Anyone else get some today...?

I was noticing when I was down your way how many fucking buoys and wind stations you have all over the place. Kind of nice for compiling data and picking a spot.

Don't mind the wind too much, just wish it came when were are not seeing south swell. With slack or even south flow, there are so many spots that light up north of here. The east side seems generally get it best, but the crowd really heads there. Basically fun, easy, rippable Stuff. Up north has a few spots that are for real waves. One spots does not even feel like it is here when it works properly. To good, especially for a left. And long as well. This swell is just enough to get is really going, but you want just about no wind and zero wind swell. When a swell jumps up about 4.5' @ 20s at 210, holy shit. It is one of the best waves I have ever surfed.

Anyway, the wind an wind swell last week were awesome. Not enough south in the water to be that big of a deal, and the added waves made things big enough to be worth getting out. Even when there is no south, things start going when we top 6@10, especially if the gradient is parked up near Mendocino.

No time after work today to get out, so I slipped out for a 40 minute session at lunch. Chest/shoulder high and pretty unorganized, but the mix of that W windswell and SW sets was super fun. Nobody else out, so scored about 6 decent waves in quick time. Paddling out on the low tide was pretty tough though, especially with dead arms from yesterday's double session.

Caught basically all lefts, until my last wave, which looked like it'd be a great, nice long wall of a right (and it was). Not good enough on my backhand yet to keep enough speed to stay on the face, and the wave ended up passing me by after I made the drop and my first turn. Any tips on keeping speed on your backhand? I think I have trouble finding where I need to be on the wave since I'm not as used to looking over my right shoulder around the back.

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No time after work today to get out, so I slipped out for a 40 minute session at lunch.

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Did we surf together? Was out from 12-3pm

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Originally Posted by Piggity

Did we surf together? Was out from 12-3pm

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I was probably next break north of where you were. There wasn't anyone within 100 yards of me.

Gotcha, so you were probably closer to the hill where I parked then walked down. Shoulda come down, the crowd was super mellow.

Didn't read your full post earlier so re: the backhand, it's tricky and forcing yourself to go right often is your best solution. You can grab a rail if you're late on the drop, lot of guys grab a rail for backside shacks. I grabbed a rail and ate it while surfing Uppers with Ottime, tweaked my knee somewhat. I prefer not to grab a rail but that's just me

If you're really late on a big set wave with a section forming off the drop, you have to pump off the takeoff and keep the board high on the wave, then drop down lower from the top of the wave to build maximum speed once you choose to go around the section. Then a huge bottom turn around the section and bring it straight back up top, repeat 7 times. Learning to pump your board for speed backside takes some time, but the turns you can do off your backhand are some of the most fun and powerful turns possible. Pocket surfing at it's best.

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Originally Posted by Ottime

I was noticing when I was down your way how many fucking buoys and wind stations you have all over the place. Kind of nice for compiling data and picking a spot.

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Yup, really helps out since north county gets good SW exposure and south county gets good NW (Point Loma, OB, MB, LJO) and some places get both NW/SW exposure (La Jolla reefs, Blacks, Imperial beach, Baja Norte). I bet this combo swell is thumping at places like baja malibu, heavy beach break barrels. The various buoys help a ton when selecting a spot.

Speaking about selecting a spot. If the wind is calmer tomorrow than it was today then I might have to hit Blacks for some combo shacks. Agree with Ottime about wishing the NW windswell would come back another day. The reef/sandbar spot I surfed today really likes those long period clean lines, the mix today was a little too much for the spot I surfed. It likes a clean long period swell so it can hug the reef/sandbar, today was hard to connect it through

RE: Backhand - Sometimes you just need to trust your instinct on where you are going. It is hard to always have a look see, and it can interfer with drawing a good line. For instance, on a wave you are taking off a little deep on, and can't draw a high line, you best option is to drop straight in and draw a well rounded bottom turn that will project you straight back up the face on the other side of the lip/whitewash. If you try to look over your shoulder to see if the face is actually still open, it can stall your turn and fuck the entire thing up. Also, staying high on the wave gives you lots of potential energy, which is good, and the top third of the wave will be the fastest for pumping. OTOH, dropping down to the bottom and pulling it back up is more fun, and will actually generate more speed if you can make a speed enhancing top turn (generally fewer buckets being thrown).

As for pulling the board back up, I think of it as kind of an ollie, but up the face, as opposed to off it. You are pulling your front knee up to your chest, and the board kind of follows.

i find that i angle take off quite a bit while surfing backside. i surf about 50/50 backside/frontside and sometimes quite a bit more backside if i'm surfing by the house. keep yer shoulders square to the direction yer going vs having yer back to the action is key. backside is so dynamic and i find going vertical to be much more instinctual/powerful backside vs frontside.

looks like waves starting tomorrow and lasting through tuesday. been nice to have a week of micro flat. timely too as the waves disappeared right as all the quebexicans showed up for their weeklong holiday:D

rog

thx for the responses guys. Ottime, " If you try to look over your shoulder to see if the face is actually still open, it can stall your turn and fuck the entire thing up." is exactly what I did to a good right yesterday. rog, will try angling my takeoff to stay higher on the wave too.

Basically, I made a good drop, was going to make a big bottom turn, but by the time I looked at the wave, tried to start turning etc, I had lost most of my speed.

Heading up to San O tonight. PW7, I'll PM you when I get to work to see if you wanna join.

It looks like OC will pump this weekend. I can't get out tonight, but I should be able to get an afternoon session tomorrow at uppers/cottons.

Saturday they are calling south county 4-6+. I might have to surf middles to avoid the crowds, which will be absurd. Hopefully this will carry through Monday, but I don't have premium surfline anymore so I don't know.

Hope all here end up getting some. Rog, hope the east delivers as well as the west. Ottime, hope this filters up to Santa Cruz.

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Basically, I made a good drop, was going to make a big bottom turn, but by the time I looked at the wave, tried to start turning etc, I had lost most of my speed.

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Sounds like the problem was the drop/big bottom turn when the wave decided to run down the line. That's where you probably have to angle your board like Rog said and then stay high on the wave to get out in front of it. (sometimes you can do a big bottom turn but have do several pumps while out in the flats to maintain speed). Once you're in a good spot then you can drop back down and do a big bottom turn. And to be honest, no one's style is the same. We could all see the same wave and mind surf it differently each time. Find your style and adapt to the wave.


Wind is howling today, Blacks is off. Windswell is dominating the buoys right now. Gonna find the thickest kelp bed to sit behind for the next few hours.

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Originally Posted by jtran10

rog, will try angling my takeoff to stay higher on the wave too.

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good deal. angling's great, especially for fast breaking waves as it is like a lil head start on the action. a full drop to full bottom turn takes time. often times too much time. squaring those shoulders towards the action keeps ya from having to awkwardly look over which may cause awkward counter/over rotation.

cheated this am:fm:

micro knee/thigh glass on my gf's epoxy 8'2" longboard. catch ANYTHING. had no idea there was a wave worth paddling out for till i took the dog down for a walk from the house. watched it for a sec and thought, "i can ride that", and took a brisk walk back to the house to "borrow" her board:)

omg talk about effortless. i'll be ruined now for the ist 10 minutes on my 5'10 tomorrow. oh well...

will be at the rivermouth at 5am to time the tide and beat the other mainers to the break by about 4 hours, maybe 5:D

EDIT: piggity beat me too some of the advice^^^^^^^^thanx pigs!!!

rog

long duc - pro tip: the surfline app (free) goes out 5 days. I don't have premium either so just use the app for a longer range look. They're calling S OC 3-4 and fair on Monday

Also, I'll be house sitting my cousin's house on 33rd st from Saturday afternoon to Monday afternoon. If you're getting out in NPB shoot me a PM if you want.

Waves coming from all directions. NW Windswell was cranking on the low tide, seemed to taper off at the end of the session though.



Edit: Have I mentioned how much I farking love Windswell? I've logged about 20 hours of waves since Sunday and can barely lift my beer to my mouth, yet I yearn for more waves. Maybe a double session tomorrow with new SW filling in....my knees, my back, my shoulders, my neck and everything else tells me to stop surfing. Oh well...

Does your wife tell you to get a job yet?

Windswell is fine. It is nice and consistent. It gets the job done. But I still prefer the rare ultra clean ultra long period (18-22s) mid sized (4-8') stuff.

Tonight I thought about heading to the Hook to get some clean, fun, small waves, but instead took the usual drive north, into the wind. Went to the usual strong wind protected point. The wind was strong. There was only one other out. My second wave walloped me. Made the right choice. A bit funky, but as the winds started to subside, it got better. Another dude showed up. The first left. Kept getting fun waist/chest/head/plus waves. Finally, two hours in, 10 more showed up and I went home and fired up the grill and made some burgers. Gonna try to get a dawn patrol in at the Lane before the mrs. heads to work at 6:20.

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Originally Posted by Piggity

I've logged about 20 hours of waves since Sunday and can barely lift my beer to my mouth, yet I yearn for more waves. Maybe a double session tomorrow with new SW filling in....my knees, my back, my shoulders, my neck and everything else tells me to stop surfing. Oh well...

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Dude are you funemployed too? It’s been 4 years for me now and I can’t believe my wife hasn’t made me get a job yet, good luck brother :yourock:.

I feel your pain piggs, I had to take yesterday off due to exhaustion and every fucking muscle in my body being trashed (plus I actually had to do housework). Been surfing almost doubles everyday since last Wednesday, only difference was surfline had the conditions poor-fair so no one was in the water last week. This week though... fuck me it’s been super crowded everywhere and it’s not even memorial day yet (well, today it is), and now the fucking black balls start making crowded breaks even more crowded.

First world problems huh :wink:

Looks like another 5-6 days of overhead waves, goodie....

windswell. me likey too. me have to. or me wouldn't get to surf over 200 hundred days o year over here.

surfed windswell this am from 530-7. small peaky glassy shortboardable waves. just one other dood joined me at ogt. will get better as the weekend progresses. love to hear tale of human self mutilation from so many hours spent in the water. GOOD GOIN GUYS!!!^^^^^^^:D

the doggy is now bugging me for her beach walk...........off i go!

rog

Re: Windswell, not meaning to overhype it cause I would prefer nothing more than to surf some 7'@20. A right hand sand bottomed point break in mainland mex would be nice. Or maybe a few remote reef passes in the South Pac jungle. Just keeping it in perspective


well yeah, you know that job thingy. On a good note, I did close a commission only deal last week, so does that mean I'm sorta not funemployed? Dammit, guess I'm no longer a dirtbag. If anyone needs me today, I'll be in the funemployment line de Poseidon.

Side note, There are 2 storms on the forecast models in the next 4-5 days that might make these current souths seem minor. These systems were roughly pushing 38' seas and these next storms are forecasted in the 45'+ range and the storms are on a similar trajectory. That would mean top breaks like Trestles would possibly approach DOH. Key words: Long Range Forecast

PW - no worries on not hitting San O last night. We ended up just having party waves at Doheny. It was nice to have a session that was easy after all the paddling this past week (and this coming week?? sick).

We'll be in OC this weekend, let's catch up soon.

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Originally Posted by jtran10

PW - no worries on not hitting San O last night. We ended up just having party waves at Doheny. It was nice to have a session that was easy after all the paddling this past week (and this coming week?? sick).

We'll be in OC this weekend, let's catch up soon.

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Right on man, we are refinancing our mortgage and I was forced into putting on clean pants & a shirt so I could look presentable for our mortgage guy when we met with him last night. I would of much rather of been with you guys....

I have been thinking that Salt Creek might be the best bet for this insane weekend coming up, not necessarily for surf but to hang with the family and just fuck around in the ocean. For surfing, my plan is to surf Trails everyday this weekend, in fact we will be surfing trail 6 today at 2:30 if you can make it. I don’t think we will be able to get into San-O at all this weekend unless you are there for the 6am opening of the gate, and even that might be a little too late, you still might have to wait to get in. And fuck Trestles this weekend all together, it will be a shitshow for sure.
:cussing: Keep me apprised of your plans this weekend and hopefully we can at least drink an IPA together...

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Originally Posted by Piggity

That would mean top breaks like Trestles would possibly approach DOH. Key words: Long Range Forecast

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Nice! Trestles is really the only place that I can surf DOH, it comes in like a giant blob and takes forever to break. Surfing the 9fter is especially fun in those conditions, if you time it right you can make like 10 turns before you see anything that resembles whitewater, and the look on the faces of the guys on the 5’10” quads sitting inside is priceless :wink:.

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Originally Posted by PowerWhore7

we are refinancing our mortgage and I was forced into putting on clean pants & a shirt so I could look presentable for our mortgage guy when we met with him last night.

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WOW!!! don't you know that the mortgage dude is working for you? priorities bro. you probably read what yer signing too:D

rog

Hopefully I'm not putting out too much hype since it's really early to discuss the storms, chances are they will be scaled back since these are long range model forecasts, AKA wrong a lot. Expect Teahupoo to go off the first week of June though....then maybe starting to fill in Socal 6/8-6/9, most places will be SH-HH and lully but focal points like trestles do really well magnifying those long period swells. Maybe a 2nd, and possibly bigger, dose after that


PW7, you really logging double session since last week? That's dedication. I'm done internet surfing, going real surfing now so I can keep up with pw.

I thought spring was supposed to suck for waves in california? ;)

But really, that's all I've read about surfing this time of year here.

This does suck for up here. Sure, there are waves, but the wind is brutal. Come fog season we clean up a lot. But then again I'm in central Cal, not SoCal.

The mrs. finish full time teaching June 8th, so it is highly unlikely this swell will materialize. July 12th I head east so expect three weeks of swell then.

Ditto on rog statement. You do not need to look goo for the bank dude. OTOH, if you get four more years of a sugar mama, then I'd put on a tux.

And pigs that is the definition of fun employment. Before you were a member of the governor's surf team.

Today was insane (for over here)! Overhead beach break. Talk about a chore to paddle out! Jeebus.

And then the surfing itself. I hardly dared to paddle in! Managed to make a few rides, luckily (for me) the waves became a little smaller. Can't believe how big you guys surf on a daily basis. Respect!