one wave session

this morning sucked. was hoping for some calm before the storm, but that wasn't the case at all. really strong south wind, whitecaps, and chaotic head high sets. nobody else out, super high tide, lots of crap washed up on the beach. paddle out was not fun, lots of whitewater to battle through, and current pulling hard north. thought i was on the outside when a big set wave detonated right in front of me. tried to duckdive and was able to hold onto my board for the initial impact, but when the wave picked me up and flipped me onto my back it blasted the board out of my hands and drove me down to the bottom. i tombstoned for a few seconds and climbed my leash back to the surface. luckily that was the last wave of the set, and I scratched my way all the way out after the hold-down. sat and waited and waited, but really just shit waves. eventually i stroked into a head high right and was able to get in a few clean turns and work it through to the inside closeout. ending my session rather than paddling back out and waiting for more slop was not a tough decision. at least i got some exercise. took zero pictures, not even a pelican portrait ;(

here's some pics from a couple of previous lackluster sessions. one of those days was actually glassy and offshore, but mostly closed out.

 
 
 
 

smart dolphins

Jon sent me this video, pretty amazing...

glassy pron

still jetlagged woke up at 4am today. paddled out near judhah at 7. shoulder high peaks really clean and fun but not epic. nice to have some mellow conditions though. first day back at work and slammed. worked till 930. beat. wonder if I'll have the energy to do it all again tomorrow...

rock rock rockaway beach

fun late afternoon session with karl dave scott and joel. i missed nic, he mustve been asleep in the yaris. that's dedication...
surfed the north end of the beach for a while, it was pretty relentless with lots of closeout sets, so we hoofed it down to the south end and got a bunch of rides as the sun set. nice to be back home in chilly water. thanks mark for shooting some pics.
 
 
 

Playgrounds

Haven't gotten much surf time this trip, but was lucky enough to score some fun little waves at Playgrounds in Nusa Lembongan. The reef there is so pristine, amazing snorkeling too. One of the pics below is the view from our villa in Lembongan, overlooking the seaweed farms and the reef. I'd love to go back in the dry season to score some bigger surf at Lembongan. Today is my last day in Bali, and although I'm staying on the west side of the island where it's onshore, I'm trying to figure out a way to rent a board and maybe a scooter to get some waves at Serangan or Nusa Dua where it should be fun cross-offshore and head high. Time is running out, tomorrow we're headed to Yogya for a few days, then Jakarta, and then back home.

 
 
 

shack float carve

Scoured the coast with Ramin yesterday in search of some clean waves, since OB was maxed out and looking unsurfable without jet-ski assist. Ended up on the west side of SC, and scored some really good waves at low tide north of the Lane. Waves were head high with some + sets, fast and hollow with a good barrel section and lots of room to carve turns. My wave of the day was a head high set wave, I faded out the bottom turn anticipating hitting the lip, but pulled up, stalled, and got a clean little shack, even looked up as it was cascading over me. Came out of the barrel, pumped, hit a floater past a section, then grabbed my rail into a big cutback and worked the rest of the wave through to the inside. Was uber stoked, paddled back out with a ridiculous grin on my face, just in time to see Ramin drop into a sick one on his new Las Olas board, absolutely flying down the line. Was a great session, made me hungry for more point break waves. So much easier to surf them well compared the the chaos at OB. I'm getting really pumped for my Indo trip in January, although I'll be with family, so will have to restrain myself from surfing the entire day away.
 
 

oh bee ur sooo smooth

Gotta take a ride, just recline in the faraway
Got to take some time to realize
That my friends they come
And the lines they go by

...to avoid having Puff the Magic Dragon playing on infinite loop in my head today, i listened to some Interpol while suiting up this morning.