Del Mar Double

Heading out of Torrey Pines about 10:15, back to Pasadena for a 1:00 appointment, I followed my usual route along the beachside between Torrey Pines and Del Mar.  The swell was a bit bigger, and nice clean lines were sliding across a glossy surface under a clear blue sky.  Instead of turning in to take Carmel Valley or Del Mar Heights to the freeway, I continued into Del Mar, telling myself I'd stop for a minute if there happened to be a parking space by the 17th St. LG HQ.

There was a space, and a pod of at least a dozen denizens of the Del Mar Bodysurfing Club, out enjoying the black ball protection on one of Del Mar's better days.  I couldn't resist the decision to shine on the appointment and slip into my wetsuit.  By 10:30, I was in the water, entering as most of the DMBC exited, leaving only Bill "Froggy" Schildge and Ray "Best Bodysurfer" Sullivan (the same two that I shared Thursday with) in the water.

 A little bigger, a bit more closed out, but otherwise it was a carbon copy of Thursday.  Beautiful day, glassy surface, the waves were mostly pitching.  Irresistible!  For an hour, I shared the water with Bill and Ray and a sole sponger, with very good conditions.  Bill had his GoPro - I've lifted (without express permission) the one shot he's put up on Facebook thus far.  (It's of Eric "Butter Bee" Phleger.)

After they exited, I had it all to myself, but it was such a beautiful morning, my mind kept turning to the GoPro sitting in the car.  How great it would be to share the serenity of the morning, the glassy water reflecting blue sky, the pelicans sweeping the peeling waves, the dolphin cruising just outside.  So I hopped out and went back to the car - stopping for a brief chat with Vince Askey and the DMBC - and grabbed the GoPro, enthused over the opportunity to share here.

But I made a rookie mistake: I knew the battery in the device was less than fully charged, but didn't want to replace it with a fresh one using my wet hands.  I figured it would give me a bit of time.  Unfortunately, there was barely any charge and it shut off within a few seconds of initiating any video.  I thought about going back to change the battery, but the wind had brought a little texture to the surface and the ideal conditions I was so anxious to share were fading.  Better just to get another hour of surf in!  So I did.

Slippin' in a Sweet Session in San Diego

Well, the pattern since mid-October appears to be holding: I've got to surf a weekday to get a decent session.  The Friday after Thanksgiving was the only reasonably decent outing since October.  Again, the forecast for this weekend is meager, but I was able to sneak away from a conference in Torrey Pines to get in a nice little morning session in Del Mar this morning.

It was tought o know what to expect, with forecasts all over the map for both swell and wind.  The morning cams didn't look great, but it was worth taking a look.  Driving up the stretch between Torrey Pines and Del Mar, it looked pretty good - tending toward glassy and not as crumbly as I would have expected from the short-interval, NW swelI.  

I got to the lot behind the 15th St LG HQ about 8:45 and walked out to find nice, clean, chest & shoulder-high waves and a glassy surface.  One guy was surfing out front of the HQ (above), and a few peaks were scattered around.  I wasted little time taking photos and headed back to don the 4:3 wetter, since reported water temp was 56, and that was warmer than the early morning air temp.

The water was indeed chilly getting in, but no "ice cream headache" on first dunk (or later).  Eventually, I concluded it was probably more like 59.  I swam straight out, and for 30 minutes traded waves with the lone surfer.  Pretty consistent stomache - chest - shoulder high waves; well formed and nicely peeling.  The sun was breaking through, illuminating a few blue-room tubes, and there were several long slides to the deep inside.

As the surfer exited, maybe 9:30, the first of the local bodysurfers arrived.  First Bill, then Ray "Best Bodysurfer" Sullivan.  Unfortunately, the switching of the guard occasioned a long lull - the better part of 20 minutes.  Eventually, the energy picked back up, but not quite as good as those first 30 minutes.

With no wind, broken clouds and gradual warming, the water felt fresh and comfortable; almost warm. Responsibilities pulled me from the waves after 90 minutes, feeling the revitalization that only a successful surf session brings.  

I can withstand another off weekend, now ... and, further downstream, there looks like there may be a real swell coming in on the 19th!

Perfect Session to Christen the GoPro

Have only had one session since receiving the GoPro from my kids on my birthday - the day after Thanksgiving.  Between the size, and drizzly weather, of that session (blogged here: Swell Sliding in the Rain ), I chose not to try it out.  Today was the virtual opposite of that Friday session.

A stunningly beautiful winter morning started a crisp 45 degrees as I left Pasadena, but was 68 as I drove into the Calafia lot and over 70 by the time we got in the water.  Tiny smallies glittered under the bright morning sun.  Only a couple of surfers were out in the Park, scrapping for what they could get, while to the north, Riviera (below) was more consistent.

Mark arrived, as starved as I for surf, and a few minutes later, Hugh's van pulled in as well.  The chilly water (59) was a refreshing contrast to the balmy air.  Slowly, the high tide drained, and the sandbars started catching a few swells, for some waist high - sometimes larger - rides.  Other than a short period where the wind shifted to the south and threaten to blow the session, it remained calm.

Perfect conditions to try the camera!  Unintimidating, though not non-existent, surf; bright sun; little wind and no crowd.  We camped on the main peak and I messed with the camera.  Check the results:

1st GoPro Session, SCSP 12/15/2013 from Hank Haldeman on Vimeo.

Actually, not too bad, shooting literally blind.  To explain, a number of the shots are the beginning of my endeavor to show my point of view.  The GoPro is strapped to my left wrist.  On several "rights," I tried riding with my left arm extended up at about 45 degrees, shooting the wave face and ahead.  On one shot, I left in the sequence of paddling, as the hand (and cam) rotate under water then skyward, before dropping into the wave.  All sequences have been slowed at least to some degree.

The monotony of these experiments is broken by a few shots of Hugh on his board and Mark with the handboard.  With some practice, and working into bigger surf, maybe these will get half-decent.

A fun, but small and sketchy, session on a great morning.  Nothing wrong with that!  Hugh seems stoked to have gotten his first water time since Thanksgiving!

Swell Sliding in the Rain

I can't remember the last time that I've surfed in the rain, particularly in Southern California!

Starting early on, the forecast was for a significant swell to hit (finally!) but for there to be pretty widespread, sometimes heavy, rain ahead of it.  Usually, in SoCal, rain means pretty lousy conditions and always it means contaminated run off!  I was holding out for a decision, but as the week progressed, the swell forecast remained unchanged while the weather forecast increasing showed that the rain would be nearly entirely well off shore.  Winds were forecast for not more than 5kt, from the Northeast, or Southeast, benign directions.  

So my anticipation grew daily and I set out south with high expectations.  However, along the drive, I was in rain for well over half the 72 miles.  In the early morning hours, the rain had come onshore.

A light sprinkle was falling as I crossed to the rail, to join Craig Thomsen, checking it out.  The rain and breeze made it chilly, and the surf appeared squirrelly - sometimes lumpy, seemingly long lulls, and some sets when they arrived were pretty walled up.  After over a half hour of watching, Craig was unconvinced.

Nonetheless, there was some size.  Faces getting at least a couple of feet overhead at times.  And, there was a rising south swell mixing in with the dominant, long period, WNW.  Certainly, the period was giving it some unusual juice.

A few of the sticks out there were making it work...

...while others, well, weren't:

Some with skills were milking it...

..and then, there were the clueless.

Craig went for the raincheck, but there was too much happening out there for Mark Ghattas and I not to break this 2-month-long drought of surf.  Honestly, it would have to have been terrible for us not to get in.  What it proved to be was very good.  For the patient, there were some sizable waves with well-formed shoulders and some long rides.  Mark got one right away and was hooked.  Mine came later in the relatively short (1 hour) session.  

The south swell was creating some lefts, but it was mainly rights..fast and hard.  Sets were only one or two waves and there were lulls, so, even though surfers were pretty well strung out by the steady current, the paucity of waves without a stick already pulling it to kept this from being a really exceptional session.  But there were some great waves.

Oh, yeah, the rain.  Strangely, there was either no wind or a bit of offshore.  Through the hour, a drizzle would come and go, sometimes morphing into a true, light rain, with big drops plunking the water around us.  Actually, it was kind of cool.

-0-

So, with the rust that's built up over the past couple of months, and a pretty decent swell, I decided today was not the day to try taking out the GoPro for the first time.  I'd like to practice a bit with it in some smaller stuff first, I think.  Nonetheless, practicing my video skills, I used the iPhone to capture a bit of live action this morning.  Gives an idea of the swell, anyway.

Swell Slidin' in the Rain from Hank Haldeman on Vimeo.

Dialin' the Decade at Del Mar

The surf wasn't exceptional and the weather gradually deteriorated, but it's hard to think of a better way to see the digits on the age dial click over a decade than an extended weekend in Del Mar with Heather and our (adult) children!

Friday afternoon was bright and shining, with a small swell showing as we settled into the cozy inn above the old Del Mar train station. 

Saturday, the sun made a valiant effort to break through, then gave up for the remainder of the weekend.   By early Monday, we had rain and blown surf.  But Saturday AM showed decent conditions while Sunday stayed glassy through the morning, albeit in chilly (60 degree) water under a leaden sky.  

The surf was a presentable waist to shoulder high, sometimes a bit bigger, and the Del Mar Bodysurfing Club made a valiant showing, with up to a dozen surfers gradually filling in the lineup over the hour succeeding the posting of the 17th Street black ball at 9:00 each morning (Saturday & Sunday).  Along with Allan and Joe, on their surfboards, we got a jump on it Sunday morning, enjoying having 17th Street  to ourselves, just the three of us, before the blackball went up.

Surf in the morning, lazing in the afternoon, drinks at L'Auberge then Del Mar eateries at night; the newly-weds, Hilary & Doug out from New York to join Heather, Allan, Joe and me.  Not sure that there's any better way to usher in 60!

A Beaut in the Park ... the photos

Back to small-to-negligible surf in So Cal...so it's time to post the photos from last Saturday's memorable session in the Park.  Remember, click on any for full screen.

First, those from Hugh Berenger, shooting from shore:

The Pastor was here...

My take off on the beautifully formed wave that was my ride of the day.  Watching the take off, from left to right, are Steve Harkins, Paul Tordella, Mark Ghattas & Matt Hughes.
First of a series.

Late in the wave, trimming under lip.

Lifted high, inside the tube, by a surge of backwash.

Backwash opens it up to reveal me on my way back down!

...and down & out the back.

Matt on a feathering right.  

Sailfish (Ghattas) left.

Me, right.

Crawdaddy (Brent) was in the water with his video camera, from which he extracted a few stills. 

Me, take off on a set wave.
(Full screen, you can see that we got some size.)

While shooting, Crawdaddy had a too-close encounter with Paul Tordella's fin.  (Photo Hugh)

Paul shared some snaps of the crew in the lot from before the session:

Sailfish, bundled against the cool morning breeze.

Matt Hughes

Me.  The RR crossing and steps (behind me) were closed for construction work on the tracks.

Crawdaddy.
Cut over the eye from Paul's fin.  Cut on the forehead from his tailgate.

Reprise: Hugh's compilation of the latter half of my ride of the day:

A Beaut in the Park

Four weeks off, and a beauty of a day to break the fast!  One photo by Hugh tells a lot:

I will post a second entry soon with more from Hugh and Paul.  Meanwhile, a quick recap of the morning yesterday.  On arrival shortly after 7:00 - yeah, and EARLY start for a promising day! - I found Paul Tordella, Mark Ghattas and Matt Hughes already suiting up.  The air was chill, with a soft offshore combing the waves and putting a little texture on the water, but there was swell, it was peaky and not at all crowded.

Despite the pier report of 65/66 degree water and the clear skies, we all elected full suits due to the chill.  Getting in, it seemed a good idea, but by mid-session, spring suits seemed to have been the call.

Brent Crawford showed up before we left the lot and quickly joined us in the water with his cam in tow.  Can't wait to see the video!  For over two hours, we had regular, shoulder to head high, peaky surf.  Mostly glassy through the morning, the longer-period south in the swell, combined with the offshore, kept it pitching with large, open barrels. 

Soon, Steve Harkins joined us, and Hugh showed up, shooting from ashore.  

The top photo was from my wave of the day - others said it was THE wave of the day.  I found myself lined up perfectly on the corner of a head-high left that had a beautiful, long, soft shoulder trailing a long way off.  The initial face drop gave me the speed to shoot out onto the shoulder for a long slide before the face steepened and pitched a thick lip over me.  The tube stayed wide open as I continued, fully covered up.  Then, the wave exploded as several feet of backwash jacked it - and me - up to double-size.  The photo catches me dropping back into the tube before rolling out the back on a ride to remember.

Breakfast afterward at Adele's - decorated for Halloween.  As we were departing, I noticed the guy who'd been looking over my shoulder through the meal: A Crawdaddy Mini-Me, matching the wounds that the original was sporting from a too-close encounter with his tailgate followed by an eyebrow clip from Paul's fin.

So, I am sitting an airport as I write this, anxious that I've not done the day justice at all.  Warm water, low crowds, a good pod of stoked bodysurfers controlling the main peak, glassy surface, a great swell and plenty of sun.  Hopefully, some of this will come through in the photos to follow in next post!  Now to board....