Del Mar Drizzle (belated post)

Time constraints have made this entry from Sunday's session late, and force it to be brief.  But a very nice session demands blog recognition....sorry, no photos, and haven't had time to extract any GoPro clips...

In San Diego, with a swell - albeit fading - I was vacillating over whether to surf Sunday due to predictions of some sporadic overnight drizzle.  However, I arranged to connect with Tim Barnes to pick up my new DMBC (Del Mar Bodysurfing Club) board shorts that he'd been holding for me.

The "sporadic" part of the predictions proved wrong, and dawn brought proof of continuous overnight precipitation and a steady drizzle.  I headed up to Del Mar to meet Tim, and checked out the surf while waiting.  At 7:30, regular sets in the chest high range were showing, many with surprising peaks and somewhat hollow.  The surface was ruffled by a steady, offshore breeze.  A handful of surfers were scattered about, getting some decent rides.

Tim showed, but, spoiled by a session in Todos Santos the prior day and put off by the rain, didn't get in.  After a short deliberation, I suited up and waded into the coolest water of the season - maybe 60 - and out to the outside break.  Immediately, I scored on a shoulder high (if not bigger), hollow right.  The water was crystal clear and, in the soft light of the early, overcast day, a deep, translucent blue encased me for precious seconds before the close out.  This was quickly followed by a very long left - a bit crumbly, but an easy, slow slide into the deep inside.  I was hooked.

I ended up putting in my longest session in months - nearly 2-1/2 hours - that was interrupted by some long, fairly chilly lulls, but otherwise offered a pretty steady diet of faster, hollow rights interspersed with long, crumbly lefts.

Somewhat after 9, Vince Askey swam out with a small pod of the DMBC.  After over an hour essentially alone, company in the water was welcome, though the timing wasn't great as one of those lulls set in.  Fortunately, it didn't last and some fun ones reappeared.

I extended my session by about a half hour after I initially thought to quit - only a few calf cramps into it - as some larger sets started to reappear.  My persistence was rewarded by my final wave.  

With the exception of a couple of famous breaks, it's pretty rare for a bodysurfer to find a wave that is steep enough and hollow enough to get fully covered up (tubed) but peeling slowly enough that you can come back out of the tube.  On this wave, a feathering right still benefiting from the offshore breeze, I did something I've only done a couple of times previously: not just one cover up and emergence, but two.  As the lip feathered in front of me, still that deep, translucent blue, once then pulled back, and a second time, again pulling back, and then finally pulled ahead of me for a final time.  A long right, in the tube virtually the entire way.  

One of the DMBC crew was perfectly situated inside, at the end of the line, with a perfect view into the tube through most of my ride.  Not only an exceptional ride, but with a witness!

It was still raining as I waded ashore, rinsed and slipped out of my wetsuit.