Currently No Fogs, Clear Skys, Warm Water In HMB

OK, there isn't much wave but we got a really nice weather out here this afternoon!

 

Montara Beach Stoke = 6/10

The stoke was definitely on this morning at Montara beach with much less threatening condition than usual. The set waves were chest to shoulder (may even be overhead at times) with more gentle peeler quality to them.  I got good quality rides, easy take off and turns. Another great thing, I was the only one in the entire mile stretch of this beautiful location! Some sand bar has formed further out. We need to remember, W to SW swells works good here.

 

Right by the Martini Creek outlet was a bit hard to get out as there have been rather strong onshore currents going. Moving a bit further south I found a easier channel to get out.

 

On the way out, I saw a bizarre stuff. A Honda Goldwing motorcycle rider pulled in. I though he is just going to check out the beach, then when he turned around and parked the bike, there was a board rack on the side and he had probably around 8 ft hybrid board suck on the side of his bike!

 

By that time 3 more surfers have arrived, and breaks were getting bigger.

 

 

 

Monday Guesstimate. North to become Nil, South/ South West Pattern

The general swell direction has shifted to SW through yesterday while the N
swells has almost completely diminished. I got a report from Tom Andersen
(see my previous BLOG post) with the JETT condition yesterday at 3:00 pm.
with a photo to prove that there was some fun waves (looked like the Stoke
factor 5). Looks like this condition to persist today. All North facing
beaches are probably going to be really flat. I will be visiting Montara
later on this morning for weekly water sampling so I will write or talk
about it a bit later.

Need Your Professional Quality Surf Photo Taken? Talk to Tom and Juile Andersen

I ran into Tom & Julie Andersen at the Jetty. I was wondering what he was
doing parking a big camper van by the Jetty, climbing up the top of the van
and shooting pictures using a huge telephoto lens. This is a new venture by
them, taking picture of surfers up and down the coast and providing instant
framed pictures before you go home. Using their van as an office and photo
platform the couple take turns taking orders, getting you signed up in their
e-mail list, and of course taking great pictures (ask for the 20 ft wave
picture of Tom surfing in Hawaii!).

When you spot the van, just walk up and ask them to shoot your surf photo.
He has a high resolution digital SLR camera with a laptop and a high res
photo printer setup in the van. Before you put away your boards, your
pictures are ready already framed.

If you are curious about their results, check out their scrap book of all
the pictures taken in Hawaii to Mavericks.

To contact them, write to Tom@TomAndersen.biz

Sunday - Try the Jety or SC if you have to. STOKE = 2 - 3

There is a dribble of S swells and some from the direct W. A good pattern for the Jetty but probably of marginal quality. Overall. The weather is nice, though. The onshore wind at the cost should be moderate.

 

I am staying dry today.

 

Sunday AM Guesstimate Stoke Factor = 3/10

The waves are going down quite a bit through Saturday, and continue to do so
Sunday. There should be very little energy left of all the swells coming
from both N and S. Tomorrow should be a day of rest for surfers. Perhaps try
a Yoga, clean up the board, fix a few dings that had not been fixed, rent or
buy some Mavericks DVD, go to a surfshop and buy that new booties you were
trying to get, or get a new 3/4 wet suite and talk them into selling them at
a deep discount etc...

If you absolutely need to bond with your board, go out and paddle double the
length of the LM beach or go to/from the Jetty to Miramar and back!

Saturday Wrapup - Cowells to come to Pacifica

Stoke factor has dwindled from 5 or 6 to 3 as the waves wind down today, and
fog is rolling into our cost. There is no immediate storm swells visiting us
in the immediate days. This must be the "summer" time that other expert
surfers have been talking all about, which I did not believe that existed.
Of course, this means that I am starting to get spoiled. I know I have gone
out every possible chance last year, so all excited. And now I am starting
to become selective about the places and conditions!

This morning, we had our first ever, HMBSB user surfing day with one user
joining us at LM. LM was actually quite fun and the condition was Cowells
like in all aspects. Hundreds of novice surfers competing on gentle hip-size
waves. Though toward the Crespi end there were some good shoulder-high sets
coming in. By 10:30 a.m., though so many people showed up that it became
almost not possible to take off without planning to hit other surfers
standing near the beach. I paddled away from the area where the people were
standing in the shallows, then next time I turn around, there were people
standing in the shallows right where I wanted to go to!

Of course, the situation was really mellow today with nobody yelling at
dropping in. In fact, in this kind of Cowells like condition, we just all
take off at once for fun. So all in all it was a happy day of surfing. It is
quite a contrast to earlier in the week where only a select few will brave
out the chops to get to 1.5 x head wave faces!

TV Commerical - Sufer Dudes meets inside a Whale's Mouth

My wife told me about seeing a TV commercial where a kayacker gets swallowed by a whale, and inside the whale he meets there are bunch of surfers who say "Hey!". She finally figured out what this commercial was about and you can actually watch it on the the web. Here is the link Mountain Dew Web Site

SAT Prediction: Fog to Return. Stoke Factor 3.5 - 4 out of 10

While were have been treated with this nice hot summer weather, as usual,
this does not last more than a week. As a punishment for enjoying nice
weather, the familiar fog is supposed to come back starting tonight. The
advantage of being foggy and cooler means we get less crowded (and cleaner
less trashed) beaches. Bad news seems to be that we are still bit weak on S
swells and N swells generating activities near Oregon/ Washington is not
providing enough power and on a last leg. So our bets are out on HMB beaches
and we need to try out Montara or LM. Actual results to follow tomorrow when
I do actual inspections! I will guesstimate tomorrow's stoke factor to be
3.5 to 4. Medium tide to be about 11:00.

audblog audio post

THU Wrap Up Plus Fri Guesstimate, Summer Weather Continue to Hold, FRI Stoke Factor = 6

This evening, I went to Motara State and tried to surf. There were a lot of people out there but not very many surfers at all. 4 max, and yes that means I surfed twice in one day. There were hip to chest high swells but of mushy fizzler quality that long rides were not possible. But the nice sunny summer weather helped me to enjoy waiting for waves. Even under this kind of low conditions, the shorebreaks were still present making going in and out still a bit difficult. The actual stoke factor was 4 for the waves.

 

This crazy summer type weather is going to stay through Saturday. Current predictions seems that there is a slight increase in the NW swells therefore I am hopeful that tomorrow AM at LM may be OK like this morning. So given the weather I will give the stoke factor of 6 for tomorrow.

 

 

Surfing LM This Morning

The sun was out, the sky was clear and it was very warm already this
morning. The surf was hip high and easy paddle out (though I had a bit of
paddling problems this morning). Long boarders were catching bunch of waves.
The break were happening mainly around the Crespi area. So the lineup had
about dozen surfers at a time. Toward the north end there were some pop up
waves, I rode a few of those and these are actually quite fun.

At one point I saw a young woman accidentally pushed in and almost collided
to another guy. The guy has gotten angry and yelled at her with several
strong words, immediately after that she must have discouraged and left. I
really think that in this kind of baby wave beginner situation people should
not yell at people and the experts should look after them. I told her not to
worry about it. I though that was really out of place, he should have asked
if she was OK instead and tell her it may have not been cool to take off
kindly, and I wish I was Sunny Galicia then I would have given him a flat
hand for yelling at my sis. It might have ruined it for her for otherwise a
nice fun day to practice. Really too bad.

audblog audio post

THU AM Guesstimates Stoke Rating = 6

We have been treated with a summer with clear and sunny sky condition today and this trend will likely to continue through Friday, upon which we will be returning to the morning fog situation. The wind has stopped also as the 1024 mb high has moved NE corner of the state causing pressure gradient line to be more latitudinal. While N swells are mellow and promised S swells are not hitting very hard at all, we should be treated with fun and sunny surfing at LM and even Montara tomorrow AM.

Tomorrow's Stoke Rating 6 out of 10.

1 = Go fix your dings. Take care of your spouse or honey
2 = Go clean your board, pay bills
3 = Go put new wax on your board and put it on your car
4 = Go and check it out
5 = Go and have fun anyways
6 = Go have fun
7 = Stoke for some fun
8 = More stoked than 7
9 = More stoked than 8
10 = Prefect Stoke, Cannot get any better than this.

Inflatable Surfboard, Yes It Actually Does Exist

My wife has located the people who make Inflatable Surfboards. I thought it was kind of a toy or a joke, but this is a serious product.

 

8 ft and 6 ft Fish models are available for surfing.

 

http://www.uliboards.com/index.htm

 

 

SJ Mercury News Writes About Jet Ski Controversy

To read it, go to http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/6165254.htm

 

 

audblog audio post

No wind and clear skys

This morning will be one of the better surfing days we have seen for weeks. The wind back to surfable level and as a bonus currently blowing in the side direction at LM and off direction at the Jetty. There should be moderate NW swells around 10 sec period, and Pt. Reyes confirms the arrival of the South 180 swells. We should all be stoked!

 

Wind reduction on track

Just checked both Nor Cal NDBC buoys and HMB downtown wind levels (6 knots@sea and 2 MPH downtown HMB), as predicted by the NWS, the winds are down significantly compare to Wed. The NOAA Pacific wave model confirms the approaching of the S hemi swells to our area. Period is in 15-17 second range. Waves@HMB are starting to record average to swell level as opposed to all steep waves yesterday so things are really calming down at the moment. Based on my experience this morning at LM tomorrow we should expect a better surfable morning in LM as well as some possibly good gentle surfing day at the Jetty. The 1000 mb High that has sat off our coast is now moving towards North and with the warming trend here, the thermal is relaxing quite a bit now.

 

Surf Film Nite, this Thursday!!!

This is from Brian.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Musial"
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 4:49 PM
Subject: Surf Film Nite, this Thursday!!!


AQUA SURF SHOP & WAVEFEST unite once again to bring ya SURF FILM NITE @ The
Red Vic Movie House!
X-RCPT-TO:
Status: U

Thursday, June 26th
7:15pm, & 9:15pm
Red Vic Movie House
1727 Haight St, San Francisco
415/668-3994.
Ticket price is $6.50
www.redvicmoviehouse.com

Another night of tasty surf films, break out the Citronella oil as NorCal
chargers explore the exotic land and hollow waves of Indonesia, it¹s an INDO
SURF ADVENTURE!!!

Featuring:

Voyage to Plengkun- 1984. Marin's Bill Heick brings us on board for a rare
viewing of his 16mm film, as he and crew surf their way thru Bali, Lombok,
East Java, and Sumba. See crazy footage of NorCal surfers charging huge
G-Land on singlefins and early tri-fins. 32mins

IndoPacific- 2002. Sunset Barbarian Rob Daleiden created a short digital
video of pure Indo surfing from the eyes of a SF tourist. See the spitting
tubes of Western Sumatra, the spiritual ceremonies of Bali, escape from the
harsh reality of surfing Nor-Cal with IndoPacfic!!!! Music featured from
SF's surf rock stars- Outer Aves! 7 mins.

Fueled (trailer) ­ 2003. From the producers of Whipped!!! and 100 Ft.
Wednesday, Powerlines Productions brings you 'Fueled' a mind-blowing surf
movie featuring Mavericks, Central California, Mexico, Jaws & Teahupoo.
Journey to the next level as world class surfers get fired up on an endless
adventure that takes them to the edge and back.

Finally, Aleks and Silvan Morgan (Sea By The City) have been doing some mad
editing the past few days, and have concocted an Indo film of shear
insanity. Featuring some of the most beautiful scenic shots you¹ll see,
mixed with the Slost crew literally shredding up Indo waves. 23 minutes.

Thanks so much for your support on the Drive Thru premiere and the Donavon
Frankenrieter Band events. We have a lot more fun planned for the Summer, so
be on the look out! Aloha - Aleks & Brian

*Also if you think we are doing good work here at AQUA, let the Guardian
know for their Best of the Bay issue, vote online at www.sfbg.com- Mahalo!

Surfing This Morning

I have forecasted the poor conditions in Montara and LM earlier this morning, but this was a bit in correct as I dip into LM this morning @ 7:30 a.m. JETT was nearly flat, but Montara was indicating some good size swells. At LM while the north end of the beach was all junky and closed out there were some good waves at the boat-house end. Though it was of an OK quality. Again the tide may have been a bit too low to have good waves, but there were occasional chest high ridable waves on very further south end. This was mixed with the usual wind wave sets making it difficult to get out, but now, there were some period the wind stuff stops. The sun was out and the day is nice. Right now the wind has not yet picked up in the Bay, so the outlook for tomorrow AM might be great. There were several dozen people out this morning, quite a contract from yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

Wind Waves to Hit Hard On Montara and LM! JETT is the best bet if you are desperate.

While it appears to be tapering down, close to 20 Ft wind waves have been recorded in HMB buoy, and Scripps map shows that off the cost of San Mateo is the hot bed for this wind activity unfortunately. The wind is continuing to be from the NW, so seeing the latest actual pattern from last week, JETT will not catch these waves much, if any, and there is a small South coming in. For just wave watching, Montara would be fun. Due to the wind and tide, sand at Montara has shifted so much that yesterday there was a 10-Ft sand cliff forming at the edge of the water. Presently the weather in HMB is low 40's and ground wind is 5.5 mph and sky is clear!

Offshore Condition to Start on WED

I just checked the NWS forecast discussion and they are forecasting a change of wind direction into more offshore condition, which as we know is a much favorable condition. We are still getting a reasonable NW swells, so if this trend is to continue, by WED we have a good surfable condition at Linda Mar. (Crossing my fingers) I am a bit concerned about the South swells is supposed to come in towards WED and continue to hold on THU so I am hopeful that WED and THU, there will be some fun waves at the JETT. We also have some warming trend toward WED and THU so that will be great. After that we will be back into the foggy condition, but so long as there are waves, I don't care. Let's just hope that the wind will be a bit more reasonable to handle and the South stuff will keep coming!

 

 

 

 

This AM plus Now the Wind is Blowing Like Crazy

This AM the JETT was almost completely flat. Montara and Pacifica were junky and gnarly.

As the NWS predicted the onshore has kicked in, and it is blowing like 20-30 mph in the Bay. The HMB buoy is showing that we are getting a lot of wind swells at the moment. It is going to be junky everywhere and there is no real sign of S swells to make use of NW protected locations.

I am hopeful for tomorrow as the wind should supposed to calm down a bit. More analysis to follow tonight later on.

Is Low Day a Bad Day to Surf?

When I was a grom, I was told by a teacher that people trained to be a Ninja start when they are very young. In a spring when a bamboo shoot pokes through the ground, they start to practice jumping over the shoot. First day a few inches off the ground, and by the end of the year the shoot will grow into a 20-30 ft bamboo tree, and so goes the story that by then you will be able to jump over anything of that size. Obviously this isn't entirely true, and bamboo will grow several feet a day, but the morale of the story apply to surfing. On small flat days, we can practice duck diving techniques and paddling exercises etc. Also can you catch every wave when they are small, I think that there is still a lot of things you can learn such as turning around quickly and timing and selection of waves. We can continue to do the same as the season goes on and the waves gets gradually bigger. Before you know you will feel at home with double overheads just like you were doing on a hip highs in the early summer.

 

Windy Monday but better surfing expected after that.

According to the NWS forecast discussions, there is a pickup of onshore wind on Monday then should taper down some as the week progresses. Also we should have a less fog problem until next week where the marine layer is coming back. The south swells are on an up trend at least during the start of the week. Let's hope for a better AM surfing condition for Tuesday!

 

Surf @ Jetty 8 a.m. Very Very Cold Water.

I went out this morning to the Jetty if for anything, to keep my paddling muscles to be in shape. Given the latest situations it was surprisingly surfable here. Set waves were up to chest high and occasionally even higher, shifty and somewhat dumpy with mini tubes forming. Unfortunately the tide was a still bit too low for the waves to break nicer. Overall there were about 20 surfers out with waves for everyone. Weather was foggy and the wind was not too strong.

 

One drawback this morning was the water temp has dropped to low 50's. It was a bit cold to stay longer.

 

Some more South waves are due arriving later this morning. If anyone is desperate to catch some waves around here this is about the best it can get.

 

 

 

 

Wind to Relax Some

The big thermal gradient is looking to be on a relaxing trend. With a bit more South swells coming in JT may be surfable tomorrow early AM.

 

More NW Gusts to Continue Through Saturday

It appears that we have a fairly stable and big high pressure (1027 mb) system is sitting right smack in the middle of Pacific with no sign of leaving the area. Combined with the wind that blowing out of this system and our usual local thermal gradient is causing a very tight pressure gradient, causing very significant amount of NW winds up to 40 knots at some locations in the Bay Area. In HMB, it is blowing at 20 knots range consistently. Unless this pattern changes and the High would move out of the area, we will continue to have this condition. I will continue to watch the configuration for the weekend, but chance of good surf this weekend continues to look bleak.

 

High wind continue to prevail

In the Bay Area, the high-wind pattern does not seem to break out, causing continuously choppy conditions, even if you get out, it would not be very fun. The latest swell pattern seems to indicate that the focus on the high wind swell area is off the San Mateo coast now and starting to wind down towards the weekend. Already in further North of us near Eel River the wind are starting to die down. The south swells are continuing to be weak through Jetty has been well protected from current wind waves. Should we have had a lot more South components, the Jetty would have been great.

 

Surfing Linda Mar This Morning - Pretty Sucky

I knew it will be sucky this morning. The Jetty was totally not happening, and Montara looked already junky. Reached LM and only a few cars... bad sign. But for a heck I tried to go out. Just bunch of wind-wave washes coming in every 5 seconds mixed in with occasional shoulder high sets, but going out was almost impossible. My ducking is still fairly lame that I get off the board while under the water. Only a select few people made it out on the South end, but did not look like they got caught any good ones. Got out a few times, tried to catch some but caught nothing, got quite a good biceps workout, but had to gave up and left.

 

The current buoy readings are showing 11 ft size steep wind wells of 9 to 10 seconds in HMB. There still are just too much gusty winds out there to keep us away from surfing.

 

Boarding House - North Shore TV Program WEDs on WB

Hpefully this program is more about surfing than the MTV Surfer Girls.

Boarding House

Wed AM Predictions. Late Spring Pattern to hold

We continue to have high NW winds throughout Nor Cal coasts, and at the same time there has not been much distant sources of surfable swells, and if there are any they are on the down trend in the last couple of days. Both Point Rays and HMB buoys are indicating STEEP waves of short periods ( < 6 seconds). Combined with these wind and localized wind waves that do not travel far, our beaches in SM should be junky with not very much ridable wave. Lots of small white washes will be expected. A quick check at the surfpulse cam also indicate that the conditions are extremely choppy and junky. Better re-wax your boards, repair dings, go watch a surf movie etc.

 

There has not been any major surf causing swells in North Pacific region and So hemi waves are still continuing to be weak.

audblog audio post

Tue AM Guestimate

A strong NW wind prevails offshore and the buoy reading indicate high presence of wind swell components coming from NW. >From the looks of this morning, the pattern would be similar with most open beaches in SM county to have poor junky closed out conditions, combined with blow outs due to 20+ MPH gust of wind.

Tue AM Guestimate

A strong NW wind prevails offshore and the buoy reading indicate high presence of wind swell components coming from NW. >From the looks of this morning, the pattern would be similar with most open beaches in SM county to have poor junky closed out conditions, combined with blow outs due to 20+ MPH gust of wind.

Poor Surfing Condition to Continue

Poor surfing condition to continue especially with the strong onshore condition is causing a lot of issues in North SM beaches. The prevailing NW swells is either causing close outs on open locations or no effect at the Jetty. Everyone get your windsurfers out!

 

Monday Guestimates

We are getting a lot of windswells for Saturday and Sunday causing pretty junky conditions all around San Mateo beaches. The wind does not die down and this is causing difficulty in getting us good surfing condition. The marine layer which socked us in for the last couple of weeks both in No and So Cal location has cleared out some in the last few days, however. We are getting both wind and ground NW swells of 5 to 8 ft. and this is causing many spots to be closed out. There still is very little South component this week. I will drive by the Jetty Monday morning during my weekly water sampling run to report on the live condition. Listen to my Audblog.

 

Sunday Wrapup

It is interesting that this 8 ft NW swell is working out. Got an early start this morning to go to SC since low tide was at 6 a.m. this morning. On the way, I have seen what looks to be 1.5 to 2 x OVH waves at San Gregorio and Pomponio beaches. Through the cost of Pescadero the waves looked gnarly but not surfable. County line looked very clean and nice uniform waves that would have been great if I had a bit more skill level under my belt. Waddell started to look a bit too mellow for the location. In Santa Cruz around 7 am, the Lane looked mellow with only hip to chest high waves even at the point. We decided that we go to the 38th this morning and it was very mellow with very few and far between shoulder level waves. The early morning was great, and as the morning went on around 10 a.m. more people started to arrive making take-off spots more competitive.

 

We had a quick lunch, then headed out to north Manresa. We tried but by then the place was closed out, we only got out once and then were caught in very fast cresting waves and gave up.

 

We have not had much luck in finding good waves in the last couple of weeks. Looks like the spring is fully on, waiting for more South waves to come in more consistently. The expected NW did not do the magic. I am now a bit more spoiled because now I would like to have a bit better quality condition and longer rides, as take-offs have been less of an issue now, especially in these types of conditions.

 

My 7'6 has been fixed this week with the de-lamination issue taken care of and also had the tail fin end double-glassed. Cost $110!

 

 

 

 

Sunday Predictions

The NW component is increasing locally and should be creating reasonable swells at this moment. In northern Oregon, a fishing boat has capsized causing some death. In HMB swell heights of up to 8 ft are recorded, but we also have 7 to 8 miles of sideshore wind, and north of here should have junky windy condition. We should expect ridable waves tomorrow morning especially in protected areas.

 

 

Surf Movies

Went to see Brian Musal's surf movie show last night at Balboa in San Francisco. Prior to the movies we decided to visit a fairly new Chinese restaurant next to the theatre. A several of "surfer" types came in after we sat down, suddenly they started to leave the restaurant. One of the people said to the waitress to the effect of "You guys are disgusting for serving shark fin soup. Do you know what they do to sharks!" After they left the waitress came to talk to us that they do not use the big shark they are talking about but use small one or how can we offer the soup at this price ($5.99 per person) which is actually reasonable.

 

The surf movies are good. The main feature was "Driving Through Japan", and because I am from there, I have been a bit curious as to this movie. Also there was an article on the Surfer magazine about this. After watching the movie, we thought that this looked still like home movie without much stories. It could have involved/ included more locals and surf culture as it is happening in Japan.

 

Friday Wrapup

Got a late start this morning, so I got out around 5:00 p.m. to check the Jetty. The place was just flat through there were many surfers out. So, went and checked the Kelley again there is nothing to speak of. The week started out as a sickness and so this entire week, I was not able to surf at all!

 

No surfing this morning.

After three days of no surfing due to sickness, I finally tried this morning, and what happens. Conditions are not really good this morning. I normally put on wetsuit at home, so I had to change back to regular cloths without getting wet.
Overall trend for this week does not look too good either.

THU AM Conditions

Jetty: It is catching almost direct S swell at 195 deg 2.5 ft, 14 seconds. Some hip to chest high peaks popping up here and there. Was not yet affected by winds.
LM: It is not catching any and already 8-10 mile on-shore going. Also there is not much North activities going on this morning making the condition here extremely poor.

audblog audio post

Monday AM

Starting to get NW swells. Will be usual Montara close out and hard to get out condition at LM, I will estimate.

Sunday AM @ Cowells

We have decided to teach a complete beginner on how to surf at Cowells. The condition was pretty good with shoulder level gentle wave sets coming in every few minutes. Quite a bit of fun with long boards and can get long rides if you manage to avoid collisions. Our student did well and caught a few waves (not standing yet) that will be next week. Nice sunny day.

Stopped at the Arrow shop to get the delamination fixed. They are really nice people there. The main guy there Bill called the Fibreglass Repair and asked if the delamination will be fixed free. Definitely buy my next board from them!

Sunday Estimation

The northern component happening near the cost of Washington and Canada are moving south that may provide 3-4 ft class swells in our area in the next 48 hours. Also the south stuff is starting to hit us starting Saturday night. I have confirmed the increase in South San Mateo beaches around 1800 PDT and also the Pt. Rayes pattern. Overall tomorrow will be a bigger surfing day especially where the south waves can be caught. The south stuff appears to be very clean without much wind-swell components. However, Santa Cruz got some afternoon onshore breeze this afternoon, so as usual the early AM sessions will be suggested.

Manresa Saturday

Now back from So Cal, I am back into the routine of surfing weekends in Santa Cruz with my friend Clio. Having seen the flat condition, I have suggested that we go to Manresa because usually this location is bigger and even closed out so on days like this on a 2-3 ft NW swells, it would work good. And it did. When we got there the tide was the lowest. Easy paddle out between sets and sets were about hip to chest highs all morning and early afternoon. We caught a bunch of good lefts just in front of the parking/stairs on our Mini Malibu boards. Clio had some take off problems early on, but I suggested that she paddle a bit harder and a bit longer and she corrected the problems. I tried both the soup start and real drop down starts and I did get a few good turning starts, which I am supposed to be working on. The day started out in a foggy condition but cleared away. Nice and warm early summer day for fun. Wish that the breaks lasted a bit longer so that we had longer rides, but it is always excellent way to learn solid take off and standing up, and do it as many times as possible.

On a days like this, a short board would have been just useless, and only people having fun were long boarders at this location.

Saturday Guesstimate

The Scripps summary map is showing essentially a flat ocean for the last 12 hours. This has been a bad week for surfing both in Nor and So Cals. Yesterday we were driving up the 101 back home, and this is the first time I have seen Ricon with nobody on the water! There were some and looked to be good actions at Scotts Creek and some of the south San Mateo beaches. I might go check Montara which might have a bit of hope. Currently the weather is foggy but no wind.

So Cal Surfing

I am now in LA staying at a hotel on Sunset near the Tower Records, big billboards etc., and finally got an access to a computer at a hotel.

Tuesday, I went to San Onofre. Many people told me that this is a great spot for beginner and intermediate surfers. I also exchanged a bit of information with Pacific Waverider webmaster and he told me to skip Salt Creek and go head straight down to The Trestles (which is actually very difficult to find), but it looks like you can walk from San Onofre surfing beach. Anyhow, San Onofre was not very crowded at all. So it was really nice. We were not fortunate to get good set of waves during this trip, but we were still getting occasional shoulder level peelers coming in at this location while most other beaches near Laguna were all flat or breaking too close to the shore. I was told to bring a long board, but I brought the 7'6, and I am still glad I did. This board is really versatile, and rides like a long board, but takes off like a short board. Only problem with it is that it is still nearly impossible to duck with it. Just too much volume.

As for surfing, the waves are gentle and easy to get out, but it was still on a bit peaky side to enjoy longer rides. The bottom is mix of round fist size rocks and sand (just like in Erendira) and that must support the reefy condition that support gentle breaks. I certainly had better days both at the JT and LM, not to mention all locations in SC. Of course, this is late spring surfing and no south stuff is coming in this week. The entire So Cal coast has been socked in the thick marine layer this week so it was gray. I think we have brought with us the touch of Nor Cal to So Cal. As soon as we leave, they should get the sunny weather back. One spooky aspect of this location is that there is a nuclear power plant. The water was really warm and it is true that you do not need a booty or gloves (both of which I wore). When the water inside the wet suit start to heat up, then I know it is really warm.

Wednesday, we were on the way to LA and checked out Huntington beach. I was able to find a spot called Santa Ana Rivermouth, and it was a part of the the state beach so we went in. Right at the rivermouth, there were some hard break going on where more expert surfers are doing very fast short board actions. Most people were heading to the spot south of the mouth, and it was a perfect paddle out condition where it was totally flat then occasional head high sets come in. But I underestimated this spot here, and the breaks were really hard into shallow sand bars that form quite further out. Even at this kind of condition, the breaks were similar to the hard shorebreaks we get in Montara, that take off was nearly impossible for my level and I ended up knocking off one of my fins. Fortunately there are dozen surf shops in Huntington that there is no problem getting a replacement. Thanks to the FCS technology, and also Protek fins did protect. No damages or injuries other than minor bumps on my leg.

We have a pool here at the place where I we are staying and so I swam for 30 minutes or so continuously.