Session 91 - K street

Another day, another foggy dawn patrol. Visibility was poor, but the conditions were a bit cleaner than yesterday AM. NW fading, S swell filling in a bit. Roughly the same size as yesterday, sets shoulder high max. One other guy out, and some seals flopping around. First wave went for a late drop and didn't make it. Next wave took off deep, then bottom turned around the section and swooped back up into the pocket. A few nice turns and kicked out. My last wave was the longest ride, a chest high left that walled up nicely and took me all the way into the beach.

Session 90 - Jerry Garcia

Dawn patrol at K street, and surfline is wayyyyyy off today. Not fair. Poor. Biggest set waves maybe shoulder high, but the incoming tide making it weak, and onshore winds turning it to sectiony junk. I was able to snag 4 waves, but found myself having to take late drops just to catch them, and focus on driving past flat spots and mushy sections. All in all it was a pretty boring session, but a good workout. One of those days where you paddle your ass off through wall after wall of whitewater just to score some dribbly 4 foot mushburger.

However, maybe it's just a perception problem, and 3 weeks in Bali plus these past few days of clean swell have spoiled me. When I paddled in, I walked up towards Judah to head home. A guy in a blue coat had been watching me, and approached me and told me that I was really ripping. He went on to tell me how he was watching me catch some good 'rips' and that the waves further up north were really 'ripping' and that he surfs and darn, he wished he had his board, and maybe he should get his buddy Leland to ship it up here from SoCal. He told me how he surfed County Line once, and he was using his buddy Leland's board, and it was his first time surfing. He was really good, and when he came back to the beach, Jerry Garcia was watching him and told him that he's the best he's ever seen and it's incredible that it was his first time and he could really read the waves and the ocean so well. Then Jerry took his board, which was actually Leland's, and said, let me do something for you, and he signed it. Leland says that board must be worth a fortune right now, but the guy told me that the Jerry Garcia signed board is worth his life, it is his life. You're 40 years old man, you gotta get out there and surf man, fuck it!

Trying to politely end the conversation so I could get to work, I suggested he should check out Mollusk and look to rent a board, and I'd see him out there. But he insisted that it would only cost maybe $20 to just have Leland ship his board and his 'skins' up from LA. He kept talking as I started walking, and then encouraged me to keep up the surfing. Interesting way to start a Tuesday morning.

Session 89 - Steamer Lane dawn patrol

Since I didn't get a session in this weekend, I was motivated to get up early and trek down to Steamer's for some post-Cold Water Classic rights. I didn't leave quite as early as I had hoped, but made good time and was still able to surf for a solid hour.

The crowd was minimal and surf was consistent, with shoulder to head high+ sets rolling through the slot and middle peak. I caught 3 good set waves, long rippable walls perfect for fine tuning my sloppy cutbacks. It's really nice to surf such organized reef breaks like Steamer's, I didn't have to duck-dive once the entire session, which would be impossible in anything over waist high at Ocean Beach.

Session 88 - K st dawn patrol

Friday AM, warbly but glassy and decent 3-5 footers. Only 2 other guys out. Paddled into some solid lefts, one of which I tried to bottom turn and then position myself in the pocket. Must've been too close to the barrel, as the lip knocked me off of my feet and I fell horizontally onto my board, bruising my arm on my board.

After that, I redeemed myself by sticking a super late drop into a pitching left. Tosh witnessed the drop from the shoulder, and after paddling back out we chatted for a bit about Indo.

Session 87 - OB dawn patrol

Rode down to Santiago to paddle out with Karl, Mark and a few other guys. Had a meeting at 9 am though, so not much time to surf. It motivated me to paddle as fast as possible and catch as many waves as possible in the short 35 minute session. The size was good, but waves were getting mushy with the tide, so I ended up catching a few on the inside to satiate myself. All in all I caught maybe 5 decent rides, not bad for a quick sesh.

Session 86 - Linda Mar

Took the motorcycle this AM down to LM to meet up with Nic and Adam. Got a lot of looks on the road and in the parking lot, and lots of people wanting to know about how it is to carry my board on the bike. One guy told me that he's taken his snowboard up to Tahoe once in similar fashion.

Waves were good, but the uber high tide was making it really soft. I saw one dolphin swimming around on the outside, right before the cleanup set of the day rolled in and cleared everyone out.

Overall, it was a nice feeling to be able to surf somewhere other than OB on the way to work, and still be able to lanesplit and save money on gas. Now that I have the bike rigged up proper, i'll be expanding my surfing horizons.

Motorcycle surf rack success!

I finally got a surf rack installed on my bike. I was able to buy a Carver moped rack for $120 and mount it underneath my Givi rack. It took some trial and error to get it mounted properly, but it's really solid. I test rode it this AM from SF down to Half Moon Bay, then to Mountain View. It did fine going down the coast, and I'm impressed with how stable it is at freeway speeds. 80 mph sustained, no problem. Touched 90, and could've stayed there all day if not for CHP. Lane splitting was fine too, although I was extra careful not to take off anyone's mirror with the tail of my board. The winds today seem average, and you can definitely feel the crosswinds buffeting you, but it's not nearly as bad as I'd imagined. We'll see how it does in more extreme conditions, but I'm extremely happy with the setup. Looking forward to some sport touring/surfing trips, definitely a Baja trip in the near future.

Back 2 Cali - Sessions 83-85

Sessioned twice on Friday, fun and clean, but weak.

Saturday AM, couldnt crawl out of bed for Saturday dawn patrol, still jetlagged, slept till noon. Paddled out around 5:30, mostly frigid and junky, but one really nice left, actually landed a little backside floater, gained more speed and hit the lip on the closeout. Maybe spotted Ryan, but I'm blind so we'll never know. This AM paddled out for dawn patrol, but should've stayed in bed. Freezing and blown out. Caught a few random sloppy shoulders and headed to work. I miss Bali...

Indo Surf pics

I'll post more commentary on the individual spots later, but for now here are some quick pics:





Session 72: Playgrounds
After snorkeling, Jon and I took the boat over to Playgrounds, which was a small and mellow left breaking relatively close to shore. Beautiful clear water and live coral, tropical fish swimming around. Small waves though, and oddly chilly water.

Session 73: Lacerations
Session 74: Sanur
Session 75: Sanur dawn patrol
Session 76-78: Gili Trawangan
Session 79: Balangan
Session 80: Padang Padang
Session 81: Bingin
Session 82: Dreamland