dolphins, barrels & beach cleanups

Shit. It's been a while, I'm behind quite a few sessions, and I've lost count anyways. My new job is robbing me of quality blogging time, dernitt! Anyway, to sum things up:

Last friday it was small but clean and some fun rides, plus there were a few pods of dolphins in the lineup and I got a pic of one.

dolphin dawn patrol

The heat wave rolled in, but Saturday was foggy on the coast. I got up early for a dawn patrol, snagged a few nice shoulder high waves before eventually getting caught in a rip and drifting down to Noriega, paddling for like 40 minutes straight without making it back out. Lame. At least I caught a handful of rights before getting shut down on the inside.

Sunday I had a quick sesh with Ramin & Karl at K st. It was fun, waves were pumping, but I only had maybe an hour in the water before I had to scramble to set up for the beach cleanup at Kelly's Cove. In typical Bogart fashion, I showed up to the beach cleanup with just a few minutes to spare, and there was already a crowd of people eager to get their hands dirty. The cleanup was a success, 76 people came out, not counting all of the kiddies. Joanie was a huge help giving instructions, feeding people, etc. A decent crew of guys were at the cleanup too, including a few Googlers that I've yet to actually surf with. One day. The waves were pumping though, barrels up and down the beach, and some guys ripping hard at Kelly's. Ramin, Taylor and Josh paddled out in front, and I got to watch Taylor catch a few solid waves, ripping cutbacks down the line. Good shit, and easy to spot cause of the headgear. The cleanup was over at 12, but I didnt get all the equipment put away until like 1. The beach was mobbed and parking was a biatch, so I headed back home to picnic and surf out in front of Kirkham. Unfortunately by the time I was back to the beach around 3, the wind picked up and it was not so good. Chilled with friends and fam, ate some sammies, and took a nap in the sun. Woke up at 5, and the wind had backed off a bit, so I paddled out. Ended up having a great session despite the chop, and surfed until almost 8.

Monday morning I knew the swell was coming down, but it was still supposed to be offshore and HOT. I headed to the beach at 6:30, and was pleasantly greeted by reeling a-frames up and down the beach in the 3-5 range, with + sets rolling through every 10 minutes or so. Sets were walling nice, clean and getting more hollow with the dropping tide. After pulling into some sick barrels and almost making them, I resolved to surf until I made it out of one. I caught a ton of waves, and it was the perfect conditions where the waves are big enough to get in the barrel, steep and fast enough to hack and hit the lip, but not so big that you get smashed too bad if you take off too deep or get stuck inside. I landed a few decent little floaters and a lot of clean top turns and cutbacks, but my 9am I still didnt stick any barrels. I ran home, booted up the laptop and notified work of my unfortunate absence, ate a muffin leftover from the beach cleanup, and headed back to the beach (without my booties).

Paddled back out, and was drifting south but tide was still backing out and the tubes were rolling through consistently. I finally caught a little right that walled up and I was able to stall into the barrel, getting a faceful of spray before riding out hitting a few more turns before kicking out. At that point I was stoked, and getting more confident too. The very next wave was a super clean head high wedge. I turned, thinking I could stick the late drop and backdoor it, but ended up too deep and getting tossed over the falls. OB always keeps me in check. I while later I did a little pigdog ass-drag into a meaty left that pretty much closed on me, but I help on and rode out of it. Not the cleanest barrel, but good enough for me. I caught a lot of good rights, and eventually drifted to the outside bar just north of Noriega. There was a pack of guys a bit further south and inside. I caught a bomb outside set wave, positioned myself deep and raced down the line. It jacked up and I pulled into one of the deepest, longest barrels I've ever been in. I almost made it, but got pinched and fell face first into the wave. It was a sick wave though, definitely one of those wipeouts that's ingrained in my memory. Would have been the best barrel of my life if I actually made it out. I kept surfing, kept drifting, and caught some great waves on the outer bar by Rivera. Barrel #3 was the best, a walled up shoulder high wave that I backdoored right off the takeoff. I thought I was going to fall, but I kept a high line and crouched real low and got spit out to the sound of hooting and cheering by a few other surfers sitting nearby. It's always nice confirmation to have random surfers hooting you out of a wave. Eventually, I drifted all the way down to Sloat, and it was packed in. Still got a few great rides, but had to navigate through the throngs of surfers in the water while going down the line. I ended up getting out south of sloat, in front of the zoo. By this time it was like 12:30, and I logged a solid 4.5 hours of surfing and got countless good rides. Best sick day ever!

Weather is not so hot anymore, and it's onshore at OB. Santa Cruz on the other hand is pumping, with some good south swell in the water. I'm stoked for a dawn patrol with Nic and the guys at the Hook tomorrow, and then some more action after work tomorrow. Also, this weekend I'm meeting a guy who I might have shape me a custom fish in Santa Cruz. I'm gonna check out what he's got goin on, and maybe pick up a blank this weekend too so I can whittle my own one of these days.

easter morning log riding; monday dawn patrol

Nothing much to recall, it was weak and mushy on Sunday morning so after a pre-dawn motorcycle ride up Mt Tam, I decided to paddle out on the longboard at OB. The waves had enough juice to catch waves, but the waves were sectiony and scattered, making it tough to find a clean face. I pearled a few times trying to take off too deep or drive through steep sections on the log. It was fun to ride the log though, I should use it more but it's just so huge that it's a lot of work to drag down to the beach from my house.

This AM I checked stokereport.com and a few guys were calling it rideable and fair, so I suited up. My shoulder was feeling a little sore so I decided to bodyboard. The waves were shoulder to head high, but pretty mixed up. I got caught in a rip and only got a few waves. The best wave was the last wave, which I rode all the way into the beach from waaaay outside. The novelty of riding a bodyboard until you're washed up all the way into dry sand never wears off...

Here's some photos of recent swell in NJ that made me a bit homesick: http://surf.transworld.net/2009/04/08/jersey-juice/

I miss the road trips in high school to skate/surf the Jersey shore, although I only scored tubes like this on one memorable early fall trip with Jon.

Also, FYI, the water housing of my GoPro camera seems to have shit the bed. I'm working on getting a replacement housing that doesn't leak, hoping it's covered under warranty. For the time being I won't be taking water shots, but maybe that's a good opportunity to focus on my surfing rather than my photography skills...

Session 115 - last dawn patrol of the year

Head high + OB and barreling. Strong current pulling south. Ended up on a crowded peak at Noriega where I caught a really nice outside set wave in front of the whole crew. Ripped a couple nice turns before it closed out on me. I kicked out, but the wave snatched my board and broke my leash. The wave spit my board out and I swam frantically after it, like a linebacker going after a fumble. I reached my board just in time to get hammered by the next set wave. I held on as tight as I could and rode the next wall of whitewater back into the beach to call it a day.

Later on that same day I bought a new scooter for Joan's bday, and only a few hours later crashed into a Maserati on Market street. The rich old guy ran a stop sign right in front of me. I grabbed the brakes but had no time, smashed right into the side of his car shoulder first. Got to my feet and tried to move the scooter, but it was totally shattered and the front wheel wouldn't roll freely. I tugged on the scooter one more time and then felt the pain in my right shoulder, my shoulder popping out funny. It felt like it might be dislocated, but not completely, maybe just mislocated. My legs were throbbing in pain too, so I staggered over to the corner to sit down and remove my gear. Cops were on the scene almost immediately, and a couple other drivers came over to help me. People were gawking, and cops stopped traffic. One station wagon rolled past slowy, rubber-necking. I looked up at them and noticed they had boards in the car, and then thought about my shoulder. Fuck. That's when it really hit me that I'm gonna be out of the water for a while. I didn't break anything, but I possibly tore some ligaments in my shoulder or just damaged my rotator cuff. Going to see a specialist this week and I'll know for sure, but I seem to be healing fast, my mobility is pretty good already.

With a slightly premature and tragic end to a wonderful year of surfing, I'm entirely content ending the year with 115 sessions since July. I consider myself lucky to be a surfer in San Francisco, and looking back on the year's worth of blog entries brings a smile to my face. I experienced a lot this year- made a lot of good friends, caught a lot of good waves, and generally had a blast. I can only hope that next year will be as epic. This might be my last session report of the year, but I'll keep up the blog with some more retrospective rambling and 2009 plans. Some random ideas include shaping boards in my garage, starting a free SF surf zine, and sewing my favorite baseball hat to my wetsuit hood...

Session 113 - Saturday at OB

Ryan and I paddled out at K street and caught a ton of really nice waves. There were some characters in the lineup, including one Japanese kid who was furiously trying to paddle around everyone and take off as deep as possible. He generally would take off deep, call you off the wave, and wipe out. Ry dropped in on him and just milked the wave. Good man. Joanie snapped a few shots from the dunes, check the slideshow for more pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/joanpranata/KirkhamSurf1262008#

Session 112 - Macking OB dawn patrol

It's been a slow surfing week for me, not due to lack of swell, but due to early meetings all week. However, no early meetings this Friday, and plenty of pulse in the water, and plenty of paddling and duckdiving to go with it. Took a walk to the beach around quarter to 7 to check it, and there was one guy paddling out. Big, clean double overhead sets breaking on the outer sandbars. Walked home, finished my coffee and suited up. Only one earplug in because I lost the right one at the Jetty...waxed up the 7'5" Waterworks semi-gun and headed down to Kirkham. By the time I got out, there were 3 or 4 other guys on it, catching some bombs. It took me about 10 minutes to make the paddle to the outside, and then of course a huge set rolled through and pushed me back again. I fought it and finally made it all the way out, only to realize that I was way too far out the back. I worked my way back inside, almost catching a few massive waves but not quite having the paddle speed to stroke into them. One wave I paddled further in for position but got too deep and decided to pull back at the last minute. It was scary, as I was teetering on the edge of going over the falls. It could've meant the end of my session right there, but luckily I didn't go over the falls and I paddled out to catch another. I ended up snagging a heaving left, easily 3-4 feet overhead. Once I was in the right position the semi-gun worked like a charm, it was a super stable takeoff and drop, and I raced down the line as far as I could before the wave closed out dramatically and I launched myself out the back. After that I took a set wave on the head, and then scrambled to safety. I blew so much time paddling around in circles that it was already time to head in, so I snagged the next head high wave that rolled through and rode the foam ball all the way inside. It was a great session, just too short. It wouldve been nice to be on it with a few friends too, the lonesome gladiator dawn patrols just arent as fun as being out there with some of your bros. This weekend should be good too, and I'll try and take more pictures if my camera doesnt keep freezing up on me.

Undergunned on a heavy day at OB

Session 105 - Gloomy weather this AM and big fat heavy surf on a full high tide. One other person paddling out as I arrived, and they were getting pummeled on the inside by wall after wall of relentless whitewater. I couldn't let them suffer alone, so I waded in and started duck diving. I fared a bit better than them, finally making it outside after a solid 10-15 minutes of paddling and diving, and a minute later they made it outside as well. Some big overhead+ sets were barreling through, and the waves were moving fast. It was extremely difficult to paddle into anything on my 6'3". The other person out was a girl on a fish, and we briefly commiserated over the brutal paddle out and our poor choice of equipment for the conditions. After countless attempts to catch one of the shifting beasts, I finally found myself in the right spot to snag a big set wave. I had to position myself for a late drop, so the wave was already starting to break on me as I turned and popped up. It's nerve racking turning your back to a 8-10 ft wave as it's coming down on you like that, but I made the drop and raced down the line. It was a big, fast wave and I made it pretty far down the line before it decided to shut down. Adrenaline pumping, I paddled out for another. The girl took off on a wave but never came back. I assume she just got caught on the inside and couldnt make it back out, but in big stormy conditions like this it can be a bit worrisome. Catching my next wave proved to be every bit as frustrating as the first. It's one of those days where it's really hard to be in the right place at the right time and almost guaranteed you'll be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I took a few almost double overhead waves on the head, and barely missed catching a few good ones. I eventually caught a shoulder, but then ended up back inside again getting smashed. After a good faith effort of paddling and diving for another 10 minutes, I decided to call it a day. On big and brutal days like this I'm glad to have caught even one of the big set waves. Driving down great highway to work I didn't spot anyone else out there, just big beastly waves rolling through unridden.

102 -103 Head high+ OB

This weekend I had big plans to head south and surf some point breaks, or at least score Fort Point if it was big enough. Friday on my way home from work I rode to Fort Point to check it, but it looked like the tide was killing it. Talked to someone in the parking lot who told me it was pretty fun at low tide. Next morning I had plans on meeting up with Nic and Joel and Ramin, but OB was looking swampy and unspectacular, and I was determined to surf somewhere else this weekend. Anyways, Fort Point wasn't breaking, too small, so I ultimately ended up surfing OB at low tide. It was good size, head high with a couple feet bigger on sets, and a lot of paddling. The onshore winds messed it up though, so I only surfed for an hour and a half before heading in. Sunday AM I woke up and it was beautiful out, head high sets stacking up and rolling through, with really light winds and clean conditions. Lots of surfers out and was a really fun session, caught a few meaty rights and worked on fine tuning my frontside cutbacks. Getting that leading arm down into the wave is really helping me I think...we'll wait to see some photo evidence though.

Gus was being bad, and totally peed on the dead sea lion while the marine biologist dude was taking samples.

SESSION 100 - sunset in the outer sunset

the big hundo...it just snuck up on me, and luckily happened on a beautiful glassy evening, classic fall OB. The waves were mellow, and it was just nice to watch the sunset over the water. I think tomorrow might be a longboard dawn patrol...

Session 95 - rainy but pumping OB

Saturday decided to sleep a bit later and wait for the tide to drop, since I've been surfing the fat high tide waves during my weekday dawn patrols. Plus, sometimes it's nice to sleep in on Saturdays ;)

Made it to the beach around 11 just as it started to drizzle. The tide was still dropping to a 1.7 ft low around 1:30 or so, and the swell was building. It was pretty foggy and nasty, but the surf was pumping and getting pretty steep and fast as the tide continued to drop. It was pretty crowded too, considering it was rainy and ugly out. Sets were in the head high range, building into a foot or two overhead on standout sets. I stayed out for an hour and 40 minutes, on a mission to catch 20 solid waves. Since I am still repairing my 6'5" JC, I ended up paddling out on my 5'11" Rusty swallow tail. I haven't ridden that board in a while, and it's a treat on small, fast waves because it turns on command, and cutbacks are effortless (at least going frontside for me). I had a few memorable wipeouts too. On one head high right, I totally goofed on a top turn and somehow ended up landing on top of my upside down board, bruising my left thigh on my skegs. On one of my last waves I caught a big jacking outside set wave, easily a couple feet overhead. I took the first part of the drop fine, but then the wave did this weird staircase thing and I skipped off the face of the wave and air dropped down to the flats. I tried to stick the landing, but totally ate it, bounced off of the sand and got rolled pretty good. I redeemed myself with the next wave, #20, a steep reeling left that I was able to connect pretty much all the way back into the beach.

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 68

Another fine day at OB. Took Gus for a walk to check the surf at Judah at 6:20. Looking decent, glassy, slightly bigger than yesterday. Went home, suited up and headed to K street. Not much time to surf, 9 am meetings eating my soul, but glad I was on it early. One other guy out, this dude Tosh, nice guy, we chatted for a bit and shared a peak. The waves were mostly slow, workable walls, making it really easy to link together cutbacks and long carves. My best wave was a late takeoff that walled up, and then had a second drop, so I was able to really build speed down the line and bash the lip when it finally closed out. Too bad I couldn't stay out longer, it seemed to be improving with the outgoing tide. Only a couple more neoprene-clad sessions before Bali! And it looks like it's going to be pumping, the triple overhead swell is now dropping to slightly overhead, but then by this weekend another big swell is moving in. I think I'm going to bring 2 boards now, my 6'5" JC squash tail and my 7'5" semi-gun. Wouldn't want to be undergunned on the surf trip of a lifetime...If I wimp out I'd rather only have myself to blame, not my equipment!

Session 63

Chilly SF summer dawn patrol at OB, report says fair, but poor more often than fair. A few fun shoulder high waves for the taking though. Had the camera on 'take a photo every 5 seconds' mode, which means I had a ton of really bad photos to delete now. A few nice shots though, the function will come in handy in better conditions.

Sessions 59 & 60

Sunday OB, small but fun surf. Slept in today, made some eggs. House is a mess. Dog toys everywhere, Lady takes them all out. Ry came over, and we took Gus for a walk down to the surf shop. Checked out some long sleeve wetsuit shirts, perfect for bouncing off of shallow reefs, but way too $$. Went with Mark over to beach burrito for some grub, even though I just had eggs. Paddled out after that, first time with the Doc' Pro Plugs. The left one came out twice, good thing I left the leash thing in. Caught some fun ones, but I should've listened to Mark and brought the log. Went in after about an hour and a half. Joan still getting her haircut.

Sat around and procrastinated more, then Gilbo called and wanted to paddle out at 6:30. I was hungry and knew Joanie wanted to eat too, but I caved and agreed to go again. Can't get enough. Gilbo is getting good, she caught maybe 5 waves, popping up and making the drop on all of them, starting to learn how to turn and go down the line. I'll have to take her to Santa Cruz one of these days so she can get some longer rides to experiment with turns. Proud of her though.

Session 56 - OB

3-5 and fair this AM. Some steep, powerful set waves, though usually closing out. A few waves that would've had nice backdoor sections if the wind was a little more offshore. Wiped out hard once, need to get that out of my system before surfing shallow reef breaks in Indo. Saw 1 dolphin and 1 seal. Couldn't stay out too long, duty calls.

Sessions 51 & 52 - dare I say epic OB?

From OB sessions 9/5/8

Indian summer is upon us, and the last few days at OB have been beautiful. Thursday night I paddled out with Ramin, Gillian and Jon. Sets were head high and the waves were really clean and fun. I couldnt stop giggling...Ramin and I caught a ton of waves, and stayed in the water well after sunset. It set around 7:30, and we stayed out until about 8:20. Ramin caught a little barrel after dark too, although it mustve been hard to see in there...This was definitely one of my best OB sessions since maybe January or February, although this time I didnt even need to wear booties, let alone gloves.

The surf was so good that I was amped to hit it again at 6am. Ended up meeting Karl and Mark at Irving and hit the water by 6:30. Low tide wasn't very low, and it was a little washed out, but still pretty clean and an awesome day, especially by OB standards. Caught a few nice ones, got covered up a little on my first wave. Mark and Karl caught a lot of waves, I got a few shots of them. After a while I paddled in to meet up with Ryan and his friend Julie on the beach. Paddled back out and surfed my brains out, got out of the water at 8:30, realizing that everyone else had already left. Still managed to get to work by 10 too. Tonight on the way down to Monterey I'm looking forward to scoring some waves at the Hook, I hear it's pretty good and low tide isn't until like 9:30.

Session 49 - 'Another day in paradise'

Dawn patrol at OB, swell still hanging around, sets in the shoulder high range, smooth, sunny and fun. A few other guys out at Kirkham, and I drifted down to Lawton where there was one other guy on the peak. Caught a lot of fun ones, and after an hour got out to head to work. Passed another surfer walking down the beach, and he says 'another day in paradise...' Although OB is rarely referred to as paradise, I couldn't agree more this morning, I would've stayed out all day if I could.

Session 46

OB dusk, head high, caught a few nice reeling lefts...

Session 42- head high OB

This AM I woke up and took Gus for a walk to check the surf. It looked about head high, pretty mixed up, and the inside section slamming pretty hard. Nobody out, just some fishermen on the beach. I decided it would be a good day to jump in the car and check out whale cove or somewhere more protected. I got home, started getting ready, then felt lazy, changed, my mind, and suited up for a punishing OB session.

It was 7:30 by the time I got in the water, and it took me 7 minutes to make the paddle to the outside. That inside section was just dredging and pounding, so it took some patience and timing to navigate through. I saw a few seals and dolphins swimming around while I waited for the sets to roll through, and this one seal kept stopping and staring at me. I didn't mind, since I was the only one out and could use the company, so I named him Captain Kirk, for Kirkham. Unfortunately Captain Kirk was catching more waves than me, and I ended up drifting too far outside to catch anything. I worked my way back inside, catching a weak one that didn't fully break before getting frustrated and paddling even further inside. It was getting late and I need to get to work, so I went for the first juicy wave that jacked up behind me. I took off on a ledgy righthander and practically made the drop before it sucked out at the bottom and dropped me really hard onto the side of my face. It was my best faceflop in a while...I surfaced, gulped a mouthful of seawater, and rode some whitewater to the beach. Ahh, what a way to start a Friday, a classic OB dawn patrol.

Session 40 & 41 - OB & the Hook

Wednesday evening at OB was SUPER foggy, it was so dense that even standing with your feet in the water, you still couldn't see if there were any waves or anyone else surfing. Visibility was limited to ~15 yards, and the sun wasn't even setting yet, it was 6:30. Paddling out I was greeted with nice 3-4 footers breaking over the middle sandbar, mostly walling up and closing out, but a few corners to snag here and there. There were 4 other guys out at Judah/Kirkham, and as the sun began to set the visibility actually got a little better, and the waves were backlit through the fog, which added a nice effect to the hazy conditions. I caught a few fun drops, mostly into closeouts, with a couple lefts that gave me a shoulder to work with. Paddled back in around 8 and found Joanie doing some yardwork.

Yesterday was a unique Thursday in that I had a work offsite in Santa Cruz. I picked Cristelle & Caitlin up around 8am, and we planned to go surfing at Cowell's by the boardwalk before joining the rest of the team going on the rides, etc. We took the scenic route, stopping at 4 corners for a bagel and coffee, then making Caitlin carsick by bombing down Hwy 9 all the way into SC. Unfortunately, Cowells wasn't breaking at all, so we decided to go on rides, have lunch, and try surfing Pleasure Point on the way home.

We got to Pleasures and the tide was still pretty high, with the waves crashing into the rocks and cliff. Cait and Cristelle being the troopers that they are, and me being the reckless and negligent instructor that I am, we rented them boards and wetsuits and hit the surf. Getting in was pretty sketchy for them, having to jump off of the slippery rocks into the surf and paddle out before another wave came crashing in. It was exciting, but they both made it out into the lineup with minimal drama. Actually catching waves proved to be tough too, not ideal for learning, but they both managed to catch a few and have some decent wipeouts and collisions. Too bad we had only an hour in the water due to my scuba class in the city, or else I'm sure they would've gotten some rides as the tide dropped.

I was hoping that the tide would drop enough to make getting out of the water not so sketchy, but that wasn't really the case...the girls had to do the best they could timing in between sets and washing into the rocks to scramble up to the stairs and out of harms way. Cait got a little cut on her foot and struggled with the board a bit, as did Cristelle, but I kept a close eye on them from the water and they both made it out practically unscathed. Practically. Before getting out of the water I caught one really nice little pup-tent sized barrel, which just left me drooling for more, and regretting having to drive back to SF so soon.

I love the Hook, it's my favorite wave when it's working, and it was a treat to be able to surf it on a weekday in the early afternoon with a relatively light crowd. Hopefully next time I take Cait & Cristelle it will be a bit more beginner friendly and manageable for them. I did take a few pics too, I'll upload those this weekend.

Session 39 - sunset at OB

Yesterday evening it was beautiful out, the sun was shining, the surf was clean and fun, seals were jumping around in the water. Joanie and Gus and I all went down to the beach for a little while after scarfing some food that Joanie brought home from work. It was a great session, but I didn't stay out for too long, had to get home to finish my anniversary gift for Joan! Happy anniversary to us! It's been such a wonderful first year, so many adventures, so many good beach days...