Beer vs Man

Hit 56th St after work. It was high tide and windy, but I heard that the DP was great and unfortunately I had overslept. Had to make up for it somehow. It ended up being pretty fun.. I definitely kooked out on my first handful of waves but got into it after a while. Got a couple fast peaks, waist-chest high, made a couple turns. Good to be back in the water.

Met some friends and chilled at Malibu over the weekend. Really no swell in the water but there were some smallish waves to grab with the longboard. Had a good time and it was a nice day.

Patched up the 7′2 and paddled out at 52nd st. Still some good swell but the conditions were pretty crummy. The chop made the combo swell hard to predict, and more often than not I got torn apart when I chose to drop in. Definitely got my share of paddling, duck diving, and going head over heels over the falls in though. I guess sometimes you need to work on those less enjoyable aspects of surfing.

Left work early to give a friend a ride, and drove up the coast.. tried a spot I had only watched before, somewhat secluded from the bustle of nearby cities. Brought my 7′2 down to the beach, put on trunks and a vest and then realized that I didn’t have my leash. I had swapped it to the new board after forgetting the brand new leash when I christened that one. I figured there was hardly anybody out (2 people when I paddled out), and even though I’m not nearly skilled enough to ride with no leash on my shortboard, I did it anyway. I started off by losing my board twice in a row, but then got a couple waves and made it back without incident. Then I was inside and a decent size wave was coming in, going to crash directly on me. I duck dove as deep as I could, and the wave drove me down to the rocky bottom and I cut my knee and tore a hole in the rail of my board. As soon as I realized it I belly-boarded the next wave in and went home. Was definitely fun though, being at a spot right around 4th of July, with only a couple other people out.

Woke up at 5 and met Charlie down at Trestles parking lot. Skated down to Cotton’s with the new board. Swell looked awesome — nice big lefts rolling in consistently. Paddled out and was surprised by the speed they approached, though they weren’t to fast once you got in. I went for a couple nice lefts and screwed up the takeoff on each, falling back into the wave. Then I kooked out again, missed a bottom turn, and the leash tore off my leg. Second time ever surfing this board and I already lost it. Well I swam in and found the board on the sand, luckily there weren’t exposed rocks where I was surfing. Fixed the leash, went back out, scored about 3-4 really nice lefts, and took off around 7am to get back to work. Could have probably stayed out another half hour, but I had no idea what time it was. Mental note: more DP’s at Cotton’s!

First decent swell of the summer was finally starting to show yesterday. Plus, being the 4th of July “Weekend” (even on a Monday), the beach was PACKED. Took about 15 min to find a parking spot. The lineup was just as crowded. I waxed up the new board (a beefy 7′6 Russell thruster) and paddled out. There were definitely sets rolling through about head high, but it was really hard to get into anything. I dropped into 3 waves in a row but didn’t make bottom turns (either I screwed up or the wave closed out) and ended up caught inside next to the jetty a few times. Pretty scary with my brand new board. Swell backed down with the tide, then I ended up sitting toward the inside and snagging a few waist-high waves to end the session. Turned in early for next morning’s DP at Trestles.

Hit 52nd this morning, to find a refreshing bump in swell from the weekend. It was clean and waist-chest, but a bit inconsistent. I had a great left that I actually made an off-the-lip without crashing or losing the wave, but I couldn’t keep enough speed and the wave closed out on me. I also had a couple great wipeouts that have kept seawater draining from my nose throughout the day. Fun times though! Swell should be picking up more today and tomorrow morning — I think I’m going to wax up the new board (7′6 Russell thruster) and give her a try tonight at NB. Tomorrow morning I’ll DP @ Trestles, hoorah!

Surfed twice in HB. Morning (around 9:30am) was pretty good. Evening (5pm) was beat to shit and frustrating. I’m finding that I really hate the singlefin longboard, the more I surf my 7′2 thruster. It just takes me about 3 missed bottom turns to remember I have to turn it from the very back of the board. Here I am trying to carve down a 4-5′ face and when I lean into the turn the board just doesn’t follow. The only good thing about this board is that it is really easy to noseride and it hauls ass when you point it in a straight line and walk to the nose. Well, also easy to catch waves..but you HAVE to catch them early otherwise you’ll pearl. There’s 0 rocker on this thing.

Went out around 10am, brought the log to 17th St HB. Actually found it a lot better than I expected. Tide was going up so there was the usual outside break and inside break, and you could connect the two if you rode the nose straight in, but that usually ends up with a flying projectile longboard and getting smashed by the 2′ deep shore pound. Definitely did that once or twice. Better waves were the outside set waves with a nice drop and bottom turn.

More newport. Swell getting smaller. Still pretty crowded. Only scored a handful of waves on the 7′2. Surfed AM and PM, neither was great.

More of the same, still fun out there. Wave of the day was an outside chest-shoulder peak that I had to myself (biggest wave of the session) but I almost skidded out on the bottom turn. Stupid feet not finding the right spot on the board. I didn’t wipe out but I didn’t have a chance to do anything besides ride it out to the left before it died.

Some fun waves out there, but I was having trouble with my footing. Slid off my board on a perfect outside set wave I had to myself.

Caught about 3 set waves (waist-chest) with decent power. Fun drops, but only made one good bottom turn. Dropped in too late on a couple waves and looked like an idiot riding on my stomach. Also had some problems finding the balance point on my board on the slower mushier waves — I need something that floats better for these type of days.