Monday, July 12, 2004

Session 4.127: Nice Sunday Afternoon Surf

We planned to visit a location not much far from Half Moon Bay. I have previously never surfed there before so it was a bit of adventure. When arrived there was no surfers around though the condition was unexceptionally good about 8-10 ft soft-looking sets coming every 5-6 minutes perhaps. The fog has burned out and the wind was also mild, so it was set up to be a perfect day!  The beach was wide and there were south spots as well as north spots, with the N spots mellower.
 
We had a great sandwich from Zaballa House and then as I started to suit up, two other surfers were also getting ready to get in. I was a bit relieved because it is always good have some company than owning the beach totally to myself.
 
My wife was also watching and she wanted me to go to the S end of the beach where it was braking "big", at least big enough for my level. It was quite a bit of paddle out as the place it was breaking pretty far out. About 250-300 yards out.
 
Though I thought the waves were soft, it was far from what I thought. It got a lot of power and it was quite challenging to get into the wave. It would have been a perfect condition for the 7'6 (other two surfers were using shorter boards). But I underestimated it and totally expecting a mellow condition so I brought the foamy and the fish. Of course, though it was a lot of fun to ride the foamy board. But when I took one of the fast drop downs, and if I was on Takayama, I could have turned much faster and the board (it has a long tail fin) would have held stronger etc.
 
I was actually surprised that when I got off the board after a ride the bottom of this beach was a reef and not sand, though it has a beautiful sandy beach, especially on the far north end.
 
After several rides I took over there, I really got tired so I decided to try the N end which looked very mellow, and it was. By then I was really tired so I got out. Also the N end waves were getting smaller, probably because the tide was going down.
 
To top the session off, there is a bar right at the beach, so Wendy and I got glasses of the Pale Ale, then went back to the car, took a good nap facing the beach.
 
If it was hot it would just have been a surfing heaven. No crowd, good beer and just beautiful scenery!
 
LC: MB

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