choi wan!

Sunday was a really good day of overhead, filthy brown waves at OB. Super typhoon Choi Wan delivered. I surfed around 9:45 with Ramin and Joel, and the tide was making it a bit fat at K st, which made for a relatively easy paddle. Current was pulling south, and after catching a few I got caught inside, paddled through a rip for 15 minutes, and ended up down at Noriega. I was beat, but it was all worth it, because it was firing and hollow at Noriega. I sat on the outside and caught my breath, watching some heavy waves come barreling through. I waited patiently for one that looked makeable, not wanting to get caught inside again, and paddled into a heaving right that was maybe a foot or 2 overhead. Initially I was gonna go left, but as I stroked into it I saw that the right was holding up and pitching, so I went for the backdoor. I thought I'd get obliterated, but I set my rail and stuck my hand in the wave and the whole big brown mess just folded right over me. I got blasted with spray and spit right out of the section. At that point the rest of the wave was closing out, so I straightened out, hollered, and bailed. It was short but sweet, the biggest barrel I've made in a long time, and I'm jonesing for more now.

Despite the bright sunlight washing out most of the images, I managed to snap a few decent shots. Ramin caught a massive walled up left early in the session. Another memorable wave was a left that plowed through, taking 2 guys over the falls really hard as Ramin and I sat watching from the shoulder. One big left I tried to take off deep on and pigdog, but as I was about to get to my feet I saw a guy with a green board right at the bottom of the wave where I was pointed. It was too late to back off, so I ended up trying to bail and still hold onto my board, basically crashing right over the guy. I didn't feel any contact though, so it was OK. Too bad though, I think I could've made that one. Good waves, good times, and now we just gotta wait for the wind to back off again and a new swell to fill in. I love fall in SF!

 
 
 
 

sunset session with Ramin & Joel

took out the board cam rig and caught a few fun waves. sets a few feet overhead, pretty clean still, pretty and backlit. looking forward to a glassy morning session tomorrow, hopefully i'll be able to log more water time and get some good shots. should i board cam it or wrist cam it...hmm decisions decisions
 
 
 
 

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sunday OB 11am

Not enough time to venture south for sunnier skies and smoother surf, so I decided to wait and see if it would get sunny. Started burning through around 10:30, and Ryan and I paddled out around 11. Sets looked about head high, and breaking pretty far out on the sandbar. We paddled. And we paddled. And paddled some more. On my way out some dude on a retro looking pink board was shredding, hitting a nice floater to connect a long ride. Finally made it out, and caught a few pitching rights. Made a couple of really late drops, and the quad would slide into the pocket before slabilizing and connecting the inside rail. I had fun pushing the tail around on my turns today, the waves were fast enough that I could really lean into my top turn and slide the tail around a few feet. I'm gonna enjoy pushing the limits of that thing this fall in bigger waves. Anyways, tomorrow the forecast is calling for glass, so I might try and wake Joan up early to take a stroll to the beach...
 
 
 
 

not 5 stars OB

practically no wind, but choppy, fat waves nonetheless. lots of annoying currents too, so non-stop paddling. caught a few good waves though, ended up sitting on a peak near lincoln with Will and Tosh, and some guy who drove in from Berkeley. Sets were head high+, but pretty fat and mushy, making them tough to position for. Hopefully this weekend will be cleaner and it will improve as the tide changes, or else I'll probably be venturing south looking for surf. Here's a couple pics of Will making a weird warbly drop.
 
 
 
 

messy kelly's cove dp

more fun than it looked. Ramin and I paddled out at Kirkham and quickly drifted north, ending up at Kelly's Cove an hour later. Choppy and messy, but some fun waves to race down the line and launch off of. Lots of sea life too, a dolphin jumped really high out the back of a wave. Got some decent shots of Ramin on a left. Swell should be up slightly and wind should be down slightly for tomorrow AM, so I'm guessing it'll be fun.
 
 
 
 

tuesday foggy head high OB

jogged a few miles this AM before paddling out at Judah. Swell has dropped, but still some head high sets. Tried to pull into a few and got denied, but the minor beatings were worth a peek in the barrel.
 
 
 
 

monday dp

paddled out around 7:15. cleaner conditions, down slightly, but still a lot of paddling and duckdiving. got smashed more than a few times, but once I made it out there were plenty of clean faces, sets in the 6-8 range, with some plus waves rolling through now and again. compared to yesterday's chop, the semi-clean faces made it much easier to make smooth bottom turns and cutbacks. I got some really good rides, linking together turns and staying as close to the pocket as I could. did a clean grab rail cutback on a solid 8 footer too, was hooting for myself after that one. for some reason i was the only one out there as far as i could see, despite the conditions being fair and big. i guess everyone is too taxed from this weekend of powerful surf. i didn't really get any good pictures because i forgot to charge the batteries in my camera. duh.
 
 
 

Sunday Kelly's Cove

By 10am Ocean Beach was big but blustery and onshore, so Ramin and Josh swung by and we decided to head up to Bolinas. Turned out to be a bust, as Bobo was super small and blown to pieces. Ended up driving back to OB and paddling out at Kirkham. The paddle out was brutal, I duckdove 39 walls of whitewater before finally making it outside, in just under 10 minutes (yes, I counted). Ramin and I somehow managed to stay together, but by the time we made it out we had already drifted up to Lincoln. Josh on the other hand ended up getting out way south of where we were. Waves were mushy but big, definitely some 1.5x overhead sets. Right out of the gate I caught a few decent ones. Got a few bombs that I didn't think I was going to make, but was able to stick the drop and bottom turn, airing out the back and landing precariously on the front of my board on one of them. Some kid on a purple board was going for broke, and took a pretty good beating. After his wipeout in the pics below I'm pretty sure he paddled in to the beach. I don't blame him... Ramin was charging as always, taking off late and getting worked on a few, but making a few good ones as well. Snapped a neat speed blur photo of his bottom turn on one of the smaller waves. We weren't able to find Josh in the lineup, depite his day-glo board, but after Ram and I paddled in Josh waved to us from the water. Got a pic of his last ride, and then we made the long trek back to the car, all three of us famished. We headed over to La Playa Taqueria and capped off a memorable session with some burritos. Good times, but still jonesing for some offshore wind to ring in the fall surf season.
 
 
 
 

Friday evening OB

Paddled out with Josh around 6pm and swell had come up significantly since early afternoon. Made the mistake of bringing my 5'9" quad, so I was definitely undergunned, but still managed to scratch into a few sizeable waves. My first wave I pumped down the line and boosted out that back, catching maybe 4 or 5 feet of air. Catching waves was tough though, and the conditions were deteriorating. Too bad it wasn't offshore...Anyway, I got a few decent pics of this random guy charging into a good sized set wave.
 
 
 

friday k st shoulder high

not as ridiculously glassy as yesterday, but some solid should high sets and plenty of lips to float and closeout sections to snap or try to air out of. ryan's last wave was a left that afforded him multiple hits, finishing with a nice air out the back of the wave. seemed to be building throughout the session, so it's looking promising for this weekend. More photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/CityStoke/FridayAMKSt?feat=directlink