Saturday, April 23, 2011

'Ceptional Saturday Spring Session at SCSP

To think I almost didn't go this morning!
Grey morning, too much to do, concern with a negative low tide at 9:00...but the cams looked decent at 6:00, so...the reward was an hour of the Park at its best.

When I arrived,  it appeared a little lumpy but peaks were popping up from North of the Main Peak to South of LG 1:
As I watched, two sets of solid, overhead rolled in.  Off to suit up!!!


The sticks were ripping everywhere...

I grabbed a ride out to the lineup in a rip tugging out just North of the rocks, then the current moving North set me right in the Main Peak at a time when most of the sticks had drifted North and were working their way back.  Greeted Craig in the water and spotted a set coming.

My first wave may have been the best of the day...the best of 2011, so far, for me.  A peak of about 10 feet loomed in front of me, with a bowling shoulder on the left.  Dropped in and found myself on a large, soft-faced, slow-moving mound of water.  A thick wave, and the size brought power, but the gradual slope of the face and the slow-peeling lip gave me time to twice cut back (well, at least insofaras a bodysurfer can) with a double-handed plane then dig back into the cut.  As it moved inside, the wave steepened into a fast, pitching 7 foot face.  Pulling into full, layout position, I had several seconds, covered up, clinging to the face, before a final closeout inside.  That wave alone made a five star day.

From 8:00-9:00, there were 6-10 foot (face) peaks all over the place from above the Main Peak, continuously down to LG 1.  Some crumbed and some of the sets closed out but most would open up into hollow walls with lots of tube time as many bowled in the inside.  Craig was with his son Seth., who was carving up knee rides on a boog.  Quite a few sticks, the two of us bodysurfing and a handful of boogs scattered across the crests in a morning filled with stoke, good vibes and plenty of fun rides for all, interrupted by occasional lulls.
The tide bottomed about 9:00, for an extended lull, then conditions slowly deteriorated from 9:30 - 11:00 as the sun came out and wind shifted.

61/62 felt balmy in full suit.  As the session ended, an exceptional spring morning spread across the beach...capstone to a truely exceptional Saturday Spring Session at SCSP.


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Sunday, April 17, 2011

Foggy Fun

As I drove down to the Park this morning I wasn't looking for much: forecasts were for a small, mixed NW & SW swell, but a moderate high tide at 9:40 and the possibility of a cross wind from the Southeast tempered any expectations.  

But about a dozen surfers were out, clumped at the Main Peak...


...and more down at LG 1, and some nice, shoulder high peaks seemed to appear consistently.  Looking North, though, to Riviera ...
 
...there appeared to be equal size, and more consistent, if anything.  And nobody was out!  So Mark and I decided to swim out up there, for the first time in many months.  Generally, there are at least as many boards out at Riviera as at the Park, but not this morning.  

By the time we got up there, one surfer was out, and a second was paddling out.  We swam out and found the original, lone surfer was one we knew through Hugh, Casey...enjoying some nice shoulder high peaks all to himself. 

At least to start, the wind vacillated between a mild offshore (above) and calm/glassy (below).  Repeatedly, Mark was getting long slides, facilitated by his handgun, from peak all the way to shore.  For about an hour, we had decent conditions.  After about 45 minutes, for a few minutes, the wind shifted to the West, presaging the onshore to come.  After an hour, it pretty well settled in, and the tide started swamping out what swell there was.  Unwilling to totally call in quits, Mark and I gradually worked our way the quarter-mile back down from Riviera to our steps at the Calafia lot, snagging a few more along the way.

Hugh was on the steps, having arrived after what there was for the morning had deteriorated.  Breakfast at Adele's followed.








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Sunday, April 3, 2011

Second Hand Surf

Well, no surf this weekend.  Conditions just didn't want to come together, even though there was some solid swell coming in.  

Friday would have been the day: 90+ degrees in town, bright & sunny, water in the Park warming up all the way to 64, and some clean, head-high+ waves coming in.  By Saturday morning, though, the "cold" front coming in brought a stiff cross-wind, chopping it all up...overcast, choppy and much cooler.  This morning didn't seem promising, but it didn't look to bad on the cams.  I've yet to receive a report.

Meanwhile, it's nice to see that fall will bring the release of Keith Malloy's cinematic ode to bodysurfing.  Check the trailer out


Come Hell or High Water Trailer from Woodshed Films on Vimeo.

Maybe that will help garner a bit of respect.

Or...reminisce over last weekend, courtesy of Crawdaddy: