and man was it ever crowded! I was on my DHD, Moondoggie on his log, and "Missed It" Mike was on his favorite board.

The reason Mike is monikered "Missed It" is because of his penchant for flaking out either with a warning or none at all. During one particularly nasty week, I was left stranded, sitting on the curb with my gear waiting for Mike, THREE days in a row.

We paddled out and I caught a right within about ten minutes. I did a solid backside turn on it, but was too aggressive on my second turn (the section was too flat) and ate it.

I always joke with Moondoggie about having him block for us. I first heard of this in the epic "Blue Crush" in which local Hawaiians block for the female protagonist so that she can get waves.

After paddling for so many waves and either missing them or having to pull back because of someone else being in position, I finally got my chance. Moondoggie paddled for a wave, which he missed, and I paddled for it inside of him. I knew it was going to be a closeout but I had to get a wave as I'd been sitting too long and I was getting cold. Also, Eric had in essence blocked for me so I was committed. I dropped in and it just. closed. out... GRRR!

I spent the next fifteen minutes paddling for waves and either being too deep or inside of someone and thus, not in the position to catch them. Then, my time came! I beautiful gem of a left came. I paddled for it inside of a guy, put as much of my weight as possible and gave a quick look over my right shoulder. I saw the guy outside of me doing his desperation paddle as though he'd missed the wave and he was too high up in the wave.

I took off and had a nice steep section to start off with. I pumped hard and saw a nice thick shoulder and visions of a roundhouse cutback danced through my head. I rotated my upper body back to the foam, leaned my weight back, transferred my weight from my back foot to my front foot and what do I see (and almost hit)? The dude who I thought had missed the wave! I swerved, he swerved. I kicked out, he kept going. I apologized to him profusely, telling him I didn't know he was on the wave. He said nothing, but kind of smiled (although I was not trusting my vision at this point...)

The waves were pretty good but the crowd was massive. The beach break to the north was beginning to look more and more tantalizing. On the walk up I started shivering and mentally declared the end of 2011's 3/2 season. We all paddled out, but the current was a beast and we were getting swept back south. I inadvertently snaked Mike on a right that had a sick barrel which I inexplicably dodged (The only thing I can really blame it on is being cold).

It's pretty crazy that I NEVER knowingly snake anyone unless they've done it to me and within a span of a half-hour, I do it twice!

As we were riding the current express, I saw waves break where we had just been two minutes prior. Of course, I also saw waves break where we were scheduled to be floating by in two minutes... MADDENING!

We got swept down to Jake's and no set waves came in our direction. Mike had to go to work and I bailed back home.