Anyone else get some today...?

[Long duc dong]

Swell today in Orange County. The wind is blowing, so no afternoon session for me. Ott, is it breaking up there?

[BS720]

^^I think he's on frozen waves, but yes, it's breaking up there. Wind came on pretty vicious around 130pm, but there were nooks and crannies. My biggest dud was leaving OB, which looked decent, and driving south thinking I could get cleaner waves. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

[Ottime]

I've barely surfed in the past month. There has been fresh snow and my son likes to ski. Being a stay at home dad allows for a good number of days on snow.

I guess it is breaking. There has been some real good days this past month, but the weather has been stormier than February.

At this point, I'm not very motivated to get in the water. Headed to the desert on Saturday. Will probably bring skis with me and see if la douche is around and can your me around above his moms' house.

[whitekingsalmon]

Looks like the boys will be waking up soon to classic pavones.... 86 degree water and 1000 yard overhead sickness....I'm stuck in a cloudy chamonix looking at easyjet prices to morocco for a lil r an r.....

[Ottime]

I didn't know you had kids. Kind of shocked that someone would carry your child. Or do you just talk like a middle schooler from the 70s? Be careful in Morocco. They pretty much throw away the key if they find your meth.

[Long duc dong]

It looks like some swell is on tap for this weekend but the winds might not cooperate. Let's hope that changes.

[whitekingsalmon]

You should try to surf the other five days of the week.

[whitekingsalmon]

[Piggity]

^lot of stoke in that photo so can we move past the negative vibes and move on? Cool... ✌️

[NorCalNomad]

Not regular paddle surfing but just got 4 back to back days of kiteboarding in the bay.

Still having trouble with S-Bends. This is 1/60th of a second before crashing


Today's wind brought some nice big chop to power into

[Long duc dong]

Sweet pics!!! That looks fun. Hard but fun.

[Ottime]

First day out in over a month. Unbelievably awesome for mid April. OH, 14s westerly with no wind and complete glass. Cleanest swell I've surfed since autumn. Grabbed a few shacks, one plus sized left against the reef grain and one head high ripper zipper. Left super stoked. That was a good thing as a few miles down the road my Subie blew its head gasket.

[NorCalNomad]

I got out and surfed Sunday and Monday and it was great to have a heat wave come through San Francisco after a bit of wind. The heat shut down the wind and there was clean swell and it's warm.

Definitely got me stoked to get back into proper surfing shape.

[Ottime]

Yup. I was certainly out of shape yesterday. But now I'm back in. Hope we have an epic spring of combo swells and light winds. That would be icing on the cake.

[Long duc dong]

There might be some surf on Friday down at Trestles so hopefully I can get out early. Of course a dead whale just washed up on the beach at Lowers so the whiteys will probably be in full force down there.

[dfinn]

What's the status of that whale? I just booked a camp spot at San O for all next week, pretty fired up to surf, it's been a while.

[Long duc dong]

What's the status of that whale? I just booked a camp spot at San O for all next week, pretty fired up to surf, it's been a while.

I believe it is still there. They are planning to remove it soon and I imagine it will be reported on Surfline when that happens. I'm not going in the water down there for a little while, I'm a wuss and pretty scared of sharks and there will be plenty around down there.

[dfinn]

I'm already constantly worrying about sharks when I'm out there and this definitely isn't helping but looks like they've started to move it.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/californ...carcass-beach/

[Ottime]

You are way more likely to die on the drive to trestles than be killed by a shark. Seems like the perfect time to be out there. In sure the crowd is thinner than normal.

[Long duc dong]

You are way more likely to die on the drive to trestles than be killed by a shark. Seems like the perfect time to be out there. In sure the crowd is thinner than normal.

Yeah, I'm aware of that. It is not really something logical, and I usually try to live my life in a logical fashion, but it is still something in the back of my mind. I would not have surfed San Onofre years ago when there were white sharks right outside the lineup and fins were being seen everyday. If I saw a fin I would get out. There have been lots of instances of sharks breaching up around Malibu. Lots of guys seem to stay in the water, but I would not. I know they are around, even down here, but I'm not going to stay in the water if I see one. It is definitely something I would have to get over if I ever moved up north. But yeah, I know what my odds are.

The dead whale would significantly increase the likelihood of an attack significantly, although those odds would still be tiny. As irrational as it is I would still be scared right now which would ruin my session so I will stick with Newport. Today the conditions are bad anyway, bad winds, so it is a pass. I think if Uppers was pumping I would still get out there, but without surf there is no point. I think once I paddled out instinct would take over and I would not be such a wuss, but who knows.

I know you guys up there deal with it in a way that is much more real, so you guys have to come to terms with the fear and behave in a rational manner. Down here you really don't have nearly as much of a presence so you don't have to deal with your fear unless something like this happens.

I think part of it is control. Once you paddle out you give up control. You give up some control when driving, because you cannot control what others do, but there ways you can significantly improve your odds by how you drive. For instance, I am one of the few people who actually leaves a car length for every ten miles per hour. By doing this and driving defensively I can significantly improve my odds, so I feel more in control. Some people don't like to fly because they give up control, even though flying is statistically much safer than driving. It is not a rational fear, much like shark attack, but it can still be in the back of someone's mind. I will admit that when there are other people around, and your risk is reduced, I feel safer. Having said that when I have a peak by myself, which is rare at Trestles, I stick to it. I guess my actions don't really reflect my fear, but I still have that fear, irrational as it is.

[Ottime]

I dunno. Not totally irrational. I get the loss of control thing. It took years for my wife to allow gravity to help her ski. My nearly 5yr old is ripping up the slopes, but he is still pretty terrified of the ocean. Just the motion of it gives him a sense of lack of control.

And I get out if I see a shark up here. No questions asked. I was chased out a number of years ago. That was the only time I've seen a shark in the line up.

And truth be told, when we had a whale up at the county line I was not surfing around there. But that spot is no lowers anyhow.

I'm curious, was lowers crowded during this last south?

[strawjack]

My wife is not thrilled to have her youngest surfing in SC for at least the next 4 years. She looked into the 'sharkshield' thing that seems pretty cool...except it has zero effect on great whites

Odds are in your favor...it's the only way to look at it I suppose.

[Ottime]

He's a slug?

Not really an issue in town. The combination of the bay and thick kelp beds deters most whites. They prefer spots up the coast where there is less continuous kelp and the shelf drops directly into the ocean.

Coming from the east, he will likely find town to be plenty fun. At least for his first winter.

[Long duc dong]

I'm curious, was lowers crowded during this last south?

I looked at the cam during the last south, with the whale gone, and it seemed like there were plenty of people out there.

[BS720]

I drove south three hours to surf today. Got out to the break and there was nobody out. It also looked like shit. I was confused, because I know this spot, and it's a bit isolated. On the hike in, a surfer from SD told me it looked good. Now, with nobody there if I smash my brains in or get chomped, I would have to self-evacuate. Sat down to watch it for a bit, and a few sets popped up. Fortunately, some guy showed up with a longboard. I suited up and paddled out with him, caught waves for about 2.5 hours. I've never seen the water that clear. You could see right to the bottom, and I'd guess it was about 7-8' where I was sitting. I started to think about the sharks I've seen, wondering if one would squeeze in water that shallow. Then, the other guy got out. I paddled around for a few more minutes and left. Odd how just one person made me totally ok with sharks, but I had to get out by myself.