Labor Day @ OB

Another delayed post, gotta get back on it. Haven't been surfing enough lately, pager duty hasn't helped my motivation. In any case, scored some fun surf on a beautiful sunny labor day with Ramin & Ryan V. Maybe 'fun' isn't the right word actually, considering the 1.5x overhead mushbombs, rip currents, and brutal paddle out. Tricky conditions and it was somewhat heavy for sure, but we all caught our fair share of good rides in our ~2 hour session, and got a hell of a workout too. My best wave was a meaty right that walled up for me and I was right in the pocket, hit a few snappy turns and kicked out to avoid getting caught inside for the rest of the set. Ramin saw me from the shoulder and made a circle gesture over his head. I thought he was trying to tell me that he got barreled, but I guess it looked like I just did. I was definitely in the pocket but should've stalled instead of pumping for a top turn, then maybe Ramin's little arm gesture would've been accurate. My worst wipeout was a wave that sectioned and I attempted to backdoor, got inside but then shut down hard. Ass over teakettle, bounced off the sand, gulped a mouthful of water thinking I had surfaced, and then hit my head on my board. Smooth... Meanwhile Ramin and Ryan were both charging, catching tons of waves. I vividly remember Ramin taking a late drop and trying to pull in, just getting immediately clipped and bouncing down the face of the wave. Nothing better than seeing your friends charge and get pummeled ;) Ryan caught a really good one that walled up nicely, and Ramin and I were watching silently from the back to see if he would make the section. After a few seconds we saw Ryan rip a top turn, throwing spray out the back and Ramin and I started hooting. Good times. Hopefully we'll start getting some more sizeable waves, I really enjoyed having some powerful surf despite the choppy conditions and challenging paddle.
 
Ramin was kind enough not to skeg me on his bottom turn
 
That's Ryan's head peeking over the back of this wave
 
Dolphins dolphins and more dolphins. No whale sightings today though.