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.

Session 92 - Yes we can! (surf)

Stoked on Obama getting elected, but still was able to crawl out of bed this morning to meet up with Ry for a session at K st. The conditions really cleaned up a lot, and

although the waves were on the soft side, there were some nice peaks to take off on, and it was just plain beautiful out. We saw a big pod of maybe 5 or 6 dolphins breach on a decent set wave, and then Ry and I both turned and caught the same wave. A bunch of other guys (and a girl) were out catching rides too, I got a few pics of a guy on a longboard making a decent drop. I'm hoping it stays clean for tomorrow AM and into the weekend, a little more size wouldnt hurt either.

As for last night, I'm extremely happy Obama got elected, watching his speech was probably the proudest moment as an American in my life. Aside from all of the important credentials Obama brings to the table, as a surfer I think it's awesome that he has roots in Hawaii and Indo and has actually surfed and body surfed before. When was the last time we had a president that understood the allure of surfing??

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.

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 53 -54 - Scuba & Surfing Monterey

From Scuba Cert & Surfing 9/8/08 8:21 AM

This weekend we did our open water scuba certification in Monterey Bay. We camped out Friday night at Fremont Peak, which has really beautiful views of the bay, although it's a little remote and run down. We dove by the breakwater in Monterey, just north of Cannery Row. There was a lot of wildlife, dolphins jumping and playing, sea lions, seals, fish, starfish, and lots of kelp. We dove as deep as 33 feet and got to navigate with a compass through the kelp forest. Visibility was only maybe 10 feet, and my underwater camera didn't pick up much unless it was really close-up. Hopefully I'll get better scuba pics in Bali.

After diving on Saturday we drove to Asilomar beach in Monterey. The waves were 2-4 and it was crowded, but nice. The beach there is pretty, white sand and clear water. There was a wedding going on while we were surfing too.

Next day we dove in the AM, and finished up before noon. We headed to the bar to fill out our dive logs and receive our temporary certification cards. After that, we headed up the coast in search of waves. Stopped at Steamers, but the tide was high and not much to work with. Checked a few more spots, ending up at Waddell Beach. The wind was on it a bit, but there were a few solid head high sets rolling through and it was fun. I was riding my 5'10" Rusty, which took some getting used to after surfing so consistently on my 6'5". Eventually the wind picked up, and the conditions became more favorable for the kit surfers. Headed home to hop in the shower before the charity dinner at Prestino's, which was delicious. Crab ravioli, steak, homemade bread....that boy is talented in the kitchen.

Session 47 & 48 - dolphin playtime

Yesterday I snuck in an AM & PM session, because the weather was nice and waves were fun. In my AM session there were at least 3 dolphins swimming around, getting pretty close to me. At one point all 3 of them simultaneously breached through a nice set wave directly in front of me. I blame the dolphins for making me miss at least 3 really nice waves. Even snagged a pic of one, thanks to the hero cam. The waves were fun and fast, changing a lot with the tide. I'm hoping these conditions stick around all week.

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 18 - OB dolphin patrol

This morning I rolled over in bed and checked the surfline report on my ipod touch. 3-5 poor-fair. Nice. Snoozed a few times, and finally got out of bed and wrestled my way into my still-damp wetsuit. Ran down to Kirkham, and it looked decent, if a bit soft, definitely more organized and an easier paddle than yesterday. There was a team of high school kids running and training on the beach, and a seal playing around in the water, but other than that nobody else out. Getting out took a bit of duck diving and strategizing, as the sets were actually a little overhead and the waves were pretty relentless. All in all it only took me 5 minutes to make the paddle, much easier than yesterday. Since I had to get to work for a meeting, I didn;t have much time to surf, so I made a point of paddling for anything rideable that came my way. Unfortunately most of the larger waves were closing out. I pulled into a few, kicked out before the closeout, and on a few occasions just pulled into the barrel and punched my way through the back of the wave.

I saw 3 dolphins playing in the surf, diving into waves and gliding down the faces. It's hard not to just sit and watch them, but I made a point of still riding waves, despite the dolphins playing in the vicinity. A nice shoulder high right hander lined up, and I took off. I was pumping down the face of the wave when out on the shoulder a dolphin was doing his/her thing. I rode a wave with a dolphin! We're like a tandem team. Awesome. After that the dolphins seemed to continue south down the beach with the current. I caught a few more closeouts, and my last wave was a decent walled up one where I actually made it past one of the sections before it closed on me. Rode it to the beach and still made it to work by 9:25.

session 14- Saturday dawn patrol ob

Waist to head high swell but choppy and onshore. Went out with Ryan for first time. Caught some fun drops and a few long ones too. Lots of dolphins jumping and surfacing right next to us it was amazing. Definitely plan on taking Ryan to Santa cruz one weekend