1.26.19 Shattered Expectations at the Beach Break

The swell forecast for today was a lowly just-over-half-meter.  I briefly considered not going, but with our upcoming trip less than a week away (stay tuned), I figured I better get it while the getting's good.

I packed the Tomo, confident in the board choice.  The small swell with the peak high tide would lead to some me vs fat ones paddle battles.

The point, predictably, had little to show with the aforementioned symptoms affecting its ability to provide more than j u s t rideable surf.  But the fact that it was showing anything was a shot in the arm to my chances!

Sure enough, when I first caught sight if what the beach break had to offer I was excited.  It was really peaky, though not too open, and shoulder-high!

I did the best cutbacks I've done in years today, even bouncing one off the rebound section.

I had one wave where I hit it really high after a solid top turn and slid the fins out.  It would have looked great on film if you edited it appropriately 😏

The guy who owns the surf school paddled out on his soft-top log.  I asked him if he's ever surfed a Tomo and he said no.  His eyes lit up when I asked him if he wanted to switch boards.  He was loving it and I got to pop my logging-in-El-Salvador cherry as well as my cross-stepping cherry!

As the bloat of the apex of the tide hit, the waves slowed down.  I caught a right and pumped and waited until the end section was there.  I hit it really well off the lip but ended up too inverted and bailed.  I came up and a little grom was within ten feet of me but didn't seem aggrieved.

My rubbed-raw belly (worsened by paddling the log) was crying out for me to end my friction assault on it.  I thought with the tide coming down and some sets still coming perhaps the point would awaken.

On my walk back I confirmed it hadn't so in I went.

1.20.19 Rip-Roarin' Bomb-Dodging on a Negative Tide...

... is a recipe for an exciting session.  But when you add in this swell direction and size, you get a workout and not much more.


My belly rawness came back although more muted this time. So I decided to go in.

As I walked, I saw some possible rideable ones on the outside, known as El Barco, after the shipwreck for which this beach is named.  I hemmed. I hawed.  I thought, "I can't leave my faithful blog readers with this!".

"I can't leave the person or bot from Saudi Arabia who was for whatever reason responsible for 108 page views in one day hanging!"

"I can't let my three top referrers this week, cam show sites with girls who may not have been born girls down! The session must go on!".

So I put my sensitive tummy back on the board and rubbed it a little rawer for you, my beloved blog fans.

It was a waste of time as I got shuttled every which way except into non-close-out implosions.

I did see a SICK right throw over into a great barrel section.  It didn't spit and ended up closing out but if you timed it right and got lucky you could make it.  I paddled over there and for its next two of kin which combusted so hard they spit out of the back (up) and threw little piddles of sand!

I nailed all of my drops except the last one, on which I pussed out as the thing started dredging and I jumped for my life!  There were no sections presented to me, I didn't even get to bottom turn!

I walked back to the car and checked the point.  It looked better than it had at first light with some swell filling in.  I went to the car and the wind turned true offshore.  I debated paddling out at the point given it was empty and I'd likely get some sick ones if I was willing to wait an hour or two for the tide to fill in.  On the other hand, inconsistent swell on a super low tide with a hard offshore isn't ideal.  My raw belly was the tiebreaker and I drove back to the pad.

1.13.19 What the Hey Pointbreak Session

This break doesn't work well unless there is solid surf coming in.  Today's swell was solid, but the high tide was making it so that the waves broke more on the inside.  The inside is littered with rocks jutting up, and sometimes out of the water.

I enjoyed making my way to the water.  The river is dumping sand like crazy and since there has been no rain since the first week of December (or big swells), the sand stays put.  So my feet were cushioned by yummy coarse sand up until the last dozen or so steps.

There were no n***** in Paris today, I had it all to myself!

On my first wave, I was pretty deep and saw that beautiful first section bowl on which one can really lean into.  I smacked it and was coming down with tons of speed when I saw a rock through the water and freaked out.  As panic tends to impair one's decision-making, I fell right next to the rock and could have easily t-boned it with my t-bone.  We didn't touch.

The wind was making its presence felt, feathering the water surface and creating chops in the wave, something a board like my choice for the day doesn't handle well.  I caught one other wave of note.  I got a hit on it and a cutback before fading off the back on the inside.

The wind really started ruining things for me so I went in through the river, undoubtedly the easiest go-in I've enjoyed here.

1.13.19 Surprisingly Solid Sunrise Surf Sesh (500th Post!)

This morning I awoke at 345 and made the decision to get up as I just didn't think I would fall back asleep.

I was going back and forth as to whether I would surf today.  Tomorrow's forecast looked very slightly better.  I happened to see that the wave period (the amount of time between troughs in a set) was 16 seconds.  The longer this is, the more powerful the waves are.

When it's really macking, it's 18+ seconds, so 16 meant that while the swell itself was still small, it was coming with ferocity.  Since tomorrow's forecast foretold of a 2-second haircut on the wave period, I decided to strike today.

Because I would be out during the apex of the high tide, I decided to take the Tomo down in what would be a fateful decision.  I envisioned fat waves and possibly some reforms leading to some lazy walls and fun bonks.

My first glance was at the point break.  I was shocked at what appeared to be a shoulder-high set wave rifling down the point.  A subconscious pang of regret percolated over my board choice.  Oh well, I was going to have to make it work.

I 'screened up and power-walked to the point.  No other similar waves came and the tide was only going to get higher.  So I convinced myself the beach break would be better and beat feet in that direction.

The surf at the beach break was dumping despite there being a lot of water out there.  The Tomo hadn't touched water since Nicaragua and it took a bit to get used to paddling it again.

My first was a right.  It was a late drop but nothing too bad, although the Tomo (and its lack of nose rocker/general rocker) sure makes it seem that way!  I got a mini-pump in and a small bonk to finish.

I had a really late drop on a left.  I thought I was going down and the nose went under before I rescued it.

The high tide did affect the waves so they would mostly blast down on the sandbar that's just outside the shorebreak.  I had to adjust my strategy so as to not paddle too much once I'd found a wave.  Doing so would put me in the drop-straight-down spot.  Once I shifted to this I was able to find my rhythm.

I had two waves in a row with big finishes.  One was an abortion of a layback snap, and the other was more of a miscarriage of one, as I came slightly closer to pulling it.

The tide and swell changes were starting to be noticeable.  I caught a left and the oncoming section was five or so feet in front of the wave I'd caught.  I stomped down after a mini-pump, swooped around and up and got a nice satisfying off-the-lip.

I paddled out as a couple of foreign-looking dudes paddled out.  I let the slight current drift me down a bit so as not to break my streak of not having to let go of a wave due to someone already on it.

And that's when it happened.

I caught a wave and it was one of those that was a slight double-up.  The wave behind it caught up and I didn't notice until it was too late.  I was on trajectory for a second pump and noticed the thing foaming over and threatening to snap shut.  I kicked my board out and got picked up and absolutely slammed onto my back into the sand, so hard that I felt it in my chest.

I gathered my thoughts, emotions, and the remnants of my ego and paddled back out.  I caught a similar wave but this time I spotted it and kicked out, doing a fading carving 180 while doing so.

Another similar but smaller wave came.  I pumped crazily along the top of the wave and tried to do an air but I didn't swoop enough on my set-up and just skipped out along the top of the wave.

The tide and swell angle conspired to make the waves crappy and I decided to pack it in.  I was curious to see what the point was doing and since it was on the way to where I'd parked, I walked that way.

1.9.19 Barely Rideable Beachbreak

I left the carport at 538 and parked at 622.  The surf report had said it  would be 2-3' and it was wrong.  I suppose some a couple of sets approached 3' but 1-2' would have been much more appropriate.  Had I known it was going to be this small I would not have made the trek!  But I can't really complain, I had it to myself, had great scenery and got some exercise.

The point looked like Tahoe on a big day.  I took the dirt road to the beachbreak.  My first glance gave me hope that it would be a fun day.

But it was not to be.

The relative highlight was a backside floater I did.  It was such rough going getting any speed that I ended up too sideways on the smush-out sections. 

1.3.19 Heaviest 2' Ever?

I was jonesing to surf.

The 2' swell wasn't going to stop me.

The early morning timing of the depths of the low tide wasn't going to slow me down.

I thought about bringing the Tomo and while driving down cursed my decision to bring the Merrick, but then I remembered how low the tide was going to be.

I got there, parked the car, walked the walk, and it looked flat.  Down the beach I saw some spinning with steep sections and disgusting doomsday sections. 

The wind was a beautiful light offshore.  I fantasized about the perfection present had the swell doubled in size and the tide been a foot higher.  I had to stop when I felt my boardshorts getting tight.

There were many waves caught and "ridden".  I had a bunch of dicey airdrops.  Some made, some "made".  The rights were gross because of the just-risen sun's glare subtracting a clear view from the equation.  I caught one and thought I had it in the bag while in the air.  I slammed really hard into the water after having pearled.

I did luck into a few corners.  I was so focused on making the drops and initial sections or catching up to the green water that I was too sideways to make anything.

A questionably late left came.  I went.  I went under and smacked my elbow HARD into the sand, thankfully cushioned by a slab of just-above-the-knee depth of liquid salvation.

I kept getting shuttled west where it was even less makeable.  I don't remember what happened on the wave but when I came up my head and fin met and I was left with a painful contusion.

I left the water on two occasions to walk back up the beach; from unmakeable to barely makeable.

This was the worst session I've had since moving here and it was ironically the most crowded I've had at the beachbreak.  The good news is I gave up zero waves to others because the closeouts were splitting the peaks so effectively.