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Huh. Looks like I'll be taking The 3.2 to ireland for the first time this year. Water temperature is nearly 18 (785 Fahrenheit? [emoji6]) degrees in the dingle area and 16+ up in Northern donegal
2-3 degrees above average. All time highs.
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This Monday thru Wednesday looks more promising. Cleared my schedule and good to go.
It looks like all of my crowing about how great this summer has been has caused the chickens to come home to roost.
Sunday before last was great down at Cottons and Barbedwires. We went down and started at Cottons, which was a foot or two overhead and fun, but we moved down to Barbedwires as Cottons was too crowded for how inconsistent it was. We ended up surfing Barbedwires for about 3 hours. It was head high and fun, not as good as Cottons, but the lefts which sometimes wrap from the lifeguard tower all the way to the railroad sign. Lots were fun, and every once in a while a 100 yard beauty would roll in. While there was a crowd, there were enough scattered peaks that you could pick them off and get your count. Barbedwires is a REALLY fun wave if you are a mediocre goofyfoot. It has enough push to be fun, but it's not too punchy. Like many of the Trestles waves, it is VERY easy to surf. When it gets bigger the wave can be steep, but flat faced if that makes sense. We both trunked it, and didn't even think about needing a wetsuit.
In the last week and a half, there has been less surf. Not terrible, but more waist high or maybe occasionally chest high than shoulder high. Still surfable though. There have been some not great winds, and that has caused the temp to drop to the low 60s. I think I only got one session in last week, and it was a just to get wet on a funboard type.
Things have picked back up a bit. Today was head high north of the HB pier. There is a bit of NW in the water to break things up, which made it nice and peaky. There was a bit of bump even at 715 am, but not bad enough to make it a problem. Most of the waves were one or two good turns, or in my case not good turns, then either kick out or Huntington hop and try to make it to the inside. It ended up being a really fun session, as the crowd around the 8th to 10th street area was nice and spread out. I heard some anger close to the pier. Angry people without much surf for a week and a half are not always pleasant folks in HB.
The water is still cold, I wore a 3/2, but today was fun and worth it. I should get another session around the same time tomorrow, so I should catch the tide as it comes up.
Here is a bad phone pic from today. Needless to say it doesn't do it justice.
Attachment 381427
That looks better than here [emoji106] Attachment 381519
Your photo is WAAAY better though.Quote:
Originally Posted by subtle plague
It's good to see someone out there getting after it.
Learning to surf in Santa Barbara you really learn to appreciate any ripple on the ocean. Looking back, I would almost think that anyone who goes t UCSB and learns there (which is what I did) should ride a longboard, or at least something 8+ and a funshape, just about all of the time. After a couple of years of progression, maybe get a beefy fish for the days when it is solid. But Santa Barbara has lots of days where a longboard is just about the only option, and when you are learning the most important thing is to just get out and get comfortable. Ride as many waves as possible, and get relaxed. I say all of this because I went to a shortboard too quickly, and I wish I had not. I discovered after a couple of years that I made more progress in the summer, when I would surf an 8 foot fun shape in the waist high windswell that Sands (the most consistent beach biking distance from UCSB), than I would in the winter, when the waves were a bit better and I would get out on a more standard shortboard. In the winter I should have been on a 45 liter fish, or something like that. Just getting out and gliding on small waves will make your paddling and your popup smooth, and when learning late that is the most important thing. I wanted to get good quickly, and trying to jump some steps did not help me.
Today was pretty much a carbon copy of the last two days north of the HB pier. Shoulder high+ and fun. The difference was that while the last two days were clean, and fun, today was glassy, a step better. I surfed from around 715 to 915, and if I didn't have to actually be somewhat productive today it would have been longer. The water is still cold for summer, around 61, but it's really not bad.
I'm going out of town in the middle of next week. It's a long way in the future, but next weekend I see numbers like 4-6 and 6-8 in the forecast. That might make it the biggest swell of the summer. I hope some of it reaches the rest of you guys. Enjoy.
Swami's looking better today
Attachment 381612
Super fun surprise session at easkey today. Was basically flat when i drove by. Surfed another meh spot and hurried back because my buddy called me and said " dood it's going off". I left the water and the onshore started for real. Sometimes you gotta be lucky.
Swami's looks fun there!!!!
Subtle Plague,
It's great when those sessions happen. It's kind of like being in the mountains when storm says it's supposed to drop 8-12 inches and it ends up being 12-18 with bigger drifts if you know where to look. One of the things about surfing is that it can be so fickle.
Santa Barbara could be that way in the summer because of the windswell factor. Windswell can kick up somewhat quickly there, and when I was there Surfline was a phone number you called, so the beaches around UCSB, particularly Sands, can pick up a windswell and go from knee high to waist to chest pretty quickly, and pretty randomly.
How about that. I'm so old I remember when you had to CALL Surfline!
Meh. Pic problem
Onshore today, but I've checked out a nice slab in a spooky setup that was at least side shore..though only thigh high. Too bad it's so far from the easky area.
Back here in my usual hunting grounds waiting for side off tomorrow.
And hopefully Brilliant clean surf [emoji6]
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Onshore all day Tide too high and the river running high resulted in a lot of moving water when it finally cleared in the evening. I'm not in shape for constant paddling. I think I only sat on my board for 2min in a 30min session.Only a handful of guys out.
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I can feel the cold from here.Quote:
Originally Posted by subtle plague
That's a nice shot!Quote:
Originally Posted by subtle plague
The right and left both look to be working. How big would you say that is? It's tough to tell from photos.
Did you say you are in Oregon? A rivermouth up there would seem spooky for sure. And it does look cold nortonwhis, I was thinking the same thing.
I echo you on those days where the current is nuts. We have had lots of north to south flow when surfing HB this year. There are enough peaks that I usually don't even bother to fight it, I just let myself drift from zone to zone. I usually get in the water around tower 8 and out around tower 18 or tower 20, which is the beginning of Dog Beach/HB Cliffs. I would say it is usually about 500 yards, maybe even 1000, from where I get in the water to where I get out. I'm glad there are enough good peaks that you can just let yourself drift, if there were only one or two good sand bars and I had to keep paddling I would go crazy.
That looks pretty solid for Swami's in the summer. I usually think of Swami's as a winter break.Quote:
Originally Posted by liv2ski
also looks pretty uncrowded for swamis at any time of year
I thought Plague was in Ireland some where right now. He is like a Nordsee surfer.
Those remind me of early autumn waves around early.
I'm back in the water. Took me 11 months post shoulder surgery to get the bug again. Surf is small. Nothing special. I don't want special yet. Just nice getting back out there and getting waves. Funny thing is you really don't forget how to surf. You are just weak as fuck. Having fun building the strength back up and riding the bike in-between water days. Stoked.
Im in ireland. That's easkey left. In the pic. It was one of the biggest Sets. Maybe head high +. The biggest I got on my head was head high an hour later. The size was all right but the current from the river in the lower end of the picture was bad. It's a reef not a river mouth per se, but the river comes in there.
And otime: Atlantic ocean it is [emoji6] surfing the North sea is not worth it. (Well..not the continent....the British east coast has decent spots..)
Hanging out on the local swell magnet beachy. Until the next pulse on Wed-sat
And long duc:
No.. the spooky spot is a deep water slab right under some cliff at the tip of a headland where you think the off shore blows you to Greenland. [emoji3]
I'll probably never surf it. I just like to search for the semi secret spots I find in YouTube videos and can identify on Google maps. [emoji3]
I've actually made a Google maps list that, if it accidentally went from private to public, would be a reason for black mini vans to show up at my doorstep.
Was fun this morning. My wife surfed waist high fun with dolphins today.
Attachment 381917
Two sessions today. Really good ones too. Easkey Was firing. Shoulder to head high 8n the sets. The last session Was only about an hour because I'm fucking worked and there were more than 10 peoplein the water [emoji6] .
Sadly not me in the pic. But I had one nice Lippen smacking as well. Not bad for the 4th day this season.
But I got some really good ones..
And the sun is shining.Attachment 382103Attachment 382104
. [emoji106]
The end of a great dayAttachment 382111
Matahi Drollet's wave at Chopes yesterday is :eek:
Sweet JesusQuote:
Originally Posted by Xover
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNwzDHJHA_g
That wave is insane.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xover
Via surfline -https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2b3a4011c7.jpg
My mouth is on the floor. I have no words.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dantheman
And I was all stoked on a one second coverup to chandelier I rode out of on Saturday. That waves is massive. For all the big wave love and riding out there, this wave seems like the ultimate.