E's Surf Report: golden morning

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golden morning

Sparkling, golden dawn.
Smoothing offshores
Playful, consistent swell
Surfers hooting for other surfers
Sculpted, parabolic symmetry
Easy, mushier, head-high+ setwaves
Mellow.
Dumpy up north, slower down south
Early morning sunshine alights smiling faces.
Lerm taking off deep
surf

life

Posted by on February 11, 2004 10:04 AM | Permalink

looked like longboard heaven down at the south end today. inner bars not really working where i was. and 7 out of 10 waves on the outside backed off or broke slightly and quickly mushed out. probably worth spending more time scouting a spot than i did. but so friggin gorgeous out there, it barely mattered.

Posted by: loon at February 11, 2004 10:19 AM

can anyone fill me in on what is to come surfwise for the spring/summer. i am new to surfing in the bay area and the forecasts seem quite ominous. thanks everyone.

Posted by: bay newbie at February 11, 2004 10:25 AM

Whassappenin-

Just wanna share aloha with all that visited the green room yesterday. Getting pitted really helps one to place things into perspective and offshores with headhigh sets offer so many invitations to do so. Go get some.

SF Februaries are FANtastic

Posted by: phunski at February 11, 2004 10:25 AM

Bay Newbie-

You have 2 to 3 more weeks of surf in the Bay Area. From March till June you had better have something else to do. From July till end of September, jump on the few south swells that come through.

Posted by: Friend #1 at February 11, 2004 10:34 AM

i had one of those luck out, wave magnet days. i happened into 4 really nice set and a few other decent rides. ck nice to meet you. thanks for the hoots. kaiser we came back.

Posted by: lerm at February 11, 2004 10:49 AM

Had a tantalizing time down at Abraham's, chasing dumpers back and forth across the runout sandbar. It was like I was the aqua-chimp in a game of monkey-in-the-middle. Thinking to avoid the VFers pack, I experienced the downside of thinking different. Sometimes there's a good reason nobody's out on what appears to be an unattended peak. I take solace in knowing I didn't further clog the lineup to the north. Gorgeous morning, nonetheless. Looking for redemption in the afternoon...

Posted by: redworm at February 11, 2004 11:00 AM

Surf can drag on into March, but the odds get a lot longer. Basically, meteorologically, we do well with high pressure over land, this creates offshore winds. This is a common fall/winter pattern. In spring/summer, high pressure to our west pre-dominates, and onshore winds and windswell are common. Also, long period swells stop. We are, right now, seeing a "far above average' February, so maybe March will be above average too.

But onshores, and lots of em, are coming.

Posted by: blakestah at February 11, 2004 11:01 AM

i think global warming is going to hook us up this year again..seems like i surfed more frequently this past summer and spring..lots of high pressure if my foggy ass remembers..

fun sand bar in front of the intact windmill for a while this morning..seemed like the swell was almost gone when i left..saw christian wrap a nice cutback when i was turning up fulton..WOO HOO!

Posted by: bagel at February 11, 2004 11:19 AM

Speaking of spring...

Can anyone who has been to centro recently dump on the current boardbag fees from airlines? We haven't booked yet but are looking at some good rates from Taca, American, and America West. As I recall, the fees for oversize boardbags change from season to season and airline to airline. Any tips on the current situation much appreciated. There's info on this in Parise's CR guide, but it may be slightly dated now.

Also, we're likely to rent a 4x4 so we can get down into certain parts of Mal Pais, and head into Nicaragua later, so if there are specific rental agencies to avoid these days (as there always seem to be...), let it rip...

thanks!

Posted by: grant at February 11, 2004 11:20 AM

surfed that same sandbar bagel...and I think I saw that same cutty as I was turning up Fulton...fun, beautiful morning all that way aroung. Especially nice since I have been out of the water for a spell nursing a fugged up back! Damn, getting old sucks!!!!

Christian...hopefully we can time it right one of these days and actually surf together instead of passing each other on the way in/out.

Cheers all!

Posted by: jdz at February 11, 2004 11:23 AM

Lerm, I heard that rumor. I got pulled down your way but so did like 20 other people so I tried to stay north. Glad to hear you got into some. Looked like it was actually the best down there.

If you haven't seen this guy, you need to fire up windows media player and give him a minute of your time: http://www.williamhung.net/

CLASSIC!

On the spring/summer/fall/winter deal, it seemed to me that November was good, December was ok, January below par, and February has been great thus far. Let's hope we get some late winter/early spring days into March/April. Like Bagel, I recall surfing a lot on DP and even before the winds kicked up around midday over last years spring and summer months.

Anyway, this morning felt good! Another glorious day out there. I didn't feel it was as big as yesterday, at least on the set waves. Still good though with a lot of lulls between waves to make the paddle a breeze.

Posted by: Kaiser at February 11, 2004 11:27 AM

everyone's scorin'!! nice.

i suffered supreme decision-making issues today. spent 40 mins checking out different breaks before finally hitting the south end. i gotta remember the dp mantra...if it's breaking hit it! anyway, when i finally did get out there i was treated to a few fun waves and some pos-stoke company! Lerm was a frickin' wave-magnet scoring 2 waves to each of my 1...at least! nice meeting ya, Lerm. as for the morning...well...simply gorgeous. sure makes it hard to confine myself to a cube for the balance of the day!

Posted by: ck at February 11, 2004 11:30 AM

E, I think you had a name for this type of "behavior" the other day no?

Posted by: Kaiser at February 11, 2004 11:31 AM

Centro tip- Avoid the Miami connection thru American. triple chance of board bashdom and/or loss. last trip spent 3 of 10 days butting heads in primitive airport getting our boards back.
Better- get to LAX and Taca one way to many CA destinations. Taca is cheap.
No airlines respect the fragility of surfboards. American is $60 PER LEG-- they also have NO liability when it comes to damage.
Wrap your boards in bubble wrap and blankets.
Most importantly, Detach emotionally from your Travel Stick (s) b/c they will get damaged or lost.
The trick is leaving one there.......more incentive to return again and again........

BREAKING NEWS: Yello bump Measles epidemic strikes E Bay Office Complex>> all workers sent home>>> See you out there this quintessential PM!

Posted by: steama at February 11, 2004 11:44 AM

Got a few late yesterday at one of my favorite spots west of The Great Highway. Strong south pull on the outgoing tide at my particular location. Lots of smiles on some of the usually grumpier faces - like they'd been gettin' some.

Posted by: Jimmie at February 11, 2004 11:45 AM

WOW! what a morning. I will also state that it quickly shut down around 10am when i got out of the water. There were some agonizingly long lulls bewteen sets but the conditions were so perfect, damn what i would have given for 5 more feet of swell! would have be 3X EPIC, today was just 3X FUN! sooooo super clean, sheet glass overhead peaks, the thing that pissed me off though was how many of you fuckers were out there at 8am, get a job! let the others surf, i swear towards the end of my session there were 10 guys sitting on the same inconsistent peak, i had to paddle away, far far away, but hey, the next peak had 15 guys on it. shit it was like a saturday afternoon out there luckily my judgement was better than most and i grabbed several sets that came through but shit people what are you doing at 10am at the beach. GET A JOB!!!! so the rest of us can surf in peace....
heres a quick shot of sloat at 10am, i had to wait a while for this set to come through....enjoy peeps!

Posted by: dsx at February 11, 2004 12:03 PM

so are we talking no waves at all or small, mushy swell?

Posted by: bay newbie at February 11, 2004 12:23 PM

bay newbie,
listen to the blakestah, we get wind swell and onshore winds. even if there are waves the winds are sooooo strong NW that it is irrelevant. pay attention to wind direction and speed. that is the ultimate beach killer. it can be 2 feet and offshore and you can surf, it can also be 8 feet and 25 knots out of the NW and you cant surf. WINDS WINDS WINDS, thats the issue. if we do get swell and the winds are offshore then hit it fast.

Posted by: dsx at February 11, 2004 12:28 PM

nice jdz! great minds think alike..we were probably very close..i was a little inbetween packs but i was around this dude with black curren rails and another dude with a yellow longboard..soo fun..that picture of sloat is sick..i saw a few of those when i checked it but seemed to infrequent for an hour long surf..

Posted by: bagel at February 11, 2004 12:41 PM

jdz did you see that longboard guy with the helmet do that coffin in the barrel, that guy was pulling all kinds of quasimotos and shit..that was rad..

Posted by: bagel at February 11, 2004 12:47 PM

Board fees to C.R.

I recently got back from a GREAT trip to C.R. Took Taca airlines. They were good enough. Here is how I worked the fees. At SFO, they charged me $50 per board per direction. I took three boards, told them I had two boards, so they charged me $100. On the return, I showed them my receipt for paying the fee and told them I was told the fee was roundtrip. Somehow, it worked. So, I only paid $100 total for board fees. My advice is to try you best to work it, but remain nice, and they will help you. As far as car rentals go, make sure you have 4 wheel drive. I just rented when I got there and it wasn't too expensive. Not sure how it is now that they have moved from the rainy season, but there were times I wished the car (Rav 4) had more clearance than it did. (We nearly sunk the things a couple of times). Enjoy C.R. It's a wonderful place.

Posted by: obsurfer at February 11, 2004 12:49 PM

Bagel...i did see that...AMAZING! I was surfing right under that guy for the last part of my session. Saw that coffin ride as I was getting out of my wetsuit and I think my jaw hit the ground. That guy was getting a ton of waves. Almost made me want to be on a long board...

Posted by: jdz at February 11, 2004 01:13 PM

ya, that guy was pumped..i wish there were some yellow bump measles goin on around here..

Posted by: bagel at February 11, 2004 01:35 PM

for all those sweatin' it in cubicle land, bumming that you're not in the water. I just heard from Kaiser, doing his lunchtime surf rounds, that neither OB or Lindy is serving it up. In his own words Kaiser said, "OB is closed for lunch".

soo.. there was someone yesterday (Jimmie?) that gets stoked knowing that the surf is firing even if he's working (Contrary to how some might feel, hearing that it's happening out there helps keep me goin'!).. you may be bummed to hear that it's not epic Jimmie.. but for the rest of us.. we can maybe breathe a bit easier.

SLURF!

psyching for a smaller, slop session tomorrow morning..

Posted by: e at February 11, 2004 01:41 PM

Bay Newbie,

DSX is all over it. For surf to work here you have to have Good Winds, Good Swell, Good Winds, Good Tide, and Good Winds.

The Onshores will begin Soon. By the time they stop in May, the Swell Engine in North Pacific will be long shut off as well.

Posted by: Friend #1 at February 11, 2004 01:43 PM

that sucks Christian! I'm sorry to hear about the bad vibes. The wise kid must have seriously overstepped the normal confines of etiquette to get under your skin. sucks. feel free to expand on what happened if ya want.

we should meet up for the dp tomorrow. hopefully whip around on some small wave goodies.

Posted by: e at February 11, 2004 01:54 PM

Public Service Announcement:

OB is/will be closed at lunch for routine maintenance. Please check back at a lower tide for higher wave quality. The weather is still unreal.

That is all.

Oh, and poo-land is still poo-land. Why surf there when you can surf OB?

Posted by: Kaiser at February 11, 2004 02:01 PM

Wise guys kinda suck. they all seem to have a better than you attitude, although this is only my in shop experience, i can imagine the attitude gets worse when you add water.

Posted by: dsx at February 11, 2004 02:06 PM

Posted by: at February 11, 2004 02:07 PM

gearing up for the half-hour after work session. OB please don't disapoint!
805...

Posted by: bbr at February 11, 2004 02:08 PM

Today was mental.

Posted by: dano at February 11, 2004 02:13 PM

daaamn! vida

ya, alwayse good to see you out there christian..that is shitty about the altercation, those guys can be annoying..jeez. ive seen that longboard helmet dude around alot..i think hes been wearing a helmet longer than anyone..seen him cruising the beach in the lifegaurd truck too..i wish i had that job today..

Posted by: bagel at February 11, 2004 02:50 PM

post about declining conditions + post confirming decline in conditions + :05 to digest disappointment regarding arvo sesh = cue bootie shot.

you could set a clock by it. :)

aah, i hope you guys don't mind the teasing. it's pretty funny from the other side of the fence. i feel like a lazy moron for not finding a way to make it happen this morning......psyched/tortured that so many of you scored though! and of course glad to read christian isn't in jail. but that's a bummer about your argument...

Posted by: friendly at February 11, 2004 03:18 PM

I've spoken to Shawn a few times, he takes his (grade school age) daughter out @ lindy & surfs with her on his shoulders.
Very cool, nice guy too.

super fun morning @ Nth OB.
Cam

Posted by: CAm at February 11, 2004 03:21 PM

Just checked the 46042 buoy wind reading. Hum... no wind direction reported 'cause there is no wind to report!! Gotta love that... especially when March rolls in with the jellyfish.

Here is what Bay Newbie has to look forward too all over the beach:

Posted by: dano at February 11, 2004 03:39 PM

classic post friendly. My perspective on the female bootie:
THE most finely wraught example of the Divine's handywork.

God bless the bootie.

and Kaiser for always posting the bomb booties.

Posted by: e at February 11, 2004 03:48 PM

christian, you are most welcome to kook out on a floater and land near me as often as you like.

no blood no foul.

have a niceness day.

Posted by: blakestah at February 11, 2004 03:54 PM

geez.. california buoy is up to 6ft 17 seconds.. i guess it'll be big again in the morning.

blakestah?

Posted by: e at February 11, 2004 04:09 PM

God I hate when that happens! Damn swell.

Posted by: Kaiser at February 11, 2004 04:19 PM

yikes, talk about your parabolic symmetry..... not to rain on the orgy but the wind is whispering ever slow slighty nw on some of the bouys.....

Posted by: 3to5setsof7 at February 11, 2004 04:29 PM

Interesting stuff on the posts today.

Posted by: kdalle at February 11, 2004 05:11 PM

red at night, sailors delight..

Posted by: bagel at February 11, 2004 05:45 PM

Wow, seemed like the day to be in the water! Although I can't surf and am totally land locekd until the evening, I'm very glad and fortunate just to be home in the bay! Christian, that's crazy, but like nlakestah said, no blood, no foul. Some people take things WAY too seriously. Anyway, is Shawn's (on the longboard)last name Scallion? or something like that? Bagel, true.. red at night. SO NICE TODAY! So when is the next OB niceness barbeque? :)

Posted by: Ian at February 11, 2004 06:28 PM

Sean's last name is Scallan. If you've lived here long enough you've seen him surfing. He is one of the top competitive longboarders in the Bay Area, regularly placing top five at any contest within a half day's drive. Also, his daughter is not grade school age, yet.

I don't know what to make of the California buoy readings. There is a lot of leading south winds, it could miss us. In any case, half that size is what to expect here. I think it'll be pretty small early, and head high or slightly overhead later, with offshores throughout. I checked and checked the wind plots, and didn't see anything substantial until later Friday... - just smaller pockets of wind leading the front...

Posted by: blakestah at February 11, 2004 07:59 PM

> especially when March rolls in with the jellyfish.

Gah! Those little things are nasty! I was walking the dog on the beach at Fort Funston last spring and came across this other dog totally chowing down on all the little jellyfish that had washed ashore. Seems like they were worse last year than they had been in quite a while.

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