sunset session

racy low tide peaks at sunset. caught a handful of workable lefts as well as some decent rights that afforded a few clean cutbacks and one respectable floater. have lots of pics to upload from the rip curl pro too, another post another time. work to finish...
 
 
 

flying fish

been riding the 5'6" fish setup as a thruster for my last few sessions and it's been really fun. not quite as fast but a lot more control than the quad setup when linking turns, less slipping and sliding through cutbacks. had a really fun session this morning, waves were small but punchy and lined up. i was catching a lot of long rides and in a pretty good rhythm. my last wave of the session was a beaut, took off behind the peak and bottom turned around the first section, hit a snappy turn off the top and then a smooth cutback. it continued to wall up pretty steep and i raced down the line towards the closeout and popped a clean frontside air and actually tweaked it out a little, landing in the flats before falling. i wouldn't say i stomped it, i definitely didn't ride out clean, but nonetheless it was a really good ride for me. fingers crossed for some more launch ramps at OB tomorrow morning.

one day i'll be able to boost like this....riiiight

daycare dawn patrol

We've had a fun few days of weather and small but fun waves at OB, so today for the first time I surfed after dropping Kirra off at daycare. Daycare is conveniently located at 48th and Rivera, just a block from the beach and a quality sandbar serving up some shoulder high peaks. I was the only one out for the first half hour before 2 other guys joined the lineup. By that point it started getting a little textured, so I rode one in to the beach and headed to work. It was a short session, but I had 4 or 5 decent rides and it's just nice to be out in the water getting some exercise.

new years eve @OB

playful surf to cap off good year - soft peaks and easy drops with the occasional head high wall to carve, and some fun crossed up sections on the inside.
 
 
 
 

baby Kirra & paternity leave sessions

 
Kirra Elise Bogart was born on Nov 23rd at 4:23 am, and needless to day I am super stoked to be a dad. She's absolutely beautiful and Joanie and I are a ridiculously happy little family.
It's been as tiring as everyone said it would be, with constant feedings, changing diapers, and housekeeping stuff. Although my life priorities have completely shifted, I've been able to sneak out to OB twice so far this month for some solid waves. On most of the other days when I can't make time to surf, I've been running with Gus down to Sloat and back, trying to stay active. Life is good- and having a baby really gives me so much to look forward to, taking care of her and watching her grow and eventually teaching her things. I can't wait to get her out in the water as soon as she is able to walk, maybe down at Cowell's or the HMB jetty - it will probably be a while until she's out in the lineup at OB. Not until she's at least 3...

This shot is from my first post-partum session, on Dec 1st. The waves and weather were beautiful, but it was a mob scene in the water. People dropping in left and right too, but still scored some really good lefts.
 

These shots were from today, there were some nice barrels to be had, although I didn't make it out of any. Lots of pulling in and getting pounded, but the paddle wasn't too bad.
 
 

obdp 101310

 
 
 
 
good waves on tap this morning, I paddled out north of Judah and surfed for a solid hour. I surfed like crap though, wiped out hard a few times trying to take off too deep. Made a few solid ones though. Hopefully more glassy nuggets tomorrow AM...

5'6" convertible fishing

 
 
 
 

This past weekend offered extremely varied conditions to test out my new shape, which came out well, although the sanding job isn't quite as clean as on my first board. I definitely burned through a couple spots and had to touch it up with some sanding resin to make sure it's all watertight. On saturday the waves were small and weak, so i rode it as a quad. the fins are fairly far forward, the tail is thick with generous vee, and my Stretch quad fins are pretty small, so it's super loose. the first time i tried to do a cutback the tail almost immediately broke loose into a snap. fun when you expect it, but definitely takes some getting used to. it's really fast and fun to work down the line, at least in small surf like this, which it's designed for. I want to test drive some larger keel fins and try running it as a twin, or just a more stable quad. Once I get it dialed in with the right fins I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

Sunday the swell was forecast to come up a bit, so I pulled out the trailing fins and used one as a center fin. So basically a thruster configuration, except using my quad fins, so it would still be really loose, but have slightly more control and centering. It was foggy and hard to see, but the surf was pumping. The inside bar was relentless closeouts and it kicked my ass. I got shut down a couple times, but eventually was able to punch through. Took me 20 minutes to make it to the outside bar. Sets were head high+ and pitching, with some fast and steep sections to navigate. I was definitely undergunned, but managed to catch a few screamers and make a couple big drops on my new board. It's really fast down the line so I was able to catapult myself pretty high out of a few, although I didn't manage to keep my board under my feet. I tried a few turns at speed, but the board felt way too loose still and would just slide the moment I threw my weight into a turn or tried to force the board to track up a really steep fast section. Again, I think I'll be able to reign it in a bit with the right fins, I need to find the sweet spot for this board between speed and looseness and control. On most days though I'll gladly trade a little control for a bunch more speed.

As usual, thanks to Joanie for taking some pics and hanging out on the beach. She was able to capture some of the dolphins frolicking around in the surf too, which always makes a session that much more special.