Surf/Camp at Manresa

I just got back from Manresa and it was a lot of fun to surf, eat, sleep and get up at the crack of the dawn to go surf check and go surfing again. Even though I live very close to the ocean, it is always fun to sleep right by the beach, get up and hear the crashing waves etc. So I ended up not sending up my Audio Blog, if you were waiting for it I am so sorry.

 

The surf condition itself was OK with my stoke rating of 5 yesterday and 6 this morning. The beach breaks were a bit quick to come down due to low tides, as the time went by and the water started to fill in the breaks become more manageable. This is actually kind of condition my experience at JT/LM become useful. It is still a lot of fun to beat these dumpers, and my 7'6 hybrid has worked out really well. I also get eaten by these waves too.

 

I am now at the skill level that in this kind of conditions, I am starting to be able to take off and get into the break at an angle more consistently. Now I need to work on a stronger bottom turn more quickly sharply. The problem right now is that the angle is still not sharp enough against the break and timing not quick enough that I go too far ahead of the waves ending the ride too short. If a reform happens then I can paddle push a bit and that saves the ride, but I am still relying too much on the wave and not on my own technique to make the ride longer. Catching and riding on reforms is actually a lot of fun too because it is like taking off on a new wave but I am already standing on it, so I can do the top turn to get into the waves. If I catch a reform like that then the second section of the ride is more fun than the first and usually longer.

 

Last evening was also a lot fun with lot of "illegal" fireworks going all over the beach. Even though there are a lot of signs that say "No Fireworks" there was just tons of people bringing in a lot of fireworks and the place almost became smoggy.

 

On the way back on PCH, I saw Pomponio beach and further north getting a big gnarly but looked quite surfable. I just checked the buoy readings and we are starting to get back a lot of wind swells in our area. LM might be fun tomorrow on a higher tides.

 

Everyone enjoy the last holiday before the labor day!