Session 5148

Another foggy summer mooring in Half Moon Bay, but it is true that when it is foggy there is less wind. The Montara area was rather gnarly this morning with very solid NW swell lines coming in. The "up some" prediction from StormSurf was quite correct, and so I passed on Montara, now I am completely out of league for this, and decided to do the usual Linda Mar for the south end this morning. When I passed over the Devils' Slide (where my now famous Devil's Slide Single Bypass Burger with Cheese and Devil's Slide Double Bypass Burger with Bacon, or the Triple Bypass with Cheese, Bacon and the 3rd patty come from), the Sun was poking through the sky. It is always amazing that Linda Mar has this small patch of Sun Belt.

I am now fairly convinced that when the swell height goes up, the waves tend to wall up and close out and throw lots of small tubular waves. They are pretty to watch especially from the side on a line up but I really don't like those. The quality of wave has improved a bit from yesterday, but now taking off into them is nearly impossible at most cases, or at least that's what I thought. I was trying to get my courage up and try to take off into more challenging situations (again, this is all relative to my skill level), getting used to thrown over and held under; almost like doing a Judo match with the waves.

Then it was already 8:30 and I had to get out when anther overhead wall started to build, and I took off into it to get back to the car. As I was paddling into the wave, I felt this catapulting feel, that's almost like being hit by a huge rubber mullet from the back. Oh, man, I am going to be thrown again! But just the same time my arm was already fully stretched on the deck, and was poised to be up on the board. The impact helped my legs to tuck under my body and my left foot felt the texture of the traction pad. I tried to hang on as I started to drop fast to the bowl of the wave. I started to push the tail really hard, and I got up on the board in my usual couching style. The wave was big enough that I felt like I was going down the face for a long time. I was frantically trying to shift the weight forward but the board is still sliding with only the tail in the water. Then finally I could shift the weight forward to get the rail to bite into the water and I made the initial bottom turn but the pressure on the keens were so much and felt like I had another 50 lbs of weight on me. I tried to stay on the board, now the speed is so fast that I was really scared, and as I tried to cut back away from that turn, the board finally jetted out from my feet, the board and I was thrown up in the air and that was end of my last ride of this session.

It was one of the most awesome riding experiences I've had in a while, and I have now seen the glimpse of successfully taking off into hollower situation. I am getting more used to riding the 6'3 and now I've tasted it, I will look for that feel again next time.